BetseyE

We're designing our own tour of New Zealand, both islands, for 3 weeks in February. We're particularly interested in birding sites, beautiful scenery, and selected city visits. We're active people, but not into "extreme sports". Would like to stay in B and B's or eco-lodges. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Jed

For our 3 week trip to NZ, it took me many months of reading, surfing, and planning.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34602230

Do you have a tentative itinerary?

ElendilPickle

If you like, you can see photos and read a brief trip report about our 10 days on the North Island in April 2004 at http://community.webshots.com/user/ElendilPickle

Lee Ann

BetseyE

Thanks for the response. We're willing to spend the next few months planning, and have so far organized our ideas around the birding sites recommended in Elizabeth Booz's guide to NZ, cross-referencing Fodor's and Eyewitness. What were the tops on your wildlife site list?

mlgb

I had a fantastic birding day at the Glenorchy end of the Routeburn Track (a day trip). Part may have been because it was the first sunny day in a while.

The scenery is pretty nice, also.

For Kea encounters, Arthur's Pass was quite good. I had one perch on my rear view mirror while I was parked.

mlgb

Muriwai Gannet colony is another spot that combines birding and scenery, but you would want to verify if they are still nesting. I went around Dec 1.

BetseyE

Thanks, everybody, for the ideas. Since we're just getting started, we're very open for suggestions of the "Don't" and "Do"-"Misses". We don't mind driving, by the way, and love exploring on our own while still, hopefully, meeting some New Zealanders.

GBZ

One of the best bird sanctuaries around is Mt Bruce half way between the middle of the North Island and Wellington.
http://www.newzealandatoz.com/index.php?pageid=267

BetseyE

Thanks again to all, and here's our tentative 3-wk. itinerary, to which we'd love responses -- i.e., too much? Any big omissions? Anything we should omit? We've tried to include mostly areas of natural interest, birding sites, and some city stops, aware that we've left out a number of areas:
1) Auckland (arrived night before)
2) Tiritiri Matangi Island
3) ?Russell or Paihia
4) to Firth of Thames
5) to Gisborne area
6) to Napier area
7/8) Wellington
9) ferry to Picton
10) Abel Tasman
11) to Hokitika (via Buller Gorge)
12) Christchurch
13) Akaroa
14) Wanaka (via Twizel)
15) to Te Anau
16) Doubtful Sound
17) ferry to Stewart Island, fr. Bluff
18) Bluff to Dunedin
19) Dunedin and Otago Peninsula
20) Oamaru, back to Dunedin
21) Fly fr. Dunedin to Auckland

(Many of those stops could be combined, I hope, so we wouldn't be driving every day and changing locations every night...because as I look at it, it sounds a bit crazy, even for confirmed peripatetics!)

Thanks for any and all input!

heathy

Hi BetseyE

No walking for you on this trip - you're going to require a helicopter !!!!

Melnq8

BetseyE -

Whew! You've got a pretty, er, ambitious itinerary there. I'll only comment on the SI, as I'm not as familiar with the NI.

One day in Abel Tasman really isn't enough IMO, unless you plan your schedule right to the minute and what's the fun in that? There's a nice eco lodge in Abel Tasman called Awaroa Lodge, but you have to get there first. That will involve a water taxi, which you'll need to schedule in advance if you're on such a tight schedule. You can also fly in, but that's gonna cost you some $$. Walking in is the third option, but that's going to involve some time, which you haven't allowed.

You can also stay outside the park in Marahau, or in nearby Motueka, but from a sheer logistical standpoint, I highly recommend a bare minimum of two nights in the area.

Abel Tasman to Hoki is going to take you at least 4 hours. Hoki to CH will take about 3:30, CH to Akaroa will take you about 90 minutes. Akaroa as a day trip from CH is certainly doable. I just did Sumner, Lyttelton, and Akaroa all in one day, but I had two nights in CH to work with. Akaroa to Wanaka is going to take you close to 7 hours and will leave virtually no time to explore the area before leaving for your 3:30 hour drive to Te Anau the following day. Are you considering the Doubtful Sound overnight, or day cruise?

Te Anau to Bluff will take about three hours, and the ferry to Stewart Island also takes time. You'll be tied to the ferry schedule and will need to plan carefully.

Believe me, I completely understand the temptation to squeeze in as much as possible in a short time, but please rethink this itinerary.

Since birding is your main interest, suggest you spend some quality time on Stewart Island. From Stewart it's a short water taxi ride to Ulva Island, which is a bird sanctuary.

Dunedin is also a hot spot for bird lovers, and it could easily fit into an itinerary with Stewart Island.

I assume you've included Oamaru for the penguin show, but suggest you see the penguins in Dunedin instead, as it's really not worth the side trip IMO. Better yet, visit the Pohatu Marine Reserve in Akaroa where you can view little blue penguins and white flippered penguins in their natural surroundings instead of from bleachers.

mlgb

With such a short schedule, I would suggest flying to Stewart Island instead of the ferry. That crossing can be very difficult. I had intended to go on my last visit but was thwarted by bad weather.

BetseyE

OK, we're rethinking our apparently-crazed itinerary -- hopefully to allow more 2-night stays, at least, and balance all that driving with hiking. Out goes: the Northland, Abel Tasman, Hokitika (west coast area), and Oamaru. We'll do Akaroa as a day trip from Christchurch. We'll spend 2-3 days in the Marlborough Sounds area (without AT) and then drive to Christchurch. We'd love to spend more time on Stewart Island. We were thinking day trip on Doubtful Sound,not the overnight. How do these changes sound to all of you who have kindly replied to our initial marathon?

Melnq8

Your revised itinerary sounds much more reasonable. Hopefully, this will be your first trip to NZ, not your only trip, and you can visit the places you miss the next time around.

mlgb makes a good point about the ferry to Stewart Island - it can be rough.

When we took the ferry to Stewart Island in 2005, the cost was $90 each return, it took about an hour and the return crossing was of the barf bag variety.

FYI - Stewart gets about 275 days of rain a year and there will be sandflies, so be prepared.

On that particular trip, we arrived in CH, drove to Omarau (took us four hours and it's not a very interesting drive) saw the penguins and spent the night. Our rationale was that we didn't want to drive too much after an overnight flight. We then drove to Invercargill via Dunedin, and spent the night in Invercargill. The following day we drove to Bluff to catch the ferry. The only reason we stayed in Oamaru and Invercargill was as a means of getting to Stewart Island.

There are lots of walking tracks on Stewart - we spent three nights and enjoyed our visit, but given the logistics in getting there, once was probably enough for us.

BetseyE

You're all truly helpful, especially since this beautiful place is, thus far, to us, a sea of fantastic images, unpronounceable names, and untold distances. One more once, if I may, for this evolving itinerary (by area/# of nights)
Auckland - arrive PM, then 2 nights
Thames/Coromandel - 1
Opotiki-Gisborne - 1
Napier area - 2
Wellington area - 2
Picton/Marlborough - 2
Christchurch, incl. Akaroa - 3
Wanaka - 1
TeAnau (incl. Doubtful Sound) - 2
Stewart Island - 1-2
Dunedin 2-3
Back to Auckland to depart (Have to do it that way with Freq. Flyer)

We heed your warnings about rough ferry trips (but we have a little trawler ourselves and are pretty castiron of stomach)...Does one need to book ahead for the Bluff-SI ferry or plane, and could that be changed, PRN, at the last minute? Since birds are a huge draw for us in NZ, we would like to brave Stewart, if possible, but could be convinced to add/subtract time along with Dunedin's attractions...and we do want to see those penguins in the wild,so thanks for the heads-up about Omaroa!

I'm thinking we need to book accommodations ASAP for a Feb. trip, and I'm relying on Trip Advisor, as well as helpful postings here. We're partial to funky/comfortable B and B's, and would appreciate any particularly-loved places people recall. Again, thanks to all of you.

BetseyE

PS to Melnq8: Thanks for the Pohatu Marine Reserve idea -- sounds great, and I'd not seen it mentioned anywhere else. (Their website mentions Sept-Jan breeding times as the best viewing -- Do you have any idea about Feb. possibilities?) (I'm aware just how geeky some of my bird queries sound, but there you are -- we love it!)

Melnq8

Well, if liking birds makes one a geek, count me in.

Not sure about penguin viewing specifics in Feb - we went in Sept and crawled around looking at penguin hides and watched them come in from the sea at dusk. You might want to send the reserve a note asking for details - Shireen Helps was running the place when we visited and we booked the same day at the visitor's center.

Not sure about ferry bookings either - we booked in advance and the ferry certainly wasn't full, but again, that was in Sept.

Years ago we stayed at the Albatross Inn in Dunedin - not sure if it fits your definition of funky, but it's worth a look.