Comments about my itinerary
 

Hi,

My wife and I are flying to NZ for
our 5th anniversary. What do you guys
think about the schedule below?
Please send me any comments
you have. Appreciate any feedback

thanks
hima

Oct 17th ? Arrival in Auckland from SFO
Oct 17th ? Use the day room in airport
Oct 17th ? Take rental car to Waitomo
Oct 17th ? Continue onto Rotorua
Oct 17th ? Maori Cultural Stuff
Oct 17th ? Stay in Rot
Oct 18th ? Local visit
Oct 18th ? Fly to Christchurch ? Hotel in Ch for a day
Oct 18th ? Check into Hotel
Oct 18th ? Local stuff in Christchruch
Oct 19th ? Leave to Greymouth by tranzpacific
Oct 19th ? Pickup rental car in Greymouth
Oct 19th ? Head to Franz Josef Glacier
Oct 19th ? Check into Hotel ? Hotel in Franz Josef Glacier for 2 nights
Oct 20th ? Heli ride to Jo Glacier
Oct 20th ? Visit Mt Cook
Oct 20th ? Stay in same hotel
Oct 21st ? Head to queenstown
Oct 21st ? Check into Hotel ? Hotel in Queenstown for 2 nights
Oct 22nd ? Head to teanu and Milford Sound
Oct 22nd ? Return to Hotel in Queenstown
Oct 23rd ? Do local Stuff in Queenstown
Oct 23rd ? Return rental car
Oct 23rd ? Fly back to Auckland
Oct 23rd ? Check into Hotel in Auckland ? One more day in Auckland hotel
Oct 24th ? Local stuff in Auckland
Oct 24th - Fly back

Well on October 17th, you won?t be able to do all that! Even if you were to leave the airport on arrival, you would be lucky to reach Waitomo in time to visit the caves. You should probably plan to visit the caves on the morning of the 18th then go on to Rotorua.
If you are going to see anything of Rotorua, you need at least one full day. If there is a late evening flight on the 19th you might have time for a look around before flying to Christchurch.
I am not sure how you are going to visit Mount Cook from Franz Josef, is there a plane service?
Franz Josef to Queenstown is doable in one day, but expect to be driving for over 8 hours. To visit Te Anau and Milford and get back to Queenstown in one day you would either have to fly both ways or fly one way and go by coach the other way. With either option, you will not see much of Te Anau.
I?m sorry, you are trying to do too much. Travel times in New Zealand are deceptive and it invariably takes longer than you expect. Have a look at http://www.bonz.co.nz/index.html, which contains tables giving travel times for both islands.

We haven't been to NZ (yet), but have been many times to far-off places. Our experience is that on the first day we are too tired to do much. I suspect that your nose will fall into the soup at the luau.

PS - Is there any way to eliminate the "?" ((F))

You could go straight to Waitomo from Auckland if you arrive early in the morning; our flight arrived at 6:30 a.m. and we drove to Whakatane that day, which is farther than Waitomo.

I agree, though, that if you're planning to attend a Maori concert and hangi (I recommend the Mai Ora evening at Te Whakarewarewa), you'll be too tired to appreciate it. If you're just planning to go out to Ohinemutu when you get to Rotorua, or to go to Te Whakarewarewa when you get into town, that won't be a problem.

Otherwise, your schedule sounds really crowded if you only have a week. You might want to consider spending all your time on one island, flying directly from Auckland to Christchurch, doing stuff there, and leaving a day on the other end in Auckland if there is stuff you really want to do there.

Lee Ann

Have to agree with the previous posters - you're trying to do way too much!

I suggest you pick an island, slow down and enjoy yourselves. NZ is not a place you want to rush through - there's just too much to see and do.

We visited Franz Josef four times on four different trips before we were able to actually take a helihike - all due to weather issues.

It's your anniversary, take your time and have some fun!

Tangata, the link you gave for travel times (http://www.bonz.co.nz/index.html)does not work. We are going to be in NZ in mid November 2004 and this info would be quite valuable. Thanks, Jerry

I have just pulled it up again at http://www.bonz.co.nz/hmm/drivingTimesNorth.html
You might also be interested in http://www.nzmaps.co.nz/