1 Week in NZ's South Island: Picton - Queenstown

Many people will tell you that trying to do both the North & South Islands of New Zealand in only 2 Weeks is ambitious. They would be right. Me and my partner in crime are indeed ambitious. We traveled from a total of 3336 km from Auckland to Queenstown in 2 Weeks. We spent 1 Week on NZ’s North Island: Auckland – Wellington and then spent 1 Week on NZ’s South Island: Picton – Queestown.

Day 7: Cloudy Bay > Nelson Lakes National Park. Woke up in our little camping spot outside Blenheim to a beautiful view and made pancakes before heading down the road to Cloudy Bay Vineyards, our one and only Vineyard stop. But hey, if you’re only going to go to one winery, it probably should be your favorite Cabernet Sauvignon ever, right? Then headed on to Nelson Lakes National Park. Attempted Mt Robert Pinchgut Track to Paddys Track (My gut got pinched indeed and I wound up backpedaling and not completing the circuit…). Had dinner at Alpine Lodge.

Morning view from the campervan

Campervancakes

Vineyards, NZ South Island

Cabernet Sauvignon at Cloudy Bay

Campervan Road Snacks

Dock, Nelson Lakes

Pinchgut Track, Nelson Lakes

Pizza for Dinner at Alpine Lodge, Nelson Lakes

Dessert #1 at Alpine Lodge, Nelson Lakes

Dessert #2 at Alpine Lodge, Nelson Lakes

Day 8: Reefton > Franz Joseph. Lots of driving today starting with breakfast in a super interesting and adorable The Broadway Tearooms & Bakery in Reefton. We also planned on doing a swim in their public indoor heated swimming pool, but found it closed. Undettered, we headed on to Greymouth where we found a pool that suited our needs just fine. Stopped by the Hokitika River Gorge which was lovely, but didn’t have the right season/lighting to get the insanely blue waters that are normally pictured. Finally arrived at Franz Joseph Glacier where we ate at The Landing for dinner and to find a spot to camp for the evening.

Breakfast at The Broadway Tearooms & Bakery

Just normal Tearoom stuff at The Broadway Tearooms & Bakery

Swim Time

Road Snacks: Cucumber Six Barrel Soda & Chickpea Crunchy Straws

Hokitika River Gorge

NZ Ferns

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Sunsetting in Kokatahi

Dessert #1 at The Landing, Franz Josef Glacier

Dessert #2 at The Landing, Franz Josef Glacier

Day 9: Franz Josef Glacier > Fox Glacier. We ate breakfast at The Landing since we had scoped out their breakfast menu when we went for dinner last night. One of the downsides to being free-agent road trippers was we didn’t pre-book anything which sometimes leads to problems with very popular activities (see Zorbing in Rotorua) and led to some anxiety as I really wanted to do the Glacier Heli-hike, but they were mostly booked. I was able to find two spots, but not at the same time. Bummer. But The Universe totally pulled through and there was a cancellation so we were able to get on the same tour! This little excursion was definitely expensive, but dude, we flew in a helicopter to a friggin’ glacier and then hiked on that friggin’ glacier. It was epic. (I also realized I’ve never flown in a helicopter before and it was one of those moments of unbridled, childlike delight that one so rarely experiences in life. So yeah, worth every damned penny.)

Franz Josef Glacier

I’m in a helicopter!

Franz Josef Glacier

Day 10: Fox Glacier > Wanaka > Lake Tekapo / Lake Pukaki. Lovely morning run around around Lake Matheson / Te Ara Kairaumati where I saw the most incredible storybook blue mushrroms that were totally unreal to me. We then had breakfast at Lake Matheson Cafe which had stunning views. Then we hit the road towards Wanaka. Did I say stunning views before? Because the views on the way were absolutely unreal. I had the experience of realizing my eyeballs/brain weren’t even up to the task of processing this level of beauty.We arrived in Wanaka too late for the showing of Hunt for The Wilderpeople at the Cinema Paradiso theater, I was SO disappointed since this was on my list of MUST-DOs. We decided to continue on to Lake Tekapo / Lake Pukaki. We gunned it and I called ahead, fighting the clock as cell reception was getting sparse and I yet again found myself trying to last minute book a very popular tour. Here our luck turned around and we arrived just in the knick of time to be able to join the Earth & Sky Observatory night sky tour which was incredible. Naively, I didn’t realize just how different the stars are in the Southern Hemisphere are. Our two astrological guides were an adorably nerdy Canadian PhD candidate who’s love and enthusiasm for space were totally infectious and a Maori gentleman who had what seems to be a very common Maori affect – totally chill. Both were delightful and incredibly knowledgeable. Made standing outside for hours in the cold worth it – which is saying a lot for me, because being cold is a form of torture in my book.

Lake Matheson

Can’t wait to get a gander at this View of Views

Blue Mushrooms at Lake Matheson

Lake Matheson

Breakfast at Lake Matheson Cafe

Scenes from the road

The Neck

Me – attempting to proceess this obscene beauty

Road Trip Snack: Six Barrel Raspberry Soda & Blueberries

Eely Point Recreational Reserve. Wonder how it got it’s name?

Cinema Paradiso in Wanaka

Clutha River

Lindis Pass

The Moon as shot by an iPhone through a telescope at Lake Tekapo Observatory

Earth & Sky Offices, Tekapo

Day 11: Lake Pukaki > Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park > Wanaka > Te Anau. Woke up and made pancakes with the stunning daytime view of Lake Pukaki. Took advantage of the absolutely impeccable weather by doing he Hooker Valley Track. Since this was a nice easy, flat course we jogged quite a bit of it. It was an out & back which stopped at a glacial lake with pieces of glacial ice floating in it reflecting the lovely Aoraki / Mt. Cook. Drove back through Wanaka where this time we did get to catch Hunt for the Wilderpeople at Paradiso, complete with warm cookies at intermission. I would’ve watched anything at this quirky, local, movie house, but to get to see a local New Zealand film – where the locals hooped and hollared during the credits and turned to look at each other and say “Look, there’s Johnny” etc, was a seriously rare treat. Oh and the movie was freaking amazing. A rare and perfect blend of hilarious and silly and also incredibly moving and poignent. Dreams fulfilled we got back on the road and drove most of way to Te Anau.

Waking up to a view of Lake Tekapo

Making Pancakes with a view of Lake Tekapo

Eating Pancakes with a a view of Lake Tekapo

Observatory at Lake Tekapo

Asian Tourists at Lake Tekapo

Hot Cocoa at Observatory at Lake Tekapo

Lake Pukaki

Aoraki / Mt Cook Nat’l Park

Picnic Candy Bar Hike Snack

Post-Hike Coconut Porter

Mount Cook

Mezze Plate Dinner at Paradiso Theatre in Wanaka

Intermission Warm Cookies at Paradiso Theatre in Wanaka

Day 12: Te Anau > Lake Manapouri > Doubtful Sound. I’d heard that Doubtful Sound is even more stunning than Milford, but really requires a 2 day versus 1 day cruise, so even though we were packing a lot in to our short time decided to make time for this. Was luckily able to snag a spot on a very small boat instead of the huge touristy ones. Unfortunately though, we had rainy weather so the views and activities (kayaking, fishing, etc) were not as enticing as on the brochure.

Doubtful Sound

Doubtful Sound Cruise

Doubtful Sound

Day 13: Doubtful Sound > Lake Manapouri > Routeburn Track > Milford Sound. Sadly another rainy day continued to put a damper on our cruise experience. Dropped us back to Lake Manapouri (we thought about doing the sea-plane departure, but with the weather as it was opted out). Stopped at The Chasm Walk and then headed on to conquer Key Summit (part of Routeburn Track) which, as typical for us, was overcast so we didn’t get much of a summit view. The foggy weather was actually kind of hauntingly beautiful though. And some sections really reminded me of the Dead Marshes, so there’s your LOTR vibes for the day. However, we the weather cleared just enough to provide a gorgeous sunset over Milford Sound. Dinner options in the area were quite limited since it was shoulder season, but luckily the only option was Milford Sound Lodge which was incredible. I finally had my New Zealand lamb shank and savored every. last. bike. Spent night at lake.

Doubtful Sound Seaplane

Our Stunning View of Lake Marian, on the Routeburn Track

Routeburn Track: Reminded me of the Dead Marshes

Routeburn Track

The Chasm Walk

Milford Sound

Sunset Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Lamb Shank at Milford Sound Lodge

Dinner carnage at Milford Sound Lodge

Day 14: Milford Sound > Gertrude Saddle > Te Anau > Kingston. Made ourselves some scrambled eggs to have plenty of protein for the Gertrude Saddle Hike. This was definitely a bit more of a technical hike then I was comfortable with – having to rely on on some ropes/chains to do some vertical climbs and sheer rock inclines which made my height-fearing little self kick into overdrive. But I survived – even if a lot of the descent included a lot of self-talk and butt scooting. After this harrowing and exhausting tribulation we drove to Te Anau for dinner at the Olive Tree Cafe. Then we continued as far as we could to Queenstown before stopping for the night at a rest stop on Lake Wakatipu just past Kingston.

Lake Gunn

Fiorland National Park

Pre-hike scrambled eggs

Gertrude’s Saddle Hike Start

Frosty Alpine Plants

Gertrude’s Saddle

Gertrude’s Saddle Valley

Sunset over Lake Wakatipu

Day 15: Queenstown > Auckland. Spent our final day exploring Queenstown including brunch at Bespoke Kitchen, riding the gondola, ice cream & hot chocolate at Patagonia. Really wish we’d had more time here, would’ve LOVED to go paragliding. But alas, New Zealand has so much to offer it’s impossible to squeeze it in in two weeks. We did a great effort and I look forward to coming back (Zorbing, I’m coming back for you). We then sadly said goodbye to our temporary home and dropped off our van at the airport and flew back to Auckland.

Devil’s Staircase

Breakfast at Bespoke Kitchen in Queenstown

View from Gondola of Queesnstown

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Signs overlooking Queenstown

Fall foliage in Queenstown

Ice Cream from Patagonia in Queenstown

Hot Chocolate from Patagonia in Queenstown

Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown

Final Six Barrel Soda Co before flight to Auckland

Flying over Lake Wakatip & Queensland

Back in Auckland, we enjoyed a final dinner at Cafe Midnight Express Turkish/Mediterranean followed by Pies at Federal Delicatessen. We spent the night close to airport for our early morning flights out of this magical land.