Need suggestions for Australia/New Zealand!

[jtf914]

My wife and I are planning on spending about 3 weeks next year in New Zealand and Australia. I'm looking for suggestions on where we should visit, or what we should try and do while we are there.

We are flying into Christchurch, and after travel time we should have about 12 days in NZ. We are not planning on staying in any one place while in NZ; we thought we would travel around. Then we fly to Sydney for another 6 days.

We are pretty active so hiking, biking, swimming, vineyards, breweries etc... . Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Justin

[Adam]

Hey Justin,

I hear NZ is a great place for skiing, hiking and adventure sports. I am not really much of a help when it comes to Sydney, though. It's modern, large and sunny, but I haven't been there for some years.

There are some Sydney Pelicans around, drop them a line and join in on a PCA event or something. You'll love how far your dollar stretches with our shyte exchange rate.

[J1NX3D]

The tourism industry here in NZ is really into adventure. Christchurch- the garden city(where im heading this weekend) is great for skiing, markets, architecture, nitelife. Bluff is famous for its oysters. Queenstown is a skiiers haven and has white water rafting and bungy jumping. Kaikoura has a seal colony and whale watching (where u jump on a boat and go out to them) and diving for crayfish. Blenheim and Hawkes Bay (Hastings, napier, Gisbourne) are renowned world wide for their fine wines (vineyard / brewery tours and a chocolate factory). Taupo has its world famous Hole in One out in the lake plus trout fishing and water skiing, hot springs and bungy jumping. Hamner Springs has thermal pools. Wellington as the muesum of NZ (called Te Papa) and a motorised swing ride that takes up a whole valley. Theres the Ruapehu skiifields in central north island which are a must. Rotorua is a thermological centre of NZ and has a huge adventure theme park. Auckland is a huge metropolis with awesum surf beaches. Hamilton has huge gardens and attractions on the Waikato river. If u reply to this with dates I'll find out sum local attractions the Porsche Club of NZ for u too, u might get to see the fastest porsche in NZ---> http://www.williams.co.nz/bigcat.htm

[neil.home]

Excellent mountain biking in NZ. Usually in forests, but depends where you are. Purpose built, mountain bike only trails in Rotorua, Taupo, Kawerau and Auckland (35mins from the city) to name a few. Good bikes can be hired from many bike shops, plus there are organised trips/guides etc.

It is a small country, but quite a big place to get around, if you know what I mean, so with 12 days you do not want to do too much travelling, so as you are arriving in Christchurch, I suggest you spend most/all your time in the South Island. Very beautiful place. Plus as stated above, you can get all the adventure stuff, plus vineyards (Malborough), mountains, world heritage park (Fiordland), glaciers (Fox and Franz Joesph) West coast sth island.

You could fly up to Rotorua, interesting place if you like geothermal activity.

Have fun, I would rather be there than sitting here in Bangkok, but that is what happens when you are a refugee, economic refugee that is

cheers

Neil

90C4 (in NZ)

[jtf914]

Thanks for all the information everyone! Perfect timing, since we are going to try and plan our route this weekend. I found some great travel websites for NZ:

http://www.newzealand-escape.com/
http://www.leadingattractions.co.nz/index.htm

Thanks Again,

Justin