We rented a car at Auckland Airport and spent a week in each of 3 places: Opua in Bay of Islands, Queenstown and Nelson, with a few days travel to get from one stay to the next
Opua
The Boathouse was a really nice apartment on the Bay of Islands. We explored much of the north of North Island from here - Mangonui, Reigina, 90 Mile Beach, Russell, Waitangi Treaty Grounds, and Keri Keri
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From the Bay of Islands we wended our way south , stopping at Lake Taupo and Wellington. Where we caught the ferry to South Island. From the ferry terminal on South Island it was a fairly long drive to Christchurch, where we stayed at the charming Jane Charlotte hotel. The from here were went across the mountains to Queenstown
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And so to Queenstown
We stayed at Villa del Lago, and had a good apartment overlooking the lake. There are lots of excursions fro Queenstown, like Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, Te Anu, Dear PArk Heights, Walter Peak. This is touristville NZ, but they do it it a very relaxed way, and it does not give me the feeling of being processed.
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And from Queenstown up the quiet west coast of South Island to Nelson. We t a nasty shock the night we stayed at Fox Glacier - returning from a meal in the small town where we had been to a restaurant, we came to a police road block in the middle of nowhere. I passed the breath test (probably only just) Our B&B host told me that there was no police station at Fox and that the police drove for 4 hours either way from Greymouth, had a 30 minute road block, then drove 4 hours back home
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From Nelson we toured round Charlotte Sound and the vineyards of Marlborough
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We had the pleasant surprise of an upgrade to Business Class on Singapore Airlines