South Island Trip

OOOOOH I shall be your Southland/Fiordland guide for the day

If you want scenery, you can NOT miss the Caitlins. Absolutely stunning, Jacks blow hole, Nugget Point, Tautuku Bay, Papatowai, Mclean falls, Pourakanui falls, cathedral caves(which i think costs) its just stunning. Make sure you have a full day here! Also the petfrified forest is down there somewhere too.

Fiordland, you have to take a coach and cruise into Milford Sound. Its a complete and utter waste of time driving yourself, you will miss SO much stuff (trust me, I know, I've been there done that and seen SO many tourists waste their time/money! It's not a money making ploy telling you to take a bus, I know a really good one!). Its a full day and off memory will cost about $100 each. You really wanna go there when its raining otherwise its sorta a waste of time aswell

Doubtful sound-STUNNING. I'd rate it higher than Milford Sound (JMHO) Also another day trip, although more expensive. Unlike Milford (where you follow 8 other boats around in a circle) 5mins from the jetty and your the only boat there. So so stunning and peaceful and just WOW!!!!!

Queenstown, well I'm sure you know about Queenstown. Gondola,luge, skyline, jetboats, bungy jumping, sky diving and all that sort of stuff.

Arrowtown is well worth a day trip to just walk around, it is such a cute wee area! Also up that way there are some wee places you can stop in to see the chinese miners huts (i can't remember where so don't quote me on that one... I just remember it but havent been there in a couple of years)

Opposite to popular believe, its not actually that cold down here. But you will always know a Southlander from the way they carry a coat (just like a aucklander always seems to have a umbrella!). We can have 4 seasons in one day. But its actually not that bad. I also always have sun block and dress in LAYERS! Lol.

Ok, I'll shut up now. Wanna know any more about Southland/Fiordland? PM me haha

yay thanks HB was hoping you would post! and no i dont mind, the more info the better!!

slightly confuzzled though, up where you said about fiordland you said you want to go there when its raining.....did you mean when its raining or when its NOT raining?? just to clarify LOL

and let me know what the bus company is so i can look it up

(p.s. love your siggy!)

I did a trip with my ex, from Hamilton to Temuka and then around the lower South Island...we did the same as you, and drove down, caught the ferry etc. We stayed with the ex's parents in Temuka, and friends down Mossburn way. All up we spent between around $2-2,500, including diesel. We drove from Hams to NP, stayed overnight here, then drove to Wgtn, then caught the night ferry (easier because then we could a) sleep and b) not miss out on time driving/touristing through the daylight hours). We then drove straight down to Temuka. We drove across Central Otago, stopped at some dams, went round all the lakes, to Queenstown, down to Invercargill, then back up a different way. The only place we didn't see was Dunedin. We just stopped at whatever places we wanted to along the way - I loved Central Otago, with the little villages (Ophir, Omarama and heaps of others). We tended to follow the Otago Rail Trail to an extent. I absolutely LOVED Otago. I would happily move there!!!

We did go in November though, but it meant it was MEGA hot. We also had our two dogs with us...so lots of stops!!

Have you thought of flying to Chch and hiring a camper - I did Kiwi experience but I was single.

It is better to go to Fiordland when it IS raining, as then all the waterfalls etc look amazing.

The trip I did took 2 weeks I stopped in Kaikoura swimming with the dolphins was amazing, Nelson - went sea kayaking in Motueka / Able Tasman National Park, Westport/Greymouth - make sure you check out Monteiths brewery. Punakaiki Rocks.

Went Jet Boating on the Tasman river, cheaper and more spectacular than the shot over IMO.

Wanaka is lovely - Weird Puzzle world is good for a giggle.

Queenstown very expensive ok for a stop.

From Christchurch I can recommend Hanmer Springs especially for a Honeymoon. The drive over to Akaroa is lovely as well.

My recommendation would be to hire a van out of chch, grab yourselves a couple of maps and go where ever you wish. The advantage of the vans is you can stop whenever you want and camp grounds are cheap.

On where to go I couldn't have said it better than HunnyBunny. Perfect recommendations.

On how much it will cost - A LOT! If you are comparing 7 nights in Raro vs this Sth Island trip I would say that Raro would work out cheaper. You can get package deals that are only around $1200 each! I guess it depends on the accommodation type that you choose on your Sth Island trip though. Isn't April school holidays? If so it will be peak rates.

Agree re. the ferry....I just did a quick look on the Interislander page, and for 2 adults with a car, you're looking at just over $500 return, for the cheapest fares which are the middle of the night ones (6am and 2am times). Flying, using Air NZ, if you can get to Auckland, you can get fares from Akld to Christchurch, in the first 2-3 weeks of April, for $59 each way per person. That's only just over $200 for your fares, which means you automatically save $300 PLUS the cost of petrol from Whangarei to the South Island which could easily be $100 or so...therefore paying part of a motorhome/rental vehicle in the South Island. You also save huge amounts of time because it's easily over a day to drive each way - it took us 23 hours from Hams to Temuka, including ferry crossings and some sleep times.

Edited by minik8e

Agree with all the posts about milford it is best when raining i have seen it both ways. Agree with the bus trip in too the road.

DO NOT DO IT FROM QUEENSTOWN instead i reccomend staying in Te Anau and going from there its a very long day if you do it from queenstown there is alot to do in Te Anau too ( i should know i spend half my time there). I can higly reccomend going to their local picture theatre and seeing the local film its what they built the theatre for.

Definately do Arrowtown April is lovely time of the year there they have an autumn festival which runs for most of April it really is beautiful there and there are some really lovely restaurants and some quirky shops too. As for aqueenstown i really wouldn't bother its expensive and full of toursits. If you want to go there and do shopping most now go to the shopping centre at Frankton its where all the chain shops are.
Caitlins are well worth a trip they really are beautiful.

Christchurch is good too as is hamner. Nelson is good too although its been a while since of been there. west coast is good too.

As for the weather we can still get some really nice days i got married 2 years ago in May and the temperature that day was 16 so quite warm for that time of year. You are best to bring layers the nights are likely to be cool but the days can be both warm and cool. There might be a little bit of snow on the mountain tops but it will be high up and it often doesn't last very long at that time of the year.

Oh i also reccomend staying In Invercargill too if you have time there really are some nice places to visit here.

Fell free to PM me if you want anymore details.

Congrats on getting married

I agree about cost of trip in NZ probably being about as dear as trip to Raro but I think it is important to see your own country plus you'll get to see your aunt.

I live in Timaru and really love the Mackenzie area and also the Haka Valley on your way there (or back) a nice scenic route would be Chch, Geraldine, Tekapo, Twizel, Omarama, Otematata, Kurow - Haka Valley as you go past all the lakes. There is a good view of Mt Cook from end of lake pukaki.

2 weeks is a good length of time but would be way too much driving to do all of the Sth Island I know people do it but they must spend the whole time in the car! Since you are coming down to see your Aunt I would probably concentrate on the lower sth island on this trip.

I saw something on TV recently about the whale watching at Kaikouri something I've always wanted to do. It was about how sucessful the business is and they mentioned the cost per adult. I can't remember how much it was but can remember thinking most NZ families would not be able to afford it.

Easter weekend is warbirds over wananka, so very very busy although great to see if your into that sort of thing, most accomodation will be booked out though.

Central otago/milford/teanau is deff worth seeing. Imo Queenstown is very tourist orrientated and this means things are very pricey so be carefull there.
Catlins are beautiful for the scenery
I love Hamner springs a great way to spend a couple of days and the hot pools are lovely!
Nelson is another place we particularly like and if you go over the hill to Golden bay thats really nice too, there are some awsome caves on that road (cant remember the name)

We live in dunedin and there is the stuff others have mentioned Taieri george railway, the albotrosses and penguins, cadbury world (dont go in the weekends though as not all the stuff maybe running so tour usually shorter and you get to see alot of turned off machines) and the speights tour (yummy food at there pub)

There is the AA book that you can get if your a member which has alot of the info, if your not a member we are and i can pick one up and post it for you if you want

and CONGRATULATIONS on getting married