"Nataly" wrote in message
news:d1eg1o$lp1$1@s1.news.oleane.net...
> "Jack" a écrit :
> > There are only two roads you are not allowed to take them on
>
> Why? They are dangerous?
> Do you remember what roads?
>
> > Plan on allowing two weeks for South Island - and that will be hurrying
a
> > bit if you wanted to stop for a few days at some places.
>
> I was thinking about one week or 10 days in north island and all the end
of
> the trip in south island.
> We want to see south island more especially.
> We would arrived at Auckland and left at Christchurch.
>
> Thank you for you advices :0)
>
> Nataly
>
>
Sorry, cannot remember the names of the roads, but they were short roads and
not important ones. They are disallowed due to being narrow.
NZ is a big country but packed into a small space - better perhaps to do one
island one trip and the other on a second.
I liked South Island much better due to mountains etc.
Here is a story from our trip in 2003 that was published here in Australia.
----
Travelling with a family of five can present some challenges. xxx tells us
how his family survived a tour of New Zealand's South Island.
Even after seven days, the scenery was still impressive as we slowly made
the steep climb up the snowy spine of New Zealand's South Island towards
Arthurs' Pass, the main route between the west and east coasts.
Our journey was around southern South Island in the motor home before
exploring the northern half by rental car. We were travelling in September,
taking advantage lower levels of tourist traffic and cheaper hiring rates.
Travelling as a family of five, with three kids under the age of 10 is
always an adventure and it had been with some trepidation that we had picked
up our Pacific Horizon fully self-contained 6-berth motor home in
Christchurch the week before. We had chosen a motor home holiday, as it
would provide us with the travelling flexibility we desired.
A motor home holiday is also more affordable than accommodation for five in
motels or caravan park cabins, plus car hire. Diesel fuel in New Zealand is
cheap at around 58 cents per litre and despite the motor home being 6.5
metres long and weighing just under four tonnes, it proved cheaper to run
that the last three days in a 6-cylinder station wagon paying NZ$1.03 for
petrol.
Our whistlestop journey was punctuated by the "must-sees" of the South
Island including the early evening arrival of the yellow-eyed and small blue
penguins at Oamaru, the glowworm caves at Te Anau, Milford Sound,
Queenstown's ski fields, a jet boat ride on the Wilkin River and the
fabulous west coast glaciers. After changing to a station wagon in
Christchurch it was north for a cruise on Queen Charlotte Sound out of
Picton and relaxing soak in the Hanmer Hot Springs on the way back to
Christchurch via Lewis Pass.
A big advantage offered by a motor home holiday is flexibility. You can stay
in caravan parks, as we did for the first couple of nights, or almost
anywhere there is flat ground you can pull up and spend the night, as we did
at a fabulous spot on the Milford Sound road.
We quickly discovered many South Island caravan parks are old and tired
compared to most parks in Australia. The exception was a park in Queenstown
that was new, but had coin-operated showers. Given the self-sufficient
nature of our motor home, we were soon devotees of roadside camps in
splendid locations.
There are overnight stopover points on most roads, ranging from rest areas,
to those with basic facilities operated by the New Zealand Department of
Conservation, for which there is a minimal charge. An added advantage of the
DOC stopovers is that many also feature walks from 10 minutes to three hours
through moss laden beech forests and over amazing swing bridges. Travelling
in the off-peak season we mostly had these overnight stops and walks to
ourselves.
When free camping the only ties with civilisation are linked to emptying the
waste tanks at 'dump points', stocking up on fuel, water, doing the washing
stop when you run out of clean clothes and buying food. Generally we found
food expensive, with meat hard to find in supermarkets.
During our time free camping, we found the on-board fresh water would last
three days with a rinse, soap and rinse style of shower, plus hair washing
and dishwashing.
The gas heater in our van also heated the 20-litre hot water tank in about
30 minutes. This was enough for the three girls, while we parents waited for
water reheat before our turn. You can have a surprisingly satisfying shower
with just 10 litres of water.
The gas heater also meant we could return to a warm environment after our
bushwalks that were often in wet or damp conditions. The gas heating also
freed us from caravan parks, as most other motor homes had only electric
heating requiring mains power. When travelling with three children under the
age of 10, and with nights often near freezing, being able to get dressed
and have breakfast in a warm environment was a must.
One mistake we made was in calculating the time it took to get anywhere.
While the motor home cruised comfortably on 80-90kmph, on many winding and
hilly roads the average speed was just 40-50kmph.
This was because the motor home was delightfully slow up hills. This
provided driver and passengers with ample opportunity to take in the
magnificent, constantly changing scenery and made pulling up at interesting
spots for compulsory energy-consuming bushwalks - a must for the kids -
easy.
It also meant that it was no bother to pull over briefly to allow faster
traffic past.
This is a unique courtesy in New Zealand, and we saw cars, buses and even
semi-trailers obligingly pull over to let faster traffic past. It is a must
really, as many South Island roads have been hacked out of steep hillsides
without the latitude for long overtaking lanes. This is not to say that the
roads are unusually narrow or in poor condition, though many corners with
precipitous drops had none, or at best meagre guard rails to deflect drivers
distracted by the scenery.
Our final few days spent in a hire car highlighted the benefits of the motor
home. We were tied to pre-booked accommodation and while cruising up hills
and negotiating bends more quickly, our ability to appreciate the scenery
was overtaken by speed and carsickness.
The children especially, missed the 'beloved camper' and the card games
around the table at night.
-----
Make sure you get a fully self contained campervan - one with shower and
toilet and gas heating - otherwise you will have to stop at camping parks
which are expensive and detract from the value of having a camper.
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