I will start out by saying that I probably only had the time to see maybe HALF of what I would have liked to on the South Island, and, if I had my way, I would have spent 1-2 months in New Zealand to see everything on both islands.  I guess that’s a trip to plan next time!
I finished out my three-week adventure down unda with a seven-day itinerary on the South Island, put together by yours truly, using the wise wisdom of the internet and recommendations from friends.  I narrowed my list down from what seemed like hundreds of things I wanted to do, to just enough activities that would fit nice and neat into a road trip in seven days.  It was a bit hectic, but all of the experiences were incredible, so it was worth it.  And I wouldn’t have planned this trip any other way.  It was perfect. ♥

MAJOR FYI – If you’re going to travel to New Zealand to more than one city (which you most likely will), you will have to rent a car.  And drive on. the. other. side. of. the. road. NBD.  Just prepare yourself.  Luckily the roads weren’t all that busy, so if I found myself turning the wrong way or driving on the wrong side of the road occasionally (it happens), chaos did not ensue.  The roads are all two lanes and very winding and the speeds are high, so don’t be afraid to drive slower, so that you feel safe.  Other people are as well, and those who want to go faster will pass you.  I only had one a-hole that acted like an a-hole on the road behind me – all others passed politely (and I passed some other slow pokes at times that I felt comfortable).
This is my “oh sh*t, I’m driving on the other side of the road face.”
If I can do it, you can too.

Itinerary:

• Day One – Queenstown

  • I arrived in Queenstown in the early afternoon and used the day to unwind after traveling.  The town has a lot of restaurants and shops with plenty to do.  There are street performers and a beautiful walking path along the lake, plus a beach if that’s what you’re looking for!  You will need time to just explore and to take in the amazing views (this will be a common theme during the entire trip).
  • Things to know:
    • Accommodations: I stayed at the Shotover Lodge, which was just a few miles from town.  I had my own room with a bathroom and it cost about $96 USD.  I would recommend.
    • Places to eat: FERG BURGER is a must.  Get there early to avoid waiting in an hour-long line.  Also Patagonia Ice Creamery and Chocolaterie.  I might have eaten there twice because it was so yummy. Okay, I definitely ate there twice, and I would have gone back again if I was staying longer.
    • Getting around town: I drove my rental and parked in a paid parking lot and then walked.  It’s not so big that you can’t get around easily, but I couldn’t walk there from the Lodge.  No public transportation or Uber/Lyft (I didn’t find Uber or Lyft anywhere in NZ).

• Day Two – Milford Sound

  • Early morning, I packed it on up and started the road trip! First up wass about a four-hour drive to the Milford Sound, which is a fiord in the Fiordland National Park and is called the “eighth wonder of the world” on the internet.  It’s a bit of a drive and you won’t have any cell reception within probably the last hour of the drive and at the Milford Sound, but this is a sight you don’t want to miss.  It was recommended that I do a kayak trip in the sound, but those all launched early in the morning, and I knew I couldn’t be there in time without driving through the middle of the night.  I booked a cruise tour and it was one of the most stunning sights I have ever seen.  [I highly recommend bringing food on this trip.  There is a little cafe at the Milford Sound, but not much else. I was starving after all of the driving.]
  • After the tour, I drove two hours back towards Queenstown to Te Anau to stay for the evening because there are limited lodging options near the Milford Sound and I think they were quite pricey.
  • Things to know:
    • Milford Sound – Other options – there were helicopter tours between Queenstown and the Milford Sound that got you there much quicker, but I wanted to 1) take the scenic route because why not and 2) stop in Te Anau.
    • Accommodations: I stayed at the Fiordland Great Views Holiday Park, which was $77 AUD (~$57 USD).  I was in for a bit of a surprise with this place.  It was more of a camp ground and there were tons of people camping in tents or campers.  My room was probably 7 ft x 7 ft with just a little table and bunk beds.  The bathrooms were a good couple of minutes walk away and had the showers, toilets, and sinks.  That was fun when I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  If you’re looking for a cheap option, the facilities were nice and safe, I just prefer to have my bathroom in my room.
    • Places to eat: There were several options, but many were cash only or closed early.
    • Getting around town: The actual town is TINY.  You can walk everywhere.  The campground was a few miles away.

• Day Three – Te Anau

  • The reason that I wanted to stay in Te Anau is because it was recommended that I must see some glow worms when I’m in New Zealand.  After much research, I learned that most of the glow worm caves were north and this was the only option on the route I’d selected.  I booked a Glow Worm Cave Tour through Real Journeys.  We took a very nice boat ride to the caves and then learned a little bit about glow worms (I won’t ruin this for you by telling you everything about the bioluminescent fungus gnats in their larval stage). The we went on a small hike to the caves and then got into a boat once we were inside.  We weren’t allowed to take any pictures and it was pitch black.  The glow worms just looked like little stars lining the walls and ceiling of the cave.  Definitely a cool experience if you have the time.
  • After this tour, I drove two more hours back to Queenstown for my last big adventure before heading north.
  • Things to know:
    • More Queenstown Accommodations: This night in Queenstown, I stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton Kawarau Village.  I used points to book, but the rooms are usually upwards of $350 NZD (~$237 USD), so this was a bit of a pricier option.  The facilities were very nice and the hotel was fairly new.
    • Getting around town: From this hotel, I took the water taxi across the lake because I didn’t want to risk having a couple of drinks and then having to drive in a new place on the other side of the road.  It picked up right by the hotel and had about 10 stops around the lake, which was very neat.  I think I paid $10 or $15 each way.

• Day Four – Queenstown and Twizel

  • I was up bright and early in the Adventure Capital of the World to do the scariest thing I had planned for the entire trip – BUNGY.  Being a first-timer, I booked the lesser height bungy of the three options offered by AJ Hackett Bungy, the Kawarau Bridge Bungy, which was 43m.  Fun fact – this is the world’s first commercial bungy jumping site, so that’s pretty cool.  I screamed the entire way down and it was terrifying, but it was also so exhilarating and was honestly one of the most exciting things that I have ever done.  My body finally stopped shaking about an hour after I did it.  I spent just a little more time in Queenstown, before hitting the road again.
  • Two and a half hours later I arrived in Twizel, New Zealand.  There wasn’t much to do in Twizel, but it was about an hour from Mount Cook and the accommodations were muchhhhh cheaper at the bottom of the mountain.  On my way to Twizel, I stopped at the first of the three alpine lakes in the Mackenzie Basin (which are all bright turquoise) – Lake Ohau.
  • Things to know:
    • Twizel (Mt. Cook) – Accommodations: Airbnb.  There were tons of options and I was able to book an entire tiny home to myself for $110 USD per night.  There is one lodge that I was able to find at the top of Mt. Cook, but the rates were upwards of $500 USD per night and it was completely booked when I was making arrangements about four months out.
    • Twizel – Places to eat: There were a few restaurants in Twizel, but the hours were a little weird.  It’s just a tiny town, so there really wasn’t much to do.  I was also eating at a weird time so they had “snack menus” at most of the restaurants, which was mostly appetizer options.

• Day Five – Mount Cook

  • First thing in the morning, I drove to Mount Cook (about an hour from my Airbnb up the mountain) because I had booked a glacier hike through The Helicopter Line, which included a helicopter ride up to the top of the glacier, followed by a guided hike around the glacier.  This was also a recommendation from a friend, and while the price tag is steep, both she and I agreed it was worth it.  She did warn me that these hikes often get canceled due to weather, so to give myself some wiggle room in case I needed to reschedule for the next day.  Boy was I glad I did!  There was rain at the top of the glacier the day that I booked my hike and the company gladly rescheduled me for the next morning.
  • I used the rest of the day to do several other hikes on Mount Cook including the Hooker Valley Track, which is a 10m hike through some of the most beautiful scenery.  I also did the Tasman Glacier Trail, which was another 2.6m because I didn’t really have anything else to do.  On my drive back down the mountain to Twizel, I stopped several times to take pictures of the second of the turquoise alpine lakes in the Mackenzie Basin – Lake Pukaki.

• Day Six – Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo

  • This day was pretty jam-packed since my Tasman Glacier Hike was rescheduled, so I got up early and made the drive back up the mountain to the Mt. Cook airport.  The weather was perfect and we were cleared for takeoff (I later learned that we were the last group to do the hike for THREE DAYS so I completely lucked out).  Anyone who knows me knows that I hate the cold (and I have bad luck with ice), but this was one of my favorite things that I did, mainly because I didn’t know that ice could be so beautiful.  I’m an average photographer at best and even I was able to take some incredible pictures (see below).
  • After my hike, I continued my drive to my next stop – Lake Tekapo, which is the third of the alpine lakes in the Mackenzie Basin.  In Lake Tekapo, I did a lot of sight-seeing and spent a couple of hours on the beach to take a break from all of the activities that I’d been doing.  I visited the Church of the Good Shepard and the Mackenzie Sheep Dog Statue, two main attractions in the little town surrounding the lake.
  • Things to know:
    • Lake Tekapo – Accommodations: I stayed at the Burkes Pass Accommodation and Gallery, which was another 15-20 minute drive further than Lake Tekapo.  There were not a lot of options when I was booking and this was only $86 USD.  It was close enough that I went and checked in and changed for dinner before returning back to the lake. The family that runs the lodging was so friendly and had an adorable family dog and some sheep right there on the property that they let me pet (the sheep) (and the dog).
    • Lake Tekapo – Places to Eat: A must see is the Astro Cafe overlooking Lake Tekapo.  It was only open for lunch and you have to pay a toll to drive up the hill (mountain?) that it sits atop, but the views are worth it 100%.  For dinner, there were also lots of options in the town.
    • Getting around town: You definitely need a car!  The town is walkable, but small and you need a car to get from town to town (are you sensing a trend yet?).

• Day Seven – Christchurch

  • On day seven, I left for my last stop – another three-hour drive to Christchurch.  I was very excited about my plans for Christchurch, as I was planning to spend most of my day at the Orana Wildlife Park, where I had purchased both of the animal encounters offered – the Lion Encounter and the Lemur Encounter.  Before I started my research, I never even know that I wanted to have anything to do with lemurs, but I signed up, and it was so fun.
  • For the Lemur Encounter, there is a small group once a day that gets to go into the lemur habitat and feed them.  They are very gentle and will jump up on you while they are eating.
  • For the Lion Encounter, it was a bigger group (I would guess 15-20 people) and you are loaded into a cage on the back of a truck.  The truck will drive into the lion exhibit and the park staff feed the lions raw meat to lure them over.  They start jumping all over the cage while they are eating and are kind of scary but magnificent.  Obviously, all body parts had to be kept in the cage at all times.
  • The zoo itself was pretty great and had so many different types of animals.  One of my favorite parts about it was how much space all of the animals had to live in – they were not confined to small cages.  The park also offers some other exhibits that you can see throughout the day, one of which included participating in the feeding the giraffes and watching the feeding of the cheetahs, among others.
  • Things to know:
    • Accommodations: Since I was out on a flight early the next morning, I booked the Jucy Snooze Christchurch, right by the airport.  This is a modern hostel, where most rooms have several pods and each person is assigned a pod.  I wasn’t too keen on staying in a room with other people by myself, plus I had to get up and shower around 3:00am to get going, so I splurged for the single room with my own bathroom for a whole $125 AUD (~$92 USD).
    • Places to eat: I ate at the wildlife park and the food was pretty crap.  I also went to a sushi restaurant called Hachi Hachi that served sushi burgers.  I thought they were okay. Worth a try if you’re looking for something new and exciting.
    • Getting Around:  I had my car for a little while, which was good because Christchurch was pretty spread out.  I did return the car early, though, and took the bus to the Orana Wildlife Park.  There was a route that went right to the park which was very convenient. I think since this is one of the larger cities, the public transportation system is built up a little bit more than the other cities that I visited in New Zealand.

• Other random things to know:

  • There are sheep EVERYWHERE.  I am not exaggerating, I think I saw at least 10,000 sheep on my journey through New Zealand.  And I got stopped for some sheep herding once.  That was an experience.
  • There are long stretches of the drive where you are surrounded by nothing by farmland (and sheep).  That meant – 1) no cell reception and 2) no gas stations. For the drives, I recommend saving down google maps so you still have the route if you lose connection.  I also recommend filling up the gas tank whenever you see a gas station just to be safe.  I made the mistake of skipping a few towns and I was driving on fumes trying to get to the next station to fill up.
  • Give yourself plenty of travel time for driving.  I mentioned earlier that the road conditions are not exactly what we are used to, so it could take a little longer for some of the drives (especially if you get stuck behind campers and can’t get around them).  Also be prepared to pull over to the side of the road to stop for pictures a hundred times.  I told myself I wouldn’t be that person, but you can’t help being that person when you see some of the views.
  • I also briefly mentioned earlier that the food options aren’t as great in certain towns.  If you’re driving, I would recommend making a pit stop at the grocery store early on and stocking up on some snacks to have with you throughout the week.  Too many times I found myself getting hungry on the road with nowhere to stop.

Like I said, this was a fun-filled, action-packed itinerary, but it was AHHHMAZING.  This trip could easily be spaced out over a period of longer than seven days if you have more time, or you could use this as a starting point, but add in a route to the southeast, the western or the northern parts of the island that I didn’t make it to on this trip.  There are so many marvelous things to see, but no matter what, I highly recommend a trip to New Zealand if the thought has ever crossed your mind (or even if it hasn’t).
Disclaimer – I booked all of my activities before I went so that I had the entire trip planned out (because I’m me).  Some of them were booked up early, but some you could likely book the day of.  I would just do your research if you’re planning to wait!  Happy trip planning!

Links:

• Lodging:
  • https://shotoverlodge.co.nz/
  • https://www.stayfiordland.co.nz/
  • http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/new-zealand/doubletree-by-hilton-hotel-queenstown-ZQNALDI/index.html
  • http://www.burkespassnz.co.nz/
  • https://www.jucysnooze.co.nz/choose-a-snooze/snooze-christchurch/
• Activities:
  • https://www.cruisemilfordnz.com/cruises/
  • https://www.realjourneys.co.nz/en/experiences/glowworm-caves/te-anau-glowworm-caves/
  • https://www.bungy.co.nz/
  • https://www.helicopter.co.nz/english/tours/view/tasman-glacier-heli-hike
  • https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/canterbury/places/aoraki-mount-cook-national-park/things-to-do/tracks/hooker-valley-track/
  • http://www.oranawildlifepark.co.nz/plan-your-visit/must-do-activities/
• Food:
  • https://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/explore/listing/fergburger
  • http://www.patagoniachocolates.co.nz/ice-cream/
  • https://mackenzienz.com/tours/astro-cafe/
  • http://www.hachihachi.co.nz/