Brushtail

Hello everyone,

I have searched the net and cannot find an itinerary for 3 weeks on the South Island of New Zealand. They only have 9 days or so. Can anyone help?

Thanks
Jenny, cold at 12 degrees in the Hunter Valley NSW

Tangata

In March/April, we did six weeks in New Zealand, three in each island.

Our itinerary for the South Island was:

Day 1 Wellington to Blenheim Alpine Motel $85
Day 2 Blenheim - wine tasting Alpine Motel $85
Day 3 Blenheim - Kaikaura Maxtons Motel $80
Day 4 Kaikora to Christchurch, Southern Comfort $85
whale watching in the morning.
Day 5 Christchurch Southern Comfort $85
Day 6 Christchurch to Queenstown Ernslaw Lodge $120
Day 7 Queenstown Ernslaw Lodge $120
Day 8 Queenstown Ernslaw Lodge $120
Day 9 Queenstown to Dunedin Bayfield Motel $70
Day 10 Dunedin to Invercargill via Catlins Balmorel Motel $90
Day 11 Invercargill to Manapouri Lakeview Motor Inn $75
Day 12 Manapouri Lakeview Motor Inn $75
Day 13 Manapouri to Milford Milford Mariner $620
Day 14 Milford to Pembroke (Wanaka) Wanaka Hotel $105
Day 15 Wanaka to Franz Josef $68
Day 16 Franz Josef to Greymouth $90
Day 17 Greymouth to Hanmer Alpine Garden Motels $94
Day 18 Hanmer to Rangiora Lilybrook Motel $80
Day 19 Rangiora to Christchurch Southern Comfort $85
Day 20 Christchurch Southern Comfort $85
Day 21 Christchurch Southern Comfort $85

Unfortunately, we caught some bad weather, so we cut short our time on the West Coast. We could not get an extra night in our Christchurch motel so stayed at Rangiora ? not recommended.

If you would like a copy of my diary and full costing, please e-mail me.

Brushtail

Hi Tangata,

Thanks for the reply, you didn't put your email address on your message, but yes, I would love a copy of your travels. [email protected]

Thank you

I should say we are flying in to Christchurch and renting a campervan for the three weeks.

I haven't done this before, we rented a car and stayed in motels in March 2004 when we spent three weeks on the North Island.

But there is something seductive about a campervan. A cubby on wheels. It seems so much fun. Has anyone done it?

Melnq8

The following web sites have 13 and 14 day South Island itineraries listed on their sites:

http://www.southislandescapes.com/siexposed.htm

http://www.newzealand.com/travel/en/...ving-route.cfm

You can easily add a few days here and there depending on your interests. It gives you an idea anyway.

We spent 28 days on the South Island this past Sept. It was our 5th trip, so we'd already seen most of the highlights. We like to design our own itinerary, and we have a three night rule - no less than three nights per location - it doesn't work for everyone, but it works well for us. We don't like to rush about, we'd rather stick around and thoroughly explore a place before moving on.

Here's what we did in 2003:

Arrive CH - drive CH to Hanmer Springs - 3 nights

Hanmer Springs to Endeavor Inlet, Queen Charlotte Sound (Marlborough Sounds) - 3 nights

Marborough Sounds to Golden Bay/Takaka (Abel Tasman) - 3 nights

Golden Bay/Takaka to Motueka - 3 nights

Motueka to Karamea - 3 nights

Karamea to Akaroa (Banks Peninsula) - 3 nights

Akaroa to Lake Tekapo - 3 nights

Lake Tekapo to Te Anau - 3 nights

Te Anau to Queenstown - 4 nights

Melanie, hot at 123F in Kuwait.

tropo

Brushtail, I did a 6 weeks trip in NZ some years ago, in a campervan, and just loved it. We were sightseeing and trout fishing our way through NZ. Because we were driving our "accommodation" we could decide how long or how short we would stay in each location. Sometimes, we would have a leisurely breakfast in the van, read a newspaper or guide books, then around 10am, drive off for our next location. I think our shortest journey between two locations, was 16 kms (it was from one lake to another lake)
Make sure you have a map of the island, look at the mileage u want to cover each day, highlight the "attrations" enroute, try to make some locations 2 or 3 night stays, don't backtrack your journey, and always allow sufficient time for sightseeing between each nightly stop.
My suggested route would be:-
Christchurch via Canterbury Plains to either Lake Tekapo, Mt.Cook, Lake Hawea, Lake Wanaka, then to Queenstown, Te Anau, Milford Sound, then Invercargill, Dunedin, then take Highway 8, across Haast Pass (a little bit of backtracking, but not much), then along the west coast, visiting Franz Joseph Glacier, etc, Greymouth, then up to Abel Tasman National Park, and Picton/Nelson/wineries, down to Blenheim, and along the coast to Kaikoura, with a side trip to Hamner Springs & Lewis Pass, then back to Christchurch.
We loved our campervan trip in NZ, and if we liked a place, we just stayed 2 or 3 days to soak up the atmosphere of the location. Just remember, to do your campervan trip in the summer months. Sleeping in a campervan below Mt.Cook outside of winter, can be quite cool at night, even inside a campervan.
Hey, Tangata, is that you? You probably remember me as Lee75

Brushtail

Thank you all for your help. The planning is definitely half the fun.

Tangata

Hi Tropo! I do indeed, I wondered when you were going to emerge. I believe Linda is lurking somewhere.

I'm normally on the UK board, the Thailand board or the NZ board. However, I'm off to India on Tuesday for a few days, so I'll post about that when I return.

Good to hear from you. Hope all is going well with the new house.