Fodorites -

Here's my proposed itinerary for our March 2011 trip. In a nutshell, we want to
focus on 3 areas: Catlins, Fiordlands, and the West Coast, and we want to
avoid a lot of long drives by staying in each area a minimum of 2 nights.

So as a sanity check, am I m overlooking anything? I have a few doubts. Reading the Forums here, it appears that driving to Milford Sound and an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound may be a bit redundant.

And it seems that the more recent reviews of the Doubtful Sound cruise isn't so swift.

We are more interesting in exploring, day hiking, and scenery, and very interested in some of the more off-the-beaten path locations, or perhaps the more under-appreciated areas.

Mar 5 Sat - Depart LAX
Mar 7 Mon - Arrive Christchurch, drive to Methven
Mar 8 Tue - (Mt Sunday trip) 2nd night in Methven
Mar 9 Wed - (Drive through Arthur's Pass) overnight Greymouth
Mar 10 Thu - (Explore northern part of West Coast), overnight Greymouth
Mar 11 Fri - Drive west coast to Haast
Mar 12 Sat - Drive Haast to Te Anau
Mar 13 Sun - Te Anau (day trip to Milford Sound)
Mar 14 Mon - Drive to Manapouri - Doubtful Sound overnight cruise
Mar 15 Tue - After return from cruise, drive to Catlins B&B near Invercargill
Mar 16 Wed - Explore the Catlins - overnight Catlins B&B
Mar 17 Thu - Drive to Dunedin near Airport
Mar 18 Fri - Fly home from Dunedin

Thanks,
Jeff

You don't need to go to Methven anyways, its out of the way. I would spend first night in Arthurs Pass Village, you can stop at Porters Pass on the way from Christchurch for a walk. There are some okay short walks in APass park, but I don't think it's necessarily worth a second night (but you can research that and see if there are any other hikes you might like). If you are going to visit the north coast I would continue beyond Greymouth to Punakaiki, if you can find something there. On the way back you might overnight at Hokitika so you can see the glow worm dell.

Mar 11 I would not drive all the way to Haast. Spend at least one night at the glaciers. Yes it is well visited but you could at least see Lake Matheson. You could also drive out to the coast at Okarito or Gillespies Beach. The next leg you might check if there would be penguins at Munro Beach that time of year, I've been lucky and seen them swim up onto the beach.

I might skip the Doubtful Sound bit. Maybe you can do an overnight at Milford and then continue on to the Catlins.

I'd allow a day to go out to the Otago Peninsula around Dunedin. If you arent ever going to go back to NZ I also think I'd suggest a night around Queenstown/Glenorchy just for the scenery.

I agree with mlgb about staying at Punakaiki instead of Greymouth. The drive from Arthur's Pass to Punakaiki is not long, and you will find great walks around the Punakaiki area.

I also agree that you would be better to overnight at the glaciers rather than Haast. The glaciers are within easy driving distance from Punakaiki , and you would have enough time for stops in Greymouth (but you won't want to spend much time there anyway) and Hokitika on the way if you want to.

I meant to add, if you go to Punakaiki, do take the time to drive a bit further north past Punakaiki village. The scenery for about 15ks further up the coast (about to Fox River) is quite spectacular.
Rob.

Thanks for the replies.

Actually the plan was to spend two nights in Punakaiki and explore the area, I just put Greymouth in there as a placehold as it's easier to spell The Methven stop was actually to take a tour to Mt Sunday. Wouldn't the drive from the Glaciers to Te Anau be quite a day's drive? That's why I put the stop in Haast.