I am just beginning to plan a trip to the South Island at the end of December - we'll have just under 2 weeks there. I'm starting my research and reviewing posts on this forum, but if anyone has any approx. 12-day itineraries for the South Is. that worked well in summer, I would greatly appreciate some suggestions. It's hard to know where to start!

Hi CircleK, I'm just starting to plan a trip too and it is overwhelming. So much to see! But I thought I'd pass on a good website I found, in case you haven't seen it.
www.newzealand.com/travel
Then scroll down to "planning your trip" and it lists numerous suggested driving tours. It's a good start.
Good luck with your planning.

Circle,

You can find help with planning your trip from the New Zealand Tourist Board - go to www.purenz.com - click on "Getting to NZ",then "Travel agents", select your country, zip pass the "Disclaimer" and the next screen will say "Specialists". Click on that and you can find a local specialist in your state to help with your planning.

(we're like ships passing in the night - I'll just be leaving the South Island the first 2 weeks of December, and you'll be arriving)!

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Kiwi Specialist

You are going to do a loop that crosses over to the West Coast, goes up (or down) the coast, then returns. The tough part is the decision on how far north you want to go. If you want to go all the way up to Marlborough and Abel Tasman, then you are doing the big loop. Travelers with limited time might be advised to skip the far north and make a smaller loop, crossing over the Southern Alps at Arthurs Pass.

It all depends on how leisurely you want your trip to be, and whether you value Alpine scenery over coastal scenery.

If I had 12 days, I would go:
Christchurch to Mt. Cook (2 days)
Mt. Cook to Queenstown (2 days)
Queenstown to Te Anau (3 days)
Te Anau to Queenstown to Wanaka (1 day)
Wanaka to Haast to Franz Josef (2 days)
Franz Josef to Greymouth to Punakaiki (1 day)
Punakaiki to Greymouth to Arthurs Pass to Christchurch (1 day)

You could shorten the duration of these stops, skip Arthurs Pass, and instead go from Greymouth to Westport to Motueka (and Nelson); then return to Christchurch via Kaikoura.

Tnanks everybody for your help - unfortunately, it turns out we're not going to be able to manage 2 weeks away from work, so we're going to have to do New Zealand another time. We'll get there someday I'm sure - and we'll be asking for more advice! Thanks again.