I've been looking to travel to New Zealand from the US as a first time international traveler, but want to see if this trip is realistically possible, or if we'd be stretching ourselves. Larnach Castle and the Hobbiton tour are the main things we'd like to see, but the idea is to just take a nice road trip and see things along the way since we know that NZ has MUCH more to offer than a castle and a movie set.
The main stops that my wife and I were thinking were:
- Day 1
- Fly into Auckland, recover from jet lag for a day
- Days 2-4
- Drive to the Hobbiton set tour
- Stay in Cambridge
- Days 5-7
- Drive to Akaroa
- Days 8-11
- Drive to Dunedin
- Stay in Larnach Castle
- Day 12
- Drive to Queenstown
- Fly to Auckland -> back to US
I've read several posts saying that the drive is great and there's lots to see, but that you shouldn't try to have a packed itinerary with a <2 week stay. The driving part isn't a huge concern since we regularly take a few 1,000mi/1,600km road trips each year, but I'm not sure how different it'd be in another country?
Should we reel things back in and just do the North Island first, and just plan to do the South Island in the future?
by Superbroom