March 2019
With only two weeks to explore New Zealand, we knew it would be an impossible task to see everything. After doing preliminary reading, it was clear people do not recommend a two week trip to see both North and South islands and to instead focus on one. Since we both had a feeling this would not be our last visit to New Zealand, we decide this trip would be a highlight reel from both islands. We started planning by pinning locations on Google maps that we wanted to see and the hoped that an organic itinerary would come together.
As hoped, our pins provided a natural flow and driving gave us the flexibility to accomplish as much or as little as we wanted. We started on the South Island in Queenstown, drove north through Mt Cook then continued north up the east coast until we hit the ferry to transfer to the North Island. From the capital of Wellington, we continued north towards Auckland making many stops along the way. We were so proud and excited with our itinerary- an incredible 2,070km (1286 miles) of driving through New Zealand.
Upon our return, it is easy why people recommend focusing on one island but even two weeks would not be enough time to see everything on one island. Since we had such limited time, we knew there was a high risk of our itinerary experiencing changes. Many of our activities were weather dependent and there are many other factors that are out of our control. In the outline below, the italics represent the original itinerary while the column next to it shows what we actually did. As you can see, we ended up having to change quite a bit around! We were very happy with our trip and I already have ideas for our next New Zealand adventure.
Two Week New Zealand Itinerary
Day | Time | Planned Itinerary | Activity | Food | Lodging |
Friday
Day 1 |
Evening |
Flight to LAX 2PM Land LAX 5:17PM Flight LAX 8:55PM |
|||
Saturday
Day 2 |
Day |
Crossing the international date line |
|||
Sunday
Day 3 |
Morning |
Land AKL 6:45AM Flight AKL 8:40AM Land ZQN 10:35AM |
|||
Afternoon | Check into Airbnb
Explore Queenstown |
Check into Airbnb | Rehab |
|
|
Evening | Explore Queenstown | Taco Medic
Speight’s Ale House |
|||
Monday
Day 4 |
Morning | Hike Tiki Trail–> Ben Lomond | Tiki Trail |
Queenstown |
|
Afternoon | Queenstown Wine Trail Tour | Gibbston Cheesery | |||
Evening | Explore Queenstown | Blue Kanu
Patagonia Ice Cream |
|||
Tuesday
Day 5 |
Morning |
Pick up car |
Patagonia |
Twizel |
|
Afternoon | Mildford Sound Flight and Cruise | Drive to Mt Cook | Fergbakery | ||
Evening | Drive to Twizel
Check into Airbnb |
Hooker Valley Trail
Check into Airbnb |
Fergburger | ||
Wednesday
Day 6 |
Morning | Drive to Mt Cook
Hike Hooker Valley Trail |
Drive to Tekapo
Drive to Fairlie |
Fairlie Bakehouse |
Christ-church |
Afternoon | Hike Tazman Glacier Trail | Drive to Christ-church
Botanical Gardens |
The Little High Eatery | ||
Evening | Drive to Christ-church
Check into Airbnb |
Check into Airbnb | |||
Thursday
Day 7 |
Morning | Botanical Gardens
Drive to Kaikoura |
Drive to Kaikoura | Copenhagen Bakery |
|
Afternoon |
Peninsula hike |
Kaikoura Seafood BBQ Kiosk | |||
Evening |
Check into Airbnb Explore Kaikoura |
The Top Shop | |||
Friday
Day 8 |
Morning | Explore Kaikoura
Drive to Picton |
Drive to Picton
Picton Ferry at 10:45 AM |
|
|
Afternoon | Picton ferry at 2:15PM
Arrival at Wellington 5PM |
Arrival at Wellington 1:30PM
Check into Airbnb |
|||
Evening | Check into Airbnb
Explore Wellington |
Weta Workshop Tour | Shed 5 | ||
Saturday
Day 9 |
Morning |
Weta Cave Te Papa Museum |
Te Papa Museum | The Hanger
Wills Kitchen |
Adventure Lodge |
Afternoon | Drive to Tongariro | Pastaria | |||
Evening | Drive to Tongariro
Check into lodge |
Check into lodge | |||
Sunday
Day 10 |
Morning |
Adventure Lodge |
|||
Afternoon | |||||
Evening | |||||
Monday
Day 11 |
Morning |
Drive to Taupo |
|
||
Afternoon | Hike Huka Falls | Spa Thermal Park
Huka Falls Lookout |
|||
Evening |
Drive to Rotorua Check into Airbnb |
Urbano Bistro | |||
Tuesday
Day 12 |
Morning | Hobbiton Cafe |
Rotorua |
||
Afternoon | |||||
Evening | Thermal Pools/Kuirai Park
Polynesia Spa |
Eat Street | |||
Wednesday
Day 13 |
Morning | Sequoia Eatery |
Rotorua |
||
Afternoon | Sequoia Eatery | ||||
Evening | |||||
Thursday
Day 14 |
Morning |
Drive to Waitomo |
|
||
Afternoon | On tour | ||||
Evening |
Drive to Auckland Check into Airbnb |
On tour | |||
Friday
Day 15 |
Morning |
Drop off car |
Auckland |
||
Afternoon | On tour | ||||
Evening |
Explore Auckland |
Giapo
Cotto |
|||
Saturday Day 16 | Morning | Explore Auckland | Auckland War Memorial Museum | La Cigale French Market | |
Afternoon |
SkyBus to Airport |
Wu & You | |||
Evening |
Flight AKL 7:30PM Land LAX 10:35AM Flight LAX 3:15PM Land Home |
3 thoughts on “Itinerary: New Zealand”