Hi All,
I'm short on time at the moment, so just a semi-swift reply here. Might write more in a couple of days.
Doing both islands in a week is too much - you'd only be driving; stick to either the north (nicest cities, culture, volcanic landscapes) or the south (nicest (most spectacular) scenery, mountains, nature, hiking). I'd strongly recommend doing the South Island. (Flying into Auckland is no problem there, as there's near-hourly flights to Christchurch and Queenstown.) There's really only one Lord of the Rings destination really worth seeing imo, and that's at Matamata, which has the only movie set still (partially) remaining.
A couple of years ago I wrote down a suggested itinerary for a week in the south island . For the north island I'd say:
1: Explore Auckland
2: Drive to the Coromandel (stay at Whitianga or Hahei) via Matamata (hobbiton)
3: See Cathedral Cove and hot water beach, then drive to Rotorua
4: See volcanic parks around rotorua (wai-o-tapu), then drive on to whakapapa in Tongariro National Park
5: Hike the Tongariro Crossing if it's good weather, or do shorter hikes if the weather's bad
6: Drive to Napier and explore Napier
7: Drive to Wellington and explore Wellington
8: Fly home
You could also skip Napier and the Coromandel and instead use those days for a quick trip up to the Bay of Islands.
If you make it to Wellington, and big LOTR fans, then the Weta Workshops 'Cave' is a must.
and from what I understand free to visit
http://www.wetanz.com/do-you-do-tours-of-the-workshop/
I just checked with Hobbiton at Matamata, and they are closed in February after Feb 13th.
I just checked with Hobbiton at Matamata, and they are closed in February after Feb 13th.
That sucks for you, but is pretty awesome on the bigger scale, in that it suggests they're going to re-use the set for The Hobbit! (And I want to bet the family will this time have negotiated a contract where they get to keep the entire set in as close to complete state as possible, which means that after the movies...)
You have great decision, February and March is best time for New Zealand trip.
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