Advice on visiting NZ with a toddler

[NorwichMummy]

Dh and I are hoping to go to New Zealand in March for about 4/5 weeks with Ds who will be approaching 2 at the time. We have a rough itinerary planned of a week in the South Island then a week in Hamilton, a few days in the Bay of Islands, then a weeks in Wellington and finishing with a week in Napier. We are then going to fly home via Brisbane to visit relatives.
I would be grateful for any advice especially regarding travelling whilst we are over there. We have been toying with the idea of a camper van, but were wondering how practical it would be with a toddler? Or maybe a camper van for the South Island and then hotels and the like in the North Island..... hmmm who knows?

I have to say when DH said he wanted to come 'home' my first reaction was 'I'm not living in Hamilton!', I hadn't been to Auckland but thought it couldn't be any worse . I have to say Hamilton has improved in the past 10 years (JUST) Sorry if anybody lurking is from Hamilton, the ROse garden is lurverly

LOL @ you lot and Hamilton. My horrific Step Mother In Law used own a nightclub there. She used to be on the door ... so you can imagine what a nice lady she is ...
sibble ... you are scarred aren't you??
I don't know much else about Hamilton except that it takes about 4 hours to go around the ring road .... I was nearly in tears when I last drove around it as I thought I had been sucked into an endless time warp that meant I was meant to drive around Hamilton for the rest of my days

Wotif.com is an excellent website for accommodation in NZ
It is a 'last minute .com' type site so they probably won't have anything on there for March but it will give you a really good idea of prices and what is around ... then you can ring the places directly can't you?
HTH

Echo everyone re. motels vs campervan.
Friends of ours did campervan holiday with two children and found it hard going as only one person could sit up with the driver and they couldn't leave the children on their own in the back so one parent had to sit back with one child and it was pretty boring sitting in the back.

I have actually seen sibble get a nervous twitch when anyone mentions Hamilton

Goodness, all this talk of Hamilton has got me worried!! At least we'll be in the ground each day, and actually as soon as the Test is over we're plannign to head north to the Bay of Islands rather than hang around "sightseeing"! Also should be a good atmosphere as there will be a lot of Brits about.

Had to go away for a couple of days but going to get some prices, check out places to stay, etc tomorrow

Does anyone have an oppinion on Emirates? in the past they were always really highly spoken of but recently I keep hearing terrible reports by people who have flown with them. Be interesting to know, although we are hoping to be able to go with Singapore

This is an inspiring thread as we are supposed to be going at Xmas time.

Main questions:

How long are the school holidays?

Say we go for 3 weeks, what's a reasonable route to take so that we can see, say, Dunedin and Auckland (have rellies there). We don't want to be driving too much (say 1 day driving then 3 days resting).

Sorry for treating you like travel agents, you may attempt to charge me a commission.

What's the weather really like at Xmas - would we be better to wait til the Summer??

I havn't flown Emirates but have only heard good stories about them. What puts me off using them with the boys is the multiple stops adding to the flying time ( I am 9/10 on my own with them long haul) , great if you are planning stopovers but not otherwise. I always use Cathay Pacific and have apart from one journey with the cabin crew from hell 'what you want ME to hold your 4 month old while you go to the toilet on this 13 hour flight, can;t you leave him with your 4 year old or in the bassinet ' they have been fantastic.....I have also used Singapore and they are great too, especially the airport for a stop over.

Re weather at Xmas - it's pot luck tbh. February imo is without a doubt the best time. Weather usually perfect, kids back at school so cheaper and easier to get accomodation. Xmas is like August hols here, book early, expect to pay over the odds - the only thing you don't have to do is fight for a sun lounger Having said that every man and their dog is at the beach so there is a good atmosphere, it can feel a bit quiet off season if you're used to European hols - that's not a bad thing though.

Mrs Marvel, agree with Sibble about weather and prices at Xmas, Feb and March weather is best and prices highest at Xmas.

As you will no doubt have realiesd, Auckland and Dunedin far apart, assuming you flying into Auckland you would drive to Wellington and get ferry from there over to South Island where Dunedin is. Far too many places where you could stop - hard to recommend only a few (it's 4 am too so my brain a bit fuzzy). South Island gorgeous, North Island has some fab bits too. I would rfecommend spending a bit more time on the S Island tho. Lots of people go to Taupo, Rotorua, Napier in N Island, Coromandel is lovely too and Tongariro...S Island has, ooh, mountains and glaciers and fjords and all sorts of nice stuff to visit

the other thing about the beach at xmas, more new year actually, is the popular ones tend to get swarmed by teenagers (the driving age starts at 15 here, so it's 15 old upwards we are talking). they operate a 'liquor ban' in the big beach areas, so you can't buy it in supermarkets or bring it into the 'dry zone'. it's a way of stopping drunk parties/fights etc. kids do the beach at that time of the year like ibiza. don't get me wrong, that sounds like a horrible picture, as it's only certain areas, but it would be worth bearing in mind when planning where to stay if you were here for xmas and new year. the rest of the year you struggle to find anybody else on teh beach with you

So maybe going for the easter school holidays would be better?

I'm trying to put this off slightly financially anyway, but it has to happen when the school holidays are on.