dun worry abt long drive.. u enjoy every moment there... especially at south..

my stop as below

reach auckland, then take local flight to christchurch..

christchurch (one night - look for those hotel with free airport transfer, so the next day they send u back to airport car renting place like jucy, stock up food now and a bottle of wine)

then drive to tekapo.. a night (to me, most beautiful in nz), next time i will spend two days here.. go mt john, a must.

tekapo to mt cook - stay one or two days ( for me 1 day)

mt cook to queenstown - stay one or two days ( for me 1day)

queentown to te anau - stay 2 days, use one full day take local package to milford sound, they fetch u from hotel to milford and they stop at all scenery place, u no need find ur self..

te anau to dunedin - long drive... stay at mosgiel very nice place.. local farm..  then visit the educational town drop ur car at dunedin airport fly back to auckland..

auckland stay one night near airport one.. same , stay those with airport transfer.. next morning baru take car..

auckland to mata-mata to rotorua.. - stay a night.. i din visit lotr, the mata mata town itself already like one..

rotorua - taupo (go for a sail here, take barbary sail) - auckland

auckland - stay a night or two, visit the town, nothing to shout abt.. dun spend time at town, spend 90% at south lar..

dun worry abt warehouse.. its almost everywhere..

Actually I dunno what's nice at Auckland & I only know about hobbiton there, haha..
The rest of the places I know are all at south island.

My friend say hobbiton must buy ticket and join the tour, isit? Cannot drive there on our own? Actually is it worth it? I'm not a fan but hubby is.

U can’t drive to Hobbiton. U need to take the bus tour from the pick up point. If u ask my opinion, I think Hobbiton kinda overrated. Nothing much there & the entrance ticket is very expensive. Nzd70 per person if not mistaken.

Auckland for me is just a typical mat saleh town. Heh.
I’ll skip Auckland for sure if I were u & proceed to other places in North Island or better still, in South Island. U won’t regret travelling to South Island for sure.

Yeah, many people also said south island is much better. But since the flight goes to Auckland, so I might as well explore some of the places there too
I told hubby about hobbiton and he said if it's overrated and expensive, then we can skip it. Just go to places where we can find similar lotr scenes if possible.

Thanks so much for the detailed suggestion.
So it is much better to go Christchurch after reach Auckland, explore south island then lastly go back to Auckland for roturua and fly back to KL?
Then I need to check the domestic flight that is available on the day itself.

Since u both already plan to come to NZ & your hubby is a fan of LOTR, it’s good to experience Hobbiton. Don’t want to make ur hubby regret later since he is there. In short, it’s a must place to visit if u r a fan of LOTR but a lot of other places in NZ can beat it’s awesomeness. Hehe. Welcome to NZ!

Thanks so much for the detailed suggestion.
So it is much better to go Christchurch after reach Auckland, explore south island then lastly go back to Auckland for roturua and fly back to KL?
Then I need to check the domestic flight that is available on the day itself.

Yeah, many people also said south island is much better. But since the flight goes to Auckland, so I might as well explore some of the places there too
I told hubby about hobbiton and he said if it's overrated and expensive, then we can skip it. Just go to places where we can find similar lotr scenes if possible.

wanna ask.. we will be driving frm north to south island.

we will take ferry frm wellington to picton. From picton, which route has beter scenic ah..

1) picton to arthur's pass via west coast
2) picton to arthur's pass via east coast

TQ

LOTR locations is North Island :
1. Hobbiton - Please go for the earliest tour. Purchase the tickets online and drive to the set. Then board their bus. Overrated yes but you are already in NZ it would be silly if you didn't go for it. Earliest tour so that the pictures of hobbit houses is without tourists in the background. The tour is guided.

2. Mount Ruapehu / Tongariro National Park - I took a drive up to see the gates of Mordor, there's just a sign there that says it was used as the set for LOTR. On the way you can see Mount Doom in the distance.

3. Weta Studios in Wellington - book the studio tours online and if your hubby is a big LOTR fan, he will enjoy this studio.

There are other locations, just go to http://www.doc.govt.nz/Lord of the rings to find out the other locations. My suggestion is to self drive. Happy Travels

My sister is planning to go with our mother for a week's stay. They would enjoy scenery of course and visit vineyards. Where would you guys suggest they go?

Just checked MAS fare for matta fair special. Around RM2k return if travel in early September.
But problem is... the flight reach Auckland at 11pm. Can we lepak at airport and wait till morning & then go to our hostel? I read that they will halau people from lepak in airport.

Just checked MAS fare for matta fair special. Around RM2k return if travel in early September.
But problem is... the flight reach Auckland at 11pm. Can we lepak at airport and wait till morning & then go to our hostel? I read that they will halau people from lepak in airport.

Why not sleep at Ibis budget hotel nearby the Auckland airport?
It's only few minutes walk from the airport.

Yes you can, I have overnight before (year 2016) at airport in AUckland

There has a shower room you can use for free one

Oh.. So they won't halau huh? That's good to know