Hello,

We are getting married and flying to Australia in late October. We will be in Sydney for about 24 hours and then fly into Aukland. We have only ten days to stay in NZ. We wish we had more time, but are happy to get the oppertunity and are very excited. Our interests in NZ include wine, food, glowworms, landscapes, zorbing, fox-box-zipline-thing, kayakiing, romantic (fairly private) hotel/ bed and breakfast arrangements.
After seeing film and reading about the country we know we will just scratch the surface with what we will be able to experience. We want to definitely spend time on both islands, but mabe mostly on the south island. Any information on your similar experience or advice would be fantastic. Thanks for your responses!

THANKS

Waiheke Island (ferry from Auckland) is beautiful and has some great wineries. There's a gorgeous B&B called 39 Russell that's very romantic and private. However, considering your time crunch I would recommend renting a car and driving straight away to the South Island. If possible, perhaps even catch an internal flight from Auckland to Christchurch.

On the S. Island, there are loads of wineries in Marlborough. Also near that area is Abel Tasman National Park, which has some superb kayaking and hiking. From there, you can drive down the west coast of the island and see some truly fantastic scenery. You'll eventually reach the Fiordlands, home of Milford and Doubtful Sounds. A lot of the scenery you might recognize from Lord of the Rings. Spend some time in Queenstown, capital of extreme sports. If you still have time (and assuming you're not going in the dead of winter!), stop by Akaora on your drive back to Christchurch and swim with dolphins. Quite a surreal experience. I think the agency is called something like 'Dolphin Experience'.

That should keep you sufficiently occupied for 10 days! Take your time and enjoy the South Island. It's one of the most beautiful places on earth, but I might be biased. ;-)

The top of the south island is the most amazing place ever. Nelson has wine tours very affordable....the west coast have numerous amounts of caves full of glow worms. the abel tasman national park....is my favourite place on earth.... the have dolphin and seal watching...very easy treks....sea kayaking....the beaches are magnificent..and you can quit easily find you have the whole secluded beach to yourself......there are beautiful b&b around the area and also very cheap but also very nice backpackers...in nelson try paradiso backpackers... if your on a budget...they have seperate rooms available...congrats on wedding...have fun in my fsvourite place on earth...ps the north island has nothing on the south island

Get out of Auckland as quickly as possible and fly to South Island. Pick up a car in Christchurch (if you want to see whales head north to Kaikoura first)and head south to Queenstown via lake Tekapo and Mount Cook. Plenty of wineries on the way, plenty to do around Queenstown (go see Arrowtown and Milford sound, but if going to Milford sound from Queenstown don't do it as a day trip, drive to Te Anau and stop for the night first.)drive back to Christchurch via Franz Joseph and do a helihike on the glacier, fantastic.
If you really must do North Island go to the Bay of Islands (and go for a boat trip on "On the edge" a racing catamaran)but with such a limited amount of time I'd concentrate on South Island. If you'd like a detailed itinerary drop me an email.

I definately agree with the idea of getting out of Auckland, but I would suggest flying to Wellington instead and take the ferry across through the Marlboro Sounds to Picton. From there rent a car to explore Nelson vineyards. As mentioned Queenstown is the extreme sports area, but it would be doubtful that there would be snow in October (the seasons here seem to be a month or two late because of global warming happening to our planet). Have a fabulous honeymoon

We went to NZ for our honeymoon in November, and were lucky enough to have 4 weeks; 2 North and 2 South roughly.
Now don't get me wrong, the South is amazingly picturesque, but when it rains for 8 days solid like it did for us, then there is not alot to do as a lot of it is scenery based stuff. And I wouldn't waste time in Kaikoura if you only have such a short time as we went to go on a whale watch trip we had pre-booked, couldn't cos of the weather so took a helicopter one instead, and saw absolutley no whales, not even a dolphin! When you get there and see their statistics on how many whales they see, you realise that the chances are pretty slim anyway.
Agree that Akaroa would be a good place, Christchurch OK, Queenstown good- especially luging down the mountain! North- agreee that Russell is beautiful, Cathedral Cove fantastic, Rotorua interesting if you are into Maori culture, but very smelly, and more luging!
If you want to know more, then get back to me!
Have fun, and good luck with the wedding,
Catherine x