New Zealand Holiday-what to see

[Rugby7777]

Hi I’m looking at going to New Zealand during their summer for 11/12 nights stay then travelling onto Australia for Christmas/new year staying there for 15 nights.
Looking for ideas/recommendations on what to see & do in New Zealand. Thanks

Are you sure you will be allowed in this year?

Whereabouts in NZ are you planning to go? North Island or South?

We went to North Island 10 years ago and travelled from Wellington up to Auckland. Bit surprised that it took longer to get anywhere than we expected. There are no motorways and main roads have quite a low speed limit. A journey that looks straightforward on the map takes several hours longer than you'd expect.

We enjoyed Napier - an Art Deco town. Also Rotorua which is full of hot springs, and very stinky. We went sailing on Lake Taupo, and dolphin spotting off Paihia. We managed to miss most of the volcanic area I'd planned to see, and I've no idea how, but we only had a week and it wasn't really long enough.

We bought one of the Rough Guide to NZ books and planned our route and excursions by that.

Well, you need to isolate for 14 days on arrival.
They have zero cases, at the moment, pretty much.
Until there is a vaccine I can’t imagine any lifting of the 14 day quarantine- it’s cost them so much to be free of the virus, they are not going to risk it getting in- they take biosecurity very seriously anyway.

But when you do get there-it’s beautiful!!

You won't be doing that this year....

@ScarletZebra we looking at going next year but want to book as soon as flights & hotels are released

I have been to NZ five times- it is fabulous!
I think for 11 days I would just do either north or south, not both and as pp mentioned journey times can be quite long due to absence of motorways.
North island: I love Waiheke island, Napier, Matamata (hobbiton) and rotorua.
South Island : nelson, Dunedin, penguins in Oamaru, trans alpine express from Christchurch to greymouth and then drive on to fox glacier.
When I visited Christchurch in 2016 there were still many areas that needed to be rebuilt after the earthquake in 2011. Auckland has some decent museums, but I would not spend a lot of time there.

So Dec 2021? I’d fly in to Christchurch, pick up a rental car or a camper van, travel around the South Island and then get a direct flight from queenstown to australia. Flights to Nz increase dramatically in price around 12 dec (I’ve travelled back home to Nz from the UK approx 20 times in the past 15 years) but I have NO idea what flight prices are going to be like in 18 months time. Your tourism dollars will be very welcome though.

New Zealander here. Fly into the Capital city, Wellington, first for a night/day and then get the ferry to the South Island and spend your time in the South. I suggest Marlborough vineyards, Nelson, Christchurch, Queenstown/Wanaka. 11 days is not enough for both Islands. The South is very scenic and more isolated (I'm a bit biased as from the South). It will be hours and hours of driving though as there are no motorways as a previous poster mentioned. I have some very very happy memories of a big car journey around the South Island as a kid with my family