FF:NZ JN's coming to NZ....

.... So tell me, what places should I be visiting???

 

Depends what you are into. My list will be fairly biased so here goes....

Milford Sound
Te Anau
Queenstown
Catlins
Anywhere on the West Coast of the South Island, try and see Franz Josef glacier.
Dunedin
Christchurch
Kaikoura
Blenhiem
Nelson/Motueka/Golden Bay/Kaiteriteri/Takaka (top end of the SI beauuuutifuuul)

Wellys
Taupo
Napier
East Cape
Rotorua
Tauranga/Mount Maunganui
Auckland (wouldn't be my pick)
the Tron (Hamilton)
The Far North

These are a few of my favourite things....

 

But I'm spending 4 days in Auckland.... Too late to change now as everything is booked and paid for. Pity I miss ski season.... Not that I can ski, I just wanted to muck around in the snow!!!

 

There's heaps to do in Auckland. Amazing beaches, a rainforest, island sanctuaries, shopping...

You will have a car right?

And what sort of stuff are you into?

 

Nope. I'm doing a Contiki tour from Christchurch to Auckland. I like to do my own things when I get the chance to do them (I've done 2 European tours). I do a lot of walking when I'm on holidays, but I'll be able to figure out the public transport system (unlike trying to read in Europe!!!).

I'm booking my flight tonight! I'm so excited!!!

 

Well, relying on public transport in Auckland will be severely limiting. No Waitakere Ranges, no West Coast Beaches. No anything really outside the CBD and a few suburban shopping malls.

 

This is what I have booked:

Contiki Grand Explrer

Auckland Explorer

Any suggestions outside of what Contiki is offering would be greatly appreciated.

 

It's been forever since I've been on the forums but I thought I'd give my 2cents, seeing as your question is kinda my RL job

The tour you're doing with Contiki is probably the best they offer, you'll get to see the main touristy stuff like Queenstown but also the wicked scenery and places that many of the big tour companies miss.

I'm from the South Island so am totally biased, so keep that in mind

Kaikoura has the greatest walk called the peninsula/seal colony walk, takes about 3 hours to do the whole thing, but you can just do parts, it's at the end of town and about a 40 minute walk, though I'd expect the bus will take you for a look anyways. The seals are so close you have to literally shoo them away to get along the path. Whale watch rocks, but if you get sea sick, be warned Kaik is almost always a bit rough.

Do a Queenstown bungy, you can't not do it

Christchurch has fantastic botanical gardens, theyre walking distance to town and really pretty. The aquarium in cathedral square, Southern Encounter, is really cool for local fish and they have kiwis in a nocturnal kiwihouse which are awesome.

If you're going to buy Greenston/Ponamu/Jade buy it Hokitika, Contiki may even take you to one of the carving places where you get the best prices (greenstone often comes from the west coast.
Be wary of signs which sell "Jade", here it's called Greenstone, if it's being sold as Jade and seems really cheap it's probably imported. You pay for what you get normally.

Being from down south I would normally bag Auckland to the max! It's ingrained into me not to like the place. But...I just got told I'm going there for a buisness trip and have had to some research for cool stuff for myself. So...
Check out the Hauraki Gulf/ Islands. I'm a fan of Tiri Tiri Matangi (the bird sanctuary), so peaceful and has a great swimming beach
http://www.360discovery.co.nz/

If you're into walking and getting out and about also think about checking out Rangitoto, one of the volcanoes. You get there with Fullers Ferries.
The Museum looks cool

For me, I find Auckland to be just another city, kinda boring and blah. BUT, there are so many wicked things within easy transport of the central city, especially by catching ferries across the harbour.

Rotorua, aka Roto-Vegas, is neat. It stinks cos of the geothermal activity so be prepared! The best place for seeing bubbling mud and steam for FREE is the Vegas Botanical Gardens. Free stuff is always good.

Wellington has Te Papa, it's a huge museum and full of interactive stuff.

Everywhere in New Zealand we have i-sites, they're information centres which have been set up by councils/tourism NZ etc and have so much info on things to do in each area. The one you'll probably come across first is in Cathedral Square in CHristchurch, it's next door to the Aquarium, it's massive and has info on the entire country in one spot.

Anyway, thats a whole lot of stuff for you to process! If you want to know more, just ask

Nicola

 

OMG! I so can't wait to get to NZ now. I'm going to print off that list. I'm sure it's going to come in handy!