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Featured Replies

it’s about 90% sure I’ll have a week to 10 days in New Zealand starting about the fifth or sixth of October. 

I’ve wanted to go there for sometime and so I’m looking forward to the trip.  I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on what I need to see and what I need to skip.

Spring in NZ is fantastic. 

I'm also going to warn you that that is not enough time. It takes a good week to get over the jet lag from that long flight and to adjust to the change in hemispheres. You'll be flying back right about the time you start feeling normal. 3 week minimum if you go.

2 minutes ago, Deej said:

I'm also going to warn you that that is not enough time. It takes a good week to get over the jet lag from that long flight and to adjust to the change in hemispheres. You'll be flying back right about the time you start feeling normal. 3 week minimum if you go.

The 2 times I flew to Australia and the one time to New Zealand I didn't have much issue with jet lag. You fly all night and get there in the morning. As long as I could stay awake that first day to at least 9:00 I'd get a solid 7 or 8 hours of sleep and then felt pretty adjusted. The next night was pretty normal. Now coming back was a different story. Some of the worst jet lag I've had was then. 

The season difference fucked with me hard. Plus a week is not enough time in New Zealand. It just isn’t. 

I could happily spend 10 days in Queenstown alone. But I suspect its a lot more expensive than when I fucked around that area 20-ish years ago

Queenstown Wallpaper 4K, Landscape, New Zealand

In total, I spent close to 4 weeks in NZ and never made the north island other than a connecting flight to back to the states. If you're into hikes and outdoorsy shit, the south island is hard to beat. If you can get down to the Te Anau/Milford Sound  area to check out the fjords, do it.  Bonus points if the All-blacks happen to be playing in a major tournament at the time. 

New Zealand is only a 4 hour difference from Pacific time, so I didn't have much trouble with that. The season change was wild though -- we went in December and flipping from 8 hours of sun to like 16 was bizarre.

- Rent a camper van
- Don't take the bus or drive to Milford sound. It's nice but not that amazing, so it's only really worth it if you fly.
- We did a canyoning outing (put a wetsuit and hike in a stream at the bottom of a canyon) and it was great. Good activity for decently athletic people (I think the age range is like 10-60)
- Eat as many meat pies as you can
- Pretty random, but be on the lookout for deer farms as you drive around. Apparently they raise them for the felt on their horns. 
- If you're in the area, stop here and buy a bunch of raw salmon and eat it while looking out at the lake. 

Best fish and chips in the world. 

53 minutes ago, SeattleHorn said:

we went in December

The Great New Zealand Shutdown. When everyone is off work for a month for Christmas and New Years and it's summer. 

They do it right. 

Highlights for me was whizzing around in a rental being in awe of how different the flora was to what youre used to. It was evocative of a textbook drawings of some dinosaur-era scenery. 

Visiting farms and trying sheep shearing and playing with adorable little lambs was fun. And then I found activities like ATV treks, mountain biking, things like that. 

Shit was definitely expensive though. 

1 hour ago, 52-80 said:

and playing with adorable little lambs was fun.

high five texas am GIF by Texas A&M University

Christchurch is phenomenal, take the ferry to the "mountains", just breathtaking.  I was there in Sept/Oct years ago and had a blast. Night life is legit and kiwis are a trip. 

Edited by Mother mopar

When it's windy in Christchurch, though. Damn. Blue shed wouldn't stand a chance.

  • Author

Thanks for the input.   The bad news is I can’t spend more than the 7 to 10 days I will be there.   Good news is the first class airfare and hotel is free - as a friend has business there and the employer comped a guest ticket.  

Don’t care. Will see New Zealand.  From what y’all said, I will consider this my exploratory trip for my next extended visit.

 

  • 4 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

What's crazy about the west coast of New Zealand is you will be standing in a lush, near rain forest a mere mile from the ocean and then look east and see a glacier.

....and the sheer scale of Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound just can't be captured in photos.

 

hope you are having a good time - the best destination/travel experience of my life.

Edited by yoladu

1 hour ago, yoladu said:

What's crazy about the west coast of New Zealand is you will be standing in a lush, near rain forest a mere mile from the ocean and then look east and see a glacier.

....and the sheer scale of Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound just can't be captured in photos.

 

hope you are having a good time - the best destination/travel experience of my life.

Yep. Just did Shotover Jet in Queenstown and have bungy jump booked for tomorrow. I was here when I was 12 and my dad wouldn’t let me bungy. So now it must happen. 

  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/5/2025 at 5:35 PM, Biff Tannen said:

Yep. Just did Shotover Jet in Queenstown and have bungy jump booked for tomorrow. I was here when I was 12 and my dad wouldn’t let me bungy. So now it must happen. 

did both of those things when i visited for my honeymoon in 2016.

1 hour ago, patrickdrinksbeer said:

did both of those things when i visited for my honeymoon in 2016.

It was awesome!

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