[quote=

To be honest you're wasting your time going to NZ for only a week.


You would be better off getting a hire car and spending the week in
the South Island only.
[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure when you're leaving or if you've already left, but I disagree that you're wasting your time going to NZ for a week. I went to NZ for a week last year when I was on a working holiday in Australia and had a fabulous time. I would have liked to have stayed a few weeks to a month, but I was working and couldn't leave that long.

We went to the north island--arrived in Auckland, took a bus to Rotorua and saw all of the thermal activity, geyser, etc. there. Very cool. Then we went to Waitomo Caves where we went cave tubing and saw the glow worms.

Then we took the bus back to Auckland--personally, it's not that exciting of a city--did the Skytower and all that jazz. But my favorite part of the trip was Waiheke Island. We took a ferry over there from Auckland for the day and then did a wine tour. It was gorgeous. I highly recommend going over there if you're in the Auckland area.

I can't say much about the south island since I haven't been there, but it does apparently have more unique and interesting scenery, so if you can only select one, you may want to go there. I would have gone to the south island, but I was meeting a friend in Auckland so I didn't have a choice.

But I still had a fabulous time on the north island. Just pick one or the other. You won't have time to do both in a week.