Anybody been to Fiji and NZ?

Heading out sunday for 4 days in Fiji and 8 days in New Zealand. Any body have specific pointers or things that you the hive recommends?

Appreaciate it.   Will have rental cars at both locations.

We did both on our honeymoon. Where are you in/out of at each, and any plans yet for where you're staying? NZ is big, and Fiji isn't easy to get around quickly.

In reply to bluej :

Thank you. Would love to info from you.

FIJI: We are in and out of Nadi

NZ: We are in and out of Auckland. National parks, waterfalls, must do?

Prefer the nature stuf. Appreciate it.

I've only been to NZ.   Rotorua offers a lot to do about an hour away from Auckland, and we really enjoyed the Waimangu volcanic valley walk, with the boat ride at the end.

We only got 3 days there, I wish it could have been 3 weeks!

Oh yeah, go to https://www.hukahoneyhive.com/ and be sure to get some hokey pokey ice cream.  It's really good!  Get it early so you can have it a few times, NZ is the only place we've had it but we discovered it at the end of our trip.

New Zealand:

Auckland ferry to Waiheke Island, stay at least one night

Then head north to Paihia, and tiki tour around Northland.

Or do the sensible thing, and fly Auckland to Queenstown and take in the South Island, Queenstown-Glenorchy, Queenstown-Te Anau-Milford Sound, Queenstown-Cromwell (Highlands Motorsport Park - highlands.co.nz ) on to Wanaka, tour the West Coast, Nelson, Picton -ferry to Wellington and fly back to Auckland.

We spent three weeks in NZ back in 2011. Loved it enough that we will go back some day. Are you hearty hikers? The Tongariro Crossing was amazeballs and I felt like every hour I saw something more beautiful than anything I'd seen before. But it was a grueling day hike with a lot of elevation changes. We went to the top of the volcano (side trip) and I think we were hiking nonstop for about 10 - 12 hours. 
 

sea kayaking was really cool I'd have to see where we went but it was unguided and we got to see and lightly interact with a Hectors Dolphin. 

The South Island was much more rural than the north island. Both there's a lot of nature to find on both of them. 

we did a lot of "tramping" - back country hiking - and really enjoyed it. Any of the major walks would be amazing I'm sure. I'll Try to find the resources we used in planning our trip. 
 

three weeks want enough. But any time spent there will be rewarding I'm sure!

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

We will be staying a few days in Rotorua. We have hotel there and Airbnb house in Auckland 

will try the ice cream you recommended 

In reply to LoneWolf :

Will do the waiheke and north.  No flying to south 

In reply to dculberson :

Thank you sir. Hiking 7-8 hours is fine - we did that in alaska this summer. But 12 hours might be a bit much in the amount of touristy things we want to see 

mr2s2000elise said:

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

We will be staying a few days in Rotorua. We have hotel there and Airbnb house in Auckland 

 

will try the ice cream you recommended 

Great!  You'll have a blast!  We had to keep our excursions light, as we were traveling with a 4 month old.   If you were planning on passing through Tauranga, it's worth a walk around Mount Maunganui.  It's about a 45 minute walk all the way around, and it's got great scenery of the city and the bay, just know that calling it a "hike" is generous for you guys. It won't satisfy the 8-hour-long-deep-into-the-woods feeling, but it's a great way to kill an hour or so before dinner and not get disgusting before going out.

Since I'm on my computer now, here's a few pics from when were there in 2010.

Waimangu feels like stepping into the triassic period:

And here is Mount Maunganui:

And, because NZ:

Excellent 

we will have kids with us. Tauranga will be one list 

did you go down to lake Taopo ? 

No, we didn't make it down that far.  We wanted to do some light hiking around there, but we ended up spending all day around Waimangu instead.

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

Ok. I put lake taopo on the list as people had recommended it highly 

let's see if we can make it down there 

Fiji isn't A place, it's a whole bunch of places.  There's a ton of Fiji islands.  The one the airport is on is less than exciting.  But there's a ferry you can ride that does to a bunch of islands so you really get to see the differences and the "natives".

In reply to carguy123 :

Waiting at airport to board flight to Nadi 

all ears on island hopping if you have recommendations 

Viewing GRM forum 

Look like it's pretty nice in Fiji right now :)

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

No complaints. 72-77F here

South Pacific water is so warm.. stayed at hotel beach mostly 

tmrw plan to island hop. Lots of prius and old toyotas 

cabs were Toyota Wish 

I would go pee on Burt Munro's lemon tree.

Haven't spotted a single American car in fiji yet. 
 

lots of Hilux and prado. Wagon lovers dream (not cool wagons we see in Tokyo, but rather old cool GRM style wagons). Lots of Hiace and liteace not to mention long likes to pay at gas stations and questionable car mods 

i was in Nz at once 

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

Heading to mount manganui now per your recommendation