Help me plan a Rugby trip to NZ in 2017
 

Over on the Rugby World Cup thread, someone suggested that the only chance that the home nations wold have of beating the All Blacks was by clubbing together into one team, which is of course exactly which is happening in 2017 with the Lions tour of NZ. Which set me thinking......

This is the itinerary:

http://www.lionsrugby.com/2017tour/index.php

I don't think that we'd want to watch all the matches, but possibly the last 2 tests -1st July in Wellington, and 8th July in Auckland, plus possibly one of the regional matches.

What would it be feasible to see/do in winter, either on the NI alone, or on both NI & SI? We missed Rotorua on our last trip, saw little of the Coromandel and nothing of the Bay of Islands. I'm thinking about a couple of weeks at least, combining it with a stop-over somewhere warmer!

Any and all ideas gratefully received!

Hi Annhig
Have a look for Melnq8's NZ trip reports.

She & her husband did a lot of NZ travel when they lived in Perth. If I recall correctly, quite a lot of their trips were in winter.

You might find it's high season, as it is Aust school holidays & the NZ ski fields are popular.

Looks like a great trip in the making. I remember the tremendous atmosphere when the Lions were here (?) last year.

One weekend I was in town with a friend & the Harbour bridge, The Rocks & opera house areas were a sea of red & lots of friendly joking between them & the locals. We shared a table with 2 couples from Kent, who had made the trip a 50th birthday present for one of the chaps.

Hi annhig -

What's feasible for me may be different from what's feasible to you...I love NZ in the winter, but not everyone does.

The ski areas will be busy, hopping and expensive (QT and Wanaka on the SI). Other areas will be deserted, rates low.

I can't remember how much of the top of the SI you saw during your previous trip. Did you make it to Takaka, Nelson (the sunniest spot on the SI), Abel Tasman, Motueka, Picton, Marlborough Sounds?

If you're not fans of the cold, I suggest you stay as far north as you can, which in the case of the SI, means the places I've listed above. Keeping in mind that 'warm' is a relative term.

Hi Mel,

I was hoping that you would chime in. On our last trip we saw Nelson etc. but not much of Picton or the Marlborough Sounds, so that would be a good place to start. as for skiing, I suspect that DH's skiing days are over; I'm sure that mine are so we would probably stick to the warmer end of the SI if we made it over at all.

Bokhara - the ? was right - the last Lions tour was in 2013, but it was to Australia, so you got that bit right. I remember sitting in our local rugby club eating breakfast and watching that last Test - terrific! I'd love to be there to see the Lions do the same to the All Blacks.

Time for some more research and saving the pennies, I think.

Thanks to you both for your help and tips, when I have some more queries, I'll be back!

The Marlborough Sounds are stunning on a cold, clear winter's day annhig. Picton is often overlooked by visitors who arrive and depart by ferry, but lots to do in the area. Staying at a resort within the sounds is a real treat if the weather gods are in a good mood - you'll probably find some good accommodation rates too (outside of the ski areas and well away from World Cup venues).

Takaka/Golden Bay is the gateway to Abel Tasman from the remote north end - lots of walking opportunities. If you find yourself in the area, the day long tour of Farewell Spit (leaves from nearby Collingwood) is a highlight. Not many international visitors people seem to make it up there. We had an ideal day for the trip September 2014.

Blenheim is just 25 minutes away from Picton - home to that Marlborough Sauv Blanc you like so much, ha, ha.

Blenheim is just 25 minutes away from Picton - home to that Marlborough Sauv Blanc you like so much, ha, ha.>>

lol, Mel, at least I won't get too drunk to drive.

We might stick to the NI - I think that we seriously under-explored it on our first trip. plenty of time to plan anyway.

Well you'd better come over here for a weekend too, Annhig! Just to thaw out & reacquaint yourselves with some of our grape juice ;)

A winter holiday in the North Island won't be too bad...it can be cold but a anorak/rain jacket would do rather than a coat. If it's below 10 in Auckland we think it is cold!
Days are short and it's dark about 5.30 pm but you can get some awesome days.
Bay of Islands would be worth a look being the furthest north. We always took our kids when school age to Rotorua as there is a lot to do there and if you get a motel with a thermal pool you can enjoy a hot soak. Taupo is cute and lots of cafes/restaurants/motels on the lake front and Huka Falls is worth seeing.
Tauranga is an easy 1 hour from Rotorua with a lovely beach at Mt Maunganui.

Thanks for the ideas, folks. I think that on a first trip there is always the temptation to cram in as much as you can [I know that we succumbed to that, which is ironic really considering how often I'm advising people on the Europe board to do the opposite - a case of "do as a I say, not do as I do!"] whereas the 2nd time round, you feel you can take you time more.

When I start to cram stuff in again, kindly remind me of that will you?

Tasmangirl - the climate in the NI sounds quite a lot like Cornwall - when we moved here from Kent I had all these winter coats etc which rarely if ever get used from one year to the next.

As I say we missed Rotorua and BoI first time round so it would be a good opportunity to see them.

now to work out if we can afford it!

School holidays are usually the first 2 weeks of July - there's just more people around during the day rather than everything being booked out.
Coping with wet weather would be more of a challenge so if I was doing a winter holiday I'd think about basing myself somewhere reasonably big and doing day trips from there. Then if you woke up and it was pouring with rain you could have a chill out day at the motel or go to a movie or something inside. But if the day was gorgeous then off you go to explore. Too much driving in the rain is hard work.

Ooooh exciting!
Just had a look at the tour dates...my first thought was that if you were wanting to try and include a regional game, the Highlanders in Dunedin would be a great one to go for. Not sure how to best describe a Dunedin rugby experience - except that it would be a massive event and great atmosphere in the stadium and the whole town. Not to be missed (if at all possible).

Then if you also wanted to include Welly and Akl tests, the Dunedin game would be right at the start of your holiday and Akl at the end.

If you looked at flights with Emirates (my personal favourite to the UK from NZ, because you get to avoid the often long layovers or urgh LAX), then you could fly from Birmingham to Qtown via Dubai/Sydney - meaning that you also don't have to deal with Heathrow and gets you straight into the SI and not far from Dunedin.
Possible downside could be that flights into Qtown in winter can be a bit hairy.

Then....you could plan an itinerary that went something like...

Queenstown - recover from jet lag and general sightseeing. Rent car to drive to Dunedin
Dunedin - Rugby then drive north from 13th June to 1 July (...plenty of options to do here...how about Chch/Hanmer/Lewis Pass/Buller Gorge/Nelson/Picton/Marlborough Sounds...?)
Wellington - Rugby
Wellington to Auckland (1 week to cover Rotorua, Coromandel)
Auckland - Rugby and fly home (AKL-SYD/MEL/BNE-DBX-Birmingham).

It doesn't really fit the brief as far as keeping it possibly warmer and North Island, but you could never guarantee better weather in the North, and it's hardly going to be swimming weather anywhere. If anything, the South can be dryer (but colder), while the North can be milder (but wetter).

Everywhere you go there will be camper vans of Brits also touring - it'll be a great time to be on holiday here!

more great ideas - thanks!

Good suggestion tasmangirl about finding a base that would work in wet weather - that's just the sort of advice I give other people and proceed to ignore when it comes to my own trips! Good point too about school hols - it looks as if we'd be well advised to book in advance certainly for the 1st week of July if not before.

honestly, thelittlestkiwi, I'd not thought of the Dunedin game as a possibility - I was more considering the Maori game in Rotorua, but then it had never occurred to me that you could fly to QT from Birmingham. We're not unused to hairy flights - landing at our local airport in the twin props that they are about to stop using can be an interesting experience and we did once do a day trip in Iceland which involved taking off over a cliff in a 4 seater - and in nice weather landing at QT could be pretty special.

You've come up with a great route, most of which we haven't done, save the stretch from Oamaru [I'd love to go there again] to C/C, and the bit around Nelson.

More food for thought - thanks.

Problem with Qtown in the winter is that there is a night time curfew, and in June that's around 5pm. If there's any weather or visibility issues the flights get diverted.. That's a minor minor in the grand scheme of things. You wouldn't plan your holiday around possible weather delays 2 years from now!

They are extending runways and installing lighting at Queenstown. Evening flights will be more common starting in April if they stay on schedule: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11539143

It won't help with weather issues, but a later curfew will give them more options.

thanks for the warning and the good news, 'kiwi and deS.

Amazing the things you learn about here.