Sorry I was so cryptic. There is a Glenorchy Paradise Road that proceeds NW from Glenorchy to an area called Paradise. The main thing is you enjoyed your trip but where are the photographs? Oops I remember seeing your great shot of the Pukeko family with a fish. Looking forward to seeing more pix from the trip.
Ya gotta be quicker on the uptake, L. Paul. See this.
It seems such a long time since I first raised this thread. But I've now booked flights (31st January to 13th March) for a return trip back to New Zealand. This time we shall be spending more time in New Zealand with a short stop in OZ (last four days) on our return journey to catch up with the "Rellies" who are all from good convict stock
As part of our itinerary planning I decided to revisit the suggestions in this thread to assist with the thought process. Sadly whilst in 2014 the people who responded originally were active on here, some now seem not to be. But I'm sure some people will have suggestions on where to consider for the itinerary. Whilst the flights are booked the time spent on the North and South of New Zealand are currently fluid. I will of course be taking some camera kit with me.
Wow! I did not look at the dates and thought Colin Southern is back wit us again. Too bad he is not!
Yes, I am still here, and thinking about options. At that time we will be in Stewart Island for 10 days with a number of members of our photographic group (Nature Photography Society). However looking at your last itinerary you covered much of the South Island, but I suggest Fiordland going south from Hokitika,(SH6) through the Haast Pass, to Wanaka, then to Invercargill, and along the south coast through the Catlins, to Balclutha. Follow up to Dunedin, (SH1)then up to through central Otago (SH87)to Cromwell, and take the Lindis Pass SH8) through to South Canterbury, check on Mt Cook and the Hooker glacier. Go through Fairlie, Geraldine, and take the inland road (SH72)through the upper Rakaia Gorge and down to Christchurch. Following that you could go to Hanmer,(SH7) through the Lewis Pass, to Springs Junction, up the Shenandoah (SH65)to Murchison, then through to Nelson(SH6). While there go to Golden Bay,(SH60) to Collingwood, Farewell Spit, and Totaranui.
That's my suggestion for the a South Island, but then I am biased.
If it weren't for golf and the list of chores my wife gives me I would not be very active at all...
Peter I know you liked Napier but what else did you see and enjoy last time? Are you flying into Auckland and leaving via Christchurch or in some other order?
The possible list is long and only takes a few years of furious driving. It will depend on how much time you want to allocate to the North Island whether it is worth heading north of Auckland or not. I will make some suggestions once I am a bit better informed about your overall timing.
We will be in NZ whilst you are there (Feb 24th to April 4th). Our itinerary can be seen at https://www.tripit.com/p/01D2EE33A2C...8E956DFB513441
It is mostly old stuff for us as we will have two Thai friends with us making their first trip to NZ.
Paul,
We fly in to Auckland where we intend to stay for as couple of days, just to acclimatise and get used to ordering Fush rather than Fish . Hmm furious driving at 55 MPH, we will probably catch the Inter-islander ferry between North and South Islands, staying on the North Island for approximately two weeks.
On our last visit we didn't go any further North than the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, we stayed in Paihia. But we didn't have time to visit Cape Reinga so I would be interested in your thoughts on going beyond the Bay of Islands. I'm probably going to be told to revisit the Bay of Islands and spend some more time in that area, we only had a couple of nights in Paihia so we probably didn't do the area justice. We also missed the Coromandel out on our last visit so that's probably an area we shall add to the itinerary.
So to summarise:- arrive Auckland, pick up a hire car touring and staying on the North Island for approximately 14 nights, to see some new places and possibly revisit Paihia to go North of it, returning South to end up in Wellington via the Coromandel with maybe two nights in Wellington to do tourist things. On our last visit we only stayed one night, arrived early evening left early the next morning so again we didn't do Wellington justice.
Ferry to the South Island, Abel Tasman, Nelson, Picton then down the East coast to meet up with friends in Christchurch. We have yet to discuss a little tour with our friends I believe they would like to visit the Dunedin area but that's yet to be confirmed. We depart Christchurch on 9th March going to Sydney for three nights then we depart for home on the evening of 12th March.
Any thoughts you have would be most welcome, it's difficult deciding where to go and what to see. It's just a great destination which if I had my time again I wouldn't hesitate to emigrate to, sadly I'm a bit long in the tooth to do so now .