how long in NZ??

travel mad chic

Hey, im going on a round the world trip in april. We are going to South America first for almost four months. We then plan on going to Newzealand for 10 weeks and Australia for 10 weeks also. My question is: is 10 weeks in NZ to long?? We plan on spending 5-7 days in Auckland just relaxin and chillin after a long flight and lots of travelin. Then we head off arround both islands stopping in Queenstown for maby another week cos have been told its a great city to hang out in. So that leaves eight weeks! What do people think of this time frame? Also anyone any idea of what kinda money wed be looking at spending ?

lady_j

10 weeks is ideal if you plan to do some of the long amazing treks, or your a skier with a lot of cash. Personally I think 5/6 weeks is enough. Before you fully decide research how much you want to do there and then research the distances involved. For example Dunedin to Christchurch is about 5 hrs drive, not that long considering it covers a large section of the south island. Whereas Melbourne to Sydney is a 11 hour drive approx. It really depends how much you want to do. Though 7 days in Auckland, you'll be bored out of your tree!!!! Whereas you'd have loads to do with that time in Queenstown. There are I-sites in every main town you can book ahead tours and accomodation for free through these info places. Saves a lot of time.

Google maps will give you an approx distance between towns.

Mst

You probably don`t need more than 6 weeks unless your planning to work or something. Since Australia is so much bigger you`d probably be better off spending the extra few weeks there.

One Cold Hand

What time of the year do you get there? If you're there for ski season I'd spend a month in Queenstown skiing/snowboarding. Then spend the remaining 6 weeks travelling around.

But that's just me. You might hate skiing!

dSTAR

Mst wrote: »

You probably don`t need more than 6 weeks unless your planning to work or something. Since Australia is so much bigger you`d probably be better off spending the extra few weeks there.

I am going to go against the grain and say that even though Australia is much bigger there are vast swathes of the country that are endless vistas of nothingness. As lady_j mentioned about the drive from Melbourne to Sydney .. I did it once and swore I'd never do it again. Not only is it the biggest pain in the ass driving for that length of time but it is also mindnumbingly boring. NZ seems to have much more exciting scenery packed into a much smaller land space. They also have incomparable mountains and rivers which is great if you are into the great outdoors.

BraziliaNZ

Yeah there's a lot more packed into a smaller area in NZ. 10 weeks at that time of year though, if you're there in April - September/Oct, the weather can be really bad, especially on the South Island. Gets good snow in winter though but the North Island just isn't the same when the weather's awful. I'd give it like 6 weeks in winter if I were you.