Booking tours and doing research

Finally, after months of thinking about it, and weeks of research, we have booked all the things that need booking (we hope!) on our big Honeymoon trip. I detail below how we made booking decisions and some resources. Hopefully this can help you, too!

New Zealand has a great website for tourist research and most places in NZ seem to have wonderful tourism websites of their own to explore. I cross-referenced with TripAdvisor frequently. And booked all accommodations with Hotels.com because I've been racking up free nights and I like being able to see the location rating. Location was the main factor in choosing our lodgings.

I also downloaded several apps which were recommended from some travel site that I stumbled upon but can no longer recall:
The Essential NZ app from the official NZ Tourism Bureau
Zomato for dining (because they don't use Yelp)
CamperMate - Even though we aren't camping or campering, we Mike will be driving a lot, so this app ought to come in handy with its filterable map of nearby petrol, restrooms, and more.
neatplaces - city guides for exploring
Star Chart - NZ is meant to have some of the darkest skies for stargazing, and this is my first time in the southern hemisphere, so I'm very excited to get to use this.

Other things that came up in our planning:
- Order currency from your bank in advance
- Book one car per island or pay a fee
- Sunrise and sunset times (and daylight savings) - so you know if you're driving unfamiliar roads in the dark
- Drive-times (calculator) - places that look close on a map may be hours apart on a windy road
- Laundry plan
- Bug repellent and itch cream

Waitomo

Glowworms!

The biggest tour group - THL - obviously has the nicest website. They were able to snag waitomo.com! And on top of that, the bigger cave that they access is called "Waitomo Glowworm Cave"! Obviously every tourist will find this site and assume this is the major cave, which it probably is, but it isn't the only cave. Of the tours they offer, I found I was interested in the combo Glowworm Cave + Ruakuri (NZD $89) because there is one wet (boating) and one dry (walking) cave.
Glowworm Cave - 45 min, large groups (some reviews say that the groups of 50 are spaced by only about 10 minutes)
Ruakuri Cave - 2 hours, max 18 people per group (because of boat size)

I read a lot of reviews and realized I wanted a smaller experience. The Glowworm Cave, being larger and boasting impressive "cathedral" formations, is probably appropriate for people who have accessibility concerns or claustrophobia, but Mike and I have done (and love) caves so the big crowd sounds unappealing.

Spellbound was top rated on TripAdvisor; I went through all the bad reviews (a burgeoning hobby of mine!) and they were old or manageable. So we have booked with them and will review when it comes time! (NZD $75)

At this point, maybe I ought to acknowledge that Mike and I probably tend toward supporting smaller companies when possible. We're not at all opposed to big companies! If anything, they must be doing something right. But if offerings and reviews and costs are comparable, why not support the little guy?

Accomodation

Glowworm Motel - Didn't feel a need to be right next to the caves since we have a car, and this puts us a tiny bit ahead when we set out for Rotorua.

Rotorua

Hobbiton

A must, obviously. I couldn't find any options, so we booked through the Hobbiton website (NZD $114). TripAdvisor's offering looks identical, but you would pay in USD, so that's probably a plus that I didn't think of. We chose the option that starts with a bus from Rotorua. I think we wound up choosing several day tours like this which start from where we already are, seeing as we're doing so much driving already. We were tempted by their Evening Banquet which sounds breathtaking, but we booked Te Puia for dinner.

Te Po at Te Puia

We knew we would do a Maori cultural experience, like Te Puia, so we opted for the Te Po dinner-and-tour combo. (NZD $107.41 per person after credit card fee)

Accomodation

Bella Vista Motel

Wellington

Ferry to Picton

We'll explore the city's activities, but the only thing we needed to book here was the ferry to Picton. We'll be leaving our first rental car here because we decided not to pay the fee to bring it across on a ferry.

There are two ferry companies, Interislander and Bluebridge. They both offer different fare types depending on whether you want to flexibility to change or cancel your ticket, and they both can take vehicles, but I didn't check prices on that option. Bluebridge offered fares ranging from NZD $53 to $73. Interislander's fares ranged from $65 to $75.

There seems to be lively debate on which company is better, but luckily this research took us almost zero time -- there are limited sailings with different timetables and we could only choose the Interislander for our date and time restrictions. We opted to add $14.50 for the hot breakfast since check-in is at 8:15am for our 9am sailing. (NZD $79.50 per person, then a $2 credit card fee that doesn't change if you buy more tickets)

Accomodation

Hotel Waterloo & Backpackers

Picton

Chill out

... and maybe do some laundry. We'll be starting and ending the Queen Charlotte Track from Picton. Hopefully we can rest and maybe spot a dolphin while we walk around town. Our only obligation before the track is an orientation meeting; and after the track is picking up a rental car.

Accomodation

Picton Beachcomber Inn

QC Track

Booked!

This is the purpose of the whole trip. Ever since my cousin, Sidney, proposed to his now-wife, Mila, on this track, and I heard about the whole experience, I have been dreaming of going. It's essentially gorgeous hiking, but staying at hotels along the way instead of camping, and your luggage is brought to the next hotel for you. Since it's really the highlight of the honeymoon, we splurged and booked the 5-day boutique independent (unguided) walk which is run by Wilderness Guides, but we booked through New Zealand Walks. It includes lodging and meals. I can't say I understand the difference between using a 3rd party or not, and if I had known that they were a 3rd party, I think I would have booked directly. Anyhow, we only dealt with Juliet from New Zealand walks, and she was super helpful and very responsive. (NZD $1795 per person)

Day 0
Orientation in Picton
Day 1
Water Taxi to Ship Cove
14 km (5 hr) to No Road Inn, Endeavor Inlet
Day 2
12 km (4 hr) to Mahana Lodge, Camp Bay, Endeavor Inlet
Day 3
22.5 km (8 hr) to Portage Bay
Water Taxi to Raetihi Lodge, Double Bay, Kenepuru Sound
Day 4
Water Taxi to Portage Bay
10km (3 hr) to Lochmara Lodge, Lochmara Bay
Day 5
18 km (6 hr) to Anakiwa Water Taxi to Picton

Christchurch

Relax

We plan to wander this city and see the sights. We might take an easy day-trip to Akaroa to see dolphins or Kaikoura to see fur seals (and contribute some tourism bucks to the earthquake recovery effort).

Accomodation

Colombo in the City

Franz Josef (Glacier Country)

Heli Hike

This (and Milford Sound) was probably one of the most recommended things that we personally heard from friends and family. We booked the "Heli Hike", which I have my fingers crossed for, through Franz Josef Glacier Guides. If the weather isn't suitable, they switch the tour to the "Valley Walk" (and allow for cancellations).

Now how did we pick Franz Josef and not Fox Glacier? That was really hard. So we based this decision on sister-in-law Clodagh's experience. Thank goodness for our well-traveled friends and family!

Fox Glacier's 4hr heli hike is NZD $429

Franz Josef's 4hr heli hike is NZD $449 (includes Glacier Hot Pools!)

And here is a great comparison article from a traveler who tried both agencies in the same week.

Accomodation

Alpine Glacier Motel - This was chosen for location, price, and availability. Most places in Franz Josef Village seem on the small side, so we should have booked earlier for more selection.

Queenstown

Milford Sound Day-trip

This wasn't in our initial outline, but from conversations with friends it became a requirement. My initial assessment that "this is just a boat on some pretty water" was wrong. Everybody raves about Milford Sound! So we started the research and it became all-consuming Harder than pretty much any of the other items we had to book. There are so many tour companies and options.

Bus-Cruise-Bus, Bus-Cruise-Fly*, or Fly-Cruise-Fly? The flight is about 40 minutes. The bus ride is about 4 hours. Each way. So seeing Milford Sound could take you 12 hours or 4. And when you book a tour with a transportation or cruise company, it's not always transparent which company they are using for the other portion. e.g. Air Milford operates flights back and forth. When you book their Fly-Cruise-Fly, the company they use for the cruise is Southern Discoveries.

Southern Discoveries seems to be a popular cruise company for transportation companies to contract with. It made me think they were the only one for a while, but some research revealed a few others that seemed good, too. Southern Discoveries offers 4 different cruise types, and this turns out to be another piece that you have to think about. If we got a tour that used Southern Discoveries, I wanted the Encounter Cruise or the Discover More Cruise. Either those, or we'd go with Cruise Milford which has smaller boats and better reviews.

Looking into bus companies: Awesome NZ offers a bus tour with a glass-top bus. They connect with Southern Discoveries' Nature Cruise, though. BBQ Bus offers a really great-sounding ride on a small (maneuverable) bus which stops for plenty of photo spots and a BBQ; their customers don't have to be distracted with crowds for food on the boat. BBQ Bus works with Cruise Milford -- bingo! So we were ready to book this up until I found that BBQ Bus works with Real Journeys when there are insufficient bookings, which means passengers get switched to the large Real Journeys bus, and the large Real Journeys boat. The disgruntled reviews from customers unlucky enough to get switched were enough to make us reconsider the BBQ Bus.

Seeing as we were leaning more and more toward Cruise Milford, we went directly to Cruise Milford's site. Cruise Milford's site isn't too transparent on which transport companies they work with, but one of the photos shows a bus with the Gray Line logo. Some more research and we came out liking Gray Line's bus, which may be bigger, but it has cushy seats and a glass top so every seat is sort of a window seat. (NZD $175)

Want some numbers from my research? All right.

Bus-Cruise-Bus
NZD	Bus	Cruise	Notes
175	Gray Line	Cruise Milford
189	Awesome Bus	Southern Discoveries: Nature Cruise
210	BBQ Bus	Cruise Milford (unless underbooked)
292	Awesome Bus	Southern Discoveries: Nature Cruise	Plus Jet Boat
125	Unknown	Go Orange

Bus-Cruise-Fly
NZD	Bus	Cruise	Fly
574	Gray Line	Cruise Milford	Unknown
575	Awesome Bus	Southern Discoveries: Encounter Cruise	Glenorchy Air
588	Awesome Bus	Southern Discoveries: Nature Cruise	Air Milford
609	BBQ Bus	Southern Discoveries: Nature Cruise	Air Milford

Fly-Cruise-Fly
NZD	Cruise	Fly	Notes
525	Cruise Milford	Unknown
535	Southern Discoveries: Discover More	Glenorchy Air
635	Southern Discoveries: Discover More	Glenorchy Air	Plus Kayak
505	Southern Discoveries: Encounter Cruise	Glenorchy Air
545	Southern Discoveries: Nature Cruise	Air Milford
460	Southern Discoveries: Scenic Cruise	Glenorchy Air
499	Southern Discoveries: Scenic Cruise	Air Milford
675	Southern Discoveries: Scenic Cruise	Glenorchy Air	Plus Jet Boat

Cruise only
NZD	Cruise
90	Cruise Milford
62	Southern Discoveries: Scenic Cruise
62	Southern Discoveries: Nature Cruise
89	Southern Discoveries: Encounter Cruise
99	Southern Discoveries: Discover More
45-85	Go Orange
Fly (Milford-to-Queenstown)
NZD	Fly
399	Air Milford
390	Glenorchy Air

*Fly-Cruise-Bus is $510 through Glenorchy Air, but this was nixed quickly as a couple big pluses to choosing a bus ride are the guide's commentary and photo stops, which you get on the drive to Milford, rather than from Milford.

Accomodation

Rydges Lakeland Resort - We're using a free night that we earned from Hotels.com for this stay. I'm really excited for this splurge. This location is ideal because it's on the water for a beautiful view, but also it is a flat walk to downtown. Queenstown is very hilly, so if you plan to walk around a lot, keep this in mind when picking your lodging.

Auckland

Activity

We don't have anything booked because we're not sure how we'll be feeling at this point in the trip. Neither of us has been here before, so at the moment, we plan to do casual city touring so we can see the city and have no pressure to be anywhere.

Accomodation

The Sebel