South Island..Favorite Lodging?
 

I'm finally getting ready to start booking lodging for my upcoming trip to New Zealand and would love any opinions on places to stay.
Here's where I'll be sleeping;

Picton
Christchurch
Hokitika
Fox Glacier
Queenstown
Ta Anau
Dunedin
Auckland

Thanks so much for your help!!

We loved our stay at Browns Boutique Hotel in Queenstown-- highly recommended!!

We also enjoyed our stay at Campbell Autolodge in Te Anau and 97 Motel Moray in Dunedin. Stay in the Octagon area of Dunedin.

If you would reconsider your glacier town, we Loooooooooved the Punga Grove Motel (we had a rainforest suite) in Franz Josef. Hope that helps! You will absolutely love the south island--we sure did.

Hey Tim_and_Liz, I was hoping you would reply to this one. I've read many of your NZ posts and knew you'd have some ideas.
Thanks for the list. I will definately check them out and see about changing from Fox to FJ for my overnight stay.

Have you stayed in the Greymouth area?
We are driving across from Christchurch and thought we'd crash somewhere around there, rather than drive all the way down to Fox or FJ.

Thanks again!

My favourite lodging near Te Anau is a secluded public hut on the edge of the Takitimu mountains. YOu can drive right to the hut from the main road to Te Anau and there is a neat bush track walk up behind it that you can follow for as long as you like. No hot water or electricity though and you'll be bunking out but a very cool place and I have taken many people there when doing the tourguide thing!!

TravelBug- No, we didn't stop in Greymouth and were glad we didn't. There wasn't much there from what we saw. I am also acquaintances with a physician who completed his residency there and he did not enjoy the town. I would suggest moving on to FJ or Fox. Almost everyone drives straight from CHC to the glaciers. We were up in Hamner/Hanmer Springs and drove a long way to FJ. It was fine. Good luck with the planning-- the most difficult part is narrowing your itinerary!

If you are looking for a place to stay around Greymouth, The Formerly Blackball Hilton is a unique and fun place to stay....Blackball is not far from Greymouth and is a small community with character. For a splurge the Duxton Hotel in Auckland...on the edge of downtown in quiet area ...but easy walk to be into the thick of things & great accomodations.
For Christchurch.....the Stonehurst if you are looking for economy but nice place to stay.....or Chateau on the Park for a splurge. All have web pages......

Not sure what your budget is but here is where we stayed and each location was great:

Hokitika - Shining Star Chalets (almost are ocean front)

Fox Glacier - Fox Glacier Lodge

Queenstown - Outrigger at the Beacon

Te Anau - Campbells AutoLodge (apartments were a little dated but huge & clean)

Dunedin - Scenic Circle City Hotel (very sheek & comfy and close to the Octagon)

Auckland - Sebel Suites (one of our absolute favorites)

Picton is near Blenheim, in the heart of the wine country. We stayed at the Legrys winery (legrys.co.nz/cottage/ It was amazingly beautiful. It was NZ$ 250 per night including fresh eggs, croissant, etc., delivered each day for you to make breakfast. It was quite cold while we were there a couple of weeks ago, but the grounds and cottage more than made up for any problems with the temperature. The owners, John and Jennifer Joslin are wonderful people. There wines, which are available in one store in Chicago rate a 90 from the wine spectator.

Also we highly recommend dinner at Bacchus in Blenheim, one of the best meals we ever ate. It is in the Fodors book and much better than Vintners which Fodors recommend as their choice, not that Vintners is bad, it also was quite good.

We enjoyed our atays at The Point in Queenstown, Hulmes B&B in Dunedin, and Quay West Suites in Auckland. ((*))

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34602230

Thanks a ton. This helps narrow down the search a bit. I've already started emailing these places to see what their rates are and if they have rooms.
Tim_and_Liz, I'm assuming you experienced FJ Glacier as opposed to Fox. Any suggestions? Last I looked, A half-day hike was cheaper on Fox than FJ, so were thinking about doing that one. Do you recommend staying in FJ and then driving to Fox for the hike?

TravelBug16-
We took a 1/2-day helihike on FJ and absolutely loved it. We went with the Helicopter Line. They had groups going on 1/2-day hikes too. You will enjoy yourself no matter where you go. You could stay in FJ and move onto Fox for the hike, or make it easier and just stay in Fox.

Hi Travelbug16

We stayed at the Rainforest Motel in Fox Glacier back in March this year. Not an extravagant place but very clean - would recommend. As an alternative in Auckland you could stay in the suburb of Ponsonby at the Great Ponsonby B&B. The breakfasts are great and the owners are very knowledgeable of the area. Ponsonby is a trendy area with plenty of bars and restaurants so you will be spoilt for choice. Both these places have websites.....

My two avorite "homes away from home"--

Hulmes Court, Dunedin.

Windsor Hotel, Christchurch.

They each have websites, moderately priced, and in excellent locations.

We also stayed at the Windsor Hotel in Christchurch in March this year (Mlgb - you recommended it to me back in Jan). It is conveniently located and they serve excellent breakfasts - great value for money. The rooms aren't ensuite but there are plenty of facilities which are always clean and they provide bath robes!!!

We also stayed in the motel in Moray Place in Dunedin. Great position, just around the corner from the art gallery cafe[in ther Octagon] which is a great spot for breakfast. Motel has lots of parking. The staff are a bit grumpy.
In Auckland we also stayed at the Great Ponsonby. Loved it and loved Ponsonby, much nicer than downtown . 10 minutes on a bus from the harbour.
The bus does a city circuit every ten minutes.
While you are in Hokitika and Fox try and get a whitebait fritter to eat. Ours was $9, much smaller ones were about $30 in Auckland. We bought real greenstone very cheaply in Hokitika.

Hulmes Ct. is a block uphill from Moray overlooking the back of the art museum. Great museum but do be aware of the steep hill and there is at least one cat present on the property. The staff has always been most friendly and accommodating. Last visit there was an error with my booking and as a result I was upgraded to a nice ensuite room with a view from the bathroom of all places (the Art Deco room). They have a great library of NZ videos and magazines. Website is hulmes.co.nz. There is onsite parking (if you can negotiate a steep driveway) as well as street parking.

bm