We found this forum extremely useful in planning our trip from early Dec 2006 to early Jan 2007 so thought it might be worth sharing some thoughts now we are back.
We had a base in Auckland with a relative and flew down to Queenstown to pick up a camper van. We then had this for 14 days and intended to "do" what we considered the best of NZ, but leaving Bay of Islands and Coramandel for after xmas with family. There are 2 of us and a 13yr old daughter and we took a 4 berth van. On paper the itinerary looked crazy but with us both driving and very patient passenger it worked out superbly.
Day 1 - pick up van at lunchtime, Shotover Jet, drive towards Milford Sound. Camp at Deer Flat DOC site.
Day 2 - Milford Sound, back to Queenstown.
Day 3 - Queenstown Gondola, Luge, to Arrowtown and Wanaka via Crown Pass.
Day 4 - Wanaka to Fox Glacier via Haast. See Lake Matheson
Day 5 - Walk Fox Glacier then to Franz Joseph for Rainforest site.
Day 6 - Longest day - F.Joseph to Pancake Rocks via Ross,Hokitika. Then on to Westport, Reefton camp at Springs Junction DOC site.
Day 7 - Hanmer Springs, Kaikoura
Day 8 - Whale watch, Blenheim
Day 9 - Cloudy Bay Vineyard, Havelock, Queen Charlotte Drive to Picton
Day 10 - 5.45a.m. ferry to Wellington. Te Papa museum, cable car, Botanical gardens - to Pahia stay with friends.
Day 11 - To Taupo, Craters of the Moon, Hukka falls.
Day 12 - Lady Knox Geyser and Wai tapu Thermal Park. Tamaki maori evening.
Day 13 - Rororua a.m. Agrodome Sheep Show. Waitomo for last trip of day.
Day 14 - To Auckland for xmas eve.
We loved the freedom of the van, refused to use the toilet but found loads of public ones or used the ones on sites.
This was the trip of a lifetime and seemed grossly over planned but went without a hitch.

Wow, that's quite the road trip AND you survived to tell about it! I hope you enjoyed your visit to NZ.

Other posters with time constraints will be inspired to know how much can be squeezed into 14 days, but it sounds exhausting to the likes of me.

If you had it to do all over again, would you change anything?

I guess we had mentally split our trip in two and saw the first 2 weeks as the only way to see all that we did given that we may not go back. The second 2 weeks were much more relaxed although we didnt feel wasted when we got back to Auckland at xmas. We found Heathrow Airport far more of an ordeal than any day on the road! We hit the road at 9.00 most days and were camped up by 5 or 6 most days. Some days started later, such as whale watch, so we got a lie in.
We all agree that we wouldnt change anything but appreciate that we are lucky to have such an accomodating daughter and both of us had the same psyche re. how to make this trip work.

I think what makes this itinerary not too terribly suicidal is that you had two drivers, long summer days, and didn't need to go looking for hotels or restaurants since you had a camper van.

andy, what company did you use for the campervan? we are planning a similar trip
with a self guided roadtrip in the south
island before heading over to the north island for a cultural exchange with a maori community.
when you got the camper, did they give you
a campground/site map with distances?

any other recommendations for a do-it-yourself adventure? did you use
guide books?

thanks for your help,
kai

We went to NZ twice and both time we hired a campervan: the first time with Maui and the second time with Pacific Horizon. We thought Pacific Horizon were much better.

Just returned and did a very similiar trip only including the South Island in 2 weeks (put on about 2000 miles) except on motorcycle. I was passenger, so all the driving was done by one person.

For everyone out there, it can be done.

Kai
Sorry gone awol for a bit.
We used Britz for our van hire and they give you a good handbook which has places of interest, camp sites and some maps although we bought a road atlas as well. We originally booked through New Zealand Motor Homes and just prior to our trip they offered the use of a Kruse System. This is a black box which plugs into the radio and then operates by GPS and is a talking guide, just like on a coach tour. When there is not much to see they told us maori legends and there is an ecclectic selection of music inbetween times. It cost us 3UKPounds per day and we felt it was great value. It is amazing to cross a river and the voice tells you exactly that just as you do it.
In planning we used this site and Fodors book + Dorling Kindersleys guide because we are suckers for pictures.
Go for it - you will have a ball!!
Andy

thanks meg and andy for the info...
we have 3 weeks in nz and plan on hiring
a campervan for 12 days of south island touring. we also want to go on an overnight boat on milford sound and a train ride.

we have our airline tickets for sept/oct but have not made any definate plans of yet. love reading everyone elses experiences and learning, taking notes and planning.
thanks everyone