Hello all!
I am planning my south island trip coming up in March and have been depending on the google map to plan out the itinerary. Not sure if the routes below are the most effective, hence seeking some good advice from gurus out there.
It would be our first time in NZ, kindly let us know if there are some locations we should stay longer or should skip entirely. Also just want to make sure that the planning below allows sufficient rest in between each drive.
This is a 15 days trip purely in South Island - via Campervan:
Day 1: CHC (late afternoon)
Day 2: Lake Tekapo
Day 3: Lake Tekapo > Mt Cook (Hooker Valley)
Day 4: Mt Cook > Wanaka
Day 5: ****a (Roys Peak - 2 nights stay in total)
Day 6: Wanaka > Queenstown
Day 7: QT > Te Anua (glow Worm tour)
Day 8: Day Tour to Miford Sound > Te Anua
Day 9: Te Anua > Queenstown (fergburger)
Day 10: Queenstown > Arrowtown
Day 11: Arrowtown > Wanaka
Day 12: Wanaka > Fox Glacier
Day 13: Fox Glacier (heli-hike) > Franz Josef Glacier
Day 14: Franz Josef Glacier > Hokitika
Day 15: Hokitika > CHC > SG
Looking forward to the feedback!
Cheers
There are a number of locations you may want to stop by. Anyway based on your current itinerary and my personal experience:
Day 3: Unless you intend to stay in holiday park, otherwise you can travel from tekapo > Mt Cook > spend a night at lake pukaki.
** Make sure you have enough petrol, as there are no petrol station in Mt Cook (the only one i saw requires member card payment)
Day 4-5: Depend on your itinerary, Wanaka can just stay for 1 night (nothing much over there except mt roy). Remember to go up early in the morning.
** Wanaka is just a very small town. Not worth staying more than 2 nights.
Day 8: Make sure you check the weather forecast before driving up the Milford Sound. After the tour, you can just drive straight back to QTN. (provided you are not too tired)
Day 10: Arrowtown worth a few hours stop, but not overnight. Nothing much over there, just the famous cafe (forgot the name)
* You can spend more time in QTN if you like extreme sports. Or drive up to Glen.
Day 12: Wanaka to Fox is extremely long drive. Make sure you have plenty of rest