Hi,

After reading many of your great trip reports, we’ve finally managed to put together a sort of itinerary for our five-week trip to NZ, which will take place in Nov-Dec. It would be great to know your thoughts & suggestions!
Following your advise from a previous post we’ve decided to include Tasmania on our NZ trip. This will be our 1st trip to both places. We’ve spent a month in Australia before, but missed out on Tasmania.
Just a few things about us that could be helpful:
- We love nature, wildlife, amazing scenery; this is what we want to focus on this trip.
- We don’t enjoy spending time in major centres (cities, towns, etc.), so we’ve planned to spend as little time as possible there
- We don’t mind driving long distances… we actually enjoy it (even on winding roads)! As far as we have few days to rest here and there and we have plenty of time to take in the scenery on the way.
- We enjoy walking & photography, but no adrenalin pumping activities!

So… here it is!

1. Late morning arrival in Hobart
2. Hobart – possible half day scenic flight into wilderness area or tour of the surroundings
3. Hobart – Cradle Mountain
4. Cradle Mountain (we’d really like to spend 2 full days here!)
5. Cradle Mountain
6. Cradle Mountain – Binalong Bay
7. Visit Bay of Fires – drive to Freycinet
8. Freycinet
9. Freycinet – Hobart
10. Hobart – Auckland
11. Auckland
12. Auckland – Bay of Island (Kerikeri area)
13. Bay of Islands
14. Bay of Islands
15. Bay of Islands – Rotorua (still have to check if this is manageable in 1 day…)
16. Rotorua
17. Early morning flight Rotorua – Christchurch and then onto Greymouth (still undecided between driving or taking the train)
18. Greymouth – Glacier area (still have to decide between Fox and Franz Josef)
19. Glacier tour (heli-hike?)
20. Glacier area – Lake Moeraki (Wilderness Lodge)
21. Lake Moeraki
22. Lake Moeraki – Wanaka area
23. Wanaka area
24. Wanaka – Glenorchy (Kinloch Lodge?) OR Queenstown
25. Glenorchy area OR Queenstown
26. Drive to Te Anau
27. Te Anau (Milford overnight cruise or day cruise)
28. Te Anau - ? (strategic stop en route to Otago Peninsula)
29. ? – Otago Peninsula
30. Otago Peninsula
31. Flying Dunedin to Nelson and then onto Abel Tasman NP
32. Abel Tasman
33. Abel Tasman
34. Abel Tasman – Marlborough Sound
35. Marlborough Sound
36. Marlborough Sound
37. Marlborough Sound – Christchurch (with a possible stop at Kaikoura)
38. Christchurch – Sydney

Our doubts:
- Bay of Islands or Coromandel? Coromandel is more practical as closer to Rotorua – but is it as scenic as the B.O.I.?
- We have scheduled 5 days at the end to relax: is it a good idea to do both Abel Tasman and Marlborough Sound or would you focus on just one area? Are they quite similar?
- We still have 1 full day to spend somewhere… (I can't believe it myself, we know how lucky we are!)

Nothing has been booked yet, apart from international flights to Sydney, so we can change pretty much anything.
Thank you so much to all of you who will take time to read this and help us making our trip really special…!

You have missed out 95% of the good stuff in Tasmania - I am going away for the weekend but will post on Monday with some suggestions.

Since you say you don't like spending time in big cities, and you enjoy nature, wildlife, and scenery, I think Kinloch Lodge would be a good choice for you. We stopped there for dinner (with a reservation) and they have great food, plus it is a very peaceful location. It is near trailheads for several trails, where you can get your nature fix. We enjoyed a day-hike on the Routeburn Track. Note that we didn't stay at the Kinloch Lodge, we only stopped there for dinner. One thing...the restaurant is small, and we got the feeling many of the diners were staying at the lodge...they seemed to like it quiet, and weren't talking between tables at all. Since we were seated with another couple at a big table, we felt it would be polite to have at least a short conversation with them, so we did. They were staying at the lodge and seemed to like it. I think maybe you have to share a bathroom at the lodge. I think you would enjoy 2 nights there, which would give you time to check out the area.

Since you like photography, don't forget that the New Zealand highways tend to take you right past MANY tempting photo opportunities! Therefore a drive listed as 5 hours quickly becomes an 8-hour drive. There isn't any way to "hurry" and make up for lost time, as inevitably you get stuck behind a slow vehicle, for miles and miles on a windy road, only one lane in each direction, before you have any opportunity to pass it. Trucks and campervans don't always pull over to let you pass.

This was our second trip to New Zealand (in February 2007), and for us, the most scenic areas are: Fiordland; West Coast from Lake Matheson to Jackson Bay; and anyplace where you can see Mt. Cook!

Hi Melissa, thank you for your reply re Kinloch Lodge. I read your trip report and was wandering if I could ask you a favour: do you remember the number of the room you were given at Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki? Many Thanks!

Babam, we had room 5 at Wilderness Lodge Lake Moeraki. Note that you aren't assigned a particular room number until you arrive. But you can make a request for a type of room. We were delighted with the room we ended up with!

I usually research an accomodation, and then e-mail them and ask for a room category, along with "special requests", with the understanding that special requests usually can't be guaranteed in advance. This usually works out well for me.

I usually prefer a quiet room with a romantic view for my husband and I.

Babam:
A few months ago we did a heli hike to Fox gacier. That was the MOST memorable thing for both me & my husband! It's a bit expensive but worth every penny.
You could do Rotorua in a day IF you're not joining any activities. We went to the agrodome & white water rafting & polynesian spa, so that took 2 days/2 nights.
Have a great time! I wish I was going to NZ....

Melissa - thank you once again!

Sammyc - we'd really love to do the heli-hike! Do you have to be very fit to do that? Is it challenging? Thanks!

I don't think you need to be in top physical shape to do the heli-hike. There were some 'older' folks in our group & we went on a nice pace. We walked around for 2-3 hrs and both agreed that we could have done it the entire day w/o getting tired! It is such a beautiful site

Thank you Sammyc - will definetely do it then!

The helihike is really tame. In fact, "hike" is a bit of a stretch. The views are absolutely amazing, especially on a sunny day.

Glad to see someone going to Binalong Bay - gorgeous place and worth a few days if you can spare the time.