NZ Honeymoon in February -14 days
 

Hi Guys!

I've been reading the past few forum topics and must say, this website seems extremely helpful for planning a self holiday....It's exactly what I was looking for :)

So I'm getting married in February and my fiance wants to have a very relaxing and chilled out trip and we have locked down on New Zealand as our honeymoon destination. However, we only have 14 days including travel time from Mumbai, India. Below is a tentative itinerary that I have created and would really appreciate your guidance and help so we can start booking flights, hotels etc.

I know its not humanly possible to see both NI and SI however, the cheapest and quickest flight option from India is to Auckland through Singapore, so I thought we could spend few days in NI since we land in AUK and then head to SI.

Please do share your feedback:
Day 1: Reach Auckland by 11.30pm. Overnight stay at AUK.
Day 2: Relax and sightsee in AUK
Day 3: Day trip by ferry to Waiketere Ranges from AUK and back.
Day 4: Hire a car and drive to Coromandel (Please recommend if we should stay at Cooks Beach/ Whitianga for the next 2 nights).
Day 5: See Cathedral cove, hot water beaches etc
Day 6: Drive back to AUK for our afternoon flight to Queenstown and drop the car in AUK. Overnight in QT.
Day 7: Sightsee, relax and walk around QT
Day 8: Sky Diving at Lake Wanaka. Overnight in QT.
Day 9: Milford sound tour from QT. Overnight in QT.
Day 10: Drive around to Glenorchy/ arrowtown etcfrom QT and back. Overnight in QT
Day 11: Drive to Franz Joseph and see the glaciers enroute. Overnight at Franz Joseph for the next 2 nights
Day 12: See Fox Glaciers
Day 13: Take the tranz alpine train in the morning from Fox Glacier (through Intercity bus) to Greymouth to Christchurch. Reaches CT at 6.30pm. Overnight at CT (Will this be too hectic?)
Day 14: Fly to AUK in the evening for our onward return journey to India

Please do let me know if you would suggest I avoid Day 4 and 5 in the Coromandel and instead head to SI directly? And if I should change my plans in SI?

Looking forward!

Thanks in advance :)

Regarding the Waitakere Ranges - you wouldn't take a ferry to them. Bush and Beach have coach tours. Or did you mean Waiheke Island?

http://www.bushandbeach.co.nz
http://www.aucklandnz.com/discover/waiheke-island

I presume you are renting a car at the end of your stay in Queenstown. Otherwise, how are you getting to Glenorchy and Arrowtown on Day 10? But if you are planning to drive to Franz Josef and be able to get around the glacier area, then why the reference to Intercity bus and what will you do with the car?

If wanting to visit Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach, stay at Hahei or Cooks Beach. Check tide charges before going to Hot Water Beach. If it's not low tide, it's just another beach.

Oops, the word "charges" should be charts! Here's the one I use:

http://www.niwa.co.nz/services/onlin...ide-forecaster

Choose 'Whitianga Entrance' from the drop-down menu.

Only seven days on the SI. I think I'm going to cry.

In addition to a major shortage of time on the SI I see some other issues.

I suggest you change the order to prevent lots of backtracking to something like this:

Day 8 - Milford Sound tour from QT, overnight QT (do be aware that this is about a 14 hour day)

Day 9 - Drive around Glenorchy, overnight QT

Day 10 - Skydiving at Wanaka, see Arrowtown en route, overnight Wanaka

Day 11 - Drive to glaciers (this is about a six hour drive). I suggest you visit Fox Glacier en route, as it's about 45 minutes south of Franz Josef, OR spend the night in Fox.

Day 12 - glaciers

Day 13 - drive from Franz Josef to Greymouth, take train

Day 14 - fly home

I don't get the bus references either. Are you driving or using public transport?

Correction - it's about six hours drive from QT to the glaciers, less if you're coming from Wanaka. Regardless, you'll want to stop a lot along the way to see the Blue Pools, see various waterfalls and perhaps take some walks. It will be a long day.