Drive in South Island

I am planned to go to South Island next February for 5-6 days. Due to the
short duration, I will fly directly to Queenstown and out from Christchurch.

Any advice or suggestions for the following :

1) reasonable rented car companies, without one way drop off charge.
2) suggest driving route to cover Milford Sound, West coast (Fox Glacier,
FJ), Mt cook and Christchurch.
My draft itinerary:
Queenstown - Milford
Queenstown - Franz or Gleymouth
Franz or Gleymouth - Christchurch
Christchurch - Mt cook
Mt-Cook- Christchurch

3) suggest night stay and accommodation
4) any pre-booking of hotel is required during that period
5) I come with 2 kids, 10 and 6 each. Any family and fun activities, other
than the adventurous one.

I believe that the day time will last until 8-9 pm. Is it true?

Many thanks,
Victor

I would suggest you arrive and depart from Christchurch and drive or
take the train to the West Coast then drive down to Quenstown via the
Haast Pass. Fly to Milford and back to Queenstown then drive back to
Christchurch via Mt Cook. There may even be bus trips covering that
route which would free you up to enjoy the wonderful scenery & perhaps
someone can suggest options in this area.

Thats the way I would do it though things have changed a lot since I
lived in the area 40 years ago and others may have different suggestions

In article , Victor says...
I am planned to go to South Island next February for 5-6 days. Due to the
short duration, I will fly directly to Queenstown and out from Christchurch.

Any advice or suggestions for the following :

1) reasonable rented car companies, without one way drop off charge.
2) suggest driving route to cover Milford Sound, West coast (Fox Glacier,
FJ), Mt cook and Christchurch.
My draft itinerary:
Queenstown - Milford
Queenstown - Franz or Gleymouth
Franz or Gleymouth - Christchurch
Christchurch - Mt cook
Mt-Cook- Christchurch

3) suggest night stay and accommodation
4) any pre-booking of hotel is required during that period
5) I come with 2 kids, 10 and 6 each. Any family and fun activities, other
than the adventurous one.

That's a lot of driving with two kids in the back! You're a brave man.

May I suggest that you book one of the 4-berth cabins on the Milford
Wanderer? It's fairly spartan accommodation, but you get two cruises
(evening and morning), dinner and breakfast, a night's accommodation and
the best part is that you don't have to go haring back to Queenstown
along with all the big tourist buses on a narrow winding road.

The rest of it sounds doable, but you are going to need a holiday when
you finish. All the roads you mention are two lane (one each way),
winding and often on steep grades. Not freeways or interstates. Some
awesome scenery, but I don't know how much the kids will appreciate
this.

I believe that the day time will last until 8-9 pm. Is it true?

In February? It will be changing very swiftly but yeah, you'll get a
reasonable amount of daylight. Mind you, a lot of this is due to
daylight saving, so the evening light is borrowed from the morning.

Cheers, Peter

In article , Victor says...
I am planned to go to South Island next February for 5-6 days. Due to the
short duration, I will fly directly to Queenstown and out from Christchurch.

Any advice or suggestions for the following :

1) reasonable rented car companies, without one way drop off charge.
2) suggest driving route to cover Milford Sound, West coast (Fox Glacier,
FJ), Mt cook and Christchurch.
My draft itinerary:
Queenstown - Milford
Queenstown - Franz or Gleymouth
Franz or Gleymouth - Christchurch
Christchurch - Mt cook
Mt-Cook- Christchurch

3) suggest night stay and accommodation
4) any pre-booking of hotel is required during that period
5) I come with 2 kids, 10 and 6 each. Any family and fun activities, other
than the adventurous one.

That's a lot of driving with two kids in the back! You're a brave man.

May I suggest that you book one of the 4-berth cabins on the Milford
Wanderer? It's fairly spartan accommodation, but you get two cruises
(evening and morning), dinner and breakfast, a night's accommodation and
the best part is that you don't have to go haring back to Queenstown
along with all the big tourist buses on a narrow winding road.

The rest of it sounds doable, but you are going to need a holiday when
you finish. All the roads you mention are two lane (one each way),
winding and often on steep grades. Not freeways or interstates. Some
awesome scenery, but I don't know how much the kids will appreciate
this.

I believe that the day time will last until 8-9 pm. Is it true?

In February? It will be changing very swiftly but yeah, you'll get a
reasonable amount of daylight. Mind you, a lot of this is due to
daylight saving, so the evening light is borrowed from the morning.

Cheers, Peter

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 00:25:25 +0800, in message
, Victor wrote:

I am planned to go to South Island next February for 5-6 days. Due to the
short duration, I will fly directly to Queenstown and out from Christchurch.

Any advice or suggestions for the following :

2) suggest driving route to cover Milford Sound, West coast (Fox Glacier,
FJ), Mt cook and Christchurch.
My draft itinerary:
Queenstown - Milford
Queenstown - Franz or Gleymouth
Franz or Gleymouth - Christchurch
Christchurch - Mt cook
Mt-Cook- Christchurch

I suggest you check out the driving times he
http://www.accommodationz.co.nz/distances.html

Queenstown - Milford Sound is a total of 8½ hours solid driving
(4¼ hours each way). That is before you add time for stopping on
the way, taking a walk or boat cruise at Milford Sound, doing any
family and fun activities. That could be rather long with 2 kids
in tow.


5) I come with 2 kids, 10 and 6 each. Any family and fun activities, other
than the adventurous one.

I believe that the day time will last until 8-9 pm. Is it true?

In February, yes, more or less. See http://www.rasnz.org.nz/SRSStimes.htm


--
Cheers,
Ralph

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 00:25:25 +0800, in message
, Victor wrote:

I am planned to go to South Island next February for 5-6 days. Due to the
short duration, I will fly directly to Queenstown and out from Christchurch.

Any advice or suggestions for the following :

2) suggest driving route to cover Milford Sound, West coast (Fox Glacier,
FJ), Mt cook and Christchurch.
My draft itinerary:
Queenstown - Milford
Queenstown - Franz or Gleymouth
Franz or Gleymouth - Christchurch
Christchurch - Mt cook
Mt-Cook- Christchurch

I suggest you check out the driving times he
http://www.accommodationz.co.nz/distances.html

Queenstown - Milford Sound is a total of 8½ hours solid driving
(4¼ hours each way). That is before you add time for stopping on
the way, taking a walk or boat cruise at Milford Sound, doing any
family and fun activities. That could be rather long with 2 kids
in tow.


5) I come with 2 kids, 10 and 6 each. Any family and fun activities, other
than the adventurous one.

I believe that the day time will last until 8-9 pm. Is it true?

In February, yes, more or less. See http://www.rasnz.org.nz/SRSStimes.htm


--
Cheers,
Ralph

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

in article , Victor at
wrote on 22/11/04 5:25 AM:

I am planned to go to South Island next February for 5-6 days. Due to the
short duration, I will fly directly to Queenstown and out from Christchurch.

Any advice or suggestions for the following :

1) reasonable rented car companies, without one way drop off charge.
2) suggest driving route to cover Milford Sound, West coast (Fox Glacier,
FJ), Mt cook and Christchurch.
My draft itinerary:
Queenstown - Milford
Queenstown - Franz or Gleymouth
Franz or Gleymouth - Christchurch
Christchurch - Mt cook
Mt-Cook- Christchurch

Mount Cook is in fact a 4 hour backtrack - half way to Queenstown. You have
not allowed any time at all in Queenstown. I would definitely allow a full
day for adventurous activities in Queenstown & perhaps take a tour to
Milford on Day 2 so you don't have to do all the driving while looking at
the scenery!

Day 3 don't attempt to drive any further than Fox or Franz Josef - that is
about 5 hours if you don't stop for short walks or photos along the way.
Take the kids to Puzzling World in Wanaka too! At Fox Glacier do the lake
Matheson walk to the "View-of-views" if the sky is clear.

Day 4 you'll have time for an early morning hike on the glacier (pre booking
required at that time of year) and then a 5 hr drive to Chch in the
afternoon. Hokitika is worth a brief stop, esp if your kids are girls -
great jewelry shops (local specialties are jade/pounamu and gold and paua
shell)

Day 5 instead of Mt Cook go to Akaroa & see the dolphins (only 3hrs driving
round trip) or spend the day in Chch - check out the Antarctic Centre or the
Maori Culture & kiwi etc at Willowbank Wildlife Park.

Have a great time

Vicki

Thank you for all your invaluable comments.

I need to adjust my itinerary, as most of you pointed out clearly that the
kids may find it boring. For only 5-6 days, if I need to choose between

1) Queenstown thru Mt Cook to Christchurch
2) Queenstown thru west coast to Christchurch

which one has more scenery and need to go once in my life.

Kindly provide me more practical information.

Many thanks,
Victor

ps. just back to square one, is South Island better than Norht Island?




"vicki Steven" wrote in message
.. .
in article , Victor at

wrote on 22/11/04 5:25 AM:

I am planned to go to South Island next February for 5-6 days. Due to the
short duration, I will fly directly to Queenstown and out from
Christchurch.

Any advice or suggestions for the following :

1) reasonable rented car companies, without one way drop off charge.
2) suggest driving route to cover Milford Sound, West coast (Fox Glacier,
FJ), Mt cook and Christchurch.
My draft itinerary:
Queenstown - Milford
Queenstown - Franz or Gleymouth
Franz or Gleymouth - Christchurch
Christchurch - Mt cook
Mt-Cook- Christchurch

Mount Cook is in fact a 4 hour backtrack - half way to Queenstown. You
have
not allowed any time at all in Queenstown. I would definitely allow a
full
day for adventurous activities in Queenstown & perhaps take a tour to
Milford on Day 2 so you don't have to do all the driving while looking at
the scenery!

Day 3 don't attempt to drive any further than Fox or Franz Josef - that is
about 5 hours if you don't stop for short walks or photos along the way.
Take the kids to Puzzling World in Wanaka too! At Fox Glacier do the lake
Matheson walk to the "View-of-views" if the sky is clear.

Day 4 you'll have time for an early morning hike on the glacier (pre
booking
required at that time of year) and then a 5 hr drive to Chch in the
afternoon. Hokitika is worth a brief stop, esp if your kids are girls -
great jewelry shops (local specialties are jade/pounamu and gold and paua
shell)

Day 5 instead of Mt Cook go to Akaroa & see the dolphins (only 3hrs
driving
round trip) or spend the day in Chch - check out the Antarctic Centre or
the
Maori Culture & kiwi etc at Willowbank Wildlife Park.

Have a great time

Vicki

Thank you for all your invaluable comments.

I need to adjust my itinerary, as most of you pointed out clearly that the
kids may find it boring. For only 5-6 days, if I need to choose between

1) Queenstown thru Mt Cook to Christchurch
2) Queenstown thru west coast to Christchurch

which one has more scenery and need to go once in my life.

Kindly provide me more practical information.

Many thanks,
Victor

ps. just back to square one, is South Island better than Norht Island?




"vicki Steven" wrote in message
.. .
in article , Victor at

wrote on 22/11/04 5:25 AM:

I am planned to go to South Island next February for 5-6 days. Due to the
short duration, I will fly directly to Queenstown and out from
Christchurch.

Any advice or suggestions for the following :

1) reasonable rented car companies, without one way drop off charge.
2) suggest driving route to cover Milford Sound, West coast (Fox Glacier,
FJ), Mt cook and Christchurch.
My draft itinerary:
Queenstown - Milford
Queenstown - Franz or Gleymouth
Franz or Gleymouth - Christchurch
Christchurch - Mt cook
Mt-Cook- Christchurch

Mount Cook is in fact a 4 hour backtrack - half way to Queenstown. You
have
not allowed any time at all in Queenstown. I would definitely allow a
full
day for adventurous activities in Queenstown & perhaps take a tour to
Milford on Day 2 so you don't have to do all the driving while looking at
the scenery!

Day 3 don't attempt to drive any further than Fox or Franz Josef - that is
about 5 hours if you don't stop for short walks or photos along the way.
Take the kids to Puzzling World in Wanaka too! At Fox Glacier do the lake
Matheson walk to the "View-of-views" if the sky is clear.

Day 4 you'll have time for an early morning hike on the glacier (pre
booking
required at that time of year) and then a 5 hr drive to Chch in the
afternoon. Hokitika is worth a brief stop, esp if your kids are girls -
great jewelry shops (local specialties are jade/pounamu and gold and paua
shell)

Day 5 instead of Mt Cook go to Akaroa & see the dolphins (only 3hrs
driving
round trip) or spend the day in Chch - check out the Antarctic Centre or
the
Maori Culture & kiwi etc at Willowbank Wildlife Park.

Have a great time

Vicki

Victor wrote:
Thank you for all your invaluable comments.

I need to adjust my itinerary, as most of you pointed out clearly that the
kids may find it boring. For only 5-6 days, if I need to choose between

1) Queenstown thru Mt Cook to Christchurch
2) Queenstown thru west coast to Christchurch

which one has more scenery and need to go once in my life.

Via west coast is definitely the more scenic route - don't miss it.

BTW if you really want to go to Mt Cook you can fly there by light plane
from Franz Joseph.

--
Burn the land and boil the sea,
You can't take the sky from me.