Hey... just a few things to add:

Can you post your flight details up? Flight number / times / dates etc? Miaoli, I don't think Sylvia gave me all the details.

Also, please try and get a sleeping bag to bring along with you. I'm not sure if we'll need it, but some backpackers don't provide linen (blankets, pillows, sheets). I will try and avoid booking us into places without them, but it might be unavoidable. Sleeping bags are good also because if you're too cold and the sheets provided aren't enough, you'll have an extra blanket. The alternative if you can't be bothered to lug a sleeping bag along is to pay about $2-$5 for sheets to be provided. I'll try to arrange something if you can't / don't want to bring sleeping bags, but no guarantees. Let me know in advance yeah?

The weather right now is about 5 degrees at night and reaches a high of 15 degrees in the day, and it's probably going to get colder in the coming weeks.

Here's a revised estimate of the prices. The price of the car isn't settled yet, I'm still trying to source out a good deal for it and I'm having problems now because I'm not sure if a 2-door car will be comfortable enough for all 4 of us.

Accommodation: 20 nights x $23 NZD = $460 NZD
Car: 22 days x $23 NZD / 4 = $126.50 NZD
Petrol: $70 NZD x 10 / 4 = $175 NZD

Total: $761.5 NZD

I figure if you guys bring instant noodles and if we share food (like bread, butter, eggs) we can limit expenditure on food to about $240 (meaning we'll have slightly over $10 a day to spend on food). So that's about $1000 NZD in total for the essentials.

Confirmed Activities and Costs

A 3-day Ski package (including ski equipment and lift pass - beginner lift for the first day and full pass for the other 2 days) will cost $295 NZD. However, this does not include clothing rental - like ski jacket and pants. Rental prices can be found here. So if you have your own ski pants and jacket please bring them. I don't think they rent gloves out, so be sure to bring your own.

As for climbing the glaciers, I'm looking at doing the Full Day Glacier Adventure, but I'm open to suggestions otherwise. Anyway, that one costs $135.

Other activities I'm looking at include an overnight boat stay out on either Milford Sound, Marlborough Sound or the Abel Tasman. I can't figure out which would be the best to go to (because of time / money constraints). But safe to say it will cost about $170 at least and about $260 at most.

Please go look at the pages if you have the time, and get a guidebook and find out about these three places and which you would like to spend more time at. See which trip appeals most to you. I need to know this one because these three places are in different corners of New Zealand. This is pretty much the biggest problem I'm facing in planning the trip so far.

Just to sum up the boat thing, the most expensive one will probably be Milford Sound. If we don't take the overnight cruise there, we will still be taking a day cruise, so no worries about that. If we take that, we will probably be departing from Te Anau. It will probably be cheaper than the prices started on the website, because we will be able to get a quad-share instead of a twin-share. I'm guessing it will cost about $260 or so.

The Marlborough Sound one is the longest, 2 nights. Best value for money, but it doesn't include food. Also, it sounds quite hands-off. A lot of time for us to just walk about doing nothing.

The Abel Tasman one is the furthest away. I wasn't even sure if we should head there, but if you guys think the sail cruise sounds good I can work something out, no problems. If we take that option, we will probably be departing from Nelson.

So far, the things above are the major activities I've worked out. Let me know if you don't want to do any of them, or have anything else in mind. Other things to work out include the wine tour (Blenheim/Picton), the hot springs (Hanmer), possibly horse riding if anyone's interested. Also, there are many, many activities in Kaikoura. Most include swimming though. That probably won't be too fun in the dead of winter. Or for those who can't swim :P But we can go for a whale watching cruise if anyone wants.

Kaikoura links:
Whale Watching
Swimming with Dolphins (offers a watching-only option)
Guided Kayaking Trips

There are heaps of adventure sports in Queenstown. Really too many to list comprehensively, but there's jetboating, bungee jumping, etc. It's best to just get a guidebook and check out what you want to do from there.

I need to know what you guys want to do about the overnight cruise (if you want to do it at all) soon. I can't go ahead with the planning of the first and second halves of the trip until you do...