Help with Planning 10 Days Trip to NZ in May 2011
 

My husband & I are planning a trip to NZ from May 2 - May 14, 2011. Is it possible to cover both the North Island and the South Island? What temperature can we expect in the South island? Will it be already too cold there to enjoy all the trails and scenic beauty?

Our tentative list includes Auckland, Rotorua, Karekare, Bay of Islands and Wellington. We have not yet planned anything on the South Island. Any suggestions for the North and South islands?

Thanks

With only 10 days, I'd definitely stick to one island, and I'd recommend the South Island. Distances are much greater than they appear on a map, and roads tend to be narrow and winding; it takes more time than you might expect to get from Point A to Point B.

Having said that, there's a very good trip report here written by Indiancouple - they visited both islands in a short time, so you might want to take a look.

"Too cold" is relative...we love NZ in the colder months, but we tend to swim upstream. I wouldn't hesitate to visit in May...in fact we're spending three weeks on the SI this June and we're hoping to do quite a bit of hiking.

A popular self-drive circuit on the SI looks something like this:

Christchurch-West Coast/Glaciers via Arthur's Pass and Greymouth-Queenstown-Te Anau-Milford Sound-Wanaka-Mt Cook-Christchurch.

This drive distance calculator will give you an idea of travel times/distances.

http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/td-calculator.php

I've been in late April, there were a few cold days at the south end of the south Island.

If you are going to stick with that first part of the itinerary you may not want to do much on the SI. At the most fly Wellington Queenstown roundtrip, see Milford Sound.

Can you add more days?

Thanks for your responses Melnq8 & mlgb. I will go through the trip report.

Unfortunately we cannot add any more days to our trip. It's going to be just the 10 days. We could probably cut short the time we spend on NI.

Can you pls tell me the "must-see" on the NI & SI? That may help resolve my confusion.

Melnq8 - Glad to hear you will be visiting SI too this year. What temperature can we expect in SI in May?

That may depend on your interests and background. I was deprived of snowy landscapes & mountains as a child, and had a surplus of tropical beaches. So for me the Milford Sound/Fiordland & Queenstown area still holds the #1 attraction in NZ, and is the most typical landscape image that people have of NZ.

I think if you grew up inland in the Rockies, you have a different opinion!!

We want to focus on the scenic aspects of NZ. We have enough adventure activities here in the US.

For info on weather in NZ take a look here:

http://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealan...d-climate.html

The entire SI is scenic - you really can't go wrong. The least scenic drive on the SI (IMO) is along the east coast from Christchurch to about Oamaru - other than that, it's all good.

The highlights of the SI generally are the glaciers and west coast, the Queenstown area, Milford Sound and Mt Cook. The problem is that getting to all of them takes time and involves a bit of driving.

You might consider flying to Queenstown, basing yourself there and concentrating on QT, Glenorchy, and Milford Sound. You'll have plenty to do, believe me.

Here's a SI slideshow to whet your appetite:

http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripw...3-3548-f06e?lb

Thanks for the link. I had come across that link too when we were researching about the weather patterns.

Thanks for the list of places in SI Melnq8. Can you tell me the highlights of NI too?

The slideshow was awesome. Shows why you love SI so much :)

Can you please tell me some good site where I can book cars and hotels? Can you suggest some good hotels and car rental agencies?

Thanks

Apex and Avis are both good, Apex rents older cars and Avis often has discounts.

Try Avis.co.nz direct and apexrentals.co.nz

I use the auto club (aa.co.nz), wotif.com, and bnb.co.nz for researching lodgings. With wotif you can check with the individual hotel as well.

Also you can sign up with milleniumhotels.com for email specials.

That said, I don't really have a favorite hotel in Queenstown.

Thanks for the list mlgb. Should we fly to the SI after finishing Rotorua or drive onward to Wellington and take a ferry from there? Is the drive to Wellington worth the time?

If you do want to see the southern Alps, Milford Sound, & Queenstown think I'd fly from Rotorua.

The "problem" with NZ is that there is very little bad scenery. The center of the north Island has Tongariro which is scenic, plus the crossing gets you to see the Marlborough Sounds. And Wellington is an attractive city with some interesting things to see (Zealandia and Te Papa). There just isn't enough time to see everything good in 10 days.

If you haven't yet been to the tourism website, www.newzealand.com it has some driving itineraries to give you a start.

Also search out indiancouple's trip report here.

mglb I am going through indiancouple's trip report right now. I am hoping to narrow the list of places from that. Will let you know abt the progress.

apnc -

Another vote for APEX. We've also used National and Budget on several occasions and haven't had any issues.

I won't be much help with the NI - I've only been there once and unlike the SI, I haven't been tempted to return (yet).

Once you narrow where you'd like to stay I can suggest a few specific lodging options.

Has anyone used Ace car rental? Is it good?

I have never used Ace because they require a nonrefundable deposit at the time of booking.

mlgb, How much do they ask? Is this apart from what we need to pay for the rental??

APEX will charge 20% of the rental cost if cancelled 48 hours or less prior to arrival, so read the fine print.

I assume the ACE deposit is applied to the rental and that you only lose it if you cancel or drastically amend the booking, but you'd need to check with them to make sure.

http://www.acerentalcars.co.nz/

It is on their website buried under Payment Terms

"All online bookings require a non-refundable 5% deposit to be taken"

There is nothing about cancel within x hours and get your money back. Be careful, they are not the only "noname" company to require this.

Thank u Melnq8 & mlgb. We will read the fine print carefully. We have almost chalked out our itinerary. I will post it soon.

Our tentative itinerary is:

May 4 - Arrive at Auckland and spend the day in Auckland and Devonport.

May 5 - Rent car. Head to Coromandel - visit Hahei beach, Cathedral Cove, Whangamata and halt at Tauranga.

May 6 - Wai-o-Tapu, Waimangu, Tongariro and Huka Falls and halt near Lake Taupo

May 7 - Drive to Wellington - Can you suggest what can be seen while driving there?

May 8 - May 13 - SI. I want some help with drafting the itinerary for the SI. Please help.

We want to cover Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier. We will be flying back to Auckland from Queenstown on evening of May 13th.

Any modifications to the NI plans? Also help with charting the SI trip route.

Thanks.