We plan to go to New Zealand for Christmas.

I couldn't find any Lonely planet in Shanghai, which is a useful tool we usually use when planning holidays and traveling around...

this time, we find it a bit difficult to find'live' info, either through a travel agency or books etc.

To be honest, I don't know if local agents who for the major part, have never been abroad, could help us with some tours in NZ or even to book a car for a reasonable price..

any experience (good preferably) or hints for us to book the car at least?

Many thanks for your answers!! Much appreciated...

For an overview, try

http://www.newzealand.com/travel/International/

I know that Air New Zealand can offer fly/drive packages to NZ. Do you want rugged mountains, fabulous scenery, hiking, stunning lakes and wineries? Try the South Island. you could fly into Christchurch, drive down for a couple of days in Queenstown, and explore the northern wineries around Blenheim.

Or you could pootle around the gorgeous Coromandel Peninsula in the north island by car, stopping off to dig warm-water pools in the sands at Hot Water Beach, perhaps meander down around Napier and the wineries, stop in at Rotorua for hot pools and geysers, or drive around Northland and take a boat trip around the Bay of Islands.

Most motels in NZ have their own cooking facilities, so you can at least fix a cheap meal. If you're going around Christmas, many holiday hotspots will be heavily booked, so you might want to fix up your accommodation early on.

just check budget, hertz and europcar.

It is a long drive from Christchurch to Q'town. Looks short, but it's a good 5 to 6 hours drive, it is beautiful though. Suggest an overnight along the way near Mt Cook.

Queenstown is the best place in the world, do it. Some good vineyards around there as well.

Too late for that. I found it 12 years ago and now i know i shouldn't have opened my mouth.

Fragolina, my husband and I spent 12 days over the holidays last year in NZ. Had a great time. I might still have my LP guide, if you want to borrow it, but I would highly recommend going to the LP 'Thorntree' online message board. I use that as my first source for travel recommendations, since everything is up to date.

We planned the entire trip ourselves, with advice from Thorntree. My husband found a great rate online with Nationwide Rental Car (www.natwide.co.nz) for $NZ19/day. We drove everywhere, so it was a one-way rental from Queenstown to Auckland.

Here's my 'trip report':
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/message.jspa?messageID=13693497#13693497

Just type 'car hire new zealand' into Google. When I go to NZ that's all I do and then pick whatever is the best deal. From experience hire cars in NZ are a bit ropey, but they are OK.

Ummm Queenstown....my home town!

As Mat says the drive between Christchurch and Queenstown is fantastic. The usual places to stay along the way are either Tekapo, or 'The Hermitage' (at the base of Mt Cook).

As for rental cars, the best for new cars are;

- www.avis.co.nz
- www.hertz.co.nz
- www.budget.co.nz
- www.europcar.co.nz

If you are after something cheaper (usually Jap imports etc), then try the following;

- www.rentadent.co.nz

If you fly into Auckland airport there are literally dozens of cheap rental car outfits within striking distance of the airport that mainly target the budget traveller and backpackers. Rent A Dent (above) is the only name I can think of though. Some Lonely Planet guides can now be downloaded in PDF format, so perhaps you could check the Lonely PLanet website and see if the NZ guide is one of them (for example, the China LP can be downloaded in PDF format for $2 per chapter).

Likewise, Christchurch has a good selection of cheap reatals as well, but I can't think of their names. If you fly into Queenstown then try;

www.queenstownrentalcars.co.nz

The post above says rental cars are a bit ropey in NZ, but as always you just get what you pay for..... if you want a good quality near new car, then stick to Hertz, Avis, and Europcar.

Being summer, Christmas time is of course the time that New Zealanders take holidays and head off to the beach or lake for a few weeks. So, as a couple of people have mentioned already, you really do need to think about booking accomodation now. Try;

www.jasons.com/new-zealand

As for the weather.... if you can delay your holiday until February, you will find the weather much better!

We planned our New Zealand trip through The Last Frontiers travel agency with direction from us as to where we wanted to go. In retropect we could have arranged it all ourselves via the internet but Last Frontiers did a good job with hotel choices as we also went to Australia for a week. The best part of our trip was a 3 day trek on the routeburn: http://www.discover-new-zealand.co.uk/hike2/

Lots of info on the Trip Advisor site:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g2 ... aland.html

Also - John McKenna is a travel agent here who specializes in New Zealand:
http://www.travel-the-real-nz.com/

edited to add that John does free info sessions for the American Womens Club - his next one:

Travel Chat-China & New Zealand
by John Mckenna of www.Travel-the-Real-China.com
Date: Tuesday November 4th
Time: 10am to 12 pm
Place: Hong Qiao Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Cost: Free
RSVP: to John Mckenna at john@travel-the-real-china.com OR 135-8563-6884
Come and find out how to enjoy traveling around this wonderful country, Tips tricks and ideas for family travel, budget travel, and adventure travel. This is an informal chat, for you to learn more about China and New Zealand...Hotels, what to expect, the train to t¡bet, How to find a clean toilet, Traveling with children. What to expect, Best places for the family. So come armed with all your questions and concerns about traveling in China and New Zealand for John, owner and operator of Travel-the-Real-China.com. Also feel free to join John McKenna for his public travel chats at Figaro in Xintiandi the second Tuesday of each month.

Thank you everyone for your useful information, we have learnt a lot!!

We won't be having a backpacking holiday this time, I'm pregnant and will be in my 6th month...therefore, we will drive from spot to spot and enjoy a few days here and there...our inital idea was to spend 4-5 days in the north, then go to the South Island and travel bakc to Auckland by airplane, then back to Shanghai...

Anyone knows if an international driving licence is required in NZ?
if have our own country's licence, and as we never intended to drive in Chine, we ket it as it is...

Again, thank you!

Suggest you check out http://www.a2brentals.co.nz
I have used them 3 times, and been great. Found them actually cheaper than rentadent. You can pick up a car in Auckland, and drop off at the Christchurch office. You can get a free quote, book on-line, and the nice part is they do not require a deposit.

I was browsing the bookstore on the 8th floor of the Superbrand Mall at lunchtime today, and they have the NZ Lonely Planet book there.

You don't need an international driving licence. Anything except a Chinese one will be fine.

You are STARS!!!

Thank you so much for all your precious answers and comments.

We will definitely be able to book and organise everything before the end of the week!

You all made my day