Flgajaja

Need advice and suggestions on what exactly to do & where to stay in following areas;
Auckland
-coromandel
-fly to Christchurch-stay forr 1-2 nights
-Queenstown-1-2 nights
Te Anau-1 night
Nelson-2 nights
will fly into Auck., then self-drive (need itinerary help),then fly into christchurch and self drive. will probably head southeast and then up northwest side of S. I. Anyone know of unusual places to stay(not touristy)? Also, anyone done the Dart River Safari? Milford Sound with small cruise co vs. large boats?

Orlando_Vic

Flgajaja,

You might want to consider reposting this with a new title: NZ itinerary??

That would probably work better.

Melnq8

There's loads of info on NZ here if you care to do a search.

Don't underestimate the travel time/distance. For instance the drive from Te Anau to Nelson is over 1000 km, well over 14 hours. Christchurch to Queentown will take you a good day as well, and that's if you take the inland route. If you plan to drive via the West Coast, a day won't cut it. It takes about seven hours just to drive from QT to the glaciers.

Your SI itinerary has you sitting in your car most of the time. You'll not have any time to do much.

I've taken cruises on all three operators' boats in Milford. Mitre Peak was the smallest and it was my favorite of the three. I've also taken the Dart River Safari. It actually commences from Glenorchy, which is a 40 minute drive from QT. It's takes the better part of a day, so you've not got time to do much else before your 14 hour drive to Nelson!

Your SI itinerary doesn't make much sense.

Why Nelson?

You're obviously short on time, so it makes a lot more sense to fly to QT from Christchurch then drive back, or fly to/from QT and spend all of your time down south. Skip Nelson this time.

Suggest you take a look at travel times/distances here:

http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/td-calculator.php

Good luck.

Flgajaja

thanks I sort of had the same thoughts but someone else suggested that itinerary. We are coming into NZ from Cairns and I think most of the flights go thru Auckland so we thought it might be nice to spend a day up around there(although not really in Auckland). then we were going to fly into CC and start our self drive-south along east coast then up the west side. Our trip will end in NZ so we were trying to find a good leaving pt that wouldn't waste another travel day. Any driving, etc suggestions would be appreciated. We will probably have about 8-9 days.

Melnq8

Eight or nine days total or just for the SI?

If it's 8-9 days on the SI, you could do a loop from Christchurch, over Arthur's Pass to Greymouth, down to the glaciers, and on to Wanaka and Queenstown. Then you could either fly back to Christchurch, or return by car, taking the inland route, where you can make a detour to Mt Cook and you'll pass through Lake Tekapo. You can drive from QT to Christchurch and make stops along the way in a very long drive day. It's tiring, but I've done it a few times.

Suggest you avoid the east coast - it's the worst drive on the SI - boring, flat and industrial/agricultural, especially between Christchurch and Oamaru.

Flgajaja

thanks so much

Flgajaja

oh, sorry Melnq8 it is 8-9 days just for SI. Possibly a few more. We are going to Au for about 8-9 first. Depending on which flights we can get on will decide exactly how long. Using FF miles. thanks again