First off, you'll have a fantastic time all round no matter what. I did IMNZ in 2008 as part of the recce, all in a camper for 5 weeks. We did 4 weeks on the north Island, a week on the south as we knew we couldn't do it all. And so moved here in 2010 ;-)

There is a place at the airport, NZ27 a day for a bikebox. Pricelist & Locations | Sydney Airport - Baggage Wrapping | Secure Travel (secure-travel.co.nz) (Note that is the link to Auckland, price is NZD but they seem to have forgotten to update their webpage data when they copied from AU.

As for North vs South, there's an awful lot of open space on South Island. It is amazing. Equally if only 2 weeks there's some amazing on North Island too. in fact on teh Monday after that IM race I went down and did a 3 day canoe trip down the Whanganui river that remains one of the most incredible things I ever did, and then we did the Tongariro crossing which is over the volcano that is at the southern end of the Lake Taupo (as in it's the one you see from the lake) which is rated as one of the top 10 one day walks in the world. Again, incredible.

Oh wow, that sounds amazing. Will definitely look into that canoe trip down the Whanganui river. Our plans are still pretty flexible but it sounds like we'll have an epic trip regardless of where we end up.

Cheers Duncan.

Whanganui River Canoes | Guided & Unguided | #1 for Safety

Great thing is you're sitting down so if wrecked after teh race you're fine. That said this is the nearest I've been in 49 years of various things to actually killing myself, but that is part of what made the trip ;-) And so many kiwis do this with their young kids each year it says more about me than the actual trip.

This, Tongariro, head over to Hawkes Bay for some food and wine, then back via Taupo and up to Coromandel will be an epic week. Add in a couple of days in Rotoroa and Mount Maunganui depending on your tastes, or head up through Auckland and up to Northland for 90 mile beach, dune surfing, old tree spotting and you've done a fair bit of North Island which will leave you gob smacked at just how the South Island can beat that, which is fair motivation to come back and do Wanaka in a few years and then do the Sounds, Arthurs Pass, etc ;-)

I know I stored my bike near the airport for over a week when I raced there in 2018. I didn't set it up though, Ken Glah did. I'd contact him and see who it was he used. It was very easy. Just showed up the day before my flight and grabbed it to be ready to fly out the next day after touring around.

It's an amazing place. I need to go back someday. I feel like we maybe tried to see too much but there is so much to see!