lauren_s_kahn

I have done two home exchanges in NZ and enjoyed reading your trip report--which I read all the way thru.

annhig

hi kbob - thanks for remembering my query!

we are still struggling with our itinerary and November, when we set off, is getting scarily close!

we have a very similar amount of time to you to see both islands - 17 nights - but are still weighing up long to spend on each and exactly where to go. as ever the problem is deciding what to leave out!

lauren_s_kahn

17 days is not a lot of time for both islands. The only criticism I had of the original poster's trip report is that he did not go to Northland. I concentrated in that area when I visited the North Island, but that was because my home exchange was there. In two trips, I still have not been to Wellington. Choices, choices. . . .

NZ is larger than it looks tucked away at the bottom of the Mercator projection. Whatever choices you make, you will have a fine time.

annhig

lauren - having originally been drawn to the northlands, and then jettisoned them, I'm now wavering again. DH is not interested in going to Rotorua and rather than just flying to Wellington and proceeding south, I have an idea that we should head up to Northlands straight from Auckland airport, spend a couple of days there, before flying down to Wellington.

as you've obviously spend a lot of time in Northlands, what do you think of this plan?

kbob88

If I had only 17 days, and no cousin to visit in Wellington, I'd probably skip Wellington and Auckland, and do Rotorua and Bay of Islands instead, and fly from Rotorua to Nelson (or reverse). Rotorua the town isn't much, but all the geothermal stuff is pretty cool. But if your husband really isn't into it, then maybe skip it. However we did really like nearby Hobbiton, and we're not huge LotR fans either, and Waitomo was pretty good too.

I could see someone doing an itinerary something like: Waitomo & Hobbiton, overnight in Rotorua, see one geothermal park in the AM, drive to Napier, do wineries and stuff there, and then on to Wellington or wherever.

There's also more stuff in the south Taupo area that we didn't do like the Tongariro Crossing hike and the Gravity Canyon bungy and zip line/flying fox.

annhig

kbob - thanks.

I could see someone doing an itinerary something like: Waitomo & Hobbiton, overnight in Rotorua, see one geothermal park in the AM, drive to Napier, do wineries and stuff there, and then on to Wellington or wherever.

that's the sort of itinerary I thought I had settled on, but I'm having trouble with my other half.

perhaps I should just go ahead and book it, but I'll have a look at those other places you mention first. Due to flight time changes, we now don't arrive in Auckland until 3pm - OTOH we'll have left Brisbane at 9am so all we'll have been doing is sitting on the plane for about 3 hours and so far as we'll be concerned, it'll only be lunchtime! presumably it won't get dark until quite late so I'm not too worried about doing a few hours driving before we stop.

any recommendations for accommodation in Rotorua and Napier?

lauren_s_kahn

If you have been to Yellowstone National Park in the US, I would skip Rotorura entirely. I found Rotorura to be a huge disappointment. I expected something on the scale of Yellowstone and it isn't.

On the other hand, if you haven't seen geysers before, Rotorura might be higher on your list than on mine.

annhig

lauren - we've seen geysers in Iceland, not in the US. I quite fancy seeing all the volcanic stuff and mudpools but DH isn't keen.

I'm looking at Lake Taupo now - it's quite a long way to drive from the airport but we could stop there 2 nights before driving to Wellington. is there enough to do there for a day?

lauren_s_kahn

Lake Taupo and the volcanos are gorgeous if you get clear weather. I think you will enjoy just seeing it. Beautiful!

I think Rotorua is over hyped. The only thing interesting is that the town is actually in the middle of the national park. Very different from American national parks whee no one can live.

I do like the idea of Lake Taupo. I was sorry I did not have the time to stay there and just enjoy the scenery around the lake.

I never got to Wellington and can't offer advice there.

Waitomo Caves is also over hyped. You only need to see one glowworm cave as they are all basically the same. The only difference in Waitomo is that there are caves with black water adventures for kids and the really adventurous. If you are not interested in that stuff, one glowworm cave anywhere will be enough. I know I thought I wasted my time in Waitomo after I found another glowworm cave in Northland closer to where I was staying in my Kamo home swap. However, had I not gone to Waitomo I might be thinking I missed something.

If you can find a glowworm cave near Wellington, you could do it there and skip Waitomo. I can't advise at all on the Wellington area, as in 2 trips to NZ I never got thee.

annhig

lauren, thanks. you've really helped to resolve me problems re the NI, as we could spend 2 nights in Taupo, and then drive to Wellington, where we are only planning to spend a night before getting the ferry to Picton.

thanks also for the thoughts about glow-worm caves. I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to see one so we won't make a special trip to see the Waitomo ones.

now to find somewhere to stay!

lauren_s_kahn

Have a great trip and come back and tell us all about it.

annhig

thanks, lauren, I'm sure that we will, particularly with the help of everyone here.

kbob88

There's a glowworm cave in Te Anau, if you're going there. It's supposed to be almost as good as the one in Waitomo. The Waitomo cave was cool, but we've never seen glowwoms before. I wouldn't drive four hours out of my way for it, but I'd probably drive an hour out of the way. There are two other (non-glowworm) caves at Waitomo; we did the shorter one, which was very cool. The kids liked it. But if you're not into caves at all, you won't miss it.

A lot of the geothermal stuff is between Rotorua and Taupo, so Taupo isn't a bad place to stay if you're seeing places like Orakei Korako, and maybe even Wai-o-Tapu. We did not go to Te Puia, which is one of the geothermal sights very close to Rotorua, so I can't comment on it. We skipped it because we'd heard that Wai-o-Tapu was better.

Re lodging in Rotorua, we liked the Regent of Rotorua a lot, although it certainly wasn't cheap. There appears to be a lot of decent accommodation in Rotorua and Taupo.

kbob88

And we liked the Comfort Inn in Taupo too, since you're staying there for two nights.

lauren_s_kahn

Traveling off season, probably means you don't need reservations everywhere. I know I didn't and there were a lot of empty places when I traveled on the North Island in winter.

annhig

lauren, the trip is in end nov/December, which I'm guessing isn't low season.

DH has decided that it's too far to drive to Taupo after we land in Auckland, so now I'm looking at one night in Tauranga and the next in Napier.

our SI route takes us past several glow-worm caves, including Te Anau so I'm really not worried about not going to Waitomo.

lauren_s_kahn

Ah, I thought it was in July--which is low season in NZ. No, Dec. would be high season. Taupo would be a stretch for the first night--esp. if flying the Pacific before you get there.

Sounds as if you will have plenty of glowworm opportunities. With glowworm caves and Maori shows, one of each is enough.

annhig

lauren - we will be flying in from Brisbane but I still think that Taupo would be a bit far.

I think I need to start a new thread!

lauren_s_kahn

Well even from Brisbane, Taupo would be stretching it. I flew in from Brisbane too (home exchanged there first before the North Island) on my trip. Driving South I stayed across the street from the souvenir place shaped like a sheep. I went to Waitomo Caves and Rotorua after that. You can't miss the sheep souvenir place. It's on the left as you drive South from Auckland. The motel was nothing memorable (nor was the sheep souvenir place but the building sure got me inside). I just drove til I had enough. I think the place is south of Hamilton, but I wouldn't swear to it; could be further south.

annhig

Lauren - thanks for your insights. Always useful to have info from people who've been there.

we may just rent a car and head south, though in late November it might not be that easy to find some where just where we want to stop.