Hi Welcome to the forum!
I agree with Moggy there is so much you can do and organise from home before you come across and then you can do your own fact finding mission without shelling out lots of cash.
It's amazing once you're here on holiday how friendly the locals are and they're one of the best people to natter to, to find out things about NZ.
As Moggy said there's a lot of us on this forum dotted across both islands who'll be more than happy to help answer questions and help you organise a fact finding trip if you need to.
Good luck with things
