I had an email from a lovely reader the other day asking for tips on what to pack for a trip to New Zealand in Springtime. The 12 day trip would include an 8 day coach tour and the brief was that she would be doing quite a bit of walking around various places, so comfortable clothing was a prerequisite, so too was looking smart, but not the old mutton trying to look like lamb!
I’ve put together a suggested packing list and some style boards to help anyone going on a coach tour. A list which could be adopted for any spring holidays involving travelling and sightseeing.
From my calculations, New Zealand will most likely be a little chilly, and as it will be springtime, the weather could be let’s say, variable.Which means, pack for every eventuality and layer! Which is exactly what I did myself on a coach tour around Europe in Springtime, below. The code was: Show pony jacket, a blouse which went with at least three pairs of bottoms, and what you can’t see here, a light cardi.
Table of Contents
Suggested Packing List
- Two pairs of cut offs or capri pants – a white pair and a darker pair
- One pair of black ponti pants (slim or wide depending on your preference)
- One pair of jeans (blue or black, stretch or otherwise comfortable)
- Two short sleeved t-shirts that can be worn with cut-offs or jeans
- One cardigan to match the above
- One long sleeved or three quarter sleeved T-shirt style top (longer length to cover tum and bum)
- One casual lightweight, colourful non-crease blouse (could be tunic style, longer length) that you can wear with the cut offs and jeans
- One white blouse (possibly longer length to cover tum and bum) that you can dress up to wear with black ponti pants go out in, or dress down to wear with jeans.
- One non-crease little black dress (or other dress) for night-time.
- One fun and flirty day dress that’s comfortable.
- One short cardigan/shrug that will match both dresses
- One longer cardigan, possibly a waterfall cardigan that would be flattering with your black ponti pants, jeans and the night-time dress
- One warm jumper or sweatshirt
- One lightweight fleecey zip up jacket (perhaps a bit of a show pony piece)
- One reasonably lightweight but warm jacket (rain jacket) to wear or take as hand luggage on the plane or coach. This needs to match everything so consider black or maybe tan.
- One scarf that matches most things – could be a pashmina, or a long silky scarf in multiple colours.
- One cap or sun hat
- One go-anywhere handbag or consider a small day rucksack instead
- One small night-time clutch bag.
- Sports bra that’s comfy for plane flight, and walking, plus a good fitting white bra, and a black bra.
- Two pairs of socks, 7 pairs of pants
- Sleepwear
- Trainers. Walking sandals, in nude or tan that are comfortable for walking. Flat black boots. One pair of smart shoes to wear out at night (possibly small wedges in nude or black).
- Makeup and accessories
- Prescription medicines
- One or two small sachets of laundry wash so that you can wash out ‘smalls’ overnight in the hotel bathrooms.
Travelling Wardrobe Mix ‘n Match Ideas
So here are some ideas, mostly from Millers Fashions, because I love the prices, and I love the way this store mixes and matches new season styles – perfect for putting a tight capsule wardrobe together for travelling. I’ve also added in a slightly more expensive little black dress from Metalicus because I think it would take you from day to night quite easily and be versatile as well as being easy to wear. (Metalicus have some other useful dresses you might want to look at too). All clothes and shoes are from Millers unless otherwise stated.
I’ve written about Ponte Pants Here with more suggestions on how to style them.
Top Tips for travelling clothes
- Stick to a tight palette of colours
- Base several looks around one show-stopping item. Could be a lightweight jacket or a bright blouse. You don’t always have to wear the show stopping item, but when you’re bored of your limited wardrobe on holiday I think it’s nice to feel ‘dressy’ again.
- Go for machine wash, non-iron, non crease clothing as far as possible.
You might also find this post helpful : How to Pack for New Zealand with South Island road trip Itinerary
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Until Next Time! Happy Travels!
What to wear for a long haul flight
Thanks so much for this post. We are going on our first overseas trip in November (finally got passports organised now there’s a blog post for you ! Who knew that the marriage certificate you got from the priest when you got married 30 years ago wouldn’t cut it and a new one had to be ordered? Baz thought he had a way out there for a moment !) to New Zealand and this list and advice is very handy.
Thanks Lesley.
PS also had to order baz’s birth certificate because I only had a partial one on file. Ended up costing us 100 dollars for both new certificates to prove we have lived here all our lives!!
Wow, that’s fabulous Lesley! New Zealand – how wonderful! I’ve never been, but I’m longing to go. HaHa, not so fast Baz! What a shamozzle having to do all that extra legwork to get passports organised. Thanks for the heads up – I bet there are other’s out there in the same position. We faced a similar situation a few years ago trying to get visas for somewhere when they said our son’s birth certificate we’d been issued with wasn’t the ‘full’ one. Have a lovely time in New Zealand won’t you, and do please share a photo or two with Lifestyle Fifty readers 🙂
Very useful travel list Jo …
I would recommend ultra core leggings from Katmandu (they often have them on special for around the $20 mark) to wear under slacks or jeans or skirts for that matter – ideal for cool weather – they are light top quality and breathe. They also have light weight (quite dressy) shirts that are virtually weightless and dry in about 10 minutes.
Another item I love is ‘Neve’ waterproof fleecy lined slacks from Mountain Design – once you wear these you will wear them for the rest of your life – highly recommended. And if you want really dressy leggings – Blue Illusion have beautiful ones in their ‘essential’ range.
Voila … I think I should be on commission for these places! 🙂
Thanks so much Ingrid for these fabulous suggestions which I am going to check out for the future. Love the sound of the fleecey lined slacks for winter 🙂
Hi Jo, Spring time in NZ well in any part of the world is going to be magic. Love your selection and I am in love with those shoes. I would also include a light weight fold up umbrella if you didn’t want to mess up your hair with the hood of a jacket. We all know how fussy I am about the hair xxx
Ah great suggestion Rae, and yes I know exactly what you mean about flattened hair;) Hope you can bag a pair of those shoes.
Great packing list Jo! I think I needed something similar when I went on my cruise. My problem was that I had to pack for tropical weather in the Caribbean and then winter weather in the northern USA. It was a very hard task!
It’s always so hard Kathy packing for every eventuality. I always find that I might as well be going for a year rather than a couple of weeks. I think you pulled it off well though from some of the photos I’ve seen on your blog 🙂