We are going to NZ and Australia for the month of November and, as most people, are trying to find balance between enjoying the trip and cramming in all the wonderful sites. Here is our current itinerary and then I have a few questions:

Oct. 31

oops, I pressed the wrong key and the message got posted already.

here is our itinerary:
Oct. 31 arrive in Christchurch 8 am
Nov. 1 in Christchurh
Nov. 2 rent a car to go to Akaroa
Nov. 3 train to Greymouth, get car and starte driving down west coast; spend night in Fox glacier area
Nov. 4 drive to Queenstown
Nov. 5 see Queenstown/Arrowtown
Nov. 6 trip to Milford Sound
Nov. 7 trip to Doubtful Sound
Nov. 8 Invercargill region
Nov. 9 fly to Australia from Queenstown or Dunedi

Questions: I saw that Arrowtown was rated one of the top 10 sites by New Zealanders. Is it worth the visit? I have not allowed much time in Queenstown because we are not going to go rafting, bungee jumping, etc.
What about Akaroa? I'm thinking we should possibly skip it and add a day at the end to explore more of the southern scenic route.

Thanks for any feedback!

Nov 3 and 4 are a lot of driving. Consider another night someplace between.

5 - I thought Arrowtown was a pleasant small village to visit, but I didn't find it <i>that</i> interesting. What was I missing? Seeing the bungee jumping was more interesting.

6 and 7 - Where do you plan to stay? Do you really want to see both sounds?

8 - My opinion is that Invercargill is not interesting by itself. Driving the SSR makes it worthwhile. Otherwise, consider going straight to Dunedin.

Sorry, I realize that I forgot that we are staying in Te Anou to see the sounds. We have both on the itinerary because we can't choose between the two and people with whom I've spoken have said that they are different. I've read here that the drive to Milford Sound is beautiful in and of itself so - some say better than the sound itself, but if we make the drive, we might as well take the boat ride since it doesn't seem to be too long.

I assume that if we do the SSR from Invercargill to Dunedin, we should take 2 days?

Arrowtown might be in the top 100, but not the top 10. A cute town and I like staying there because it is quieter than Queenstown, but not a &quot;must see&quot;.

You can do the SSR in one day as a scenic drive without making very long stops. It is more scenic than the inland route which is mainly rolling farmland. The best part is the Catlins Coast about midway between Invercargill and Dunedin. The Southland Museum in Invercargill is worth a stop if you are there during open hours and are interested in seeing the tuatara.

If you want to see both sounds, do you want to do the day trip on each? Then consider:

6- to Milford, take day trip, stay at TA.

7- take Doubtful trip, see glowworms, then go to Invercargill or further overnight.

8 - do SSR in 1 day as mlgb says, then go to Dunedin.

If you don't want to do the SSR, consider more time at Fox to see the glaciers. Fly from QT to CC.

Hey there, I just got back from NZ and here is what we thought were highlights. I hope it helps your scheduling decisions.

We flew from Auckland into Dunedin, rented a car and made sure to check out the Otago Peninsula (penguins and nature stuff). We drove about 2 hours north to the Morecki Boulders-make sure to catch the right tide times to see the entire boulder collection. Totally cool to see, but might not be everyone's cup of tea. However, there is a restaurant called Fleurs (OMG, awesome, fresh seafood!).

We took the Taieri Gorge Railway and coach all the way to Queenstown. Queenstown is beautiful, even if you don't do all the extreme sports.

We checked out Glenorchy and Arrowtown around Queenstown. Beautiful and loaded with history. We took the Eco tour day package to Milford Sound. It was a coach and boat ride. The little nature stops along the way were nice and we saw places that I think I might have missed if I were to drive to Milford myself.

Have a blast!