Marguerite
Active Member
Someone the other day suggested I post our itinerary for our holiday in New Zealand. I figured this was the place, so you can all travel with us vicariously. Remember, difficult child 3 is scared of volcanoes, I'm trying to teach him that without volcanoes we wouldn't have any land on the planet, it would all have eroded away long ago. We need volcanoes to make new land.
I wanted to bring my scooter but it's going to be too awkward, with some of the travel. I was supposed to be getting a wheelchair instead, but we haven't organised it and I don't think we'll be able to.
So here goes:
Monday 4 June - we leave. easy child 2/difficult child 2 is working that day, she will also be driving BF2 to work. Somehow we have to get off our 'island' and to the airport, so at about 6.45 am she will drive some of us (probably easy child, BF1 & difficult child 3) to the wharf to catch the half-hour ferry to the railway station (it's on the terminus). We'll wave them off at 7 am then easy child 2/difficult child 2 will drive me, husband and the luggage to the nearest station by road - half an hour along the train line. it's a 20 minute drive.
So we will get to the midway station about half an hour ahead of easy child, BF1 & difficult child 3. This will give us time to get our luggage down to the platform and wait for the train with the others on it. We should see them easily. we'll be in touch with mobile phones so there shouldn't be any problems.
So when we finally meet up - we travel by train to Wolli Creek station where we change trains for the airport line. This takes us right in to Sydney Airport, but it's a privatised train line so it's going to be expensive.
Then we sit around at the airport until our flight leaves at about 11 am. Hopefully meanwhile, difficult child 3 will be doing some schoolwork. Hey, I can hope!
We land in Auckland (on North Island) at about 5 pm their time. It will be dark, we'll collect a hire car (already booked) at the airport and then take off for pastures unknown but somewhere in the Auckland area. We have not booked accommodation, so we don't have to look for one particular place, we can simply drive until we see somewhere we like the look of.
Next day - we've been told we need to take a ferry round Auckland Harbour, they say it's beautiful. husband wants to visit a local miniature train club, so we might all tag along. We want to do a city tour, or maybe instead our favourite pastime - getting lost in a new city. it's the fastest way to learn it.
From Wednesday to Friday, we're roaming at large. We have to make our way eventually to Taupo, where we're staying for a week. We'll probably aimlessly make our way along the Bay of Plenty. Taupo is four hours' drive east of Auckland and south in the mountains from Rotorua.
So from Friday 8 June, we'll be in Taupo.
From there, we'll be doing the touristy thing, checking out the thermal/volcanic stuff as well as hopefully letting the kids find some snow. There are supposed to be snowfields nearby. I won't be skiing - I've never had the chance to, and now I'm not strong enough. But easy child & difficult child 3 will definitely be wanting to ski. Don't know about boyfriend. I suspect husband & I will be inside drinking hot chocolate while we watch.
BF1 also wants to go to a hangi, so do we. Even if I have to buy some fish and wrap it in foil myself and bury it in hot volcanic sands to cook, we'll do a hangi. Then there are the hot thermal pools, the walks around Rotorua, the geysers, the bubbling hot mud... it should be fun. And very different.
The following Friday 15 June, we have to transfer to another place, on South Island. It's in Wanaka, another lakeside place. This is the transit that easy child booked - she's very nervous about flying, ("I'll be okay as long as I don't have a window seat.") but she was determined to do it with as few transfers as possible. Trouble is, she booked a Beechcraft 1900D! 19 seats, all of them next to a window!
http://www.airnz.com.au/travelinfo/ontheplane/seat_maps/beechcraft_1900d_popup.htm
We'll hand in our car at Taupo airport, fly the Beechcraft out of Taupo, then change planes in Auckland to something bigger, flying to Queenstown on South Island. There we'll pick up our second car and drive to Wanaka.
http://www.hotelclub.net/hotel.reservations/Edgewater_Resort_Wanaka.htm
So from Friday 15 June to Friday 22 June, that's where we'll be based. From there we're hoping to get a look round the countryside, get to Milford Sound, have a bit of a look at LOTR country and explore.
We check out of there on Friday morning 22 June. easy child goofed, she booked herself and BF1 to fly out of Queenstown the next morning, so we have to hang around in Queenstown for about 24 hours, then husband, difficult child 3 & I are entirely on our own for the next few days. We just have to make our way to Christchurch for our flight home, on (I think) Thursday 28 June. At some stage we're hoping to drive along the west coast of South Island, to give difficult child 3 a real close-up look at a glacier or two. But it will all depend on what else we've already done, and how much energy we have left.
Besides all difficult child 3's schoolwork, we're taking his Alphasmart, husband's laptop and our new digital camera. Somehow with all that, we should be able to cram a decent education in that head, and still have a good holiday with easy child & BF1. difficult child 3 is a very good photographer, as well as a keen one. It will be the first time in New Zealand for all of us.
So that's about it. If you want to travel with us, plug in those place names into Google and have a peek at some of the options. We've been having fun planning things, but not booking until we get there (apart from those two weeks' accommodation) so we're free to change our plans if we want to.
Our favourite kind of adventure, is to just drive ourselves so we can stop if we see something interesting. By doing this we've found some fascinating places well off the usual tourist beat. We found Hartzview, a fabulous boutique vineyard down in Tasmania, two years ago - about the only decent vineyard we got to visit on that trip. It was a classic hidden valley, just wonderful. Instead of eating at the usual fast food franchises, we try to find where the locals eat, and go there. "I'll have what she's having."
One place we're hoping to get to on South Island - Sam Neill's vineyard. We saw it on a travel show, it looked fascinating.
So travel with us, have fun. We'll tell you all about it when we get back.
Marg (and family)
I wanted to bring my scooter but it's going to be too awkward, with some of the travel. I was supposed to be getting a wheelchair instead, but we haven't organised it and I don't think we'll be able to.
So here goes:
Monday 4 June - we leave. easy child 2/difficult child 2 is working that day, she will also be driving BF2 to work. Somehow we have to get off our 'island' and to the airport, so at about 6.45 am she will drive some of us (probably easy child, BF1 & difficult child 3) to the wharf to catch the half-hour ferry to the railway station (it's on the terminus). We'll wave them off at 7 am then easy child 2/difficult child 2 will drive me, husband and the luggage to the nearest station by road - half an hour along the train line. it's a 20 minute drive.
So we will get to the midway station about half an hour ahead of easy child, BF1 & difficult child 3. This will give us time to get our luggage down to the platform and wait for the train with the others on it. We should see them easily. we'll be in touch with mobile phones so there shouldn't be any problems.
So when we finally meet up - we travel by train to Wolli Creek station where we change trains for the airport line. This takes us right in to Sydney Airport, but it's a privatised train line so it's going to be expensive.
Then we sit around at the airport until our flight leaves at about 11 am. Hopefully meanwhile, difficult child 3 will be doing some schoolwork. Hey, I can hope!
We land in Auckland (on North Island) at about 5 pm their time. It will be dark, we'll collect a hire car (already booked) at the airport and then take off for pastures unknown but somewhere in the Auckland area. We have not booked accommodation, so we don't have to look for one particular place, we can simply drive until we see somewhere we like the look of.
Next day - we've been told we need to take a ferry round Auckland Harbour, they say it's beautiful. husband wants to visit a local miniature train club, so we might all tag along. We want to do a city tour, or maybe instead our favourite pastime - getting lost in a new city. it's the fastest way to learn it.
From Wednesday to Friday, we're roaming at large. We have to make our way eventually to Taupo, where we're staying for a week. We'll probably aimlessly make our way along the Bay of Plenty. Taupo is four hours' drive east of Auckland and south in the mountains from Rotorua.
So from Friday 8 June, we'll be in Taupo.
From there, we'll be doing the touristy thing, checking out the thermal/volcanic stuff as well as hopefully letting the kids find some snow. There are supposed to be snowfields nearby. I won't be skiing - I've never had the chance to, and now I'm not strong enough. But easy child & difficult child 3 will definitely be wanting to ski. Don't know about boyfriend. I suspect husband & I will be inside drinking hot chocolate while we watch.
BF1 also wants to go to a hangi, so do we. Even if I have to buy some fish and wrap it in foil myself and bury it in hot volcanic sands to cook, we'll do a hangi. Then there are the hot thermal pools, the walks around Rotorua, the geysers, the bubbling hot mud... it should be fun. And very different.
The following Friday 15 June, we have to transfer to another place, on South Island. It's in Wanaka, another lakeside place. This is the transit that easy child booked - she's very nervous about flying, ("I'll be okay as long as I don't have a window seat.") but she was determined to do it with as few transfers as possible. Trouble is, she booked a Beechcraft 1900D! 19 seats, all of them next to a window!
http://www.airnz.com.au/travelinfo/ontheplane/seat_maps/beechcraft_1900d_popup.htm
We'll hand in our car at Taupo airport, fly the Beechcraft out of Taupo, then change planes in Auckland to something bigger, flying to Queenstown on South Island. There we'll pick up our second car and drive to Wanaka.
http://www.hotelclub.net/hotel.reservations/Edgewater_Resort_Wanaka.htm
So from Friday 15 June to Friday 22 June, that's where we'll be based. From there we're hoping to get a look round the countryside, get to Milford Sound, have a bit of a look at LOTR country and explore.
We check out of there on Friday morning 22 June. easy child goofed, she booked herself and BF1 to fly out of Queenstown the next morning, so we have to hang around in Queenstown for about 24 hours, then husband, difficult child 3 & I are entirely on our own for the next few days. We just have to make our way to Christchurch for our flight home, on (I think) Thursday 28 June. At some stage we're hoping to drive along the west coast of South Island, to give difficult child 3 a real close-up look at a glacier or two. But it will all depend on what else we've already done, and how much energy we have left.
Besides all difficult child 3's schoolwork, we're taking his Alphasmart, husband's laptop and our new digital camera. Somehow with all that, we should be able to cram a decent education in that head, and still have a good holiday with easy child & BF1. difficult child 3 is a very good photographer, as well as a keen one. It will be the first time in New Zealand for all of us.
So that's about it. If you want to travel with us, plug in those place names into Google and have a peek at some of the options. We've been having fun planning things, but not booking until we get there (apart from those two weeks' accommodation) so we're free to change our plans if we want to.
Our favourite kind of adventure, is to just drive ourselves so we can stop if we see something interesting. By doing this we've found some fascinating places well off the usual tourist beat. We found Hartzview, a fabulous boutique vineyard down in Tasmania, two years ago - about the only decent vineyard we got to visit on that trip. It was a classic hidden valley, just wonderful. Instead of eating at the usual fast food franchises, we try to find where the locals eat, and go there. "I'll have what she's having."
One place we're hoping to get to on South Island - Sam Neill's vineyard. We saw it on a travel show, it looked fascinating.
So travel with us, have fun. We'll tell you all about it when we get back.
Marg (and family)
