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Booked flight to New Zealand... now what to do and how to do it
heretoinform
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So I just booked a flight for my mother and I to New Zealand, August 1rst to the 18th (I did this because it was only $898 dollars per person from Los Angeles to New Zealand, and I've always wanted to go).
We arrive in Wellington, and I was thinking that we could rent a campervan or medium sized motorhome to explore the country. The prices are ridiculously low (I've found quality campervans for $37 NZD a day) since its their winter, but I am also worried about the gas.
So, H/A, if you've ever been to New Zealand before (or live there), reccomend some things to do, places to go, basically anything and everything that I might find useful in my trip (I've looked into roommate scenarios, but every enquiry has fallen through). The rough schedule in my head is to drive up to bay of islands, then down to wellington, then visit Christchurch/top of south island for a couple of days, then drive back to Auckland and go home.
Thanks for any help.
We arrive in Wellington, and I was thinking that we could rent a campervan or medium sized motorhome to explore the country. The prices are ridiculously low (I've found quality campervans for $37 NZD a day) since its their winter, but I am also worried about the gas.
So, H/A, if you've ever been to New Zealand before (or live there), reccomend some things to do, places to go, basically anything and everything that I might find useful in my trip (I've looked into roommate scenarios, but every enquiry has fallen through). The rough schedule in my head is to drive up to bay of islands, then down to wellington, then visit Christchurch/top of south island for a couple of days, then drive back to Auckland and go home.
Thanks for any help.
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I'd probably stay away from the West Coast of the South Island. It's a nice enough place, but is usually very wet, and there isn't too much in the way of touristy stuff to see there anyway.
There's a lot of nice stuff at the top of the South Island. You can't really go wrong around the North West. If you're into walking tracks, Abel Tasman park is there and is absolutely awesome. The walking tracks are great and there are lots of kayaking trips/water taxis getting around the area. Though I can't really say what things will be like at that time of year. Also Marlborough has a whole heap of wineries, many of which have tours and wine tastings year round.
I can't really comment on the North Island.
The first thing to note is that the winter in NZ, particularly in the South Island, can be brutal. I wouldn't want to drive a motorhome around the South Island in the summer, let alone the Winter. The Spaceships might be the way to go if you want to do this, they're small enough to get around, but do have some living space in there.
I live in Wellington, and I like it here a lot. Spend time here, most people spend their time in Auckland, which is a shame. Auckland is like an American conurbation, but without the car culture to support it. It feels like a sprawl, and I don't like it there. Wellington / South Island is where it's at for tourism.
Things to do in the North Island:
- Auckland
- Waitomo glow worm caves: pretty awesome
- Wellington
- Te Papa is great
South Island:
- Glaciers
- Queenstown
- Milford Sound
- Christchurch is OK: it's a bit more of a city than Wellington, but a bit less of a sprawl than Auckland. Again, I don't think it's got much to offer a tourist.
Best thing to do is get a guide book. You have enough time in NZ to see the major sights. A Lonely Planet guide or something will help you a lot with planning a route.
Going to spoiler for Wall-of-Textage:
Personally, I’d recommend getting out to the Shotover river, either via Jet Boat or raft. We ended up doing both – I enjoyed the jet boat, but felt it quite tame compared to the rafting. The Shotover is the site of many historic gold mining sites, and running the river on a raft is the best way to see everything. The NZ gov’t put a stop to gold mining in the 70s, but there’s still a great deal of it in the river – you’ll actually see flakes floating around during the calmer parts! It is, however, home to some fairly serious rapids, but nothing too crazy.
As for the town itself, it is somewhat touristy (though nothing compared to American tourist spots!), but there are a lot of great local places if you look. I’d specifically recommend the Red Rock beer garden if the weather’s warm. Also, be sure to take the gondola up to the mountain station for some of the most breathtaking views you’ll ever see. Another great thing to do is rent bikes and spend a few hours riding around the lake. There is an easy bike trail that goes out from Queenstown around lake Wakatipu, taking you past some pretty amazing vacation houses. Depending on your level of comfort, I’d also recommend paragliding! I went off of one of the many amazing mountains (Mt. Coronet), and it’s a fantastic way to see the area. We did not get a chance to visit Milford Sound, something I regret a lot! It takes at least two days to see the place properly, and we did not have the time.
From Queenstown, we rented a car and drove down to the west coast, following the route dad described in his last email. The drive itself is stunning! Where else in the world can you go from crystal-clear alpine lakes, passing through a rainforest, to a glacier in a five hour drive?! Franz Joseph is a small town almost entirely supported by tourism to the glacier, and I would definitely recommend at least walking up to the face. There are outfitters, who offer tours on the glacier itself, and I’m told it is a great experience (we chose not to, as the weather wasn’t fantastic). From there, we chose to continue north, up the west coast, stopping again in a tiny town called Punakeiki. For many kiwis, the west coast is sort-of a last frontier. To put it in perspective, 3 quarters of NZ’s population live in the North Island, and those who live in the South are almost entirely in and around Christchurch and Queenstown. Anyway, driving up the west coast was one of the best parts of our trip. It almost has a sort of “Lost World†vibe to it, and the people there are incredibly friendly.
From Punakeiki, we continued north to a town called Graymouth. I took another rafting trip on the Buller River, which I cannot recommend enough. Somewhat less wild than the Shotover, but the scenery is AMAZING. Finally, we drove to Nelson, which is the “big town†on the northern area of the South Island. Nelson is great – it’s pretty much Napa set in New Zealand, complete with many great wineries. From Nelson, we traveled to Picton, which is where the Inter-islander Ferry departs. Regarding the crossing, the scenery leaving the south island is stunning. However, it can be a fairly rough trip, even in the best of weather. Having taken the trip (it’s about 3-4 hours in good weather), I would recommend using one of the small airlines that flies between Nelson/Picton and Wellington, as it doesn’t cost much more than a ferry ticket. I very much enjoyed the time I spent in Wellington (two nights), but definitely experienced a sort of culture shock, having spent the two weeks prior traveling through such sparsely populated areas.
Anyway, sorry for such a long winded email – it’s a slow morning at work! I would be more than happy to help answer any questions you may think of. Long story short, you could spend a year in the south island and not see everything there is to offer, but know that no matter where you go or what you do, you’re sure to have a great time. I don’t think there’s another country on earth as traveler-friendly as NZ!
I'll try to stop back in when I get a chance, but please feel free to PM if you have any questions I may be able to help ya with!
It was an amazing time but it also taught me that New Zealand has far far too much for you to see in two and a half weeks. For one thing, there are not a lot of big multiple-lane highways like we've got in the U.S., which adds to your travel time. (And man, do they love their single-lane bridges.) Also, I don't recommend speeding as they sent me not one but two tickets for going through speed camera traps, after I had already returned to the States. I paid 'em, because I plan on going back. Bottom line, recognize that it will take you some time to get from place to place.
So as much amazing stuff as there is there, you are going to have to accept that you can't see it all. Christchurch was pleasant but cathedral aside, I didn't think it had much. (We did see the air force museum, which was actually pretty cool, if you're into that). Auckland was ok. I really wanted to spend more time in Wellington, but every time I was there it was pouring rain, and we had somewhere we wanted to be more.
Stuff I really wanted to do / do more of:
- Exploring the glaciers on the southwest edge of South Island
- Go hiking on one of the many national hiking tracks (Abel Tasman would've been my choice, but we just didn't have enough time to set aside for it)
- More caving in Waitomo (North Island)
- More time exploring Wellington
- More time! More time!
I don't know how applicable all of this will be in the winter, but that's my experience in brief.
So should I just practically visit only the south island (and wellington [i want to work at weta])?
Not sure how much Weta you can see; I'm not sure they offer tours or anything (I still haven't been there yet...)
If you are coming here to scope out Wellington as an eventual destination, unless you are a specialist in what you do, you're probably SOL, as Immigration here do ask why an NZ person couldn't fill the job. Fine with most jobs as there is a skills shortage in Welly, but Weta are not hurting for finding people, so that burden of proof can be hard.
I think Wellington/South Island is definitely the way to go. One thing I forgot to mention is there are road closures for the passes around Mount Cook in the inevitable inclement weather, so have a backup route in mind. And things will take you much longer than the actual distance, so use driving estimates and believe them, not you
Well, Wellington is my ultimate destination in life. And I'm aware of the chances of me getting a job at Weta (fat chance... i read that they get 50 applications per week and accept around 2 people a year, but i am studying animation now so we'll see how things go).
But what about the Bay of Islands? Should I leave that out as well?
Personally, the next time I go down, I'm going to be spending the bulk of my trip on the south island. I have a lot of family in / around Auckland, so I'm obligated to make the rounds there, but you can be sure I'll be in back down in Queenstown ASAP. So yeah, if I were you, head south.
I've only spent about a week total in Wellington, so I'm sure Lewisham can give you some better advice, but I enjoyed my time there a lot. We stayed at the YHA near Courtenay Place, and had a blast. Lots of cool bars (as well as shitty ones, like anywhere). Also, Wellington is windy as hell. Like really windy. Like I can't do it justice windy. Bring a hat.
Te Papa was pretty cool, although when I went I was fairly hungover, but that's my fault, not the museum's.
Man, I can't wait to go back. You're going to have a blast for sure.
EDIT - Whangarei is about 40 or so miles south of the Bay of Islands. Also, the advice about travel times is golden. Yeah, it won't look like much on the map, but the reality is always longer. Still, driving up the West coast of the south island is one of the all time best experiences I've had in life (even if it was in a shit-box Corolla!).
Wellington is a cool city, great food and a fair amount going on. If you like coffee you'll love the cafe's - if you don't or are a fan of the filter stuff that seems popular in the US, Wellington is the place to fall in love with good espresso.