Our second visit to New Zealand was for just over three weeks in November/December 2024.
We flew with Qatar, changing at Doha for a direct flight to Auckland. At Auckland we changed airports and caught an internal flight to Queenstown. The ticket on Jetstar was around £80 each. If we had booked a ticket from the UK to Queenstown it cost about £500 more each, and even playing safe with a four-hour connection in Auckland, the journey time was longer.
We had contacted the motel in Queenstown and arranged an early (11:00) check in. So were able to freshen up and get changed. The weather was abysmal it was raining heavily and it was colder than the UK. We spent the first couple of days getting over the jetlag. On the third day we picked up the car in town as opposed to the airport. The Uber from the airport was much less than two days car hire.
The weather spoiled our plans again, and closed the road up the West Coast to the glaciers. We changed plans to have two days in Wanaka and two days in Tekapo.
These four days ended up as real highlights of the holiday. We went on a jet boat in Wanaka, going around 30 miles into the Mount Aspiring national park, spent a day in the Haast Valley, had a walk round the Clay Cliffs, went on a helicopter flight from Glentanner over Mount Cook and four glaciers, walked the Hooker Valley Trail, saw the lupins and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Tekapo. And it was the best weather on the South Island. The only downside was a long drive from Tekapo to Arthurs Pass.
Before the trip I had spent a lot of time online looking for stops along our route, there are a lot of blogs with recommendations, and the Department of Conservation was excellent for maps. We ended up spending a day in both the Haarst Valley and Arthurs Pass. There were so many short walks, viewpoints and waterfalls all close to the road.
Then onto the West Coast, from Arthurs Pass. The weather on the coast was again iffy, but improved as we went inland. The Pancake Rocks at sunset were stunning. Nelson Lakes were a really nice stop. Abel Tasman was one of my favourite places, as it was so unspoiled, and as there was only limited access by boat there were few people about. I wasn’t feeling great so can’t give a fair view on Nelson. Nelson to Picton via the Queen Charlotte Drive and the ferry through the Marlborough Sound felt like viewing the same scenery from land and sea.
Although we were staying in Rotorua we decided to fly from Wellington to Hamilton. It was cheaper and more convenient, especially as we could visit Hobbiton on the way to Rotorua. Rotorua did not disappoint. We had some great weather and the geo-thermals were stunning.
We stopped in Taupo, but didn’t see much because of the rain.
Whakapapa and the National Park were beautiful. The walks were fabulous, the sunrises extraordinary. There was little to “do”, but a lot to see.
We had a few issues with rain. On the way to Taupo we missed out a couple of places we were considering visiting. The worst rain of the holiday was in Hamilton, it was so bad we skipped visiting the gardens.
At the end it was a straightforward drive to Auckland airport from Hamilton.
