New Zealand: best option to get from North to South?

[KKD]

We are taking a two-week family trip to NZ in November. We will arrive in Auckland on a Tuesday morning (day 1) and will stay on the North Island through Sunday evening or Monday morning (day 6 or 7), ending in Taupo. From Monday (day 7) until we depart the following Tuesday (day 15) we plan to visit the South Island.

We are trying to determine how best to get from the North Island to the South Island if we are starting near Taupo. The drive back to Auckland is 3.5+ hours so we are hoping to fly from a closer regional airport. It looks like there are flight options between Taupo or Rotorua and Christchurch or Queenstown.

1. Is there anything we should consider besides flight times and duration when choosing between flying out of Taupo or Rotorua?

2. Should we fly to Christchurch or Queenstown? We plan to start in one and end in the other where we will fly back to Auckland for our flight home. Is there anything important to consider at either of those airports? It seems we will be able to rent a one-way car or campervan at either. I am leaning towards starting in Christchurch and saving the best for last in/around Queenstown. H thinks we should start in Queenstown while we all have more energy and then fizzle out in Christchurch.

3. What are your must-see/do recommendations? We will have five days on the North Island to get from Auckland to Taupo and eight days on the South Island between Christchurch and Queenstown. Our kids will be 13, 10, and 7.

Update 4/6: Thank you everyone for the suggestions! We ended up booking flights from Taupo to Queenstown and Christchurch to Auckland. We’ve put the rest of our planning on hold until we see if we will even be able to travel by November.

[goldengirlz]

I haven’t been to Taupo but flying around the country is easy enough. The Christchurch airport will likely have more service to smaller airports as it’s larger.

I personally thought the Christchurch region was underwhelming compared to Queenstown but that’s because I live in California and it looks EXACTLY like home. The beach, the weather, the rolling golden hills ... my Christchurch pictures are basically my California pictures with somewhat warmer water.

[wise_rita]

Absolutely Queenstown > Christchurch so budget your time on the south island accordingly.

To avoid unnecessary backtracking I'd fly into one and out of the other, if those are both cities you want to hit.

[steamboat185]

We’ve flown into Christchurch simply because it was easier both times we’ve been to New Zealand. We have then left Christchurch the same day. I’d choose whatever city makes the most sense with your timeline. 8 days is going to go REALLY fast and everything takes a bit longer to get to then you think. I’m so jealous and can’t wait to head back to NZ.

If you do have time near Christchurch we recommend a place called Cave Stream to everyone your older 2 kids could definitely do it, but the 7 year old might be too young (I’ve seen kids that young in there, but I had to save him from drowning once and there was a group of 3 of us who helped a mom get her kids through last time I was there). Anyway Cave Stream is a just that a cave you can climb through that is also a stream in most spots it’s fairly shallow and it’s really fun. Definitely bring some good headlamps if you go!

[wise_rita]

Feb 12, 2020 21:21:53 GMT -5 @heyitsme said:

I’m currently sitting in a bar in Auckland. Started in Melbourne, went to Queenstown and now ending in Auckland. Was supposed to hike the Milford track but due to flooding we were told the day before we were supposed to leaving the closed it down to safety issues (total bummer but obviously understandable).

I saw a week or two ago that people who were at Milford Sound got stuck there because the one road in/out flooded! 

What did you do instead?