mr_go

We would love your help in building an NZ trip plan from the inside-out. By that, I mean that the ONLY thing that has been booked to-date is a four-day Milford Track hiking adventure with Ultimate Hikes in early March 2017... and we want to plan our trip around that experience, on either end. We do need to fly into and out of AKL, but we’re thinking of focusing primarily on South Island this time around and possibly returning to NZ in the future.

I hesitate to use a word like “itinerary” because it is far too early for that. I’m really just looking to sketch an outline in broad strokes at this point. Due to work schedules (etc.), we will only have about 12 or 13 days to work with, in total. Right now, here’s what I’ve got:

Day 1: Arrive AKL from ORD. Explore the city and rest a bit.
Day 2: Day trip to Waitomo caves?
Day 3: Fly down to Queenstown. Check out Q-town and Arrowtown?
Day 4: Unknown daytime activity (winery tour? bungy jumping? Dart river safari?); mandatory evening meeting with UH staff and fellow hikers
Days 5 thru 8: Milford Track hike (already booked)
Days 9 thru 11: Return to Qtown, rent a car and begin meandering adventure. Need help here. Dunedin? Wanaka? Mt. Cook? End up in Christchurch, drop off the car.
Day 12: Fly back to Auckland.
Day 13 AKL to ORD.

So, clearly I have some holes to fill. If you would be so kind, please let me know what would make the most sense. Note: we are a fairly active couple in our early 50s. Our style is moderately upscale, but definitely casual and not fancy. We’re not really foodies or hardcore party-people, per se, but we do love a good meal and drinks.

Any advice would be welcomed gratefully!

tasmangirl

Day 2 to Waitomo is a whole day in the bus as it's about 2 hours there and 2 hours back.
I am a big Queenstown fan and would stay days 9 to 11 there and fly back to Auckland from Queenstown. One day for the sights and delights of Queenstown is not enough. A day trip to Wanaka on the bus is doable so that crosses Wanaka off your list.
Mt Cook would win over Dunedin for me every time. Are you okay with driving on the left? Book the rental car in advance as Queenstown is very popular.
OR Day 9 drive to Mt Cook about 263 km and 3 hours
Day 10 Explore Mt Cook, do a walk
Day 11 Drive to Christchurch 331 km and a bit over 4 hours and will take you past Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo.
Day 12 overnight in Christchurch and sight see if you have time
Itinerary - dictionary definition is a 'detailed plan for a journey especially a list of places to visit'. Looks like an itinerary to me!
Leave room and time for the unexpected in your trip.

mr_go

Thanks so much, tas. Yes, I'm OK with driving on the left...but less so with a standard shift, so I'm planning on booking the car way in advance to ensure we get an automatic.

I really like the looks of your South Island suggestions, and I appreciate the tip on the Waitomo round-trip. That might be too much.

<i>Looks like an itinerary to me!</i>

I know, and I'm trying to keep it loose at this point. But we do have to book the long-haul flights, the inter-island flights, accommodations and car fairly well in advance, and I wanted to get a sense of whether the general plan outline so far was reasonable or completely missing the boat. I'm feeling more comfortable with it now.

Anyone else? I'm all ears!

Melnq8

Hello mr_go, nice to see you over here.

<<but we’re thinking of focusing primarily on South Island this time around and possibly returning to NZ in the future.>>

As well you should with only 13 days, especially as four are already spoken for.

I've been playing with your itinerary and I keep running out of days, and that's only visiting a very small part of the SI.

This is what I would do:

Skip the NI - fly directly to QT from AKL

Day 1-3 - arrive QT, drive the 40 minutes to Glenorchy and hunker down a few days at Precipice Creek Station, my absolute favorite upscale B&B. Spend a few days exploring the tracks around Glenorchy, take the Dart River Safari, enjoy the incredible scenery and Vladka's hospitality, while recovering from jet lag

Day 4 - make your way to QT, perhaps continue on to Arrowtown to explore, visit a few wineries, or take a walk (some very nice ones near Arrowtown) then check into QT hotel (or Arrowtown - only 25 minutes from QT) for mandatory meeting

Days 5-8 Milford Track

Days 9-10 - Return to QT - head to Wanaka. Spend a couple of nights in Wanaka -lots to see and do there. Driving into Mt Aspiring Nat'l Park from this end is a highlight, but you will need a full day and the willingness to violate your rental car contract or seek other means of transport . The road is rough and unsealed, but unless it's been raining its no drama, we've done it many times in all kinds of weather - it gets a bit dicey after rain - lots of fords to negotiate. But, it is so worth it.

Day 11 - Get an early start, drive from Wanaka to Mt Cook, (2:40) spend the afternoon exploring a walk or two, take in the sights

Day 12 - Drive from Mount Cook to Christchurch - 4.5 hours longer if you take the back roads to Christchurch via Geraldine, Raikaia Gorge, Mt Hutt - which I strongly recommend - make a day of the drive, stopping en route to take in some walks (excellent walk at Rakaika Gorge). Overnight Christchurch.

Day 13 - Depart to AKL - Assume this is morning flight?

Melnq8

Is there a reason you're flying back to Auckland a day before your flight out? This necessitates a night in Auckland, which I consider a complete waste, as you can fly from Christchurch to Auckland and then connect to your international flight, no?

Melnq8

Alternatively -

Day 1 - Arrive Christchurch - overnight to rest OR if you've gotten some sleep on the flight, pick up car and drive as far as Geraldine via the back roads mentioned above. This will shorten your drive day to Mt Cook the next day and you'll have the opportunity to dine at my favorite SI restaurant in Geraldine. A great intro to the SI - I can recommend a wonderful B&B in Geraldine too.

Day 2 & 3 Drive Christchurch to Mt Cook, exploring Lake Tekapo en route - two nights Mt Cook

Day 4 - Drive Mt Cook to QT, mandatory meeting, overnight

Days 5-8 Milford Track

Day 9-11 - Glenorchy or Wanaka

Day 12 - fly QT to Christchurch, overnight

Day 13 - departure to Auckland

This itinerary means a couple of one night stays, which I personally dislike, but its an option

mr_go

Thanks for the feedback, Mel. I had hoped to hear from you, and was frustrated that I couldn't read your posts until now (due to a pesky client call).

<i>Skip the NI - fly directly to QT from AKL</i>

This is an intriguing idea, and I think I like it...but for one thing. ORD > AKL is close 19 hours, and that's a whole lot of time in a plane already. But continuing on at that point does make logistical sense, if we can bear it.


<i>Is there a reason you're flying back to Auckland a day before your flight out? This necessitates a night in Auckland, which I consider a complete waste</i>

Is it a complete waste? I've read mixed reviews, and some people like it. I guess the short answer to your question would be, adding a different flavor of experience to a very outdoorsy trip. But I'm not wedded to the idea.


<i>This itinerary means a couple of one night stays, which I personally dislike, but its an option</i>

I generally do too, but this second plan might actually work better for us.

Either way, I think we have enough information to pull out the map and start planning for real. And I thank you (and tasmangirl) once again for your thoughts!

ms_go

Thanks from me, too!

<i>you can fly from Christchurch to Auckland and then connect to your international flight, no?</i>

Ideally this is what we will do. But we will be using miles (UA or AA) for one of our tickets, in business class. And if we have to resort to a standard award for one direction and/or the other, we might be limited in what we can do beyond UA/AA metal (both will be flying to Auckland by that point). We have months to work on this, though, so hopefully we will end up with something more advantageous than a standard award.

Melnq8

Hello both-gos -

I get the long flight thing, believe me. I flew from Colorado to Perth, Australia for seven years, sometimes twice a year, and Perth is a ~six hour flight further than Auckland. And before that it was four years traveling from Sumatra to CO. It's torture.

BUT - you can do it! Get it over with and be done with it

The good news is that the flight from Auckland to QT is relatively short - 1:50 and the transition is seamless. Just go through Customs/Immigration, let the dogs have a sniff, collect and deposit your bags at the luggage transfer desk and get some much needed fresh air walking between terminals (about 10 minutes give or take) then have yourself a lovely flat white before your connecting flight. Cake. Do give yourself a decent connection time though, otherwise you have to transfer the luggage yourself. Not cake.

Should you choose to visit Auckland, I highly recommend you do it once, rather than on both ends. Less hassle, less time wasted on transitioning.

<<Is it a complete waste?>>

If one has to sacrifice time on the SI for it, yes, it's a waste IMO. Caveat - this comes from someone who doesn't like cities and who, in 20 years of trying, still hasn't gotten enough of the South Island.

I personally find flying from one place to another for a single day exhausting. The whole airport thing, collecting and re-checking bags, transport into the city, checking into a hotel for one night. Ugh. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Having said that, I've done this very thing, but I did it because I was traveling with a NZ newbie and I thought he'd like a bit of the big smoke after 10 days on the SI - it was a bit overwhelming for both of us, but your experience may vary.

Please, please, please tell me you're using those UA miles to fly business class on Air NZ! You will love it! Those 12 hours will fly by. Have some Noble Riesling and NZ cheese for me!

Happy to help as your plans evolve.

ms_go

<i>Please, please, please tell me you're using those UA miles to fly business class on Air NZ!</i>

That would be first choice. My understanding is that it is very difficult (at times impossible?) to get premium cabin Air New Zealand seats between the US and NZ with Mileage Plus miles. But there is a recent thread on Flyertalk indicating some have found such awards recently...so there is hope! We have some time to work on this.

Melnq8

Another option - Air NZ Premium Economy, which is the next best thing. Same food as Business Class, great service, good seats and more of them, so perhaps a better chance of scoring a couple. Their coach seats are truly awful though, really squishy, even the ones you pay more for (exit rows, etc), but I reckon you guys know this.

Keep in mind that if you're not successful with getting biz class reward tickets that there's always Air NZ's One Up program, although I'm not sure how one can bid on an upgrade if they're using miles. Surely there's a way though. Signing up for Air NZ's FF program is a start. I seem to recall having to be a member to make a One Up bid, but can't swear to that.

We've had good success with it both for upgrading from coach to Premium Economy and Premium Economy to business. We were coming from the other side of the world though, so that might be a factor.

As is time of year, although March should be better than Jan-Feb from a high season standpoint. And flying weekdays vs Friday-Sunday might give you a leg up.

Good luck playing the UA game.

deSchenke

United has recently started service on their own planes from SFO to AKL. Easier to get upgrades using UA Miles than Air New Zealand. I'm not sure that fits into your routing, but thought I'd mention it.

ElendilPickle

Business class would be fabulous, but for others who are reading this, we've survived two long-haul round trips in Air New Zealand economy seats (LAX to AKL and LAX to LHR) and they really are pretty decent in terms of leg room, food, wine, etc.

Melnq8, since you mentioned Mt. Aspiring National Park, we're considering doing the Rob Roy glacier walk while we're in Wanaka. Is the entire road to the trailhead unsealed?

Lee Ann

Melnq8

Lee Ann -

The road is sealed as far as the Cardrona ski resort turn off then it's completely unsealed for the duration, which unfortunately makes up the majority of the drive. We drive it all the time in rental cars, although if you read the fine print, The Matukituki Valley Road is more often than not specifically listed as a rental car contract violation, so proceed with caution. You'll laugh when you get back there and see all the rental cars though.

Another reason to rent an older, pre-abused car from APEX IMO.

Roy Roy is about an hour's drive west of Wanaka. As long as the fords are dry, it's really not all that bad, just slow going as it can be rougher than a cob. There is transport available if you'd rather not take the risk.

Have fun!

mr_go

Thanks again, this is going to be an interesting challenge. With our recurring status on UA over the past several years, I'm afraid we've become a bit spoiled by biz class. Thanks also to deSchenke for the SFO option.

<i>Good luck playing the UA game.</i>

I think it's time for ms_go to work the UA 1K phone line and see what can be hammered out. She's really good at that.

<i>in 20 years of trying, still hasn't gotten enough of the South Island</i>

That's about the strongest recommendation I can imagine. I'm really looking forward to it (although we really should start planning our summer trip to Stockholm a little more than we have).

aprillilacs

We stopped in Auckland for a couple nights after flying there from SF, premium economy. My trip report describes the visit. Didn't think it was a waste at all, though I do agree that it would be best to limit Auckland to either coming or going, not both (and, not surprisingly, I would choose to do it the way we did). It's a really nice small city. After a couple of fun days there we happily continued on to the spectacular South Island.

ElendilPickle

>>Another reason to rent an older, pre-abused car from APEX IMO.<<

That's what we did. Thanks for the info!

Lee Ann

deSchenke

The irony is that Apex is the only car company I've run across that forbids Matukituki Valley Rd beyond the Treble Cone turn-off (not Cardrona, I think that was a typo).

We got an older model from Ace, paid the zero-excess fees, and were good to go on that road. The only exclusions Ace had for their rentals were beaches and Skipper's Canyon Rd.

ElendilPickle

I looked at Ace, but they were more expensive. Maybe I should look again in case I missed something.

Lee Ann

Melnq8

DeSchenke is correct it's Treble Cone, my mistake.

I've rented from APEX for so long that I have no idea if other rental car agencies prohibit Matukituki Valley Road or not, but its certainly worth looking into.

I think APEX also prohibits driving beyond Paradise Trust out of Glenorchy, but we've done that a lot too (don't tell them). There are some interesting fords back there, not to mention lots of livestock. And then there's the road past Kinloch Lodge, which is great fun after rain.

Now Skippers Canyon...even we're not dumb enough to drive that one. The glaringly huge warning sign advising drivers that the road is a rental car violation is hard to ignore. It's a doozy. Thoroughly enjoyed the tour though, highly recommend it.