Hi,

We are a couple in middle 40s with a daughter who is a college student. Our family of 3 will arrive at Auckland on August 4 and leave on August 19. We are planing to spend most of our time on the South Island. From what we read and researched, a self-drive trip probably will be the best option to see the country. Unfortunately, neither my husband, nor our daughter, and nor I have any experience of driving on icy roads. We have decided to buy 2-week tours or bus passes that cover both islands. We have had over 10 years of backpack travel experience in Europe and like to travel on a budget. Any recommendation about tours or bus passes? Thank you in advance for suggestions.

LiLian

Hi, I just spent 10 1/2 weeks in New Zealand traveling solely by bus. I'm in my early 40s and traveled by myself, doing the whole backpacker-on-a-budget thing. I didn't want to rent a car by myself, and I found the bus alternative to be perfectly fine.

I had purchased a special pass from the Intercity bus company for backpackers for my entire trip -- I had 55 hours of bus time. The pass, it was the FlexiPass, is good for travel on Intercity buses around NZ, and on the Wellington-to-Picton ferry. I thought it was a good deal, especially because I paid in advance and didn't have to deal with worrying about money for transportation.

their web site is: http://www.intercitycoach.co.nz/

Intercity also offers passes that are already made into a tour.

To supplement that I also used the Atomic Shuttle, which is sort of a jitney bus service -- only on the South Island -- that is about the same price, per hour, as Intercity, but does go to some different places and runs at different times.

it kind of works out to about $10 per hour of bus transportation.

For the Atomic Shuttle, you can pick up a schedule at any hostel or check out their Web site: http://www.atomictravel.co.nz/ I didn't book anything more than 2 days in advance -- and that was during high season, January and February 2007.

hope this is helpful.
--merry

p.s. I got great info from my NZ Lonely Planet, which was updated in October 2006.

Why does everyone want the South Island? A fair bit to see on the North island and there should be no ice there.

Consider taking a plane to Wellington if you have too little time.

Oh, there will be ice in a few places. The do ski on the North Island too, you know.

Hi,

Thank you all for the comments, especially the information provided by "hikrchick". I will do further research based on that info.

Two weeks are too short to explore both islands. Hopefully, we will visit the country again late in our live. For this trip, we mainly focus on the nature beauty of NZ. The tentative list of places where we would like to visit is following: Waitomo, Rotorua, Franz Josef Glaciers or Fox Glacier, Mt. Cook, and Milford Sound. Any suggestions?

Thanks again,

LiLian