8 day South Island Itinerary - About to book, Please comment
 

Hi all,

Here is what we have finally settled on, but before we book flights, I want to run this by the experts. Please provide some much needed feedback. Thank you in advance!

When looking at this, note that before coming to New Zealand, we are spending 2.5 days in Cairns, 6 in Syndey and 2.5 in Melbourne, so we will get a lot of city/culture before coming to NZ. Because of this, we really want to see the natural beauty of NZ. Do you think it's better to fly or drive from Queenstown to Christchurch? Is it a scenic drive that we could do at a leisurely pace? My husband prefers to fly, but it's going to cost a bit more, and we'll be on a plane for a long time on the way back, so I am hesitant.

Jan 5 - Arrive at late night to Christchurch, pick up rental car, Overnight: Christchurch

Jan 6 - Drive to Wanaka, Overnight: Wanaka

Jan 7 - Exolore Wanaka, Drive to Te Anau, Do glow worm caves, Overnight: Te Anau

Jan 8 - Milford Sound day cruise, Overnight: Te Anau

Jan 9 - Drive to Queenstown, Overnight: Queenstown

Jan 10 - Explore Queenstown, Overnight: Queenstown

Jan 11 - Fly (or drive)?? to Christchurch, Overnight: Christchurch

Jan 12 - Explore Christchurch, Overnight: Christchurch

Jan 13 - Fly back to NYC

Actually, sorry don't hate me -- We found a flight from Melbourne to Queenstown, which changes everything because now we don't have to do a start/end in Christchurch.

Note that we'd start a day later, but we'd save on driving ultimately. My main questions here are: (1) Which itinerary do you like better, this or the one in the first post and (2) Should we make Queenstown our base for exploring Te Anau and Milford Sound, or switch to a hotel in Te Anau for 2 nights?

Jan 6 - Arrive at afternoon/evening to Queenstown, Overnight: Queenstown

Jan 7 - Explore Queenstown, Overnight: Queenstown

Jan 8 - Drive to Te Anau, see glow worms, explore, Overnight: Te Anau or Queenstown?

Jan 9 - Milford Sound day cruise, Overnight: Te Anau or Queenstown?

Jan 10 - Drive to Wanaka, Overnight: Wanaka

Jan 11 - Explore Wanaka more, drive to Christchurch, Overnight: Christchurch

Jan 12 - Explore Christchurch, Overnight: Christchurch

Jan 13 - Fly back to NYC

One more question - should we stay in Wanaka or Mt. Cook on our way to Christchurch? Unfortunately, we can only do one because of time constraints.

Or I guess I should ask, when we leave Te Anau -- is it better to stay in Wanaka overnight and then stop at Mt. Cook the next day on our way to Chch OR just stop at Wanaka, and continue on to Mt. Cook and stay there overnight?

We only have one night.

Given your time constraints, Suzy, I would suggest that you:
- Overnight in Te Anau on Jan 8 and 9 (no point in driving back to Queenstown).
- Head away from Wanaka on the morning of Jan 11 and drive in to Mt Cook. Try to do the Glacier Explorer boat trip on Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake. You won't regret it. Overnight at Mt Cook.
- Drive up to Christchurch on Jan 12.

This will limit your time in Christchurch but, nice as it is, it is just another city.

Rob.

kiwi_rob, I thought about doing 1 night each in Wanaka, Mt. Cook and Chch, but 3 one night stays in a row and then a 22 hour journey home would be way too much for us. If you had to pick between overnighting in Wanaka or Mt. Cook, what would you suggest?

Would it be a good compromise to stay in Wanaka on the 10th, leave for Mt. Cook on the 11th, explore surroundings, but not stay there overnight? We can just continue into ChCh even if we get there late at night. Thoughts?

You could certainly do that on the 11th, Suzy. It would be a longish day, but it is possible. You will have plenty of daylight hours.

Thanks a lot!