New Zealand: South Island in 8 Days
Tekapo (day 1)
With another early morning flight we arrived in Christchurch where we picked up our new rental car (Rambo) to set off for a 3 hour drive. With music and coffee to keep us awake, we arrived in yet another lake-town: Tekapo. After a short nap, we found out that we had come to Tekapo during its most beautiful month. In November, Lake Tekapo is surrounded by the colourful lupin flowers. After visiting the Church of the Good Shepherd and looking out over the stunning lake, we decided it was time for one of the most amazing things on our list for New Zealand. Though TripAdvisor only lists it as number 7 of things to do in Tekapo, we believe it should be on anyone’s list when travelling New Zealand: the Mackenzie Sheep Dog Statue! From the beginning of planning our trip we knew we just had to go here! Of course I am exaggerating, the dog statue had become some sort of joke on our list of things to do in New Zealand, but I have to say that due to the stunning views around the dog, it is definitely worth the 2 minutes it takes to see it.
Tekapo is also very famous for its observatory, as the minimum light
pollution results in amazing views of the stars at night. Unfortunately for us
though, the clouds decided that it would be quite fun to hide those views from
us. This did not withhold us, however, to climb Mount John to the observatory the
next day in order to see the stunning views over Lake Tekapo. The café on top
of the mountain is really worth it, and their coffee art is amazing!
Mount Cook (day 2)
From Tekapo it is an 1,5 hour drive to Mount Cook. Mount Cook is not an actual village, but a collection of hostels and hotels on government-owned property in Mount Cook National Park. There is therefore not grocery store and gas is very expensive. Be prepared when going there! The views from the hostel we stayed at were stunning, and we soon set off to do the Hooker Valley Hike, a 5km flat hike that gave us spectacular views on the surrounding mountains and glacier. Well worth the effort! This really was one of the places where I wished we could have stayed longer, as only spending one day here is not doing the place justice.
Wanaka (day 3+4)
The next day, however, it was time for us to drive to Wanaka. On our way there we stopped at the Blue Pools Track, a supposedly easy walk of about an hour that brings you to stunning blue pools. What we had not prepared for, however, was the sand flies that made this track somewhat of a hell for us. You might think that mosquitos are terrible animals, but then you have not yet met sand flies. Just like a mosquito sting, sand flies sting and leave an itchy spot behind. The difference, however, is that they do this with 10-20 at the time. To survive, you have to keep on walking so that they cannot sting and you have to cover yourself completely (which was not fun with 27 degrees). Luckily, though, the pools were really pretty and when we got to the grocery store that afternoon we immediately bought insect repellent so that our future hikes would not be so dramatic.
A visit to Wanaka is not worth it without a stroll past the #thatwanakatree. This lonely tree in the water got its fame through Instragram and is especially pretty during sunset (though clouds decided to hide most of our sunset) It is the most photographed tree in New Zealand and it even has its own Facebook page. A definite must-do!
The next day I decided to climb Mount Iron, while Victoria
and Ana had a relaxed morning at the hostel. Though steep, the climb was easy
to do and the views from the top were once again so rewarding. I had brought my
book with me and spend some time reading in the shade of some bushes before I
decided to head back to the hostel. We visited a lavender farm for some
lavender ice cream and did some souvenir-shopping in town before having a very
fun game night with new friends at the hostel.
Te Anau (day 5+6)
From Wanaka we drove to Te Anau, a 3 hour drive over the
Crown Range Road and the Devil’s Staircase Road. The Crown Range Road is one of
the highest roads in the country at 1121 meters. The road has several sharp
hairpin bends and the drop down is very steep, making it a somewhat dangerous,
but oh-so beautiful road to drive. We did not encounter any problems driving
it, despite me having my license for just a couple of years now. The Devil’s
Staircase Road sounds very dark and dangerous, but is actually quite an easy
road to drive. The road is named after the views you have on the mountains that
look like a devil’s staircase. Both roads bring you to Te Anau with a shortcut
and thus it gave us extra time to explore this small town. We visited the free
bird sanctuary with native birds and spent the hot afternoon at the lake
swimming and relaxing with stunning views.
From Te Anau it is a 2 hour drive to Milford Sound, a fiord on the west-coast of New Zealand. We decided to visit this stunning part of New Zealand and took a cruise on the fiord to really see its beauty. Milford Sound, or in Maori Piopiotahi, is supposedly New Zealand’s most famous tourist destination. Despite having a bit of trouble finding a parking spot, it did not feel very busy at all, and even the cruise boat was not crammed with people. The peaks of the surrounding mountains and the two permanent waterfalls result in amazing views that are not visible from the shoreline 15 kilometres inland. A cruise is thus well worth the price of just $30NZ. We were very lucky with the weather, as this part of New Zealand is one of the wettest parts of the world, but it did not rain at all when we were there so you can be very lucky as well!
After our cruise we decided we wanted to stretch our legs a
little and did two small walks along the shoreline and up a hill to see some
more views of Milford Sound. However, it was not enough and thus we also did
the 3-hour Key Summit hike to get even more beautiful views of the surrounding
Fiordland National Park. All in all, a very good last hike in New Zealand!
Queenstown (day 7+8)
On one of our last days we arrived in Queenstown, one of the bigger cities on the south island. This city is also known as the ‘adventure capital of the world’, and there are indeed a lot of adventurous things to do: bungy jumping, skydiving, skiing, jet boating, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, paragliding, and the list goes on. Queenstown is therefore also seen as a rich-people town. We walked around town, did some souvenir shopping and saw a beautiful sunset from the botanical gardens over Lake Wakatipu. The next day we had a six hour drive back to Christchurch before eventually flying back to Melbourne.
New Zealand really has a special place in my heart, it is such a beautiful and diverse country and it all feels like it is relatively untouched by tourism. It is definitely very high up my list to go back to, I can say I have certainly fallen in love with the country of the Kiwi’s!
With another early morning flight we arrived in Christchurch where we picked up our new rental car (Rambo) to set off for a 3 hour drive. With music and coffee to keep us awake, we arrived in yet another lake-town: Tekapo. After a short nap, we found out that we had come to Tekapo during its most beautiful month. In November, Lake Tekapo is surrounded by the colourful lupin flowers. After visiting the Church of the Good Shepherd and looking out over the stunning lake, we decided it was time for one of the most amazing things on our list for New Zealand. Though TripAdvisor only lists it as number 7 of things to do in Tekapo, we believe it should be on anyone’s list when travelling New Zealand: the Mackenzie Sheep Dog Statue! From the beginning of planning our trip we knew we just had to go here! Of course I am exaggerating, the dog statue had become some sort of joke on our list of things to do in New Zealand, but I have to say that due to the stunning views around the dog, it is definitely worth the 2 minutes it takes to see it.
From Tekapo it is an 1,5 hour drive to Mount Cook. Mount Cook is not an actual village, but a collection of hostels and hotels on government-owned property in Mount Cook National Park. There is therefore not grocery store and gas is very expensive. Be prepared when going there! The views from the hostel we stayed at were stunning, and we soon set off to do the Hooker Valley Hike, a 5km flat hike that gave us spectacular views on the surrounding mountains and glacier. Well worth the effort! This really was one of the places where I wished we could have stayed longer, as only spending one day here is not doing the place justice.
The next day, however, it was time for us to drive to Wanaka. On our way there we stopped at the Blue Pools Track, a supposedly easy walk of about an hour that brings you to stunning blue pools. What we had not prepared for, however, was the sand flies that made this track somewhat of a hell for us. You might think that mosquitos are terrible animals, but then you have not yet met sand flies. Just like a mosquito sting, sand flies sting and leave an itchy spot behind. The difference, however, is that they do this with 10-20 at the time. To survive, you have to keep on walking so that they cannot sting and you have to cover yourself completely (which was not fun with 27 degrees). Luckily, though, the pools were really pretty and when we got to the grocery store that afternoon we immediately bought insect repellent so that our future hikes would not be so dramatic.
A visit to Wanaka is not worth it without a stroll past the #thatwanakatree. This lonely tree in the water got its fame through Instragram and is especially pretty during sunset (though clouds decided to hide most of our sunset) It is the most photographed tree in New Zealand and it even has its own Facebook page. A definite must-do!
Te Anau (day 5+6)
From Wanaka we drove to Te Anau, a 3 hour drive over the
Crown Range Road and the Devil’s Staircase Road. The Crown Range Road is one of
the highest roads in the country at 1121 meters. The road has several sharp
hairpin bends and the drop down is very steep, making it a somewhat dangerous,
but oh-so beautiful road to drive. We did not encounter any problems driving
it, despite me having my license for just a couple of years now. The Devil’s
Staircase Road sounds very dark and dangerous, but is actually quite an easy
road to drive. The road is named after the views you have on the mountains that
look like a devil’s staircase. Both roads bring you to Te Anau with a shortcut
and thus it gave us extra time to explore this small town. We visited the free
bird sanctuary with native birds and spent the hot afternoon at the lake
swimming and relaxing with stunning views.
From Te Anau it is a 2 hour drive to Milford Sound, a fiord on the west-coast of New Zealand. We decided to visit this stunning part of New Zealand and took a cruise on the fiord to really see its beauty. Milford Sound, or in Maori Piopiotahi, is supposedly New Zealand’s most famous tourist destination. Despite having a bit of trouble finding a parking spot, it did not feel very busy at all, and even the cruise boat was not crammed with people. The peaks of the surrounding mountains and the two permanent waterfalls result in amazing views that are not visible from the shoreline 15 kilometres inland. A cruise is thus well worth the price of just $30NZ. We were very lucky with the weather, as this part of New Zealand is one of the wettest parts of the world, but it did not rain at all when we were there so you can be very lucky as well!
Queenstown (day 7+8)
On one of our last days we arrived in Queenstown, one of the bigger cities on the south island. This city is also known as the ‘adventure capital of the world’, and there are indeed a lot of adventurous things to do: bungy jumping, skydiving, skiing, jet boating, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, paragliding, and the list goes on. Queenstown is therefore also seen as a rich-people town. We walked around town, did some souvenir shopping and saw a beautiful sunset from the botanical gardens over Lake Wakatipu. The next day we had a six hour drive back to Christchurch before eventually flying back to Melbourne.
New Zealand really has a special place in my heart, it is such a beautiful and diverse country and it all feels like it is relatively untouched by tourism. It is definitely very high up my list to go back to, I can say I have certainly fallen in love with the country of the Kiwi’s!
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