We finally visited South Island, New Zealand, a place we wished to visit for sometime, from December 15th to 26th, 2023. A 12 day, 2400km drive journey exploring the lower three quarters of the island.
Pictures pale against what we saw, words are powerless to describe how we felt.
What a trip it was!
Despite a detailed trip plan, we had to make impromptu adjustments to our schedules daily due to fast changing weather. The following is our realized itinerary.
Day 1 - Arriving at Christchurch Airport in the afternoon and hiking at Godely Head
Hiked on Godely Head Costal track ❤️ at 4:30 pm - it was not late since the sunset at 9:20pm.
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| Godely Head, Coastal Track |
We only hiked part of the trail due to closure - 7km in 2+ hours. Beautiful track mostly on top of coastal cliff, ocean on one side, mountains on the other. Blue sky, white clouds, rocky coastline, a symphony of bird chirping, cool air made the hiking lovely.
* we went for the late hike because clouds started to break up, the Sun started to shine through.
Day 2 - walk along Avon River Walk @ Christchurch and Drive to Arthur's Pass
a. Avon River walk ❤️ is a quiet, elegant promenade along Avon River/Otakaro. We walked from Victoria Square to Botanic Garden in early morning (7am ~ 8am), flowers, birds and views of the old city along the way.
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| Avon River, Christchurch |
drive to Arthur's Pass, stopped at Castle Hill
b. Castle Hill - a place similar to Garden of the God at Colorado, USA, but the boulders are grey rocks instead of red limestone.
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| Castle Hill by Highway 73, South Island |
c. Hiking on Arthur's pass track ♡ and side tracked to Punch Bowl Waterfall ♡, bridal veil fall, twin falls and Temple Basin Ski area track.
The track, in the undulating terrain, is shaded by mystic, moss cladded tall trees. A nice track!
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| Moss cladded trees along the Arthur's pass track |
We abandoned the hike on Temple basin ski area track at a viewpoint to Twin Falls... very loose gravel track, difficult to have a good footing.
Drove to Greymouth (very foggy, visibility less than 100m when we arrived) (stayed 1 night) |
| Pancake Rocks |
g. stopped at Lake Mapouraka since the cloud dissipated and the
h. dinner at Alice May ... nice food and view of Franz/Josef Glacier (when mountain is clear of clouds)
Day 4 - Kayaking and Hiking around Franz/Josef Glacier
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| Kayaking on Lake Mapouraka |
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| Waiho River flows into Tasman sea - view from Alex Knob track |
Day 6 - Driving to Makorora Wonderland lodge ( cloudy, rainy , cloudy, stayed for 1 night)
a. before leaving, hiking to Callery Gorge at Franz/Glacier village ♡
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| fox glacier, south island, New Zealand |
c. Hasst costal sand dune
d. thunder creek falls
c. fantails fall
d. blue pool
Day 7 - Drive from Makorora to Queenstown to Te Anau (Stay at Te Anau for two nights)
Lake Wanaka lookout
Glow worm Cavern ....not worth the trip ... have to go there by a cruise
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| Lake Wanaka |
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| a corner of Lake Te Anau |
Day 8 - Milford Sound ♡ and scenic stops along the way
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| Milford Sound - view from the cruise |
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| The Lord of Rings -Anduin River Location |
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| Christie Falls |
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| Lupine Flowers |
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| Roaring Meg |
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| NZ Alpine Lavender |
a. Hooker valley track and side tracks..♡
a1. Alpine Tarn
b. Tasman Glacier walk and side tracks...the view from the glacier lake end Tasman Glacier
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| Alpine Tarn - a side track from Hooker Valley Track |
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| Tasman Glacier and Lake |
Day 11 - Drive to Queenstown and stops along the way (Stay at Queenstown)
a. Hiked rock peak track to the summit 👌
b. Aspiring national park - that wanakatree ♡
c. Vistas along lake Wakatipu near Queenstown
- great views of glaciers at Aspiring from afar
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| At Summit of Rock Peak |
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| That WanakaTree |
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| Moon Rise over the cloud |
Some notes
1. we moved around south island barely interacting with anyone else except the hotel/restaurant clerks occasionally asked other tourists to take pictures for us. We had some extended interactions with two feamal international students on Alex Knob track...taking pictures for each other and some conversations at the summit...one from Belgium, another from Italy...a history major, and a biology major, exchange students at Australia
2. sheep's are everywhere! cows and cattle as well.
3. road is winding and narrow
4. no litters on the tacks!♡
5. weather changes fast!! even rainy days can have some breakthrough sunshine and patches of blue sky
6. Lupine are wide spread in the valleys. Lavender near Queenstown
7. Sunshine, blue sky make everything so much more beautiful
8. Rain does its wonder as well, fog, low clouds making things mysterious and sometimes fairy
9. food is expensive, but serving is typically large. all restaurants we have been to were good
10. mostly Europeans on the midsection south island trails. more Asians at Milford Sound and Queenstown...via tour buses...
11. endemic birds! Kea, wood pigeon,
12. Sunscreen is a must - even on a cloudy day because it can become sunny quickly. I had sun-burn due to lack of sun screen on my bare arms during hiking on Rock Peak.
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