dmct

I'm planning a one month trip to New Zealand Oct 15 - Nov 14, 2015 and thinking of spending 8 nights on the north island. Definite stops are:

Auckland 1 night
Rotorua 2 nights
Napier 1 night
Wellington 2 nights then ferry to South Island for 3 weeks

Other thoughts for 1 or 2 more nights are Caromandel Penninsula, Gisborne or Martinborough. I would appreciate input on these areas or suggestions for other nice areas to visit. We are interested in natural beauty and towns with good atmosphere and interesting restaurants & pubs. Or should we add 2 days to South Island itinerary. All that we have booked right now are flights, so we are flexible with itinerary.
Thanks

Melnq8

We really enjoyed our three night stay in Martinborough - it's a town of about 1,300 and the main emphasis is wine, pinot noir in particular. There are some surprisingly good restaurants in the area. Martinborough is an easy drive from Wellington.

My trip report from our visit to Martinborough (and Wellington)can be found here, might give you a few ideas:

http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...ew-zealand.cfm

annhig

it's quite a long way to Napier just for a night; it's at least 3 hours from Rotorua without stops, and the next day to get to Wellington you'll need to leave by midday -ish, so you'll really only have 24 hours there.

We had 2 nights there and we could easily have managed another.

if you do decide to go, do go and see the gannet colony at Cape kidnappers - it was one of the highlights of our trip.

We also loved the Coromandel and really wished that we'd had longer there too.

As you have month in NZ, I would seriously consider giving yourselves a few more nights on the north; you could do the following: [dropping Auckland if you have an early arrival]

Auckland - 1 night
Coromandel - 2 nights
Rotorua - 2 nights
Napier - 2 nights
Wellington -2 nights

that still gives you 20 nights in the south - no time there is ever enough but it's still a decent amount of time to spend there.

kcdig

We love New Zealand and are planning our 3rd trip now (also for October). While the South Island is our favorite, there are some places in the North Island that I can't imagine Not Visiting.

Martinborough: the wine there is among the best in the country. The Pinot Noir is a luscious blend of old and new world styles. Also, it is nearly unavailable here in Austin. The town is small and charming. We camped 6 years ago.

Waikiti: The hot springs there are exceptional. We camped there and drove into to Rotorua, about 11km as I recall.

Wiatomo: The glow worm caves are a once-in-a-lifetime event... that we will repeat. Floating, in perfect silence down the river with tens-of-thousands of glow worms above you is like floating through galaxies.

The last time we expected to spend time in Aukland and go up the peninsula, but the weather was such that we opted to go south after a single night. Weather can be very "iffy" this time of year.

The first time we went down the west coast of the South Island. This past time we went to Oamaru on the east coast. I loved it. Also, as an (pleasant) alternative to Queenstown, we went to Wanaka, just a bit north. I wouldn't miss Queenstown, but Wanaka is an excellent next-stop.

I don't know how you're traveling or your preferred style, but we rented a camper, which we'll do again. It provided flexibility and we didn't have to pack/unpack every location. Another option, beside motels and RVs are staying at cabins in parks. Each park will have some sort of sleeping-with-walls options. Also every park has a kitchen with some basic supplies. In October you shouldn't have to worry about finding space. The parks we stayed in were less than 1/2 full. We prefer not to have too much planned, to remain open what mood, weather and other events. So the RV or staying in campgrounds suits us.

tasmangirl

Give Gisborne a miss...I am not knocking it but it's a long way off the tourist destinations.
You can visit Hobbiton (if you are LOTR fans) if you go to Rotorua via Matamata.
For the Coromandel have a look at www.seabreezeholidaypark.co.nz - it's not beachfront but is a good base for the area. Hot Water Beach is about 10 minutes drive so you can look at the tide times and plan your visit.
Whitianga is about 30 minutes away or you can drive to Ferry Landing, park your car there and visit Whitianga by ferry.
If you like hot pools visit www.thelostspring.co.nz in Whitianga. Over 18's only luxury thermal pools so you never get splashed.
Monday 26 October is a national public holiday - Labour Day so book any accommodation in advance. We like to go away for this long weekend as it's been a long time since our last holiday in June.
Have a lovely holiday here in NZ!

dmct

Thank you for the input. I am now thinking of skipping Auckland. We are spending 3 nights in Sydney before flying to NZ so will be ready to get out into the countryside.

Arrive at AKL at 2:00pm for 8 nights

1 Thames or Coromandel (which do you recommend?)
2 Whangamata (or other fun town?)
3-4 Rotorua
5-6 Napier or Martinborough
7-8 Wellington then ferry to South Island

We have enjoyed renting RVs in the past, but my husband would rather drive a small car.
Thanks again

annhig

dmct - I've never been to Whangamata, but we did stay in a terrific B&B in Thames, so what I would do [based entirely on our limited experience] is to drive straight to Thames from Auckland [will take a couple of hours or so] stay there for 2 nights, and use the next day to explore the Coromandel peninsular, including Whangamata if you've got time.

Then move onto Rotorua the next day.

we found that driving in the NI was very hard work [and we 're brits so we are used to driving on the left] and "one night stands" make that worse.

Napier was nice and seeing the gannet colony there was one of the highlights of our trip.