New Zealand Master Thread

[Yehoshua]

planning 2 weeks in april new zeland 4 days in the north island, and 10 days in the south were keeping one day shabos,
any recomendations on rvs?
should we do doubtful sound or milford sound cruise?
has anyone did swiming with dolphins or a whale watching cruise?
any thing i must do?

Thank you for letting everyone know how many days you plan to spend on each island, that's a start. If you want more details, I would ask more detailed questions. For example, what do you like to do? How many people will be going?


In terms of cruises, the Milford sound was gorgeous, I never heard of the other place. I know many people here have rented RVs, but I didn't and still had a great time. The roads in New Zealand are very narrow, and most bridges are only one lane total (cars have to take turns going in different directions). I found that a regular car where SUV was more than sufficient. So much of New Zealand is about the natural beauty and you can see a lot from just driving around and stopping at different places the hike, walk around, or just enjoy the view.

While swimming with dolphins and whale watching trips I'm sure are fighting, you need to research when those animals will be around new zealand. Additionally, you can do both of those things in North America, so I personally would save a trip to New Zealand for things you can only see and do there.

[shmelive]

planning 2 weeks in april new zeland 4 days in the north island, and 10 days in the south were keeping one day shabos,
any recomendations on rvs?
should we do doubtful sound or milford sound cruise?
has anyone did swiming with dolphins or a whale watching cruise?
any thing i must do?

We did a 7-day circuit on the South Island and a bit of the North Island near Auckland. This is a great starting point for itinerary building: https://www.wedreamoftravel.com/new-zealand-south-island-7-day-itinerary/

I should probably post my itinerary and a TR. Yehoshua beat me to it

In terms of cruises, the Milford sound was gorgeous, I never heard of the other place. I know many people here have rented RVs, but I didn't and still had a great time. The roads in New Zealand are very narrow, and most bridges are only one lane total (cars have to take turns going in different directions). I found that a regular car where SUV was more than sufficient. So much of New Zealand is about the natural beauty and you can see a lot from just driving around and stopping at different places the hike, walk around, or just enjoy the view.

+1, totally agree about the roads. We rented a car and that was precarious enough at times.

Milford Sound is more accessible than Doubtful Sound. We did Milford, but you'll need to block off a day for either one. Most people do Milford if they're only going to do one, and do Doubtful if they're back for a second time. But either one will be amazing.

[AJK]

We did an RV and cannot imagine doing it any other way. The RV elevated the game to a different level.

[Yehoshua]

We did an RV and cannot imagine doing it any other way. The RV elevated the game to a different level.

How was driving it on the narrow roads?

[AJK]

How was driving it on the narrow roads?

Don't recall any part of the driving being that challenging.

[Yehoshua]

Don't recall any part of the driving being that challenging.

Ok. I guess a big difference between car and RV is where you can drive. Some places I drove in a car said no RVs, but I'm sure there's enough places they can drive to make it fun.

It also depends on how you plan to travel. If you are spontaneous and enjoy stopping in random places, an RV seems like a better choice. However if you are very planned out and know everywhere you plan on stopping before you get to NZ, I don't think it's as necessary.

[shlomi500]

thanks very helpfull info,
type of trip is mostly scenary also adventure and a little bit of culture im a early bird and i will be waking up and starting my day when the sun comes up also big drives are not an issue even with a rv,
regarding rv we are planing on following a itinerary, but we enjoy rvs, as far as i heard rvs can be driven almost anywhere in new zeland,
regarding our plans its not final but would be something like this (pls. note my psak was to keep 1 day shabos on sunday),
ariving in akl from melbourne on early wed morning and start driving south,
thurs, fri  north island
sat (fri)  is drive day not sure if were spending shabos in wellington or crossing over to picton
sun (shabos)
mon, tues, wed, thurs, fri, sat will be split beet. abel tasman, west coast, haast pass, lake pukaki (kaikora and christchurch not sure if its worth drive out of way),
sat (fri) drop off rv in queenstown pick up car and drive to wanaka and spend shabos in air b and b,
mon queenstown and drive to te anu
tues milford sound and return to quenstown
wed return to nyc

also has anyone done the overnight cruise in milford sound?
any must do hikes on the south island?

[AJK]

We as far as hikes, we loved Rob Roy. Did we almost die? Yes, but not because it's super dangerous. But it was worth it.

[shmelive]

We as far as hikes, we loved Rob Roy. Did we almost die? Yes, but not because it's super dangerous. But it was worth it.

This sounds like a story worth hearing. Do tell!

[Yehoshua]

thanks very helpfull info,
type of trip is mostly scenary also adventure and a little bit of culture im a early bird and i will be waking up and starting my day when the sun comes up also big drives are not an issue even with a rv,
regarding rv we are planing on following a itinerary, but we enjoy rvs, as far as i heard rvs can be driven almost anywhere in new zeland,
regarding our plans its not final but would be something like this (pls. note my psak was to keep 1 day shabos on sunday),
ariving in akl from melbourne on early wed morning and start driving south,
thurs, fri  north island
sat (fri)  is drive day not sure if were spending shabos in wellington or crossing over to picton
sun (shabos)
mon, tues, wed, thurs, fri, sat will be split beet. abel tasman, west coast, haast pass, lake pukaki (kaikora and christchurch not sure if its worth drive out of way),
sat (fri) drop off rv in queenstown pick up car and drive to wanaka and spend shabos in air b and b,
mon queenstown and drive to te anu
tues milford sound and return to quenstown
wed return to nyc

also has anyone done the overnight cruise in milford sound?
any must do hikes on the south island?

Wanaka for Shabbos sounds really pretty. Te Anu is really small, like tiny. Nothing much to do there, just saying. Queenstown is more exciting, especially if you do things right outside the city like hikes, skiing, bungee jumping, etc.

In terms of hikes, I loved the one I did near Wanaka, Diamond Lake and Rocky Mountain track. It's not hard (in the snow is a completely different story), and it offers amazing views of Lake Wanaka. I really wanted to do Rob Roy but didn't end up doing it.

[shlomi500]

thanks rob roy was top of the list,
other hikes we are looking into are
lake marian, clay cliffs, pankake rocks, (maybe tongariro alpine crossing on north island)
as the blue pools get a lot of attention, i read a artical from walkmyworld https://www.walkmyworld.com/posts/haast-pass  that the haast pass area has so many beutifal short hikes that are hidden gems,
has anyone been to the blue pools or haast pass?

[AJK]

Blue pools are gorgeous, so is Haast Pass. But I think it depends on season you go. Double check.

[shmelive]

has anyone been to the blue pools or haast pass?

We did Haast pass this past summer. Lots of little hikes, nothing must do but the combined experience was amazing.

NOTE: Blue pools was closed then, and appears to still be closed.
https://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/blue-pools-track/

Also, the official NZ websites generally have good info, make sure to check them out.
AllTrails was also really useful.
The main difference was that Kiwis are big hikers, so a trail described by a NZer would be "an easy 30 minute jaunt up the mountain" and AllTrails would say "Strenuous 90 minute hike, all uphill".

[yitzyul]

thanks very helpfull info,
type of trip is mostly scenary also adventure and a little bit of culture im a early bird and i will be waking up and starting my day when the sun comes up also big drives are not an issue even with a rv,
regarding rv we are planing on following a itinerary, but we enjoy rvs, as far as i heard rvs can be driven almost anywhere in new zeland,
regarding our plans its not final but would be something like this (pls. note my psak was to keep 1 day shabos on sunday),
ariving in akl from melbourne on early wed morning and start driving south,
thurs, fri  north island
sat (fri)  is drive day not sure if were spending shabos in wellington or crossing over to picton
sun (shabos)
mon, tues, wed, thurs, fri, sat will be split beet. abel tasman, west coast, haast pass, lake pukaki (kaikora and christchurch not sure if its worth drive out of way),
sat (fri) drop off rv in queenstown pick up car and drive to wanaka and spend shabos in air b and b,
mon queenstown and drive to te anu
tues milford sound and return to quenstown
wed return to nyc

also has anyone done the overnight cruise in milford sound?
any must do hikes on the south island?

So you kept 2 days shabbos? I cancelled my tickets last year when my LOR told me I have to keep 2 days....

[Yehoshua]

So you kept 2 days shabbos? I cancelled my tickets last year when my LOR told me I have to keep 2 days....

You can always just go for less than a week and go back to Australia on Friday. I only spent Sun night to Thur afternoon and it was a decent amount of time with no Shabbos issues (I could have stayed until Friday morning, but didn't care to). My psak was to hold 2 days, hence the logistics.

[Yehoshua]

We did Haast pass this past summer. Lots of little hikes, nothing must do but the combined experience was amazing.

NOTE: Blue pools was closed then, and appears to still be closed.
https://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/blue-pools-track/

Also, the official NZ websites generally have good info, make sure to check them out.
AllTrails was also really useful.
The main difference was that Kiwis are big hikers, so a trail described by a NZer would be "an easy 30 minute jaunt up the mountain" and AllTrails would say "Strenuous 90 minute hike, all uphill".

Lol, I found the NZ website accurate, but I also like to hike.

[shlomi500]

thanks
regarding blue pools the seson is good it just cant rain the days before, also hike to blue pools were open the bridge is closed and now you need to walk through 2 streams about a foot deep wich is fine with us.

[shlomi500]

So you kept 2 days shabbos? I cancelled my tickets last year when my LOR told me I have to keep 2 days....

i paskan like chazon ish, and therfore new zeland is no problem with shabbos, just that you keep shabos on sunday, although australia is very problemetic meaning no flying near east coast or no water sports in most of australia, when i went to hawaii, alaska i had no problems becuse chazon ish dateline is ove australia, japan....
we are being their for 2 shabosim (keeping on sundays)

[PlatinumGuy]

i paskan like chazon ish, and therfore... is no problem

Based on what?

[shlomi500]

Based on what?

based on my lor psak for me, he said i should go across the board like chazon ish,
other people are more stringint and will get into problems with new zeland, hawaii.... if you go lechumra 2 days shabos than other problems arise like tefilin, kidush 2 days can be a brocha levatala...