We had a wonderful trip to New Zealand in February, primarily spending our time on the west side of the South Island (we spent nights in Welllington, Picton, Marahau, Hokitika, Fox Glacier, Wanaka, Te Anau, and Queenstown). In 2008, we visited the North Island. Is there enough to see on the east side of the South Island to merit a trip there? What would be the best times of year to go there? We enjoy hiking, bicycling, kayaking, flora and fauna and beautiful scenery, local culture, and good museums. We have two sets of friends in Christchurch that we would like to visit.

When we were in N.Z. in 2008 we had hoped to do the Tongariro Crossing, but it was closed the day we planned to do it. Is that common? It would be far from the other things we’d like to see, so probably not worth a stop if it is likely that we’d be unable to do it.

Looking forward to your replies. Thanks in advance.

Judilie, will you be starting off in Christchurch? Because roughly 2.5 north of Christchurch, there's Kaikoura, where you can take cruises to see whales, dolphins, seabirds (particularly albatross). You can even swim with dolphins or seals. I've not kayaked in Kaikoura, so I can't comment on the conditions but it looks interesting: https://www.kaikourakayaks.nz/

You can walk the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway, where you can see seals at Point Kean. There's also a small Hutton's Shearwater colony along this walk, though it did suffer some damage during the earthquake.
https://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/pa...a-brochure.pdf

Being on the geologically active Ring of Fire, NZ continues to be shaped by plate tectonics. This is a link to a brief article describing how the coastline has changed since the November 14, 2016 earthquake: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-z...he-seabed.html

Between Kaikoura and Christchurch, you can visit the Waipara wine region. Even if you are not a wine drinker, there are some lovely restaurants here. But if you enjoy wine, you'll be delighted. This region is particularly known for its Pinot Noirs and Rieslings.

Of course, Christchurch has many attractions and if you have friends there I'm sure they'll be thrilled to show them off to you. As you enjoy museums, you'd enjoy the Canterbury Museum, which is adjacent to the Botanic Garden. From Christchurch you can do day trips to nearby Akaroa/the Banks Peninsula. You can do a day ride on the TranzAlpine Railway to Arthur's Pass and back. Or you can drive there.

Continuing down the East Coast of the South Island, rather than driving along the coast, it'd be better to detour inland past Lake Tekapo, known for its observatory, and then another detour to Aoraki Mt. Cook, with its beautiful scenery and walking tracks. Like Lake Tekapo, it's also part of the Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. In Aoraki Mt. Cook you can do a Glacier Explorer's Tour or kayak on Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake. Or you can take a scenic flight:
https://www.glentanner.co.nz/mt-cook...cenic-flights/
https://www.mtcookskiplanes.com/

Aoraki Mt. Cook is one of the most popular places on the South Island and it gets incredibly busy, but this area is stunning. The alpine lakes, in particular, Lake Pukaki, are a brilliant turquoise color due to fine mineral particles (known as "glacial flour" or "rock flour").

The road to Aoraki Mt. Cook, also known as Mt. Cook Highway, takes about 45 minutes but is a top scenic drive.

From Aoraki Mt. Cook, drive to Oamaru via the Waitaki Valley, where you can continue your journey south along the East Coast (Oamaru, Moeraki Boulders and Moeraki, Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula, and the Catlins).

One of NZ's top cycling trails goes from Aoraki Mt. Cook to Oamaru, Alps2Ocean

I live in Dunedin, so I have many suggestions for this area. As you're interested in museums, I highly recommend visits to Toitu Settlers Museum, which tells of history of human settlement in the south of the South Island, the Otago Museum, which has fine natural history displays, an interesting Southern Land, Southern People gallery, and planetarium shows (the museum director is an astronomer), and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Admissions are free, but donations are greatly appreciated. There is a lot of history in Dunedin, from about the 1860s to 1900, it was NZ's biggest and wealthiest city. The Otago Peninsula is known for its rare wildlife. Dunedin is also home to the Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

You might want to look at these recent posts by PJTravels and blackmons:
PJTravels
Catlins/Southern Scenic route ideas
blackmons
NZ - Before I get in too deep, itinerary help appreciated!

How much time would you have? March to April would be my choice.

Please note there will be school holidays from Saturday 13 April - Sunday 28 April (includes Easter and Easter Tuesday and ANZAC day), but there will be fewer international visitor arrivals than in Nov., Dec., Jan., Feb., or March. It's a great time if you enjoy autumn leaves. However, days will be growing shorter. My preference for a driving holiday would be late March to early April. Cruise ship season will also be winding down.
February is your best bet for weather and longer days, but it's an extremely popular month, in part due to Chinese New Year-Spring Festival holidays. No doubt you noticed this on your previous February trip.

Thanks Diamantina. If we go in the Jan.-April range, we probably wouldn't go till 2020. We haven't decided yet about the starting (or ending) points or the length of time.

Actually we didn't notice crowds from cruise ships or in association with Chinese New Year (even though we were there during Chinese New Year) on our previous trip.

Do you think it's worth going to to Steward Island? We like seeing birds if they are in plain view but not if we have to spend hours with binoculars craning our necks trying to find them.

I love Stewart Island, not only because I love birds but because it's so green, fairly pristine, with its landscape little changed since the arrival of humans (or so I've read because I wasn't actually around back then) compared to much of New Zealand, such as the East Coast of the South Island, where many native forests have been replaced with farms and towns. It only has a year-round permanent population of 400 and about 85% of the island is Rakiura National Park.

Ulva Island, a small predator free island where birds are easily seen, is less than 10-minute ferry ride from Stewart Island's Golden Bay. But if you want to maximixe your sightings, take a tour with Ruggedy Range. That's what I did before later returning to Ulva Island on my own.

I'd also recommend the Bravo Adventure Tours kiwi spotting tour, as it also includes a cruise across Paterson Inlet.

Judilie, you mentioned being interested in kayaking along the East Coast of the South Island. I mentioned a couple of places where you can kayak in my first post, but I just came across this article about a group of kayakers in Kaikoura in today's newspaper, which I thought you might enjoy. I've never seen anything like it!
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/...ayaker-octopus

I was basing my comments about the weather on recent long term predictions: meteorologists are predicting a 78% chance of El Niño event for summer 2019, which will mean in general a drier and warmer-than-average East Coast. Jan. through April 2020 could be very different.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/...or-new-zealand

You'll find 2020 NZ school holidays on this link:
https://www.education.govt.nz/minist...-and-holidays/

If you didn't notice crowds from cruise ships or in association with Chinese New Year (even though you were there during Chinese New Year) on your previous trip, you probably wouldn't notice them next time, either, though both of these tourism sectors have been steadily growing. On your last trip, the only places where the cruise ships stop would have been Picton or Wellington. On the East Coast, they stop in Dunedin and Akaroa, though Christchurch's Port of Lyttelton is currently preparing their cruise ship berth. Increasingly, cruise ships are also stopping at Stewart Island.

I see you visited Te Anau and Queenstown on your last trip, did you make it Milford Sound? Cruise ships also stop here.

Thanks, Diamantina. Please continue to keep me posted if you find other pertinent information.

We did cruise Milford Sound the end of February this year. We did it in the afternoon, and the boat was only about half full.

Re: Chinese New Year, we were hoping to find some celebrations while we were there, but didn't.

Judilie, as you get much closer to your 2020 planning and departure, you can can check the general seasonal climate outlook from NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research):
https://www.niwa.co.nz/climate/seasonal-climate-outlook
For day-to-day forecasts, after you've arrived in New Zealand, it's a different website:
https://www.metservice.com/national/home

Regarding future planning and Chinese New Year celebrations, Dunedin has a robust, well-attended one, held at the Chinese Garden and at the Octagon (the eight-sided town center). Though I now live in Dunedin, I'm originally from San Francisco, where we have an enormous Chinese New Year celebration. By comparison, the Dunedin one is very modest, but it's still nice. The history of Chinese in Dunedin dates back to 1866, when the first Chinese miners arrived to work in the Otago Goldfields. Some later set up businesses in Dunedin. If you visit Dunedin, I highly recommend a visit to Toitu Settlers Museum, which recounts the history of human settlement/immigration in Otago. I have a Dunedin-born Chinese friend whose family history in NZ begins with one of these first immigrants; their story is included among the Toitu Museum displays. The museum is next to the historic Dunedin Railway Station (NZ's most photographed builiding) and admission is free, though donations are appreciated.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/c...r-celebrations

Auckland also has huge Chinese Lantern Festival celebration:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-...cultural-event