Hiking New Zealand

[jjs6791]

Hello, my Fiancée and I are in the initial phases of planning a honeymoon for next year in late June / early July. We're getting married in Sydney and are researching a week hiking in either Australia or New Zealand. We are both avid day hikers and prefer a quiet serene small town area at night (not camping). I would like to know that given the time of year of late June / early July, is there a general area where we could still go for nice walks in the mountains but it still be non-technical (no equipment, crampons, etc). We realize the weather will be on the cold side in New Zealand and perhaps a bit warmer in say, Queensland. My fiancee is from Sydney but has not done extensive hiking outside the Blue Mountains. I do not like desert or beach areas. She's mentioned a rainforest in Queensland that sounds fairly interesting but I'm curious what responses I'll recieve here. I'm posting this in the international forum because we're initially leaning towards New Zealand. I'd love a mountain town where you can still go for nice non-technical hikes even though it will be cold

We were planning Alaska for months but just as we were about to buy plane tickets we realized that it is just too much travel in a short period of time.

Thank you
Jeff Schneider
Washington DC USA