New Zealand, Part 2 : Overall itinerary

       
        This is part-2 of a multi-part blog on our travel to NZ. Part 1 is here.     

         So, the country itself is fairly small. Total square footage across both islands is about 2/3rds the square footage of the state of CA. Let that sink in a bit. That said, you can’t expect to cover too much distance too quickly (see previous post on speed limits, for one). Our research led us to split our time 1:2 across the North and South islands, I’d say this is perhaps roughly the right ratio. We spent 17 days in the country total: 5 in the north, and ~12ish in the south (including travel days etc.). That felt a reasonable length of time for a first trip. We did have to compromise on a few things we originally thought we’d have time for, but that’s likely true of any first time trip to a new country.

We started with an initial list of things we wanted to see and do, and quickly had to whittle that down:

• Beaches  - we’ve seen some of the best of these around the world, and in CA.
• Glaciers
• Rainforests/waterfalls
• Hobbiton/LOTR  - the kids are not familiar enough with it to enjoy
• Geothermal areas
• Rivers and lakes (NZ has several gorgeous ones)
• Coastline  - CA residents, so can skip, yada yada...
• Mountain ranges
• Wineries -  Not big wine drinkers, plus there's Napa etc...

Couple that with a few NZ staples, we ended up with the below.

• Day 1:     Arrive at AKL, settle down, explore local sights and beaches.
• Day 2:     Drive AKL -> Taupo. Night at Taupo.
• Day 3:     Taupo highlights. Night at Rotorua
• Day 4:     Rotorua highlights. Night at Rotorua.
• Day 5:     Rotorua highlights. Drive back to AKL, night at AKL.
• Day 6:     AKL city in the AM, fly out to Christchurch in PM. Night at CHC
• Day 7:     TranzAlpine train to Greymouth. Pick up car, drive to Franz. Night at                            Franz.
• Day 8:      Lake Matheson, Fox Glacier. Night at Franz.
• Day 9:      Franz Josef glacier, rainforest walk. Night at Franz.
• Day 10:    Drive from Franz -> Haast Pass -> Wanaka -> Queenstown. Night at                             Queenstown.
• Day 11:    Queenstown.
• Day 12:    Queenstown -> Te Anau. Night at Te Anau.
• Day 13:    Te Anau -> Milford Sound. Night at Te Anau.
• Day 14:    Te Anau -> Dunedin -> Fairlie. Night at Fairlie.
• Day 15:    Lake Tekapo, Lake Pukaki, Mt. Cook. Night at Fairlie
• Day 16:    Fairlie -> Christchurch. Fly back to AKL via Wellington. Night at                                     Auckland.
• Day 17:    AKL city. Night at Auckland.
• Day 18:    Fly AKL -> SFO via Fiji (An extra night at Fiji!)

Details on each of these in subsequent posts. North Island details are here.