"Must Sees" in New Zealand?

[Caligirl]

Hi All:

A friend of my best friend just contacted me from the U.S. She is planning to spend a year's sabbatical in New Zealand, starting in January.

Since I live in Sydney (which is right next door to New Zealand ), surely I have loads of suggestions of things she should not miss, right?

Unfortunately, I have yet to visit the beautiful land of Kiwis. Anyone care to share their all time favorite places in New Zealand?

Thanks so much. In return, I'm willing to offer a Californian's perspective on South Dakota, which is just over a few hills...

Cheers,

Caligirl

[Queenstown]

Caligirl .... Queenstown is STUNNING...breath taking ... I cant do it justice....have a look at their tourist info site.  You will love it

[I spent]

I spent about 3 months straight in New Zealand late last year. It was amazing. If I were to give you a list of 'cool places' it would pretty much cover the whole place.

It all just depends on what you like to do. Are you an outdoors person or are you looking for road trips and such? If you are athletic and want a good time outdoors adventuring then go for it.

Queenstown is definitely a must see place, because it is amazing and beautiful. That being said the place is absolutely overrun with tourists. It is the definition of a tourist town.

If you want to over pay for stuff and stay 'in bounds' thats one thing. If you want to get off the beaten path and really see the countryside and have some adventure then thats the part I can help you with.

[North South]

On the North Island I personally thought the drive up to the very tip of the island, Cape Rianga was hands down absolutely AMAZING. Its where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. 

If you leave in the morning you can get there by sundown from Auckland. Trust me,if the weather is good, you definitely want to see a sunset there. You will never ever forget that scene for the rest of your life. 

And after the sun goes down and its really starry out, wow. It is breathtaking.

Auckland in my opinion... its worth it to go... but don't spend all your time there. There are some good activities around though... like bungee jumping from the bridge or taking boat tours and stuff like that...but for me its all about tastes.

I did not 'dislike it' but I preferred to do other things if that makes sense. I can get big city life other places, and if you are in Sydney there is going to be absolutely zero comparison. Big city Sydney (where I lived for about 3 yrs) is one thing. Auckland can't even compare if thats what you are after. Auckland is like a very minature Sydney.

I think most people that are from NZ spend so much time in the country that they are dying to get out. They want the edgy feel and that kind of big city life. Fact is, most people from NZ are kind of country bumpkins to some degree (which I kind of like actually)...and Auckland is their offset of that. When people want off the farm, they go to Auckland for some excitement.

Me though, I was a lot more after nature and unique experiences than I was after night clubbing or scoring with a kiwi chick.

The train ride down from Auckland to Wellington is worth the fare for sure.

Wellington, I thought was great. I liked it a whole lot. If I was going to live in NZ then Wellington might be my 1st choice. It provides a large enough city for variety, but it is so laid back and just plain old nice. Its clean too. Its not considered 'edgy' like Auckland but its all about tastes of the individual.

Of course you need to do the crossing via boat from North to South or vice versa...preferrably on a clear day.

The South Island... this will take quite a bit more time...That place is one of the most amazing places I have ever set foot on.

[Must see N Z]

All the South Island

[In our case]

North Island; Bay of Islands, Coromandel, Taupo, Rotorua.  Never went to Hawke's Bay but hear god things.  Agree with North South re. Auckland; worth a visit but a day or so should cover it.  We were underwhelmed by Wellington but that may have been because the weather was truly awful the entire time that we were there.

On the South Island; Abel Tasman was stunning!  Would love to spend much more time there.  Christchurch was OK but had been oversold to us by people who'd been before.  Enjoyed Franz Josef.  Absolutely LOVED Queenstown and the side trips that we made from there.  Went back again to spend a month just in the Queenstown area at a different time of year.

[Caligirl]

Many thanks for the input, everyone! Please keep the suggestions coming.

Aliya, care to add anything?

[What]

You tell us, what are your goals and what kind of stuff do you like?

Are you looking to road trip? Put it this way... in almost three months I was barely able to get around both islands and I was hard core road tripping, part of which was in a camper van.

Put as for sites, another one to add to the list is driving up through Arthurs Pass. Definitely a must. You can also see lots of Alpine parrots up there too. I went up in the dead middle of winter and stayed in the snow and took some amazing photos.

If you just want to drive thats one thing... if you want to get out and about thats another.

The hot springs were ok.

I agree with all the stuff about the cities. Christchurch and Auckland both are cities. Nothing special to see, but just go so you can say you went. I heard Wellington has 'bad' weather but for the whole time I was there minus a day or so it was fairly nice. 

One 'secret' tip that I will give you... in almost every town worth anything they have aquatic centers. Look in the phone book. Indoor swimming pools, hot tubs, saunas and the like. For a small fee you can go swim to your hearts content and they are mostly pretty cool and kept very nice and clean.

It was actually a pretty good place to unwind and just chill, and if you are camper vanning then its a perfect place to freshen up after a few days with no shower.

The glaciers are definitely worth it. Hell, the whole thing is worth it.

I even drove all the way to Mesopotamia, which was way off the beaten path. I wouldn't recommend it for an average tourist, but it was pretty along the way.

Just look at some literature online, throw some darts at a map on the wall and go see. There are a number of places that are awesome. In the summer though there will be tons of crowds and lots of bugs too (if you are camping). 

[also.....]

Many thanks for the input, everyone! Please keep the suggestions coming.

Aliya, care to add anything?

Also how long do you have? I had no time limit myself, so I didn't do a 'highlights' trip. I ran out one visa and was thinking of doing a visa run back to Australia, but I went elsewhere for another trip instead...

You can spend forever in NZ if you are into outdoors stuff.

[Caligirl]

Thanks again, everyone.

I'm not the one making the trip (unfortunately), though reading this thread certainly makes me want to accelerate my plans to visit New Zealand.

The world traveller is a 40-something year old, female, single American who is taking a year long sabbatical. She will arrive in Auckland in January & plans to stay in NZ for at least 6 months, so she has plenty of time to travel. From what I know, she is fit, outdoorsy & adventurous and also enjoys historical sites, good coffee houses & arts/crafts. She manages a non-profit back in the U.S., so although she has saved up some good money for this trip, she will be on a budget.

[Golden Bay]

She sounds like a alternative type. Send her down to Golden Bay in the north west corner of the south island, a hippy haven.  Stunning scenery with pristine forest, beaches etc, some amazing clear springs, caves etc. Also plenty of hippy communes, vegetarian cafes, and alternative types, the main village Takaka has about 20 shops, half of which sell lentils, that pretty much sums it up.

You can volunteer to work on some of the hippy farms, its called WWOOFing, generally they let you pitch your tent and use their facilities in exchange for 2-3 hours work each day

[hot spriings]

Loved Akaroa, has a french feel, lovely scenery, swam with dolphins (water was cold even in Jan). Also Lake Taupo. Dropping in for a soak and swim at the hot springs in Taupo after a busy day sightseeing,  before heading off for a delicious dinner and wine was great. Everywhere we went, we got chatting to locals and back-packer gap-year types working their way around NZ. Easy place to travel alone and not be lonely.

[Interesting place]

If she has a years sabatical in NZ she is one lucky soul.

Many have spoken about the beauty of the place- and it is indeed spectacular.  People are friendly too.

But if you have some time to explore and want to get deeper into the soul of the country it is actually one fascinating society. Something to do with being a western country but geographically isolated, the merging of the western , asian, and polynesian cultures, and a new world can-do attitude.

Folks who know nothing about the place imagine it as some far off rural backwater, with a culture 50 years behind the rest of the world. In fact it is nothing of the sort, it is actually one of the most urbanised countries in the world, and has been something of a cutting edge social laboratory for over the last 100 years. Kiwis have a mildly eccentric streak paired with a passion for social justice and seem to have no fear in pushing the boundaries and trying new crazy stuff. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt.

It was the first country in the world to give women the vote. First with old age pensions and one of the first (along with the scandies) to develop a welfare state. Also gave the indigenous people the right to vote and citizenship years before other similar settler societies (like Australia, USA, Canada did) . That project (biculturalism ) is still underway and one of the big talking points in the land, yet NZ seems to embrace and accept Maori culture much more than other white settler colonies. They ran a wild right wing economic experiment in the 1980s that out thatchered Thatcher too.  Recently they legalised prostitution, and gay unions. 
.

Their parliament recently had some interesting characters- a rastafarian who wore hemp suits in the chamber, a transvestite former prostitute who was voted in by a conservative rural electorate, and a welfare mum who had never held a job!!  And just a few years ago the top six constitutional jobs were all held by women, probably for the only time in human history.

Dont expect some dowdy version of British culture from the 1950s either. Modern NZ is incredibly multicultural particularly in the cities. Central Auckland comes across as more Asian than western, and south Auckland has more polynesians than anywhere else on earth

[Waiheke Island]

A little island accessible from central auckland.  Great for walking and cycling and full of budding arts and crafts people (whatever you call them) and their work.  Fab place, she must go there.

[Ali1]

Nelson for craft, jewellery, wine, fruit, beaches.....and Golden Bay.