Don't bother, unless you are sailing your own boat from Fiji.
BY AIRFrom the US, Australia, Asia, Britain and Europe
There are a huge variety of international flights into Auckland daily, via many different
airlines and routes. A much smaller number of flights serve Wellington, Christchurch
and Queenstown.
Domestic airlines for connecting internal flights are Air New Zealand and Jetstar.
Rather than link to international airlines (which will rapidly become obsolete) I tend to look at
aggregating sites like Expedia to get an overview of routes and fares. Then I may
go to a specific airline's webpage to make a booking (or of course, Expedia will
be only too happy to book for you). Expedia
Airlines currently flying into Auckland (late 2023) include
Air New Zealand
Jetstar
British Airways
Emirates
Qantas
Cathay Pacific
American
United
Qatar
Etihad
Virgin Atlantic
KLM
Lufthansa
Air France
and a number of others.
The flight is about 14 hours - so be prepared. Most flights leave late evening, so movie and a sleep make up the time. Do the usual anti-jetlag stuff - wear loose clothing, drink lots of water, take toothbrush and other essntial toiletries, include contact lens stuff or wear your glasses.
Arrival time is usually first thing in the morning - around 7am. Make sure the hotel knows you are checking in early. Adjusting to major time differences takes a bit of conscious effort - I recommend taking a nap when you arrive, then be up and about by 2pm and try and stay awake until 9pm at least. You will be shagged for the first two days.
You cross both the international dateline and the equator. The dateline means that you lose a day eg leave Sunday night - arrive Tuesday morning. Don't worry - you get it back heading the other way.
Crossing the equator means you are now in the Southern Hemisphere and under southern stars - goodbye to the Big Dipper and Pole Star, hello to the Southern Cross.
Check out these maps of the Southern Skies http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html
From Australia
The flight is about three hours and there are many
flights every week to major NZ airports - Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch
and Queenstown. Compared to the LA flight, this is a doddle. Just time to
have a snack, flick through your book and watch the movie.
The time difference is usually (be aware of different
daylight savings/summer times) two hours - Auckland is two hours ahead
of Sydney (10am Sydney = 12noon Auckland). Auckland will almost always
be cooler than Sydney.
From Britain / Europe
The flight is about thirty hours whichever way you go - east or west -
and includes one or two short stops, which may involve a change of plane.
Going east via the Gulf states (Dubai etc) or Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore) and
maybe Australia, most airports have proper arrangements for transit passengers
which means you need never go through Immigration or customs until
you reach your destination.
Although a 30-hour flight sounds intimidating, a lot depends on the comfort of the
airline seat. It's worth checking out the aircraft type and seat width and legroom
on line before booking, and remember that some airlines international flights - even
in Economy - may be far more comfortably equippped than the same aircraft type
in Domestic.
When is the best time of year to come to New Zealand?
Remember that the seasons are the opposite down here from the northern hemisphere. Your winter = our summer etc.
New Zealand weather is that of a maritime climate -
we are a small bunch of islands in the Roaring 40s and that usually means
more wind and rain than a continental climate like the US. No jet-stream
down here. We sum up NZ weather in three simple words - temperate, temperate
and temperate. So it is safe to come anytime - but here are some hints.
SUMMER
Warm, sunny, live at the beach. Temperatures are 22-30
Centigrade (74-90 Fahrenheit).
January - March
AUTUMN
Windy, blustery, rainy. Temperatures are 16-24 Centigrade
(62-78 Fahrenheit). April - May
WINTER
Well who can bloody well tell? Two La Nina winters
have been warm and very pleasant - with the occasional southerly storm
to keep the farms watered and the ski-fields snowed. Frosts down south,
snow in the mountains. Temperatures are 10-17 Centigrade (50-64 Fahrenheit).
June - September
[Note: This was written c. 2000. Since then
climate change has made a nonsense of the usual weather.]
SPRING
Possibly our least pleasant season. Back to windy,
blustery and rainy. But at least the days are getting longer again and
that counts for a lot. Temperatures are 14-20 Centigrade (58-70 Fahrenheit).
October - December
We stretch quite a long way from south to north - over
a thousand miles - in fact we're about the same size as California. The
north of the north is distinctly sub-tropical and is warm all year round.
Humid. The south is drier and colder - almost sub-arctic in places.