New Zealand Travel Forum

other than my relations, can anyone reccomend some cool places to visit in NZ, I'll have 3 weeks to travel from the south island to the North and would like to take in as much as possible. I'm interested in photography and maybe a bungee jump or two.

many thanks :)

Hi Ade.
Well, where to begin? Try www.purenz.com and www.aaguides.co.nz for some ideas. March is probably to best month to travel as the weather is usually settled and the kids are back in school.
South Island: Abel Tasman National Park, Kaikoura, Christchurch, Mt Cook, Queenstown and Milford Sounds are the pick of places to go. Bungy at Queenstown.
North Island: Bay of Islands, Coromandel Peninsula, Waitomo Caves, Rotorua, Taupo and Tongariro National Park are my picks. Tandem skydive in Taupo - I have! See my homepage.
Depending on how much travelling you wish to do, you could see all the above places in 3 weeks (just!).
If you'd like a bit more info, let me know, or just surf around the websites I mentioned.
cheers
Roger

Hi Ade.
Well, where to begin? Try www.purenz.com and www.aaguides.co.nz for some ideas. March is probably to best month to travel as the weather is usually settled and the kids are back in school.
South Island: Abel Tasman National Park, Kaikoura, Christchurch, Mt Cook, Queenstown and Milford Sounds are the pick of places to go. Bungy at Queenstown.
North Island: Bay of Islands, Coromandel Peninsula, Waitomo Caves, Rotorua, Taupo and Tongariro National Park are my picks. Tandem skydive in Taupo - I have! See my homepage.
Depending on how much travelling you wish to do, you could see all the above places in 3 weeks (just!).
If you'd like a bit more info, let me know, or just surf around the websites I mentioned.
cheers
Roger

Hi Ade.
Well, where to begin? Try www.purenz.com and www.aaguides.co.nz for some ideas. March is probably to best month to travel as the weather is usually settled and the kids are back in school.
South Island: Abel Tasman National Park, Kaikoura, Christchurch, Mt Cook, Queenstown and Milford Sounds are the pick of places to go. Bungy at Queenstown.
North Island: Bay of Islands, Coromandel Peninsula, Waitomo Caves, Rotorua, Taupo and Tongariro National Park are my picks. Tandem skydive in Taupo - I have! See my homepage.
Depending on how much travelling you wish to do, you could see all the above places in 3 weeks (just!).
If you'd like a bit more info, let me know, or just surf around the websites I mentioned.
cheers
Roger

Hi Ade.
Well, where to begin? Try www.purenz.com and www.aaguides.co.nz for some ideas. March is probably to best month to travel as the weather is usually settled and the kids are back in school.
South Island: Abel Tasman National Park, Kaikoura, Christchurch, Mt Cook, Queenstown and Milford Sounds are the pick of places to go. Bungy at Queenstown.
North Island: Bay of Islands, Coromandel Peninsula, Waitomo Caves, Rotorua, Taupo and Tongariro National Park are my picks. Tandem skydive
in Taupo - I have! See my homepage.
Depending on how much travelling you wish to do, you could see all the above places in 3 weeks (just!).
If you'd like a bit more info, let me know, or just surf around the websites I mentioned. The Pure NZ site includes sample itineraries to check out.
cheers
Roger

wooo!!!! ha ha it actually gave me 4 replies in the end :)

thanks again :)

for bungee - head to queenstown - they have several site where u can bungy ! i think it's a thrill enough for me to just watch !

check the glasiers in west coast in the south island.

milford sound / doubtful sound which is suppose to be lovely too but i did not get the change to head that way.

mount cook is a lovely place to visit - the drive up and down was good enough to spend some days just exploring the place with various trecks.

chch is a nice city to explore too.

bungee jump - head to queenstown. there are several site there with different heights !
i just had the thrill of watching which was good enough for me...

check the glasiers out along the west coast of the south island - franz josef / fox glasiers.

mount cook a lovely place to spend some days exploring the treks.

chch is a lovely city to stay for a few days.

kaikoura is a nice small town for a day or two.

cool, thanks for the tips! :)

Hi
some of my hot spots (three times visit to NZ)
South Island:
- Dunedin and the peninsula,
- West Coast - pancake rocks
- Abel Tasman National Park and Golden Bay
- Marlborough Sounds
- Christchurch

North Island
- Wellington
- Cape Palliser
- Napier
- East Cape
- Togariro National Park
- White Island
- Coromandel - Cathedral Cove
- Northland/Bay of Islands/kauri's/Cape Reiga
- Auckland

Have fun

Jaap

thanks, I'll look those places up :)

Hi!!
I've been living in NZ for a while, travelled for 1 1/2 months, and I just came back to my country a week ago...So, if you only have three weeks you won´t have enough time to visit all these places mentioned before. I would recommend:
North Island:
-Waitomo caves,
Rotorua / Taupo,
Tongariro
coromandel
northland, if you have time, it takes a long time to drive up there, but you can see the biggest alive Kauri Tree in NZ, the "Tane Mahuta" in Waipoua Forest, west coast, going north, 15 - 20 min.after dargaville.

- South Island: Kaikoura,
Hanmer Springs,
Lake Tekapo (Pic Place),
Duniden/Otago peninsula (you can see penguins here, but also in Oamaru, a town between Chch and Duniden)
Doubtful Sound (you can do a tour with "Real Journeys", this is more expensive than Milford Sound but more impressive)
Queenstown: bungy out of queenst on your way to Wanaka, you will see a sign on your left on the road that indicates the original bungy bridge where all started...also, a must do in queenst is the "Shotover Jet", really worth it...
Up north from queenst you find the glaciers. The trip from wanaka to the glaciers, from the point where you get to the coast, is really beautiful, so do it during the day so that you can enjoy it...and take pics!
If you want to do a glacier walk, I recommend to book in advance, as it is always full, even in winter.The glaciers are Fox Glacier and Franz Josef.
After this, if you continue up north you find the "pancakes"that someone mentioned...they are in a town calles Punakaiki, if I remember right...It is beautiful, but not a "must see", I think...Finally, I think you should go to the abel tasman National Park. If you can, do a kayak trip, or just a walking trip. The "door" to the NAtional park is in a town called Marahau, where there is a place where some artists make sculptures carved in wood, and you can see them for free (they ask for gold coin donation...). That place is really inpressive.

Well, I hope I helped somehow

Enjoy NZ...and take a raincoat with you!!

thanks alot, great info :)

Whilst this isn't quite a bungee jump, I can definitely recommend the SkyJump in Auckland. It is a base jump off the Sky Tower there. See http://www.skyjump.co.nz/skyjump.html

I've never seen anything similar to it anywhere else (that is accessible to the general public) which was at least one of my incentives for doing it whilst I was in NZ.

cool :) cheers for that :)

hello, yip all of the above and for a relaxing day trip from christchurch, go up to hanmer springs-relax in hot pools all day, go on some nice walks through the forest, or go horse riding, and theres also a bungy jump nearby. Have fun!

Anoushka

thanks, sounds nice :)

ps I'm from Christchurch so if you need any tips-cool restaurants,cafes,bars,live music venues, beaches, markets, bone carving and greenstone centres, sightseeing, shopping,etc etc drop me a line.

Anoushka

cool :) thanks