South Island Trip Accommodation all booked!

Booked the following accommodation, Heritage + Backpackers.  But the backpackers are all listed as "Beds fully made" which means duvets and everything included.  So we probably don't need to take our sleeping bags (I'm not) although I may bring a pillow sheet.  Also, all the rooms I have requested are 4 people rooms so we should be getting them all to ourselves! ie not your typical dorm room backpackers.


Fox Glacier
1 night
Fox Glacier Inn
$25pp

Queenstown
2 nights
Heritage (courtesy of Nancy)
 $27.5 x 2 = $55pp

Te Anau PAID

1 night
Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park
$27pp

Dunedin
2 nights
Manor House
$24 x 2 = $48pp

Christchurch
2 nights
Heritage (courtesy of Nancy)
$27.5 x 2 = $55pp


Total comes around to $210 for 8 nights. 

I have only paid for Te Anau thus far, and we can pay for the others when we get there.

Itinerary version 3 - Google Calendar view

Guys, I have created a calendar for us all to share, send me an email or txt with your Gmail and I will share it with you, (I will give you edit rights)

This is following discussions we had last night (over Momo Tea :P)  and further refining and combining our original itinerary with the one recomended by Jono's colleague.  Click on the images for a larger view.

The main changes are:

• Driving out on the first day
• Staying near Fox Glaciers instead of Westport
• Not driving up to Nelson
• Driving to Te Anau and Fiordlands
• Being in Dunedin/Christchurch on a weekday to go to Cadbury factory and Cookie Time factory
  

Itinerary in map form

Here’s the itinerary from my previous post, but in google map form. I couldn’t be bothered changed the ‘A’ and ‘B’s, but I’m sure you

can work it out.

Day 2: travel to fox glacier and stay the night there.

Day 3,4: Wanaka

Day 5: Queenstown (but stay in Wanaka) – there are two options: either via crown range, or cromwell

Days 6,7: Stay in Te Anau and visit the fiordlands.

Day 8: Dunedin via the bluff.

Day 9: Mt Cook

Day 10: Home!!!!

Confirmed Bookings

Flights booked: PAID

Auckland to Christchurch
NZ0501 (Air New Zealand)
6:50am Departure
8:10am Arrival
$69 pp
3 People

Christchurch to Auckland
JQ254 (JetStar)
5:40pm Departure
7:00pm Arrival
$101 pp
4 people


Total flight cost: $170
Car Rental from http://www.yourwaycarrental.co.nz/
Not Paid - Pay there

Your rental information:
Pickup Location:	Christchurch
Pickup Date:	2 January 2010 at 8:30 a.m.
Dropoff Location:	Christchurch
Dropoff Date:	10 January 2010 at 4:30 a.m.
Rental Car:	Full Size Rental Car at $51.00 per day
Length of Rental:	8 days
Accessories:	Additional Driver After Hours Drop Off
Insurance:	Excess Reduction
Your rental comes with: Free Road Maps Free airport transfers from Auckland Airport and Christchurch Airport terminals (8am – 5pm 7 Days) Free 24 Hour AA Roadside Assistance Total Price: $555.00

Works out to be $150 pp + Petrol


so total transport costs: $320 + Petrol

Travel research

Hey guys,

It occurred to me today that my morkmate is from chch. I've had a chat with him, and he gave me a run down of what he would recommend for a 10 day trip. opps.. just realised it's not a 10 day trip. haha. I got confused with 10th jan.

He drew a map for me (I'll post it up later). Essentially it goes as follows:

day 1: akl to chch. Spend day in chch.
day 2: Fox Glaciers
day 3: Wanaka ( various puzzles, mazes, beaches/lakes)
day4: Wanaka ( various puzzles, mazes, beaches/lakes)
day 5: Queenstown (but stay in Wanaka. Do the gondolas. Can walk up and potentially take the gondola down fro freeee!)
day 6:Te Anau
day 7:Te Anau (Fiordland national park.. very beautiful.)
day 8:Dunedin (via bluff, catlan beaches etc) stuff to do incl penguin colony, university, beaches.
day 9:Mt Cook - the road between dunedin and mt cook is amazing. Good Orchards.
day 10: Fly back to Auckland from chch.

This doesn't take us to the north part of the south island, but he said he would recommend that we do that on a separate, dedicated trip. What do you guys think?

Nancy's Fancy Ideas

Hi Guys & Gals,

Just wanted to let you know I found a cheaper flight for you on jetstar its either 5.40pm or 10.25pm flight but its $91. Also I've already told Jono and Ed about a cheap car rental place I found on the internet which is yourway.co.nz I've managed to get a rental for $46 a day! since you'll be coming in and out of Christchurch cos thats the only place they are in the South island, they provide free shuttle service to and from the airport as well.

In terms of accommodation I can help out in Queenstown, Christchurch and Nelson if you like, I can try get friends rate which is $110 but not sure if thats over your budget or not....

Oh and Queenstown you should go on the luge! so much fun! :)

South Island Itinerary 2nd Draft

Heres the current breakdown of travel times and costs:

Please, I encourage all of you to post ideas for each individual town or stops we can make :)

Flight: $180 return

Car Rental: $250

Petrol: $25

Total: $455

2 Jan
6:50am Flight from Auckland to Christchurch - $59
Edmund, Kathy, Gen
-Jono to meet us there

Rent a car approx $100 per day + petrol $10per day

PS I will try to get cheap car rental, may go down as low as $70 per day, which equates to $175 pp

3 Jan

Drive Christchurch to Dunedin - 5 and 1/2 hours

Will reach Dunedin in the early afternoon
If we come here on a Sunday, is the Cadbury factory open? maybe not aye?


4 Jan

Drive Dunedin to Invercargill - 3 hours

Drive Invercargill to Bluff and back - 3 hours (1 hour drive each way)

Drive Invercargill to Queenstown- 2 and 1/2 hours

Theres probably not much to do in Invercargill, and we can do a bit more driving to get 2 nights in Queenstown instead.  (and we make it back to Christchurch in the end)

Bluff Oysters

5 Jan
Queenstown

6 Jan
Queenstown

7 Jan

Drive Queenstown to Greymouth - 7 hours or Drive Queenstown to Westport - 8 and 1/2 hours 

Bear in mind it could take longer since this is the awesome West Coast Drive through Fox Glacier.  Will be stopping for photos etc. So I guess we can decide which town to stay depending on accomodation.

8 Jan

Drive Greymouth to Nelson - 4-5 hours

We can travel around the Malbrough Sounds area and Picton?

9 Jan

Drive Nelson to Hanmer Springs - 4 hours through the mountains or 5 hours along SH1 (east coast)

According to Nancy this is like a mini Queenstown.  Could be good to relax here

10 Jan

Drive Hanmer Springs to Christchurch - 2hours

Can rest up some more in Hanmer, or last minute sights in CHC, then afternoon or evening flight.

Flight CHC to AKL $120
Ed, Jono, Kathy, Jono

Westport accomodation ideas

Visual motivation:

Eating Pancakes at Pancake Rock

Accomodation:
Uhm, I'm not too fussed about accomo aye. I thought I'd say sth since I'm the only non-working chap - so just to let y'all know: I'm not fussed about splashing out for comfort (and Bacon/Egg breakfasts!)
nor am I fussed about backpackers either (Cos you MEET incredibly interesting ppl at backpackers!) I just go with the flow..

Some Westport accomo options...

1) http://www.oldslaughterhouse.co.nz/
Some sorta backpacker house?: (looks/sounds interesting/homely ^_^)

2) http://www.bullerbridgemotel.co.nz/ Motel: Gasp, so scenic!

3) http://www.havenlee.co.nz/home.htm Bed and Breakfast (Bacon and Egg breakfast?)

^_^

Southern Lake Tours

Check out this website: Southern Lake Tours.  Pictures look real nice

Christchurch Ticket Prices

Fly to Christchurch, drive down south, then back up

Let me know what you think of this.

Fly down to Christchurch 2nd Jan.  Spend a night or two there.

Christchurch is the biggest city, and I hear there are lots of nice buildings to look at.

Its a good idea to fly to and from here as it will be the cheapest!

Drive down to Dunedin. 5 and a half hours drive.  Spend 1 night there.

Check out the university, visit friends, anything else?

Drive down to Invercargill.  2 hours 50 minutes.  Stay for 1 night?

Whats there to do here??

Same day we should drive down to the Bluff, the southern most point of NZ.  Hope its as good as Cape Reinga!  Its just half an hour away.

Drive up to Queenstown!  Drive 2 hours and 30 min.  Stay 1 or 2 nights.

Do we have any ski or snowboarders?

I'm keen to check out the national parks.  Maybe go for a tramp?

Next, a long drive to Greymouth, along the marvelous West Coast of the South Island.  Google Maps says it will take 7 hours, it may take us more if we are scenic drivers.

This is still up for consideration but I hear its good.

Will need to stay the night there after the long drive.

And if we want to go right to the top, we head up to Westport, again another beautiful drive along the west coast.  Its just 1.5 hours away.

We then drive through rough terrain to get to Picton.  Whats there?  I don't know but people come here to catch the ferry to Wellington.





Its 4.5 hours drive.  Its likely we would prefer to stay in Nelson for the night though.

From Picton back down to Christchurch, its 4.5 hours away.  If we didn't spend a night here at the start, we can spend more time here.

Alternatively we could shedule to spend more time here at the end.

At some point we need to go to Hanmer Springs, as you can see on the map, just 1-2 hours north of Christchurch.  Great for spa-activities.

Road Trip to the South Island

Hi everyone!

This blog is for all of us to to discuss where we want to go, and what we want to do!

The general plan is to fly to the South Island and drive all around.

My original plan was to get a one way ticket and fly to Invercargill. Then starting from the Bluff, drive all the way back to Picton, ferry over to Wellington, then back to Auckland.

Plan B, is to fly to Christchurch, drive south down to Invercargill, then back up to Picton, then down to Christchurch where we fly off back to Aucks.

More details comming soon!