Finalizing NZ Plans...8/24-9/4

[BCR]

1st time to New Zealand, so would like those in the know to critique the following...

Here's the general idea. The only thing set in stone is that we leave on 8/24 and arrive on 8/26 in Auckland. Here's what we plan next: Fly on to Christchurch and pick up a campervan. Over the next few days, we want to drive around to the club fields (definately Craigburne and Broken River, probably Mt. Hutt, maybe Mt. Olympus and Porter Heights). Basically we'll go where the snow is best. At some point we will work our way down to Queenstown and Wanaka and ski The Remarkables and Treble Cone. On an off day, we can hit Milford Sound or the Tasman Glacier, or Punakaiki, or whatever... We'll work our way back up to Christchurch, where on 9/2 we will fly back to Auckland, where we will spend the night and hit the town, then it's another overnight in Seoul South Korea, and then back to the States and back to reality...whatdayathink?

Here are my questions...Can we just park the campervan in the club fields lot and crash? Has anyone done this? I know lodging is cheap, but we want to just wing it and sleep in the van where we end up at the end of each day and not have to worry about reserving a bed someplace specific. Also, are there places to eat/drink at night at the mountain? Near the mountain? In towns along the way? What's it like outside of the major cities/towns like Christchurch or Queenstown or Wanaka?

Read all the previous NZ posts and it seems like everyone stays at the lodges or in bigger towns...just wondering if our plan is viable Also, if there are any favorite local places to eat or drink you can remember in the above route - we'd like any advice ya got! Also, anyone else down there at this time? Let's link up for some turns! Oh, and Splat - pleeze pleeze pleeze have mah Bros ready by trip time!

[leroy jenkins]

OK, i realize that you said your fly in/fly out dates are set in stone, but just IMHO, if I was going to drop cash to ski in the southern hemisphere, there would only be one choice: Las Lenas.

[BCR]

Leeeerrrroooyyyy Jennnnkinnnnzzzz!!! Sorry, the heat is getting to me. I haven't yelled that since the last time I was on skis. Cash...HELL NO! Frequent Flier miles! There's gotta be some benefit to spending 45 weeks a year flying to work in a city that you don't live in. Did S.America 2 years ago (Chile, not Argentina). LL is on the horizon for summer 2008...maybe. We'll see.

[cj001f]

You've got a rather optimistic amount of driving planned for the wrong sidde narrow 2lane roads in not so nice conditions -and one week to do it in. I did your full loop, in summer, in 2 weeks and it was a lot of driving.

Answers to your questions: no problems camping in the lots. Food may, or may not be available at the fields in the evenings, if you are nice, and you ask in the morning, and they aren't busy yes. They do say no... which will leave you getting grub at the nearest pub in some town, or perhaps a lodge, some of which close if the owner randomly feels like it.... like for World Cup 3rd places matchs with the AllBlacks (bloody unpatriotic bastards )

[guermo]

Your plans sound alot like my trip in 2003 - except i was there for three months! It will be a challenge to get all that in during a two week stay , but good luck! Hung out in a campervan at the base of craigieburn for near a month , no problems!

Camping at the craigieburn base:

[utsnowgirl]

1st time to New Zealand, so would like those in the know to critique the following...

Here's the general idea. The only thing set in stone is that we leave on 8/24 and arrive on 8/26 in Auckland. Here's what we plan next: Fly on to Christchurch and pick up a campervan. Over the next few days, we want to drive around to the club fields (definately Craigburne and Broken River, probably Mt. Hutt, maybe Mt. Olympus and Porter Heights). Basically we'll go where the snow is best.

I spent 4 weeks in NZ a few years ago and we cruised around in a campvan. We never had a problem finding a place to park it for the night. If we had to, we could just pull off the road and stay for the night....never once were we hassled. Every couple days, we'd find a hostel where we could pay for a shower.

The club fields are super fun if the weather cooperates. We were there for 4 weeks, and probably rode 7 days. When the weather rolls in, it can be pretty bad. Since there aren't a lot of trees at many of the mountains, the weather can sock it in and you can't see a damn thing. A lot of days we were there, the resorts didn't even open. Most of us were on snowboards, so the 'nutcrackers' were crazy to ride. Good thing the weather is mild enough to do some hiking and other "extreme" stuff that NZ is famous for. (I highly recommend wine tasting).

Also, are there places to eat/drink at night at the mountain? Near the mountain? In towns along the way? What's it like outside of the major cities/towns like Christchurch or Queenstown or Wanaka?

We mostly bought food at the grocery store so we didn't have to rely on finding a place to eat. I remember finding a few pubs here and there, but the south island (outside of wanaka/queenstown/christchurch) isn't very populated. Kaikoura was probably my favorite non-ski town.

Enjoy your trip....I can't wait to get back again.

[spindrift]

Well, I'm semi in the know. Was there last Dec & hit some of the same territory you are heading for - although obviously it was summer. Here are a few thoughts:

Just grabbing a campervan and zipping out of Christchurch may prove more interesting than you expect. First, expect to spend an hour or two at the campervan place. They most likely will want to run you through their lessons in toilets, showers, the dash, etc. As well as general camping rules/info. If, like I was last Dec, you are a campervan newb, this will actually be useful. Also, if you prove to be as much of a campervan utter-JONG as I was, you will find it beneficial to buy the seemingly expensive "no worries mate" insurance. It helps ease the pain when you smack the side of one of those one lane bridges... Remember that you will be driving on "the wrong side of the road", you will be sitting on "the wrong side of the car", and since you will almost certainly be using a manual transmission - you will have the stick "on the wrong side" just to make life extra exciting.

The rural highways are small by US standards (2 lanes, generally no shoulders). Most of the bridges are 1 lane (in the West, they run the RR tracks on 'em too). What looks like an interstate on the map is usually far smaller than US 2 up to Stevens Pass. Heck, the residential street in front of my house is wider and has bigger shoulders than most of the road up to Arthur's Pass. Combine that with an underpowered campervan and don't get too optimistic about making time.

There is very little in the way of shopping between Christchurch and the Arthur's Pass area. Shop for food/drink in Christchurch or whatever the first medium town is 15 minutes or so out (I forget the name...).

Not sure about camping at area parking lots. Maybe soneone else can chime in or you can just call them before you go. However, the campervan place will fill you in on "free camping". The short version: you can camp damn near anywhere so long as you are 5M off the road (wide shoulder, turnout, rest area, etc) on a highway. And on many city streets.

Also, the country is full of "Holiday Parks". Think of them as KOAs without the negative connotations of KOAs. Most have decent communal kitchen areas as well as "TV Rooms". The Holiday Parks are great places to meet people. They seem to be a national tradition with the Kiwis and folks from all around the world stay in them as well.

I was not paying any attention to the Holiday Park situation near Arthur's pass - since I was rushing over to the Westlands and my apparently predestined meeting with that one lane bridge, but I'm sure Google can help you out. There's a convenient Holiday Park in Wanaka at the base of the town. Great views from the right slots. Five minute walk to the heart of town. Wasn't the nicest I stayed at, but the location was great. I was kind of tired of the campervan thing by the time I got to Wanaka, so I split my time there between the Holiday Park and Te Wanaka Lodge (folks who run it are big into fishing and skiing - incl BC). THUMBS UP

Wanaka is an easy town to love. When in Wanaka, be sure to hit the Cinema Paradiso (movies and food). Lots of good restaurants. I was especially fond of Tuatara Pizza for great pies and beer.

If you end up staying in town, it may be more convenient to take a shuttle up to Treble Cone than to shove an underpowered campervan up that road. Especially if you'd have to pop chains on it. Just speculating though...

As for Milford Sound - big drive. Consider doing one of the air tours based out of Wanaka or Queenstown. Fly right into Milford, do one of the long option boat tours, and fly back the same day. The only way to see the sound is the tourist thing on the boats. Don't miss it. It'll make your head explode. I've heard Doubtful is even better...

Auckland - super nice city. In many ways it reminded me of Seattle. Great coffee all over. Some of the best Thai I ever ate was at Mai Thai [edited to correct name] near Sky City. And cheap. If you want to drop some bigger bucks consider Euro down on the Wharf - major gourmet kind of thing. Its reputation is well deserved. The Argentinian place nearby was pretty good too. I did not get out to any of the other well known food & drink neighborhoods.

Lonely Planet steered me right in Christchurch when it came to food. Lots of great stuff all over. I'm sure the Christchurch mag crowd can steer you right as well.

Internet access was not what I was used to. Ask about wireless access via your portable and most places will look at you as though you are from Mars. Infinite number of basic Internet cafes though.

Try to grab the official rules of the road driving book & read up on stuff before you get there. Especially the give-way rules - there are a ouple of twists. Also pay attention to the give-way rules for the one lane bridges. Nothing magic, but knowing them will save you frustration.

I found that trying to tip outside of Auckland generally just insulted people. If appropriate buy 'em a beer instead.

You are not allowing nearly enough time for this trip. Lots of ground to cover. Lots of great people...

And one more thing, if you walk from the international terminal to the domestic terminal in Auckland, keep an eye out for this. Don't know who popped it onto the bench, but I got a chuckle out of it as I went by...

[G]

New Zealand sucks. Dont bother.


Just kidding, it sounds like you have a solid plan. You'll want to park down in town, instead of up at the skifield carparks. Hitchike up the access roads and leave the camper down bottom. Many rental places won't let you take the campers up the access roads.


Just park anywhere outside city limits, and you'll be fine. In QT and wanaka, they actually pay some poor asshole to go around knocking on campers all night to make sure they aren't staying.

Here's the list of cheap campsites, admistered by the gov't, cost only a few dollars.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/003~Huts-Cabins-and-Campsites/Conservation-Campsites/Full-list-of-South-Island-Campsites.pdf

Nice picture of the bench That's the first thing I saw when I arrived in NZ for the first time years ago, and it sure made me feel great to see it. I've got a few of my own stickers on that thing now, too.


try to remember to drive on the left.

[BCR]

Great advice and info! THANKS!!!

And yes, I already knew that our plan is, shall we say...VERY aggressive. But, I'm a glass-half-full-kind-of-guy, so I tend to over book what I want to do. But, we always seem to get to most of it! Do the club fields really close that often due to weather? If that happens to us, I guess we'll just head down south and try the others...

[lemon boy]

You're not planning on going to ski at Temple and use the gratis mag lift tickets :shrug: for shame. Besides, TB is where all the cool kids ski.

Also: Speights. Drink lots of the stuff.

[DJSapp]

Your plan seems solid, except skip Mt. Hutt, and hit Temple Basin instead of Broken River (if you're only gonna spend two days up there). Your time would be better spent elsewhere. The drive to Milford Sound is amazing but long, a flight might better suit your timeframe.

[BCR]

Somehow missed TB. Can definately substitute...thanks for the heads up!
If we do Milford, it'll be a flight, not a drive. With a limited amount of time, we will use ANY shortcut available.

[G]

skip Mt. Hutt, and hit Temple Basin

Werd.

Mt Hutt = Worst ski resort on NZ.