"Ian Hoare" wrote .......

It would be an amazing coincidence if we were there at the same time.
At present our plans are to spend Christmas with my brother in the UK,
pop briefly back to attend to various boring details in France
(probably flying) and then leave from the Uk in Early January (2012,
of course)

Ian, just remember, the entire month of January is summer holiday time;
school is out and locals hit the road to the popular holiday spots (think
July in France)

Notwithstanding, I would love to spend time with you - both in Central
Otago, and, of course, Northland, where I now reside.

This is something of a dilemma. I take your point abou tthe holiday
period. When we were there (Dec) the weather wasn't fantastic, unlike
the welcome, but we never had the slightest difficulty in finding
accommodation. I'd imagne that it would be harder in January, but by
no means impossible without booking. Does that sound about right to
you? At the moment, our plans are entirely flexible of course.

My thought was that because we've rather got into the habit of
spending Christmas with the family, it would be good to be able to
continue to do so. Not only is it Christmas, of course, but the New
Year and our wedding anniversary (which will be our 44th at the end of
Dec 2011). But it's not essential by any manner of means.

Tell you what. In principle we are free as air between the end of
November and the middle of February. We'd probably want to spend
around a month away from home, taking maybe 2-3 days to travel in each
direction, to avoid having to sit 23 hours on the trot in a plane.
What would YOU advise?

We shall correspond directly in due course

Indeed we shall! However, I quite like the idea of at least _starting_
the plans here, just in case anyone (Like Joseph) wants to join in
too, So I hope you don't mind me talking about it in advance here.


Hi Ian (and JT and Joe Coulter and any one else interested!!!!!)

Thought I would start a new thread!

While the whole month of January is regarded as holiday month in NZ (meaning
school holidays) the busiest period is generally the three week period
commencing 24 December through to (about) 10 January.

However, you are correct - visiting "touristy" regions (and Central Otago
and Northland both fit into that category!) is by no means impossible - with
a little planning and advance bookings - certainly no "off-peak"
accommodation though!

And you are also correct - while December is regarded as the first month of
summer, things (weather) start getting more settled as summer advances.

From my perspective, with so much advance notice, I can be very flexible
too - and would have no trouble having the best part of a week in Central -
and the same to show you "my place" up North.

So, an arrival some time around the 7/8/9/10 January 2012 could definitely
be OK with me.

Regards

AB

Hi again Andrew,

On Wed, 2 Dec 2009 21:01:04 +1300, "st.helier"
wrote:


Indeed we shall! However, I quite like the idea of at least _starting_
the plans here, just in case anyone (Like Joseph) wants to join in
too, So I hope you don't mind me talking about it in advance here.


Hi Ian (and JT and Joe Coulter and any one else interested!!!!!)

Thought I would start a new thread!

An excellent and public spirited gesture.

While the whole month of January is regarded as holiday month in NZ (meaning
school holidays) the busiest period is generally the three week period
commencing 24 December through to (about) 10 January.

Right you are, that's noted.

However, you are correct - visiting "touristy" regions (and Central Otago
and Northland both fit into that category!) is by no means impossible - with
a little planning and advance bookings - certainly no "off-peak"
accommodation though!

Well, with a phone and a guide book that's perfectly possible, I know
that with ou B&B, we can often fit someone in even in the busy period,
if they phone a few days before hand, and we're amongst the most
heavily advance booked B&Bs in the region.


From my perspective, with so much advance notice, I can be very flexible
too - and would have no trouble having the best part of a week in Central -
and the same to show you "my place" up North.

BRILLIANT.

So, an arrival some time around the 7/8/9/10 January 2012 could definitely be OK with me.

That timing would be just about perfect. We would probably look at
stopping off somewhere for a couple of days on the way out, so that we
can break the journey (I'm too old to do 23 odd hours on the trot) and
on the way back, I'd try to plan to visit a very good foodieFfrench
friend who's got a "maison secondaire" in Bangkok, to be near his son
and daughter-in-law.

"I love it when a plan comes together".
--
All the best
Fatty from Forges