Wow, four months in New Zealand! Sounds lovely.

What are your interests? What do you plan to do while you're in NZ?

Lee Ann

Which island?

Hi, Thanks for your replies. We are retired and warm weather is our first priority, so it doesn't matter which island we would use as our base. We enjoy learning about the culture ,finding neat restaurants and traveling around to just enjoy the country and the people. Given that, where would you think the best weather would be during those months?

The North Island generally has warmer weather than the south. Wellington might be an option, unless you're into big cities, in which case Auckland is the obvious choice.

The tip of the South Island also has warmer weather than the rest of the SI.

If it were me, I'd go for someplace like Nelson, but it's a long way from the best of the SI, IMO, which is much further south. Nelson boats the most sunshine hours on the South Island.

Would you be making day trips, multi-day drives, or flights to other parts of New Zealand from your base? Would you be buying or renting a car, or using public transit to get around? Would your base mainly be a place to park your stuff and receive your mail, and catch your breath and rest between trips?

Have you considered renting a camper van for the first month to first two months of your trip to tour around both islands and then, after having visited different areas, settling down in an apartment in one place for the rest of your stay?

November, Dec ember and first couple weeks of January weather can be variable. Good weather really kicks in mid January and February to March.

Remember, when you're on holiday, weather is an attitude and not reality. If you let weather ruin a holiday, you won't enjoy life to the fullest.

Auckland will generally be warmer than Wellington. A good base to look at the Noth Island, and good base to get cheap flights to Christchurch to visit the South Island.

Wellington is say 4 to 8 degrees C cooler than Auckland.