melodyc

My fiance and I have dreamed about going to New Zealand for a really long time. We will be getting married this June, and this will be our last time for a long time that we'll be able to take a 2 week vacation (or perhaps longer). We want to go somewhere where we can do some hiking/exploring as well as some relaxing.

We've thought about doing the South Island of New Zealand for our honeymoon, but we're concerned that it's just not a good time of year for traveling there. We'd also consider the more northern/northeastern areas of Australia... but once again, we're unsure if winter is the best time to be there.

Any suggestions? I'd greatly appreciate advice!

ALF

Late June is early wintertime in New Zealand. The south parts of the South Island will experience weather similar to the U.S. Pacific Northwest (i.e. cold and rainy, with snow at higher elevations). If you go to NZ, I'd recommend doing most of your exploring on the north end of the South Island, and on the North Island.

June is a good time to visit tropical parts of Australia - The Dry season will be in full swing, and temperatures will be a bit cooler as well. Tropical storms and cyclones periodically hit at that time of year, but you would have to be unlucky for that to happen.

RalphR

Melody: check out this recent thread about June/winter weather in NZ

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34576312

I don't think it's a bad time for NZ, though some of the classic hikes, like the Milford Track will be snowed in.

As ALF indicates, June is a great time for tropical Australia - Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern parts of Western Australia. Lots of possibilities for hiking and adventure with plenty of sunshine.

If you can get more than 2 weeks by all means do!

pb_and_j

I'm honeymooning in NZ in late June. The biggest drawbacks I've found in my research are: shorter daylight hours, no overnight boats on Milford or Doubtful Sounds.

It's not the most ideal time to go, but I don't think the weather will be untolerable and we'll still be able to do a lot outdoors. Queenstown has a big winter festival in early July too.

I've wanted to go to NZ for the longest time, I couldn't pass it up just because it might be chilly!!

Australia's weather will be great in some areas that time - Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef area, Darwin and Kakadu area, Uluru and the red center, particularly. We're going to Sydney and the Cairns region after NZ.

melodyc

Thanks for the feedback! I greatly appreciate it.

We're still debating if we want to do NZ, Australia, or Hawaii. A lot comes down to what style honeymoon we're looking for. We like to go on road trips, but we're trying to decide if we would prefer to stay in one or two main places for our honeymoon, as opposed to flying/traveling all across a country. Your feedback and links definitely help! Thank you.

melodyc

pb_and_j:

I think we are going to try to go to NZ for the honeymoon. Any advice to share from your planning? Did you go through a travel agent or are you booking things separately?

To everyone:
I've never used a travel agent before--I've always just booked my airfare and hotels separately. But I'm wondering if we should consider using a travel agent for this trip, if that would save us some money and stress. Any advice?

mlgb

I'd be surprised if a travel agent could do anything for you. New Zealand has got to be the most easy-going and polite country left in the world. You are going off-season. You should have your pick of hotels at good rates. The information you need to plan an intinerary is available on the internet, and the info centres in New Zealand can help you with any last-minute issues.

Melnq8

I'm with mlgb - there's no need for a travel agent unless you're just uncomfortable planning a trip yourselves. There's oodles of info out there (including this very helpful board) and besides - planning is half the fun.

pb_and_j

I also never use a travel agent. I DID however go through one for arranging air travel this time. We're going to Fiji to NZ, another NZ flight, out of a different NZ city to Sydney, Cairns, back to LA. I couldn't book that on my own.

I booked through www.swainaustralia.com
The website has lots of good info and the tour and independant itineraries were actually VERY helpful for me to brainstorm up my own itinerary.

All hotels, activities, car I'm booking on my own. For NZ south island we're flying into Queenstown and out of Christchurch. I think I'm going to book only the first few days in Queenstown and book as we go from there. I figure in low season we won't have a big problem with availability, and we're not super picky or staying at expensive places.

Kiwi_acct

Hi Melodyc

As has been noted by others, coming to NZ in June will mean you are here off peak. However, please note that at that time there is a tour of New Zealand by the British Lions Rugby team. They have a big following of UK fans and as such there will be demands put on accomodation in and around the towns and cities where the games are being played.

The site below details this information. It also has an enormous amount of information about travelling to New Zealand. It is a great start for online planning.

http://www.newzealand.com/travel

If you plan your trip to be away from the sites of the games you should have no trouble getting accomodation. Do plan however to get to a pub at some stage and watch one of the games on TV. You will see how fanatical New Zealanders are about there national sport. (Especially of it is a test match, i.e. a match between the All Blacks, New Zealand's national side and the Lions vs a regional side playing the Lions.)

I am sure you will enjoy yourself here when you come. Yes the weather is cooler, but that gives you the opportunity to snuggle down in front of warm roaring fires, which after all, is one of the main points of a honeymoon.

Cheers

Steve