Back from South island New Zealand

[kentona]

Thanks. Okay will check out the price for southern discoveries

i booked my milford sound cruise from Southern Discoveries. the cruise includes a small lunch bag with sandwiches, chips, drinks etc

 

[kentona]

What is paradise?

I would recommend Glenorchy + Paradise (if you can).

 

[belgarathc]

For Milford Sound cruise, we went with Jucy. Less than $50 each person with a small breakfast. I believe they are also on bookme. We drove to Milford Sound on our own though. Jucy give a further discount if you are renting their campervan.

 

[swatchie]

What is paradise?

It's an ulu small town north of Glenorchy. It's also one of the sites where they filmed LOTR. There is no cell phone reception and you have to drive through unpaved roads and streams to get there.

 

[WWH123]

Paradise is also where we went horse riding.
More than 2 hours plus.
Butt hurts, no joke.

 

[GeraldineT]

Hi all,

I’m starting to plan my trip next year Mid April - 1st week of June to New Zealand.

I intend to fly into Wellington and out of Auckland back to sg.
(Because I can claim business class out of New Zealand w miles and flying in to Wellington is $600/pax compare to Chc/Queenstown)

I was wondering how many days for Wellington is enough?

And is renting car in Wellington to pinnacle advisable (or pinnacle is a skip?) otherwise is take a ferry to Picton and start rental from there?

 

[lugia88]

I have a question for showering in RV, possible to do it everyday? like use minimum water to shower ....

I was thinking of going with wilderness motorhome for my 3 weeks holiday .. 2adults 1infant... anybody got reviews on that?

 

[GeraldineT]

can I check for north area, these would be the places?
Wellington >Napier >Taupo>Rotorua>Waitomo>Auckland>Bay of Islands

are there any other places? How many days would be enough for each area?
For the north island, these are some of the activities which we will be doing:
- Black abyss glow-worm
-Jet ski bay of island
- Swim with dolphin at bay of island
-Rotorua horse trek
- wellington zoo animal encounter (cheetah/lion/red panda/lemur)

Are there any other activities that I had missed out?

For south island can i check these would be better route or I see that most people do option 2?
Option 1)Ferry from wellington to Picton> Abel Tasman National Park >Blenheim>Christchurch>Lake Tekapo>Mount Cook>Dunedin>Queenstown>Te Anau>Wanaka>fox glacier / franz josef> Greymouth (take the tranzalpine) > CHC (fly to wellington)

Option 2) Ferry from wellington to picton > Abel Tasman National Park > Blenheim> Christchurch > (Take tranzalpine)> Greymouth> opposite direction back to CHC > fly to wellington.

For south island, we are planning
- Skydive 19000ft
-CHANCELLOR DOME (OVERNIGHT) HELI-TREK for fox
-GLACIER HELI HIKE for franz jose
-Glacier Explorers Boat Trip for mount cook
-Milford sound cruise

 

[jt2901]

For North, what are your interests? Depending on what you wanna do, then might be easier to plan.

Start going south first then north, as drive from Wellington up to Auckland is about 8 hours or so.

Can't suggest much about south as I've never been there before.

 

[GeraldineT]

For North, what are your interests? Depending on what you wanna do, then might be easier to plan.

Start going south first then north, as drive from Wellington up to Auckland is about 8 hours or so.

Can't suggest much about south as I've never been there before.

Yap. I’ll be landing in Wellington. Then flying back from Auckland.
We are more interested in nature and hiking.
Not really into wineries.
This trip is more of our honeymoon

Oh. Anyone knows where would be a good place for hot air balloon?

 

[evilerniex]

Yap. I’ll be landing in Wellington. Then flying back from Auckland.
We are more interested in nature and hiking.
Not really into wineries.
This trip is more of our honeymoon

Oh. Anyone knows where would be a good place for hot air balloon?

i did hot air balloon in christchurch. wonderful experience.
the company is called ballooning canterbury, and they have pick ups from hotels in chiristchurch

 

[jt2901]

Yap. I’ll be landing in Wellington. Then flying back from Auckland.
We are more interested in nature and hiking.
Not really into wineries.
This trip is more of our honeymoon

Oh. Anyone knows where would be a good place for hot air balloon?

Hiking wise, tongario Alpine crossing. If a LOTR fan, weta cave in Wellington, hobbiton...

 

[circleheart]

Hello @kentona, Yes experience with them was very good.
Seamless pick up, drop off etc. (just have to be at pickup on time)

 

[circleheart]

I have a question for showering in RV, possible to do it everyday? like use minimum water to shower ....

I was thinking of going with wilderness motorhome for my 3 weeks holiday .. 2adults 1infant... anybody got reviews on that?

Hello, I booked with wilderness motorhome just early this year for 17days trip.
Wilderness are comparatively more expensive than other motorhomes but I must say their RV is top notch and service was superb (take RV and return is seamless). Their RV is easy to maneuver and driving wise was similar to normal car in my opinion. The RV uses diesel so it is not very expensive. toilet has hot water and very easy to clean the waste. I would suggest to get full excess coverage though it is rather expensive - silver lining is for full excess they give you everything such as GPS, portable tables, seats etc.

we shower everyday but try to use water to the minimal or you will have to top up every alternate days whenever you passby pitstop where you can get free fresh water. When you sleep at night you can adjust the temperature of the aircon which can be set to warm as night time is usually cold if you camp in the wilderness (no pun intended). you can check out their RV guide on youtube. Hope this helps!!

 

[foodieeee]

Hello all, wonder if anyone rented from motorhomerepublic.com before? The prices quoted is much lower than official website from Maui, Britz and Mighty. I'm more included towards Maui / Britz on official site, whereas my friend is looking at Mighty on MHR site.

Are there any difference in pick-up, on-road-assistance and drop-off for booking via motorhomerepublic vs official websites?

Also, anyone experienced issues with campervan? I had a friend whose campervan leaked on day 2, and they managed to get full refund and compensation. Other friends didn't have issues though.

 

[angy]

Hi all,

I’m starting to plan my trip next year Mid April - 1st week of June to New Zealand.

I intend to fly into Wellington and out of Auckland back to sg.
(Because I can claim business class out of New Zealand w miles and flying in to Wellington is $600/pax compare to Chc/Queenstown)

I was wondering how many days for Wellington is enough?

And is renting car in Wellington to pinnacle advisable (or pinnacle is a skip?) otherwise is take a ferry to Picton and start rental from there?

You are coming in Autumn and beginning of winter. So, it will be slightly colder and the days could be a bit shorter.

if you are the adventure type and like outdoor, there are many things you can do
a. spend half a day at Adrenaline forest
http://www.adrenalin-forest.co.nz/

b. if you can mountain bike, you can hire a mountain bike and ride on Makara peak
http://www.makarapeak.org/

c. if you like to do stargazing and check out fur seals, you can do it at Red Rocks
https://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/red-rocks-reserve/

d. If you like LOTR, check out Weta workshop
https://www.wetaworkshop.com/visit-us/workshop-tours/

e. you can goto the National Museum, Te Papa, and check out the world longest squid

f. then you can goto the Zoo


Then you fly from Wellington to Rotorua and then check out Redwoods and enjoy the hot springs there.

From Rotorua you can hire a car to go to Waitomo and check out the glow worm caves and the black abyss.
http://www.waitomo.com/black-water-rafting/Pages/default.aspx

From Waitomo, you can goto Hamilton where you can do your hot air balloon.

 

[rayden]

Hey guys! I’ll be traveling to nz next week and was wondering how’s the road condition from Te Anau to Milford sound? Am worried about the black ice and stuff.

 

[BlackCube]

Hey guys! I*********ll be traveling to nz next week and was wondering how*********s the road condition from Te Anau to Milford sound? Am worried about the black ice and stuff.

This time of year still have meh?

Posted from PCWX using Nexus 5

 

[rayden]

This time of year still have meh?

Posted from PCWX using Nexus 5

Yeah apparently it’s still cold now

 

[BlackCube]

Yeah apparently it*********s still cold now

Oh. I tot it should be fine now even though it's cold. Wait for someone to tell u ba. I'm only guessing

Posted from PCWX using Nexus 5X