AUCKLAND,

Going thru customs upon arrival was a breeze, but there was an oddity in the program, my bags had to be x-rayed leaving the airport. This procedure is endured to find out what, if anything unusual, New Zealand’s visitors are brining into the country.

After checking in with the car rental agency, we consulted a map to find out directions to downtown, harborside Auckland. Having spent the last x number of years driving on the correct side of the road, I wondered how long it would take to acclimate to driving on the left hand side. The first honors were given to Rick.  He didn’t seem to have a difficult time with the new routine, but having a co-pilot, giving directives was essential.

We choose the 4-star Hyatt Regency hotel, located only a 10min. walk downhill from Queens St, a row of strip malls which contain a good selection of shops.. It was only a 15-min walk from the harbour, where the ferries depart. 

Auckland, unfortunately, is a wide city, which is very spread out. Except for Queens St. and the harbor, there is no compact place for people to gather. Most people opt to go to Davenport, a quaint area full of cafes and few shops, which seems to populate in the evening.

I recommend at least one night and one day here in Auckland, before venturing north or south. This is also a great place to experience a sailing day trip on the harbour, where the great regatta races have transpired.

COROMANDEL PENINSULA (east of Auckland)

It doesn’t take much driving to leave the concrete jungle behind and start seeing the real attraction that is New Zealand. Rolling hills greet us as we head to the Coromendal Peninsula, which is lush and green. This is our first sighting of sheep, which will become an integral  part of the landscape. Our destination is Whitiagna, a beachside resort town. There are but a few cities that dot this area and New Zealand’s version of a city, is a few blocks of strip mall shops, a pub and gas station..

The drive here takes us thru miles of rolling hills, and at one point, we hug the coastal road for a an hour or so. The windy, road, may prove to be nauseating for some, but always scenic. Its reminiscent of the Carmel coast in the U.S, only much less traffic. We stopped by the small town of Thames and had a bite at one of the local cafes. Try the toasted sandwiches and hot chocolate.

There are only a  few hotels here, so I recommend  making reservations if you are coming in the months of Dec. thru Feb, which is high season.  Fortunately, being mid-October,  considered shoulder season, we didn’t have much problem finding good accommodations. If you want to face the water, expect to pay.

The next day, we headed to the most famous site called, Cathedral Cove. – a rock formation with a hole in it, set on a beautiful, isolated beach.  This sight entails a 3-km/return trek to the beach. The grade at times, can be 70 degrees. The footpath,  hugs the coastal hills, and travels thru cow pastures. When scheduling a trip to this Cove, make sure that you arrive before high tide, which, if you miss it it will drown out the hole. High tide varies depending on the season, but its usually arrives in the afternoon.

A short drive from there to  Pihia, the beach where you can dig  your own spa in the sand.. It sounds odd, but you come prepared with a shovel and at a certain tide level, you are allowed to dig into the beach sand to uncover a hot spring, which will become your own bathwater spa.

WAITOMO

75 miles south from the city of Hamilton lies the popular Waitomo, known for its glow worm grotto and caves.  This area essentially contains only a few buildings, which house the tourist companies, a few restaurants, a hotel, a youth hostel, an angora rabbit shop and of course, the caves. Besides the Glow worm caves, this area is popular for Abseiling, which is repelling to you and I.  You may have seen episodes on the ‘Amazing Race and the Eco-challenge’ where people dangled on a robe, suspended 100 feet above the ground, in a dark cave.  This is the best place in New Zealand to try this sport. 

They dress you up like a coal-miner, (hat with light included) add a harness to the outfit and then drive you a few miles to begin your adventure.  My tour outfit, “Downunder Waitomo Tours’ offered a 2-hr repelling trip, just the right duration for a first timer. Other outfits tours were 3 hrs or longer.  If you are afraid of heights, this is a great occasion to finally get over and beyond it.  I almost gave up twice from going thru with the rappel, but my guide’s encouragement  gave me the confidence  to go through with the rappel..  He was right, once at the bottom, I felt a surge of pride in having accomplished this task, now for the vertical climb up…

Another exciting, yet unusual adventure, is called ‘black water rafting’, which is you, in a wetsuit, on a inner tub in a dark cave, paddling around for about 2 hrs. I was told that the actual activity is more exciting in real life than on paper.

ROTORUA

This well-known destination is 1.5 hrs from Waitomo. There is nothing between Waitomo and Rotorua except kilometers of windy roads.  Rotorua is a 2 night stop. You’ll find may tour buses here camped out for the evening, while visitors tour the Geysers, mud-pool, and experience a unique Maora Cultural show and Hangi dinner, which many of the hotels offer their guests. 

There is a plethora of hotels to choose from but I advise choosing one, which is close to the main street, which is Fenton (between Victoria & the Tourist Info Ctr) Here you'll be close to the shops and restaurants which seem to make up most of the downtown.  There are many self-contained units that off a kitchen, pool and outdoor spas. There is a large scenic lake, called Lake Rotorua. This lake is apprx  15 min. walk from the shopping center shopping district.  Here you can choose to take a helicopter or seaplane tour. Its also a famous lake for fishing.

Since Rotorua has a lot of thermal activity, you can expect to find a few thermal reserve spas close by. One which is located in the center of Rotorua , is the Polynesian Spas. This spa offers 8 pools and private hot tubs, as well as a menu of message therapies.  The cost is 15 NZ. 

Hell’s Gate, a destination full of thermal Reserves, Geysers, waterfalls and bubbling mud-pools. Cost is $16Nz. Since its located outside the city, you will need a car or the Hell’s Gate transfer to get there.  This place allows for some terrific snapshots.

TAUPO

If you are fond of the Lake Placid or Vermont settings, then you’ll appreciate the picturesque lakeside town called Taupo. A short 45-min. from Rotorua. A very attractive, town, with a layout that utilizes the central feature, which is the Lake. This a good place to do some shopping and have a lovely meal along the waterfront. If your passing through, then I recommend spending a min. of one night here before traveling on. Expect it to be very busy if majestic mountains surround its Ski season, as the lovely lake as far as the eye can see. There are a lot of choice accommodations, which surround this stunning lake. 

WELLINGTON, Capital city

Since we hadn’t planned to see such an attractive city at Taupo along our self-drive, we didn’t have the time to stay the night. Next time I tell myself.   4 ½ hrs drive south, thru the snow peaked mountain ranges of Taupo, lies Wellington, the second largest city in New Zealand, behind Auckland. This is the capital city and a windy one at that. The city is built along the harbor, and many of the streets, which ascend upwards from the harbor are reminiscent of San Francisco. 

The city center is rich with shopping malls, restaurants and entertainment centers. This is also the point of departure for the inter-island ferry.  There is a road that hugs the harbor is a must, if you have a car. If not, then perhaps a car rental for the day would be ideal. We stayed a hillside hotel, called the Kingsgate Oriental Bay. Request a bar view room and you’ll have unlimited views of the city to your left and the harbor straight ahead.

INTER-ISLAND FERRY FROM NORTH TO SOUTH ISLANDS

The North Island ferry station is only apprx 5 miles from the city ctr. There are rental car drop-off companies located directly outside the ferry entrance. For those that have rented cars from agencies which offer North & south island drop-off/pick-up, this is ideal. In essence you’d only have to pay for yourself to be transferred and the $170 Nz fee for your car. . If you are crossing during peak times (Dec. thru March), its highly recommended you book your ferry transfer in advance. There are two ferries that traverse Cooks Striate.  One is the Lynx ferry, which will take you from one island to the next

NELSON

As we departed the ferry, we headed to the baggage pick-up area. After receiving our bags, the convenient car rental agency, located across the parking lot was our next stop. It took only  a few min. to produce the Toyota Camry we reserved. Fortunately, this car had more trunk space than the Holden Commodore. Since we had an extra passenger and luggage for this stop, this was a great thing.

Nelson is a short 2 hr drive from the ferry station in Picton. On the drive, the ocean is passed on the right side, which made the drive more enjoyable. The city of Nelson is a growing city. There are even many US turned New Zealand citizens setting up house here. It provides perfect ground to grow grapes, therefore there are a lot of wine tours offered in this city.

The city ctr consists of a few streets filled with your typical New Zealand strip mall structures. There is a good variety of restaurants, shops and even a 4 screen movie theater. Many hotels are within close proximity of the ctr area. There are plenty of bars to keep the locals active in the evenings.

Nelson is also the gateway to the lovely Able Tasman National Park offering many water activities and hiking opportunities. We took this opportunity to try our hand at kayaking. I had tried river and lake kayaking but not the ultimate, ocean kayaking.  The kayak itself was unlike the prior two, with skirts attached to keep the ocean waves from ending up in the kayak. There were a few companies on the beach when we got there, however, we had made reservations with one particular company ahead of time as kayaking is scheduled at particular times and kayaks are limited.  Because of the high/low tide effect, in the fall, one needs to return the kayaks by 430pm.

GREYMOUTH

After two lovely nights and a terrific breakfast, we packed up the car, yet again and headed south, touring the West coast. Greymouth is the start/stop of the scenic Trans Alpine train, which departs from Christchurch.  The drive is apprx a 4 hr windy drive from Nelson and 4 ½ hrs from Christchurch.  The drive from Nelson, and provides terrific scenes of the open ocean. The main hotel is the Kingsgate, which is located facing the ocean and one of the few hotels in the city.  There are several motels located further south of the city, which is where we decided to spend the night.

FRANZ JOSEF VILLAGE & GLACIERS

The next morning we prepared to drive to Franz Josef, the location of the ever popular Franz Josef Glaciers.  Franz Josef is 160km/2.5 hrs from Greymouth. When making this drive, prepare to be awed by the spectacular scenery with opportunities to venture down toward the water. There is one tourist site called Pancake Rock that is worth a look. The walk is apprx 30 min. one-way, down to a configuration of rock formations.

The village of Franz Josef is apprx 2 sparse, streets long and extends inland with the majority of hotels located a short distance from the main road. Unfortunately, it was raining the entire days drive, so it it was not possible to take an helicopter rides. There are a few Glacier walks accessibility from the main road. Walks range from 30 min. to several hours. One doesn’t’ have to travel far to see an actual Glacier.

If you have prebooked a helicopter type tour and it is raining, it is possible to either get a refund or postpone it to the following day. I recommend staying one night here or in Fox Glacier to get the full effect of this unique region.

FOX GLACIER

20min. you’ll find the 2^nd most popular glacier, Fox Glacier. The city is more dense than Franz Josef and offers a larger variety of hotels and restaurants. The buildings are located, off the main road and thus offer a more private surroundings.

WANAKA

It was a long days drive from Greymouth to Wanaka, so this is where we decided to rest for the night. This city encompasses the same landscape as Queenstown, a sort of sister city to it. The city encircles a beautiful lake with snow-capped mountains as the back drop. There are several hotels located next to the lake, offering exceptional views from your hotel. I recommend spending the extra money to stay there.

Since this is a much smaller city than Queenstown, and everything is so close to each other, your chances of obtaining a lakefront room are much better. Wanaka  offers all the same activities, that Queenstown does. 

QUEENSTOWN

8-hours from Franz Josef, we find the spectacular city of Queenstown. For the ultimate in scenic attractiveness, this is the most beautiful city in all of New Zealand. The city lies on an expansive lake called Lake Wakatipa  This road leading around this lake,  travels past numerous hotels that have a prime location on or across the street from the Lake. The town compromises of several long blocks of shops, restaurants, coffee houses, internet cafes and several tour operators.

This city is accurately referred to as the ‘adventure capital of the word’. If you know of something thrill-seeking to do, you can bet this Queenstown offers it.  Since it was my birthday when I arrived into the city, and the weather was gorgeous, my courageous friend and I decided to try Tandem Skydiving. We went with the main skydiving outfit in town, called Nzone.  Once a time is scheduled, a bus picks you up and drives you to their permanent skydiving site. After suiting up and meeting my parachutist for the day, we boarded a twin engine plane. We took the most popular jump which was 12000ft. once I was out of the plane, the hard part was over and all that was left was to enjoy the stunning below. If anyone is interested in trying this thrill, I recommend that you try it ONLY in this city, as the scenery on the way down is incomparable.

There have been several thrill seeking originals here, such as the first. Bungy Jump and Shotover river experience. I highly recommend you try one of the other before departing this city.  

Spending 3 nights and days here, especially in the New Zealand summer and spring time are a must! The city is very pedestrian friendly, so a car is not necessary to have here. If you choose a hotel on the water, there are plenty that are at most a 20 min. walk to the city ctr.

CHRISTCHURCH

Our final city was the quaint, garden city of Christchurch, the largest city on the South island. There are many days trips offered from this city, so making it a base is an excellent idea.  The city’s main area is the Square and staying at a hotel, near this Square is idea.

The drive from Queenstown is apprx 7 hrs. thru fairly straight terrain. The drive takes you past Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand. Here you can choose to drive to the Glaciers, crossing to the South island to the west.  We encountered a herd of sheep, with no apparent Shepard leading them.  Since they were not trying to cross the street but run with traffic on the street, it took a good 15 min. for the ‘traffic’ to clear. As you can imagine, the photos opps. Were incredible.

The city of Christchurch is a sprawling city, with the ctr offering much in terms of shopping, hotels and restaurants. This too is a very pedestrian friendly city, which makes having a car a non-necessity. There is no need for a car here either as it offers good transport in the form of Trams – very efficient.  Parking can be a problem and will cost.

Staying at the elegant Heritage hotel (located next to the Millennium hotel) offered us a prime location, right on the Square.   The airport, which has shuttles, from many of the downtown hotels, is apprx 20 min. away.