Please critique my New Zealand itinerary
 

My husband and I are planning a trip to New Zealand in late November/early December of next year (I like to plan ahead!) What do you think of this itinerary? Too rushed, too much driving? Am I missing any of your favorite attractions? Thanks very much for your advice!

Day 1 Arrive Auckland, fly to Dunedin rest and walk around town
Day 2 Dunedin, go see penguins and seals! (Elms?)

Day 3 Drive to Milford Sound (6 hrs) and do overnight cruise
Day 4 Milford Track one day walk (if we can do this straight from overnight cruise), stay in Te Anau, go to gloworm caves if possible
Day 5 Drive to Queenstown (2.5 hrs) Lord of the Rings Tour half day tour, skyline gondola

Day 6 Queenstown- Walk around city in the morning, Fly to Hotkita in the afternoon, drive to Greymouth

Day 7 Take day trip from Greymouth to Franz Josef Glacier with Kea West Coast Tours
Day 8 Greymouth-Pancake Rocks, flightsee or whitewater or cave rafting?

Day 9 Drive or take train to Christchurch (4 hours?)-walk around city and/or visit wineries

Day 10 Go to Akaroa for the day-dolphin tour, farm tour

Day 11 Fly to North Island-KeriKeri, explore town and beaches

Day 12 Northland (Bay of Islands)-take a boat tour, 90 mile beach

Day 13 Drive to Hahei (6 hrs) 309 Road on the way? Waiau Falls?

Day 14 Hahei, Hot water beach, Cathedral Beach, coastal walkway?

Day 15 Drive to Rotorua (4 hrs) , see geothermal stuff etc and spend the night

Day 16 Drive to Auckland (3.5 hours) explore city, go to a winery, spend night

Day 17 Explore city, fly home that evening

Looks like a very active trip, and you have done a lot of researching.

Consider the following:

On day 3, do you intend to drive from DUD to Milford in the AM and catch the overnight? I'm not sure how the time would work out.

It might work out better if you go to TA for the day, then Milford.

Day 6 - Going from QT to Greymouth to go to FJ is a long doubling back. Consider driving from QT to FJ to Greymouth. Why do you need a tour to go to FJ?

Day 11 -Going to Northland before Rotorua is also doubling back, and it might be easier to get a flight to Rotorua than Kerikeri. ((*))

Thanks so much Jed. All of your suggestions are great. I have reworked our itinerary. Flying into Rotorua is a great idea, since there are direct flights and there weren't any to KeriKeri. I also cut out the Bay of Islands, to save some driving time and have more time in Coromandel, then I added one more night to the South Island in Te Anau so we could do the gloworm caves, full day Milford Track walk and overnight cruise. If anyone has more advice, it's greatly appreciated! Here's my updated itinerary:

1-arrive Auckland, fly to Dunedin rest and walk around town

2-Dunedin-- go see penguins and seals! (Elms?)

3-drive to Te Anau (4.5 hrs) and go to gloworm caves

4-drive to Milford do overnight cruise

5-Do one day Milford track walk if possible, stay in Te Anau

6-drive to Queenstown (2.5 hrs) do LORTour half day,gondola

7-drive to Franz Josef (6 hrs), explore town

8-do half or 3/4 day glacier adventure, drive to Greymouth (2.5 hrs)

9-Greymouth-Pancake Rocks, Oparara Arches, cave rafting?

10-Drive to Christchurch (4 hours)-winery

11-go to Akaroa for the day-dolphin tour, farm tour

12-fly to Rotorua in the morning see geothermal stuff

13-drive to Hahei (4 hrs) 309 Road on the way? Waiau Falls?

14-Hahei, Hot water beach, Cathedral Beach

15-Hahei, coastal walkway?

16-drive to Auckland (3 hrs), Waiheke Island?

17-explore Auckland, fly home in the evening

Lauren -

Due to the popularity of the Milford Track, it can only be walked as a four day, three night package between October-April and bookings are essential. They began taking bookings for the upcoming season on July 1 as only 40 people per day are allowed to start the track. It must be walked in one direction and boat transportation is needed at both ends.

This site provides more info:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/002~T...ng-seasons.asp

There are however, many other tracks in the area that that you can explore in a day and don't require any bookings.

This site is invaluable and will provide all the info you need on all tracks in NZ:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/002~Tracks-and-Walks

New itinerary looks good and reasonable.

Comments:

Make your reservation for TA gloworm caves when you are in Dunedin. We just made the limit on the afternoon tour, and missing it would have made things difficult.

There is much to see on the drive over Haast Pass from QT to FJ, so save more time for that than seeing FJ town.

Driving from FJ to Greymouth may take longer.

Best wishes for a wonderful adventure. ((*))

Hi Lauren,
I do have a couple suggestions. I would add a day onto Queenstown. You will feel rushed, and you are packing so often.

Day 6: Queenstown
Day 7: Queenstown (wineries, view bungy jumpers, Glenorchy/ Dart River Safari)
Day 8: Drive to FJ
Day 9: Glacier Hike
Day 10: Drive to CHC with a sidetrip to the Pancake Rocks. Long day but definitely do-able.