Ah I can't give you an accurate answer on that as I didn't go to Aranui Cave. I only went for Ruakuri and Waitomo.

Sounds amazing. Thanks for the recommendation

Read up the thread for more info.

To South Island? I'm not sure when also. Depends when my partner is free to travel with me and whenever there are cheap flights from Auckland to SI.

Yea. Semi based there.

North. You're based there too?

Nearer to Albany there
Where you at now?

Yea, customs can be quite long. Hope your flight won't delay and customs will be quick for you.

Lots of Asians in North Shore these days, compared to years ago

http://www.backpackerguide.nz/best-times-l...ts-new-zealand/
http://www.backpackerguide.nz/5-places-to-...in-new-zealand/
https://wanderwisdom.com/travel-destination...urora-Australis

Do share your experience with the southern lights if you manage to see it

Nah, I'm not a rugby fan.

Most likely no. Two different rental contracts. But you can try to speak to the car rental company to see if they can give you a deal.

Congrats

I would suggest to fly directly south. Christchurch.
Then just follow any good south island itinerary for about 1.5 weeks. I'm sure you'll find much useful information on the net about this.

Fly back to Auckland before you go back to KL or the other way round. Give maybe 1 full day in Auckland if you're into the city, otherwise half a day is good enough. Maximize your time in South island. If you're gonna drive from north to south or south to north, try to give it more days as it's gonna be realllly rush to cover so many areas. Your trip is pretty much gonna be clocking millage only and the driver is going to be hella tired.

Definitely yes 11D10N to cover quite a bit of South Island.

I second air_mood, it's worth to cover Dunedin for the Otago Peninsula. I did the west coast covered Akaroa, Christchurch, Tekapo, Rakaia, Arthur's Pass, Hokitika, Franz Josef Glacier, Wanaka, Queenstown, Arrowtown, Glenorchy, Invercargil, Bluff and Dunedin then back to Christchurch the last time. But that was about 15 days la.

Exactlyyyyy. Hence need to go to Blue Pools. I saw some photos on instagram and people were jumping off the bridge there into the clear blue water. Omg so wanna go there.

Haha. Were there a lot of people when you were there? What month of the year did you go?

I think it'll be super risky to do any bungy or jumping from high places with a crappy knee. Last thing you want on your holiday is an injury.

Ah the one in Sunway lagoon is nothing compare to nz ones

End April autumn time. Bet the changing of leaves were beautiful. Was in arrowtown early may and it was soooo gorgeous.

Nah I didn't cover those places. Maybe another time

Internet in the city area is quite fast. I don't know about outskirts though. Some places don't have fiber yet. But backing up photos generally shouldn't have a problem.

Color of water could be because the weather was sucky when you were there. The sea also looks boring and dull when the sun doesn't shine.

Beautiful color of the water.

Amazing that you saw so many orcas!

Custom clearance may take some time. So it can be hard to say. But give plenty of time in between. Better if can stay overnight before flying domestic cause flight may delay sometimes.

I guess this is where travel insurance comes in handy.

I did a short campervan trip up north for a week or so. But I'd still prefer roadtrip + motels/airbnb for a good comfortable rest. It's not that much difference in cost either.

Depends on your 2 kids as well. The kids may enjoy the campervan trip, different kind of living environment, etc. But if too young then maybe a bit of a hassle, motels will be more comfortable. 4 to a car for road trip is just nice. Huge campervans can be hard to drive and park. Go for motels with cooking facilities, lots of motels have rooms to accommodate 4 pax.

NZ is easy to plan. Google maps is good enough.

They can get the bigger one that fits 6 pax. Which was what we took the last time.

It's not easy to drive that thing. Plus I can imagine it can be a real hassle finding proper parking in the town.