best places to photograph in New Zealand

[harper]

hi all

i have just started to organise a trip to New Zealand in late October and i was wondering if any of you can give me some good ideas of where i could go to get some shots in.

i will be there for between 1 and 2 weeks

thanks matt

[tmd77]

where in NZ are you going? should be able to give you some suggestions once we know that

[Tikira]

You will love NZ Matt. Which island are you planning on visiting?

We have been to South Island twice and North Island once, and loved it so much we will go back again. We spent two weeks there each time, twice in a camper van, and once in cabins with Wayne's mum, and spent almost the entire time taking photo's, often without even leaviung the car.

Di

[Boo53]

The answer to that could perhaps be easier if you asked where not to photograph.

We've spent only 1 week on the North Island, but 4 weeks on the South Island, over several trips and the scenery is pretty amazing just about everywhere

[Old Skool]

1 or 2 weeks really only gives you time to see 1 Island. Best time in South Island is each side of winter as snow around on the Alps. October may be a bit late, I would maybe hit the North Island and do that over your 1 or 2 weeks. I reckon the South Island really needs 2 - 4 weeks to do properly as so much to see.
North Island you could land in Auckland, visit up North to Bay of Islands, then down to Tauranga via Coromandel. Hop across for day trip to volcanic White Island then down to Rotorua, Lake Taupo and across to New Plymouth via Tongariro National Park. Back up to Auckland via Waitomo Caves. Other way is from Taupo go down to Wellington either through centre or track across to Napier / Gisborne & down and back up the west coast via New Plymouth. What ever you do be prepared to stop every 5 mins driving to take a pic.

[harper]

thanks guys

we are planning on doing the north island. so we will be landing in auckland but we may end up going to christchurch to visit the half brother for a day or 2 towards the end of the trip and possibly fly out of christchurch.

our plan is to hire a car and just take it from there, we will not be booking any accomodation in advance so we can get the most out of each location

[Old Skool]

Check out car rental, may be able to drop off at Wellington and take the Ferry across to Picton and pickup another car there. Ferry trip through Marlborough Sounds to Picton will have you snapping away and drive down the Kaikoura coast to CHCH from Picton is very scenic. Can drive Picton to CHCH in 1 day with stops OK, however if you like wine you may get side tracked in Blenheim, (30 mins drive from Picton on way to CHCH) home of all the great Marlborough Wineries.

[tmd77]

I did a 10 day trip at the start of 2010 to the north island of NZ.

Do yourself a favour and head up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. Absolutely beautiful place!
Mt Maunganui outside of Tauranga is also fantastic. There is a great walk up the Mount and plenty of photo opportunities both on the way up there and at the top.
Rotorua, as bad as it smells, has some fantastic shots available in and around the geothermal parks.
Taupo would be amazing that time of year, especially with the mountains surrounding the lake being snow capped.

Auckland is also good, there is a fair amount of older style buildings throughout the City, and the harbour is great.

You'll have a great time, but i can't recommend paihia and mt maunganui highly enough.

[harper]

thanks again guys

i am going to start and plot all these locations out on a map and try to work out a rough itinary. all i have been hearing is that this is one of the best places to visit especially if you enjoy your photography.

i will also be seeing my travel agent soon to book the flight so i do not get tempted to pull out

[wheellathe]

Get yourself a bigger memory card or laptop to store your photos and head SOUTH.

[Tikira]

On the North Island we really enjoyed Piha Beach,just north west of Auckland, even though it took some time to get there and had limited facilities with a basic caravan park. The area is National Park and there are some good waterfalls and great beach scenes. To the South the Coramandel Peninsula was fantastic and we wish we would have spent an extra day or two there. The Tongariro alps at the bottom of Lake Taupo were great and there should be a heap of snow still around. The east coast below Tauranga had less photo opportunities for us.

One thing to look out for is that it takes longer to travel around then you expect (once you get off the motorway), due to frequent stopping for photos and the hilly and windy roads.

Below are a couple of links to threads we posted after our trip and one when we asked the same sort of question before we went.

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?69649-Mt-Raupehu-New-Zealand

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?67961-Piha-Beach-North-Island-NZ

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?65446-NZ-North-Island-photo-opportunities

Wayne & Di

[Perfectoarts]

Well we too are taking a holiday. And I have extended that already with plotting our NZ trip. Sofar it is 30 days and I wish we could be there longer.