Hot, frantic and passionate or comforting and slow? You can do both in New Zealand but the lightening tour is the one so many do, regretting as they fly off into the crystal clear skies of the South Pacific that they had not taken the relaxed one. However, if you are on a very tight time budget, here's how to ensure you get the best bang for your buck.
Fly into Auckland. Take a ferry out to Rangitoto Island, a volcano only seven hundred years old. Look back at the skyline of Auckland and reflect that every large mountain you see is an old volcano. You are in one of the worlds ex hot spots! On the way back, stop off in laid back Devonport and meander around for an hour or two, hop on the ferry again back to Auckland. A day in the sun and it might have done something for your jet lag.
Next destination, Rotorua. You have left an ex hot spot, now you are in the middle of where the center of the earth meets the surface. Bubbling hot mud pools, geysers sprouting from anywhere and a smell that will stick in your memory for some time. Rotorua is an excellent place to take in some of the indigenous Maori culture.
Now it is Rotorua to Queenstown. There are direct flights which is important with the days ticking by. Hopefully the weather is fine because you will see the whole of New Zealand from the air. Rolling pasture, green upon green, more volcanoes, craggy ranges covered in dark green bush, Cook Straight that separates the North from the South Island, the fine fingers of the Marlborough Sounds, the snow capped spine of the South Island, the Southern Alps, the Pacific Ocean on one side, the Tasman sea on the other.
Forget any ride you may have had in Disneyland, the flight into Queenstown is a beauty. Stunning scenery that you could put your hand out the window and touch, literally. The flight path usually follows a valley into the airport, so beware of a few sudden although planned turns.
In Queenstown take the Gondola up to the Heights, maybe Parasail down. Walk around the lake, take a jet boat ride, horse trek in the mountains. There is something for everyone. Fly out of New Zealand from Christchurch. There are plenty of flights from Queenstown to the Garden City. In Christchurch walk around. It is a beautiful languid city, more English the England.
You have now seen the abridged New Zealand. Phew! So much fun with your clothes on.
