One month is a good amount of time for both islands. After your week with your relatives, you can spend a little more time on the North Island and then head to the South Island.

Check www.doc.govt.nz for information on treks.

We stayed in hostels a couple of nights when we weren't using hotel passes. Check www.bbh.co.nz and www.yha.co.nz

If you'd like some ideas on how to spend additional time on the North Island, click on my name and you'll find my trip report from 2004.

Lee Ann

With three weeks of vacation left after visiting the relatives you'll be able to cover the main sights on both islands. You need to plan an itinerary either south bound or north bound visiting the sights you would like to see. You will save time by flying one way, either to Queentown/Dunedin or back from one of these cities to Auckland for you international flight (assuming that Auckland is the point of entry/exit to NZ).

You have a few options for travelling around, you can get a pass from Intercity, or travel on a backpacker bus (Kiwi Experience or Magic). I would recommend the former, KE is geared towards the party crowd. Regardless, take a look at the bus passes both companies (KE and Magic) offer and it will give you a good idea of what sights are where and how long it takes to travel from A to B. Be aware there is often only one bus a day in most cases routes so you this will restrict your flexiblity a little.

As for accomodation, I can't be of much help, but look at hostels in NZ.

I have used the long distance buses as a cheap transportation alternative, especially if I decide on itinerary and book in advance at nonrefundable discount rates. I would recommend the Intercity for comfortable trips from A to B, no sightseeing enroute. You can book and be assured of a seat. Some of the others with passes targeted to younger travelers are on "space available" basis, so if the bus arrives and is full, you must wait for the next bus, perhaps another day. But some, like Atomic and Akaroa Shuttle on the SI, you can book as well, just not as comfortable or clean sometimes.

I have also flown between the cities and found widely varying fares depending on the city pair and whether I can catch an advance sale. For example, on my last trip the Queenstown route was very expensive, but about 4-5 years ago I flew from there to AKL at the end of my trip, so I must have found a deal. This time I used Christchurch instead.

I didn't use hostels, though I have seen several recommendations on this board and walked by a couple that looked nice. I met a lady in your age group who was staying at the Mt Cook YH and told me about her experiences in shared dorm rooms--good at Mt Cook; no sleep at the previous place because of too many noisy people and snoring. Some hostels offer private rooms. I did stay in motels with kitchens for less than NZ$100 per night this year. I don't remember food costs.

I enjoyed solo walking at Mt Cook on this trip. Last trip I took a group day trip from Te Anau to the Milford Sound cruise that included a short hike enroute. I also took a penguin tour from Dunedin that included short walks, no hiking.

There are several trip reports on this board about the various treks.

Depending on your interests beyond the trek, you might plan to head south to Waitmo

Suggest reading the TripAdvisor Reviews if you want to try the YHA hostels. Some are VERY noisy, eg the Queenstown YHA. But the private rooms at Mt. Cook are quite good. Also use wotif.com as a resource to see who has hotel rooms on sale.
Check the chain Millenium Copthorne, often have good sales on hotel rooms. Also I do recommend staying in B&Bs, although they seem to be getting more expensive. Two that I've returned to several times
Windsor Hotel, Christchurch
Hulmes Court, Dunedin.

I found some good airfares between city pairs, just depends on where and when you are flying.

A multiday trek you might look into is the HumpRidge Track, especially if you'd like to have your things Helicoptered up hill! www.humpridgetrack.co.nz

I would recommend renting a car for at least part of the trip. Some areas it just takes too much time to catch the one and only bus of the day.

Sorry about the mistakes and drop off on my last post--I got cut off.
I was going to recommend that you follow Justshootme's advice to either fly as far south as you want to go and work back to AKL, or work down via bus/car/plane and then fly back from south for departure.

To get general ideas of routes without knowing more of your interests, I would suggest looking at the typical tourist routes on the Intercity Great Sights list. For example, leave AKL for Waitomo, then Rotorua. Christchurch to Mt Cook to Queenstown, then the west coast and over the pass. They will give you an idea of the distances/travel times and what is at each destination to help you narrow down your plans. Then you can choose whether to fly, drive, or ride between the places you choose.

Thanks very much to those of you who've replied: it's given me some good starting off points and my ideas are starting to form! I shall make a point of avoiding the noisy places mentioned but am certainly up for some YHA accomodation as a cheap option.

YHA hostels are larger, so I could see that they might be a bit noisier than the BBH hostels, which are usually smaller and are independently owned. We stayed in a "chalet" at the Waitomo YHA; they are standalone units, quiet, and comfortable.

Lee Ann

It's not necessarily that the YHAs are larger. Some in fact aren't very large, but can be noisy due to walls and ceilings that transmit sound and poor room locations (such as between bathrooms)(almost all are multistory). Mt. Cook YHA is a newer hostel and the private rooms are on the top floor and are fairly quiet, and even the dorm rooms aren't too bad. A lot of the better rated BBH hostels are either lowrise or solid older construction. One thing I do like about the YHAs is that the kitchens are great (and always clean).

It's all pretty well documented on TA, and the BBH also has a ratings system. Stick with 85% on the BBH website and you should be okay.

Sooo
We are older travellers and travelled two years ago to the North Island of NZ for three weeks. We had an apartment with Oakes Apartments Auckland for 5 days and then hired a car and drove further north to Pahia (great 4 star hostel there) and then returned bypassing Auckland to stay in a dive of a hotel before moving on to Hamilton and Waitomo Caves. We stayed at the YHA hostel there which was reasonable if you got the family room which had an ensuite. Happy to provide the addresses of where we stayed including Wellington and Rotorua. Send me an e-mail.
Regards

The planning is going well - thanks for the advice everyone!
I've decided to walk part of the Abel Tasman coast track and then perhaps kayak and get a boat trip back: has anyone done this?

Not the kayak but the hiking with drop off and pickup is an easy option to arrange, but do check the tide tables ahead.

I did this while staying several nights in Nelson, which has some nice B&Bs. I used the shuttles from Picton to Nelson and then the company that runs the launches can pickup and return from Nelson.

Not sure if I mentioned www.bnb.co.nz which is a good website for finding B&Bs.

I am 50 and recently returned from a month in New Zealand after two months in Australia.My first ever experience of travelling alone and a great success! I strongly recommend Stray over Kiwi Experience or the Magic Bus. I had a brilliant time with a mix of lovely people. I had no problem staying in Hostels - I recommend the BBH guide. It tells it like it is and I discovered some real gems.Have you thought of the Tongarira crossing?