The Auswine Forum

Mery Christmas everyone.

I'm planning to visit NZ in Feb for around 12 days. Given limited time, i plan to fly in to Wellington and stay there for a couple days and then head south with hired car, and if possible fly home from Christchurch.

I need guidance in working out my iternaries - the objectives of the tour are both natural beauty and wine we both love SB and recently PN, so i plan to visit central Otago to taste some PN.

Any recommendation on acc., place to eat, winery to visit and route would be much appreciated.

tt.

if you are going down east coast to queenstown travel through fairlie, tekapo etc. great scenery.

wineries. pegasus bay in waipara a must on the way

Thanks Craig, i'm thinking of doing a loop picton, nelson, franz josef, queenstown then christchurch with major stopping points being franz josef, queenstown and christchurch for a few days each - would that work?

yeah down the west coast and back up through mackenzie basin, mt cook, tekapo would be great

personally i wouldnt bother stopping in christchurch for long. id make nelson a place to stop instead. christchurch is no big deal. nelson is gorgeous. You have the abel tasman national park, great beaches, neudorf winery, great seafood...

west coast i havent actually been to (its on my list) but all reports I have is it is remote, backward and beautiful (no wineries though)

queenstown is wonderful, jsut amazing. love it. go there spend up big and have a great time. id recomment arrowtown or wanaka for a look when based in queenstown and a drive to glenorchy is amazing scenery (lord of the rings). if you are active i cant recommend enough a hike up Ben lomand Peak (you can start it at the top of the gondola's). the views are breathtaking.

kaikoura is also a must stop for a coffee/ lunch/ takeaways

I dunno maybe think of picton-nelson (night or two here)

nelson- west coast-franz joseph (night or 3 here)

frans joseph- fox- haast pass-wanaka-queenstown (4 nights)

the queenstown-lindis pass-twizel-tekapo-fairlie-christchurch (1 night)

christchurch- waipara- kaikora - blenheim- picton

the rest of your nights wherever you like

wineries in cromwell id recommend mt difficulty, felton rd, carrick,

Craig(NZ) wrote:
personally i wouldnt bother stopping in christchurch for long. id make nelson a place to stop instead. christchurch is no big deal.

That comment could only come from someone who lives in Punta del Jafa

Maybe something like this:

Day 1: Fly into Welly
Day 2: Welly
Day 3: Ferry to Picton - Blenheim visit a couple of wineries - Drive to Nelson
Day 4: Drive Nelson - to Franz Jospeh via Westport, Punakaiki and Hokatika
Day 5: Drive to Queenstown via Fox Glacier, Haast and Wanaka
Day 6: Queenstown
Day 7: Queenstown and surrounding winery visits
Day 8: Up early and drive to Milford Sound via Te Anu and back to Queenstown for the night
Day 9: Drive Queenstown to Christchurch via -Lindis Pass-Twizel-Tekapo
Day 10: Christchurch
Day 11: Day trip to wineries around Waipara then up to Kaikoura for lunch and back to ChCh for the evening
Day 12: Fly home

PostPosted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:34 pm Post subject:
Maybe something like this:

Day 1: Fly into Welly
Day 2: Welly
Day 3: Ferry to Picton - Blenheim visit a couple of wineries - Drive to Nelson
Day 4: Drive Nelson - to Franz Jospeh via Westport, Punakaiki and Hokatika
Day 5: Drive to Queenstown via Fox Glacier, Haast and Wanaka
Day 6: Queenstown
Day 7: Queenstown and surrounding winery visits
Day 8: Up early and drive to Milford Sound via Te Anu and back to Queenstown for the night
Day 9: Drive Queenstown to Christchurch via -Lindis Pass-Twizel-Tekapo
Day 10: Christchurch
Day 11: Day trip to wineries around Waipara then up to Kaikoura for lunch and back to ChCh for the evening
Day 12: Fly home

I think that Dave has the right idea, except that on Day 2 you should be heading for Martinborough. It just over an hour to drive there and has some of the best pinots that NZ has to offer. And make sure to hit Pegasus Bay on Day 11!

Tristram Shandy

Day 8: Up early and drive to Milford Sound via Te Anu and back to Queenstown for the night

How many hours in the day in Aussie? Try this in a day and you will be up for staring at road for 99% of the day jeez look at how many km he is travelling already in 12 days!!

personally id do fiordland/ southland/ caitlans and dunedin in a seperate trip

That comment could only come from someone who lives in Punta del Jafa

Guilty as charged, but honest nevertheless

How many hours in the day in Aussie? Try this in a day and you will be up for staring at road for 99% of the day jeez look at how many km he is travelling already in 12 days!!

I believe that Dave tends to travel by Ferrari when he's on the road.

Tristram Shandy

Craig(NZ) wrote:

Day 8: Up early and drive to Milford Sound via Te Anu and back to Queenstown for the night

How many hours in the day in Aussie? Try this in a day and you will be up for staring at road for 99% of the day jeez look at how many km he is travelling already in 12 days!!

personally id do fiordland/ southland/ caitlans and dunedin in a seperate trip

That comment could only come from someone who lives in Punta del Jafa

Guilty as charged, but honest nevertheless

Leave Queenstown at 6am you'll be at Milford by 10am...a good 4hrs for a cruise and a stop off in Te Anu on the way home.....time on the road doesn't mean much when you are looking at the scenery we get on the mainland......you PdJ types wouldn't understand that though

And its a road trip....thats what you do you drive....lkuckily Kwattro had the good sense not to venture any further North than Wellington

thanks everyone

Yes Tristram, i planned to head north while in Welly towards hawkes bay. Oh and i heard this thing about BLUFF oyster, i love to try it if i have a chance - and apparently it's only available in the north, can i find it in Welly?

since my missus doesn't drive, and i'll be doing most of the tastings - i having some balancing act to do


tt.

Here's another suggestion based on one of the itineraries above - if you want to go to Hawkes Bay as well, I would suggest an extra couple of days. I would also suggest flying into Auckland or Wellington and catching a connecting flight to Hawkes Bay, pick up your rental there, explore Hawkes Bay and then drive south to Martinborough.

This is based on flying into Wellington.
1. Fly into Wellington. Drive to Martinborough (about 1 hour over the very winding Rimutaka Hill) and stay there overnight.
2. Spend most of the day in Martinborough, drive back to Wellington and catch 6.15 ferry to Picton arriving 9.15pm. Overnight in Picton. (You will have to drop off rental at Wgtn terminal and pick up a new one at Picton)
3. Spend morning and half of afternoon visiting Marlborough wineries. Drive to Nelson (2 hours) to stay the night or stay somewhere in Marlborough and head off early next morning.
4. Spend a day in Nelson touring wineries and stay in Nelson overnight.
5. Early start - drive to the West Coast via Westport and Punakaiki. Stop at Tauranga Bay just south of Westport for lunch. Stay in Greymouth or a little further south at Hokitika.
6. Drive to glaciers - stop at Ross on the way and try your hand at gold panning - visit Franz Josef Glacier and carry on to Fox- much better accommodation and dining options there. Drive to Lake Matheson early morning or late evening, do the walk and take magnificent photos if it is not raining.
7. Fox to Wanaka or Cromwell - a good days drive if you make lots of stops and very scenic. Stop at Haast for whitebait fritters. At Haast, detour to the end of the road at Jackson Bay. Then head east over the Haast Pass to Wanaka (visit Rippon). Depending on time, stay night in Wanaka or carry on to Cromwell.
8. Visit Cromwell, Mt Pisa, Bannockburn wineries through Gibbston Valley to Queenstown.
9. If you want to do the Milford Sound trip - what not do a bus tour. At least you will be able to get some sleep on the way there or way back. Otherwise visit more wineries heading back towards Cromwell.
10. Drive to Christchurch - via Bendigo wineries / Lindis Pass / McKenzie Country, Mt Cook as suggested. Stay in ChCh or somewhere on way.
11. Head to Waipara and spend day touring Waipara wineries. Overnight in Waipara.
12. Fly home. I see AirNZ has a 3.30pm from ChCh direct to Melbourne, so you can spend the morning further exploring Waipara.

Bluff oyster season usually starts 1st March and runs through to end of August. You will get fresh Bluff oysters in many restaurants and seafood shops in the season. Otherwise they will be frozen.

All sound good - if you have a night in Wellington - eat at "Logan Brown" - quite simply the best dining experience we have ever had anywhere - I can't say enough good things about the place...

http://www.loganbrown.co.nz/

Thank you all, that was very helpful, i have my itenery around the following places:

Wellington, Nelson, Fox, Queenstown, Cromwell and Christchurch. I couldn't resist the images of Milford sound, so have booked ourselves on to a day trip bus+cruise tour.

At in Wellington we'll drive to Martinborough. in Nelson, we'll take day trip out to M'borough. I'm planning to drive from Nelson to Fox - with short breaks in between, but not overnight stay...is it advisable? I rather stay 2 nights in Fox than going throught the trouble of checkin/checkout.


Foods wise...any more recommendation?

Again, thanks for all your inputs.

tt.

Driving in NZ is deceiving - trips sound shorter than they are - expect the drive to effectively take the entire day, so don't plan too many activities - sight seeing the beautiful scenery adds up on drives too..... We felt rushed when we were staying one night in places 6 days running - you feel like you are always in the car.....

That is a very long drive from Nelson to Fox - about 480 kms. Will make it difficult to stop at all of Westport (Tauranga Bay is beautiful on a good day and suggest you stop here for early lunch), Punakaiki, Hokitika, Okarito and Franz Josef Glacier. However you can roll into Fox quite late.
Are you going on a guided glacier trip? Probably best to do that rather than to ignore the danger signs to get your own closeup view.
Cheers,
Sue

The road is windy and a bit dicey too down around Fox - I'd not like to do it in the dark......