eastave

My husband, 10 month old (at the time of travel), and I need help with our SI planning. I am afraid I am trying to pack too much in, and would like advice on if and what to cut and also lodging possibilities. We would prefer to stay places that have a refridgerator (for baby food) and two rooms so we can stash her behind a door. We don't need anything posh, but we are also not on a tight budget.

Here is roughly what I am thinking:

Day 1: arrive in Christchurch 2:20 stay CC
Day 2: in Christchurch stay in CC
Day 3: drive to glaciers night there
Day 4: visit glaciers night there
Day 5: drive to queenstown night there
Day 6: visit queenstown night there
Day 7: drive to Milford sound/cruise/stay there or in Te Anau
Day 8: drive to Dunedin stay there
Day 9: visit Dunedin stay there
Day 10: drive to Mt Cook stay there
Day 11: visit Mt Cook stay there
Day 12: drive back to christchurch for 3:05 flight

We would like to do some hiking, but it will be limited given the baby. I am thinking we might not need to do both the glacier area and mt cook, but I am torn. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

Betsy

eastave

We will be traveling the last part of March.

mlgb

Your itinerary isn't impossible, the days that you are driving are pretty long, though. Not really sure I would drive back to Christchurch on the day of flight, instead the day before. You could leave on Day 2 and stop somewhere like Hokitika or Greymouth, or even Arthur's Pass, if too tired to make it all the way to the glaciers.
Most motels have refrigerators and 1-bedroom or even 2-bedroom units with a separate sitting room, I would think they would be perfect. Jasons and aa.co.nz have free motel guides and can also be found on line.

Accomodation in Mt. Cook is quite limited. The Hermitage has control of most rooms in Mt. Cook Village, there is also the YHA hostel (which is very good) but I don't believe they would allow an infant (at least I didn't see any). There is also Glentanner Holiday park but I don't know much about it. If there is nothing in Mt. Cook Village, Twizel has tons and tons of motels and is about an hour outside Mt. Cook.

Tim_and_Liz

Hi Betsy,

I think you will be exhausted. The drives are very long.

Your itinerary is doable, however.

If I were you, I would skip Mt. Cook. We did with no regrets. The glaciers are amazing! Add a night to Queenstown and a night to Dunedin. Fly from Dunedin to Christchurch (we bought tickets for NZ$70pp last January).

JMHO.

You will have a great time no matter what!

Liz

eastave

Thanks for you input! I have decided to drop Mt Cook. I have to get used to this traveling with a baby thing. I think we will add an extra night onto QT and then stay two nights in Te Anau as well. I will look into the flights from Dunedin to Christchurch, but do you know how costly it is to do one way car rentals in NZ? Thanks again!
Betsy

Melnq8

We always do one way car rentals in NZ and have never been charged an additional fee.