New Zealand advice

Glad to see Bertie's got loadsaroom to move about it. Hate it when people stuff rabbits in a hutch and they can't move grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr:mad: . People need to remember they need height aswell as access to looooooooong run if they can't roam the garden freely.

Sorry off topic but................................!

Hello,

I'm a NZer living in the UK and I am always excited (& envious!) when I read posts about people going off to NZ on holiday!

I'm from the North Island but lived in the South Island for 8 years before moving to the UK. When I was a teenager my family & I did a campervan trip around the South Island which took about a week and a half (I think); and since I've been living in the UK whenever I've been back to NZ I've done a few touristy things each time.

If it's ok to spout on and give some general points....

Both islands are big (but not quite in the Australian sense!) and take longer to travel around than you think, especially compared to the UK. Also, there aren't (m)any motorways (certainly not in the UK sense) and so travelling on the main highways involves overtaking slower vehicles by moving into an oncoming-traffic lane. Maybe you will be the slowest thing on the road (depending on your campervan!) and it won't be a problem! I just thought I'd mention it because it always scares me when I go back!

South Island:

Malborough Sounds is nice - if you travel on the ferry between the North Island and the South Island, which presumably you will do, you will see part of this anyway. You can do things like kayak or take a ride on the mailboat if you want a closer look at this area (which is mostly accessible by boat only). We had a dolphin pod tailing our boat and playing in the wake - that was a fab experience (although not as fab I would think as swimming with them which I would like to do someday). Heading south along the east coast, there's Kaikoura where you do your whale watching (haven't done that yet but again, something I'd like to do one day). Kaikoura has a very good pie shop on the main road where you can get flavours such as smoked fish pie and all sorts of other flavours. There are a few cafes which are pretty good if you turn off into the town. Also in Kaikoura, there is a seal colony at the end of the road that goes into town.

Further south on the east coast are the towns of Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill. Dunedin is the funkiest of the 3 with a definite student town feel to it. Chch is a good place to go to restock for groceries etc on your way further south. There are quite a few suburban malls there where you can buy your groceries. The most price competitive supermarkets in the South Island are PaknSave (yellow) and Countdown (green & orange). PaknSave is usually cheaper but it's a bit like shopping in a wharehouse. Btw, Woolworths is a supermarket for groceries in NZ. I think it's the same in the North Island price-wise, but New World (red & blue) is more of your Sainsburys type supermakert.

For scenery I recommend a route through the lakes down to Fjordland and in particular Milford Sound, which is beautiful (particularly on a cloudless day). The West Coast is "wild and woolly", I think it's really beautiful. The Punakaiki rocks were quite good as I remember. Then back up north again and the area around Motueka is beautiful for 'beach & bush' scenery.

North Island:

Wellington has become really funky in recent years, there's a lot of cafe culture going on there. It doesn't have a lot of luck with weather though, although I think it's quite a pretty city. Te Papa is an excellent museum. Wellington is not a campervan friendly city though, being all hilly with bendy roads. You'd be better off staying in the Hutt Valley or up the western coast for example Paraparaumu and day-tripping into the city on the train (half an hour on the train from the Hutt and an hour on the train from Paraparaumu) - but those are just examples.

Napier is the art-deco capital of NZ. I've never been to Gisbourne and around the East Coast, so I can't comment.

Taupo - Rotorua area is nice. Rotorua of course for the geothermal spots. Lake Rotoiti next to Rotorua is very nice scenery-wise. There are quite a few geothermal places to visit in the Rotorua area. Most people visit Whakarewarewa (in Rotorua) which has a Maori village and geysers as well mudpools etc. I enjoyed Wai-o-tapu more and other people have recommended Orakei Korako (both south of Rotorua) as worthwhile. I found Hell's Gate disappointing (just north east of Rotorua). Wai-o-tapu has a geyser (the Lady Knox) but it not a natural one - they have to "fire it up"!

On my last trip back I went from Rotorua to Tauranga - it was a lovely drive. I highly recommend The Mount in Tauranga (Mount Maunganui) - you can walk around it, up it, and the beach next to it is lurrrrvely. There are cafes there as well. They've had flooding there lately - I don't know what the situation is with that area at the moment.

The Coromandel is beautiful. I haven't been there for some time though so I don't know what to recommend. I was recently in Auckland for one night, staying near the Harbour Bridge, and I thought that was quite fab - great view of the bridge, and nearby restaurants were very good.

Further noth (Northland) is much warmer and I think generally rural and pretty. The Bay of Islands is beautiful.

In the middle of the North Island, around the mountains, is a bit boring. That's where you find the Desert Road. Not a real desert, just deserted! I can't comment on the New Plymouth/Taranaki area, to the east, as I've only been there once and I can't remember it significantly.

I'll leave it at that because I'm sure my post's too long already as it is!!

I hope that's been helpful and please pm me if you need to know anything more specific. Areas I don't know anything much about are Northland, East Coast, NP/Taranaki, and Invercargill area. Areas I know most about are Canterbury/Christchurch & Wellington areas.

Cheers,

pook.

(edit for spelling mistake)

Oops you missed out Queenstown in the South Island where, if I am not mistaken white river rafting and the art of bunging jumping originated?

I have a very good friend who lives in Invercargill and I have travelled round the South Island, visiting Queenstown, Dunedin and Christchurch is lovely too.

Will you be renting the campervan from Christchurch? My friend has family there so I can ask her for recommendations if you like.

I am meeting my friend from NZ in Florida in a couple of weeks then she is flying to UK with us for a couple of weeks, can't wait.