Depends what you are in to Andi. If you love the nature, walking, beaches, etc then there is no doubt you should go to the South Island. Fly directly there and hire a camper if possible.
If you prefer the bigger cities and shorter drives then go to the North Island and go to Taupo, Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Auckland. Still pretty, but not as dramatic as the south. You can hire campers for one way drives.
January is a good time of year.
Can I come too?
I agree with Lenny. South Island is great for fantastic scenery. There are the tourist spots like Queenstown and Hamner, but they are very expensive - in Queenstown even McDonald's charges more! Around Dunedin there are a few family things to do - albatross colony, aquarium, butterfly house. At Wanaka there is Puzzleworld which is quite cool and has a maze that your oldest would probably enjoy. Over in Cromwell you can hire a boat and go out on the lake. There are helicopter rides up to the glaciers at Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. Nelson and surrounds are just lovely and there are heaps of boutique wineries and breweries that way.
North Island, as Lenny said there is less driving between places. Most of the interesting stuff is at the top, so you can spend less time on the road. There are some fantastic beaches around the Coromandel, Rotorua has the mud pools. Taupo is a beautiful lake and there is a really good swimming pool/water park there, as well as kayak hire ect around the lake.
South Island all the way... it's absolutely gorgeous, so many things to see and do and not much travel time in between. Camper is a great way to see it
Ya know what - you ladies are confusing me even MORE about which island to see Lenny, I'm not sure if you would fit in my suitcase - I have a bad habit of packing more than I need. You could try though - hee hee.
OK, if we did both islands, I need to know what is a must see, and what I can miss.
Can anyone shed some light ...
* Am I right in thinking Rotorua is THE place to go to experience and learn about Maori culture plus see a concentrated number of hot springs/mud pools etc? So we SHOULD go to Rotorua, right? Is there some other location where there's a great Maori cultural centre etc for visitors? Ditto, is there another place where we can experience what you get at Rotorua?
* Wineries - Napier or top of South Island? Where are the better wineries for tasting/scenery/etc
* Bay of Islands - really just a hole in a rock, right (er, don't mean to sound trite for those Kiwis who may read this). Something we could miss?
* An expat Kiwi told me Auckland is very ho-hum. Wellington is far more interesting. Can we give Auckland a miss?
I hear you gals about the Christchurch earthquake, but am happy to still go there. NZ is a volcanic island, isn't it. These rumbles are to be expected - just hopefully we're not in the wrong place at the wrong time.
wineries - Marlborough sth island and up north around Nelson etc
Rotorua I have never been too but all told by kiwis and tourists it isn't that great.
Stick to one island you only have 12 days.
Auckland sucks - you may as well go to Sydney... it is just smaller and less interesting lol
Wellington is lovely but again you don't want to be spending too much time in a city like that - they are just cities like here but much smaller.... The best of NZ is outside the cities for sure.
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Lenny, I'm not sure if you would fit in my suitcase - I have a bad habit of packing more than I need. You could try though - hee hee.
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