Deb and I spent two weeks touring the North Island of New Zealand in June. We did make one stop on the South Island in Nelson to hike a trail in the Abel Tasman Nat'l Park and visit with Maori relatives.
We really enjoyed the people (Kiwis and Maori), the countryside and all the tramping we did on volcanos and through tropical forests. We liked it so much that we are planning on returning for a 4 week visit in the Fall of 2009. We would highly recommend NZ for a vacation.