njwanderer

Hello! Is it a bad idea to do a 10 day trip in NZ with our son (who will then be six months old)?

We live in Singapore and want to do a trip in North Island (we spent 10 days in the South island a couple of years back). Here are our concerns:

1) This will be our first trip with the baby and we are worried about the jet lag (or should we not worry too much because the time difference is 4 hours and our son will be able to cope??) Should we be looking at other places where the time difference is lesser instead?

2) How many places should we be looking at doing given we are traveling with an infant? What places would you recommend?

3) Will the weather be too cold or rainy in September? (to give a sense - anything like 10-12C should be ok, as long as it is not rainy)

We are worried and confused to say the least...any advice will be of great help!!
Thanks!!

Bushranger

They do not call New Zealand the land of the long white cloud for no reason, some Kiwis possibly thinking that they're having a drought if they go two weeks without rain.

So no guarantees about what to expect and spring usually has wet weather.
Temperature wise it should not be too bad, particularly in region north of Auckland and also around on Cormandel Peninsula, Bay of plenty and East Cape and east coast.

I wouldn't bother setting yourself targets at all and you will not have difficulty getting accommodation as you go, though it may be better to look at booking something for 4-5 days up around Bay of Islands and doing some day trips and then taking a couple of days to get back to south of Auckland and do the same from Coromandel or Bay of Plenty.

I'd reckon that jetlag will be least of problems for a baby is going to sleep when its tired and be less conscious of time zones than adults.

If you want a rain free holiday, Airasia have dirt cheap flights from KL to the Gold Coast in Queensland and you can get to KL cheap enough from Singapore with either AA or Tiger as you may well know.
Travelling north from the GC you'll certainly have much warmer weather and nearly no rain guaranteed.

Dave

I think you should be fine. If your son is reasonably adaptable - which only YOU would know - then the NI is a comfortable, relatively easy trip. There are plenty of small towns to see, lots of beautiful scenery, waterfront, and easy drives.
As for jetlag, my best judgement is that he'd do fine. It's really not that far a jaunt.
As for weather, NO ONE can answer that for you, but as far as temps are concerned you should be fine on the NI in September. Rain? Who knows???

Good luck, have fun no matter what you decide!!
Dave

longhorn55

We were living in Bangkok when my son was 6 months old and we took him to Australia for 2 weeks. It was a great trip and I don't recall him being affected by the time change at all. (Babies still do so much sleeping at that age that a 4-hour time difference is not a big deal for them.) Actually, traveling with a 6-month old is easy--they're easy to transport and they're not talking yet, so no there's no whining! LOL
One suggestion I have is that you look for serviced apartments for your accomodations. They're easy to find in NZ and they give you more space with the baby and a kitchen to store/make baby food. Some even have washing machines so you don't have to carry a suitcase full of dirty baby clothes.
(BTW, we took our son to NZ when he was 2 years old and it was also a great trip!)

mlgb

Motels in NZ have kitchens and laundry as well as separate sitting areas. No need to go the serviced apartment route except possibly in Auckland.
Rain is a fact of life in NZ. It's drier on the east coast of the North Island but there are no guarantees. While Northland (Bay of Islands) can be warmier, it can also be wetter since there is no mountain range to block the prevailing storms from the west or north.

mlgb

BTW I'd be more concerned with the swine flu than with the rain.

njwanderer

Hello there!! Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. After making this post, i realized that i cannot take off in september after all So, we have now decided to do this trip in Feb 2010. After reading a bit on this forum, here is the list of places we are looking at :

Wellington - 2 days
Drive from Wellington to Napier - 2 days in Napier and the
Hawke bay area
Drive from Napier to Rotorua (should we be making a stop and staying overnight at Taupo?) - 2 days in Rotorua

We will have 3-4 more days left which we have not planned so far because we are not sure if we are being too optimistic given we will be traveling with our baby - he will be 11 months old then and could be the first trip for him where he would be dealing with jetlag. (Our interests are natural beauty, walks - we are not sure how much of this we will be able to do with the baby in tow this time, wine, history and culture)

Any comments on the itinerary so far and recommendations for the remaining 4 days will be extremely helpful.

Thank you!

Bokhara2

You know, 11 months might just end up being the ideal age to travel with your little boy - and enjoy all the things you mention. And, for some of them, it might be your last opportunity for a little while. If he's zonked out, he can just go to sleep. He won't be walking, so no worries about where he is, what he's getting into, whether he can walk far/fast enough. Nor will he be old enough to have strong opinions about what he wants to see. If you're bringing him up to have some flexibility in his schedules, he'll be fine. If not, you've 4 or 5 months to build some variances into his daily routine, so he won't be so put out by changes in eating/sleeping times/noises/sleeping environment etc..

Finally, I think your itinerary is fine - you're not trying to fit the whole country into a few days, and with your 2 day stops, you're not unpacking everything every day, which can take the shine off anyone's travelling, imo.

mlgb

Weather in February should be more settled. Are you going to the Wairarapa wine region between Wellington-Napier? You could add a day there (the wines are better than Napiers, too). You might indeed want to spend a night in Taupo, then tour some of the thermal areas between there and Rotorua.

Where are you flying into/out of?

The wild west coast near Auckland isn't far, there are some wineries around Kumeu and the black sands at Muriwai or Bethell's beach, or you could go to Auckland and take the ferry to Waiheke Island.

njwanderer

Thanks for your inputs. Is two days too long around the Napier area? Should we be doing some other place instead?

mlgb

There isn't a lot to do in Napier other than Art Deco tours and a winery tour.

njwanderer

then, is it a good idea to drive from Wellington to Taupo and then on to Rotorua, and get to Auckland from Rototua? Is it possible to get to the Coromandel peninsula from Rotorua and then get to Auckland from there? How many days would you recommend in Auckland and the vicinity? Any must-dos?
Too many questions there...thanks for all the help!

mlgb

All of those things are possible. The problem with NZ as you will discover is that there is just too much to see. Since you're now going in the summer it makes sense to visit the volcanoes. You can go north via Hwy 1 and then split off at 49 if you want to go around the west side to go into the park, or take the desert road on the east side. Those routes meet up again in Turangi at the south side of L. Taupo. It wouldn't be much for difficult to go there from Napier though.

I don't spend much time in Auckland, usually just a day or so on arrival and departure. It's a big city, so not why I visit NZ. There are some pleasant things to do such as the Auckland domain, or taking a ferry to one of the islands.

BTW Google Maps works in NZ so you can get a better idea of which roads are more twisty..something to consider with a little "barfer".

njwanderer

Thanks mlgb for your suggestions. Fact is, now i am more confused (i am being greedy i guess - wanna do it all!!). I am thinking if it will be possible to squeeze in Northland as well - do the kauri coast from Auckland and from Rawene get back to Auckland via Hikurangi (without doing the Bay of islands). Do you think this loop will be worth it? If yes,how many days should we allocate for this and which part should we stay in?
We would not want to spend much time in Auckland either - just as a base to do some wine tours and may be this northland bit. Again, are the wine tours around Auckland better than those around Napier or vice versa? If they are not very different, is it worth making a stop at Napier at all? Thanks!!

mlgb

The Northland loop I would stay at least two nights around the east side of Northland, one at Bay of Islands, eg Paihia (more convenient than Russell), chances are you will get there later in the day than you expect from Auckland. Then if I had it to do again, I would spend a night farther north around Coopers or Cable Beach at Doubtless Bay rather than a second night in Paihia (if you want to do a cruise though you would need to add another night in Paihia or Russell).

mlgb

Oops my finger slipped before I finished.

If you start up the west coast first you need an early start so you can go to the boardwalk at the kauri forest (Waipoua) (there aren't many lodgings up that way so book ahead). Be sure to stop at Opo takeaways...the fish and sweet potato chips are better than the famous place in Mangonui.

I've never taken the ferry across from Rawene and I'd be concerned about timing, research that if you want to take it late in the day. If you leave the next morning you could drive the Northland loop and arrive back in Paihia or stay farhter north. It takes about 4 hours to get back to Auckland without stopping. I'd instead stop in Helensville where there is a nice B&B (Malolo House) or Kumeu which is near the wineries west of Auckland.

I went to the wineries around Northland & Kumeu by self drive, and around Napier it was more of an organized tour. The climates are quite different and the tours around Napier were more developed. In Northland/West Auckland I would just stop in a few and not do a big tour. I think I liked Coopers the best.

I've never been over to Waiheke but I believe they have organized tours.

If you can arrange your trip to be in Kerikeri on Sunday they have a great farmer's market including some of the local cheese producers and there was a winery as well.

njwanderer

ok - here is what we are looking at now - though i obviously feel we are driving around too much. Any comments / ideas to cover these areas without hitting the road everyday?

1) Arrive in Wellington and spend the day there (visit the Museuam)
2) Drive to Taupo (is this drive too long?) Stay at Taupo
3) Spend the day at Taupo and drive to Rotorua by evening
4) Day at Rotorua and drive to Auckland
5) Drive from Auckland to Opononi. Stay at Opononi
6) Stay at Opononi
7) Drive from Opononi to KawaKawa and then onto Whangarei. Stay at Whangarei
8) Drive to Auckland
9) Day in Auckland and fly back home

This itinerary gives an idea of what we want to see / do, but i am not sure this is quite doable with a baby in tow. Any comments / suggestions will be of great help!

mlgb

It's about 5 to 6 hours driving on Day 2, which is your longest day.

Whangerei is a big city and inland on a bay, not the ocean. I might rearrange the stopping spots for the northland trip so that you can spend at least a night around the Bay of Islands (Paihia) rather than Whangerei.

Perhaps if you reverse the direction eg up the east coast and then back down the west it will work out better.

njwanderer

mlgb, other than day 2, do you think the itinerary is doable?