Help. I am looking for driving distances in NZ from Auckland to Wellington.I also am looking for the distance from the Cooks Straight ferry to Christchurch . I am planning to take a week to do all this and am afraid i may run out of time. Any help would be appreciated.

we stayed a month in new zealand - 2 weeks in each island and found that really we needed far more time.You can not drive anywhere fast in New Zealand, i think max speed is 100kph.,So it takes ages to go anywhere. .Auckland to Wellington - 6hrs (650 km ),Picton to Christchurch - 5hrs (350 km)

I heard that it required at least 3 yrs of driving experience to rent a car in the S.I., is it true ?

Dear Pat, May I suggest that you confine your trip to one island only? My husband and I went to NZ for 2 weeks and thought we would be able to do both islands easily. In fact, we spent 2 weeks on the North island only. Rented a motor home and stayed in caravan parks on the top half of the island. Went back the next year and did the other half of the North island. That's more than one month just to see the North and we didn't really see it all. Still planning to return for the South island as many Kiwis told us we haven't really seen NZ until we see the South. Whatever you decide, you will LOVE NZ and its people. Best place we have ever been. Good luck.

You may have a problem underestimating driving time because although there are few cars on their roads (which are almost always 2-lane blacktop), the roads are twisty and curvy. When you rent a car on the North Island, say, you cannot take it to the South Island. If you own the car, no problem. If you rent, you must pick up a rental car on the other island. We used Budget and had a Mitsubishi sedan on the North Island and a Nissan two-door on the South Island. We dropped off the Mitsubishi at the Wellington Airport after driving down from Auckland.
Flying to Christchurch, we picked up the Nissan. In
all, we spent the better part of a month in NZ. We found so few cars on the road down the western side of the South Island that we went almost an hour one day before a car passed us headed in the other direction. In some places, you share a railway trestle with...trains. They have a sign: Look Out For Trains on Bridge...obviously, the trains have the right-of-way. Lovely scenery, lovely people, great food, warm hospitality in B&Bs, sheep ranches, country motels, etc. We loved it and so will you.