rockleavers

Hi

We are spending 13 nights in New Zealand in early October, flying into Auckland and out of Christchurch. My rough itinerary so far is as follows:

3 nights in Auckland (we arrive late one evening so this would give us two full days in Auckland)
1 night Raglan
1 night Lake Taupo
1 night Napier
2 nights Wellington
2 nights Nelson
1 night Blenheim
1 night Kaikoura
1 night Christchurch

We plan to hire a car to drive between Auckland and Christchurch.

Any thoughts on our suggested itinerary welcome, especially any unrealistic driving days and/or any places listed above worth missing in favour of elsewhere. We would have loved to visit Queenstown but I don't think our time allows for this. We have also heard that Coromandel Peninsula is impressive - is it worth heading there instead of Raglan?

Thank you!

mztery

Raglan was not our favorite and we could have skipped it, as it turns out , but partly because we live in Northern Ca and so surfer/hippie beach towns abound. If that sounds interesting you might want to stop there.
We could have spent more time in Nelson/Blenheim -lovely spots.
I would personally spend more time in Christchurch and support the rebuilding but that's just me,.

ThomasW

Yeah, I would skip Raglan. Spend the extra time in Rotorua or elsewhere. Unless you have must sees in Auckland, I would consider spending one further day there.

I would not list the Coromandel as a must see destination.

ThomasW

That was meant to be one fewer days in Auckland....

golfernz1

Why on earth have you included Raglan, it's a reasonably long and windy road from Hamilton? This itinerary like so many planned around NZ is too ambitious. Sounds like you will be driving all day and not doing much else. Coromandel is also far too ambitious. We might look small but when it comes to driving round you will realise the distances are not small. You need to establish what your interests are and work around that. Then do a search to match up areas with activities you enjoy and concentrate on a smaller number of stops. You've left out both Rotorua and Queenstown, the two main tourist stops and with good reason, they have the most interests. What is the reason to go to Napier, it is also quite a hike from Taupo and from Wellington, if you like wine then pick out one wine destination which could be Nelson/Blenhein area. If you go from Napier you will arrive late afternoon/evening in Wellington. If you drive between Nelson and Kaikoura you do not need to stop in Blenheim, it's a very small town but can drive to it and then on again. What do you plan to see in Christchurch, apart form the fact the city is still sadly badly damaged with only one night you have not given yourselves time to go to Akaroa which is a lovely seaside town with a French heritage, outside of Christchurch. I think you need to lay out a map, and check the driving times and the distances and narrow it down more. Or even considering flying a few stops to save on driving times.

Diamantina

It would be easier for folks on Fodor's forum to advise you if you explained in greater detail what you are most interested in seeing and doing. It seems you want to see cities as much as countryside, and are more interested in coastal scenery than mountains, but rather than guessing, it would be better if you provided more details.

It would be terrible if you came all this way and ended up missing out on what you would most like to see or do. The folks on this forum know NZ so well and are so generous in sharing their knowledge, so please provide more details so they can better help you.

golfernz1 is correct is saying that NZ looks deceptively small.
Mind that most of the roads are not superhighways, but country roads so you can't drive 70 mph or more (at least not so safely), plus part of the pleasure of driving through such a blissfully underpopulated verdant land is being able to stop at places in-between your destinations, to snap photos or to just admire the ambience and views.
http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/td-calculator.php
http://www.accommodationz.co.nz/distances2.html

Again, I don't know what specific interests are, but I think it would be a shame to miss seeing the area around Queenstown. While Queenstown itself is a bustling tourist and leisure town (and sits on the beautiful Lake Wakatipu), it lies at the hub of some of NZ's most dramatic alpine and lacustrine scenery.

rockleavers

Thank you for your feedback on Raglan all.

Golfernz1 - thanks for your comments, I was worried that we would be driving alot; we fly into Auckland and out of Christchurch so my thoughts were that we would drive between the two stopping off at places en route. I thought we would just stop at Rotorua whilst driving between Raglan and Taupo as I have been there before. We left out Queenstown as that really would be too much driving, with the time we have I thought it best to stick to the north of the south island.

Napier was an idea for an overnight stop off as the drive from Taupo to Wellington looked too much for one day, do you have any other suggestions for an overnight stop over to break the journey in that area?

Christchurch was selected mainly because of the flight leaving from there, we thought if we stayed in Kaikoura the night before we could reach Christchurch around lunchtime and then have the rest of that day and until our flight at 7pm the next day to see the city, I will however look at Akaroa as you suggest.

Diamantina - we are a married couple, mid 30s, interested in cities and country. Our visit to NZ is part of a two month trip over to that side of the world (also visiting China, Australia, Bali and Singapore); my husband has not ever been anywhere in Australasia so we wanted to try and see as much as possible in NZ but no absolute 'must dos'. We aren't into any extreme sports (bungee jumping etc) but would like to stay in country / coastal areas with good running paths (we are heading to Melbourne after NZ to run the half marathon there) and also enjoy the city life for good restaurants and bars.

As suggested we will get the map out and have another look, but overall, we need to get from Auckland to Christchurch and we have 13 nights to do it in - I take the point though that it may be better to stop at fewer places and maybe stay 2 nights in each so we have more time to explore the areas.

Thank you again for your help.

mztery

What you are still missing is how much driving this plan entails. Distances may look doable but NZ (thankfully) is slow driving.
http://www.drivingnewzealand.co.nz/

rockleavers

do you think it would be better to fly from Auckland to Wellington and pick up a car there to drive to Christchurch - we would miss out on everything between those two points though...or perhaps train from Auckland to Rotorua and then onto Wellington?

Diamantina

You would certainly save time if you flew from Auckland to Wellington. Then you could just hop on the Interislander ferry and start your car rental in Picton. You don't need a car for Auckland or Wellington.

Unless you have something special to do in Auckland (for instance, a visit to Waiheke Island) then it would probably be best to just spend two nights in Auckland. This gives you just one full day to sightsee (wharf, Auckland War Memorial Museum, etc.). Not to say that Auckland is not worth spending time in, but there is so much else to see of greater variety, and you have less than two weeks to cover it.

As you have been to NZ before, you might already have this info.

In Wellington, you can run along the scenic waterfront road (the street is called Oriental Parade because it sits on Oriental Bay).
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/13533872
Check out the route for the Round the Bays Marathon:
http://www.wellingtonroundthebays.co...p?PageID=23949

If you make it to Napier, you can run on Marine Parade, which is the beachfront street.
http://www.runwalkhb.org.nz/napierhalf/coursemap.html

You don't specifically mention wine tasting, but you listed Napier and Blenheim in your original itinerary. These are leading wine destinations, so I am once again guessing that you would like to go wine tasting. Blenheim is NZ's largest wine region. Napier and surrounds (Hawkes Bay) is the second largest. There is also a significant wine region just an hour's drive from Wellington, Martinborough (Wairarapa), which is world famous for its pinot noir (though they also produce other wonderful wines). You can pass through Martinborough (which is close to Masterton) if you are driving from Napier to Wellington. If you are driving from Kaikoura to Christchurch, you can visit the wineries of the Waipara wine region. There are also wineries around Nelson and around Auckland (one very fine winery, Villa Maria, is close to the airport). The Central Otago wineries are close to Queenstown, but you have already eliminated Queenstown from your itinerary (and so will give Te Anau-Milford Sound-Lake Wanaka a miss).

Apart from running and wine tasting, there's plenty else to do and see in both Wellington and Napier (lots of restaurants).

The highlight of the ferry trip from Wellington to Picton is the passage through beautiful Marlborough Sounds, particularly if the weather is clear and fine. It takes about a half hour to get to Blenheim from Picton, under two hours to get from Blenheim to Nelson.

Here is a website with NZ drive suggestions:
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/get...ing-routes.cfm
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/get...rua-napier.cfm

golfernz1

My major question would be, do you normally drive on the left or right in your own country and if not left then have you had any experience driving on the left? It frightens the daylights out of us locals that tourists rush around the country with little experience of our roads trying to keep to too tight an itinerary. Plus they end up going home exhausted.
You can't train from Auckland to Rotorua as no train goes there anymore and hasn't done for many many years. Forget Raglan it's out on a limb and would take a day to enjoy it properly and you would then be doubling back to Hamilton. As a suggested itinerary:-
1 night in Auckland
Auckland to Rotorua via Cambridge- allow 3 hours driving time without stops so with stops you can still arrive around lunchtime.
2 nights in Rotorua - plenty to see and do
Rotorua to Taupo - 1 hour driving time but suggest visiting Wai-O-Tapu thermal area on the way 2-3 hour stop
1 night in Taupo - Honey centre, prawn farm, trout, scenic lake views to the mountains
2 nights in Napier - wine tasting, art deco city
1 night in Wellington - Waterfront attractions and Te Papa museum
Fly to Nelson or ferry across but leave the car in Wellington and pick up another in Picton
2 nights in Nelson (you can do a loop with Blenheim in a day)
Fly to Queenstown
2 nights in Queenstown - wineries, lake cruises, Arrowtown
1 night in Mt Cook - Mountain and lake scenery, walks
2 nights in Christchurch - visit Akaroa
To get the most out of this you will need to make some early starts on driving days to allow time for leisurely stops but well worth it.

rockleavers

Thanks for your tips and don't worry golfernz1 - we're British so used to the left hand driving and I am from the countryside to used to country roads and the slower speeds required.

Thank you for the suggest run routes Diamantina - they will be great and you're right - we are interested in wine tasting!