You don't need any time in Christchurch itself. It's a city--and you're going to NZ for the breathtaking scenery.

My vote: don't miss Abel Tasman. It's absolutely gorgeous. There are no roads inside the park You take a water taxi to drop-off points and hike to another p/u spot. I liked it enough that I returned on a subsequent trip to NZ. I think you've got enough time with 14 days.

You can't see it all in 14 days, but you're going to love it whatever you do.

It's very difficult to see the best of NZ using the home base concept, as attractions are well scattered and distances are much further than they appear on a map.

I suggest you rent a car and make a loop, beginning in Christchurch and ending in Christchurch. The best way to incorporate both the West Coast and the inland route (Mt Cook, Tekapo) is to make a driving loop. These routes are separated by a mountain range, so there's quite a bit of diving involved.

Something like this: Christchurch-Arthur's Pass-Greymouth-Hokitika-Glaciers-Wanaka-Te Anau-Queenstown-Mt Cook-Lake Tekapo-Christchurch.

I'd suggest stays in Franz Josef or Fox Glacier, Wanaka, Te Anau, Queenstown and possibly Mt Cook, although it's quite possible to drive from Queenstown to Christchurch via Mt Cook in a very long day.

How many days on the ground will you have for the South Island?

What time of year are you planning to visit?

Take a look at indiancouple's trip report. They managed to pack a lot in.

I agree about skipping Chistchurch. You may consider flying into Queenstown, where you can skip a car for a few days). Queenstown works as a base for several excursions if you prefer not to drive. Don't miss Glenorchy, Skippers, Milford Sound, Dart Valley, Arrowtown.. I like Mt. Cook side over the west coast glaciers. Hooker Valley is a nice hike. You might also like one or both ends of the Routeburn.

Be prepared for sticker shock. I would try to book lodging with a kitchen if you dont mind cooking on vacation, or make use of the deli sections in supermarkets.

If you want to see the varied areas of the South Island, I would just get a rental car and do a self drive through the countryside. It is so nice to stop and see things and not worry about time ,schedules,etc.Your car becomes your carry all for those souvenirs,groceries,suitcases you don't want to bring into your hotel for the night,etc.

How about flying into Wellington NI from Australia, then take the Islander ferry across the straits to Picton and pickup your car there? It is a lovely 3 hour ride through the picturesque straits from the North to the South Island. From there stop for lunch in Blenheim(wine country) and continue your gorgeous coast driving down to Kaikoura for a couple nights?
Kaikoura is gorgeous!It is where the mountains come down to the sea.Think Big Sur in California and because the two different ocean currents meet there, there is amazing marine life in that area. Numerous seal reserves along with a wonderfully well run and informative Maori Whale Watch that is well worth going on.

From there go to Christchurch(where I feel that you should stay for at least one night) and do the Red zone tour of the earthquake area(unbelievable,the way things are even two years later),the shopping area made from the ruins and shipping containers downtown along with the Christchurch museum (the Antarctica exhibit is the best!) and then head out to Mt. Cook and then down to Queenstown and Milford Sound. If driving back, then head over to Oamaru on the coast for a night to see the blue penguins and yellow penguins coming out on their nightly sojurn which is amazing and quite funny before heading back to Christchurch to leave?

Do look at the brand new (as of December 2012), Aoraki Mt. Cook Motor Lodge in Mt. Cook village. Every unit has a private patio with kitchenette,whirlpool along with views of the mountains and glaciers that will make you want to sit with a glass of wine or coffee and just gasp!The beds are super comfy and every imaginable utensil you would ever need is in the unit for cooking. Just buy your groceries before you get to Mt Cook as the selection isn't that great and more expensive! Check it out on Booking.com or Tripadvisor.com for the fabulous reviews!
My daughter and I just did both islands at the end of January and February in 16 days so you will have enough time for one island. Have fun-its a wonderful place to visit but expensive!

Australia is even more shocking price-wise Barbara, so going to OZ first might make NZ prices considerably less painful.

Even Switzerland seems like good value after living in OZ for a few years

wow I am blown away by the thought of the expense. I really thought aside from tours (which it seems they have for every sight--and are pricy-) that lodging and food would not be that bad. I have looked into vacation by owner and renting in some places apts so we can cook and trying to keep it under 150 per night which has not been difficult to find so far. we don't mind cooking and do a lot of timeshares for that purpose so we are used to it.
On to the the schedule.. the reason I was thinking to drive less was more that when you are the driver (which is my H) its much harder to taking in the scenery as you need to focus on the road I thought it would be more relaxing for him if where we could we bused it to-from. In some cases we can do tours but we will be on a budget so some things we will have to do on our own. So that was my hope to get to a particular area and then rent a car.. do day trips not that far drop the car and take the bus to the next major area to explore.. so we were thinking of flying into Christ Church rent a car and explore the surrounding area for a few days (check out the banks peninsula and akaroa then...moving west via the trans alpine then renting a car to go south to Fox and franz josef glaciers area.. but there is where my planning stopped because i was unsure if we would be better off going to Queenstown and then renting a car and doing the glaciers and mt cook from there
We were also interested in Milford sound which is in that area so that is what I meant by a home base.. but it seems its better to just drive to a sight explore and move on to the next one trying to do it in some circular fashion.. which would make sense if we wanted to hit Dunedin and Otago peninsula. 13 days will go fast
Also would like to hit Fiordland and Te Anau--oh so much New Zealand so little time
So wherever we can cut out driving we will as it seems buses go everywhere and then where we need to rent we will. MY H just does not want to spend the entire trip driving..
I will look at all your suggestions and the inidancouples trip report and if you all have any other thoughts on what I just said please say so.. we are not into extreme sports but like moderate day hikes.. do want to do a helihike...and photograph all the beautiful scenery and wildlife..
Thanks again for your time with all the tips

In Queenstown we took a "Nomads Tour" (with Fran) in a small van, and I was VERY glad I wasn't driving. It was in June and there was ice on some of the winding, twisting canyon roads. The sights were spectacular--and it was a perfect way to see them. From Queenstown we also took a bus tour to Milford Sound. There were several gorgeous stops along the way for photographs (Mirror Lakes was a highlight). So some bus tours are doable.

But on my upcoming return trip I'll drive from Queenstown to Christchurch (thanks Melnq8 !!!) because I do want the flexibility of walking and photographing where I want--and waking up in these beautiful spots.

Re: the costs ... remember that if you're coming from the US you can buy a NZ dollar for 84 cents -- so everything is 16% less than it seems. I'm not finding NZ prices to be high. But with an Aussie dollar costing us $1.04 ... OUCH.

Not that many years ago the NZ dollar cost around 60 cents and the AUD less than 80 cents US. We stayed at some great places!!

OK update --reading more and looking at the map we are looking at two possible routes..
Fly into CC
1.CC Banks/Akaroa
2.CC cc Lyttleton/ cc volcano area
3.Transalpine train to Greymouth then get car and drive to Fox or Franz
4 Glacier day (do we need more than one??)
5 Mt Cook
6.Wanaka
7.Queenstown (not sure how many days to stay here yet)
8. Te Anau (glow worms)
9. Milford sound
10 bus to dunedin
11.Otago/
12. bus back up to CC
13 fly to sydney

seems like a lot to pack in and not sure if we are doing justice time wise to the places I have listed.
Th alternative would be to eliminate the trip to Dunedin/Otago and loop back to CC and to just stay in the Queenstown area and spend more time there and fiordland then fly out of Queenstown to Sydney

I really need to make the decision on where to fly in and out of very soon because I see flights are already booking up for jan/feb when we will be going.

Again any thoughts would help on this as I really don't know how long we need in some of these places and we may need to cut out some items.. we really want to do the Tranzalpine train though so keeping that in mind.. also authors pass.. is it better to hang out there for 4 hrs or just pass through..as that will eat up half a day.
ok sorry for all the questions but we are getting a bit closer to having some sense of what to do..

Yo need to look at a map (Google Maps works)...there isn't a road that goes from the Franz/Fox glaciers over the mountains to Mt. Cook. That is why people do a loop. The next closest town after Franz/Fox is Wanaka.

You are trying to see too much in 13 days.

ok good to know.. I do have a map but I think need a better one thanks
Looking at someone elses trip report they did quite a bit of what we are thinking of doing in a short period of time but if I did the alternate route and eliminated dunedin and just stayed in the Queenstown area which would give us more flexibility to really see that area.. but it seemed to me that we could fit Dunedin in there --other thoughts??
Fly in to CC
1.CC Banks/Akaroa
2.CC cc Lyttleton/ cc volcano area
3.Transalpine train to Greymouth then get car and drive to Fox or Franz
4-5 Glacier area 2 days
6 Wanaka
7. Mt Cook
8. Te Anau (glow worms?)
9 Milford sound
10 Hikes
11-12-13.Queenstown
14 Fly back to OZ
we would then have 3 1/2 days in Sydney before our trip back to NY

<but it seems its better to just drive to a sight explore and move on to the next one trying to do it in some circular fashion..>ABSOLUTELY.

It's also much cheaper to rent a car and keep it for the entire trip than it is to pick up one rental, drop it off, pick up a second rental a few days later, etc. Not to mention the time/effort/transportation involved in picking up cars in different areas - this eats into precious vacation time and will cost more in the long run.

Don't underestimate the travel time.

Lylleton to Franz Josef takes 5.5 hours (w/o stops)
- and that's driving. If you're taking the Tranz Alpine, it'll take longer as you'll be on their schedule. How do you plan to get from Lylleton to the Trans Alpine depot - by bus?

Mt Cook to Te Anau takes about six hours (w/o stops)

It takes about ~5 hours to drive from the glaciers to Wanaka (lots of reasons to stop en route), so by only staying one night, you'll not have time to do much (such as walks in Mt Aspiring Nat'l park, but you'll have time to see the lake and Wanaka town).

Having said that, I think your latest itinerary is a big improvement over your first one and will give you a good taste of what the SI has to offer.

ok we are getting closer it seems to a better route;.sorry I was not clear.. our thought was in CC to do day trips to lyttleton so would be staying in CC for two or three nights.. depending on where we feel we need to cut.
The Tranzalpine will get us to Greymouth mid day and then getting a car from there and driving down to Fox should get us there by evening so we can get an early start the next day.
We are early risers so if we are driving and get an early start then we should get to Wanaka with a half day to hike and then a half day the next morning.. then onto Queenstown.. I know I cannot do it all but at least this gives us some of the highlights. I was sorry to cut out Dunedin and Able Tasman but life is choices
I will check out rates for car rentals and see .. some say free drop off no additional costs.. so need to check that.

Just keep in mind that the hikes in Mt Aspiring are a good hour's drive from Wanaka. There are hikes right in town though, like to Mt Iron and along the Clutha River.

Sounds like a good plan.

Don't know if this would work for you but I got a MUCH lower rate renting an older car from JUCY for a one-way rental Queenstown to Christchurch. Saved more than $200 over other quotes. The category I chose features cars that are 2005 and newer. There are even lower rates for older models, but I figured that was old enough, considering it will get quite a work out.

But the petrol still costs as much--and it's VERY expensive.

APEX offers older cars too. They're particularly handy for those unfamiliar with driving on the left, because they've already been bumped and bruised.

Trying to do a mix of driving and public transit where it may make sense but need to investigate that further..There are some routes where i want my H to see what is going by around him rather than having to focus on the road... so we will to the tranzalpine to get west and take a tour to Milford.. those routes that are particularly scenic.. although I realize just about everywhere in NZ is scenic
I will check out out JUCY and APEX and compare --good to know ..my H knows how to drive on the left he has done it before so I think will adjust.. he has driven when we visit Barbados.. are the cars steering wheel on the left as well.. that is the funny part.. you start pushing the windshild wiper when you want to signal rt or left

I plan to work this schedule a bit more and post one more time as we are still trying to figure out how to get Mt Cook in whithout having to do a loop back to CC and with also doing the tranzalpine train west once we get to Greymouth we would like to travel south hitting all the main sights but since there is no road from Fox and Franz to mt cook it seems the only way to get there is from Wanaka or Queenstown.. any thoughts on how we can do Mt cook without the loop back to CC would be appreciated

<are the cars steering wheel on the left as well..>

No, they're opposite of the US - on the right if you're sitting in the car.

Only one road into and out of Mt Cook - SH 80, which you turn off of from SH 8 coming/going to/from Lake Tekapo from the north or Twizel/Omarama/Lindis Pass from the south.

You could look into doing it as a day trip from Wanaka, but it's a long day as about three hours each way.

I might have mentioned this before, but you can drive from Wanaka or QT to Christchurch via the inland route (Mt Cook, Tekapo) in a day. We've done this many times. It prevents backtracking, but won't help you if you're flying out of QT.

It's good to know that drive can be done in one long day. We're going to spend two nights in Queenstown, a night at Mt. Cook, and an additional night at Lake Tekapo, en route to Christchurch.

With our trip being in June, we wanted to build in some extra time in case we hit bad weather. And ... being a photography nut, a "2-hour drive" can easily take me 8 hours!

I'm really excited about the trip now--thanks to Melnq8's suggestion!

For those not wanting to rent a car for their entire trip, sometimes the relocation specials that Avis and others offer (mostly during off season) can work out.

Go to www.Avis.co.nz, click "Deals" and see if any are on offer.

Typically the deals are offered for airport to city office relocations, and in travel direction from south to north (eg Queenstown to Christchurch or Wellington to Auckland.)

<being a photography nut, a "2-hour drive" can easily take me 8 hours!>

Tell me about it. I'm finally getting around to finishing up my trip report from last June and without exception, our estimated travel time doubled or trebled on every single drive day. Pretty amazing considering how many bad photography days we had (weather-wise).

OK my final (I hope) revised route based on suggestions..
I am dropping one day from CChurch and adding that in so I can do the route back up to mt cook and have some time there
so here is how it stands now .. tell me if this is better
1.Fly into CC (late afternoon explore)
2 Day 2 in CC travel to Banks Penn and explore
3 Tranzalpine train to Greymouth then drive to Franz J.
4. Franz and Fox
5. Franz and Fox (helihike)
6. Drive in AM to Wanaka
7. Wanka-- hikes in Mt Aspiring
8. Wanka to Mt Cook
9. Mt Cook
10. Drivein AM to Te Anau (4hrs?)
11. Te Anau Milford Sound
12. Queenstown
13. Queenstown
14. Queenstown
15. Flight to Sydney
We figure if the weather is bad when in te Anau and we are unable to do Milford the days we are there that we can always do it from QUeenstown although farther.. this is one tour we will be doing instead of driving.
I have not planned out all the suggested side trips just yet but just the basics.. Is this better?

The drive from Mt Cook to Te Anau is over six hours, but certainly doable if you get an early start.

Looks good though.

What time of year are you going again?

When I googled it and it had said 4 hrs and 58 mins I missed the 58 mins so not so far off from what you said. Perhaps there is a mid way point that would be worth a stopover then just get out early the next day..perhaps split up wanaka.. and do one day there then drive to mt cook and do the second wanaka day on the way back..less driving in one day. I guess i will have to read up some more and plan it all out now that we have decided on a general itinerary as I had to buy my tickets.. I have them now so committed to a start in Queenstown and end in CC.. could not get reasonably priced tickets going the other way.. so doing the plan above but in reverse

This is the travel distance calculator I use when I plan my NZ trips. I've found it to be pretty accurate.

http://www.newzealand.com/travel/getting-to-around-nz/travel-times-and-distances/travel-times-and-distances-home.cfm

I guess you could split up the drive, but I don't really see the point, as six hours is no drama. Packing, unpacking, checking into/out of different accommodation is more hassle than it's worth. I find one night stays disruptive, as it's difficult to do much on arrival and departure days. I much prefer to settle in and have a few entire days dedicated to a particular area, but that's just me.

If you split up Wanaka, you'll miss out on your full hiking day.

There is so much to see along that route, and so many pictures to take, that I could never do it in the listed time.

You could overnight in Wanaka, Queenstown or Arrowtown if you aren't pressed for time.

Don't miss Abel Tasman I am sure you will definitely have truly memorable experience Abel Tasman National Park is spectacular and must to see when you are in New Zealand

ok will need to continue narrowing down --
When I went to get my tickets to NZ from Melbourne so many of the cheaper flights were sold out and there was not alot left.. so we had to revise and fly into Queenstown and then fly out of CC.. so doing the trip in reverse
The Tranzalpine is reported to be amazing snd also will give my H a break from all that driving so we really want to do it but someone said that only half of the trip is worth it. Any thoughts on that??
Ella.. I know what you are saying about Able Tasman but with the amount of time we have it just is too much.. I need three weeks in NZ to do that and that is just not possible with all else we are doing..
MLGB --I am sure I will miss many things in the amount of time we have but want to be sure to see the top things and so will do our best. Not sure what you mean by overnighting in Arrowtown, Queenstown or Wanaka.. we are overnighting in Both Queenstown and Wanaka

"Only one road into and out of Mt Cook - SH 80, which you turn off of from SH 8 coming/going to/from Lake Tekapo from the north or Twizel/Omarama/Lindis Pass from the south.

You could look into doing it as a day trip from Wanaka, but it's a long day as about three hours each way."

What if we cut out going to Greymouth.. and just drove to Authurs pass and then got the train from there to CC would we be missing a good part of the trainride?

sorry my last post is confusing.. I was mixing up my questions.. someone mentioned doing the route to Mt Cook that you mentioned and continuing on to Authurs pass via Lindis Pass and so I am wondering if we could still fit in part of the train ride or would it defeat the purpose of what is supposed to be one of the best train rides in the world

You can't leave the car in Arthur's Pass, will need to return it to Christchurch. Arthur's Pass isn't big enough to have a car rental depot!

I don't think that is one of the finest train rides in the world, personally. Maybe the finest in NZ?

bmk

yes I figured that.. but I am looking into public transit options as well.. I am covering all bases.. but now we think that we may go to Mt Cook and instead of going back south to Wanaka to then go up to Franz J.. we may just go from Mt Cook to CChurch.. drop the car,do the Tranzalpine rent a car in greymouth drive down to the glaciers do that for two days drive back to greymouth, drop the car and take the train back to CC spend our last day in CC.. visiting Banks Pen and Akaroa.. there is public transit to there or we may rent a car for the day..
It really is no difference in terms of time either way but less driving for the H and that is one of my goals.. THanks

BTW what does BMK mean?

Bmk means bookmark I think.

I would not backtrack. It is just the same to continue down south along the west coast, to Wanaka or Queenstown, and drop the car there.

There are several bus shuttle companies that cover the South Island. They do a good job of providing connecting services, but usually run just once or maybe twice a day. I've occasionally used them to get back to Christchurch.

I am not sure I follow you Mlgb? RIght now the plan is to fly into Queenstown, then Te Anau, Wanaka, Mt Cook, CC--drop off the car, Tranzalpine west--Franz J then back to CC and fly out of CC.. not sure how I can drop the car off in QT or Wanaka as i will still need it-

I couldn't figure out why would you not do a loop, from Christchurch across Arthur's Pass, down the west coast via the glaciers, to Wanaka or Queenstown, then back up via Mt. Cook to Christchurch.

Barbara -

Most people make a loop as it just makes logistic sense. As you're flying into QT and out of Christchurch, you'll need to either choose between the West Coast or Mt Cook as they're entirely different routes, or do Mt Cook as a day trip from say, Wanaka.

The Tranz Alpine isn't anywhere near the 'finest train ride in the world', not by a long stretch. I personally think the drive across Arthur's Pass is much prettier than the train ride. The drive from Christchurch to Greymouth only takes about 3.5 hours, so you won't be saving spouse from much driving anyway, and doubling back is going to eat into your time, not to mention the cost of breaking up a car rental, which will be more expensive.

I'm confused about your new plans...perhaps it'd be more clear if you posted an updated itinerary.

Thank you for your patience with me on this route selection.

Re: "I couldn't figure out why would you not do a loop, from Christchurch across Arthur's Pass, down the west coast via the glaciers, to Wanaka or Queenstown, then back up via Mt. Cook to Christchurch."

When we finally went to book tickets we could not get tickets to do a loop that were affordable as most were sold out..and I could not get tickets on the days we were coming and going into CC sooo we decided to fly into Queenstown and Leave from CC and since I now have my tickets for better or worse that is what we are working with.
I would not do Mt Cook as a day trip from Wananka as it would be way too much driving. Some people love to drive. My H does not so I promised I would keep long drives to a minimum and have managed to do that.
My new itinerary is
Day 1 Fly into Queenstown (gondola ride explore the city) only have late afternoon


Day 2 Queenstown (Visit Glenorchy)


Day 3 Queenstown (undecided day)


Day 4 Te Anau -early drive to Te Anau-(undecided day)


Day 5 Te Anau- Milford sound full day tour


Day 6 Wanaka- early drive to Wanaka (undecided day)


Day 7 Wanaka Hike in Mt Aspiring


Day 8 Drive to Mt Cook- (undecided day)


Day 9 Mt Cook -Glacier Explorer Tour -not sure what else yet


Day 10 Early or late Drive to Christchurch depending on where we want to spend this day (unplanned thus far) DROP OFF CAR


Day 11 Early Tranzalpine train to Greymouth --pu car and head to Franz Josef explore late afternoon


Day 12 Day Hike Fox Glacier


Day 13 Mid day train back to CC


Day 14 Christchurch Full day trip to Banks and Akaroa


Day 15 Flight does not leave till 5PM so we have some time in town before we head to Sydney

Have you considered driving back from Fox to Christchurch instead of taking the train both ways? It would give you a different view of Arthur's Pass and be less redundant than taking the train both ways. It'd also save you having to collect yet another rental when you got to Christchurch, saving time, unless you're planning to take a tour or bus.

Have you done the math on these separate car rentals?

Or have you considered not going to the west coast glaciers at all? Especially if you don't like to drive. You can see glaciers inside Mt. Cook park, if you drive between the Queenstown region and Christchurch.

The Hooker Valley walk is interesting.

If you do decide to drive between Queenstown and Christchurch I think the route is much more scenic. There is quite a lot of lodging in Methven since it's a ski resort in season. One of my best lodging luck-outs ever, got an entire house to myself for a few nights for a single-bed rate of $20 a night. I just happened to be driving by and the two ladies that managed it were out front. I promised not to mess up anything other than my own bed.

There are some cute little cottages in Arthur's Pass that can be rented. It used to be that they would split up the cottages and just rent out the bedrooms, but now I think you have to rent the entire cottage.

http://www.trampers.co.nz/

I notice that there is a word missing in the above posting.

The inland route is more scenic bet. Q'town and Chch. It's the one that gets labled Windwhistle or Rakaia Gorge scenic highway.
A combination of 77 and 79.

If you run out of time the main highway 1 connecting near Geraldine is faster, though.