Spacecake799

Were hoping to go to the south island in January and really wanted to see Milford sound and Fiordland. Has anyone got any ideas how we can do this without it costing mega bucks. We are 2 adults and 3 children but will be paying for 3 adults and 2 children because of their ages.

Thanks

Carole

RobClubley

We did a South Island trip in December and used motels - you can get all sorts of studio type places with two bedrooms or more.
We had four adults and paid an average of $110-$200 a night

Have a look at our blog (link below) and browse back to December using the menu on the left - you can see where we went and what we did!

simonmarkellis

Hi Carole

We're planning an very similar trip when the in-laws come out... 4 adults I kid, flying to Dunedin rather than Queenstown as it's cheaper and quicker from Wellington, renting a car from there before driving to Queenstown and probable renting a holiday home for the week as a base...

Simon

RobClubley

That's what we will do next time. Driving down and back up is nice but takes ages!

My plan for the next trip is fly to Queenstown, down to the fjords, up the West Coast, across Arthurs Pass to Kaikoura then up to Nelson then Picton.

Spacecake799

Hi,

Thanks, Rob I will check out your pictures as soon as i have a moment.
I should have said, we also intend to fly to Queenstown. Hopefully we will have a house there for a week and so wanted to look around that area.

We will need to rent a car so if you have found anywhere cheap Simon please let me know.

Rob can we do a boat trip or something for the day around Fiordland/ milfordsounds.

Thanks again

Carole

RobClubley

Yep - www.realjourneys.com

pixi-dust

we used 'trips and tramps'
http://www.milfordtourswalks.co.nz/
and we did the coach and cruise package - they were brilliant - what I also like d about them was it was very personal - the bus only takes about 12 people when we did it there was only us. They also use the tall ship with the sails for the boat round the sounds - I thought it was the prettiest one.

We have a blog of our SI trip - with driving times and nice places to stay and eat

http://thebigsouthislandtrip.blogspot.com/

we drove all the way from Northland NI to almost the bottom of the SI so you could ignore some of it! There are lovely pictures

Spacecake799

Thanks Pixie-dust. I remember looking at your pictures the first time and could'nt find them last night. I shall plan away.

Carole

simonmarkellis

Will do Carole...