New Zealand: South Island
Feb 2015Days 10–23 of our 2015 trip taking in Stoke and Nelson, Abel Tasman National Park, Arrowtown, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Dunedin and Christchurch
Days 10–23 of our 2015 trip taking in Stoke and Nelson, Abel Tasman National Park, Arrowtown, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Dunedin and Christchurch
After a few hours on the Interislander ferry we arrived on the South Island and made our way west to the city of Nelson. Stepping through it’s flowering little streets, you’d never guess that this well-kept little city is New Zealand’s craft beer capital. Oh yes. We had great fun touring the McCashins brewery in Stoke, on the road south-west out of Nelson.
The small resort town of Kaiteriteri sits an hour north of Nelson, up the coast on the edge of Abel Tasman National Park. It’s golden beach and fast-flowing water were the perfect antidote to the stifling afternoon heat. After a winding drive up and over the monstrous Takaka Hill, we reached the town of Takaka itself. Morning markets. Bands playing at the local stand. The faint rumble of a dub baseline. This cosy haven definitely felt like somewhere you could put your feet up for a while, which we duly did.
We stayed in the Golden Bay area for the next couple of days before visiting Te Waikoropupu Springs — the largest group of freshwater springs in the country and the clearest body of water we’d ever laid eyes on.
After lunch and a dip at Tata Beach we headed south back over monstrous Takaka Hill and onto Rotoroa Lake. What would’ve been the perfect evening backdrop was quickly ruined by hordes of sandflies biting lumps out of us. We surrendered after an hour, but which time I already looked like the victim of a measles epidemic.
After following the Buller River out to the west coast, we parked up for the night at Shining Star camp site near Hokitika. Quiet and well kitted out, the camp site also sat across the road from a glowworm walkway. A beautiful sight if you can make it through the pitch black without falling on your ass. The next day it was onto Franz Josef (a flying visit, seeing as we weren’t hiking or flying up to the glaciers) and then the lakeside resort town of Wanaka.
Winding south from Wanaka towards Arrowtown took us through the magical Crown Range and along the Crown Saddle, the highest paved pass in the country. I hiked further up above the Saddle was was rewarded with an incredible spectacle: watching passenger planes banking left and cutting through the middle of this huge range down to Queenstown airport.
After exploring idyllic Arrowtown and grabbing a quick drink, we made the final short drive of the day to Queenstown. There are no shortage of activities in and around Queenstown itself, but it’s also just a great central base from which to explore the bottom third of the South Island.
After a picnic at Drift Bay we began the ~4hr drive west to Milford Sound. The town of Te Anau is the last petrol stop before Milford Sound, so it’s wise to stop and fill your tank for the round trip.
Around 30 minutes north of Te Anau on State Highway 94 the trees parted and our jaws dropped as we entered Eglinton Valley. It’s impossible to do this vast, stunning expense justice with photos (well, at least my photos). You just have to get there, sit on the grass, and marvel at the scale of this peaceful valley.
Rudyard Kipling called Milford Sound the “the eighth Wonder of the World”. He wasn’t wrong. This fiord carved out by cooling glaciers lies in Fiordland National Park, the largest of the national parks.
The funny thing about touring New Zealand is that after more than 2 weeks on the road you almost start taking the ridiculously photogenic scenery for granted. But there’s something about floating on the water so close to the face of the Milford Sound peaks that’s different. It’s worth every minute of the round trip — particularly on a rare dry morning like ours.
We returned to Queenstown for one last night before heading for the east coast and a sodden Dunedin. Although we enjoyed our time in Dunedin and Christchurch, the rest of the country had spoiled us so much that I barely snapped a single photo. But I think I can live with that.
We hired our “well loved” 1998 Toyota Estima (’Lucky Crib’) through Lucky Rentals, who we found through the VroomVroomVroom comparison site. It cost us NZD $1478 in total for the 23 days, which included a $280 non-refundable deposit and a $99 fee for dropping the van off in a different location from where we hired it. Having looked at a number of other vehicles and rental companies, I know we got a cheap deal. Thankfully the car was solid. Lucky Rentals staff were polite, helpful and relaxed about pick up/drop off times, so I can recommend hiring through them. Petrol for the whole trip came to $750.
Below is the route we took. 23 days was pretty much perfect; we never drove for more than 4-5 hours on any given day (typically ~2 hours), and had a number of days without driving at all. We had the freedom to stop somewhere we liked for a couple of days without worrying about running short on time. We used the CamperMate app to help us find campsites — Department of Conservation sites with minimal facilities, and paid sites ($25-35 per-pitch per-night) with hot showers, kitchens and the like. Sometimes we just parked up on residential streets and went to the local pool in the morning for a swim and a shower, which was a good way to save money nearer cities where campsite options were limited. I bought a Vodafone SIM and although mobile data coverage could be spotty at times, in general it was pretty reliable.
If we could’ve done anything differently it would’ve been to spend more time around the north-west of the South Island, in and around Abel Tasman National Park, before heading south. Dunedin and Christchurch were nice places to visit for a day or two, but generally the east coast of the South Island just didn’t have as much to offer us as the rest of the country.
Standing in awe at a double rainbow dusk in Eglinton Valley · Being dwarfed by the scale of the peaks during the crisp Milford Sound cruise · Walking in the footsteps of Bilbo and Gandalf at Hobbiton · Snorkelling with snapper at Goat Island Marine Reserve · Gazing through the crystal clear Te Waikoropupu Springs · Being thrown about with the surfers at Taupo Bay · Stepping out to the retreating sea at Nelson Beach · Strolling along the long, soft sand at Uretiti Beach · Kayaking around Paihia Bay · Savouring the dusky quiet at Lake Rotoroa
Read part one