KiwiFilter

September 6, 2005 5:00 AM

Help us make the most of New Zealand! Like several other MeFier's we're soon off to NZ… we have carefully watched the posts go by and now have great specific goals for our late November trip. We're 27, celebrating our 10 year (dating) anniversary, and looking to refine our trip ideas to make the experience as awesome as possible.

Background: We grew up in Arkansas and among other things love to camp, hike, and waterski. Took on a few 14ers in Colorado, but I definitely wouldn't put us at the "mountaineering" level. Now in Philly, we're grad student types and on a budget… but ready to spend for the occasion. We're as comfortable in a remote tent, happy pub, or dressy winery. We've read through both of these (1, 2) very helpful AskMe threads.

The trip so far: 12 days, cut down to the South Island only. We fly in/out of Christchurch and plan on driving a rental most/all of the time. We'd like to mix our accommodations between backcountry camping, hostels, and moderate B&B's (our price limit is ~$200 NZD/night). We're keen on a few destinations, but would greatly appreciate any advice about spots overlooked or overpopulated.

Destinations:
1. Winery tour(s): We aren't wine aficionados, but the rent-a-bike tours in Blenheim seem interesting. Is it worth going out of our way, or are the caves around Queenstown just as enjoyable?
2. Thermal springs: We'd like to hit at least one. Commercial (Maruia Springs) or secret (Sylvia Flat) recommendations? Little unknown jewels?
3. Mt. Cook: We have our hearts set on spending 2+ days around Hooker and Meuller Glaciers with high expectations for the Sealy Tarns and nearby tracks. Is Mt Annette as reachable? Any other track or scenic tent pitching recommendations?
4. WANAKA! TEKAPO! We like lakes. How do we enjoy them in NZ?
5. Greenstone: Is there any spot for quick, non-tourist-trap shopping? Opinions on Hokitika?
6. Golden Bay and West Coast: Best spot for kayaking/boating? Beach horse treks (we'd like to avoid the slow smelly nose-to-rump situations)? What is the best way to experience Fox/Frans Josef – should we stay one full day or two?
7. The Fiordlands: The maps that we have show very few major roads through the fiordlands, are there minor roads or is the area undrivable beyond Milford Sound or Te Anau? Should we take the time to drive to Jackson Head Beach from Haast (and can we expect to find accommodations/camping sites there)?

General:
1. Driving: How are the roads around Lewis Pass in November? Are there other routes that we should take note of for one reason or another (weather, traffic, etc)? Will we need to rent a 4WD, or can we get by with a regular sedan? How fast can we reasonably expect to drive? I understand the speed limit is 100 kph, but I'm not sure how to estimate our travel times between locations.
2. Supplies: Is there a chain of grocery/convenience stores that we should know about? We've also heard about reasonably priced and good quality camping gear – where? If we're looking to upgrade our current stock of gear should we look to buy in NZ or opt for buying here and lugging everything overseas instead?

posted by mbd1mbd1 to travel & transportation (14 comments total)

In terms of destinations, I'd think about adding in a boat tour of the Fjordlands. My friend and I did a Doubtful Sound boat tour and it took most of the day, but was quite amazing. It's one of the rainest places on the earth and quite wild. You also tour the Manapouri huge underground hydro-electric station, fwiw.

In terms of supplies, you should keep your eye out for "Icebreaker." It's a Kiwi brand of outdoor gear, specializing in wool. It's wonderful stuff- keeps you warm even when wet and doesnt smell bad like old wool or polypropylene/synthetic stuff. Its also soft enough to wear next to your skin- no joke. I have a light sweater and two t-shirts from them that I love. Great stuff!

Driving: my friend and I did almost 5000 kms on both islands in 2 weeks in November 2004, and we only encountered really bad rain on Arthur's pass. We did not need 4WD, but we did not do Lewis. In my experience, NZ roads were really well made, well-maintained, and a joy to drive on (because there's so little traffic and such amazing views!)

Drop me an email and I'll send you a link to my NZ trip photos. I loved NZ and would love to go back. It is a magical place!
posted by gen at 5:43 AM on September 6, 2005

We're 27, celebrating our 10 year (dating) anniversary

Choose the most awesome part of the trip, and get married there.
posted by mono blanco at 6:36 AM on September 6, 2005

2nd on the Doubtful Sound boat tour and visiting Manapouri. Also, go to the beach in Kaiteriteri and look for the guy who rents out little trimarans for day sails.

Don't spend too much time in Christchurch. Make sure to visit Queenstown. Go paragliding -- much more fun than bungee jumping.

Hike up to Lake Marian in Fijordlands.

And don't bother with the B&Bs at all -- it's real easy to rent a motor home in NZ spur of the moment, and then your transport and lodging are all taken care of, and you can even avoid having to eat in restaurants for every meal. Just about every town has campgrounds.
posted by Framer at 7:01 AM on September 6, 2005

Need a road atlas or guidebooks? We went this season last year and had a ball, but we're unlikely to return soon. Email is in profile.
posted by clever sheep at 8:59 AM on September 6, 2005

New Zealand is awesome, you'll have a great time. I wrote up some blog posts about my own trip that may be of interest to you. You're smart to focus on the South Island.

Based on what you've said I think you'd most enjoy finding remote places to go hiking. NZ is full of well maintained trails where you can easily take off for several days. Make plans in advance, some of the backcountry spots have advance permit requirements. If either of you are good with boats there's a lot of amazing coastline too.

No, you can't really drive around the Fiordland. It's very rough country there. One of the highlights of my trip was a helicopter trip from Queenstown to Milford Sound and back. Very pricy, but beautiful and nice if you're not up for a full day on a bus.

The area around Nelson / Blenheim is beautiful, mostly flat, good farmland. It'd be a great place for a wine / bike tour. The wineries around Queenstown are good too (Akarua was a nice visit). The distances there are big enough that I doubt a short bike trip is practical.
posted by Nelson at 9:08 AM on September 6, 2005

If you've only got twelve days, definitely buy your gear here and lug it over with you. The last thing you want to do is spend a day shopping when you could be tramping around.

I was there for a month (all on the South island) and never had a car. Two weeks I was on a tour with friends, and two weeks I was hiking tracks I could get to by bus out of Queenstown. It was easy, convenient, and Queenstown was a great base of operations. I don't have my journal handy, but I think the track I enjoyed most was the Rees-Dart track. The Lonely Planet Tramping in NZ book would be a good resource if you want to pick a track based on your own preferences.

I really wish I could remember the name of the great pizza place and wine shop in Queenstown, but if you have a guide, it will probably be listed in there.

Have fun!
posted by zueod at 11:30 AM on September 6, 2005

Re thermal springs, Hanmer Springs is the big commerical one. (At the town of the same name, about 90 minutes drive from Christchurch). The pools include a small waterpark. Maruia Springs is smaller, I'm not sure if I've been to Sylvia Flat, but some areas have sandflies (little diurnal biting midges, like daytime mosquitos), so I would try to find out if they're present at wherever you're going, since that would work against the relaxation :-). From memory, they're not at Hanmer, and I don't recall any at Maruia (though I was there at night). I've been to one place where the sandflies were bad, but I don't recall if it was Sylvia flat.
They're bad in fiordland too, so make sure you have repellant (buy it in NZ though - no point lugging it over. And while I assume US repellant would work on NZ insects, I wouldn't know)

Re: driving. November is summer, the roads aroun lewis pass will be fine via car. They are mostly two-lane (ie one lane in each direction), so you might spend some time behind slower traffic waiting for a chance to overtake. The roads through the alps can get wind around a bit, so I'm not sure how to estimate either, my reference is that it takes just over 3 hours to get from Christchurch to Greymouth via Arthurs pass, and probably about 70 minutes of that is the flat straight roads of the canterbury plains.

Supplies: Any supermarket should do for good prices. I recommend Countdown. They also have good cheesebuns (something that doesn't seem to be made in the US).
Also, for meals, try fish and chips from a corner fish-n-chip store. It's not the same thing as fish and chips in the US, it's a wonderful meal, usually cheap too :)
posted by -harlequin- at 12:18 PM on September 6, 2005

"can get wind around", was meant to be "can wind around", ie, not straight.
posted by -harlequin- at 12:20 PM on September 6, 2005

I liked the NW section of South Island (Nelson region). I also liked Kaikoura (town), but it might be crowded the time of year you are going.... You know really, you can't go wrong. Smash Palace in Oamaru was a great place to rent from.

Go see the Kea at Fox Glacier.... have fun
posted by edgeways at 5:35 PM on September 6, 2005

Just to assist your future Googling, it's "Fiordland" with an i. No "s" on the end, and no "the" in the front either. As in "we want to go tramping in Fiordland".

Re driving over Sth Island passes, people do this in ordinary cars, but in winter they would be sure to have chains for the tyres. I don't know if that's a risk at this time of year or not but anyone renting you a car will know.

Do be very alert when you drive. We drive on the left here, and every year we have deaths caused by tourists who forget this.

NZ$200 is a shitload to pay for a hostel room, and in fact I would be startled to pay that in a Christchurch B&B. I dunno if you're getting a special rich foreigner price but I'd be amazed if you had to pay that much.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:23 PM on September 6, 2005

Firstly, I'm not really big on South Island -- but I haven't travelled there much for a long time, I've had some good fun up the top of the south, a few years ago though, and there's loads of accessible (in both senses) accommodation.

If you're going to head over to Greymouth, for bullies sake go up north of there and have a look at Punakaiki, the pancake rocks are pretty cool - and the caving, which I really don't know anything about, was great fun (but I don't know how you'd go about doing that, I only managed to do it as my father was working with DoC at the time, and had friends-of-friends who could act as guides).

I had a great experience with a camp ground right on lake Rotoroa in Nelson Lakes National Park, which is a bit south of Nelson at the top of South Island, some sandflies (you might call them noseeums?), but I'm not tasty to them, so they don't bother me. I tell you what, firing up the BBQ and cooking dinner (photo self link) while sitting on a picnic bench outside our tents was super fun.

Whatever you do, get out of Christchurch. IMHO it's not a great city. I'm a bit annoyed about having to fly down there for a wedding in February - especially as the people that are getting married both live in Auckland.

There's a fairly good map site run by Wises, that should give you an indication of road accessibility and where to find camp grounds, you can also search in the Yellow Pages for regional for camp grounds & motels, including web sites, and from there you should be able to find pricing, $200 sounds pretty overpriced for a hostel in most areas, but expect it to vary - oh, and don't overlook the Department of Conservation site.

Some examples (I've never stayed in any of these places, just including them for you as illustrations) The Globe in Riverton, Southland NZ$40 per night for a double room - that's what, US$30? Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park has cabins (for one or two people) for $55 per night. Tahuna Beach Holiday Park, up near Nelson, $40 per night for two people in your own cabin. Riverview Holiday Park, also in the Nelson area, again cabins are $40, or you can camp (if you have a tent) for about $14 a night. If you're keen on the Franz Josef & Fox Glaciers, then you can stay at Franz Josef Mountainview for about $45 - $62 per night, again in your own cabin. And lastly, Christchurch, per night for two people from $58.

Lastly, I don't agree with excluding North Island, we have all the best cities (Wellington & Auckland) lots of varied landscape, more trails than you can possibly hike, skiing on Ruapehu is great, blackwater rafting & easy cave walks at Waitomo, great mountains to scale (my favourite outside of the normal walkables in Auckland is Mount Tarawera down near Rotorua, the scoria scree is a blast) - oh, and the best beaches and even some great snorkeling at places like Goat Island Marine Reserve north of Auckland, which is great fun, and directly off shore.

However, with your time limit of 12 days, you're probably already pushing it to appreciate South Island by itself.
posted by The Monkey at 10:01 PM on September 6, 2005

I've only seen the south island (1 week in a hire car), and not even all of that. Te Anau (including the caves) and Milford Sound are must-see. Lakes Hawea, Wakatipu (by Queenstown) and Wanaka are great. The pass between Queenstown and the West Coast (Haast? not sure) was really beautiful. Fox & Franz-Josef glaciers can be beautiful, but it was raining when I got there.

You can hire kayaks (individually or in a group) on some of the lakes, that's worth doing. I did this on a tour out of Franz Josef.

Christchurch was a let-down and Invercargill seems to be an industrial hole.

Oh yeah, don't expect to pay more than NZ$40-60/night for OK accommodation. NZ$100 should get you in something fairly luxurious.

photos.
posted by polyglot at 12:29 AM on September 7, 2005

It may be out of your way, but I've heard wonderful things about Dunedin.

As an aside, you mentioned wanting to avoid "spots overpopulated." Trust me on this -- NO PLACE on the South Island could remotely be called overpopulated.
posted by rob511 at 4:48 AM on September 7, 2005

Thanks for all the great advice, everyone. Our plane tickets arrived today and we're pretty excited already.
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 12:29 PM on September 8, 2005