NZ visit-- North or South island?
 

Hello all,

Just a Yank here taking advantage of those cheap airfares to New Zealand,
with a question about where to go...

I'll be in NZ for 10 days in mid-October and am wondering which island
should get most of my time, North or South. I'll be traveling alone and
enjoy more pastoral and wide-open spaces, so that makes me think the
less-populated South is the better choice. On the other hand, I'm told the
North has prettier scenery-- and that's the island on National Geographic's
list of 50 Places to See Before You Die.

But I wouldn't mind hitting a few cities with fairly lively nightlife too;
I'm 30 and not quite ready for the Golden Age specials yet. Any thoughts?

-Matty

NZ visit-- North or South island?
 

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 15:22:38 GMT, "Matt Kelly"
wrote:


Hello all,

Just a Yank here taking advantage of those cheap airfares to New Zealand,
with a question about where to go...

I'll be in NZ for 10 days in mid-October and am wondering which island
should get most of my time, North or South. I'll be traveling alone and
enjoy more pastoral and wide-open spaces, so that makes me think the
less-populated South is the better choice. On the other hand, I'm told the
North has prettier scenery-- and that's the island on National Geographic's
list of 50 Places to See Before You Die.

But I wouldn't mind hitting a few cities with fairly lively nightlife too;
I'm 30 and not quite ready for the Golden Age specials yet. Any thoughts?

-Matty


Hi Matty,

Check out:

www.purenz.com

www.aaguide.co.nz

If it's wide open spaces, you should definitely forget the North
Island and go to the South Island.

Prettier scenery, there are parts of the NI but again, definitely the
SI is where you want to go!

You may want to check out online, the Marlborough Sounds, whale
watching at Kaikoura, the thermal pools at Hanmer Springs, the West
Coast including the Glaciers, Mt Cook, Queenstown, Doubtful Sound,
Milford Sound for starters.

For an unique Antarctic experience, check out the Antarctic Experience
located next to Christchurch International Airport.

Cath

NZ visit-- North or South island?
 

Hi Matty,

Cath usually has excellent advice, but I have to disagree with her here.
Although I suppose it does depend a little on which part of Yankdom you're
from. If you've travelled much in the Western part, including the Canadian
Rockies, the Yukon, Alaska, or the Pacific NW of the US, then *definitely*
stick to the North Island in New Zealand, for only 10 days.

The SI is well, pretty, but similar to mountain scenery in the western part
of N. America. Except it's *much* smaller, there's not nearly as much of
it, and the mountains are only half the size. If you do go down south, I'd
recommend Dunedin over Christchurch, go see the penguins, and then head to
Central Otago, or the fjords (assuming you don't live in coastal BC or
Alaska).

The NI has plenty of wide open spaces, especially the volcanic parks in the
centre, and in the northeast corner (Gisborne). My personal favourite area
in NZ is Northland, which is also definitely worth seeing, and is uniquely
NZ (e.g. kauri forests). Stay away from "well known tourist spots", e.g.
the Waitomo caves.

As for lively night life ... you obviously haven't been to NZ before!!!

Cheers,

Michael




wrote in message
...
On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 15:22:38 GMT, "Matt Kelly"
wrote:


Hello all,

Just a Yank here taking advantage of those cheap airfares to New Zealand,
with a question about where to go...

I'll be in NZ for 10 days in mid-October and am wondering which island
should get most of my time, North or South. I'll be traveling alone and
enjoy more pastoral and wide-open spaces, so that makes me think the
less-populated South is the better choice. On the other hand, I'm told
the
North has prettier scenery-- and that's the island on National
Geographic's
list of 50 Places to See Before You Die.

But I wouldn't mind hitting a few cities with fairly lively nightlife
too;
I'm 30 and not quite ready for the Golden Age specials yet. Any thoughts?

-Matty


Hi Matty,

Check out:

www.purenz.com

www.aaguide.co.nz

If it's wide open spaces, you should definitely forget the North
Island and go to the South Island.

Prettier scenery, there are parts of the NI but again, definitely the
SI is where you want to go!

You may want to check out online, the Marlborough Sounds, whale
watching at Kaikoura, the thermal pools at Hanmer Springs, the West
Coast including the Glaciers, Mt Cook, Queenstown, Doubtful Sound,
Milford Sound for starters.

For an unique Antarctic experience, check out the Antarctic Experience
located next to Christchurch International Airport.

Cath

NZ visit-- North or South island?
 

SNIP


But I wouldn't mind hitting a few cities with fairly lively nightlife too;
I'm 30 and not quite ready for the Golden Age specials yet. Any thoughts?

-Matty



Try the West Island, and specifically its capital, Sydney.

NZ visit-- North or South island?
 

Hi Matt,

I am from Hong Kong. I have been NZ for 2 months, a backpacking trip there.
I've been on both islands, both are great, and i would say they are both a
must-see place before we die.

Regardless of where you are from, I got some suggestions for u.

For open space, I would recommend the Canterbury Plain on South Island. You
could rent a car (it wont be too expensive as it's still not the peak
season) to enjoy driving around, visiting wherever you wish. The Visitor
Information Centres there are very helpful, with plentiful information and
friendly staff you could almost ask for any information and have anythg
arranged. One activity, maybe quite expensive, is to try the hot-air
ballooning inChristchurch, by that you can actually see the whole canterbury
plain with the snow-caped mountain at the end.

I also suggest you to try the Tranz-Alpine Train Trip, which connects
ChristChurch and Grey Mouth. It is one of the most famous train trip on the
planet, I have done a one day return trip by NZD$99, the scenery on the way
is marvelous. You must go to the open kart for a better feeling, it's cool.

For accomodation, I highly recommend backpacker hostels. You can get a
booklet in every tourist information centre listing all the backpacker
hostels in NZ. There are two to three backpacker's hostel roups but all of
them are good in quality, u can check out the reliable rating of each hostel
in the booklet. Go for a small or middle-sized hostel is always better as
you could really meet some people and collect information while those big
hostels are too lousy and too commercial.

Good luck.

Kin.

"Matt Kelly" ¦b¶l¥ó
news:2bFab.520620$o%2.227038@sccrnsc02 ¤¤¼¶¼g...

Hello all,

Just a Yank here taking advantage of those cheap airfares to New Zealand,
with a question about where to go...

I'll be in NZ for 10 days in mid-October and am wondering which island
should get most of my time, North or South. I'll be traveling alone and
enjoy more pastoral and wide-open spaces, so that makes me think the
less-populated South is the better choice. On the other hand, I'm told the
North has prettier scenery-- and that's the island on National
Geographic's
list of 50 Places to See Before You Die.

But I wouldn't mind hitting a few cities with fairly lively nightlife too;
I'm 30 and not quite ready for the Golden Age specials yet. Any thoughts?

-Matty

NZ visit-- North or South island?
 

Matt Kelly wrote:

On the other hand, I'm told the North has prettier scenery-- and that's
the island on National Geographic's list of 50 Places to See Before You
Die.

I think the South Island wins on scenery, and that's #4 on the BBC list of
50 Places to See Before You Die.

Do you have a URL for the National Geographic list?