Hi -

I'm trying to plan a trip to Cairns and the South Island of New Zealand. Does anyone know how long it takes to fly from Christchurch to Cairns? According to Virgin Blue it takes about 12 hours. That seems much too long. Is there a time zone change between the 2 cities?

It took us at least that long (counting layover time), but we had to make two connections (Sydney and Auckland) since we were using frequent flyer miles. We left Cairns at about 6am and got to Christchurch about 7pm. There was a 2 hour time change as I recall.

There aren't any direct flights that I know of. I think the best flight (at least for Qantas) goes from Cairns to Brisbane and then Brisbane to Christchurch. Vrgin Blue might be factoring in the layover time.

Darn. I was hoping I was misunderstanding the amount of travel time. Thanks for confirming.

MaeT-
We flew direct SYD_CHC on Jetstar and I believe it was exactly 3 hours. You could fly Cairns-SYD-CHC.

Air New Zealand flies Cairns-Auckland-Christchurch and duration is 7.30hours. New Zealand is 2 hours ahead of east coast Australia. Cairns is in Far North Queensland, where there's no summertime daylight saving and its a fair hop to Christchurch in New Zealand's south island.

MaeT,
suggest you get out a globe and compare the distance to something you are familure with.

Thanks TimandLiz I'll check Jetstar as well. Pat, thanks for the information on Air New Zealand and day light savings. Very helpful as always!!