For food:

Auckland has it all. The Wynyard Quarter wynyard quarter in the cities viaduct/waterfront area has great options. Favourites are Cafe Hanoi Britomart , Little Bird Unbakery (3 locations) and the best gelato in the world - Giapo on Queen st by the Civic theatre. 

Wellington: Fish and chips from the Fish and Chippery and enjoy somewhere along the waterfront on a nice day.Pizza Pomodoro pizza is the best in the city. Markets on Sundays and Friday night on Cuba st for some delish st food.

For Nature:

Bay Of Islands - Poor Knights Islands has the best snorkelling. Amazing beaches everywhere along the coast north of Auckland.

Matapouri and its mermaid pools (its amazing i promise)

Coromandel for remote beaches

Nelson for a cute town and fantastic walks 

Queenstown Hill Walkway and surrounds for stunning scenery and more of the worlds most beautiful walks.

Getting around:

Jetstar has cheap fares and id recommend that with only two weeks. Check out Transfercar.com for car relocation deals for queenstown to christchurch or wellington to auckland etc.

Enjoy!

N Island - Auckland, WellingtonWaikato, Rotorua, and Hawke's Bay- 1 week

S Island - 1+ week - Nelson, Queenstown, Christchurch. west coast including Fiordland

Hello Emily,

New Zealand is an amazing place to travel, and I'm sure you will truly love anything you end up doing. My first piece of advise is to not to overly worry what the "best" things to do are. What's best really depends on your interests and budget.

If you are interested in any adventure sports such as bungee jumping or white water rafting, Queenstown should definitely be on your list. It is also a very popular backpacker hangout so it's also good for meeting other travelers over drinks.

The best beaches for swimming and snorkeling are north of Auckland in the subtropical part of NZ.

If you want to get a good feeling for NZ's geothermal activity, head to Rotorua to see the bubbling mud pits and hot springs.

It's hard to know exactly what to recommend since there are so many unknowns, but I recommend coming back to Trippy if you have more specific questions. In the mean time check out some travel websites:

http://wikitravel.org/en/New_Zealand

and 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g255104-New_Zealand-Vacations.html

Happy travels!

Crystal, Traveler's Toast

Here's my 12 day itinerary:

Basically it goes Auckland -> Queenstown -> Te Anau -> Wanaka-> Queenstown -> Christchurch -> Nelson ->Blenheim->Auckland

Loved every minute of it.

Here's the detailed itinerary with my trip photos:

https://www.pebblar.com/trip/705/new-zealand

Here's my 2-week itinerary.

Emily,

New Zealand is a beautiful place to go. First be prepared to spend more money than you think. Things cost twice as much as here in the U.S.. Queenstown has a lot of wonderful things to do and see. The food is  great their. Try The Flames - Bar & Grilldowntown great ribs! Even being by the lake is nice. Have fun!

Debbie G.

There is nothing in NZ that you won't love. I have been 3 times, for 2 weeks each time.  I would drive down the south coast by Kaikoura and inland to Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki.  Wanaka is nice.  I found Queenstown to be lovely but a bit touristy.  Oamaru has interesting architecture.  The Otago Peninsula is beautiful.  In the north, I liked Rotorua and Lake Taupo.  There are beautiful beaches everywhere.  You can't go wrong, regardless of what you see and do.