Anyone with experience travelling in New Zealand?

[bob]

If so and you don't mind answering a few questions about living there, please PM me.... Thanks

[Barkeep49]

I've long harbored a desire to move there at some point myself.

[bob]

Ok, let's try this again - anyone have much experience traveling in New Zealand? Looks like I might have the opportunity in the summer of 2016 (June & July) to spend two months in NZ - preferably one month on each island. I know that it's going to be winter then, but that is when the kids are out of school.

Anyway, probably going to need to pick a single city on each island. So suggestions?

North island - Auckland or Wellington?

South island - Christchurch or Queenstown?

[cartman]

My mom and dad took a three week trip there back in 2001. It was supposed to be a two week trip, but their return flight was scheduled for Sept. 14th. I'll ask them what they thought of those cities.

[21C]

Spent about two weeks there a few years ago. I spent more time in Auckland but Wellington has more LOTR related tours if you are interested in that. I also stayed longer in Queenstown. I don't know how Christchurch is today since it experienced some destruction following an earthquake in 2010(?) but I understand that it has undergone some urban renewal.

I toured around in a rental car but campervans/motorhomes are very popular with people touring the country.

You will be able to see a lot of the country in two months. I personally loved the south island with its glaciers and fjords - I could have easily spent my entire time there. Queenstown has a lot of adventure/extreme sports like bungee jumping and jetboats.

The country is beautiful and the people are very friendly. It will be cold during winter but not freezing and you won't see much snow except in some mountain areas.

Don't forget that they drive on the left.

[flere-imsaho]

My wife & I went there for 3 weeks in 2007. It was AWESOME. :D

The North Island is more populated while the South is definitely wilder and more rural, so the experiences are quite different.

We knew someone in Auckland so started there and did some stuff for a few days before driving in a rental first to Napier and then to Wellington. Napier was cool because it's on the ocean and has a lot of Art Deco architecture, and Wellington was a neat city. If you like wine country, Martinborough (near Wellington), is probably the place to go on the North Island, though there were some good vineyards near Napier.

Outside of Auckland are some great, warm, tropical beaches, though we didn't do that.

We then took a ferry to the South Island and drove another rental car to Christchurch, where we rented a campervan. This is SO the way to do the South Island. Tons of folks do it, so the campgrounds are great, in that they have good facilities, good locations, often great views, etc....

On the South Island we went from Christchurch to Queenstown, over to the west coast then up and back. Just a great trip, with lots of neat stuff along the way.


If you have two months and want to spend one month on each island here's what I'd recommend (I would not recommend spending a month in one city, as that's too limiting):

2 weeks: Use Auckland as a base to explore the north of the north island (i.e. awesome beaches and vineyards) as well as some cool stuff in Auckland itself.
1 week (or less): drive leisurely to Wellington, possibly via Napier. Along the route you can visit the site where Rivendell was filmed for LOTR, for instance.
1 week (or less): check out what Wellington has to offer, with day trips, etc....

Then I'd do 2 weeks in Christchurch and 2 weeks in Queenstown.

Christchurch is a good enough base for the city itself, hiking, water/ocean activities (including boating, whale watching, etc...).

Queenstown is the ski area of NZ. So there's some of that. Might also want to look into Milford Sound and the Milford Path. Be aware you have to book ahead for the latter. There are also some incredible wineries both outside of Christchurch (to the north, in Marlborough), and Queenstown (i.e. "Otago" area).

There's plenty more info I can probably give. I'll check in here every few days, or feel free to PM me and I'll shoot you my email address.

[Kodos]

My niece is doing a term abroad in New Zealand right now, and she recommended Wellington and Queenstown.

[bob]

Thanks for the info everyone. I probably should have noted a little more about my situation. I work from home writing software, so the idea is to go over there for roughly 8 weeks, 2 of which would be vacation, but 6 of them working. So I would need a fairly stable location to do work from. But that would leave me two good travelling around weeks as well as nights / evenings (and honestly I might work nights while there) to see things.

Changes the equation a bit, so really I'm looking for the best city on each island to be my base of operations. Ideally, it would go something like this:

Week 1 - Travel on North Island
Week 2 - Work on North Island
Week 3 - "
Week 4 - "
Week 5 - Travel on South Island
Week 6 - Work on South Island
Week 7 - "
Week 8 - "

[Groundhog]

Lots of good advice here, I'll only add that south island is the real jewel of NZ scenery-wise for my money, and Wellington is one of my fave cities anywhere.

[flere-imsaho]

Ah, given that update, your choices are probably Auckland or Wellington on the NI and Christchurch or Queenstown on the SI.

Auckland is the biggest city, and probably the easiest place to get the services you need, including a place to rent, and also probably the easiest city in which to acclimate to NZ. I found it to be a very international city. The influence of the many Asian cultures is very noticeable here. My wife & I thought it felt like a cross between San Francisco and one of the mid-sized European cities. There's plenty of stuff within driving range, and it'll be the warmest part of NZ while you're there.

Wellington is actually quite small, but I'd expect you'd be able to find what you need there, too. Unlike Auckland, which is quite spread out, Wellington is pretty compact, which is mainly a function of geography (i.e. hills). It reminded me a lot of both Vancouver and Edinburgh, but smaller. It'll be cooler and windier, and probably rainier in Wellington. There's a lot of hiking nearby, and some good wine country as well.

Christchurch is, frankly, the only city on the SI of any real size (sorry Queenstown & Dunedin). Reminded me a LOT of Oxford, UK. Very British feel. Flat. You should have no problem finding what you need here, as well. You'll need to drive to most of the scenery for which the SI is famous, but it's a good base nonetheless.

Queenstown is small. If it's the height of winter it will also be busy with skiers. If your family likes to ski and wants to ski in NZ, you may want to consider this as your base. You're in the heart of the scenery that makes the SI famous. It might be expensive.


I think Christchurch is a no-brainer for your base on the SI. Auckland/Wellington is a bit more of a choice. I liked Auckland a lot, don't get me wrong, but Wellington has much more character. Auckland is much more of a global city, with the good and meh that that implies. If you want beaches, pan-asian cuisine, and pretty much all the amenities you remember from home, pick Auckland. If you want hiking, wineries and a more unique experience, pick Wellington. And probably rain. I'd check the climate for each city for the time you'd be there to get a better feel.


If you pick Auckland I'd recommend taking 3-4 days when you arrive to travel/explore and then at the end of your first month take the balance of that "week" to travel/explore the rest of the NI as you head south to your base of operations on the SI. If it were me, I'd drive from Auckland to Napier (get a B&B on "Marine Parade" which overlooks the ocean) to Wellington, then ferry/drive to Christchurch/Queenstown. Of course, you could fly instead. Up to you.

If you pick Wellington, then you can do the same route (or another one) as you travel in that first week.

Enjoy!

[Barkeep49]

I definitely recommend driving through New Zealand. It gave me so much more appreciation than if I'd flown between places.