New Zealand Ideas??

When you get to the south island drive straight to queenstown .

For wine / winneries, the Wairau Valley region (Blenheim is the main town round there) is worth a visit.

For seafood, any of the little coastal towns like Kaikoura on the road between Picton and Christchurch are great. A nice drive too.

Hope the info helps.

Don't know if this is your thing but this is under ownership.

www.beachcombercruises.co.nz/

The new owners have returned to NZ after 20+ years in Victoria. They have extremely high standards and are in the process of getting the boat up to their acceptable level, Fantastic people.

Mrs S

A week in Wellington is very brave, I'd tend to take a little drive up to the Kapti coast one day for some nice coastal scenery and quite shopping and on another day when wanting to get away from things take a trip over the Wainuiomata hill and head down the road to the coast, take some lunch coz there's nothing there apart from fresh air and solitude. I used to go there for a drive when p!ssed off.

Queenstown was the jewel in the crown until the tourists were lured there many years ago. A place where you could fish, ski, canoe, camp and play. Some of the 4wd tracks were awesome. The bush, the mountains, the rivers and lakes. Fresh as the day the Big Guy put them there. Now! if they could find a way to charge you for the air you breathe down there, they would. I suppose its like anywhere these days, How many can remember a little piece of heaven somewhere that has either dissappeared or is under threat of doing so.

Nobby
Heading over the ditch as well next Friday.
Have friends on both islands and doing the South Island for 10 days and the North Island for the next 10 days.
Mostly travelling with friends and in hire cars.
As a passionate homebrewer I have a few micro breweries on the agenda as well.
Doing the South Island in a Camper Van sounds great. Our friends on the South Island have a camper but we are just doing the touristy things for this trip.
If you E-Mail me at lagermanattpgdotcomdotau I will send you our itinery.
My first visit am really looking forward to it.
Cheers
The Bigfella

We found www.jasons.co.nz to be a good resource for our trip last year
NickR

My wife, myself, sister in-law and her boyfriend hired a 4 berth Maui over Easter and only did the south Island. We spent 10 days I think.

Firstly, I'm not sure you will find much "off the tourist track".

Generally, we tried to alternate nights where one was in a caravan park to have a nice shower and empty the toilet/grey water (and top up drinking water) from the van and the other night would be at a more 'basic' camp ground. NZ has heaps of these designated locations and we stayed at several which we had plenty of fun at (drinking and then swimming in the very cold water). The caravan parks also allowed us to play cards and relax out of the van in the common areas - with 4 of us it was a welcome break.

I don't have my map on me now so I am going by memory.

The nice places we stayed were Aussie Bay which is near Picton. We went for a swim at night once we had some drinks in our bellies.
Another one was on a lake on the drive to Milford Sound. Once again we jumped into the icey water for a bit of fun, but the girls didn't bother this time - they're smarter than us.
At Fox Glacier we stayed on a beach called Gillespies Beach. Not right on the beach, but 50m from it.

We had heaps of fun on our holiday and those 3 stick out in my memory.

If you want more details of where we stayed and what was good, let me know and I can give more - I just need to look at my map at home and remember where we went.

Pete

Many thanks for these replys. With this info on board I'm sure we will find something to do.

I can highly recommend the flyfishing. Wineries are good (they're even doing fair shiraz or "syrah" now), and flyfishing. Glow-worm caves, and flyfishing. A jetboat ride is touristy but fun, oh and flyfishing.

PS: did you know there's great flyfishing over there?

Not fixated, just itchin' to get back there! If you haven't done it before hire a guide. It's worth it. If you're interested I can name a few.

Cheers,

Mark

I live in Wellington and know the area very well Nobby. Drop me an email and I will be able to help you.

With only one week on the South Island you will be hard pressed to cover the distance needed to get very far. I could meet you in Wellington and have a chat about what you want to do.

nzrees@yahoo.com

Hi Nobby, got back from NZ last night. My last stop before getting on a plane was Kea Campers to look at the options of buying a camper for our next few trips.
Suggest you take the scenic road from Picton to Havelock (about an hour, mussel capital of the world) then on to Nelson. Kaikoura coast is great but in a different direction and you don't have too much time.
If you get to travel down the west Coast you can go from Nelson via Westport then down past the glaciers to the Haast Pass. Parts of this road make the Great Ocean Road look pretty ordinary. Great seafood on the coast including the delectable whitebait. It's in season now. If you want to do a jetboat ride, then forget the tourist traps of Queenstown and do the one on the Waitoto or Waiatoto river, just south of the junction to Jacksons Bay and Haast. We had a 1/2 day trip, just 6 on the boat, and travelled from the ocean (looking for whales and dolphins) up the glacier-fed river as far as we could. There are places where you can clearly see the major faultline as the whole landscape shifts about an inch a year. Coming back we went up a small stream wherew e could clearly see big brown trout.
I reckon Queenstown is over-rated but you still gotta go there. On seafood again, make sure you get into the Bluff Oysters once you get to Dunedin. Thats a big trip in a week. Like others have said, you only need a couple of days in Wellington and more time in the South if you can swing it.
Weather is still variable. Just over a week ago we had to change travel plans as the Arthur's Pass road was blocked by fresh snow.
It's a fabulous place to visit. If you had more time I'd send you out fishing for giant groper in the 1000' deep hole out of Picton....

Agree with a lot of the above including the guided Franz Josef Glacier hikes.
Something a bit different is the Museum of Wearable Art just outside Nelson. This might sound a bit strange but it is 2 excellent museums in one, the Wearable Art museum and the Automotive part so if it doesn't appeal to 1 taste it might well appeal to the other. I really enjoyed both, so if you are going to Nelson it's worth a look. Very different to anything I have seen elsewhere and just outside the town towards the airport.
WOW Museum

If you only have a week to look at the Mainland of N.Z.I would suggest.
Pick up Camper in Picton Go south via Kiakoura (eat lobster) at Woodend go West thru Arthurs Pass to the coast down to Haast.If time permits go down the no exit road to Jacksons good sea food & friendly locals.Haast to Queenstown See Tourists. If you have time go to Skippers, Nevis Valley.I don't think rentals are permitted on these roads. On to Te Anau,Milford Sound,More Tourists. Southern Scenic Route If you want a real ride on a jet boat do the Waiaurahiri River Trip. Sea food at Riverton Bluff Oysters through the Catlins on Dunedin & towns back to Picton
!Bluff Oysters are out of season
!If you meet the Tokonui Team I wont be there but an outlaw probably will, look for sculls.
!You probably won't have time to do all this trip after you recover from playing the N.Z.teams
If you do feel you have time contact me and call at 501 Tokonui Gorge Road Highway

Thanks to all replys. From all the above we will work out what to see. Thanks to those in NZ for the reply and you just might get a knock on the door. Nobby

I'm a coaster from the south isle, been here 5 yrs. You need 12 months in the south to see and experience a small part of it. TAKE ME WITH YOU!!