Places we visited:
- Fox Glacier
- Lake Tekapo
- Akaroa
- Kaikoura
- Christchurch
A continuation of our second week driving around the South Island of New Zealand, eventually reaching the glaciers on the west of the island and are making our way around to ultimately finish in Christchurch.
Fox Glacier
As we go back to our motorhome from Franz Josef glacier, we opt to go to our campsite, we choose another TOP 10 campsite called Fox Glacier TOP 10 no less, it’s a smallish campsite, but everything you need. There is also a spa at this site, which we booked for 30 mins to test out the pool. We had it all to ourselves, which was nice.
Fox Glacier is again very easy to get to, the car park is large, and a clearly posted trail awaits.
The weather is a bit cloudy, but the sun shines on occasion.
The rolling landscape hides most of the glacier itself. The ice can be seen emerging from the ground, and it melts and cuts its way through the frozen mountains.
On the walk, you can glimpse various parts, surrounded by the high banks of mountains on either side.
Our Journey continues to the east
Back on the road, we start to head towards the east, we calculate that we don’t have enough time to go south to Queensland or Milford Sounds and choose to head closer to Christchurch and spend more stop-over days. But we didn’t expect to see the scenery change so much.
Our drive took us to Wanaka Kiwi Holiday Park, another TOP 10 campsite.
Driving inland was amazing, passing Haast and Lake Hawea. The scenery turned into vivid colours of blues and greens, with pockets of browns, opening up to more browns and fewer greens.
Winding roads open up more rolling hills and mountains until we pass Lake Pukaki. We have to stop the motorhome here at a viewing platform, and the intense midday light and the lake open up a clear view of Mount Cook in the distance.
Like most New Zealand roads, they lead straight to the next town or village, and the scenery does not stop.
Far off mountains get closer, roads wind around corners to open up another view of either lake or mountains.
Lake Tekapo
Arriving at Lake Tekapo, we park up in Lake Tekapo Holiday Park, facing the Lake itself. It’s a large site, with a mix of motorhomes, tents, caravans and wooden lodges. A playground for the kids and quite a few motels dotted about. It’s a large town, another tourist magnet. The campsite is not so busy though.
While the campsite was quiet, the town was slightly busier, so we headed for the nearest cafe for something to eat.
Our walk to the cafe took us past Air Safaris, a flight tour over the lake and the mountains, If I wanted pictures, there was no better way of seeing the New Zealand landscape but from the air itself.
We inquired about availability but were out of luck, they were fully booked for our entire stay in Lake Tekapo, and they kept outnumber just in case they had a drop-out.
15mins into our lunch, a call come through saying if we could get there in 10 mins, we could go on the next flight, as 2 people hadn’t turned up.
Trying to find our waitress was the worst 20 seconds of our trip. We paid, didn’t even finish our lunch and rushed to the flight deck to get our taxi to the airstrip.
Air Safaris
We were whisked to the airfield, paid and got out tickets, greeted by the pilot and walked out to the plane.
A 6-seater plane awaited us, and we both look at each other as if to say we were sure about this, but said nothing but laughed instead.
We had nothing to worry about, it was one of the best things we had done.
The view from the plane was more than we expected, and the pilot talked all the way through and pointed out areas of interest.
The landscape opened up, even more, allowing the true scale of the surrounding lands to unfold showing its diversity.
We stayed in Lake Tekapo for a bit, we had to recover from all the scenery we had seen. It was not long before we packed up and got on the road again to our next adventure.
Akaroa
Akaroa – is described as the most French town in New Zealand with its harbour and small town along the waterfront, being the only place in New Zealand where the French settled.
The drive to Akaroa took us up and the road winding roads, given that the town is located at the bottom of two dominant volcanos the road leading down to the crater the harbour sits in makes the journey exciting.
However once at sea level, the scene opens up to a very colourful location full of historic architecture.
Shop signs are in English and French and every house has a garden and lush flowers adorned around the windows.
We say at another TOP 10 campsite located high above, with a nice trail down to the town.
Hardly anyone on the campsite, however regardless of how many spaces were available, we did end up having a neighbour for the night.
Kaikoura
Only a few days left before our flight home, and we wanted to see some whales. Kaikoura was the place to do that. It’s famous for its marine life, given the natural shelf close to the shore, which means that whales pass by. It’s said that visitors have a 95% chance of seeing whales, dolphins and orcas.
Passing Christchurch we headed north towards the coastal roads.
Arriving at Kaikoura was another change of scenery, still, the mountains in the background, the sea within touching distance, yet a more youthful vibe was going on here. Surf shops lined the streets, and people on skateboards. More cars, more life, it was a nice change and a walk around and maybe a drink was swiftly our priority.
Bars and restaurants were not busy so it was easy to choose a place to rest up and people-watch.
We wanted to get out on the sea but had to wait until the next day hoping that the conditions were good enough for the boats to go out. Meanwhile we had heard that the winds were picking up and a few have been cancelled already.
Booked for tomorrow anyway in hope of the weather app being correct, and clear skies and low winds.
We were not disappointed. We go out on the boat and only a few minutes after reaching the viewing point we were greeted by the locals
Leaving Kaikoura, we encountered some extra special guests on the exit road out of the town.
These beauties were napping in the sun.
Christchurch
Christchurch was our final stop. Parting with our motorhome, and staying in a hotel. It was nice to sleep in a proper bed, have a better showing experience and explore Christchurch on foot.
The devastation of the earthquakes in 2010 and 2012 was still visible on the street, with buildings in a state of either ruin or in repair.
Christchurch Botanic Gardens
A lovely area, close to the hotel we were at, it’s a big open area with lawns, woodland gardens and a play area for kids.
The contrast from the broken buildings to the serene green space was not lost on us either.
We spent our last day, walking around the garden, taking in the colours and smells of the seasonal bedding.
We had an unforgettable experience in New Zealand. So many striking elements were around every corner.
We talked about whether we would do it again the same way, we toyed with the idea of maybe just having a car, knowing we could stay in cabins along the way.
In truth though, we really enjoyed the motorhome experience, and we both agreed there are not many countries that make this kind of travelling easy.
This is the end of our 3 part journey around New Zealand.
To see the whole route we took and the first part of the story, click here
If you got this far, thank you.