Does anyone have any tips on how a fact finding trip to NZ should be organised? We're think primarily of the North Island.

Wouldn't it be cool if there were companies that organized this kind of trip?

An great website for travel/itinerary questions is the Lonely Planet ThornTree - it has a well visited Australia & NZ branch. Admittedly its audience is mostly younger (ie gap year/WHV'ers) but the questions posted are more to do with travel (rather than the price of coffee/petrol/how do I bring the dog over which tend to predominate this board)

Russ

http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com

how long is the trip? does your employment restrict you to particular areas or large towns ?

We're thinking in terms of 2 weeks (I doubt we could make it longer). I'm not restricted in terms of work, I'll take it almost anywhere I can get it! Work, that is

PS Thanks to BritboyNZ for his suggestion.

best bet may be rent a camper/RV can be expensive http://www.motorhomes.co.nz/ http://www.maui.co.nz/new_zealand/motorhomes.cfm
obviously it saves you some accomodation costs and increases flexibility to park it & sleep
or rent car & drive like a madman, 2 weeks isn't enough to get a feel for many places but if you keep moving you'll at least see plenty
i'd fly into auckland, pick up your rental at airport, head north west thru kumeu/helensville-dargaville-kaikohe-kaitaia stop there the night, drive >6+hrs
then go sth to paihia (2hrs) maybe ferry across harbour to russell for a few hours or stay the night (take the car over from opua)
sth via whagarei-warkworth-welsford-orewa-thames(coromandel) drive 5=hrs. whitianga/coromandel are nice little towns but is extremely slow driving on cor.peninsula
day4 go sth tauranga-gisborne, is quite a winding drive, one of better scenic drives in nth island, beware gisborne has high maori gang population or alternatively tauranga-rotorua-taupo-napier/hastings drive=5-6hrs
day5 go sth via dannevirke-masterton-hutt valley to wellington, beware the rimutaka range road (nth of upper hutt)is extremely winding - would be a little cheaper like any city to hotel in outer suburbs
to be continued.......

day6 ferry wellington to picton - this can be expensive unless you book at least 14 days in advance, can book online see: interislander ferries
catch an early morn. ferry cos if the driving runs behind schedule then worst case scenario you can drive thru the night and also the scenery is brilliant in marlborough sounds early morning
sth island is easy to drive around in a loop
west coast rains more often than not so check the forecast & if it looks to be dry(ish) on the west side then go for it from nelson straight to westport or via motueka drive=4-5 hrs from picton but you'll definitely want to spend time around nelson area maybe stay the night
day7 westport down coast to wanaka is a long but stunning drive, will take all day, plenty of towns & sights to stop & see
day8 could go right to bluff (bottom of sth island) via queenstown
not a lot to see in bluff- is industrial/port town & access point to stewart island, maybe stay there or back in invercargill
day9 nth to dunedin (2hrs from inv.) or take coast route thru catlins - impressive scenery but some unsealed roads & will add a few hours to drive
day10 you could take the long way north thru otago via alexandra-twizel-lake tekapo to christchurch, an all day drive
or dunedin to chch=4hrs
day11 nth chch-kaikoura-blenheim-picton=4-5 hrs
day12 wellington go nthwest to taranaki area via bulls-wanganui-new plymouth drive=4-5hrs
day13 head nth via te kuiti-hamilton-auckland

take an excessive number of photos and keep a record of thoughts on each town
also with hours of driving each day it's well worth rising at dawn & hit the road early which should then give plenty of time both at towns along the way & at final destination

after all that, i'd say don't be afraid to rent a car & just go where the road takes you...

Thanks, travelling_kiwi. There's some good tips in there. I'm not sure that we'd take in as much of the south island as you've allowed for, as I expect us to end up in the north island, and I kind of fancy spending more than one day in some places. It'll be winter and I don't want to spend all of my time travelling. One of your links showed some campgrounds with cheap fixed accommodation, so that might be an option, using a car to get around, rather than an RV.

But good food for thought. Thanks again.

If I were you, I'd stick mainly to the North Island - it is possible to do a whirlwind tour of the main attractions in each island in 2 or 3 weeks & IMO T. Kiwi has underestimated the driving times particularly on the south island. You'd be driving ALL the time & not see anything. You'd be exhausted at the end of all that.

If you did want to see Christchurch (and I'd recommend that you do, it's a lovely city) why not fly down for a day or so. The flight's about 1hr 15 mins from AKL. If you book in advance you can get a return AKL-CHC for NZ$138 plus about $15 in taxes/levies which is approx £50 for an adult fare.

As a rough guideline you could break 2 weeks as follows: Auckland 2 days. Waiheke Island 1 day, Northland: Bay of Islands/Russell/Cape Reinga etc 2-3days. Coromandel 2 days. Rotorua/Taupo/Tauranga 2 days. Hastings/Napier 2 days. Wellington 2 days then catch an internal flight to AKL for your flight home. If you did want to visit Christchurch, you'd have to drop something! This would be a nice relaxed itinerary & you'd see the vast majority of the north island (even then you still havent seen places like Taranaki/New Plymouth or Gisborne).

I'm inclined to do that, simply because I'm fairly sure that we'll end up somewhere in the North Island after emigrating. One of my concerns is cost (as ever) since there'll be 4 of us. So an internal flight to Christchurch might be too costly. But we'll certainly try to do as much as we can.

Thanks.

www.purenz.com

check this site out. under the "Driving Routes" section, click on the North Island, select how many days you have, & it'll give you various options.