Time to visit New Zealand

<p>I'm at the initial stage of planning a first visit to New Zealand in late 2015 or early 2016. My question is when's the best time to go? I expect that we'll spend at least three weeks there and probably spend more time on the south island than north island. We'll be driving a rental car and the main purpose of the trip will be photography. We'll walk a bit, but we're not hikers or climbers.</p>

<p>I tend to avoid "clear blue sky" and "hordes of tourists " seasons wherever I go, and I guess I'm really looking for a compromise between that and expecting to have problems getting around, or an expectation of consistently foul weather. I'd been thinking about maybe October/November 2015 or say mid Feb to mid March 2016. </p>

<p>So which do you think is the best time for a photographer looking primarily to photograph dramatic scenery in interesting light? And what if anything do I gain or lose by choosing one of these windows over the other?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

I spent some time in New Zealand in 2004. I worked on the north island from January to the end of march, using my weekends to

explore ( eg tongariro, rotarua ). The weather at this time (essentially summer to early autumn) was variable. We had record rainfall and

followed by prolonged sunny spells.. reminiscent of an irish summer really.

I then spent late march and most of April touring the South Island. The weather was mixed, with plenty of rainfall on the west coast, but

the light was often good, with lower angled sunlight as autumn progressed. Nowhere was inaccessible. Nowhere was overcrowded.

It would be useful to get a locals opinion as to usual/ likely weather patterns.

The difficulty will be deciding how to divide your time. I was not primarily on a photographic trip, so if a place was rained out (eg Milford

sound) I did not linger extra days hoping for a break in the clouds, but it would be easy to waste a few days hanging around for a shot.

Highlights for me were : Abel Tasman national park, lake Matheson ( maybe a cliche, but beautiful), lake hawea ( near wanaka), mt cook

village, glenorchy (albeit very cloudy), Milford sound... In fact, the whole of the South Island is very photogenic, every bend in the road

seemed to be a scenic reserve or national park. Kaikoura has 3000m peaks very close to the sea - very dramatic.

The north island also has its moments- tongariro was a great one day hike with great variety of landscapes in a compact area. Rotarua

was a bit tacky, but the thermal area was worth visiting.

Whatever you decide, have a great trip- I am certainly envious!

<p>David,</p>

<p>Autumn in New Zealand has the most stable weather (esp. on the Sth Island) compared to spring which is very much full of showers of rain and lots of wind. Having visited NZ from Aust many times and several of these trips have been similar photography based road trips, my very best recommendation is to visit in mid autumn to late autumn in order to capture the autumnal foliage colours, still air for reflections and the first dustings of snow on the lower alps in the south and the volcanos in the north. This would mean the months of <strong>April</strong> and <strong>May</strong> which I understand is out of your stated window, however is my very best recommendation.</p>

<p>The sun is simply too high in the sky in October / Nov. and also Feb / March to really capture the best light in this part of the world. Feb/ March is part of the peak tourist season - October is shoulder season but Nov is the beginning of the summer peak season - this is all based upon my own visitation experiences. <br>

<br />If you do not have back issues and you can, I'd also recommend hiring a campervan as the caravan and camping parks (trailer parks) in New Zealand are mostly first rate by world standards. Many caravan parks are located in very pretty locations, some are scenic to the extreme where as motels and hotels are nearly always located in built up areas of towns and citys. New Zealand is very well set up to accommodate campervan travelers and after three road trips each in a car and a campervan I'd not bother with a car/motel trip again.</p><div></div>

<p>We live in Auckland, NZ - north island. In our view the best time to visit the South Island (absolutely marvellous) is the first two months of Autumn, March and April. At that time you get the autumn colours and less tourists. Make sure you include St Bathans for photographing. Jackie Ranken, who with her husband Mike Langford, run the Queenstown Centre for Creative Photography. Jackie has written an article for DPhoto, which is our local excellent publication. She says that in the South Island, even on a sunny day, one should use a White Balance of "Cloudy". I follow that and get good results. From memory it has something to do with our high level of UV rays. <br>

Hope that helps somewhat !</p>

<p>Hi again David<br>

Have been doing some research and this article is amazing detailed and specific <br>

http://www.newzealandtravelinsider.com/how-to-travel-guide/5-best-places-visit-see-autumn-leaves-new-zealand.htm<br>

Not written by a New Zealander, so hopefully reasonably unbiased. Amongst many things he says <br>

"The period of time to visit Christchurch and Hagley Park to see fall foliage would be the same as estimated previously in this article. However, based on the report left behind by my website visitor, I would make Christchurch my last stop.<br>

So visit Christchurch after visiting Central Otago, Queenstown, Arrowtown, Wanaka, and Lake Tekapo. Go from South to North on the South Island, if that makes any sense."<br>

So, in summary, this seems good advice. I will certainly read again before we take our motorhome down there in Autumn, probably 2016. Next year (2015) we will be there in our motorhome in Jan/Feb - very good, but not as great !<br>

Jim</p>

<p>David - <br>

I apologize for being slow to respond - life in the vast lane...<br>

I lived in Invercargill, NZ for a year and, frankly, I think that any time is good to visit, but I do have to agree with the general recommendation of autumn in New Zealand. Most Kiwis are on their summer vacation between Christmas and roughly early February. The new school year just started there on 2 Feb 2015. After the Kiwis head home, then there are smaller crowds at many of the places that you might want to visit. No matter where you're likely to go, you just won't find the kinds of crowds that you find at the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, or Yellowstone. Yes, there can be some busy places, such as Queenstown, but once you get out into the parks, etc., you'll feel quite alone. And, it's also useful to think like a Kiwi - it's going to rain, so get used to it, even with your camera. NZ has some of the most beautiful clouds that I've ever seen - they're just amazing!<br>

There's just too much to try to tell you in a brief posting like this. That's why I've gone the extra kilometer... :) <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/new-zealand/id889656551?mt=11">New Zealand - A Traveler's & Photographer's Paradise</a><br>

Enjoy and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.<br>

Tim!</p>

<p>My wife and I went to New Zealand twice in the last two years, in November 2013 and over Christmas 2014 to new years 2015 (a month ago). We live in California. To my surprise (it really shouldn't be that surprising; I just didn't think/plan carefully), airfare from San Francisco to Auckland was almost twice as expensive over Christmas compared to that in November. Late December is summer holidays over there and there were a lot more travelers.</p>

<p>If you'd like to see wilderness, the South Island is beautiful. In 2013, we first went to Christchurch. I was aware of the 2010/2011 earthquakes, but I thought that was over 2 years before our visit. To my surprise, the damage was very extensive and the repair/rebuild was nowhere close to complete; that would take many more years. Since we live in earthquake-prone California, our home could easily be like that in the near future.</p>

<p>Queenstown is nice but very touristy. We went on an overnight Milford Sound trip, which was the highlight of our 2013 tour. It is a long, ~5-hour drive from Queenstown to Milford. Therefore, a same-day round-trip drive with a noon cruise is tiring, and you'll be at Milford when the light is harsh. We had an overnight cruise and it was great. We also lucked out with heavy rain before the cruise so that the waterfalls were strong.</p>

<p>Last month, we went to the geothermal area Rotorua on the North Island. It is about a 3 to 4-hour drive to the south from Auckland. It was interesting to see, but we have been to Yellowstone in the US so that Rotorua is not that special to us.</p>

<center>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17615756-md.jpg" alt="" /><br>

Milford Sound</p>

</center>