Haven't looked at vroomvroomvroom [too busy lowering the lion fence for you!] but a mate of mine rented a car from Rent a Dent in Auckland - good car and very cheap, he said. We one way hired a 6 person motor home/camper [our 2 year old needs her space!!] including toddler seat and no excess insurance, plus the free transfers to and from the airport for about AUD240 per day. You would get a 2 person model a lot cheaper than that. I reckon you would be able to sharpen your pencil quite a bit yet.
If you are only going for 9 nights I think that is a good idea. You will get much better value for your money. At a later stage you can make a similar trip to the North Island.
I'd suggest the North Island myself. Seeing zoos are the primary reason for the trip, there are a lot more options on the North. Wildlife fixes can be obtained at Tiritiri Matangi and Karori. There are whale-watching boats out of Auckland. Thermal sightseeing in Rotorua. Maybe a flight over White Island. No glaciers or kea on the North Island though.
Zoos are not the primary objective of the trip per se. We want to see the usual touristy stuff that everyone visits New Zealand to see, PLUS visit as many zoos as we can - sort of like most of our vacations. For this reason, we would not book a full tour, like "Tour South Island". I want to see the hot springs, but I also want to see the glaciers. Those majestic mountain scenes from LOTR were filmed in South Island right?
If you want the breathtaking scenery, plus the indigenous wildlife, plus a couple of zoos, plus some worthwhile wildlife experiences - the South Island is the one. It is truly, uniquely New Zealand. If you want many more zoos then consider the North Island. Nine nights will not be enough to do justice to both islands!
Folks, I couldn't make the books balance for a NZ trip over Easter. We have postponed the trip until spring, and we will book way in advance during an off-peak period to save a couple K. I would like to thank you for all your assistance and information, as the itinerary that I planned based on your advice will remain more or less unchanged for our trip in 6 months time. We have booked a much shorter and cheaper trip to Adelaide over Easter.
If you're going to Adelaide for nine days then I strongly recommend you spend five of them on Kangaroo Island (take a car). Lots of wildlife to see, and beautiful scenery (plus some history, if you're into that too). Hix
Thanks Hix. We did KI in 2009 I think it was - we rented the car, and did a few tours, and spent about 5 days! KI is truly one of my favourite places in Australia. 9 days in Adelaide? Oh heavens no! Just Fri, Sat, Sun, and Mon.
I went over to Chch this week, and decided to take the TranzAlpine to see what its like (never having done it before), and honestly I'd say take the bus or a car instead. The view is much much better by road. There are a couple of very impressive river valleys seen when on the eastern side of the ranges which aren't seen by road, but otherwise the road is far superior. For one thing the train goes through a tunnel for 15 minutes from Otira to Arthurs Pass so you miss the top entirely! And of course car gives you the option of stopping where-ever you like. With regards to the train's stop in Arthurs Pass, it is for ten minutes and you can't leave the platform, so your chances of seeing kea are close to zip [the bus stops in the Village for 15 or 30 minutes and gives a very good chance for kea].
Thanks for that. The down side to driving, of course, is that the driver doesn't get to see anything, and I am usually the driver. Maybe the compromise is to take a coach tour. I wanted to do the railway because it is supposedly one of the "must do" things on the South Island, but clearly it isn't worth it.
I was pretty underwhelmed by the train trip, especially with the hype they give it as one of the scenic wonders of the train-travelling-world. I expect in the middle of winter it would be rather grand though.
