My mom has one of those 'big birthdays' coming up in late November. She emigrated to Nelson from the UK almost 3 years ago and I figure her birthday is as good a time as any to go over.

First of all what should I expect the weather to be like in different areas of the country?

We'd be flying into Auckland, and I definitely want to go to the Bay of Islands at some point - maybe before we go down to Nelson, maybe before we leave. If we were to hire a car and drive down to Nelson, stopping off along the way, where would be good to stop? Mom's already recommended Hamner Springs to me, but that's South Island, no? Once I get onto the South I'll put her in charge of days out, but on the way down I could do with advice on things to see and do. We LOVE animals so anything that way inclined would be good. I also want to skydive and possibly do things like canoeing/kayaking etc, but we could get my mom to sort those out for us on the South.

Anyway - tips appreciated!

Ooh and is there a decent hotel near Auckland airport? By 'decent' I mean ridiculously fancy. I want to sleep off my jetlag in style, if it's only for one night

If you stop in Rotorua (in the north island) try out the Agradome which has many activities like the louge etc.. (www.agradome.co.nz) And taupo has the Huka Falls which are pretty and has the huka jet hukafalls.com. Hawkes bay has a lot of very good wineries and cheese factories. Try Te Mata Cheese, Craggy Range Winerie and Black Barn Winerie. Napier also has alot of Art Deco buildings.

I'm an Aucklander, but I've been to most places in NZ, so hopefully I can give you some ideas!

I'll answer your last question first- is there a decent hotel near Auckland airport? Well, not really, because the airport is really out-of-the-way, but there are heaps of shuttle buses into the central city where there are tonnes of hotels to choose from. From what I've heard, the Langham is a good pick for ridiculously fancy.

Seeing as you're into animals, I'd recommend a ferry trip over to Tiri Tiri Matangi island, which is a native bird sanctuary. The trip takes about an hour from downtown Auckland, and it's really fun. (I went there with my biology class last year). There's also the Waitakere Ranges in West Auckland, and the West Coast beaches (Piha, Karekare, Bethels, etc) are spectacular and gorgeous. Seeing as it'll be November, it'll be warm but hopefully not too crowded around there! In the wildlife department there's also the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington, which is great.

If you're planning on driving down the North Island, I'll assume you'll want to take the Inter-Islander ferry from Wellington to Picton? If you're not already planning on it, you should! It's a really fun trip, which takes a few hours but the boat is nice. From Picton it's quite a short trip over to Nelson.

I recommend Napier and Taupo as nice stop-off places, there's heaps of things to do around that area. There's the National Aquarium in Napier, plus all the art-deco attractions. Taupo has the awesome Huka Falls (I was there just a couple of weeks ago, actually!), where you can also take the Huka Jet boat (I haven't done it myself, but have done a similar one near Queenstown in the South Island, which was heaps of fun).

So... that's my little spiel! If you have any questions about stuff, feel free to PM me!