Thanks to all who responded to my request for advice. My trip was great (though getting there is quite long, especially on the return when the Qantas plane was 5 1/2 hours late and I missed my connection to the east coast), and New Zealand is indeed a lovely country filled with pleasant and friendly people. My group agreed the high points of our trip were the overnight boat trip in Milford Sound (where we were lucky to experience both sunny and rainy days), the helicopter ride over the glaciers, the trans Alpine railway, and our hot air balloon ride over the area close to Queenstown. The drives to Queenstown from Hokitika and to and from Milford Sound were very beautiful--miles of breathtaking scenery apparently untouched by human hand. The village of Arrowtown near Queenstown is quite charming (that means nice shops) and almost New Englandlike. Hokitika could easily be skipped in our opinion--not much there aside from souvenir shops selling the same green stone. It looks very much like a frontier town.
We all enjoyed Christchurch, very English but with good weather--particularly the botanic garden. Most impressive in New Zealand are the trees! Immense, grand specimens are so common they become almost ordinary there.
We also loved Rotorua--the thermal stuff is very interesting, in places almost surreal. Those in our party who have been to Yellowstone say that the Rotorua geysers are much more impressive than Old Faithful.
Accommodations that I recommend, in order of our preference are: The Queenstown House, in guess where. I had a large one bedroom apartment with nice kitchen, stone fireplace, washer/dryer and view of the lake for about $130 US per night. Breakfasts are great with fabulous homemade muesli and eggs benedict with salmon. The wine and cheese hour at 6:30 is also great fun with ever changing, interesting guests. Our hostess, Louise, was very helpful and kind, as was her assistant, Bernie, and the whole staff of young people from everywhere.
We also liked very much the Elm Tree House in Christchurch, which is pretty close to downtown and has very comfortable, charming rooms for a very reasonable price (perhaps $100 US?).
My only quibble about these B & Bs is that the coffee was quite weak--while the rest of NZ serves perfectly good coffee, described in ordering as either long black or flat white.
The Heritage Hotel in Auckland, close to the yacht basin, also seemed to be a good value for the price. It's a big, impersonal hotel, but our suites were very spacious and comfortable with wonderful beds, washer dryer, nice kitchens, water views, great sofas and chairs, for about $150 US a night. Breakfast is not included.
I'm eager to return since we saw a lot in two weeks but not, by any means, all that needs exploring. So many places, so little time . . .
Posts: 18 | Location: Washington DC metro area | Registered: 06 July 2005
Glad you had a great trip. I must admit to feeling really guilty about mid March when thas weather crashed here. After my indications of great weather in March, I though of you a number of times when the weather turned wet windy and cold for the latter part of the month. I hope it didn't detract too much from your enjoyment of the trip.
we have lots of photos on our website of places you will have visited. If you have a spare 20 minutes sometime you're welcome to have a look if you're interested website
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