Getting around New Zealand
 

I'm slowly in the process of planning a 12 week trip to NZ/Australia in February 2015 with my wife, and two sons, who will be aged 11 and 9. I am hoping to do six weeks in each country, starting in NZ. We are not a camping family and will be looking at sites such as airbnb to find longer term accommodations.

I have two early questions...
One...What is the best way, and most cost effective way to get around with a family? I've considered bus, buying an old car, renting a car, renting a camper, etc.

Two...like many other postings, what itinerary would be suggested as a family in each spot? We generally dont enjoy city life too much, but will likely spend a week or so in Sydney where we will likely start our Australia trip. Would like to find six different locations/regions to minimize time spent travelling from place to place.

Any ideas? Thanks.

First of all - congratulations on making 12 weeks available for this trip - these two countries deserve it!

However, Australia being a continent as large as the US top to bottom and side to side, without further guidance from you it's impossible to point out regions for you to visit.

Sure, we can list a number of them, as I will in a minute, but every guidebook and travel DVD does that, and that's where you should start.

From Tasmania that's worth a drive-yourself four-day visit at least, to Melbourne with the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide, to the wine country (Barossa Valley etc), Kangaroo Island, to the Red Center with Alice Springs and Uluru (train or fly), to Darwin with the excursions into crocodile country, to Northern Queensland - Atherton Tablelands, Cairns and Port Douglas and lots of islands down the coast with access to the Great Barrier Reef, coming down the coast to Brisbane and New South Wales, New England, the fabulous mountain range between Armidale and the Coast for quiet forest driving, the beaches, Sydney and the Hunter Valley and the Blue Mountains and the South Coast and inland to the unique city of Canberra, then into the snowy mountains (Australia's Alps) - and we haven't even talked about Western Australia and it's beauty down south and its adventurous north...

Start reading up on Australia, watch all the YouTube and Netflix videos and raid your local library.

The mode of transportation will depend on the regions and distances. From Sydney going north, just to mention one example, there is the train, and there are overnight coaches, cheap car rentals (I like www.bayswatercarrental.com.au), and budget flights. Renting a camper is always an option, too.

Ditto for NZ - from the mountains and glaciers in the South to the palm trees in the almost-tropical north - and much of interest in between, it's hard to recommend one place or one mode of transportation over the other until you have made at least a list of targets that appeal to you. Then we can help you connect the dots - but first give us some dots...

Hello!
Given the fact that Australia is massive, it's a good idea to train by plane/trains while traveling inter-city and then hiring a car(You can check out Hertz for both NZ and AU). Public transport don't really cover all places and it's nice to hire a car to maintain travel flexibility.

Sydney is a great way to begin your journey. You can climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge, bicycle around the Manly Coast or go kayaking.
From there you can move westward to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth, Broome or go north-ward to Brisbane, Cairns...

My favourite place would be Perth.
There's snorkeling, swimming with dolphins, parasailing, diving and much more.The places in West would be Cable Beach, Shark Bay and Broome.

In New Zealand, for me, South Island is where the most action is. There is bungee jumping, tramping (hiking), kayaking, and camping.
Also, most of the Top 10 destinations in New Zealand are in the South Island-Fiordland National Park, Abel Tasman National Park, Westland National Park, Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, Queenstown, Kaikoura and the Marlborough Sounds.
North Island is prefered for a more serene holiday. They're a huge scope of sight-seeing as the island is known for its extensive range of flora and fauna.

Have a fun filled trip!

If you need any further help about specific places in AU, let me know.

Why would you even consider "buying an old car"? You'd have to first set aside enough cash to make the purchase, then you'd have to spend time finding a suitable vehicle in decent condition (the better the condition the more cash you'll need to make the purchase), You'll have to make the purchase and then spend time getting the proper documentation (registration, getting insurance, etc.). Then you'll have a "used car" which may or may not need repairs at some point during the trip. Afterwards you'll have to find a buyer willing to purchase the vehicle from you (most likely for a lot less than you paid. Then you'll have to decide if you want sell the car when you leave country 1 and do it all over again when you get to country 2 or arrange to ship the car to the second country (shipping could take weeks which you don't really have). That's just too much of a hassle to get transportation for a 12 week trip.

Use public transportation (flying/trains) when traveling great distances (assuming you aren't planning to visit areas in between) and rent a car for the time you'll be covering relatively short distances.

For instance, we recently did a one month "driving" tour of NZ - We flew into Auckland and spent our time driving around the North Island ending in Wellington, we flew between Wellington and Nelson, drove between Nelson and Christchurch, flew from Christchurch to Queenstown, drove around the southern part of the South Island, and ended our trip by flying from Queenstown back to Auckland for our flight home.

You could do a similar "fly/drive" itinerary around Australia.

On our trip , we spent 2 to 3 nights in each location and we never had more than 4 hours of driving between locations. This allowed us ample time to explore the different areas and make intermediate "day visit" to points of interest along our route to the next "stopping point". It was one of the best trip we have ever taken 9in over 35 years of world travel).

35 years of 'world travel'
And you say you 'roam' around?
WOAH!

Vagabond 1408: Your first post, and in the first paragraph of a not very focussed or knowledgable response, you mention a certain car rental company. Forgive me for asking if you are the same person who had some posts removed for flogging said same company?

@ eliztravels2

My post may not be as knowledgeable as most others on Fodors but it surely IS focussed :)
I think this should resolve all your doubts.
Also, there's always a first time.