We are doing a similar trip in January, albeit in a Motorhome. One thing I note from all these posts is no one mentions far south ie. Dunedin and southern coastal highway. Is this not worth including?

Answered on another thread mikeandsue, yes it's worth exploring, but you need time and it depends on your particular interests. I have some detailed trip reports covering the Catlins and the Southern Scenic Route, just click on my name and scroll through my reports for details if you'd like.

Anne yes there is a ferry from Nelson, but I was thinking that if you drove to Kaiteriteri that day, did a boat trip and stayed the night in Motueka, you would be that much closer to Murchison and the drive down to the West Coast. I would still spend a day and night in Nelson though beforehand.>>


good point nelsonian, and I'll give that some thought. One of the attractions of Nelson is that I thought that it was big enough to act as a base while we spend a few days in one place - I'm not sure that we're up for too many "one night stands"!

well, we've more or less sorted out our route and accommodation [save what to do on arrival in the SI which is still vexing me] apart from our last night.

Melnq8, if you're out there, I seem to remember you mentioning a nice place in/near Christchurch [near a good indian restaurant?] we need to be near the airport as our flight to Sydney leaves at 7.30 am.

ideas anyone?

The Christchurch airport is very near town.

I don't have a specific recommendation but a search on aa.co.nz or booking.com should turn up a handful of good choices.

Most will be motels.

That would be Merivale Manor annhig...and Little India a short walk away. CBD about a 15 minute walk from the motel. Easy access to airport - ask for a room in the back when you book, as on a busy road,

HUGE storm here last night, lots of flooding, road closures and general destruction, but we're safe and sound in Kaikoura now.

Wild, wild weather the past few days.

More on the storm:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9146...sweeps-country

glad you're safe and sound, Melnq8. those pics are scary, especially the ones of the land slip on the road to Milton sound.

and thanks for the name of that motel - I knew that you would come up trumps.

Funnily enough, for every bad weather day we've had on the SI over the past month, one (or several) beautiful days have followed. Today was no exception - a beautiful day to be in Kaikoura...loads of seals, fabulous ocean views and some good walking on the Kaikoura Peninsula.

I absolutely cannot complain about the weather on this trip - it's been gorgeous.

We're headed to Christchurch tomorrow, then back to Perth (and the US) on Saturday.

Hi Annhig,
Re. "why Greymouth AND Westport, I wonder";
Nothing in particular except that we are driving with a 2year old kid who may get bored to sit strapped for days in a moving vehicle, hence didnt think it would be possible to cover so much distance in 1day

good point, melodi - I think that we two adults may also suffer from boredom strapped into a vehicle all day; however Greymouth and Westport don't seem to be that far apart so I was wondering if you knew something I didn't! we had originally decided to stop in Hokitika but in the end, in order to get longer in/near Nelson, we have opted for the longer drive.

I've looked up the times of sunrise and sunset when we're in NZ and it won't be getting dark til about 8.30pm so hopefully it won't matter, even if it takes us all day.

Greymouth to Westport is about a 90 minute drive, longer if you stop at Punakaiki (and you definitely should).

Melnq8 - is there anywhere where we can find out the times of high tide at Punakaiki? i understand that the pancake rocks are most spectacular at that time.

ok - answered my own question:

http://tides.mobilegeographics.com/l...=2013&m=12&d=3

High tide at Westport [nearest point I could find on the tide tables to Punakaiki] is at about 11.30 am on Dec 3rd 2013. the website lets you put in a place plus a date up to at least 3 months in advance, unlike most of the others which only give you a 7 day forecast.

it's at least a 3 hour drive from Nelson to Punakaiki, so it looks like we'll have to get up early in the morning to see the pancake rocks at their best!

The drive from Nelson to Punakaiki is 274 km, more like four hours, w/o stops.

Six hours between high and low tides, so there's some wiggle room, but you'll have to plan well.

Here's another site:

http://www.metservice.com/marine-surf/tides/index

Hi Annhig
I've just stumbled across reference to your NZ trip on another thread. We are headed there on Boxing Day. We followed on your heels in Sri Lanka earlier this year.

We arrive NY Eve in Auckland and fly to Queenstown the next day. We spend two nights there then head north via Akaroa, Nelson,Wellington, Napier, Rotorua, Coromandel and back to Auckland. We have just this morning put our final accomodation in place.
Now the only thing left is the car hire and whether we hire one on each island or take it across the sound.
By the way we have just returned from a weekend in Marrols in Bratislava- I think you've been there too.
Where are you going next?

The drive from Nelson to Punakaiki is 274 km, more like four hours, w/o stops.

Six hours between high and low tides, so there's some wiggle room, but you'll have to plan well.>>

thanks, Mel. I was reckoning on google being on the optimistic side. thanks for the other link, but it only covers the next month. BTW do they have tide tables in NZ? presumably?

round here you can buy a little booklet giving local high and low tides for the next year - eg Falmouth, Newquay, Plymouth...they all publish them.

_______________________________________

hi Frances- funny that we're following each other around. [i was following Maitaitom for a while as well]. your route isn't that different to ours, but in the opposite direction. it suited us to do north to south, as we are flying back to Sydney from christchurch at the end. we did try to squeeze in a few days in the North Country, but we decided to concentrate on the SI so it'll have to wait til next time.

next place? in Europe, sicily I hope; in the rest of the world, possibly the himilayas.

what did you think of Bratislava and the weirdly named hotel Marrol's. [Marrol's what?]

I don't know about published tide charts, but they have online tide charts - the Met Service link I provided has them, the news reports them and the visitor's centers and DOC sites list them. Just check closer to your trip.

Charts available here:

http://www.linz.govt.nz/hydro/find-o...-to-buy-charts

Oops, those might be nautical charts, but there is some info on tides on the same site.

ok - this is it:

Nov 26 - arrive auckland airport 15.00. 90 min drive to Thames [coromandel peninsular]
Nov 27 - drive to Napier - 5 hours +. evening walk around Art deco area
Nov 28 - morning tour to Cape Kidnappers, pm wine tour
Nov 29 - 5 hour drive to Wellington. ? tour Te papa and botanical gardens
Nov 30 - Morning Wellington. pm ferry to Picton, drive to Nelson. Stay 3 nights.
Dec 1st - explore area around Nelson.
Dec 2 - Nelson boat trip to Abel Tasman
Dec 3 - drive to Franz joseph. [yes, i know this is all day] stay 2 nights
Dec 4 - Glaciers, even kiwi tour.
Dec 5 - drive to Wanaka - 1 night
Dec 6 - drive to Te anau - 2 nights
Dec 7 - drive to Milford Sound, pm boat trip.
Dec 8 - Drive to QT - stay 3 nights
Dec 9 - QT
Dec 10 - QT
Dec 11 - drive to Mount cook [about 2 1/2 hours]overnight.
Dec 12 - drive to Christchurch [about 3 1/2 hours] overnight near airport.
Dec 13 - early flight out of Christchurch.

Phew.

now tell me I've got it wrong!