Itinerary help New Zealand
 

My wife and I are in our late 50s and seem to be in a travel rut. We keep going back to France and Italy, which we always enjoy. We rent a car and take day trips to tour neighboring sights, enjoy great food and stay in wonderful hotels. I would like to use my United miles for business class tickets to see new sights. We are considering a return trip to the Greek Islands or New Zealand. We both like to stay active during the day but no sun bathing, scuba, hiking or biking. But we don't like to sit on lounge chairs beside a pool (that is our big concern with Greece--not much to do). Would we be happy touring New Zealand? What months offer the best weather?

New Zealand is a great place for touring around. There are lots of interesting and unusual places to visit, ranging from caves to volcanoes to beaches to glaciers to exotic birds to deep canyons to jagged alpine peaks to vineyards to cities to fjords, just to name a few. Southern Hemisphere seasons are opposite to the north, so best times (weather-wise) to visit are December, January, and February. November and March are OK too, and will be less crowded.

There's no shortage of things to do in NZ. It's a beautiful country and incredibibly diverse, as Alf has mentioned.

It's perfect for active outdoorsy people, yet you don't have to be a hiker or biker to enjoy what NZ has to offer.

Planning a trip to NZ can be challenging, as there's so much to see and do that it's hard to choose.

NZ is also home to some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet.

Richard, you won’t be disappointed, so all you've heard about New Zealand. New Zealand has around 60 million sheep give or take one or two and New Zealanders are pretty good at rugby and most sports. Well funnily enough there's a lot more to it than that! New Zealand is difficult to beat for its beauty and adventure. Imagine a country the size of Great Britain but with only 4 million people. As well as the cultural and party cities of Auckland, Wellington, Queenstown and Christchurch there are wide expanses of nothing but amazingly diverse countryside from flatlands to snow capped mountains. A smorgasbord of exciting activities awaits both the energetic and relaxed travelling tourist, with NZ being the birthplace of the bungy jump. Imagine hiking on a glacier then travelling a few hours up the West coast via mountains, wind swept remote beaches to arrive in a tropical paradise with white sand beaches and crystal clear waters. Everything in New Zealand is world class. This is New Zealand.

Kiwis (New Zealanders) are mad on the outdoors and New Zealand is the adrenalin capital of the world. Go from bungy jumping via helicopter to white water rafting and then high-speed jet boating -available with no experience!!! If that's not your cup of tea then how about a thermal spa, Maori culture or hike up a volcano? Travelling New Zealand can be as relaxed or as high paced as you want to make it.
Cheers,Dougie
www.newzealandatoz.com

New Zealand is mostly about scenery and outdoor activities. From looking at your posts, it sounds like it might not be for you. Perhaps Sydney instead?

Maybe we should spend one week on the North Island and one week in the Sydney area? What are the must-sees on the North Island? Seems that most of the posts involve the South Island.

Most of the discussion is about the South Island because of the dramatic scenery and outdoor activities, but that doesn't seem to be your main interest. There are all sorts of luxury lodges and great dining opportunities, many in remote locations. If you indicated more specificly what you like to do during the day, the must-sees that fit your interests could be suggested.

Should we consider a week around Syndey and a week day tripping from Auckland? We just returned from one of our best trips--a week in Positano and 4 nights in Rome. We stayed busy during the day with sidetrips and returned back to our luxurious hotel for great meals each night. We enjoyed the drives with gorgeous scenery, including a boat tour of the coves and coast line. No bungy jumping, white water rafting or extreme sports which seem to be the appeal of NZ. Seems that everyone concentrates on the south island, but since we fly into Auckland, could we find enough to do staying in the north? We don't want to try to do too much and not see anything.

I'm not sure I'd suggest Auckland City itself. Two areas on the North Island that might have enough to interest you would be the Rotorua/Taupo area (eg look into somewhere like Huka Lodge, in Taupo.) There are a number of day trips in the area, nothing strenuous, include geothermal areas, the Maori village in Rotorua. Also the Bay of Islands/ Pahia/Russell area north of Auckland? Between the various catamaran excursions and historic sites you should have a few choices. You could enjoy a bit of the coastal and mountain scenery that way. There are lots of luxury lodges and nice B*Bs that also serve excellent food, accomodations don't need to be in impersonal hotels and your hosts will be able to make suggestions for outings.

We spent 10 days on the North Island in April 2004. We flew in and out of Auckland, so that made sense given our limited amount of time.

You can see our trip pictures and get an idea of what we did at http://community.webshots.com/user/ElendilPickle

Lee Ann

Richard, allow me to simplify your deciswion - NZ is the MOST BEAUTIFUL country in thw WORLD. Period. Personally- I loved South Island - for its spectacularly diverse secenery and plethora of toursit options and activities.