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1 month in NZ - what i do? |
 Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:17 pm |
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| i will be in new zealand from 26th feb to 24th march next year. flying into auckland and out at christchurch. at this moment i have absolutely no idea about places to go, things to do etc so any advice would be welcome! thanks in advance | |
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| Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:49 am |
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| Firstly, you need to work out whether you want to travel by car (renting or buying a van) or getting one of the 3 main bus tour companies (Magic/Stray/KiwiExperience)
If you're starting in Auckland there's plenty of options on the North Island. Up to the Northlands and Coromandel Peninsula...tropical ! Then there's Rotorua whcih stinks of rotten eggs...very maori cultured. Definitely recommend a Hangi/Maori Culture evening in Rotorua aka Rotovegas !! It's a good feed and entertainment. Then Taupo would probably be your next best bet, bungee, skydiving etc etc are all here. The lake is the size of Singapore so it's huge. The Tongariro national park and the Tongariro crossing is a few hundred kms away then. I haven't done it yet but am doing it on 7th/8th November. Hopefully be good weather and yet still have some snow on the tops. There are other places I have been to on the North Island such as New Plymouth on the West Coast which has Mt Taranaki in Egmont National Park. Awesome mountain as it's a cone peak !! Don't see many of them around NZ. On the other side on the East Coast is Hastings/Napier & Havelock North which has an awesome sight called Te Mata Peak. You can drive or walk up to the top and it looks like a cliff egde, but when you get to it, it then opens up to the sea and when you look back to the land, you can see for fuckin miles (on a good day). Must remember to revisit Te Mata as forgot to put memroy card in camera when I last went DOH ! Once you're done with Northern and Central North Island, you'll be down in Wellington. You can't come to NZ without at least spending a few days in the capital. Plenty of bars along Courtenay Place and loads of food to eat as well. I stayed in the Cambridge Hotel for about 4 weeks and it's a really good hostel, altho the addition of an oven in the kitchen would really help. It's also cheap and quieter than the Base/YHA hostels down the road. I value my sleep hahaha. Make sure you go to Te Papa museum, it's massive and has a lot of interesting rooms, studios and galleries to look at. Then take a walk down to the Mac's Brewery and taste a few of the great beers on offer. If you're lucky enough to time your trip well then a visit to a rugby game at the Cake Tin aka Westpac Stadium is a must ! Cheap enough tickets and a good game to be had. Especially if it's Super 14s season. Which starts in February so perfect timing. Once you're done with Wellington and the North Island, it's time to hit the Interislander Ferry that goes from Wellington docks to Picton on the top of the South Island in the Marlborough Sounds. Sleep for the first 2.5 hours and then wake up and get out on deck to see the amazing beauty of the Sounds. Such an awesome sight. Might even see a few dolphins if you're real lucky. Once in Picton then depending on whether you're on a bus tour or driving, it is up to you. I can't retrace steps from here as I actually did the opposite of you. I landed in NZ in Christchurch and will fly out of Auckland when I eventually leave. So from where I started, I got the TranzAlpine train from Christchurch through to Greymouth travelling through Arthurs Pass in the mountains. Definitely glad I did the train ride, saw some very good mountain ranges, I could see why LOTR was filmed around here. Not much to do in Greymouth really apart from again checking out the Monteiths Brewery in town and sampling a few of their delights. I liked the Radler when I was sampling it, but not so keen on it now I have a pint of it. Next stop was Franz Josef and the glacier climb. Fantastic and a definite must do. After that was a quick visit to Lake Matheson and the mirror lake, altho we didnt get to see it due to lack of time. Sucked. If you don't do Franz Josef then there is always Fox Glacier too if you want to check that out. Then the longest part of the journey, all the way down through Wanaka and then on to Queenstown. This is the party capital of NZ. Grab yourself a Fergburger in town after a few hours on the booze. Dare you try the double burger hahaha. Word of warning, don't buy the chips !! You don't need them. The next meal you should have in Queenstown is a Winnies pizza, awesome feed and a good place to have a few drinks. Don't forget to go up the gondola and then come down on the karts. This is also the place to scare the beegesus out of yourself on the 134m Bungee Jump about an hour outside of Queenstown. Do it ! I DID AND LOVED IT !! If you have time, try and take a trip down to Glenorchy and enjoy the silence !! It will take your breath away. Stunning !! This is also the place to get your Milford Sound extension. Which takes a mammoth 4hrs each way by bus to get to the boat. Well worth it though as this region is Stunning with a capital S !! Catch the boat ride out to the sea, watch dolphins playing in the surf and following the boats in and see waterfalls crashing down from the mountain tops in to the water. After Queenstown and Milford I headed down to Invercargill, hopped on a boat and went on Stewart Island. If you're a walking fan then this is the place for you. I hired a moped and went as far and wide as I could. Got off and did some walks too but much quicker to see more on a moped. Once Stewart Island and Invercargill done, went on via the Catlins Coaster route and came to Dunedin. University town and you can see why, it's built around the Uni. Go check out the train station as that's pretty cool and also don't forget to stock up on your chocolate at the Cadburys World factory. There is also another beer factory to sample, this time it's Speights !! Worth a feed in the pub after too as yummy food. After Dunedin the route went back in to land and to Lake Tekapo. I loved this place, amazingly blue coloured lake, awesome scenery and very peaceful and quiet. Hired a mountain bike and rode up (the hard way) to the top of Mt John to see the observatory. If yopu like a bit of star gazing you can do the late night tours up there and can see some awesome stars/planets etc. i did a day trip to Mt Aoraki aka Mt Cook too. When I arrived at the walk start it was sunny n dry, halfway through the weather had changed and was wet n windy. I came totally uinprepared and only had a jumper on. I pressed on though despite all the warning signs and arrived at the base of Mt Aoraki glacial lake. Awesome but I couldn't see anything above 50ft so no decent pics of Mt Cook. Ah well. Once Tekapo was in the rear distance it was pressing back on to Christchurch but not before an extreme ride of the wet variety at Rangitata Rafts !! They are a small company but they are really good and they kept us amused throughout the ride down the GRADE 5 RAPIDS !! I hate water but wasn't going to let my fear of it take over me, had awesome fun and defnitely worth doing if you have the money. Christchurch is a typical English small city but in NZ. Nice cathederal (altho it's a church in real scale), giant chess and basketball man are on offer in the main square. Some good beaches down in New Brighton and Sumner if you travel out of town. After Christchurch is Kaikoura where you can spend your money and time on swimming with the dolphins or whale watching. I didn't do it as I was seriously running out of money by this time haha. That concludes my NZ exploration thus far. Still got my bus pass for January to do some more North Island activities. Least now I have more money since I have been working for the last 6 months. Only place I haven't seen on the South Island is Nelson and the Abel Tasman National Park. I heard it's amazing, maybe I'll save that for my 2nd visit to NZ one day in the future 
Any other information you need dude, just let me know. Hope everyone finds this post interesting and useful mat |
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| Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:44 am |
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| Nice post! NZ sounds amazing. | |
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| Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 1:53 pm |
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| excellent info tagggggg! |
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| Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 1:05 pm |
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| dude that was so useful i might just print it off haha. cheers! | |
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| Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 6:39 pm |
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| haha no worries, there were plenty of other stops, trips to partake in along the way, but they were the main towns and cities I went to.
I'd link you my pictures for the whole of my trip but it might bore the pants off you and also it would ruin the surprise when you go see it all for yourself. I was lucky enough to find a job that paid for me to fly all over the country doing IT work, extra bonus days/nights in hotels on long weekends etc. I been to Queenstown 3 times now. Would have been a 4th but I turned it down and went somewhere else instead. I've had the best time in NZ far greater than Oz. Just looking forward to finishing off NZ after New Year then back to Asia for another 2/3 month stint before the inevitable flight home to scummy England. |
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| Posted: Tue Nov 3, 2009 9:37 pm |
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Great post Mat. Im in Queenstown at the start of next month. Gunna check them Karts out, look good fun. Seriously looking forward to my South Island short break, just wish I had longer off work. Moped hire sounds good, but may just get a mountain bike depending how it looks  |
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