nelsonian

Ann I don't think you will have any trouble finding accommodation in late November. It is when school goes out for the summer holidays that accommodation gets tricky, and that won't be until about the 13th December or later. Senior students at high school break up in November to sit exams, but primary and Intermediates are closer to Christmas.

annhig

thanks, nelsonian. We still have to decide which way to go, though!

POlson

Great trip report. We are planning a North Island trip and hitting many of the same spots. Thank you for your insights and detailed info.

annhig

in case anyone's interested, we have resolved nearly all of our trip planning conundrums, and have in fact booked our accommodation in advance all the way through our 35 night trip, save for the last night in NZ, where we think that we are bound to be able to find somewhere near to Christchurch airport.

read more here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...-itinerary.cfm

[no you've not miscounted, only 1/2 of our trip is in NZ].

nz2014

This is so helpful and interesting to read! Though I have a lot of questions! Did you feel like you had too little time in each place with this itinerary? Especially the drives from Fox/FJ to Punakaiki to Motueka?

I'm also curious if you found one day in Abel Tasman to be enough? I am struggling between spending more time near Wanaka or time in Abel Tasman/Marlborough Sounds so any thoughts you have on that would be great. Did you feel Abel Tasman was worth going all the way north for? It seems like perhaps it's not as unique. Thanks so much!

kbob88

I'm not sure Abel Tasman is that unique (except that it has the most sunshine in NZ), but it is very nice and very scenic. I would probably stick with the itinerary we had rather than give up the west coast and Abel Tasman. But we definitely could have used another day on the West Coast, which was hurried, although mostly because our heli flight got pushed to the morning of our Hokitika/Punkaiki day b/c of weather. And another day in AT wouldn't have been bad either, especially because we could have used part of it to see the Nelson area a bit more.

FJ > Punakaiki and Punakaiki to Motueka were both long drives. However, they are pretty scenic, especially going up the coast. (Hard to say about the drive to Motueka - it looked scenic, but the rain was awful that day, so it was hard to see much)

I could totally see blowing off the north part of the south island and adding more time to Wanaka, which I felt we shortchanged. But Abel Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough Sounds, the Blenheim wine area, and Kaikoura make for a pretty nice few days itinerary probably. Depends on how much time you have and what you like. Or if the west coast isn't interesting, you could fly from QT to Nelson, saving yourself a lot of time.

kequevor

Feels like I traveled with kbob! I really like to do the same but I can't due to my schedule.

Nice, very nice.

annhig

having just returned from our trip, i can tell you that on balance, we thought that the east coast route might have been better than what we did, which was to spend 3 nights in Nelson, then drive straight to Franz Joseph.

Nelson is a nice enough place with interesting surroundings, but the main emphasis is on the Abel Tasman which we found to be a bit of a disappointment, perhaps because we chose the wrong activity. people who went to Kaikora certainly seemed to have had a better time there than we had in Nelson.

what everyone we spoke to agreed about is how much they liked Wanaka, as did we, so if you can re-organise your itinerary to spend more time there, you'll probably be happy with your decision.

nz2014

Annhig, that's interesting to hear. We are planning to drive from Hokitika to Motueka and spend a few nights up there near Abel Tasman. What didn't you like about Abel Tasman? We're hoping to do some kayaking and hiking there. I'm wondering now about changing our itinerary around since right now we have only 1 night in Kaikoura and 3 nights in Wanaka. Thanks so much for your thoughts!

nz2014

And thank you kbob as well-your report is very helpful!

annhig

Hi NZ,

we thought that Abel Tasman was over-hyped, to be honest. That may be because we live in a coastal district so we are used to maritime scenery [though most of ours is rather different to Abel Tasman] or it may be because we chose the wrong activity. Kayaking might well have been more rewarding than a 4 hour walk that HAD to be completed in a 5 hour time-slot [including any break for lunch] and which turned out to have few views of the water which was largely concealed by the tree canopy. a two hour walk with some kayaking could well have been better.

i would not want to reduce the amount of time in Wanaka which is a very pleasant relaxing place, with a nice range of activities and walks. but then again we did not go to Kaikora so I cannot comment on how much time it is reasonable to spend there. Our fellow guests at the BnB in Wanaka were thrilled with their dolphin swim at Kaikora so if you are interested in that, it might be a good reason to extend your time there.

in the end we just had to accept that in our 17 days and nights in NZ we couldn't see everything; by and large we were happy with our choices and loved most of what we saw and did there. i don't think that you can ask more than that.