Joan & Richard Graybill

We have just returned from a wonderful month touring the South Island. If anyone has any questions we will be more than willing to try and answer them.

bb

We will spend about 8 days the first part of Oct. in South Is. I am still trying to do the most in that length of time. I'd appreciate your opinion. (We are 50ish married couple.) Fly into Queenstown and use it for a base for self-drive day trips. Don't care to stay in high rise hotels; maybe a b&b or locally owned inn. Any suggestions? Also, where should we specifically go for sight seeing? We do want to go to the Milford Sound and do the cruise. Should we try to drive that in one day? If you did that cruise, is one company better or are they all comparable? Then from Queenstown we'll drive up the west coast to Greymouth, and take train to C'church to fly home. I would greatly appreciate any comments pro or con, and any other suggestions you might pass on to us. Thanks so much.

Mary Ann

We are planning about 11 days in NZ in November, mostly the South Island. We will be flying in to Blenheim, then to Kaikoura, Chch & Akora, Mt. Cook, Qtown, then Dunedin with a possible stop in Rotorua on our way to Auckland to catch the plane home. Were wondering if you have any comments on the above places, worth or not worth a stop or more interesting places, we are still in the planning stage. Did you drive? Were there any problems? Thanks for any help.

Joan & Richard Graybill

We have responded to these two requests by writing directly to the two above correspondents.

Joleen

My husband and I are heading to NZ in mid-July for 2 weeks - flying into Christchurch from Sydney, and out of Auckland. What were your "must sees?" Have you been to the North Island? Should we split our time evenly between the South Island and the North? <BR>Thanks!

Dave

Dear Joan and Richard: <BR> <BR>Posting your responses on this forum would be interesting for all (unless of course there was something personal). <BR> <BR>Dave

Elsa

Hi, <BR> <BR>I agree with Dave. If it is not too much, Joan and Richard, would you please post your responses to the questions on the forum. I know there are some of us wondering about the same questions. <BR> <BR>Thank you. <BR> <BR>Elsa

Mike

Hi, <BR> <BR>Just got back from NZ last week after a 10 day holiday there. I flew from Sydney - Christchurch, and then down to Queenstown for 2 1/2 days. I took a bus tour to Milford Sound for the day. It takes about 3-4 hours to drive from Queenstown, and their is one long tunnel (w/no lights!) that I'm glad I didn't have to learn my left side driving on. It was very scenic with mountains, many rolling hills, millions of sheep, cows, deer, waterfalls. It rained most of the next day so I didn't have a chance to try jet boat. Next day, I had to learn how to drive, and drove up to Christchurch (about 7 hours) through the mountains, but with hardly any other cars and good roads (one lane in each direction), it was quite enjoyable. The next day it rained most of the day, so just saw the sights in Christchurch, museums, tram rides, gardens, etc. Took the TranzAlpine train roundtrip to Greymouth, very scenic, but probably better to be used one-way. The next day I drove to Picton (about 5 hours) to catch the ferry, nice little harbor area, then took the ferry (Interisland) over to Wellington. Since it was past 5PM, I took a super-fast tour of Te Papa, the museum, but I would have liked to spend a few hours there. The next day, I drove to Rotorua, stopping at Lake Taupo for about 2 hours. The next day I visited a few of the thermal sites, then drove to Auckland for 2 days before leaving for US.

Nancy

Dear Joan & Richard, <BR> <BR>I am planing for a 14 days trip to North and South Island. i will arrive at Christchurch, please advise me how should like plan my self drive trip in NZ. Many thanks....