Hi Wayne.My wife and I went there April 2011. Our 2nd day there I was picked up by Mike Thomas and Jeff Hamm for a wonderful morning of fishing, and even a little accidental swimming. I went online to the site Mike gave you, and got my license sent to me a month in advance. I still get emails from the NZ fish and game. We visited North and South Islands and saw a lot of amazing land.
Motels are relatively inexpensive, gas was about $8.00 a gallon and the food is terrific. There is free WI-FI at every McDonald's and McDonald's are in about every town or city you go to. That was good for us to know because my wife teaches college classes online and most of the motels we stayed at charged for wi-fi.
Rental cars are fairly cheap and small and right hand drive. Roundabouts are a hoot until you've gone through about a dozen and get them figured out. All driving is on the left side of the road.
Auckland is only large city we saw. Well Christchurch is kinda big. Rotorua is a fantastic town. The Maori cultural center, Te Puia, is a must see. Tongariro and Lake Taupo are equally nice. I think our favorite site was Hobbiton (The Shire from Lord of the Rings) outside Matamata. Spend a lot of time between now and December on the computer planning your trip. There is so much to see and do there. You'll want to go back. Jim
I'm either going to, coming from or thinking about fishing. Jim