jplanet

Hello! My friend and I will be traveling through NZ on our way to Australia, but we only have 6 days. We fly in/out of Auckland and becase we know we have limited time, we are choosing to limit our main activities to a full day hike at Franz Josef Glacier and some gloworm cave viewing in Waitomo. The rest of the time, we hope to take in some of the local sites and simply relax. Here are our questions:

1) Which city should we fly into from Auckland to enable the quickest trip to FJ glaciers? Are there buses/shuttles or must we rent a car?
2) We are thinking of hiking with Franz Josef Glacier Guides. Has anybody gone with this company before? Any comments?
3) Would it be better to fly back to Auckland from South Island, and then drive to Waitomo or should we fly there directly to save time? I'm imagining the drive could be pleasant, but it will be winter so maybe a flight would be easier?
4) If we do fly, which city would be best to fly into? And should we fly directly there from South Island?
5) Are there shuttles/buses to Waitomo from the airport or must be rent cars?

My friend and I have consulted our guidebooks, but most of the travel information is based around driving to/from locations and unfortunately we are limited on time and we will be traveling in winter so I assume that the drive would be less scenic than other times of the year. Thus we are opting for flights instead.

Don't worry, we do plan on an extended trip in the future, but our jobs won't allow that this year.

Thank you for your help!

jplanet

One more thing to add - We are visiting the last week in July.

Melnq8

Hi jplanet -

Glowworms can be found in several places throughout both islands - I assume you're planning to view the glowworms from a raft or tube in the Waitomo Caves?

Yes, there are busses, so getting to Franz Josef shouldn't be a problem, but taking a bus might not be the quickest option as you'll be tied to the bus schedule.

As far as which city to fly into to access the glaciers the quickest, well, it's a wash. You can fly into Christchurch and drive about 5:30-6 hours to Franz Josef, or fly to Christchurch then fly to Queenstown, then drive about six hours to Franz Josef.

Flying to Christchurch would be less expensive and probably faster in the long run - no sitting around the airport to wait for your connecting flight to QT, etc.

Since you're so pressed for time, you'll probably want to fly back to CH from QT anyway, so going to CH and driving to the glaciers will allow you to see more of the country.

It sounds as if you have your heart set on both islands, but please consider limiting yourself to one. There are many places on the SI that are much more interesting than Waitomo Caves IMO. Even though you've limited yourself to visiting a few places, getting from one to the other is going to eat up alot of your time and be quite expensive.

Just my two cents.

jplanet

Melnq8 - thank you for the helpful information! Yes, we were thinking of doing the rafting/tubing through the caves, but it's not a must. I think hiking the glaciers is much higher up on our list of priorities. So if we flew directly from Auck -> CH, then drove to the glaciers, are you recommending that it would be best to return to QT and then fly from there to CH and then back to CH? Unfortunately, our flights from Los Angeles have already been booked to Auckland and then we leave from Auckland to Cairns, Aust - it was part of a special airfare. Perhaps we should skip the glaciers and stay on the north island? My guidebooks mention many great activities, but they're all focused on the summer/spring months, but we will be traveling in winter. Any recommendations for places to visit on the North I. in late July?

Melnq8

jplanet -

Yes, I'm suggesting that if you choose the SI, you drive from CH to the glaciers (perhaps stopping for a night enroute), then continue on to QT, spend a few days in QT then fly from there to CH. This will save you having to drive or bus it back to CH from QT. Since the drive is almost the same distance from the glaciers to CH or to QT, might as well keep going south via the beautiful west coast.

I've only been to the North Island once, so I'm not as well versed as I am with the South. We enjoyed Waitomo Caves (they provide wet suits so hopefully you won't freeze in July), Coromandel and Bay of Islands. We also visited Napier, Wellington and Rotorua.

You'll have warmer weather the further north you go, so the NI may work best for you, especially as your time is limited and you're flying in and out of Auckland.

NZ is beautiful year round, so I wouldn't worry about it being less scenic in the winter - all those snow capped peaks on the SI - gorgeous.

What are you most interested in? Scenery, outdoor activities, wineries, cities, history, art?

longhorn55

For what it's worth, there is also a commercial glow worm cave on the South Island at Te Anau. It is located across Lake Te Anau, so you have to take a boat to get there. The tour lasts a couple of hours and reminded me a lot of the glow worm cave in Waitomo. Unlike Waitomo, however, there are not blackwater cave tours in Te Anau to see glow worms. So, if you want to concentrate your tour of NZ to the South Island, you can do the glacier hike and see glow worms.

chimani

I think you'd probably be better off spending those few days on the North Island and leaving the SI for next time. You could do Waitamo, Rororua and the Bay of Islands.

That's plenty of variety and plenty of options for active stuff if that's what you want.

Jed

With 6 days, it would be more reasonable to limit the trip to one island. Going to both islands means that you won't have time to relax. I second chimani's recommendations.

jplanet

Yes, we are more interested in scenery and outdoor activities, but not so much into skiing, which I know is available throughout that time of year.

Tramping would have been our #1 choice for activities, but many of the walks are not as easily accessible during the winter months, which is why we are opting for a glacier hike. Is there anything similar to a glacier hike on the NI? Any good tramping spots that would be suitable in winter in the north?

And supposing that we do decide to visit the glaciers, would you recommend Fox or FranzJ Glacier? Is there really that much of a difference between the two? I have visited the websites, but they make it seem that they're both just different approaches to the face of the glacier.

Again, I appreciate your tips!

Melnq8

I've walked to both glaciers and taken the helihike on Fox, but haven't done the organized glacier hike on either, so can't comment on those.

The helihike on Fox was a definite highlight - we'd missed out on the helihike on past trips due to poor weather and the day we finally did it was absolutely beautiful. The views from top are incredible and nothing like the grey, dirty glacier views from the ground.

The return walk to the terminal face of Franz Josef took us 1:20 from the carpark. The walk to the Fox Glacier terminal face took us 1 hour return and was more strenous than the walk to Franz – it was rocky and treacherous in spots. If you have time, I highly recommend you also take the Chalet Lookout Walk, about 90 minutes return -this was our favorite walk of the trip (and we walk alot) great views of Fox Glacier.

As far as the differences in the villages of Franz and Fox - Franz is bigger and has more services, but it's still a very small town. Fox is smaller than Franz. We've stayed in both and liked both.

chimani

Hi jplanet,

returning to the subject of the North Island and tramping. there is the Tongariro Crossing:

http://www.tongarirocrossing.org.nz

Cheers

mlgb

Not the last week in July, chimani.

heathy

There are simply oodles of tramps in the NI.

Mount Taranaki ( Mt Fuji in the " Last Samurai " ), is stunning in winter . There are many good options for a range of tramps in this location. Possibly the Tongariro Xing may be out - however once again there are shorter walks to do in the area.
The Mt ranges in the NI are the small beginnings of the Southern Alps - they can be very special at this time of year. Perhaps you'll meet some Kiwis enjoying a wintry Christmas celebration in one of the huts ! Loads of fun !
Keep warm and have a great time.

kaneda

On another thread someone was talking about heavy snow in Queenstown which is admittedly a fair bit further south but if you go to Franz Josef, there may be a lot more snow than you bargained for (as there is snow there even in mid summer let alone now in mid winter) and this is the isolated part of NZ. I'd say stick to the North Island too as it's about 3 days by car to Franz Josef from Auckland. It is about a day even from Christchurch. You really don't have the time.