New Zealand itinerary help
 

My husband and I are going to be in New Zealand from March 19-26. We are flying into Christchurch and back to US from Auckland very early in the morning on 3/26. My husband loves trains and would like to do the TransAlpine that goes to Greymouth. If time permits I would like to go to Kaikoura and see the whales. Can we rent a car in Greymouth and drive to Queenstown for a few days? Skip Kaikoura? We would need to fly from either Christchurch or Queenstown on 3/25 back to Auckland for our flight the next morning.

Any help is appreciated. And yes I know our time is very limited.

What time of day do you arrive into Christchurch on the 19?

I count seven nights, six days full days, and it looks like you'll need to spend the night of the 25th in Auckland, leaving six nights on the SI.

Unfortunately, your wish list has you all over the island, which is going to be quite a challenge given your limited time.

Kaikoura is about a 2.5 hour drive north of Christchurch.

Greymouth is on the West Coast, about a 3.5 hour drive from Christchurch (or half a day on the train).

Queenstown is an 8 hour drive south from Greymouth and a seven hour drive from Christchurch.

One possibility:

Arrive Christchurch, connect to flight to QT - spend three nights in QT (loads to do there, believe me)

Drive QT to Greymouth via the West Coast, spend two nights at glaciers enroute, drop off rental car in Greymouth, then cross Arthur's Pass on TranzAlpine to Christchurch and collect another rental car

Drive from Christchurch to Kaikoura, spend one night

Drive back to Christchurch, afternoon flight to Auckland, spend night in Auckland before early morning departure

It's not an itinerary I'd choose, but it might work for you.

Another option might be to arrive Christchurch, pick up a rental car and head to Kaikoura for a night or two.

Then drive from Kaikoura back to Christchurch, drop off your rental car and take the Tranz Alpine to Greymouth. Collect a rental car in Greymouth and work your way to Queenstown via the West Coast (I strongly suggest two nights at the glaciers enroute - the drive from the glaciers to QT is LONG, and there's a lot to see enroute).

Then spend a few nights in QT, and fly from there to Auckland, spend that last night in Auckland and depart the following day.

This itinerary presents some timing issues though - you'll have to look into how this works with the train schedule as you'll be driving 2.5 hours on the day you'd take the train.

OR

Arrive Christchurch, drive to Kaikoura, spend a few nights in Kaikoura, return to Christchurch, drop of car (or do this via bus)

Take Tranz Apline to Greymouth AND back to Christchurch

Fly from Christchurch to Queenstown

Fly from QT to Auckland, spend last night in Auckland

Melnq8 gave you great advice for your tight schedule. I wanted to suggest, as your husband enjoys trains, you might prefer to do a round-trip, same-day train trip from Christchurch to Kaikoura and back. Train leaves Christchurch at 7 a.m. arrives Kaikoura 9:54 a.m. Departs Kaikoura at 3:28 arrives Christchurch at 6:21 p.m. Kiwi Rail even offers their own one-day whale watch excursion (if whale watching interests you):
http://www.kiwirailscenic.co.nz/scen...hale-watching/

March 20, Tranz Alpine return day trip Christchurch-Greymouth-Christchurch
March 21, Coastal Pacific return day trip Christchurch-Kaikoura-Christchurch
March 22 car rental drive from Christchurch, overnight in Mt. Cook or Lake Tekapo
March 23 continue drive to Queenstown
March 24 Queenstown
March 25 drive to Queenstown Airport, fly to Auckland for connecting flight.

Thank you for your replies. The train to Kaikoura looks terrific also and yes, I'm hoping to see some whales. We arrive in Christchurch at 2:30pm on 3/19 and I can't imagine driving to Kaikoura that same day.

Smart to spend that first night in Christchurch then.

I think we've got our itinerary down.

Day one - arrive Christchurch and just see the city, relax and spend the night.
Day two - train/whale watch to Kaikoura return Christchurch.
Day three - Transalpine train to Greymouth, rent car and begin drive towards Queenstown. Stop at glaciers (probably spend the night here). Continue our way to Queenstown stopping at whatever looks interesting.
Day four - Queenstown depending on how long it takes us to drive or somewhere along the way.
Day five/six/seven - Queenstown and surrounding areas. Fly to Auckland for return home.

I guess my biggest question is, should we stick with Kaikoura or try to spend more time further south? Any other suggestions would really be appreciated.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Day two will be long, I assume you've looked into coordinating train/whale watch/return train times?

You'll absolutely need to break up the drive from Greymouth to Queentown - it's an eight hour drive w/o stops, plus the time needed to get to Greymouth from Christchurch - I think the train arrives around noon?

If it were me, I'd spend more time south...I'm not a fan of Kaikoura, but that's just me.

Forgot to mention, if you do opt to spend more time south, I'd suggest a few nights in Wanaka.

Maybe something like this:

Day 1 - as is
Day 2 - Tranzalpine/Greymouth collect car, drive to glaciers, overnight
Day 3 - Drive to Wanaka, overnight
Day 4 - Wanaka, overnight
Day 5 - Drive to QT (only 90 minute drive), overnight
Day 6 - QT, overnight
Day 7 - QT/departure

We've decided to skip Kaikoura and maximize our time seeing the glaciers, Wanaka and Queenstown areas. Thanks so much for your invaluable information. We're looking forward to our trip.

tt