Hi, we will be renting a car, taking along 2 kids (5 & 2). Adults are into photography.
Appreciate any critique on the below, covering lots of distance at the end I'm aware.

21-Mar-11 Auckland - Arrival
22-Mar-11 Christchurch - Flight to Christchurch
23 & 24 Mar-11 Mt Cook - Depart to Mt Cook via Geraldine, Tasman Glacier tour, Lake Tekapo so 1 day sufficient? Add extra day to Queenstown?
25 & 26 Mar-11 Queenstown - Bob's Peak (gondola/luge) Arrowtown (lake Hayes), Glenorchy (lake Wakatipu), 84 headed to Wanaka via Crown Ridge Alpine Scenic Route via Cardrona to Queenstown
27 & 28 Mar-11 Wanaka - fly-cruise to Milford, Puzzling world, Rippon, Mount Aspiring
29 & 30 Mar-11 Fox - Walks to the two glaciers face, Lake Matheson
31-Mar-11 Westport - Punakaiki(just to break the drive, so could be anywhere along the route)
1-Apr-11 Picton or Nelson - Karamea
2-Apr-11 Wellington
3-Apr-11 Napier?
4-Apr-11 Rotorua
5-Apr-11 Rotorua
6-Apr-11 Auckland
7-Apr-11 Depart for home

With the kids, we're probably not doing anything extreme so would appreciate if you know of any walks or fruits/animal farms that we can go to along the way.

Thank you.

1 April Karamea on the West Coast??? It's at a dead end road that you reach from North of Westport.

3 April Or would you rather go around Tongariro?

You need a half day to get to Mt. Cook from Christchurch so you really do need two nights there, to do the Tasman Glacier tour.
Kids might like the shows in the Hillary Center at Mt. Cook.

In Wellington, definitely visit the www.tepapa.govt.nz museum, the kids will love it.

Then definitely Napier - art deco town (was rebuilt all in one style after destruction), and go up on the Bluff Hill at the north end of the Marine Parade, great lookout!

Then drive to and stay the night in or near Taupo - look it up!

We found it much nicer than Rotorua, I wouldn't stay the night there, just stop and walk the smelly area with the mudbaths and such, and maybe take a dip in the lake if you're hot, then move on. Just my 2 cents.

We then drove north towards the ocean past Tauranga and stayed in a tiny seaside town called KatiKati - totally non-touristy, cheap motel, the grocery store closes around 8PM I think.

The motels all have kitchens, at least a microwave - great and money saving, too!

From Kati-Kati we made it to Auckland in good time to visit the Botanical Gardens and then catch a late-afternon flight.

The drive from Fox Glacier to Westport only takes 4.25 hours, it's about a 45 minute drive from Punakaiki, so no need to stay somehwhere in route unless you plan to do some hiking or other activities. I can't think of any place to stay between the two anyway (?)

April 1 doesn't make any sense to me. Is there a reason you're including Karamea? I assume you realize you'd have to backtrack from there to Westport to work your way up to Picton or Nelson?

Hi, I'm sorry, I think I kind of confused everyone.

For 31st, Westport is the place I think we should spend the night, just to break up the drive up north, I indicated Punakaiki as a note that we should visit along the way.

For Karamea, I understand that the drive there is nice but I guess given that we have to backtrack back to go Nelson or Picton then it might not be worth the effort.

Tongariro - given that we are unlikely to be able to do any niking with the 2yr old, is it still worth it?

Thanks for any sugguestions, will look up those places mentioned.

You get some quite nice views of "Mt Doom" in Tongariro from the roads without walking over the pass.