Would most South Island campgrounds be booked out in late December?

[Maha]

Ok who's first ?

um.......at last wipe, you missed at bit

[nerrrd]

make sure you get your sth island passport

You guys'll let in just about anyone down there, won't you? And thanks for bringing this back on topic...kind of.

[nerrrd]

So here's a route plan I whipped up minus getting from Auckland to Wellington and back. Thought it would be better to do longer distances first as I'd expect to get progressively more tired as I go along. Aiming to be there and back before Christmas so would be the week before that. Bear in mind I ride slow (ie sticking to speed limits) out of preference as much as ability.

Day One:
Arrive Picton 11:40am (depart Wellington 8:15am)
SH6 Picton to Greymouth
417 km, 5 hours 20 mins

Day Two:
SH6 Greymouth to Cromwell
504 km, 5 hours 49 mins

Day Three:
SH6 Cromwell to Invercargill SH1 to Dunedin
439 km, 5 hours 10 mins

Day Four:
SH1 Dunedin to Christchurch
361 km, 4 hours 22 mins

Day Five:
SH1 Christchurch to Picton
338 km, 4 hours 8 mins
Arrive Wellington 5:35pm (depart Picton 2:25pm)

Total 2059kms. Crikey!

[gunnyrob]

We did a SI trip a ways back. Prior to Christmas, the place is deserted, just turn up and you are in. SIslanders have a family Christmas (milford sound does not have tourist buses on that day), but come boxing day the place goes BERSERK and camping grounds go apeshit. Alexandra family park had 3000 people in it.

You may be right with a little tent, or if you stay at DOC camp sites. Enjoy

[ellipsis]

...sometimes a bit of not knowin', is good for the soul...check it out sometime...

[Gremlin]

If you want to go around the South Island, sure, your idea works, but you're going to miss out on so many cool sights and roads.

Personally, I try to head down once a year, and bite off a bit more each year (plus, leaving stuff makes you go back again). I spent two days in one trip just exploring the Sounds between Picton and Havelock.

[nerrrd]

...sometimes a bit of not knowin', is good for the soul...check it out sometime...

That's probably good advice.

If you want to go around the South Island, sure, your idea works, but you're going to miss out on so many cool sights and roads.

It's just a theory at this stage, got a few expenses to clear in the meantime (rego, bike service, rates etc) before I can look at $300 worth of ferry bookings let alone the rest...actually do the ferries get booked out? (might be a factor on the way back.) That route's just an idea, but I have to take a fair amount of my annual leave at that time, so seemed like a better one than hanging around at home for a week.

[nerrrd]

So I snoozed and now I've loozed, no bookings available on either for the return journey as far as I can tell. Shame they lost that propeller thingy.

Gives me the chance to plan a proper trip for a later date, though.