Going to New Zealand in Oct/Nov

Sounds great.

If you haven't done so already, you may want to email or personal message two New Zealand PriusChatters I know about -- samiam and Sitting Duc -- and also Daniel who I believe was there a few years ago.

 

You're going to love it. If you like nature, DO NOT MISS Fiordland, at the southernmost end of the South island. While there may be lots of other things to do in Fiordland, there are two popular hiking trails that you must book well in advance: The Milford Trail and the Hollyford Trail. I was there on an organized multi-activity tour and had to pick one or the other, and I picked Hollyford, which requires carrying your full pack only one day, whereas Milford requires carrying it for 3 (or 4???) days. Milford is more popular and therefore more crowded. I know nothing else about it. Hollyford was fantastic. Do both if you can manage it. The whole area is amazing!!!

Again, research both trails and book one or both immediately, as time and inclination permit, since they fill up very early.

I loved NZ. But I really know very little about it, other than they will not permit nuclear-armed ships in their waters, and since the U.S. refuses to state whether any given ship is armed with nukes, none of them are allowed into NZ. Way to go people!!! I love NZ.

 

Did the south Island for my honeymoon. NZ is awesome too bad it's so far from CA.

Christchurch is a great place to walk around. Lots of stores and restaurants. From there, you can take the tranzline cross country train trip if you like trains. Very scenic and beautiful. We did the round trip which is about 5 hours. City has lots of great restaurants. They have your typical western food. Thai and Indian is good. There's a huge chinese population so there's a chinatown section that has tons of Chinese food.

We went to Stewart Island for one day. But that was to get to Ulva Island. That's a bird sanctuary. We hired a guide who gave us a 3 hour walk tour for just the 2 of us pointing out many plants and rare birds. The rain forest was also just amazing.

If you're staying at Invercargill(the main city to launch to Stewart Island) they have a very beautiful Queens Bontanical Garden. Also at the south tip where the tour boats launch there's a very scenic Bluff trail that is coastal and goes for several miles. Free beautiful exercise is always good.

Our favorite experience in NZ was the overnight boat trip in Milford Sound. New Zealand has a bunch of Fjords, Milford Sound being their most famous one. The south west side is fjorland national park. We took a bus from Queenstown through the mountains to Milford Sound. There we hop on a luxury boat and we motor into the sound. You'll have an opportunity to enjoy to ride. There's several waterfalls. Lots of wildlife. You can kayak. Food's great. There's an underwater aquarium, that seems out of place in the middle of this nature, but it's worth checking out when they dock there.

Enjoy you lucky bastard.

 

Kia Ora Moxiequz!

What to do in EnnZed...
Its difficult to offer advice to someone that I know mostly from one, two, and three word posts. But I'll try.

Lots of visitors "do NZ" by putting on as many kilometers as possible in as little time as possible. They seem to enjoy NZ a fair bit, although it is in a theme-parkish sort of way. Yup, there's lots to do and see, but you can't see or do it all, and my advice would be to slow down and drink deeply in a few places. Pretty much where ever you go there's considerable natural beauty just casually laying around.

You will be coming in our late winter. Dress warmly, in layers.

There are no creatures here that will eat you. There is only one native land mammal, a tiny bat.

Now, some comments about about your itinerary
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]* Auckland and surrounding areas[/FONT]
Auckland is surrounded by nothing but water and arrogance. Seriously though, upon flying in I would have turned right (north) instead of left. Northland will always be the "true" NZ to me, its where maori and pakeha (anglo) settled first. It has magical kauri forests and the most visually beautiful coastlines.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]* Wellington[/FONT]
In a tie for my most favourite NZ city (Northland has no cities of any size). You will feel very much at home there MQ, it is very like San Francisco as regards its geography, architecture, and cultural attractions. My other favourite is Dunedin, the best university town in NZ. Great night life in both places.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]* Christchurch[/FONT]
Yawn. I'm going there again in a couple of weeks. Difficult to get enthused about it. Lots of pasty people, big cathedral, good art gallery. Boy racers go up and down the streets 4 nights a week. Nothing else to do.

* Wanaka[/FONT]
Its in the heart of the Queenstown/Fiordland adventure tourism vortex thingee. Yup, remarkable mountain ranges (called the remarkables), beautiful fiords, and you can jump, jet boat, bike, or tramp all over it. Small doses would do it for me, but its what NZ is all about for large numbers of visitors.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]* Stewart Island[/FONT]
Cold people and cold birds catching cold fish. Again, very beautiful, but what isn't? There are bird sanctuaries and nesting grounds everywhere in NZ.

Burritos or somebody said Invercargill. Ha! They offer free university tuition in an attempt to get people to come and live there. Doesn't work.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]So that you know my bias, I live in the Waikato (central north island), in an area known for equestrian activities. Its very pretty here too, we've got Rotorua (thermal geysers & indegenous culture), Lake Taupo (clear water, big fish) and Mt Rupehu (active volcano + skiing) . Think farmers in paradise. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]The thing is NZ is very long and thin. Northland and southland are so different so as to be different planets. I would try to spend some time at each end, & would go for Southland (Queenstown/Wanaka) and Northland (somewhere north of Whangareri, like bay of islands). [/FONT]You could see some of the bits in the middle on your way from one end to the other. (If you want to say hi as you pass through the Waikato let me know). I think you should say yes to Wellington for a couple of days (Te Papa is our national museum there).

What else? You may hate sports, but plan on going to a rugby game. It is a cultural element that has no parallel in the US. You will be arriving at the end of the provincial rugby season, semifinals Oct 17 & 18, final on Oct 25. You want insight into kiwi culture? Go.

We won't have lots of things you might think you want, but we definitely have everything you need.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica][/FONT]

 

PS neato nz video ad YouTube - 100% Pure New Zealand - TV Ad 1

 

Haven't you bought her tickets yet?
No rugby in the US?! Wimps.

 

There're rugby games played all over the world, and then there's RUGBY played in NZ (and SA & Ireland, or so I've heard) which is a completely different thing.
I think this is a topic best left for another thread though.

 

My GF and I went to NZ in Oct 04. We flew into Auckland on a cheap flight when Air New Zealand added a route from SF to Auckland. We only had 2 weeks.

I don't think there are any bad places; probably the least impressive was Auckland, but we were only there a few hours. We took a bus tour from Auckland to Rotorua via the Glow Worm caves. This saved us from renting a car in the North. Spent a day at the natural springs and Maori museum in Rotorua.

We then flew to Christchurch. Christchurch is an awesome place. We visited the Arboretum and Museum. Walked around the city. We wished we had more time there.

Then we drove to Mt. Cook. Mt. Cook is an awesome place. The view from our hotel window was directly at Mt. Cook. We hiked out to a couple of different glaciers. The water from the glaciers is an incredible shade of blue due to the mineral content of the melt.

Then we drove to Dunedin. Dunedin was my favorite city - it made me think of what the SF Bay area would be like if you removed the people and
replaced them with sheep. Stayed at a Bed and Breakfast that caters to people who want a nature guide. We got up at 5am to go to the beach to see the Yellow Eyed Penguin head out to the ocean. We went to the Albatross sanctuary to see these huge birds that return every two years to mate.


We drove around the south tip of the South Island. There are tons of places to pull off and take a walk (hike) usually ending up at a spectacular waterfall. My GF got upset because I was taking too many pictures and she wanted to see as many waterfalls as possible.

Our last hotel was just outside of Queenstown. We took the bus tour from Queenstown to Milford Sound. Its a 4 hour ride with spectacular scenery. But my GF doesn't like riding on a bus, so when they announced a flyback option for the return to Queenstown, my GF said "I don't care how much it costs, we are taking that flight".

It turned out to be worth every penny. The 10 passenger plane takes off directly over Milford Sound (we had a boat tour earlier) and then turns back and flies over several glaciers on the way back to Queenstown. We used up all of the memory in both digital cameras that we had with us on that flight.

I took over 1100 photos on the trip not counting the ones my GF took with the other camera.

We flew back from Queenstown to Auckland and then to SF. The worst part about the whole trip is that the flight from SF to Auckland is 12 hrs. That's about 9 hrs longer than any human should be on an airplane IMO.

 

I didn't get your address; can you post it again? Also, you didn't say whether you have an alarm system.

Tom

 

This is excellent advice wherever you go. I was on a multi-activity tour that was very badly organized and misrepresented at the time I booked, and we spent as much time in the bus as we did seeing stuff. The best time for me was the Hollyford trail, because we got to slow down and walk for 3 days.

When I go back (when, not if) I'll stay longer in a few places and make sure I get to do a lot more walking.

Note: If you pronounce "Maori" as if it was "Maodi" you probably won't be getting it exactly right, but you'll be miles closer to the proper pronunciation than if you said it like it's spelled. Make the "d" very soft. Almost halfway between "d" and "th".

 

How's the vacation planning coming moxiequz?

 

Sounds great.
Just let me know if I can help with anything from down here.

 

For anyone considering a trip to NZ, I recommend bopping down to the video store and trying to find the following movies (in no particular order):

Scarfies Scarfies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Piano Piano, The Movie
Whale Rider WHALE RIDER the movie
Once Were Warriors YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA5_NVj5aGY&feature=related"][/ame] (have a look at the second clip on the page but warning, violent clip)
Heavenly Creatures Heavenly Creatures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Or any episodes of the wonderful TV show "Outrageous Fortune" Outrageous Fortune - The official site (check out the quotes at the bottom of the page!)