South Island, New Zealand

Feb 17 - Mar 10, 2020

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks

Arthur’s Pass & Hokitika Gorge

Franz Josef & Fox Glacier

Queenstown

Milford & Doubtful Sound

If you have friends who have traveled to New Zealand, they probably raved about it’s beauty. Well, we agree. New Zealand is one of our many favorite spots. South Island is breathtakingly beautiful, full of natural wonders. From fjords to glaciers to scenic hikes, it has tons to offer nature lovers. Given its sparse population and the locations of its main attractions, there is no natural route to explore the island, so prioritize your destinations and plan your routes accordingly. The good news is you can make the trip your own! Milford & Doubtful Sound, Queenstown and Fox & Franz Josef Glaciers are must-dos, and Catlins forest is way under-rated and a fantastic place to get lost in the forest. There is so much to see here, two weeks is the minimum time it takes to truly appreciate the island. Be prepared for lots of driving, the island is bigger than many people think.

Voyagers tips: If visiting both islands by motorhome/campervan, it’s best to take the car ferry down from Wellington to Picton, drive down along the western coast and back up on the east to Christchurch. If traveling by regular car and hotels, a popular route is to do a loop starting and ending in Auckland and fly down to Christchurch, then do a loop around the island starting and ending in Christchurch. Many people recommend doing the North Island first because South Island scenery is more breathtaking, we tend to agree. However, some people also found great deals on campervans starting in Christchurch and ending in Auckland, since many companies need to get campervans back up north after people leave it down in Christchurch. We couldn’t find these great deals and were glad we started in the north and saved the highlights for the second half. One unfortunate event for us was that due to a mix-up with the motorhome company, we had to return the motorhome early in Christchurch and rushed through a big part of the island to make this deadline. We made the most of our available time, but definitely wished we allowed at least two full weeks before heading back to Christchurch.

Rain and fog are common in South Island. Heli-hikes up the glaciers are cancelled roughly 70% of the time in the 2020 season, so only 30% of the scheduled hikes actually took place. Plan to spend a few days there and book your heli-hikes on your first day there to allow for rescheduling buffer. Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound are must-dos, be sure to visit them both. Milford Sound is more popular but we found Doubtful Sound even more beautiful. Queenstown is a fantastic vacation town and a great place to relax for a few days.

punakaiki pancake rocks

How did the rocks formed one thin layer over another? That’s a lot of pancakes.

Beautiful scenery. Coves created over thousands of years of corrosion.

It was gloomy and drizzling, but still beautiful.

We loaded up on groceries at Pak n Save before heading on further.

Lots of sheep farms. We expect sheep to be round and fluffy, so these newly shaven sheep look weird to us..

We had a long drive after the ferry. South Island is full of beautiful views at every corner.

With the vast amount of rain here, they even have waterfall on the side of the street.

We drove from the ferry port at Picton to Punakaiki Pancake Rocks. The drive was long but beautiful. It made for a long day after waking up early for the ferry, and the weather was foggy and rainy, but we still enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way.

arthur’s pass & Hokitika gorge

Super low clouds are common throughout South Island.

The drive to Arthur's Pass is beautiful.

Devil’s Punchbowl, beautiful waterfall. We had limited time at Arthur’s Pass National Park and only did this popular hike.

Lots of step climbing on this short hike, with a gorgeous view at the end.

A popular shot of the Arthur’s Pass drive from this Death’s Corner viewpoint.

There were plenty of these cows around Arthur’s Pass. Instead of spots, they have pure black front and back and white middle.

Arthur’s Pass provides a different type of beauty given its high altitude. There are many beautiful hikes here, but given our tight schedule, we only did the most popular short hike - Devil’s Punchbowl.

Voyagers tips: The popular postcard picture of the drive with floating curvy road is taken at Death’s Corner viewpoint. Look for signs for this detour…don’t miss it!

Hokitika Gorge

The water here changes from clear to turquoise to muddy grey depending on weather and on how much “rock flour” is being carried down. It was very grey during our visit.

The reflection of the sky picks up blue color when the sun comes out.

The hike is short yet beautiful. It felt like a rain forest, similar to Arthur’s Pass. There are lots of rain here on the west coast of the South Island.

The end of the hike. We made it!

Hokitika Gorge - A great stop on the way to Franz Josef Glacier. The hike is beautiful and the water is unlike anything I’ve ever seen - The water changes color, between vibrant blue and medium grey, depending on how much mineral is picked up by the water and how sunny it is that day. It was grey during our visit, extremely unique. It’s the first grey river we’ve ever seen. This is a beautiful hike, highly recommended.

franz josef & fox glaciers

The clouds teased us with a peep hole of the mountain and glacier.

This is the Franz Josef glacier we were supposed to go on. Our original heli hike group left without us because the girls weren’t heavy enough. The rescheduled tour was cancelled due to these clouds.

We decided to take the glacier valley walk to the face of the glacier.

The valley walk is supposed to take us to the face of the glacier. But with rain coming in, flood risk of the river bed caused the trail to be closed before our destination. This is as far as we got.

This massive river bed used to be covered by the glacier, spanning all the way from the mountain to the ocean.

Due to global warming, the glacier has retreated substantially and there is now a 19km gap between the glacier and the ocean.

We settled for glacier hot pools. It was nice and relaxing. Our consolation prize. No pictures allowed inside.

The food was surprisingly tasty for an Asian food restaurant in glacier country. King Tiger was the name of the restaurant.

The weather god was messing with us. The sky was beginning to clear by the evening as we headed to dinner.

This pair of glaciers is one of the main highlights of South Island. A must-visit of any South Island tour. Unfortunately, the glacier and us were just not meant to be. We showed up to our heli-hike (helicopter to the top of the glacier to start the hike) appointment in the morning with beautiful clear blue skies only to find out the girls don’t meet the weight requirement. They signed us up for a “safer” heli hike in the afternoon with another company. By the afternoon, the clouds came in and the heli-hike was cancelled due to poor visibility. We decided to hike up to the face of the glacier. Turned out they blocked the second half of the trail due to flooding concerns. We settled for a glacier hot pool and a nice meal. We also cancelled our hike to Fox Glacier the next day due to heavy rain. The weather here is highly unpredictable. Give yourself several days here to increase your odds of a successful heli-hike. We’ll have to go back and visit again to experience the heli-hike.

Voyagers tips: There are two ways to explore the glaciers: Take helicopter up to the glacier, or walk the hiking trail to the face of the glacier and admire it from the bottom. Hiking up the glaciers from the bottom was banned many years ago due to the instability of the glacier walls. Heli-hikes are popular but are expensive, and it’s a great experience to do it once, but doing it on both is probably overkill unless you have cash to burn. Franz Josef is the more popular one, with defined paths and the famous blue-ice caves. Fox Glacier is more natural and the hiking paths can change depending on the condition at the time, but some like it because it’s more authentic nature. The town of Franz Josef has more choices of hotels and restaurants. We recommend doing a heli-hike on one glacier and hike to the other to view the glacier from afar.

The low clouds cause visibility issues often, preventing helicopters from taking flight. As such, many heli-hike tours are cancelled. The worker told us that about 70% of tours were cancelled in the 2020 season, worse than normal. It’s best to allow several days in your stay at Franz Josef and Fox, so you can try to reschedule for the following day if the original tour is cancelled.

queenstown

drive to queenstown

queenstown

shotover jetboat

drive to queenstown

It was pouring in the morning near Fox Glacier. We couldn’t hike to the glacier’s face in this rain, so we took off towards Queenstown.

Once the weather cleared up, we noticed more beautiful scenery along the way. Lake Wanaka is beautiful.

We found a path down to the water at Lake Wanaka.

Sandflies were on the attack here, we noticed many bug bites that night.

The water was cold.

Lake Hawea is very close to Lake Wanaka and is equally beautiful in a different way.

The road goes high up in the mountains before coming down to lower levels in Queenstown.

Amazing views along the drive.

Maren's turn to drive...ahh, maybe several years later.

We needed to stop for gas. Lots of bees were hovering around the pay station, not sure what they found in there. I’m just glad I was able to pay without being stung.

Our desired camp site was full, so we decided to freedom camp and spend the campsite money on a good meal.

This restaurant has a play area outside, good way to entertain guests while they wait, or entertain kids while adults enjoy their conversations. Maren was honing her hula hoop skills.

The drive from Fox Glacier to Queenstown was absolutely stunning, one of the most beautiful drives we’ve ever done.

queenstown

The Skyline Gondola takes you from city center up to the top of Bob’s Peak on a scenic ride.

This is the platform for bungee jumping. No thank you.

Top of Bob’s Peak. Up here, there’s the luge, bungee jumping, and just plain enjoying the view at a nice restaurant.

A team of luge racers.

We took the lift to the top of the luge course.

The view from up here is breathtaking. There’s no better place for the luge track.

Luge in Queenstown

The luge was so much fun!

Many people take the mountain bikes up here to ride down. Looks like so much fun.

Lake front of Lake Wakatipu is a popular hangout area in town.

There’s a nice playground by the lake... for kids and adults alike.

The girls had fun playing at the lakeside playground.

Glad she didn’t get wet.

Ferburger - A burger joint in town that’s so popular, it’s become a major attraction in its own right. I’d love to meet the marketing genius that made this happen.

We tried beef, lamb and deer burgers, all were really good. But worthy of being a major attraction in town? Marketing genius.

These burgers were so filling, we didn’t need dinner until 8pm. There were literally just three tables and a few bar stools inside. We were lucky to get a table.

While there were still a good number of tourists, Queenstown was uncharacteristically empty for its norm.

"Disc golf" were popular here, where you essentially have 18 "holes" for frisbees. Ivan didn't know the rules and picked up a disc for someone. Stupid American!

The lakeside walk path of the garden provides fantastic views.

Weather in South Island isn’t always great, so when it’s nice, people come out to enjoy the outdoors.

Queenstown Garden by the lake was a great place to hang out for a few hours. Maren tried to conquer this rock.

We frankly were expecting Queenstown to be just another city, and it turned out to be anything but. It’s a gorgeous resort city, everything was clean, picturesque, and designed for tourists and visitors. It’s known as the paradise for adrenaline junkies, with many adrenaline-pumping activities to choose from, but it also has many family-friendly activities suitable for kids. We loved our stay here and wished we could stay longer.

Voyagers tips: Queenstown is the most popular city/town for visitors, which means it gets crowded and hotels & holiday parks fill up quickly. We were lucky during our visit in that the closure of Milford Sound (due to major storm) and the coronavirus outbreak drastically reduced the number of visitors here, but even then, we could not find a spot at any holiday parks for our motorhome. Be sure to book way in advance for your visit to Queenstown.

shotover jetboat

Jetboat - Essentially jet skis on steroids. 700 horsepower, channeling 400 liters of pressurized water per second, and can run on water as shallow as 10-inches deep. They have jetboats on open lakes too, but experiencing it in the narrow Shotover Canyons, with rock walls just inches away from your face as you do 360s in a boat, is an experience like no other. It’s not cheap, but well worth the price if you’ve never done jet boats.

Voyagers tip: You’ll get full-length raincoats to keep you dry, and life vests over them. There’s a camera at the front of the boat for them to take pictures videos, which are available for purchase at the end… or so they say. You’re supposed to keep your hands on the handle at all times, so only helmet-mount cameras (e.g. GoPros) are acceptable. We thought about buying the video-picture package but the camera malfunctioned and no videos were recorded. Bummer.

Milford & doubtful sound

milford sound

doubtful sound

Milford Sound is one of the most popular stops in South Island, so much so that many South Island tour groups were cancelled when the storm ruined the roads to Milford Sound. It was absolutely beautiful. Having said that, it would be a mistake not to visit Doubtful Sound. Yes, they are similar, but there are enough differences to justify both, and most people we talked to that visited both agree that Doubtful Sound was more beautiful and breathtaking. Be sure to cruise through both places when you’re here.

Voyagers Tip: The overnight cruise option in Doubtful Sound is popular and has tons of raving reviews on TripAdvisor. We didn’t do this and were wondering whether we were missing out, but this turned out not to be the case. Even with the regular tour, you cruise all the way to the end where the fjord meets the ocean, so the overnight cruise doesn’t allow you to see more. Being pampered on an overnight cruise does sound nice, but we were mainly concerned about seeing the natural beauty and didn’t see the need to pay 3x the price for an overnight dinner cruise.

milford sound

We stopped at a few scenic spots before heading to Milford Sound.

Mirror Lake. It rains 190+ days a year, we were lucky to get the perfect condition for the mirror effect.

Road was destroyed by a storm a few months ago and repairs are still ongoing. They only have a few open time slots for passage each day, just enough for tour bus “convoys” to pass.

You can see evidence of the storm damage along the way.

We took the bus to get to the boat, then cruised Milford Sound.

Beautiful views all around Milford Sound.

Sterling Falls is 3x the height of Niagara Falls. We got very close, so close that we all got drenched.

Sterling Falls - 3x as tall as Niagara Falls

Should’ve worn my rain jacket.

Several waterfalls in the fjord. The amount of water coming down depends on the rain level of the last few days.

Even the drive to and from Milford Sound was beautiful.

We got really lucky with the weather. Here’s another beautiful view on the ride to Milford Sound.

We went for a guided walk on the way back and learned about NZ’s native plants and birds. Very cool.

Mosses cover the forest here, which is good, as it helps retain water. Good thing, as the rocky soil here doesn't retain water well.

This is the South Island Robin, only found in NZ.

This forest leads to Lake Gunn.

Our second hike leads to Lake Mistletoe.

M and A made new friends. The family is from Sierra Madre, just 15 miles away from our home! They’re doing “world schooling” also and it was great for us to share experiences with each other.

It’s hard not to fall in love with New Zealand, but there’s one thing all visitors hate - Sand flies! They are vicious! The bites are very itchy.

Sterling Falls - 3x as tall as Niagara Falls

Milford Sound, the stunning natural beauty lives up to its lofty reputation. The road was destroyed by a massive storm a few months ago and just reopened a few days before our arrival. We were lucky to cruise this beautiful area.

“Sound” usually refers to a body of water created by river, whereas a fjord is created by a glacier. So Milford Sound is actually a fjord, not a sound. But it is in Fjordland National Park. Confusing, huh?

doubtful sound

The view along the drive is already breathtaking.

We started the day by watching a film of Fjordland National Park in a local cinema in Te Anau, done by the cinematographer of Lord of the Rings.

The journey includes a boat ride through Lake Manapouri, a drive to Doubtful Sound, and a cruise in DS.

The hydro plant here provides electricity locally. There’s enough water coming through this plant to fill 70 Olympic sized pools every minute!

We hopped on this boat to cruise Doubtful Sound.

Fjordland National Park is the biggest NP in NZ. It’s bigger than Yellowstone and Yosemite combined! And it’s so well preserved.

Doubtful Sound is the second biggest of the twelve fjords/sounds in Fjordland National Park.

It’s closer to the South Pole than the equator, so it gets cold with the wind when the boat is cruising. We learned our lesson from the Milford Sound cruise and were fully prepared for this cruise.

Many seals resting on this big rock.

We were able to get out to the open sea at the mouth of the fjord, which the cruise rarely does due to weather conditions.

Dolphins at Doubtful Sound

We didn’t get this awesome picture, so we asked the nice Dutch couple to give us a copy. They were nice enough to email us the picture. What an awesome shot!

This is the nice Dutch couple (the Steernemans) that gave us the awesome dolphin picture. The wife captured it with her camera.

Maren loved the scenery and is becoming quite a photographer of nature.

Doubtful Sound cruise was definitely one of the highlights of South Island for us — breathtaking natural beauty.

We got very lucky with weather. It rains 200 days a year here and was forecasted to rain, but the weather turned out to be beautiful and the water was calm which allowed us to sail to the end where the fjord meets the ocean.

Voyagers tips: Show up early to check in. The parking lot gets full early and street parking is quite a bit of walk away, so show up early to get a parking spot.

catlins forest

curio bay

mclean falls

lake wilkie & papatowai

Cathedral Cave

matai falls & Purakaunui Falls

Surat Bay & Nugget Point

Catlins Forest Park is located near the southern tip of South Island. It’s gorgeous and full of beautiful short hikes, with a spectrum of scenery ranging from beaches and caves to forests and waterfalls. We’re surprised it' doesn’t get more visitors; probably because forests are more common and not unique to New Zealand. Nevertheless, we truly enjoyed our time here and would highly recommend it to all visitors.

curio bay

Curio Bay. Many rocks to climb, just the way the girls like it.

It was tricky getting to the end, but that also means there are very few people once you get there.

Waves were big and created mini cascading waterfalls... mesmerizing and beautiful.

Our first stop in Catlins and one of our favorites. M and A love climbing and jumping on rocks, and this feels like paradise, with endless rocks with minimal crowds along a beautiful seaside.

mclean falls

Bell Birds at McLean Falls, Catlins, New Zealand

Bell Birds at McLean Falls, Catlins, New Zealand

Arguably the most popular waterfall in Catlins, this is a relatively short hike though the forest with a beautiful waterfall at the end. Very picturesque. The Bell Birtds are hard to spot but sing loudly to all the hikers.

Lake Wilkie & Papatowai

Lake Wilkie, a fairly small lake.

The calm water gives the lake a mirror effect.

The beach in Papatowai looks very calming from the Florence Hill Lookout.

This was a weird phenomenon. The cloud on the left looks like a second sun with a slight rainbow effect. It was extremely bright. The ranger we talked to said she’s never seen anything like this.

There are no freedom camping allowed, so we stayed at a simple campsite.

The Tautuku Beach at Papatowai was great, we would’ve stayed a lot longer if it wasn’t for the sand flies attack.

Lake Wilkie is a small lake at the end of a very short yet scenic hike. Papatowai is a beautiful part of the forest park with a nice beach and a fairly basic camp site. No freedom camping allowed even in areas that don’t have any signs, as we learned from the ranger.

Cathedral Cave

This cave goes through to the other side of the cliff, a real natural wonder.

The hike goes downhill from the parking lot to the beach.

It’s only accessible during low tide hours each day, as it’s covered by deep water the rest of the day.

The cave goes really deep.

We found the way out!

Gotta be prepared to get wet when exploring this cave.

A very unique cave at the beach unlike any other. A very tall cave right at the beach where you can walk in one side and come out at the other side. It’s only accessible during low tide, which is during morning hours when we were there. Be prepared to get your feet wet even during low tides. This is the most unique part of Catlins in our opinion, a must-do in Catlins.

Matai Falls & Purakaunui Falls

Matai Falls

Next steop - Purakaunui Falls

Tree ferns, the tallest type of ferns there is. New Zealand is full of different types of ferns, but the tree ferns look different from the rest.

These two poor lost sheep were in the middle of the road. One shaven, one not. We tried to drive by them, but every time we get close, they get frightened and run forward.

There are several beautiful waterfalls, and we wanted to hit them all. Luckily, all the walks are relatively short so it’s relatively easy to visit all of them.

Surat Bay & Nugget Point

Last stop of the day - Nugget Point. A scenic walk by the ocean to the lighthouse, with rock “nuggets” at the end.

There’s the Nugget Point lighthouse.

The “nuggets” gives it an interesting twist to the ocean view.

We found this hole-in-the-wall Fish & Chips place on the way to Dunedin. The fried-to-order fish and chips were oily yet very tasty. Yum!

Surat Bay was a bit of disappointment compared to other beautiful spots, not worth the viist. Nugget Point was our last stop on the way to Dunedin and was beautiful, with the lighthouse overlooking the “nuggets” rocks in the water. This was definitely a worthwhile detour.

dunedin & moraeki

dunedin

penquin conservatory

moraeki

Dunedin is a nice small city, the highlight for us was the penguin conservatory. Moraeki Beach is known for its round rocks on the beach, as if someone spilled a bunch of giant marbles on the beach.

dunedin

Baldwin Street, the steepest residential street in the world according to the Guinness book of world records. The train station looks great and makes for a nice picture.

penguin conservatory

The Penguin Conservatory aims to heal injured Yellow Eyed Penguins and release them back to their natural habitat. Sadly, the Yellow Eyed Penguins are endangered and projected to be extinct in the next several years. If you want to see them, you’ll have to go to New Zealand soon. Even the Blue Eyed Penguins are projected to be extinct in the next decade.

moraeki beach

A is traveling the world and yet she has the weight of the world on her shoulders.

It’s always nice to see the Taiwan flag.

Moeraki boulders - Such a unique phenomenon!

akaroa

Beautiful view from our rental in Akaroa.

Sunset in Akaroa.

Colorful sky on this side of the house.

Going kayaking! The house came with private kayaks parked by the water, nice!

There were two kids kayaks and kids paddles so M and A got to kayak on their own for the first time.

The girls did really well kayaking on their own!

Went to a restaurant by the water. The food was just ok but the beach in front of it was nice.

Honing their pool skills.

One last view before heading to Christchurch.

Herding cows in Akaroa

Cow herding by dogs

Cow herding on a motorbike in Akaroa

We had reserved more time in South Island but had to return the motorhome ten days before our flight out, so we decided to spend a few relaxing home-school days in Akaroa. It’s a peaceful seaside town with a calm body of seawater, and our vacation rental was comfortable with an amazing view. The calm water is perfect for kayaking and stand-up-paddle-boards, and there are supposedly dolphin sightings here but we didn’t see it.

On our way out of Akaroa, we ran into “cow herding traffic”. It was an unreal experience to see — One man, with the help of two dogs, herding hundreds of cows down a public street. We didn’t know this is possible! Some of the coolest things we’ve seen on this trip were completely unplanned.

Voyagers tips: We really enjoyed our relaxing time in Akaroa after several weeks of constant moving in a motorhome. We wouldn’t rate this town as one of the must-dos in New Zealand though. There are plenty of places in New Zealand that are just as nice.

christchurch

Avon River runs through Christchurch. Punting is popular here, but they don’t allow you to do it yourself unlike Oxford, England.

A grew wings.

Avon River is also good for kayaking, or just a nice stroll along it.

The girls had fun climbing trees.

There was an outdoor concert by a local band at the botanic garden, people just hung out on the grass to enjoy the concert.

The rose garden inside the botanic garden includes various roses from around the world.

Portrait mode on iPhone is great for flower shot, but it went haywire on this picture. Thought it was interesting that I was able to screw up the portrait mode algorithm.

The knots on this tree look like eyes staring in different directions.

Some lakes in the park are completely covered in algae.

Another massive tree.

Victoria Tower, a famous landmark in Christchurch.

Interesting artwork throughout the city. It definitely feels like artists were involved in planning and decorating the city.

Cable car is a good way to tour the city too, but we didn’t get a chance to do it.

Bridge of Remembrance, a memorial for the world wars.

Goodbye New Zealand, we will miss you! Hello Tasmania!

Christchurch is the largest city in South Island and the second largest city in New Zealand (just behind Auckland). While there are no world-famous landmarks or attractions in Christchurch, it’s a pleasant city to spend a couple of days if you’re flying into or out of it. Hagley Park in particular was an enjoyable way to spend a day. Our vacation rental was fantastic. It’s a modern condo in a brand new development right next to a Pak n Save and within walking distance to the park.