Quick trip to NZ

minzabud

I'm coming off the end of two years in Australia and planning on going travelling with my better half until Christmas mostly around Asia.

I've managed to squeeze in 12 days in New Zealand next month as it's unlikely il be back this way again,I know it's not alot of time to see the country and it's our first stop before travelling the east coast of oz so don't want to go wild with money either, it's hard to budget for 4 months!

So at the moment it's looking like 3 nights in Auckland to catch up with a good friend from home, then flying to Queenstown for 3 nights to do some bungees etc.... Not interested in skiiing so can rule that out.

I have booked a rental car to get back from Queenstown to Auckland and I'm trying to fill in the blanks and prepare for anything I might not have thought of, would also appreciate any tips/advice/suggestions.

We are thinking of leaving Queenstown and driving to Milford sound for the day but I'm unsure what to do after that as accomodation seems scarce, do we drive back to Queenstown and head to the North Island from there or is there any viable options after visiting Milford sound?

Also planning on catching up with a friend in Blenheim so trying to factor that in but as its near the ferry that should be easily done, other than that we don't have anything particularly set in stone other than going to rotarua and waiotapu.

This is an express trip and we aren't trying to do and see all of NZ, just looking to see a bit of the place and enjoy the time there.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

cpoh1

Reduce your time on the east coast of Oz and spend more time in NZ. Heck reduce the time in asia and spend a minimum of 4 weeks to check out the country, you will regret it.

MrCreosote

Personally I'd do Queenstown to Chch, and fly back to Auckland and maximise your time in the South Island

minzabud

I can't extend the trip as I've got flights booked the whole way to xmas and the car booked to drop off at Auckland.

Lemsiper

I would certainly have not bothered booking ahead with flights through Asia. The prices tend to stay the same even up to the day before, unless of course there's an obvious reason for them to increase.

minzabud

I have just booked my route home to Dublin, into Thailand in October and out of kuala Lumpar in December, I will book the internal flights for Asia at short notice.

on_my_oe

You'll need to choose either West Coast or East Coast in the South Island...

West Coast - Franz Jozef, Punakaiki, Neslon, Abel Tasman
East Coast - Christchurch, Kaikoura, Hamner Springs

Go to the North Island, up through Taupo, onto Rotorua (2 days here), a day at Waitomo Caves then drive on through to Auckland.

partnership

If you are a Lord of the Rings fan then a trip to matamata on the North island is a must to do the evening tour of Hobbiton which is on Sun and Wed or alternatively the day tour any day. Did it recently and loved it.

minzabud

Thanks for the input, i think we will cut out Milford sound and head along the west coast route, I will report back during/after the trip.

Any tips for Queenstown? Will be staying in sir Cedrica tahuna pod hostel which looks to be good value.

fits

You could fly to milford sound from queenstown. Or just do a fly tour.would save a lot of driving.

When driving to chch definitely go by mount cook and go for a hike maybe overnight in mueller hut. It is amazing. Just drive to chch and fly to auckland.

minzabud

On the tail end of what's been a great trip!
Time was always the issue here but have worked with what we have and pretty happy how things have gone.

Spent 3 nights in Auckland with friends,
3 nights in queenstown was perfect got to do loads and loved the place.

Left queenstown and went to Franz josef for the night and got a glacier valley tour in while there and then drove on to picton for the night.

Our ferry was cancelled due to bad weather so that ate into our time in Wellington, spent one night there and just got out in the city on the Saturday night into the night markets and a few bars on Cuba st, really liked Wellington from what we saw.

Drove from Wellington to Rotorua today and went to the Maori village this evening which we enjoyed, sorry we didn't have the time to check out and stay around Taupo.

Tommorow we will check out the geysers and kerosene creek and have a gloworm kayak tour in the evening aswel.

Flying back to sydney Wednesday afternoon so still have Tuesday to play around with,was going to go to hobbitan and stay in Auckland Tuesday night but not sure now as it seems a bit steep and we wouldn't be the biggest fans of lord of the rings.

All in all we have got a nice taste of both islands, a lot we didn't see but happy with what we got did, if we were to do it again in the same time frame I'd cut Auckland down to two days when we first arrived.

Thanks again for the advice.