Finally taking the plunge!!

Now I need to research and plan... I only have 490 days to wait!!

my question for all the Kiwi experts is this; we're doing Milford Sound, and I'm curious as to the average weather in February. All the photos and vids I look at show everyone in cold weather gear. (I live in Las Vegas, so anything under 21 degrees is chilly to us) I'm not adverse to the cold, I'm just wondering if I need to treat this more like an Alaska cruise as opposed to a caribbean cruise, wardrobe wise.

Thanks in advance for your help...... I can't wait for this adventure to begin! :D

Whilst the ports themselves will be an average in the 20's in the South Island, the sounds are always cool due to their position and the cold winds that comes down of the mountains. So you would need cool weather gear at least for there. NZ is a very different climate to the carribean, it may be summer in Feb but it's not a tropical climate.

Take some gear that can be worn in layers or separate.

I have a T shirt

which can be worn by itself or

Under a shirt

And a Long sleeve denim or canvas shirt that can be worn by itself or over the above.

I do similar with pants as well, I always have a light pair of cargo type pants that if it is real cold (but it has to be really cold) can go under jeans.

Awesome.... layers it is. I'll just pack as if I'm doing Alaska. and if it's not sufficient.... I get to shop!!

this is a bucket list trip, and I can't begin to explain how excited I am. We are doing 5 days in Sydney pre-cruise...not including the stopover in Hawaii... and 3 in Auckland post cruise. with the 12 day cruise in between.

I'm slightly disappointed that we're visiting Burnie, and not Hobart, but hey, its still Tasmania! and I'll get to see Sydney, Melbourne, Dunedin, Wellington Akaroa, Napier, Taronga, and Milford sound. Sounds perfect to me.

I'd appreciate any info or suggestions on any of the stops...from locals or those of you who've already been there.

t'anx

Awesome.... layers it is. I'll just pack as if I'm doing Alaska. and if it's not sufficient.... I get to shop!!

 

this is a bucket list trip, and I can't begin to explain how excited I am. We are doing 5 days in Sydney pre-cruise...not including the stopover in Hawaii... and 3 in Auckland post cruise. with the 12 day cruise in between.

 

I'm slightly disappointed that we're visiting Burnie, and not Hobart, but hey, its still Tasmania! and I'll get to see Sydney, Melbourne, Dunedin, Wellington Akaroa, Napier, Taronga, and Milford sound. Sounds perfect to me.

 

I'd appreciate any info or suggestions on any of the stops...from locals or those of you who've already been there.

 

t'anx

Pity you miss Hobart but Burnie is a lovely little town, they'll probably greet you with a pipe band, the Mayor will be there.

They will have a shuttle bus and take you into the tourist information centre, the museum is a lovely visit.

The ship will almost certainly offer a shore tour to Cradle Mountain, which is perhaps my favourite place on earth (could be a bit pricey though).

BTW sounds like an awesome trip.

Feel free to ask any questions you have.

Hope you enjoy your visit downunder.

We were on a cruise from Sydney to Perth with stops similar to yours. In Tauranga we did a tour with Jim Archer tours. It was wonderful and is highly recommended. He took us to a kiwi farm - with a great gift shop and samples! - and we went to Te Puia (sp?), where we saw an amazing Maori demo and actually participated. We also saw boiling mud in Rotorua. It was a wonderful day!

OP, I'm a melbournian but have travelled extensively in NZ and know a fair bit, plus I can offer advise for Melbourne and Sydney.... Feel free to ask away :)

It snowed when we walked Milford in January.

There are not a lot of shopping options..

A lightweight down jacket May be very handy... I wore my goretex more often than not on 2 South Island trips in January

In November I wore my thermals underneath...

The one thing that's a must do in Dunedin IMHO is the albatross. Give larnach castle a miss if you've been to Europe

I love these suggestions...

I'll certainly keep the albatross in Dunedin in mind, would you do that over the Taieri Gorge train??

And, does anyone have any thoughts about the east bay mail run in Akaroa?? that looks like it would be beautiful, and not the generic tourist fodder......

I love these suggestions...

I'll certainly keep the albatross in Dunedin in mind, would you do that over the Taieri Gorge train??

And, does anyone have any thoughts about the east bay mail run in Akaroa?? that looks like it would be beautiful, and not the generic tourist fodder......

Not sure re albatross vs Taieri Gorge hopefully there'll be some more replies for you soon.

re Dunedin

If you are a chocoholic there is also the Cadbury World Dunedin option. The 1 hour tour is $20 with lots of samples & they also have a huge silo which they release a chocolate waterfall. We did that many years ago ..the smell yuuummmm!! It's right in the middle of town within a 5 or so min walk of where the cruise/port shuttle bus drops you & also within 5 min walk of the railway station. In regards to the train if you dont want to do the longer multiple hours trip (which I havent done but having seen the utube shows it looks spectacular) another option is the Seasider train which is a 90 min trip starts & ends in Dunedin. You wont see the same scenery as the longer train of course but might be a way of sort of squeezing extra into your day in Dunedin. I havent been to Cadburys for about 10 years but presuming its still a yummy stop & I am hoping tot get to the train on our next visit.

http://www.dunedinrailways.co.nz/our-journeys/the-waitati-seasider

https://cadbury.co.nz/cadbury-world/cadbury-world-dunedin-tours/

In regards to Tauranga we recently went to Rotorua and saw some of the geothermal sites. We were there for 1 day on cruise & hired a car from Rite Price Rentals. Highly recommend them. They had a huge welcome pack of maps, brochures & even coupons for discounted entry to one of the places we planned to visit ready & waiting in the car. They run their shuttle continuously to/from the port to rental office but its actually only a 5 min walk from the ship.

Waiotapu is a must see! Amazing ...the colours were surreal. Easy walking and just so incredible to see the boiling mud pools but hands down the highlight was the colourful waters created by all the geothermal activity

http://www.waiotapu.co.nz/

We also visited Tepuia - the geysers are super active & we we also loved this visit. Rite Price had a 10% off entry coupon in their pack which was handy.

http://www.tepuia.com/

Have brilliant trip your itinerary sounds fantastic!!

Also re Akaroa I havent done the mail run but it does look like a fab little tour. Hopefully someone else can give you some first hand feedback on that one.

Akaroa is such a pretty town very lovely to have a walk around and lots of souvenirs and knick knacks to buy. Not to mention some very yummy fudge. Bit of a chocolate theme for me LOL

We did the train after riding the rail trail on bikes...

middlemarch is nice but there's lots of good/better scenery esp if you do Milford sound.

albatross was better than Taieri.

Re cadbury world... its something I'd do if you can't fit anything else in...

Don't buy the chocolates.. they were cheaper in the supermarket

I'll second waiotapu but would give Te Puia a miss unless the price has dropped. You can watch the geyser from the carpark.. (I must admit having been there several times over 40 years I am a little jaded with just how commercial it has become vs what it used to be)

Both Auckland and wellington museums have better Maori cultural shows and are usually less $$ Treaty Grounds in Bay of Islands are also better than Te Puia