New Zealand

I need some help planning my itinerary. Me and my bro have only about a week in south island in the middle of Feb 2014 and there are so many activties to do but with so little time. I would gladly need some advices on where i should go and and days spent at each place. Im planning to fly to christchurch and then rent a car to go around. I definitely would like to include franz josef, milford sound, queenstown ( for bungy jumps) and mt cook in my itinerary. I know NZ is famous for its awesome…

late Feb., early March expect to spend the better part of a month on the Southern Island. Seems that rental van agencies take a dim view of gravel roads, is this a big deal or one of those areas that are essentially overlooked.
Second, I will be traveling for 6 months, including Australia, Indonesia and who knows aside from NZ. It seems that a tent might be handy and ship back after NZ, but is it really with the flies, etc., or is it great to take and get lost on an untrampled beach, or taking a…

Hi TTs

I'm planning to walk the Heaphy Track from Brown Hut to Kohaihai end in the 2014 summer season. As far as I can see the main trailhead transport from Nelson is with the Heaphy Bus company. Their scheduled departures to Brown Hut are on Wed; back from Kohaihai shelter to Nelson is on Sunday. I understand you can also put in requests for other days if there are enough numbers but as far as I can see the Wed and Sun are the only guaranteed departures. So that means the walking is limited to…

Hi All,

I am planning a very last minute trip to New Zealand, and wanted to run my itinerary by some folks to make sure I'm not missing any considerations, before I start booking internal flights or car. A few points: I want to do 1 trek, don't mind booking a couple internal flights to save on time given 10 days is not much time, and there's 2 of us in our late 20s. I know it's packed, I don't know if I'll make it back to NZ (from the US) so want to catch all the big sights.

Day 1: Land in…

Has anyone walked the Gillespie Pass on their own? The tour companies are asking $1800-1900 NZD for a 4 day trip including transport to and from and meals.Honestly,we could travel in SE Asia for a month on that amount (I understand Nz is quite expensive.)
This looks like a spectacular hike and compared to Nepal or Burma,not as arduous.So the questions are:
Getting to and from the trail-can transport be arranged on our own?
Is the trail well marked or tramped-will we get lost on our own?
What would…

Cannot decide between the 2. Have about 2 days to spend at either Mt Cook or the Catlains area

1- Christchurch to hokitaka
2- hokitaka to franz Joseph
3- Franz Josef
4- FJ to wanaka
Option A
5- Wanaka to Twizel/Mt Cook
6- Mt Cook
7- Mt cook to the an au
8- Te anau to milford
9- Te Anau to queenstown
10-11- queens town

Option B
5- wanaka to Te Anau
6- Te Anau to Milford
7- Te Anau to Catlains
8- cathedral caves, nuggets point, kaka point etc
9- catlains to queenstown. 3 nights in QT.

Choice for 2 days is…

Hello travelers!!!

please I want to ask for your support and your experience.

Actually I am going to work with my girlfriend to NZ and we are applying for the work visa. We sent it already out but there was an issue and now we have to sort this out, won't be the problem, but now we are running out of time!! The new visa application will need 25 days to proceed but we are flying within those 25 days to NZ already.

We booked our flight tickets on the same day we sent out the application the…

I am traveling to NZ in a few weeks and wanted to get recommendations for safe, fun, clean hostels in both Auckland and Queenstown.

Should I book these in advance since I will be traveling from Dec 18-25th and I assume many people will be on holiday or is it best to wait? Are prices affected?

There are two in my group. I am 33 and my brother is 22 so we are pretty flexible, and comfortable in going to a place that is "off the beaten path" but worth the experience.

Thanks for any feedback

D…

Hey there. I'm embarking on a working holiday to New Zealand starting in June 2014. Followed by SE Asia and then a year in Australia.

Is anybody else doing a similar thing or have done in the past. Any advice or chat would be welcome.

I'm starting with around $8000 nz dollars which will hopefully be enough and I'll hopefully work my through. I'm a qualified mixologist and I have been bartending for over 6 years.

I'm dead excited. x

I have a Canadian passport, and won't be returning to NZ after I leave. My destination after NZ is USA. If I call immigration to advise them of my overstay what reason should I provide that's suitable for them. I am overstaying by 2 days because there is no flight to where I am going until 2 days after my expiry, or 5 days before it. I am doing a massive trip around NZ and need as many days as I can get it, also the price on the flight is $200 cheaper 2 days after my expiry.