June honeymoon in Hawaii

Old Mar 16th, 2005, 07:55 AM
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June honeymoon in Hawaii

My fiance and I are trying to decide where to go for our honeymoon, and we're down to Hawaii and New Zealand.

This will be the last time for a while that we'll be able to take a really long trip, so we really want to take advantage of that time and go somewhere interesting. We like to hike, bike, explore new places, but we're also interested in doing some relaxing, as this *is* our honeymoon. It might be nice to stay in one home base for a few days and explore from there, and then move to another home base for another chunk of time.

We're not sold on Hawaii for two reasons: it is closer than NZ, so it is more likely that we'll be able to go there in the future, which makes it feel less adventurous; and we're somewhat concerned Hawaii will be touristy. (We're considering going to some combination of 2 places: Kauai, Maui, and/or the Big Island.)

Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated!
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Old Mar 16th, 2005, 11:09 AM
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I have been to both and frankly would have a tough time making your choice. New Zealand is fabulous. Very active population with lots of hiking, biking, exploring options. I particularly loved the South Island.
I also love Hawaii. There is a wide range of great activities on each island. I like the Big Island (got married there) for ecological diversity (loved the volcanos) and great beaches. Kauai has some marvelous hikes and is to my eye the most paradise like. Maui is very congested around Lahaina and Kannapali, but you can find some great hikes and bike trails there, as well as picture perfect beaches. Oahu is much discussed on this board and it has great assets. Molokai is very sparsely populated and has few restaurants and resorts...it does however have great hiking and sailing options. Lanai has two very luxurious resorts and many activity (exploring) opportunities. I don't have any idea what your budget is, but there are some very luxurious hotels in Hawaii for relaxing. The flight to NZ is a long one and after the hectic wedding environment, you might do better to save that trip for later. Either way, you will end up on a wonderful island.
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Old Mar 17th, 2005, 06:42 AM
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I'm making an assumption here that you are coming from the mainland USA.

You may want to consider going to New Zealand with a stop either in French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, or Fiji. Apparently Air New Zeland used to have a special deal (not sure if they still offer it) where you could get off at one of these locations and spend time (say a week or so) there before getting on another later flight to continue on to New Zealand for a relatively modest fee. That way you could experience both a tropical island environment and New Zeland.

Ken
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Old Mar 17th, 2005, 08:07 AM
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Thanks for the ideas so far. We are indeed from mainland US, east coast.

Interesting idea to stop off in Fiji or someplace like that before heading on to NZ. I guess it depends on how much we want to see in NZ, and how long we have to do it. I don't know if having one week in NZ would be enough.
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Old Mar 17th, 2005, 10:14 AM
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I stopped off in Fiji for a week on my way back from Australia and New Zealand. It was a good break and I loved Fiji. I spent a week on the South Island and about four days on the North Island...and would have happily stayed on for another month. NZ is gorgeous.
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Old Mar 17th, 2005, 11:34 AM
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We spent 2 weeks in New Zealand, a week each on the North and South islands. I agree that it's absolutely beautiful.

I'm not sure what you mean by being concerned that Hawaii is "touristy". The economy is basically driven by tourism - and if you decide to visit, you will be a tourist. If you mean you're trying to avoid the crowds of Waikiki, then I agree that Kauai, Lanai or the Big Island is more what you're looking for.
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Old Mar 17th, 2005, 12:30 PM
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Good point about what I mean by "touristy". I guess I'm fearful of big crowds and pushy people with fanny packs, which I ran into quite often when I spent some time in Florida. I like seeing other people around, but I don't like big crowds.
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