As mentioned in a previous post, my husband and I spent two weeks off the radar on the South Island of New Zealand. We rented a camper van, had a rough idea of the itinerary we wanted to follow and set off to explore the island.
Compared to the North Island, the South felt cooler. From mountains to fjords to coastline, the South Island is very different in terms of landscape. Although both are spectacular and amazingly beautiful, so it was a delight to be able to spend another holiday in this great country.
We started off from Queenstown, a small city, where we had a burger at Fergburger before we hit the road. Our camper van was a big vehicle, 7.2m long, so happily we could alternate the driving giving each of us time to rest up and enjoy the view.
Our first destination was the Fiordland National Park. The first night in the park was cold and windy. It was our first proper test to see if we would be comfortable sleeping in the ‘middle of nowhere’. As it turns out, this was easier than expected and the next morning, we reached Milford Sound to go on a cruise.
From there, we experienced a succession of beautiful and amazing places, each one more stunning than the last. Our itinerary included Te Anau, Lake Wanaka, Gox Glacier, Franz Joseph's Glacier, Arthur's pass, Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook. We absolutely loved the freedom of choosing where to eat and sleep, bringing us probably the closest to a nomadic life as we would ever get. In total, we drove through a total of 3,228km of dreamlike landscape, including the Alps of the South, lakes, night skies and coastline.
Despite all the kilometres, we hadn’t covered half of the island and could easily have taken 2 to 3 days in each place to enjoy and discover.
If you want more information about the places we’ve been, contact me!
