Itinerary Help

Old Dec 16th, 2005, 05:32 PM
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Itinerary Help

This is a tentative itinerary our travel agent has put together, based on what we told her we were interested in. Would love to get your feedback! Also, does anyone have lodging recommendations for the areas marked "hotel". I am worried that the agent only works w/certain hotels and will most likely not book us in the most "desirable" places. I really would like to stay in places with kitchenettes and a fitness room

Day 1: depart USA
Day 3: arr. Christchurch. 2 nights motel.
Day 5, 6, 7: fly Christchurch/Queenstown. 3 nights motel. Dart River safari with fun yaks, and Shotover Jetboat.
Day 8, 9, 10: rental car; drive to Te Anau. 3 nights - motel
Day 11: drive to Central Otago-Alexandra area. Rocky Range 1 night
Day 12, 13: Lake Moeraki Lodge 2 nights
Day 14: to Greymouth (with plenty of time to stopover at Franz Joseph Glacier and Hokitika.
Day 15: to Nelson - 1 night.
Day 16,17: Moetueka, or somewhere out from Nelson where you can rent kayaks. motel. 2 nights.
Day 18: fly Nelson/Rotorua. get rental car. afternoon Waka tour, thermal area, Maori arts and crafts. Evening hangi.
Day 19: Go zorbing this morning, then drive to Lake Taupo and cruise the lake this afternoon. Return to Rotorua for the evening.
Day 20: drive to Auckland. turn in rental car. Airdale Hotel.
Day 21: home
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Old Dec 16th, 2005, 10:50 PM
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Sounds like a good itinerary to me, although I can't really comment on the North Island portion.

It's nice to see someone taking their time and spending more than one night in most places. Just curious though, any reason you plan to spend three nights in Te Anau? Hiking, kayaking, etc? On our last visit to Te Anau we spent three nights and found plenty to do, but we seem to be the exception, not the rule.

Lake Moeraki Wilderness Lodge is a wonderful place - good choice!

Are you spending your 14th night in Greymouth or Hoki?

You can rent kayaks from locations in Marahau and Kaiteriteri, both which are near Motueka. There are some interesting lodging options (cottages, B&B, etc) in all three places too.

I can suggest the following places in the Motueka area:

The Blue Moon B&B
The Old Schoolhouse (cottage)

In Te Anau, we like The Explorer Lodge.

In Queenstown we've stayed and liked all of these places:

Villa Del Lago
The Lofts
The A-Line Hotel

I think the A-Line has a fitness center - not sure though. If you're a light sleeper, you'll want to request a quiet room at the A-Line.

In Christchurch we usually stay at the Commodore, which I think is now called something else. We stay there because of it's proximity to the airport more than anything.

Hope this helps. Have a great trip!

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Old Dec 17th, 2005, 11:55 AM
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Hi tomstace, you are right to be skeptical about the lodgings booked by travel agents. after leaving our 2-month trip in the hands of a "fantastic" agent, we found out a the last minute we were being booked at the mass tourist hotels. I cancelled it all and booked the accomodations myself.


We were not disapppointed in any of our lodgings, and found unique places with lots of personality. Here's where we stayed:

Queenstown - The Glebe, mountain studio (condo). Quite nice, equipped with kitchen, etc. Not sure about fitness room, but you won't need one in Queenstown - just walk outside!

Te Anau - Blue Thistle Cotteges - awesome views. http://www.bluethistlecottages.com/
This is a small farm with 3 private cottages, kitchen, living room, bedroom and bath. fantastic hosts if you like meeting the locals. about 2 miles out of town going toward Milford Sound. I highly recommed visiting Milford Sound - the cruise on the fjords is fantastic, but the ride there and back is worth the trip - stunning stops along the way (which we did on the way back to Te Anau so we could beat the tour buses).

Franz Josef - the Rainforest Retreat ($150 for a "tree house". very cool.
www.rainforestretreat.co.nz

In the Hokitika area, we stayed in Punakaiti at an unbelievable house called Flax Haven ($200 for a huge house) - on the cliffs over the west coast. (Off-site Hosted by the folks at the Rocks Homestay.) The resident weka visited us while we soaked in the hot tub watching the sunset over the sea . This was truly the highlight of a 2-month trip. The Punakaiti area is stunning. If you go there, be sure to take the trail through the rainforest to the beach (in addition to the trail to the top of the Pancake Rocks) - called the Truman Track. The beach is amazing - sea caves, rocks to climb on - just unbelievable. When I close my eyes and relive our trip, this is the place my mind takes me to most often.
http://www.flaxhaven.com/Pages/home.htm

In Moteuka, we found a most interesting place near the Riwaka River Resurgence - called the Hayshed. A whimsical cottage, private, located on a rock stream. (booked thru Foley's Creek website). The brief hike to the Resurgence is worth it. From this base, we explored Takaka Hill, the Tasmin Nat'l Park, etc. we did not go kayaking, but I imagine it's a great place to do this.

In Nelson, seriously consider checking out the WOW Museum - Wearable World of Art. Not something we would be generally interested in, but glad we got talked into it. Truly imaginative and unique.

We stayed in Lake Taupo instead of Rotorua. A cool spot with a natural thermal tub on the patio, filled with hot water straight out of the geothermally heated water table (it's so hot, you actually have to add cold water before you get in.
www.baycrest.co.nz (ground floor superking - $175.00)

You'll have a blast.
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Old Dec 27th, 2005, 09:10 AM
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I stayed at the Wilderness Lodge last February. I thought it was very overpriced. The rooms are very plain and simple. The dinner (included) was very good. There is a very nice walk to Munro Beach that you can do from the lodge, but it is open to the public. The lodge cost $500 NZ per night, which was about $250 too much. If I were you, I would stay elsewhere.
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Old Dec 27th, 2005, 01:55 PM
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Lake Moeraki Wilderness Lodge is $500 NZ per night? Yikes! It was expensive when we stayed there years ago, but I agree that $500 is alot of money for what you get. I thought the rooms were pretty plain too, but the overall experience was very memorable.

Would I pay $500 a night? Not unless the exchange rate was really, really good (which it isn't).
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Old Dec 27th, 2005, 05:36 PM
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Is anywhere worth $500 per night? Some months ago I looked at the Lake Moeraki Wilderness Lodge for next week and was horrified at the price. Looks an enchanting setting but didn't seem to be Moet value!
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Old Dec 28th, 2005, 03:28 PM
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$500-a-night rooms, like $200 bottles of wine, are a prime example of the law of diminishing returns. Beyond a certain point, the potential for bitter disappointment increases the more you pay, simply because it's costing you a lot to be stuffed around, no matter how many uniformed flunkeys are running around. If a 3* hotel stuffs up you can at least comfort yourself with the thought that they haven't taken much of your hard-earned.
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Old Dec 28th, 2005, 08:59 PM
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Most motels in NZ have kitchens. All have private facilities. Generally the more you pay the better the quality, but I agree there is a point where it is hard to justify the extra cost.

I'm not sure you will find fitness centres in many motels. The larger ones may have a gym, and I know of a few where the owner is a fitness freak, and has a gym for his own use, and for the guests.

Have a look at the Qualmark site for an indication of quality. The grading is well explained on the site, and applies to all tourist attractions in NZ, including hotels and motels. Generally anything above 3 star is reasonably good, and 5 star is top of the line. The address is www.qualmark.co.nz
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Old Dec 28th, 2005, 09:56 PM
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The whole country strikes me as one big outdoor fitness centre - why would you need to work out in a hotel?
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