We are spending two and half weeks in NZ (South Island), arrive in Christchurch early March for a wedding and then have 2 weeks to tour in a camper. Interested in the STW views on potential routes, stopovers, must visits, etc. With a four yr old, we want to be reasonable on the driving time so he doesnt go stir crazy and wind us up, this is meant to be a relaxing holiday!!
Any advice welcome
Thanks
There are some good places to see and a few things that will (hopefully...) keep a 4yr old interested, just remember thta you will be driving for quite a while as everything is quite well spaced out but as soon as you are off the main routes (there are no proper motorways and very few dual carriageways) you will be on very quiet roads and you can go at good slower meandering pace.
Christchurch is a nice city to wonder round, it did get a bit knocked around in teh earthquake back in September though.
Kaikoura (about 70-80 miles north of Christchurch), good place to see Dolphins, Sperm Wales and Seals.
The area round Picton is supposed to be very pretty
Hanmer springs is worth a detour: small thermal springs resort, there is also wild water rafting and the ubiquitous bungee jumping.
The western coast of the country is very quiet with amazing scenery, the main tourist areas are Franz Josef and Fox glaciers.
Wanaka (check out the Puzzling World therefor your 4yr old) is worth a visit as its a smaller quieter version of Queenstown (v popular but if you are going to go heli biking anywhere, this is place to do it 8) )
The southern Fjordland area can be accessed from Queenstown too.
Finally a good area to stop of in briefly is Omaru as there is a penguin colony there.
Hope this helps
Milford is worth a visit too. Wanaka had changed sooo much in the 10 years between my visits and wasnt at all nice second time around.
What we did in that timespan from Christchurch was get a train to Greymouth and then picked up a car, then South through Franz Josef / Fox glaciers, Queensland, Milford Sound, Dunedin, Omaru, Mount Cook area and then back to Christchurch.
The train journey was good and can be done as a return trip if that suits you better.
Kaikoura - we did not see any whales or dolphins but were refunded 80% of the boat ticket, we were clearly unlucky. North of the Island, Picton area, is supposed to be beautiful but we did not have time to get up here.
We travelled as two adults so did not have to consider little ones.
to balance out we saw loads of sperm whales in Kaikoura maybe its a time of year thing, we were there in August
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We were there late November, weather was poor the day before but sunny and a bit choppy the day we went out.
To offer an 80% refund if no whales are seen suggests we were just unlucky. Disappointing, but in no way spoiled a marvellous trip. The penguins were cute though.....
You'll go all over in that time, have fun i lived there for a while and went into most nooks and crannies.
Try to get to Okarito pop.10 no shops, home made pub and some superb wildlife.
Abel Tasman is an incredible place, you can tramp a coastal path, do a kayak trip or get taken out in a RIB.
Our website is full of Westcoast images taken by me.A quick look around it may enthuse u to spend some time in our part of the world.Bikings pretty good to.
www.breakers.co.nz
