So following our 3 weeks in Japan last Nov we are looking for the next destination New Zealand is top of the list. Adored Japan for culture, experience, history, art, being off the beaten western tourist track, the travel especially by all though as veggie struggled. Stayed hostels, b and b and hotels.

We would like the next destination to be similiar.

It would be a 3 week trip max, 2 people. No bikes would be taken I do not think, both are outdoors orientated but want to get some culture, art and history plus mountains and beaches this time.

What is a good itinerary/ suggestions please.

Best way to get around and were to stay ?

Thinking late this year Sept onwards is that any good.

All help welcome
Cheers

PS alternative is USA coast to coast on the train or road trip.

Culture, art and history. In New Zealand. Really? You may be setting yourself up for disappointment there I’m afraid.

deep fried lasagne from new world.

There is loads of Maori culture art and history.

This.

There is loads of Maori culture art and history

Not this.

ultracrepidarian – Member
Culture, art and history. In New Zealand. Really? You may be setting yourself up for disappointment there I’m afraid.

North Island for Maori culture, tepapa in Wellington is the Maori museum.
South Island for amazing mountains and glaciers.

plenty to do if you love outdoors. its somewhat compact so three weeks will cover nearly all. fly to auckland. go and see the active volcano island off coast taugaura. whitianga and whangamata with hot water beach and cathedral cove. head on up north for the maori treaty place. rotorua, taupo, wellington museum. then you have the south island . there’s heaps of day trips, glaciers, mountains.

i would hire a camper or do a naked bus tour thing. stay in hostels,b&b.

september is very iffy, bit chilly and wet still .oct/nov if you could wait would be better.

Best things we did were:
– climb up St Josef Glacier
– stay in a lodge in the Abel Tazmin
National park which was only accessible by boat.
– and my absolute favourite was flying in a Cesner 6 seater airplane from Queenstown over mountains into Milford Sound. The boat we went on had Dolphins playing in the wake of the boat.

Oh and the beer and wine is pretty darn good too!

I’ve done this twice now, and would recommend spending more time in fewer places, rather than trying to “do” new Zealand. Abel Tasman is well worth a few days , you could get a boat up and trek back out.

Wellington is nice for culture and seafront, but otherwise just a small city.

I enjoyed lake tekapo and mount John Observatory night time tour.

You are aware that you’re planning a winter holiday?

We did late November to February. Even in december there we had issues with snow on passes of hiking trails. The scenery will still be great but beaches will be kind of Wales in Early spring

The sking could be fab though

We went for our honeymoon and stayed in 4 star hotels. I’m glad we hired a car as the roads are windy and tight and I would not want to be a driver nor passinger in a bus/camper. We met another couple on their honeymoon who hired the biggest camper they could which they regretted as it took them forever to get anywhere and they also had to empty their chemical toilet. Romantic I think not.

South Island highlights was 3 day kayak trip around Abel Tasman coast line, skydive near Mt Cook Queenstown all 3 bungee jumps travelling around in a 1960s Spilt screen.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/3GQrq]Munro Rd[/url] by Richard Munro, on Flickr
Much preferred the trip in Australia travelling down the West coast from Cape Tribulation to Sydney 🙂 not sure why
[url=https://flic.kr/p/6yke6]P1160254[/url] by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Get a camper and stick to South Island if you only have 3 weeks. Avoid bus group tour things like the plague. Keep a simple plan you could rush everywhere ans see nothing. Malborough Sounds. Golden Bay. Wanaka/Queenstown.Milford Sound way camp up. Beware DOC sites can be very busy with campers.

FYI – you refer to them as the South Island, and the North Island. They don’t have names.

However long you think it will take you to drive between places, double it. Triple it for travel in the South Island.

If you go expecting a similar art/culture/history experience to Japan or Europe you’ll be disappointed but there’s still LOADS of interesting stuff to see. Absolutely great food culture there.

Echo the sentiments above that road travel is time consuming so don’t try and spread yourself too thin. Definitely worth choosing somewhere you can spend a few days hiking or kayaking. Car rental is relatively cheap and hostels/b&b’s are generally high standard.

September is still the tail-end of the winter. The summer tourist stuff starts up a bit more in November.

We flew in to Auckland and out of Christchurch. Picked up a camper in Auckland, then a sh*tload of driving including:

North Island

Whangarei
Bay of Islands
Waipoua Forest
Waitomo
Rotarua
Tongariro Crossing

South Island

Abel Tasman
Punakaiki
Franz and Fox glaciers
Mount Cook
Haast Pass
Queenstown
Milford Sound
Dunedin
Kaikoura

And all the little places in between 🙂

3 and a bit weeks in a Hiace camper (the DOC sites are ace), tons of driving but that was part of the adventure. If I go again, will stay on one island (South probably), and do WAY less driving! I loved it, really hope I can go back.

Few pics (hopefully!)

To echo some of the above.
– if you only have 3 weeks choose 1 island and don’t try to do too much. (We made this mistake. We had 4 weeks there and split it across the two islands but there was a lot of stuff we didn’t see or do).
– late September is late winter there, Oct-Nov is more like spring. As it’s spring at that time, the North Island is possibly the better option as it shouldn’t be in the full grip of winter.

Note that the DOC are proactive when it comes to the safety of tourists, especially in winter/spring. When we were there, they closed the Tongariro crossing for nearly a week ‘cos a tourist died after a slip on an icy section of the path. We did the Routeburn trail and a section of that was avalanche prone so you had to buy a short helicopter flight to avoid it, or they wouldn’t let you book accommodation in the huts.

As others have said it’s an amazing place for anyone who likes the outdoors.

We did 6 weeks in March and April 2006, 3 weeks in the South and 3 in the North.
We hired a car and stayed in holiday parks, b and bs and hostels. At the time all were relatively cheap, so hiring a camper was very expensive in comparison. This may have changed.
We felt that we got to meet so many more interesting, like minded people, by staying in these places too.
If you decide to go this route, don’t book too far ahead. Pop into an iSite (travel information) and see what they recommend in each area. We only had one duff place (Samurai Lodge before doing the Tongariro Crossing).

We used newzealand.com and Lonely Planet guides to plan activities. We had a real problem fitting everything in.

The South Island is stunning landscape, from the arid east to the fern rainforest west.
Whale watching and dolphin bothering swimming in Kaikoura, spherical boulders on Moeraki Beach at dawn, Canyon swing and jet boating in Queenstown, kayaking Milford Sound, helicopter on the Franz Jozef glacier, walking the Abel Tasman, driving the Queen Margaret’s Drive (Very twisty. As driver I felt car sick 😆 )

The North is drier, and volcanic. Sky diving in Taupo, Zorbing in Rotorua, hot water beach on the Coromandel, Cape Reinga, racing catamarans on the Bay of Islands, the Tongariro Crossing (one of the best one day hikes in the Southern Hemisphere).

We even managed to fit in a few days with no travelling!

I’ve a photo gallery at tallpaul’s smugmug page

ultracrepidarian – Member
Culture, art and history. In New Zealand. Really? You may be setting yourself up for disappointment there I’m afraid.

Oooh I dunno… I was there in 2003 and Petula Clarke was playing Christchurch…

All together now – “Down Toooownnnn”

Getting on a plane to Sydney this evening for a few weeks there, then on for 3 weeks travelling NZ in a camper. Covering part of both islands but had to be a bit selective as trying not to be driving every day 🙁
It’s something of a recce trip for what we would go back and spend more time on.
Enjoy the winter 😆

One piece of advice regarding the South island (and some places up North, I guess too) –

Don’t underestimate how small their definition of “Town” can be.

We arrived at some “towns” that were smaller than villages. Basically hamlets, but labeled, advertised and road signage was “town”. Made for a lot of “is this it?” experiences when arriving at a few places.

Also – you really don’t need more than a day in most places. As long as you get going early so as to arrive early at your next destination, you’ll see everything you came for in a day. This is especially true for places like Franz Josef (see the above town thing), where unless you’ve got a helicopter ride planned you’ll zoom around the place and be in the pub by mid-afternoon.

The South Island was an amazing experience, but all in all I felt more “connected” to everything (people, NZ itself, culture, history) up North. The North island has some amazing scenery also, and felt a lot more “tropical” I guess in terms of the beaches and general vibe.

The South Island generally feels a bit like a shit-English summer.

As others, it does take a while to get to many places. We were based in Christchurch (staying with friends) but then drove to various places but stayed over in most of them. As posted above, we did:

Punakaiki
Franz Joseph glacier (sadly couldn’t get a heli-drop at the top due to the weather at the time).
Mount Cook
Queenstown (had a very rubbish MTB tour there)
Milford Sound
Dunedin
Kaikoura

We also saw some of the locations used in the LOTR films – the tour was done by an Orc (well a bloke who was an extra in the films as an Orc).

I liked it and I’d go back. I particularly liked the drive-thro’ off licences and I did consider for a time setting up a similar thing in the UK 🙂

Marin – Member
Get a camper and stick to South Island if you only have 3 weeks. Avoid bus group tour things like the plague. Keep a simple plan you could rush everywhere ans see nothing. Malborough Sounds. Golden Bay. Wanaka/Queenstown.Milford Sound way camp up. Beware DOC sites can be very busy with campers.

This ^^^^^

And if you go North Island, avoid Auckland. Check Napier, Hastings etc if on the North Island.

Properly funny some of this thread, don’t disagree with it. Plan a route , then do half.

Cheers for all the replies, it has been on our list for decades, so it now planning and debating, it is one incredible place from all the pictures.

Wanders off to ponder and check the sterling……

Alpine parrots are angry and want revenge for being, well Alpine parrots 😆

This is especially true for places like Franz Josef (see the above town thing), where unless you’ve got a helicopter ride planned you’ll zoom around the place and be in the pub by mid-afternoon.

We did a Glavier walk. One of tha may fab things that we did

I’d also highlight Abel Tasman kayaking and try and get in a hut walk

FYI hels I call them that as when I lived there the Kiwis called them that and so does everyone apart from you 🙂

Visit Fergburger, Queenstown.

End of thread.

Visit Fergburger, Queenstown.

Home of the most overrated burger in the world.

Luckily I knew someone who worked there at the time, didn’t have to queue nor pay. And it was still average.

Well it was the best burger I’ve ever had!

You must be a burger couniesser.. 😉

I’ll lob In a few suggestions. Pick north or south.

If south
Nelson, great scene esp post ChCh – food and good beers. Mapua wharf. Kayak Abel tas. Visit moutere pub. Golden bay lovely-bookabach a good idea. Takaka to see the British trust funders.
Head west coast, hokitika and blowholes, walk up to heaphy hut and be eaten by sand flies
Do glacier road to wanaka
Wanaka, ace.
Qt if you must. Go to Mavora Lakes. Fly to Te Anau-quicker and better views
That’s a start

They were humoring you, Marin. No Kiwi would ever get that wrong ! I lived there for 25 years.

Look: The Guardian agrees with me (and all other 4.5 million Kiwis) and they are ALWAYS right.

“Since the district of Taranaki in the North Island was listed as the second-best region in the world by Lonely Planet in 2016, visitor numbers have surged”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/25/backed-up-new-zealands-public-toilets-not-coping-with-summer-influx-of-tourists

hels/Marin

So in 2013 the NZ Geographic Board had to actually name them properly as it turned out they never had (i was working for Land Info NZ at the time). They were named North Island and South Island. Or Te Ika-a-Maui and Te Waipounamu.

So in strict terms I would say “Kia Ora Bro, I’m just jumping the fairy to South Island, see you for a pie in Picton”. Or “Kia Ora Bro, I’m just jumping the fairy to The Mainland, see you for a pie in Picton” for those indigenous to South Island… 😉

What that article should say is, if it’s using the islands proper name “Since the district of Taranaki in North Island..” or “Since the district of Taranaki in the north island..”. I would have thought but it seems they use the preposition so the latter is accepted.

Haha you must of hung out with the stupid ones then. I fotgot Picton I really liked it round there.

Fergburger for an experience of a burger, but the best burger I has was in DeVille’s in Nelson.

Tongoriro Corssing for an amazing 1-day trek. May not be passable in Winter/Spring conditions in regular kit, but if it’s winter conditions companies will hire gear and guide.

Kayak Abel Tasman, but be flexible to get a weather window to really enjoy it.

FYI the ChCh bike park is running now but has a smattering of tracks open. Most of them we used to ride before the park 😀 🙁

Wellington is nice for culture and seafront, but otherwise just a small city.

A small city with some of the finest mountain biking in the land! You can access some amazing trails straight out of town (Mt Vic, Polhill/Brooklyn, Miramar) and finish the ride with a fine craft beer from Garage Project or Parrotdog…

I’d echo the “don’t rush around” comments. But also make sure you take your bike OP 🙂 My riding wishlist gets longer every time I go… Wakamarina, Nydia and Heaphy, I’m coming for you one day!

Kill Devil good for a look too…

Go and climb Mount Doom, we did this.

Very tempted to go out next month for circa a month.

If I don’t take a bike out is it relatively easy to hire?

Since i’d be on my own not sure if I’d want to hire a car for just myself.

Or maybe I’ll take the hardtail and bikepacking gear…..