Offroad-Express

hello from switzerland!
i've just subscribed to your forum because i plan to spend our honeymoon in new zealand. and guess what.. i'll be renting a toyota landcruiser with rooftop tent and everything.http://www.britz.co.nz/new-zealand-4WD-hire.

here in switzerland i own a 97 defender 300 tdi which i take for trips and to drive around my two great danes - and the future wife not to forget

here's a pic of it when i was in france last january:


so what i came to your forum for is looking for info about new zealand that is a bit off the beaten track.
i don't want to go and do nasty stuff during our honeymoon (don't want her to wonder wether it was a good idea to marry me in the first few weeks already )
i'd be more than happy if i'd find info on here about scenic unpaved roads and romantic places to pop up a tent.
we'll be starting in auckland and have almost two weeks before we drop the car off in christchurch.

what i found so far is this site:
http://www.angelfire.com/ne/4WDNZ/

as well as these cool free gps maps for my garmin:
http://gwprojects.orcon.net.nz/gps/

and i ordered the 4x4 book by Ken Sibly

any further hints and tips are very welcome.

cheers,
loko

Welcome to the board man

nice picture I hope you enjoy your stay

Welcome, Hope you enjoy your stay.

As far as trips go in the South Island I would recommend you go down the west coast of New Zealand and come across one of the passes to CHCH. it is a nice scenic trip from Picton to Nelson (paved) and you can turn up into Kenaperu Sound if you want and again from Nelson to Westport and you have a lot of places you can go from westport.

The east coast is more rivers but further south Around Queenstown, Arrowtown there are some great places too. If you come down the east coast of the south island then going into Molesworth Station may be a go and that brings you out Hanmer area, from there you can go across to the west coast or carry on down the east coast.

There are lots of places to see and lots to do You won't be bored anyway. I am sure with the book you can find tracks to explore but one of our North Island brothers will suggest something.

Oh good pic too bet you want to frame that one.

one place i would recomend is the hot springs next to the Mohaka river,nice camping spot and fantastic bush scenery
check this map

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... &z=15&om=0

welcome to the forum,hope you enjoy your visit

Hi loko and wife to be and a big welcome for you visit to NZ. What time of the year are you going to be here ?. I don't think any of Ken Sibley's tracks in his book will be suitable for a Britz set up Landcruiser and most of the tracks have a recommendation of more than one vehicle. How ever there are lots of scenic gravel road trips in NZ and I'm sure if you let ORE members Know what you itinerary is closer to your dates they will help you out. Can't tell you much about the North Island but all of the South Island is beautiful, start at Picton off the ferry, travel up to Golden Bay, hell you could spend your whole time there , back to Tasman Bay, down through the Buller and west Coast, Haast Pass through to Wanaka and Queenstown, Milford, depending on time Stewart Island and back up the east coast to Christchurch. Just some ideas, it will be like all trips ------

YOU CAN'T SEE IT ALL,

FITZY.

Have a look at the DOC (department of conservation) website for camp sites away from your countrymen

http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/ByRegionLanding.aspx?id=37039

Gidday loko

Dont plan on spending too much of your 2 weeks in the North Island coz all the good NZ scenery is down in the south Island

Welcome aboard

As indicated everything is better down in the South Island but there are places to see in the North remember our summer is your winter so we have good weather now.

Anyway have a look at the AA site this is where we Kiwi's voted we should see odd that I have seen more of europe, the US, Africa, Fiji, Tonga, Australia and a few others than I have of the North Island.

Anyway this site is a good start and gives you an Idea of what you can see and you can say Jip or Nope to a lot of places and build some sort of Journey around them.

http://www.aatravel.co.nz/

hey guys
thanks for the warm welcome.
i gather there's some healthy competition between north and south

well we're going to see both anyway. i think that some parts of the south looks a bit like the mountaneous parts of switzerland. whereas there are those special fern forests in the north.

we're going to be in new zealand during your summer. from the 23rd of february until the 6th of march. we planned on taking the ferry on the 28th .

the 101 must do's are a gerat site for ideas: http://www.aatravel.co.nz/101-must-dos-for-kiwis/ thanks for the link!

Also the mohaka river hot springs look very promising. googling i found a homepage that has all the hot springs mapped: http://www.nzhotpools.co.nz/
it might be interesting to check them out.

thanks guys for these great hints on where to go. it's just not my thing to go to a foreign country and get herded through the sights with a bunch of other smelly tourists.

if you do get into the Mohaka and like the Mangatutu springs,and have a bit of time up your sleeve,pop up to the Mangatainoka Hot spring, thats a bloody ripper spot for a spa. about a 3hr walk depending on fitness

few Photos







top spot. fantastic trout fishing if your that way inclined as well [/img]

all right guys.. only two more weeks to go and i'm sitting in a plane that flies in your direction.
i hope everything is looking it's best for us to enjoy

i have another question about wild camping. can i just stop anyplace and pop up our rooftop tent and spend the night?
or should i always go and try to find the next house and ask for permission?
or would you stick to the official places?

i don't want to go against nz etiquette... nor do i want to get shot for trespassing.. lol

Hi , I will speak for the South Island, The weather here is Hot and Dry although the evenings are starting to get cooler, there should be another month or so of good weather. As for your wild camping, some local authorities require you to have a self containment rating for your camper, IE; you need to be able to contain your grey water and sewerage in tanks and that has to be emptied at designated dump stations. For safety reasons although 95% of NZ is safe there has been a few cases of assault and robbery. You could try the knock on door approach most NZ are very friendly other wise most small Townships have Council or privately run camping grounds and if you keep out of the main centers you will find them to be not over crowded. Enjoy your stay, jump on line and let members know where you are on your travels and I am sure their doors will be open for you.

YOURS TO ENJOY,

FITZY.

If you give us a rough schedule maybe we can show you some suitable places and help you with accomodation....just put up what you need and we can help.....we have members all over NZ

thanks guys for your openness and friendliness.
i hope to encounter many of your countrymen with the same kind of open mindedness during our stay.
so far i have no clue as to when we'll be where. and that's what i like about such an adventure. i have bought a rough guide as well as a lonely planet guide and some other 2-3 books about nz.. so i won't miss the obvious spots.
we will arrive on saturday 23rd in auckland and first head north from there. i've already gotten a hint that a place called tawharanui would be wondeful and it is pretty close to auckland so we'll spend the first night somewhere around there.
from then on our next fixed date is the ferry we'll take on the 28th to head to the southern island. we will most probably go down the west coast and come back up on the east - giving our car back on the 6th in christchurch.
i wish we could stay longer - but my wife is a primary school teacher and has to go back teaching and then there's still the honeymoon suite on fiji.. hehe..

Maybe people could PM you their phone numbers and where they if they were keen on putting you up for the night or something or having a beer or 3 with you etc.....

oh that might be fun!

that's us by the way:
http://www.loko.ch/Janine-und-Lorenz-Chicago1928.jpg

hey smokey..
you say that 95% is safe...
are there known regions one should avoid? I don't want to go and poke the wasp's nest if i can easily drive around it

Wopwop, we could take em up thommos, camp up the top..... imagine a clear night looking down on the waikato basin on one side and the pacific on the other...

Ken Siblys book is an excellent track reference . We have done many of his tracks its just the stuff across rivers that i wouldnt recommend by yourself..it can get interesting...

You're picking prob the best time of year for the trip. Weather is most settled, still warm and enough evening light.
But if you end up near the west coast of the south island. Be prepared for rain.

I'd recommend the drive from Christchurch to the west coast down through the Haast Pass to Queenstown and Wanaka. Then when you've had enough, back up through the Lindis Pass to Christchurch.
Very scenic and covers the extremes of south island geography down each side of the Southern Alps. That's about 1200-1300km, about four days would be a nice relaxed pace taking in the sceneray

In Greymouth there's a Brewery Tour (Monteiths) that is well worth catching.