New Zealand South Island 2 weeks

sunflower_sal

Hey guys
I'm in Oz at the moment , leaving next week for a week in Fiji then on to New Z.

My Dad is joining me in a few weeks for a 2 week road trip around the South Island . I was wondering if you guys had any advice for the itinerary. I know 2 weeks is fairly short so I wanna try just do the best bits.

Anything you guys would advise we skip? Or better still HAVE TO DO?
We'll be doing a circle starting and ending in Christchurch.. looking mainly at scenic routes and the best walking/trekking spots not looking for crazy party spots or anything ... well not for those 2 weeks anyway

Also have people generally found New Z much/if any cheaper than Oz

thans guys
Sal

preddy

Heading there myself soon, id would suggest looking up the routes the buses do like Magicbus, they can show u the best spots to hit.

watna

My parents are coming to New Zealand for Christmas. We're doing a road trip around the south island from the 27th December, over New Year. My dad and I thought carefully about our itinerary and what we wanted to do.Ideally we would have had more days but we only have 7. Myself and my OH parents are big (nerd) tourists so the thing we like best is to look at a lot of views and take things in and got for hikes and things. If you and your dad are more active there's loads of mad outdoorsy things you could do too.

We're doing the following:

Ferry from Wellington (where I live) to Picton. We're then driving to Blenheim and doing some exploring around that way in the evening.

The next day we're doing a vineyard tour. A car drives you to all different vineyards where you taste loads of wine. You could also cycle between them all which I think would be hilarious. Drunk cycling, ftw!

Then we're driving 6 hours to the Franz Josef Glacier stopping off at a national park on the way. We're staying two nights there. During the day we're there we're doing a 2/3 hour river walk to the glacier. It's meant to be awesome.

Then we're going to spend two nights in Christchurch. We're doing this because it'll be new years eve and we'll need to be in a city with bars and restaurants and things.

Then we'll drive back to Picton to get the ferry back to Wellington. I think we're seeing a few things on the way back but I can't remmeber what they are!

That's a short version of our trip. We did have other variations too! If we had more days we would have gone to Nelson and the Abel Tasman too. If you have any questions at all about anything I've mentioned feel free to ask!

sunflower_sal

Thanks watna and preddy.
Thinking along the same itinerary really wanna do Fraz Jooseph and Abel Tasman I'll fill ya in on how we get on in 14 days and if we find any jems along the way

sunflower_sal

Thanks watna and preddy.
Thinking along the same itinerary really wanna do Fraz Jooseph and Abel Tasman I'll fill ya in on how we get on in 14 days and if we find any jems along the way

robinph

I'll be doing approx two weeks around the south island next month. I'm planning to do the glaciers and Milford Sound for the must do scenic bits of the journey, the rest will be some extreme sports carryon around Queenstown'ish area and the rest of it will depend on how far I feel like driving each day.

paddylonglegs

Good suggestion with Milford sound and glacier,spectacular beauty.Queenstown would be interesting for all ages,lots going on including the lord of the rings tour in a 4x4.Also snow season so you could get some skiing in for hte laugh.

Would bother going south down to Dunedin and Invercarghill,really nothing happening here.

pclancy

Abel Tasman is AMAZING. Gorgeous sandy beaches, lush bush and forests to explore and lovely islands/lagoons to visit. Kayaking and all manner of water sports are on offer. Probably my favourite part of the south island trip. We only spent a few days there but during the summer i'm gong back down for at least a few weeks

I'd say go up from Christchurch to Nelson some amazing mountain scenery on the drive between there and blenheim and come back down the west coast doing the fox/franz joseff glacier on the way down through the Hasst Pass (AMAZING again!) and Wanaka/Queenstown before going back to the East coast. Wanaka is really cool, lots of walking/watersports etc and Queenstown as we all know is great fun, not just for partying theres lots of nice scenery etc there too. As above Dunedin and Invercargill arent really worth a visit though the cadburys factory tour in Dunedin is interesting/yummie!

watna

robinph wrote: »

I'll be doing approx two weeks around the south island next month. I'm planning to do the glaciers and Milford Sound for the must do scenic bits of the journey, the rest will be some extreme sports carryon around Queenstown'ish area and the rest of it will depend on how far I feel like driving each day.

btw, I went skiing last week in Turoa in Mount Ruapehu in the North Island. It wasn't the best at all, at all. Are you planning to ski there on you're NZ trip? If I were you I'd save the skiing/snowboarding mainly for the south island. I was very disappointed.

paddylonglegs

watna wrote: »

btw, I went skiing last week in Turoa in Mount Ruapehu in the North Island. It wasn't the best at all, at all. Are you planning to ski there on you're NZ trip? If I were you I'd save the skiing/snowboarding mainly for the south island. I was very disappointed.

Was it a bad season watna?Didn't have a great season when I was there but apparently last year there was too much snow!
Agreed if your going skiing then stick to south island - Mt Hutt nearish christchurch,Coronet Peak and Remarkables at Queenstown.

watna

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Was it a bad season watna?Didn't have a great season when I was there but apparently last year there was too much snow!
Agreed if your going skiing then stick to south island - Mt Hutt nearish christchurch,Coronet Peak and Remarkables at Queenstown.

It was a bad season so we couldn't get up for the weekend we were there, we managed to get up for one day a few days later though. The snow was alright but the mountain was quite small and then absolutely packed with skiers and snowboarders who were mainly out of control. We saw a lot of bad accidents and my OH got ploughed in to by a snowboarder who didn't even stop. He cut his face badly and there was blood everywhere. red snow... never good!

sunflower_sal

Thanks a mill guys thats great to have an insight!
Woo I'm excited now... but not about the cold!
Guess it will prep me for north america

watna

sunflower_sal wrote: »

Thanks a mill guys thats great to have an insight!
Woo I'm excited now... but not about the cold!
Guess it will prep me for north america

Bring thermals and lots of layers and you'll be fine. I'm not gonna lie to you though, it's the height of winter and is pretty cold!

badolepuddytat

Franz Josef is cool, I did the full day hike but the weather was crap and we didn't get the whole way to the top (it started squalling and path was being melted by the rain :eek:). It was incredibly beautiful but if I was doing it again I'd not plan my travel itinerary until closer to so I had the option of going a few days earlier/later to dodge the bad weather.

The prices had been jacked up in Queenstown for skiing and snowboarding, it's now about twice what you'd pay in the North Island and I wasn't terribly impressed with the service provided by the operator. If you really want to ski on the south island, I heard that it was cheaper to do it from Wanaka than Queenstown which is still a lovely place to base yourself, lots of hikes and scenery. Wanaka is also closer to the Cardronas so more time on the slopes and less in a bockety bus!

If you want to save on time book a flight from Christchurch to the north Island, I got a flight to Wellington for $60 one one way which gave me the opportunity to chill out more around Christchurch and not go on another long drive up the coast. It cost almost the same as the ferry anyway without having to arrange transport to Picton.

ibh

I did the Magic Bus trip and it was excellent. Trans-alpine railway to Greymouth was exceptional.

Great thing about the bus is that you can stay as long as you want in a place and just catch another Magic bus on another day.
The only thing i would recommend is to consider doing the Milford Sound leg by rental car from queenstown. The bus trip is very long and if there are 4 people the rental is cheaper than the 4 day trips on the bus.

Dunedin was really nice as well and it has the choclate factory tour and the brewery tour. Choclate one is average but the brewery tour is brilliant.
I was disappointed that we left out Invercaghill due to time constraints but i'd say it's a good place to visit, but i'm sure it's pretty cold.

Magic bus give info about activities for each city/town and give advice on the best hostels as well.

for a short time period I would advise against the magic bus as many of the stops during the day are in the middle of nowhere and purely so that the driver can rest for safety reasons. you also typically get to a place in the late afternoon evening so have to spend 1 more day at least to actually see anything. rent a car instead and do it yourself. your dad is travelling with you so you can share the driving. the distances aren't great so it's easily doable.

seamy_orr

Below is a summary of our 2 week trip on the South Island back in 2005. Hopefully you get something out of it. 2 weeks was just enough time to get everything in.

Christchurch
Landed here on the 05 Dec 2005, first stop on our trip, bar the stopover in Singapore for 7 hours. Initial impressions were that this was a small enough city as we got a hotel about 10 minutes walk from town. We got into the airport, checked through immigration/customs and got a taxi into town. Got in at around 10:30 in the morning and slept through till 8:30 that evening. Woke up for last hours of food in the hotel, at this hour, potato skins (big wedges covered in cheese/spices/bacon) are all you get which are top class the first few times but are so filling you need quite an appetite to warrant eating them every day. Got a few pints of Speights to wash down the Skins and then back to sleep till the next morning.

Christchurch >> Mt. Cook
We got up early and went back out to the airport to get the rental camper from Apollo NZ. In our opinion Camper Van is the only method of transport to see the South Island anyways as there are plenty of campsites or you can just pull in at the side of the road. We set off from Christchurch heading West of Christchurch through Fairlie. Our first stop was Lake Tekapo which was a beautiful little lake with a small Church right on the lake. First tip for NZ, bring decent enough walking hiking gear as there are some impressive hikes and also don't throw away the rain gear considering the time of year you're going. Further on out this road past Lake Pukaki swing a right to head to Mt. Cook, be prepared for views to take your breath away. Mt. Cook offers some great climbs and hikes as well.

Mt. Cook >> Cromwell
If you follow on the road you come to Cromwell. We loved this little town as people were very friendly and the local fruit and nuts were to die for. We stayed in a night in this town named by an old brit in order to piss a few Irish off. Everywhere people are dead friendly and will be filling you in on their Irish ancestry, unlike the US most of these people are genuine.

Cromwell >> Queenstown
We then headed the next morn to Queenstown, just driving into this town you get a feeling for how vibrant it is. There are loads of activities, bungee, parachuting so don't hold back. We went horse riding trek in Glenorchy which was unreal. This was one of the locations for Lord of the Rings shoot. Another not to miss in Queenstown is the ferg burger which packs quite a punch.

Queenstown >> Milford Sound >> Wanaka
When in Queenstown we drove down around Te Anau and up to Milford Sound, yet another not to miss opportunity. You'll see why when you get there.
After this it was a long drive back through Queenstown, up through Wanaka another classic little town on Lake Wanaka. We stayed a night here and had a wreck of Speights in the local 2 mins walk from the Campsite. Pool table and Duke box was free so we made the most of it.

Wanaka >> Haast >> Fox Glacier (West Coast)
Next day we headed on to Haast, a beautiful coastal town founded by the dutch. We stopped at the Haast Heritage Hotel which was dead quiet but did the best battered fish I've ever tasted. We headed South of Haast for a bit and saw some beautiful beaches and some seals.
We then headed North and hiked up fox glacier on a guided tour which was amazing. We spent a night here and ate more Potato Skins and drank more Speights.

Fox Glacier (West Coast) >> Greymouth >> Westport
This trip was beautiful as it included the Punakaiki cliffs which look like layers of pancakes. We saw loads of seals on this route too. Greymouth and Westport are lovely little towns and you should try and get at least one brewery tour in here.

Westport >> Kaikoura
This route 7 takes you through some windy gorges and is a beautiful drive. On the way over we stopped at Maruia Springs for a well needed massage which was about $35 for half an hour. We got to Kaikoura to find a lot of the dolphin swim tours were booked up. We went out on the boat and saw much more from there than the divers did.

Kaikoura >> Christchurch >> Akaroa >> Christchurch
The home leg of the journey was upon us and it was a sad drive back to Christchurch. We didn't have to drive the van back till the next morning so we decided to head about 40 miles south of Christchurch to Akaroa. This was one of the highlights of the trip as this little town is like a hidden gem. The drive down to the bay is pretty scary and is well worth it when you get there. The town itself was built by the French who landed there thinking they discovered NZ. They set up camp only to discover the British had landed a few years previous so the French were allowed set up their own colony on this peninsula. The won has a real french feel to it and a little Restaurant called C'est la vie is to die for. That day we were able to go swimming with Dolphins and the whole experience was much more personal in Akaroa.
Next day we returned the van and walked around the botanic gardens in Christchurch and prepared for the next leg of the journey with many memories onboard.



This is one way to do it, Lonely Planet was good but far from up to date when it came to eating establishments etc. so don't be afraid to ask around. I've heard great reviews of the Trans Alpine railway from C'church to Greymouth but as we had the camper we didn't get around to it.

sunflower_sal

great tips guys thanks a mill xx