New Zealand Road trip

Lzerocritical on 02/07/2013 - 12:10

Hi Guys,

I am planning a road trip in New Zealand travelling from North to south next month. I am looking for recommendations and places to see while on my trip. Here is the path I will be taking:
Sydney -> Auckland -> Wellington -> Christchurch (Via Ferry and Road) -> Mt Cook -> Queens town -> Dunedin -> Christchurch -> Sydney.

I had a search thru the forum and there were some good recommendations for Queenstown. Few of them that are already on my list are:
One day to snow fields - Gondala ride and lugge ride (just to get my family the feel of it)
Zip trekking
Ferg burger :-)
lakes district

Recommendation for other places please..

Cheers!!

Travel

Comments

  • Bagman on 02/07/2013 - 13:24
    +2

    Auckland …. Matamata (Hobbiton) … Rotorua … Taupo … Napier/Hastings (if you like wine) …. Masterton (if you like more wine)…. Wellington.
    Picton (Marlborough Sounds and more wine)… Nelson …. West Coast … Franz Joseph/Fox Glaciers ….Wanaka … Queenstown … Dunedin … Christchurch.

    • ESEMCE on 02/07/2013 - 14:50
      +3

      Pretty much the route I took through NZ
      Going north of Auckland was recommended to me by a NZ'er but I didn't have the time.
      Allow plenty of time at one or the other of the Glaciers and take the time to walk to the face, those things are at a truly mindblowing scale that you can't appreciate until you get right up to it…

      We did Wellington-Picton-Blenheim-Greymouth in one day which was too much, so take a later ferry and spend a night in Nelson doing wine tasting or something.
      We found that booking accommodation through the i-site information "stores" in each town was a great way to get cheap last minute deals on good accommodation.

      Amazing country to visit. hope you have more than 2 weeks.

      • zerocritical on 02/07/2013 - 14:54

        Thanks Guys..

        I've got exactly 2 weeks to spend.. I am booking accommodation online.. Dont want to land up there for a surprise. :)

        Not a great fan of wine, but will try to squeeze that into the plans. Thanks for letting me know about the Glaciers. Will definitely do that.

        • ESEMCE on 02/07/2013 - 15:58
          +1

          There's heaps of accommodation around. you'd be VERY unlucky to find nothing available and we did get some ripper deals doing it last minute.
          Best was in Wanaka where we had a newly built 3br apartment with Spa, Sauna, fully appointed kitchen, heated floor bathrooms for $150/night for the 5 of us travelling!
          That was this time of year 3 years ago..

    • zerocritical on 02/07/2013 - 14:56
      +1

      Was looking for something like this!!
      The path to take!

      Is there much to see in the cities? or its mostly the scenic beauty that is not to be missed while driving?

      • ESEMCE on 02/07/2013 - 15:52

        I don't think it would really matter where you went.
        The above path just ticks off all of the "typical" places to go.

        I'd have loved to get to New Plymouth (have a look on Google Maps Satellite to see the Enormous Volcano it is shadowed by), but didn't have the time!
        And the north of the North island is apparently semi-tropical!

        • zerocritical on 02/07/2013 - 16:05

          Are you talking about Mount Taranaki? That's freaking amazing on Google satellite view!

        • ESEMCE on 02/07/2013 - 16:16

          Yup..
          I'm pretty sure at some stage in history that piece of NZ just appeared one day!

  • Bagman on 02/07/2013 - 15:05

    I liked Wellington even though the weather can be crappy … my son loved Te Papa Museum, Weta cave sounds interesting.

    • ESEMCE on 02/07/2013 - 15:51
      +1

      I liked Wellington the most, found a couple of cool bars (not so great for the family perhaps).
      Christchurch and Auckland were typical cities really.
      The mountains and rivers are what grabs your attention though.
      Definitley recommend watching/rewatching Lord of the Rings/Hobbit before you go. You'll see Middle-Earth everywhere!

  • Bagman on 02/07/2013 - 16:03

    One thing to be very careful when driving this time of year, particular during the night/mornings, is ice on the road.

    • zerocritical on 02/07/2013 - 16:15

      Noted! I read somewhere that most car hire companies do provide chains for driving in this condition. I will have to double check with that them.

      • ESEMCE on 02/07/2013 - 16:21

        They do at a cost. ($50 I seem to recall)
        Chains are for gripping snow though I think.. on ice I imagine they'd be more of a hazard than anything.
        I had them and never needed them, although we had superb weather.
        We got a Subaru to help maintain grip/control on slippery roads.

        The most annoying thing about NZ was that the cars we had were Japanese imports which meant our mp3 FM transmitters couldn't be picked up by the car radios (Japanese FM Radio runs at a different frequency to ours)

  • kobrien456 on 02/07/2013 - 22:23
    +1

    14 days can become 12 depending on when you arrive, and allowing a day to drive back to CCH. Formula is 3.5 days per stop so you're not feeling too rushed. Assume that you will get back there (the next time airfares drop to $225 return ;))

    Sadly, I would leave off Dunedin this trip and Mt Cook as well. I wouldn't worry about booking accom til last minute you will be fine. Check out BBH website. http://www.bbh.co.nz/ Cross between B&B and hostel. Great for meeting other travellers, own room and shower, very cheap.

    It's a great country. Like Europe on our doorstep. We've been six times and still haven't seen everything we want to see. Give 3 or 4 days to Rotorua and 3 or 4 to Queenstown. So much in those 2 towns.

  • MITM on 03/07/2013 - 21:14

    Cheap domestic flights from time to time and the distances arent too far so you may be able to take side trips.
    When in Auckland, there are volcanoes in the city worth driving up - One Tree Hill for instance.
    There are 2 worth the drive on the North Shore - or you could catch the ferry across the harbour to Devonport. Mt Victoria is the closest to the ferry terminal and is walking distance for the fit. Young kids may find it a bit far - but worth the view. North Head (the other "hill") is further away but has great war bunkers and gun enplacements etc kids love. Bring a torch. Great view of Hauraki Gulf and Rangitoto Island, yet another volcano.

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