We used this book as guide for our honeymoon in Dec 2010 and we weren't disappointed. We hadnt booked any accomodation and planned to travel the whole of the South Island in two weeks. The guide was great for pointing out places of interest we may have missed, good places to eat no matter what your budget and it helped us find some quality accomodation each night. The maps were good for the town centres, but we did use some free local guides for full road map info. The sections on the most southern regions of South Island were my favourite as they were well written with a tongue-in-cheek style that often brought a smile.
Great book - would recommend for first time vistors on a short timescale.