New Zealand or Tahiti/French Polynesia in late Feb or March?
 

In the fall of 2010, I joined my husband in Melbourne at the end of a business trip, and we spent 3 weeks touring Australia on our own, which was a wonderful trip. Now he will be going back to Sydney on business in February, and we want to plan another vacation in the South Pacific. We plan to spend 2 weeks, but might be able to squeeze in an additional few days if we can. We are on the fence between going to New Zealand or Tahiti/French Polynesia (maybe Moorea, Bora Bora, Raiatea, Tahaa, Rangiroa), as both are high on our bucket list. If we go to NZ, would a few day side trip to Fiji be a worthy addition, and why?

Please share your thoughts on which would be the better choice in the late February/early March time frame in terms of weather, availability/busyness of the season, lateness of our planning, etc. While we want to go both places eventually, your feedback and experience in either or both locations would be most appreciated in helping us make a decision of where to go this year.

A bit about us: We are in our early-mid 60's, but husband has a bum knee so walking on level surfaces is fine, but no long walks on uneven surfaces, hiking or NZ extreme sports for us. We love to snorkel so FP is one of our dreams. We prefer to travel independently vs. an escorted tour, in terms of having the freedom to choose our itinerary, to spend more time each place, and to see things up close and not out the window of a bus, but we are open to all suggestions.

I'll have more specific questions later, such as transportation within each country, driving vs. flying, whether a cruise makes sense for FP, but for now, help us choose our destination. Thanks for your help.

I've been to FP twice and NZ three times while traveling to and from Australia. I'll defer to the NZ experts, but two weeks in NZ at that time of year sounds almost ideal. Two weeks would allow time to see some of both islands, though i would spend most of the time on the more rugged South Island. NZ is nowhere as big as Australia, but nonetheless both NZ islands are much larger than any of the islands in FP, and driving times can be significant. NZ also offers more variety.

To some extent, your choice will depend on what kind of holiday you want to have. A NZ holiday would likely involve touring and staying in several different places. FP would be more stationary, staying put in fewer places (two or three different islands), relaxing on the beach. I'd be curious about the snorkeling in FP. I'm sure there must be some excellent spots. Unfortunately, they escaped us when during our stay on Bora Bora and main island (Tahiti).

Been to both countries, too. Be forewarned, it will be hot, humid and likely wet in FP at that time:
http://www.southpacific.org/pacific/weather.html

Are you coming from the US? Will you be traveling in 2013?

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Diamantina - Yes, it will be Feb/March 2013. My husband will be traveling from Sydney, Australia where he will be on business and I will be traveling from Boston, MA.

I was concerned about the weather in FP at this time so that could be a deciding factor to go to NZ now and FP later, so what are the best times of your for FP.

I can't compare your two options having not been to FP, but you certainly can't go wrong with NZ.

February/March is high season, and for a reason....generally good weather, vineyards lush and green, fruits in season, etc. The Kiwi kids go back to school around Feb 7, Christmas and Jannuary having been their summer school break, so anytime after that would be ideal.

You can certainly scratch the surface of both islands in two weeks, but if you can add a few days by all means do so. I suggest you split your time 1/3 North Island and 2/3 South Island. You won't be disappointed.

May to October are the breezier, drier months, when hurricanes are less likely to occur in FP. If you were to go at the end of February/beginning of March, you wouldn't be going at the best time, but there is no absolute certainty that the weather will be that poor. either. There is just more of a chance of it being bad. So if you think this is your one chance to see FP. you might want to just go for it, and split your time between 5 or 6 days on an island in FP and the rest of your time on the South Island of NZ. Papeete is a convenient stop between Los Angeles and Auckland (or vice versa), it breaks up the long journey from the US to NZ (8.5 hours from LAX to Papeete, 5 hours from Auckland to Papeete). Be aware that some of the flights to or from FP arrive or take off at terrible hours (like 2 a.m. or midnight).

My husband always feels disappointed if we can't get away to a tropical place once a year, for even a few days, to do some snorkeling or lying around on a warm beach. So I understand the desire to get away to a tropical beach where one can snorkel.

We have traveled many times in the South Pacific, only twice to FP (just Tahiti, Huahine, and Moorea), and always during the dry season--the so called "best time" because we did not want our holiday ruined by a hurricane. But we always got a bit of rain, anyhow. Mostly it rained in the evenings. I remember it raining particularly hard one night in Moorea (I feared the roof would blow off), but then the next day it was sunny and dry.

I'd love to go to Tahaa or Rangiroa. I wasn't impressed with the snorkeling off Moorea; the coral wasn't great. It was better off Huahine. (It is better in a lot of other places.) However, Moorea is a fantastic place to snorkel or scuba dive with sharks: white tip, black tip, yellow, grey reef sharks. The tour operators chum the water, which draws the sharks in. I don't think this is a good idea, but this is what they do so that tourist can see sharks.

The link I posted before is to David Stanley and the Moon guidebooks website. The Moon guidebook for FP is terrific, so I would have a look at this website.
http://www.southpacific.org/guide/tahiti.html
You might also look at:
http://www.sportdiver.com/destinatio...ving-sensation
http://gohawaii.about.com/od/tahitis...i-sea-life.htm
http://www.pgcruises.com/south-pacific-itineraries

As for NZ, the driest months tend to be February and March on the South island, but at any time of the year NZ weather can be highly variable. Nearly the whole country is a four-seasons-in-a-day kind of place.

It is currently summer, yet over the last six weeks on the South Island, we have had two twisters (in Cromwell and Kaikoura), flooding from the north of the island (Nelson) to the south (Central Otago and Canterbury), road closures dues to rain, snow, and rockfalls. We have also had many warm and sunny days with clear blue skies!

So bring your waterproof jacket, fleece, shorts, sun hat, sunscreen and sunglasses to NZ.

I recommend you book your flights soon.

Diamantina - thanks so much for your reply, links and suggestions. We will definitely go to Tahiti/FP someday, and want to go in the best season weather-wise.

We have decided to go to NZ this year. I will do some searches on this forum to get itinerary ideas before posting more questions.

Are there any other NZ forums other than Fodors? I have tried Frommers in the past and haven't had much luck.

You could try Trip Advisor too.

You made a good choice. I am sure you will enjoy NZ.

Go to Cruisecritic.com and click on Cruise Critic Message Boards. There is a separate message board for Australia and New Zealand and they have a lot of info about all the different places.