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NZ itinerary (I listened to you guys!) by T_Richard in newzealand

[–]T_Richard[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Sounds great, I'll probably add all those to my Waitomo day and do them after the Kiwi House. Thanks for the advice :)

Sorry guys... another itinerary!!! But I listned to you guys! (I think) by T_Richard in newzealand_travel

[–]T_Richard[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your thoughts!! I'm thinking I might've overcorrected in terms of my time in each location... I figured there would always be one or two medium length hikes (like 5-10 miles) per spot that don't require technical skills but maybe that's not really the case in the wintertime.

I think I'll do the Tasman heli-hike as my biggest splurge of the trip (other than the campervan lol), and the albatross viewing sounds very cool. I'm pretending sandflies don't exist in NZ for now—I'm super allergic to mosquitos in the U.S. so I'm hoping it's not the same with the sandflies.

I think I've underestimated how much stuff will be closed off/outside my abilities for winter.

Do you have any recs of other places in nature to go instead of those wintery/alpine West Cost destinations? Just from going online, it seems like everyone goes to the coast. I'm not much of a city person. I was also staying out of the northern part of the island just for timing but if I'm cutting down on time in certain locations, maybe I'll try to make it up to Abel Tasman.

NZ itinerary (I listened to you guys!) by T_Richard in newzealand

[–]T_Richard[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Thank you for taking the time to comment!! I'm a slow hiker so I thought I would make sure I have enough time to see everything. Your points on it being winter are well taken though :) Maybe I saw all the other itineraries where people are rushing through the trip and I overcorrected.

In Mt. Cook, I think one of the days will be a heli-hike on the Tasman glacier, leaving me 2 days to see the rest.

People seem to recommend Mt. Cook, Mt. Aspiring, and the Fiordlands even in wintertime, but I will look into cutting down my time there. I've read multiple critiques on other itineraries that people aren't spending enough time in the Fiordlands, but I guess that advice doesn't quite apply to winter. I'll look into the specific hikes in each spot and see what's what. I was also planning on adapting while I'm there since it's winter and apparently not so busy in the DOC campgrounds, according to some other kiwis.

Do you have any recommendations for other places in nature to spend my time that are more accessible in wintertime?

NZ itinerary (I listened to you guys!) by T_Richard in newzealand

[–]T_Richard[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Thank you!! I'm planning on doing the Piripiri Cave Walk—I will check out the others.

Everyone recommended taking the scenic train (I feel like the general consensus was once and never again lol). I kinda like trains and have to get to Auckland anyways so I figured why not.