kathy_from_texas

We are a couple in our late 50's. We will be re-visiting NZ in February, spending our first five nights driving in North Island with extended family. No help needed there with itinerary - 2 nights Taupo, 2 nights Wanganui and 1 night Wellington.

In South Island, we have seven nights - we are flying out of Queenstown back to Auckland late on the 8th day. Priorities are the West Coast, since we have been to Dunedin and Akoroa before on a cruise. We've also been to Doubtful and Dusky Sounds.

Our interests are wine, good food, and scenery. We are not trekkers, but we do enjoy shorter walks (if time) and beautiful scenery. My husband wants to visit Lake Matheson for the reflection of the mountains on the water shot. We are not into staying at hostels - prefer a hotel or lodge, and we are willing to splurge once in awhile on something luxurious. The following is what I have started with, itinerary-wise:

Day 1: Wellington to Picton ferry. Or should we fly to save time? Stay somewhere around Nelson or fly into Blenheim to catch a peak at Marlborough area? (Love Sauvignon Blanc!) Or should we catch early ferry and drive straight on towards the West Coast?

Day 2: Drive from Blenheim (or Nelson) to Hokitika - stay somewhere in Hokitika - or should we stay in Westport area in order to see Pancake Rocks?

Day 3: Hokitika to Franz Josef --- stay where?

Day 4: Franz Josef to Haast---stay where?

Day 5: Haast to Queenstown (renting condo on airbnb)

Day 6: Queenstown (Arrowtown & Wanaka day trips today and tomorrow)

Day 7: Queenstown

Any and all help will be so appreciated! Thank you!!!!

~Kathy

longhorn55

Your itinerary seems much so rushed to me. You don't have any day where you are just spending time in one location--every day requires a drive somewhere. I would revise your itinerary to give yourself one full day just in Queenstown and one full day just in Franz Josef.

I highly recommend doing a heli-hike at Franz Josef (or, if you prefer no hiking, do the scenic helicopter tour.) And this is another reason to stay an extra day at Franz Josef--the helicopter tours can be cancelled due to fog (ours was) and you have a chance to re-schedule if you are there an extra day.

kathy_from_texas

Staying 3 nights in Queenstown, from which we will do short day trips to Arrowtown and Glenorchy. I wish we had more time, but we just don't. Perhaps we should fly from Wellington to Nelson early one day and get to Westport or Greymouth that evening so that we can stay 2 nights? Since we have already been on a cruise in NZ, the ferry trip is something that we could reasonably miss and perhaps save time.

annhig

unless you have unlimited time, visiting NZ will require making some difficult choices, particularly whether you do shorter legs to your trip and shorter stays, or longer legs and longer stays.

Based on our admittedly limited experience of one trip to the SI, I would suggest the following

Day 1 - Wellington to Picton ferry [well worth the experience as you get the chance to see Blenheim sound from the water. ] drive to Nelson. [alternatively, depending on the time of your ferry, drive onto Motueka for spending a day exploring Abel Tasman]

Day 2 - stay Nelson/Motueka. Explore wineries or possibly take bus tour to Motueka.

Day 3 - drive to Franz Joseph.

Day 4 - Franz Joseph

Day 5 - drive to QT.

This gives you two long drives, but also whole days in between which IME gives you a far better balance of journeying and exploring, and is less tiring than moving on every day.

kathy_from_texas

You are right - it is TOUGH choices. I had ruled out Abel Tasman, thinking we did not have time to do that as well as West Coast. We are not adverse to long drives - we live in Texas, where long drives are common, and my husband will have gotten his "sea legs" after driving in NI for about a week first. Wish we had longer, but just not possible at this time in our lives work-wise. If we wait til retirement, we may miss seeing some elderly relatives in NI again. I think the three nights on the end - Day 5,6,7 - will allow us a "rest." Thank you!

annhig

kathy - do not underestimate the time it takes to drive from one place to another in NZ. I've never been to Texas but I doubt that the sort of long drives you do there bear much resemblance to the single carriageway switchbacks you'll experience in NZ. And even when you do get a decent road, you are still limited to 60 mph. We ended up changing our itinerary half way round because we realised that despite the excellent advise we'd had here, particularly from Melnq8, we had bitten off more than we could chew.

we found the map book we bought very useful as it has a guide to driving times - it's the NZ Pathfinder Travellers Road Atlas, published by kiwimaps.com. the times are pretty accurate and it was worth every cent.

kathy_from_texas

Thanks, Ann. I just booked our ferry, as I was noticing some of the sailings around our date were already sold out! So, we are committed now to the Wellington/Picton ferry, arriving at around noon. That gives us seven nights in SI, which is admittedly not enough. On our last visit when we drove on the NI for a week, I remember the driving times being greater than we anticipated, and we will just have to budget our time accordingly.

Since our ferry docks at around noon, we have the better part of half a day to get to Abel Tasman. Spend 1 night there or two?

I need to ask all the experts on here if there is a way you can get a snippet of a visit to Abel Tasman? Is there somewhere you can drive to rather than boat or trek? I don't need to see much, but the beautiful water I have seen in photos is beckoning me! Thanks!

longhorn55

Having driven in both Texas and the South Island, I can say driving in those places is as different as chalk and cheese. Annhig has given a good description of what to expect. Allow yourself more time that you will think you need to get anyplace. It's not going to be like driving 85 mph along I-20 in West Texas for sure!

Melnq8

I've lived in Texas and have been to the SI some dozen times, and I agree with longhorn, chalk and cheese!

NZ looks small on a map, but it's long, the roads are extremely narrow and winding with plenty of one way bridges. You can only drive so fast. And it's a heck of a lot prettier than Texas, so many, many things to see and do along the way. It's not flat, straight driving. The roads in some places are very corkscrew-like, the kind that you'd
find in the mountains of CO (which typically put fear into the hearts of the average Texan

I was going to suggest you fly to CHC, but I see you've booked the ferry.

I recently drove from Picton to Abel Tasman - while it's an estimated 2.5 hours drive, it took us EIGHT hours. Granted, we stopped for lunch, stopped at a pub, visited a winery, etc, but isn't that the whole idea, to explore the place you've flown half way across the world to see? Driving to Abel Tasman from Blenheim only shortens the trip by 25 minutes.

So, spending half a day in Abel Tasman on your drive day from Blenheim is very, very unlikely IMO. You really need at least one full day, i.e. two nights.

<I need to ask all the experts on here if there is a way you can get a snippet of a visit to Abel Tasman? Is there somewhere you can drive to rather than boat or trek>

Yes. You can drive to Kaiteriteri Beach, which will give you a taste of the sandy beaches of the Abel Tasman region. You can drive to Little Kaiteriteri Beach and take the walking track over to Stephen's Bay for another beautiful beach experience. You can drive to Marahau, the official start of the Abel Tasman Track and explore around the estuary, perhaps walk a small section of the track (I suggest you walk from Marahau to Tinline Bay and back, takes about 90 minutes). On the way to Marahau you can make the detour to Split Apple Rock, following the 15 minute track down to the beach - this is one of the stops the Abel Tasman boats make.

Please keep in mind that Nelson is about an hour's drive from Abel Tasman - so if your plan is to stay in Nelson, you're still some distance away.

The drive from Blenheim to Hokitika is well over five hours...without stops. From Nelson it's about 4:45, but that's if you're flat out driving, no stops, no sightseeing.

Absolutely no need (and no reason) to stay in Haast on your way from Franz Josef to Queenstown. You can make this drive in a day if you get an early start - it can take up to seven hours or longer with stops, but staying in Haast is just a waste of time IMO. There's nothing there unless you're exploring one of the nearby walking tracks. That night could be put to better use in Franz Josef.

Only one night in Franz Josef doesn't give you any time to explore the glaciers as you have long drive days on your arrival and departure days. You need at least two nights to even scratch the surface of this area. If seeing the Lake Matheson is the whole point, yes you can do that in your time frame, but that's about all you can do.

And just to whet your appetite about the Abel Tasman area, here are some photos from my latest visit there in Sept:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/melnq8...7647744871925/

Melnq8

Note: Blenheim to Marahau (gateway to Abel Tasman) is just under a three hour drive per this site, which I use for estimating drive times when I plan my own itineraries:

http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/time-...calculator.php

deSchenke

Having read all the replies, although several days after the fact, I'm going to be the contrarian.

If you love the Sav. Blanc and have the ferry booked, I'd do:

Day 1: Wellington to Picton ferry. Stay Blenheim. Do a winery tasting or two.

Day 2: Drive from Blenheim to Punakaiki. This will give you opportunities to check the many short tracks in the area and have more high tide times to see the blowhole at Pancake Rocks.

Day 3: Punakaiki to Fox Glacier

Day 4: Do Lake Matheson walk in the morning, as it is best for calm waters for reflections. Explore glacier/or short walks

Day 5: Normally, I'd say to drive to Wanaka, as it is on the way. But it appears you have a condo or timeshare booked in Q-town, so drive there.

Day 6: Queenstown (Arrowtown & Wanaka day trips today and tomorrow)

Day 7: Queenstown

kathy_from_texas

First of all, a great big thank you to everyone for your wonderful advice. I hope that the following itinerary will make sense.

Day 1 - Early ferry into Picton.

Day 1 & 2 nights --- Motueka

Day 3 & 4 nights --- Franz Joseph

Day 5, 6, 7 nights --- Queenstown

We realize that we will have big drives between the stops, but we are early risers, and that will be a day we start on the road early. If my husband's knee is not better before we leave, we will not need time to do a great deal of hiking!

Songdoc

Have you read my current (ongoing) trip report?

You'll see that I was underwhelmed by Franz Josef--and Lake Matheson had no reflection due to there being a bit of a breeze--but it was still a beautiful walk. Maybe if you've never seen a glacier you might be more impressed. Also, note there is NO way to see the glacier (unless you do a helicopter for an exorbitant fee) without a long, somewhat strenuous walk.

You'll also see that I found Picton to be incredibly beautiful. In it's own way -- just as spectacular as Queenstown. I'd suggest a night in Picton with a boat tour of the sounds.

It would be nice if there were a way to magically get from Motueka to Punakaiki--then to Q'town without driving between ;-).

kathy_from_texas

I have been reading your reports, and I so appreciate all the ideas and input. Two years ago, we were in NZ, spending most of our time on North Island visiting relatives and then taking a 10-night cruise. Loved Akaroa and Doubtful and Dusky Sound. We spent some time in the wine area of Napier. While I wish we had the time to spend a night in Napier, I think that we had to make some choices. Since husband and I are both from California and have spent a lot of time in Napa/Sonoma, we elected to not spend a lot of time in Marlborough/Picton/Blenheim. Like you, I wish there was a way to get from the Nelson area to Queenstown more quickly, but we will make the drive fun, and the stop in Franz Josef area will be at the end of a long drive - thus, the two nights. Having done the glacier trips in Alaska, we aren't going to do that in FJ.

Songdoc

<Like you, I wish there was a way to get from the Nelson area to Queenstown more quickly>

It's called an airplane! hehehe
But ... then you would miss Punakaiki--which was FANTASTIC.

I hope you have a wonderful trip.