New Zealand

[PenCreed]

We (DH and me) are going to NZ later this year and have done very little planning beyond "see the friends who live there" (Auckland and near Wellington). We have been before and went to Hobbiton, Napier, Rotorua, Taupo, Wellington in North Island, and Dunedin, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Fox Glacier, Christchurch in South Island. Has anyone got great suggestions for what we should try and cover this time?

I'm thinking north of Auckland, Waitomo for the glow-worms, and possibly over to the north of South Island. We have three weeks and intend to have a car as public transport seems a bit awkward!

Whaitangi Treaty Grounds / Bay of Islands
Coramandel (Cathedral Cove, hits sands beach)
whale watching in Kaikoura
Abel Tasman national park

I would definitely recommend getting a camper van and touring the South Island that way. It's so easy to drive and the campsites are great.

Waiheke island from Auckland if you didn't do it last time. Bay of islands already mentioned is a good call. I have not been to the North-east section of North Island, hopefully someone else can offer some suggestions for that region.

On the South island we went to Stewart island to see wild kiwis after we walked the Milford track, that was great, but you've done most of the rest of the Southern part of the Southern island, so a bit out of the way. In the northern bit of South island there are whales at Kaikoura, wineries at Blenheim. There are many 'Great walks' if you are going soonish, obviously not suitable for walking if you go in winter. There are couple than can be done in winter, Abel Tasman as someone mentioned and from Picton I did some of the Queen Charlotte track, took a ferry then walked through the Marlborough sounds, beautiful. Enjoy!

These are great ideas, thank you! We’ve been quite bad at planning due to upheaval at work in the last couple of months, so this is all very helpful.