For 10 to 12 days on the South Island, I think we'll want to base ourselves in Christchurch, Dunedin, Te Anau and Queenstown. Several questions for you experts:
1) Are these good choices? Should we add a 5th place? I don't like to have to pack and unpack TOO much.
2) What order? We'll be arriving from the US and then departing for Sydney. Does it make sense for instance, to fly into Christchurch, and fly out of Queenstown? Is it cheaper if we rent/return the rental car to the same location?

Thanks, as always for your good suggestions.

Alice

Hi Alice -

We're currently working on a similar trip - we've been to the SI several times and have decided to concentrate on the southern areas this time as we only have 15 nights to work with.

Yes, the places you've selected are good choices, assuming they offer the sites and activities you're most interested in.

Yes, it makes sense to fly into CHC and out of QT to save time driving back to CHC. We've done one way car rentals many times and we've never been charged extra, although this may vary between companies.

Another possibility would be to fly from CHC to QT, then work your way back to CHC. Or fly to Dunedin and work your way back to CHC, or end in Dunedin and fly back to CHC. Many options.

Flying within NZ could prove more expensive though, so you'll need to compare the cost of the flight vs the cost of the car and the time needed to backtrack.

Here's a sample itinerary that you might consider:

Arrive CHC - spend a few days
Drive CHC - Dunedin - 362 km, about 5 hours
Drive Dunedin-Te Anau 290 km, about 4 hours
Drive Te Anau-QT - 170 km, about two hours
Fly QT-CHC

No, I wouldn't add a 5th place - I think you've got plenty to keep yourselves busy for 10-12 days.

That's very helpful. Is there anyway with this itinerary, we can fit in Fox or Franz Josef glacier?

And I'll definitely check out flying into CHC and out of QT.

Alice

Hi Alice -

With the itinerary I mentioned, you'd not be seeing any of the West Coast and would miss the glaciers. The West Coast is beautiful. If you want to incorporate the glaciers, you might consider something like this:

Arrive CHC - Fly to Dunedin
Drive Dunedin to Te Anau (about 4 hours)
Drive Te Anau to Queenstown (about 2 hours)
Drive Queenstown to Fox or Franz Josef (long drive day - allow at least six hours)
Drive Franz/Fox to CHC via Arthur's Pass (about 5.5 hours, 395 km from Franz Josef, 40 minutes longer from Fox Glacier)
Depart CHC

This route will increase your driving, and will add a 5th stop, so you'll have less time to spend exploring the areas you visit.

Any particular reason you want to visit Dunedin?

If you would like to add a glacier viewing to the itinerary, you can do this in Mt. Cook National Park, which is between Christchurch and Dunedin. You can cut inland in a few places to pick up Geraldine and/or Fairlie (if you can time it to reach Fairlie for lunch at the Old Post Office Cafe so much the better, freshest lamb anywhere).

You will bypass beautiful Lake Tekapo. Add a night around Mt. Cook. There is a gravel road (very passable in most weather) to the overlook of the Tasman Glacier. Also I believe there are zodiac trips to the small glaciers in the terminal lake. You can spend the night in Mt. Cook very reasonably at the YHA, they have individual rooms although they book up well in advance. There are also luxury choices and I think Melissa5's report has another reasonable motel choice there.

You can continue either to Queenstown (probably closer) and end at Dunedin after visiting Te Anau, or continue to Dunedin by cutting back to the coast to Oamaru.

Correction: I think it's the Old Library Cafe? in Fairlie. In any event it's a tiny town and the restaurant is on the main road and well advertised.

I guess I had seen Dunedin on a number of itineraries as a base to seeing some other things on the east coast? Is that not a good base? I'd be happy hear other suggestions.

My husband and I were sitting with a big map of NZ this afternoon trying to figure out the best itinerary where we can enjoy a lot of the SI without TOO much driving.

Alice

Dunedin (really the Otago Peninsula) is more of a destination for wildlife viewing. Penguins and albatross. There is also the Cadbury factory tour, a brewery tour, museums and a pretty coastline. I wouldn't really call it a "base" for seeing the east coast.

I think it's ok to miss a close-up encounter with the glaciers--they're quite mediocre if you are familiar with the glaciers of the Alps or Alaska. The West Coast drive is very pleasant even without excursions into Franz and Fox.

An overnight tour on one of the sounds makes good use of time (and is recommended in any case). Then you can drive the southern scenic (Catlins) route to Dunedin, which is a very pleasant base for a couple of days.

Okay, I’ve been doing my homework, and thinking about all your good advice, and have come to the realization that I have hard choices to make with this itinerary, if I don’t want to spend all my time in the car. My other constraint is that my husband does NOT like to stay 1 night here, 1 night there, so I want to stay 2-3 nights in at least a few places.

The way I see it, there are 9 basic areas in play –
1)Christchurch and environs
2Kaikoura, Hammer Springs
3)Greymouth,Punakaiki, Hokitika
4)Fox, Franz Josef Glaciers
5)Wanaka, Queenstown
6)Te Anau, Milford Sound
7)Invercargill
8)Dunedin/Oamaru
9)Lake Tekapo

We have about 12 days, so I can’t do all of these. We plan to fly from home (Washington DC) to Christchurch, and then from NZ to OZ. I definitely want to see Te Anau and Milford Sound, and Queenstown and environs. After that, possibly the Glaciers, possibly Dunedin and the Otago peninsula. Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook Natl Park sound wonderful too.

For this first trip should I not worry about Kaikoura, Hammer Springs, Greymouth, Punakaiki, Hokitika and Invercargill? (Notice that I said first trip – clearly we’re going to have to do this again).

Am I crazy to try to make this a circuit? The second part of our trip is in Australia. How much more will it cost us to drop off the car elsewhere and fly to Sydney from there? Can we fly out of Queenstown? Dunedin?

Itinerary 1 might be
Christchurch
Glaciers
Queenstown
Te Anau
Dunedin
Lake Tekapo/Mt Cook Natl Park
Christchurch

If I leave out Dunedin, what one place do I go between Te Anau and Christchurch? Is it worth including Lake Tekapo? It’s too long a drive from Te Anau to Christchurch.

If we don’t see the glaciers Itinerary 2 might be
Christchurch
Dunedin
Te Anau
Queenstown
Lake Tekapo/Mt Cook Natl Park
Christchurch

What do you think? It’s all good, right? Whatever we end up with, we’re going to love this trip.

Thanks for you patience!
Alice

Hi Alice -

Yes, you can fly out of Queenstown and Dunedin, but you'll most likely have to fly back to Christchurch, then catch your international flight from there.

Invercargill is probably the most unexciting place in NZ. No reason to go there unless you're on your way to Bluff to catch the ferry to Stewart Island, or if you're passing through to visit the Catlins. Strongly suggest you put Invercargill at the very botton of your wishlist. This is from a person who's been to Invercargill several times - it's basically a flat agricultural town, a place you pass through on your way elsewhere.

Hanmer Springs is another place not many tourists ever see - it's a tiny town and the major draw is the thermal pools, but it's not worth going out of your way for IMO.

I've stayed in Hanmer three or four times now, but only because I visit the SI often and only because it makes a good spot to overnight after an international flight. We prefer not to stay in CHC on arrival; instead we drive 2-3 hours from CHC and overnight elsewhere to give us a jump on the next day's drive. Hanmer makes a good spot when we're headed north towards Nelson as it's only a 90 minute drive from CHC.

Kiakoura is in the opposite direction of your main interests, so suggest you leave it for next time.

Okay - Itinerary one:

You'll pass through Greymouth on this route. If you get an early start, you can easily make the side trip to Punakaiki, which is about 45 minutes north of Greymouth. It doesn't take long to visit the Pancake Rocks and blowholes and you might even have time to take the Truman Track (30 minutes). You can then turn around, and head down the West Coast via Greymouth and Hokitika, perhaps stopping at Hokitika for a meal and to poke around before going to the glaciers.

If you leave out Dunedin (and I suggest you do because of your limited time) you can overnight at Mt Cook or Lake Tekapo between Te Anau and CHC. The drive from Te Anau to Mt Cook will take about six hours. If you choose to overnight at Mt Cook, you can make a stop at Lake Tekapo the following day on your drive back to CHC. It doesn't take long to see the lake and the chapel. There are some nice hikes there, but you just won't have time.

Itinerary two - definitely doable

Yes, it's all GOOD. Just think of this as your first trip and try not to stress out about fitting it all in. You just can't fit it all into 10-12 days, so decide what YOU must see, and go from there.

Here's a drive time/distance calculator that might help you with travel times:
http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/td-calculator.php

Alice9, you have lots of good advice here! I'd like to throw another choice onto the pile. If you want to concentrate on the beautiful natural areas on the southern half of the south island of New Zealand, you can fly into and out of Queenstown.

Your itinerary could possibly involve some backtracking (such as staying near Queenstown more than once), but the entire southern half of the south island is so outrageously gorgeous that you'll always end up wanting more time there.

We've been to New Zealand twice now, and we agreed as soon as we landed back home there will be a third trip!

The reason I think that backtracking on the south island makes sense is that the southwest coast of the south island is beautiful wilderness, and you can't fly home from there, so it makes sense to go back to Queenstown unless you really want to see Dunedin or Christchurh. Te Anau is a wonderful base for exploring the Milford or Doubtful Sound and Milford Rd., but you can't fly home from there. So it just makes sense to fly into and out of Queenstown, in my opinion. This type of itinerary would enable you to have 2 or 3 nights at each stop, which is what you said your husband prefers.

Keep in mind that staying in Queenstown doesn't mean being stuck in the city. Beautiful Glenorchy and the Routeburn track are only a day-trip away. In fact you can even stay in Glenorchy at the peaceful Kinloch Lodge if that is your style. It's just a base, plus there is lots of good dining in Queenstown. Or you could base in Wanaka, not so far from Queenstown.

Basing in Te Anau also gives you more time for the amazing Fiordland area, one of the highlights of the south island in my opinion. Many people don't have enough time to explore Milford Rd. which has many interesting stops and walks.

I'm also in love with Mt. Cook, but I've been lucky on both trips to have clear weather and we could see the mountain clearly!

We flew into Dunedin and out of Queenstown on our second trip. This was fine. But I actually prefer Fiordland, Mt. Cook, and the southwest coast as my favorite parts of the south island of New Zealand. I would also like to explore the Caitlins area of the southeast coast of the south island on a future trip.

Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula do have something to offer, but it's not as wild an area as some other parts of the south island in my opinion. Depends on what you are looking for.

Enjoy! You can't really go wrong. I agree, don't move around too much.