New Zealand – South Island (Driving)

Flight 13/14 of 17

Monday, April 16 – Thursday, April 19

Days 1 & 2 (April 16th & 17th)  

• We left Tokyo around 7pm (bye Lauren!) aboard Air New Zealand, headed to Auckland (North Island) with a connection to Queenstown (South Island). BTW, Air New Zealand has the best pre-flight safety video…ever.
• Once aboard the 11-hour flight, we enjoyed two movies: “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (both of us) & “Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy” (Ryan). We slept on the overnight flight, and woke up on Tuesday.
• Our flight was late to arrive in Auckland, and we literally ran to our connecting flight at the domestic terminal while we pushed a luggage cart. Despite our sprint we were too late, and we were rebooked on a flight two hours later to Queenstown. We waited in the Air New Zealand Lounge, and tried local treats like Lollie Cake & Ginger Cake, but didn’t care for either. After a few glasses of New Zealand sparkling wine, it was time for our next flight. 
• We slept on the flight to Queenstown, but woke at the end to see amazing views of mountains while landing. We were getting excited!

Welcome to New Zealand!

• We obtained our rental car, but had to make a detour back to the counter when we realized it had a manual transmission. We got the keys for car #2 (automatic), and began the journey!
• We learned an important lesson: “KEEP LEFT.” We practiced driving on the left (wrong) side of the road and then took off to downtown Queenstown. Also, roundabouts are downright difficult the first few times around (and around!)

Learning to "KEEP LEFT" on our road trip up the entire country of New Zealand.

• Downtown Queenstown was a quaint town nestled between mountains and next to a lake. The town centre was filled with pubs and shops along a shore of stones, and you could see homes on the mountainside overlooking the picturesque lake. The town was very active—you could see kids on rope swings, and parasails and hang gliders over the lake.

First Stop: Downtown Queenstown

• The seasons are “opposite” in the southern hemisphere, so New Zealand was experiencing fall. The landscape was beautiful, dotted with orange and yellow leaves set against the (very) green grass.
• On our drive north, our first stop was Arrowtown. Its past is defined by the New Zealand Gold Rush of the 1860s, but in the present day all we wanted was food! Almost every store was already closed when we arrived at 5 pm, but we found a candy shop, stocked with Kristen’s favorite chocolate—Lion Bars, as well as homemade fudge (passion fruit for Ryan, & peanut butter for Kristen). Back on the road, we came across a bungee jumping bridge, but decided to take a pass.
• We spent the next three hours on a spectacular drive. The land was constantly rolling with mountains in all directions. We passed many rural areas and very few towns. Although it often seemed like we were the only car on the two-lane road, we did have to stop and learn how to use a one-lane “bridge lane” when another car approached. In every direction, we saw sheep. (For every person in New Zealand, there are 16 sheep!) We finished the drive in the dark, and arrived at Lake Tekapo.

  

16 sheep for every person!  They're everywhere!

• After we checked in, we learned our star gazing tour was canceled due to clouds, so we had dinner next to a wood fireplace at Peppe’s Pizza, which was open until “late”. We shared a delicious chicken cream cheese pizza, and Ryan tried some New Zealand beer.
• We decided to make our own stargazing tour near the lake. We drove down a dark road with no lights for a great distance. Even though it had been a hazy night, the sky was filled with stars and “stardust” everywhere. The southern sky was beautiful.
• Back at the hotel, we watched “Idiocracy” (funny) and went to sleep.

Day 3 (April 18th)

• We woke at 9am, and drove to the Mt. John Observatory. The drive was beautiful, as we followed switchbacks up the mountain. At the top, the view was amazing. We stopped at the Astro Café at the top, and ate delicious chocolate zucchini cake and drank white hot chocolate. From this height, the water of Lake Tekapo was a deep blue, some mountains were snowcapped, and we were surrounded by rolling hills of bright green, speckled with fall oranges and yellows. As we enjoyed our hot chocolate and looked around, Ryan said this spot on top of Mt. John was his favorite so far on the trip.

Beautiful blue waters of Lake Tekapo.

• After we wound our way back down Mt. John, we drove to the rocky shore of Lake Tekapo. We walked along and dipped our hands in the cool water.

 

The winding road down the mountain, from the Mt. John Observatory at Lake Tekapo.

• We departed Lake Tekapo and started along our roadtrip to Christchurch, making multiple stops along the way.
• 1st stop: Fairlie – We visited the downtown of this cute little town.
• 2nd stop: Geraldine – We drove through, and found a scenic route to Christchurch.
• Detour to: Peel Forest/Rangitata Gorge – We took a one-lane dirt road and crossed many one-lane bridge lanes. We emerged between two mountains, and stopped to see deer (maybe reindeer?) and sheep. The sheep wouldn’t come play, so we continued along to see more of the gorge, but eventually had to turn around and head back the way we came.

Kristen mingling with the local livestock.

• We passed Mt. Somers. Drove through quickly, not much to see.
• 3rd stop: Stavely. We stopped at “the” store, picked up snacks, and explored the bottom of Rakaia Gorge! We saw cars driving a hundred feet below us, and decided we could too! We found the way down, and drove the car onto the rocky shore near the stream. It was a fantastic view!

 

We drove to the bottom of Rakaia Gorge.  (It's further down than it looks.)

• 4th stop: Glentunnel. Got snacks at small store.
• 5th stop: Christchurch, at sunset. We found dinner, but left quickly, since the drive ahead would be in the dark. The road was very windy as it wove along the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
• We arrived at Kaikoura and checked into our hotel. It was a very small town, and the only restaurant open was a pizza place. The owner made us a delicious Tropicana pizza (like Hawaiian, but with bananas – yum!)
• We drifted off to sleep in a very comfy bed.

Day 4 (April 19th)

• We awoke in Kaikoura, a town known for whale watching. As we got up, we were amazed at the view. On one side, we could see the ocean, and on the other were beautiful mountains! (We arrived at night, and had no idea of the scenery.)

One of Kristen's "favourite" spots on the trip!

• We started by driving to a lookout point, and this became Kristen’s favorite place on the road trip. On one side of the land was a cove, and the other the open ocean. We could see whales and dolphins in the water off the coast, even from the height of the lookout. It was a fantastic view!

 
Enjoying the sights of Kaikoura from a lookout.

• This next sight was amazing! After driving just 20 minutes out of Kaikoura, we arrived at Ohau Waterfall to see…Baby Seals!!!!

Baby seals playing in a hidden waterfall

• We parked the car and could see a stream exiting into the ocean. Into this water baby seals (“pups”) swam their way upstream, and we followed them on a walkway into the forest. We turned a corner to reveal a hidden waterfall, and in the pool below, baby seals were everywhere! They jumped in and out of the water, swam around, climbed nearby rocks, and in general just learned how to be seals. There were no adult seals, since they would not be able to swim in the shallow stream. We learned the adult seals deposited their young into the protective stream in the morning, and then left to hunt during the day. As the baby seals grew hungry, they would return to the ocean for dinner. The whole sight was amazing, and was one of the most memorable moments of the trip.

One of the most memorable moments of our trip -- Watching baby seals in the wild!

• Reluctantly after 45 minutes, we said goodbye to the seal pups and drove 1.5 hours to Picton to catch a ferry to the north island of New Zealand. We arrived at the ferry terminal, returned our rental car (no rental cars allowed on the ferry), and had lunch in the ferry terminal. We boarded our ship, and sat in reclining seats near the front windows. As Picton disappeared behind us, we fell asleep for the 3.5 hour ride.
• We woke up to find ourselves in Wellington on the north island of New Zealand, and ready for our next adventure.