Hi All,

Enclosed are is my tentative itinerary for my upcoming adventure in NZ. I am so incredibly excited. What a gift to myself to ring in my 50th birthday!

About Me: Adventure (not extreme), Nature-Loving, Love Hiking and horseback riding. Lady "Flying-Solo". First time driving on left side of road.

Some things are booked, if so I entered "bkd". Have a BBH Hostel Card. Hoping to combine: hostels, farmstay, homestays, & holiday parks.

Traveling: Arrive Auckland New Year's Eve! - Leave Jan. 26th.

1) Night in Auckland, bkd.

2) Night in Auckland, bkd. Hop on/off bus. K.Tarlington’s. Wander, re-coup.

3) Pick up rental car, drive to Tutukaka, Bell Main House, bkd.

4) Dive Poor Knights Island (Dive not booked, do I need to pre-book dive), Stay Bell Main House bkd.

5) Up early want to drive to Waitomo and stay in Waitomo, not bkd. Not sure if the drive is too far in one day. If so, where to stop?

6) Waitomo Caves first thing in a.m. drive and stay in Marokopa Campground, have a campervan bkd. visit Piri caves, marokopa falls on way in or out of area.

7) Drive to Rotorua/Stay Westminster Farmstay. Hopefully Birthday massage/mud.

8) Westminster/Matai Dinner.

9) Wanted to drive Rotorua to Wellington. I think too far for safety. Drive Rotorua toRaetihi then take the Whanganui River Road stay at The Flying Fox.

10)Drive to stay/Wellington Hostel/Cambridge. A couple hrs. at Te Papu Museum.

11) Early ferry crossing/drive/stay Renwick. Sent hostel enquiry. Visit a couple wineries.

12) Drive to/Stay Kaikoura/Dolphin Swim/Sent hostel enquiry.

13) Drive to Arthur's Pass/Stay Hostel/Hike

14) Fox Glacier (options for 1 1/2 days: South Westland Horseback Riding. Chalet Lookout Hike. Walk Lake Matheson. 1/2 day Walk on Fox Glacier.

15) Fox Glacier

16) Drive to/Stay Wanaka (not booked) /Haast Pass/Lunch at Makakrora/Blue Pool walk.

17) Stay 2nd night Wanaka, not booked. Hike Rob Roy Glacier

18) Drive/Stay to TeAnau: Glowworm Trip?

19) EARLY drive to Milford Sound/Stay Milford Lodge/2 1/2 hr. Milford Sound Cruise.

20) Enjoy ride Milford Sound Road, Short hikes along the way. Stay TeAnau

21) Drive to Queenstown (would like to stay in Glenorchy for 2 nights, any ideas where to stay? not finding much.

22) Qnstown/Glenorchy: Within these 2 days: Cable Car, maybe tandem paraglide down. Dart Stables Horseback ride. Hiking/Skipper's Canyon?

23) Drive to/stay at Oamaru try to see Penquins that evening and in the morning.

24) Drive to Mount Cook/2 nights

25) Drive to Stay Christchurch fly out 3:00 p.m. next day.

Opinions? Sorry for typos.

Thank you in advance for your advice!!! Terri

Hi Teri -

Sounds like a great trip. I just skimmed your itinerary, will take a closer look later, but your question about Glenorchy popped out at me.

Suggest you take a look at Kinloch Lodge - it's a bit difficult to get to unless you have a car, but it's worth the effort and very near some great tracks -

www.kinlochlodge.co.nz/

Looks like you have an interesting itinerary lined up for your 50th Terri and hope all goes well, especially ending up like a Mud Cake on the big day!
To more important matters first and
as you're already getting indications of, your biggest hurdle will I suspect be finding accomodation in winging it for January will be somewhat crunch time on South Island time as not only will you have international visitors, you'll have North Islanders as January is main four weeks/annum holiday period, school out for noth NZ and Australia and Australians will head there too seeing as NZ SI particularly has a relatively short summer.

So do follow up on your enquiries and perhaps you may have to opt for something dearer in looking at B&Bs, particularly in more popular areas down around Queenstown.
Have you checked http://www.kinlochlodge.co.nz/ yet?

A plan B or C after B&Bs I'd suggest would be looking either at hiring a Campervan for the SI so if you get stuck not even being able to find a camping ground unpowered site you find a quiet back street or roadside area out of a town a bit, or cheaper than a Campervan would be buying a cheap tent/HD foam mat and sleeping bag and have a look at www.doc.govt.nz for camping/hikes etc.

And you should look into cost of a hire car for say Auckland/Hamilton to Wellington and then do a walk on for ferry and then get another hire on the South Island - that gets done a lot and saves having to book the ferry further in advance for a car crossing - don't do it before you land in NZ though, or you'll pay - http://www.interislander.co.nz/ has more crossings and some very early morning or evening ones and booking a couple of days before should be OK for early mornings and there is also www.bluebridge.co.nz

OK, back to NI and only option which is possibly too late to look at is to save yourself some on car hire or at least the drive and fly Auckland to Whangerei on arrival/or after stay, and then even Whangerei to Hamilton and get a hire car there, as at least http://diving.co.nz/about/location/ will do pick-ups/shuttle from Whangerei and will save you driving through Auckland twice, though at least once you're on the SH1 motorway it is straightforward enough and a nice enough drive - there's a honey place between Orewa and Warkworth - look for notice and sharp pulloff on left - good for a MT and some scrumpious holiday/birthday spoiling.

If you stick with the driving, to miss out on the traffic a bit on way back, at Wellsford look for SH16 for Helensville and that takes you off the main drag and into country straight away on a good road with some great water views when you get up on to a bit of a rise - a pull off there and then it takes you through some nice rural areas to NW of Auckland - you come to a roundabout, turn left and then after about a 1/4 mile or so there's a big T intersection well marked with traffic lights and all at "Massey North" if you have a look on "google earth" and you head down the leg of the T and that is the NW motorway that'll run you into the SH1 motorway just west of Auckland CBD and then a straightforward run all the way to Hamilton and SH3 to Waitomo - easily done in a day and depending on time of leaving up north, stop for lunch before Auckland or somewhere down near Hamilton, and there's a big servo/eats/shops motorway pull off just south of Auckland too.

And as for booking the diving, yes I'd sure do it, especially if you're just planning on the one day there.

And if SI booking starts to look too painful, the North Island also has many lovely areas where you could nearly think you're on another planet with absence of people.

I drove the River Road to Whanganui before it was paved. It was quite narrow, with lots of blind curves. Even if it has been paved, I might think twice about driving it.

Book the YHA at Mt. Cook Village now if you can (you don't need a card, they'll charge a little more per night. If it's sold out, there's a lot of lodging in Twizel but it isn't anywhere as nice. I also LOVED the YHA-affiliated Mountain House (private bedroom in a shared cottage) in Arthur's Pass. Hostelz.com is good for independent reviews and photos.

If you stick with the main highways (1 & 3) which are virtual freeways, you will be able to get to Waitomo in good time. You can use wises.co.nz for driving times and directions.

Forgot to answer the Q about booking the dive trip.

Especially as a single, and if that's your main reason for heading north, at least make contact. They may say it isn't needed but I would call and ask (calling from the States from a land line isn't that expensive, but be sure you know what time it is!)

mlgb
"(calling from the States from a land line isn't that expensive, but be sure you know what time it is!)"

There's an online booking enquiry for the company I linked above.

Bushranger, yes, I know there is internet. However, after planning 6 trips for myself and predominantly staying in small places, I've found that sometimes it's just easier to call and have a conversation, especially if there are multiple questions and it's a mom & pop business. Besides, I love hearing the Kiwi accent.

Good suggestions by mlgb for the YHA in Mt. Cook and Mountain House in Arthur's Pass. I stayed in both of them in January/February 2007 and they were fabulous.

I had a BBH Hostel card while I was in NZ solo for 2 1/2 months and stayed in those hostels almost exclusively. I booked only my first few nights in Auckland, and Christmas in Wellington, in advance. The rest I did not more than 4 days in advance.

In Mt. Cook there is a great cafe with awesome views.

You didn't mention if you have booked already in Wellington. I might suggest the YHA Wellington, which looks like a hotel and has people of all ages staying there, including families. It is literally across the street from Te Papa. I spent all of Christmas Day 2006 in Te Papa and was able to come back to the hostel for lunch and then go back for the afternoon until closing.

I also stayed about 6 days in Wanaka, as kind of a vacation in my vacation. The Rob Roy Glacier hike is outstanding. There are 2 companies, I think, that will do van pick-ups in the morning from wherever you are staying and then come back for you at the car-park at Rob Roy at a certain time. It's more than enough time to hike to the end of the trail and have lunch looking out on the glacier, and walk back.

In Wanaka is one of the coolest movie theaters in the world. It's a small place that has sofas/comfy chairs instead of cinema seats. They also sell fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies at the intermission.

Another thing I enjoyed in Wanaka was walking part of the way around the lake to the Rippon winery for some free tastings. It's about a 30-45-minute walk each way on a clear trail, can't miss it. The view from the vineyard out to the lake is so lovely.

If you will be in Christchurch on a weekend, might I suggest the crafts market at the Arts Center. Very high-quality goods.