blackcab

We are looking to visit this wonderful country in November this year.


Advice needed.


North or South Island? Which town to be based at?


We have a week to spend here, we will not have a car, so public transport will be our way to get around.


We will be flying in from Brisbane, which airport is best to fly into, keeping costs down.


Also we will be flying back to the UK from New Zealand, so which airport is best to fly out of, .i.e. busy more frequent flights, so more choice to keep ccst down?


Thanks for any help

A Rush And A Push

If you only have a week I would spend it in the South Island. Fly into Christchurch and do one of those coach tours around the island. that will show you at least some of the best sights. You'll get nowhere with public transport.

blackcab

Is public transport that bad? On either Island.


Thanks for the reply

A Rush And A Push

It's pretty few and far between, especially to get to the most stunning parts of the country. For example, the train from Auckland to Wellington does not even run daily - it runs three days a week.
But there are plenty of tour operators who run coach trips which take you to the best bits, organise your accommodation and can sort out extra excursions along the way. A week is a very short time (NZ is roughly the same size as the UK) so a coach tour is probably your best option.

Some ideas here
South Island Bus Tours, Coach Tours New Zealand

BEVS

For the South Island - yes.

TBH A week isn't going to get you far. New Zealand is a more spread out country than people realise. There is inter-city & you can buy a pass for that but really you will spend more time on the bus going from A to B than actually being anywhere or seeing anything.

Perhaps target one thing that you really want to see . It could be the geo-thermal activity around Rotorua on the North Island or the Sounds on the South Island.

The most choice of flights NZ to UK would be Auckland. However, flight prices will be much of a much.

I'm with A Rush and A Push on this.

Pick something you really want to see and then book a coach tour .

Stormer999

In 7 days without your own transport you will not see too much of South island. Your best bet would be pick up a tour that includes Christchurch landing Trans alpine to Greymouth down the West coast via the glaciers and Haas Pass to Wanaka/Queenstown and fly back either to Christchurch or Auckland for your UK flight.

South Island Quick Trip | Tourism New Zealand

Which ever Island or route you take think about split luggage that you can carry shorts tee shirt for NZ summer and polar wear for the UK winter (left luggage dept) so you won't be lugging not need stuff around for the first week...

Justcol

without a car its a waste of time, I would just book a scenic rail journey

http://www.kiwirailscenic.co.nz/?gcl...ZYzBoCUtLw_wcB

Bo-Jangles

Is there a reason why you picked NZ ? Some burning desire to do or see something in particular?

If you're just after fun times with back packers and other young folks to do some bucketlist things I would look at something like:

Book Your NZ Bus Pass | Kiwi Experience – Flexible Bus Travel

https://nakedbus.com/nz/bus/

isaacamy

As you are only there for a short time I would fly into Christchurch and take a tour which should include Queenstown (my favourite place). The south island is far more beautiful than the north and not as populated.

Lisa Maree

I agree with the others fly into Christchurch and book a coach tour that covers you one or two must see's, maybe fly out of Christchurch or depending on your coach tour maybe you could take it as far as Dunedin or Blenheim and then fly domestically to CHCH / WGTN / AKL and then out to the UK

blackcab

Thanks for all of the replies.


We have been in Australia for over four years now, dual UK/OZ citizens.


We are going home for a while, home being country of birth. But we might give NZ a try if we come back to the South, i am in health, so i might find work.


We just want to see NZ really, not big on site seeing, just want to sample, a bar, a meal out a few trips maybe. I know a week is not long, but its not so much a tour. More a visit to see where we could live for a couple of years really. We have never been you see.


But again thankyou all very much, it really sounds awesome.

BEVS

Ah!

Well. NZ is a large spread out kinda country and very, very diverse. You would not get a feel for NZ from any one place.

You have 3 choices then.

Auckland.
Wellington
Christchurch.

bearskin

Fly into Chch and pick up a campervan or a car on a one-way deal. Drive over to Queenstown, either through Central Otago or up past Tekapo. Then whizz up the West Coast and into Marlborough. Over on the ferry and trot up throughout the middle of North Island and dump the transport at Auckland Airport.

For a list of things to do on that route, some of the rental vehicle companies have itineraries on their websites, or people like the AA do guides and did a list of 101-Must-Do things in NZ in the past...

A week's not long but it would be an entertaining, if speedy, drive through.

Lisa Maree

Tricky I think, the touristy amazing vista's party of NZ is far far different from the where do we set up a real life and get jobs NZ.

I would go with fly into Christchurch, rent a car and travel down to Queenstown or fly into Wellington and hire a car to see the Wairarapa (vineyards / ranges) not my favourite part of NZ but if you like a slightly quirkier lifestyle I believe WGTN could be more suitable. Fly into Auckland and hire a car to travel to the Coromandel perhaps for beachy scenery.

BEVS

See. I would go to a place you cannot see anywhere else on the planet. Rotorua.