Input for extended trip with young family to New Zealand
 

Hello,
My family is planning an extended trip, around 2 months long, to New Zealand in Jan-Feb 2008. Our children will be 3 and 5 years old. Has anyone done something similar and could share details?

I'm looking for input/suggestions on several things:
1. Structure of the trip - Would you travel around as a tourist or would you settle in and try to meet locals?

2. Location, location, location - Where would you stay with young children? I'm considering about picking two different home bases and staying each place for a month, doing day trips from there. Any specific recommendations for lodging? I think we would be interested in a house/apartment.

3. Transportation - Would you rent a car?

4. Not-to-be-missed in New Zealand - What would you put on this list?

Any other thoughts would be so great! I'm so excited about this but am feeling a little overwhelmed by all the possibilities of such a trip!

Thanks in advance
Julie

We visited NZ with our 3 year old last December. How jealous I am that you have 2 months!

January will be busy, so reserving ahead of time is a good idea.

Find a list of driving times between destinations (this was a common feature of maps/guidebooks). Places are much farther apart than you think. You may want a base every two weeks, rather than every month, so you aren't driving so far.

I'd suggest staying at a holiday park. Many of them have very nice cabins--some with simple kitchens and private bathrooms. The important thing is that they also often have playgrounds, pools, and friends for your kids to play with. One popular one is Top 10 http://www.top10.co.nz

As far as the local/tourist thing goes, many kiwis will be traveling in January (& maybe Feb.), so if you are doing the tourist thing you will meet them!

I second everything christycruz has said. There is so much to see, and the distances are further than you think. Your day trips would be too long. I agree with moving every couple of weeks.

I also was going to suggest the Top 10 camping grounds. We stayed in a really nice cabin at Franz Josef and I think it would be great for kids.

Yes, I think renting a car would be the best bet. I was there for a month and there is still so much more I'd like to see. BTW even with a month , we were moving on every day or two.

Hi,

Your idea of home bases is a great one. Kids seem to do better when they come back to the same place and sleep in the same bed at night. By living in a place, you live like the locals and shop at the same stores and supermarkets, get to know the best restaurants. That is the best way to get to know a country and its people.

You might also consider a motorhome/camper option, which is great for camping. You might rent a cabin or small home for 3 weeks and do a weekly rental for motorhome/camper to travel to your next home. Again, the kids have the same bed, but you are more mobile and can see the locations that aren't close to central areas. Motorhome vs. campers depends on how your family does with campground bathrooms, bugs and dirt - some of my family travel clients don't mind and they get a camper; the clients that don't like bugs, dirt and public bathrooms go with the motorhome.

Be sure to consider the Shotover Jet on the South Island.

Best Regards,
Julia

One more thing I didn't mention, we stayed in apartments too, but didn't feel like we got the local flavor because the social aspect wasn't there.

We had lots more fun at the holiday parks with the nice communal kitchens. Everyone would gather to cook their meals, trading recipes and spices, and talking. We had more kiwi interactions over the barbeque than anywhere else.

The campervan is ok if you are comfortable driving a 4 berth. We were already having to drive on the left (we're from U.S.), and didn't appreciate the extra stress of a big camper.

Also, the price for rentals in general really jumps in mid Dec & January. Our 4-berth camper jumped in price to 258 NZD per day. So if you rent one, check the prices in Feb to see if they drop.

BTW, the bathroom/kitchen facilities at the parks are very nice & clean.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and advice...

christycruz - Did you move around every day/few days? How much of each island did you see? About the campervan - I'm not sure if we would all survive that much "togetherness." I think that having a little personal space that a house/apartment would give us might be important.

julia - What towns would you recommend staying in?

Thanks again
Julie

Hi Julie,

We spent 6 weeks in New Zealand in 2005 during Feb/March with our two girls who were then aged 5 and 7 years so we did a very similar trip to what you are planning - lucky you!

First, we loved New Zealand a lot clean water, air, land, friendly people and gorgeous scenery. Excellent playgrounds for kids everywhere and believe me we toured most of them!

We did rent a car on the North Island, then flew from Auckland to Christchurch, rented a car and toured around again, took the ferry to Wellington and then flew from Wellington to Auckland for the next leg of our trip (we travelled for 4.5 months). Good advice in that almost all the driving takes longer than expected. The roads were all great just windy. We had our best experiences staying at B&Bs or Farmstays (can recommend a wonderful family place in Wanaka, South Island called Mount Maude lodge). We stayed in one holiday park and hated it but many people seem to like them so who knows! Motels in NZ are also a good option as many have family set ups with cooking facilities, an extra bedroom, laundry facilities etc. Ours were all quite good (probably stayed in 4 or 5) but a little impersonal.

Definitely rent a car but shop around for prices as they can be quite high. I think we ended up paying a little less by booking over there with a place that rented second hand Japanese cars - sounds a little odd but it was clean, economical and great service as they met us in person at the airport - sorry don't know the name of the company.

We had bad luck in Auckland but that's not surprising as we're not generally big city folks. We did find a few cozy towns north of there (Snells Grove, Mangaphae to name a few) and it was enjoyable and quite warm there. Check out Sheep World which is a wonderful place, showing sheep sheering, sheepdog round ups, lots of different animals and was great for the kids.

I could write about this forever, so let me know where you want more details if you do. We really enjoyed Christchurch a good size city but very manageable with wonderful parks and playgrounds, a fascinating artisan district housed at the old university (complete with fantasic fudge shop with tour and lots of samples!). We also spent a lot of time in Wanaka primarily because we loved the area but as well because we were at a farmstay where we had a great time with the owners, their kids and various animals.

If you go up to the north part of the south island, we stayed again at a wonderful cottage near Nelson (Maple Grove Cottages) another farmstay and the owner, Judy, would pick up our kids everyday to go feed their highland cattle and pick up the chicken eggs. It's a wonderful arts and craftsy community up there - we were there for Easter now that I think about it and there was a great little fair on. We also did a trip to Abel Tasman Park which is just beautiful - also a great playground for the kids in the small town where we caught the boat up to Tasman.

Wellington was not so great for us, lousy weather, but a few wonderful museums.

As you can tell, we did travel around a lot but tried to balance longer stays, with a few driving days and then a longer stay again. What I can guarantee is that you will have good days and bad days - just like at home. Sounds obvious but it's good to keep in mind when you hit one of those "raining so hard you can't see the windshield wiper" days.

Have fun planning the trip. We only booked the first stay's accomodation and then winged it from there. It worked out fine for us and the tourist information offices around were always very helpful and on the money with their accomodation suggestions.

Campervans abound and a lot of people recommend them. We didn't find them to be much cheaper than b&bs and when you have two months of together time you may like a little more space. That being said, we're not big campers and perhaps a week or so with a campervan would give you a taste of whether you like it or not. The cop that we stayed with called them "moving roadblocks" which made us laugh but they are definitely an in-thing to do in New Zealand.

Let me know if you have more specific questions and if you'd like we can be contact directly by email.

Have a blast planning your wonderful trip! Oops, don't forget to visit one of the glow worm caves or dells somewhere - they are neat for the kids.

Connie

Connie -

Thanks for sharing Maple Grove cottages - looks perfect for our upcoming trip.

Connie - Thanks so much for all the wonderful information!! I would love to hear more and can be reached via email ([email protected]).

Thanks again - It sounds like you had a wonderful time.
Julie

Hi Julie,

I've sent my NZ trip journal entry to your email address. Hope you find it helpful.

Connie

Hi Julie
I know this is a late reply to your question - but have only just discovered this site. Anyway - my major piece of advice would be to make bookings for accommodation ASAP. Schoolholidays are in full swing and it will be very busy. We generally make bookings about now / sooner for campsites , prime beach lodgings etc. Try to avoid places over New Year in popular beach resort areas as these ofton attract Yobs. Although it will be " summer " weather can be awful - be psychologically prepared ! You will need a car . Have fun and see you at the beach !

I too have sent you a journal of our 4-month driving trip through NZ with two slightly older kids. Although NZ is not a huge country, many places that you would like to visit are widely separated, so I think that it will become tiresome to drive back and forth from a home base. You will find that periodically you will want to travel far enough you will want to stay overnight, defeating the purpose of a home base.

Personally, I would travel about in a rented car or campervan. There are lots of places to stay along pretty much every route. You could plan ahead and book a few places - it depends on how adventurous you are. We booked nothing in advance, generally plannning only a week ahead (except for our Milford Track hike, which required 8 months advance booking!).

I liked having a small campervan, which allowed us to get going in the morning with a minimum of fuss and bother with our kids. We woke, had breakfast, and took off. It worked great for us, but as you can see above, doesn't work for everyone.

Have a great trip!

Al F.