[cappuccino]

Having a long weekend at the beginning of next month and would welcome suggestions for an itinerary.

We will be leaving Wellington on Thursday evening on the ferry and spending the night in Picton then on the road Friday, Sat, Sunday and arriving back in Wellington on Monday evening.

I doubt we will get further than Christchurch so what would you suggest as a good route?

[Red Devil]

Mmmm... not easy as there's so much choice. Probably not fair for us to comment as we've only visited NZ once, but personally we'd head to Nelson and then onto Abel Tasman National Park. Having said that, Blenheim and the surrounding Marlborough region is nice too... it really depends what you're after.

Enjoy your trip :cool:

[wilson182]

Mmmm... not easy as there's so much choice. Probably not fair for us to comment as we've only visited NZ once, but personally we'd head to Nelson and then onto Abel Tasman National Park. Having said that, Blenheim and the surrounding Marlborough region is nice too... it really depends what you're after.

Enjoy your trip :cool:


I would agree with that, but depending on how far down you want to come Hanmer Springs hot pools are worth a visit for a bit of R&R http://hanmersprings.co.nz

[thezorbster]

You have three main choices really -

1) down the East coast to Kaikoura and Hanmer and maybe as far as Christchurch for a day, or

2) along the top of the south, taking in a bit of the Sounds en-route (drive Queen Charlotte rd), along to Nelson and on to Golden Bay (Wharariki beach - absolutely stunning!!!) or

3) Vineyards of Marlborough

All are nice options with stunning scenery. Weather likely to be nicer over Nelson way - bit chilly in the mornings but warming up nicely to 15-16 degrees during the day - we are still in t-shirts on the beach at weekends and have hardly seen a rain cloud in weeks!

Hope you have a lovely time whatever you choose!

[cappuccino]

Thanks everyone, got lots of planning to do and routes to work out in next couple of weeks.

[peebles16]

We just went over to the West Coast (via Arthur's Pass) at the weekend for the first time and the scenery was absolutely, blooming fantastic :D I reckon you could do it or part of it in a day easily and I think it's well worth it :yes I've seen some great sights living in Scotland and in Africa but that really blew me away!!

Enjoy your trip
Karenx

[Moorf]

My recommendation would be:

Picton - Kaikoura (whale/seal watching) (Fri night) - Waipara (Hanmer Springs/wineries)( Sat night) - Westport (dropping down to visit Punakaiki)(Sun night) and back to the ferry for Monday...

I don't think you'd have enough time to visit Chch and appreciate it and the areas - better to do that in another trip when you do the lakes/mountain trip...