Has anyone done own tour of both islands & can give some general info? We have a motorhome in Ca & think this wudbe a very good place for camping & enjoying outdoors. Have driven cars in UK & Europe many times so don't believe wudbe a prob.Have good idea of sights to see & probably would have 20 days there. Appreciate any help!

I assume that you are talking about New Zealand? If so, it seems that this country was build for motorhomes (Kiwis call them campervans). There are tons of 'holiday parks' everywhere, most of which are quite well-equipped. Campervans in NZ tend to be much smaller than those in the U.S., and the roads are usually much narrower and more twisty, so that is a good thing. The cost of ferrying your vehicle between islands can be pretty costly. You might want to consider hiring two different vehicles with a plane connection between islands. There are many hiring companies - Britz NZ and Maui are probably the two biggest.<BR><BR>We purchased a small campervan and toured both island for 6 months before selling the van (at a big loss, unfortunately) and moving on to Oz.

I would be a little concerned about the weather that time of year on the South Island. We were there one year in mid October and there was very bad snow storm on the South Island. Of course, the weather could only get better the later you are.

To ALF, Yes want NZ info. Tnx for yr reply.Can you recommend good directory avail.in U.S.for NZ campgrounds? Also if you had only 20 days, would you do auto/motel or B&B rather than campervan during last week Oct.early Nov. Seems weather might be too cool??

It is true that it might be on the cool side at the south end of the South Island. Otherwise, I think you should be O.K. One thing to consider is that many B&Bs will let you stay in your campervan at their place for a substantially reduced rate. It seems to me that you save huge amounts of time when you just get up and go in the morning, as opposed to packing up the car to move on to the next place. Still, another good choice would be to use a car and stay in holiday parks, many of which have cabins for significantly less cost than most motels. You could even stay at holiday park cabins for the few days that you are in the south part of the South Island. I know of a few online directories (listed below), but, particularly at that time of year you will have no trouble just showing up and finding a place to stay.<BR><BR>http://www.holidayparks.co.nz/<BR><BR>http://www.travelplanner.co.nz/directories/accommodation/index.html<BR><BR>http://www.top10.co.nz/<BR><BR>