Summertime in the South Island of New Zealand

We had what felt like a very quick flight from Sydney to Christchurch. It appears farther on a map!  🌎

This was our second trip to New Zealand in 2019. We spent almost three weeks back in March — a trip booked back in August ‘18, unrelated to our global trip. This was Jos’ third trip to NZ and my second. We were so happy to be back on the South Island, which mesmerized us during our last visit.

During that March trip, we were going to visit the West Coast glaciers, but Mother Nature had other ideas. A very powerful storm rolled in and washed out bridges, the main pass, and dumped hundred of millimeters of rain.. so we made an adjustment to our route and spent some wonderful time on the East Coast, going through Dunedin and up to Christchurch. 

This trip, we were determined to get out to see the glaciers on the West Coast. 

Last time, we rented a campervan and drove almost 2k kilometers. We discovered that there are many nice little motels and also often cabins at the holiday (RV) parks. So, we decided to rent a hatchback (easier driving than a 20’ camper van 😀).  We picked up our car at the airport and away we went. 

After checking into our nice AirBNB in Christchurch, we did a little shopping, laundry, and caught up on sleep. The AirBNB host was really nice & welcoming. He owns a couple of rental units and runs a bakery in one of the downstairs workspaces (think of it as live/work duplexes). Anyway, he brought us some very yummy fruitcake that he was making for the holidays, shortbread, and milk.

Both our host and our research brought up a spot out on the coast, so we decided to visit the Banks Peninsula, about 200 km from the city. We got a strong coffee and headed out on the ‘wrong’ side of the road. By now, I felt very comfortable driving on the left. Hopefully I’ll remember to stay on the right whenever we get back to the States.  🚗 😀

The Banks peninsula and the old French settlers town of Akaroa were really nice. The road out was windy and steep in spots. There were lots of cows and thousands of sheep. A sidenote: I think we saw 1 million sheep during our NZ visit in March. There are 5 million people and 20 million sheep in NZ. Good odds for the sheep. “Four legs good, two legs bad” 🐑 🐑 🐑 😀

There was a cool, old seaside village toward the end of the road, including an old lighthouse. We found a few souvenirs and Christmas gifts, but no food: only meat and shellfish. We are pescetarians and Jos is allergic to shellfish. 🦞 🦀 🤢

Jos found a different way to drive back to the City...tourist road. It was really spectacular. The road went up and along the spine of hills that split the bay on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. Crazy roads, with lots of sheep and amazing views everywhere we turned.

We returned to the AirBNB for more goodies left by our host! We went to bed early because we were were off to the wineries the next day.🍷 Jos’ friend Guy and his girlfriend Wendy picked us up and we we were off to visit a few new wineries and one of our favorites from our last visit, The Bone Line. Great wine tastings with wonderful people. After a nice afternoon, we stopped by the market to pick up dinner ingredients, and hung out all evening, enjoying great food, wine, music, and conversation. Thanks, Guy and Wendy! Hope to see you again soon. 

After one more relaxing day in Christchurch, we left for the West coast. As we were leaving, we found Mother Nature had another storm brewing. We started to get rain as we headed for Arthur’s Pass, one of only two main mountain roads connecting the East and West Coasts. By the time we got to the Pass, the weather had turned to wind and snow flurries. Brrr! We were planning on a few small hikes but had to keep driving, fearing that the snow would start accumulating (and no chains).  The rain and wind were coming down hard all the way to the Coast, where we got a bit of a break. We later learned that the storm hit Christchurch hard, with lots of rain and even a tornado that touched down close to our AirBNB! Yikes!! Fortunately there were no injuries. 

We stopped into one of the main towns down the West Coast, Hokitika. We stopped in the Information center there, and got great help! The employee found and booked a place for us to stay that night and also recommended a great restaurant. After eating in town and getting supplies, we were off down the coast to the holiday park. The nice guy had booked us in a unit that was a converted ocean container. Ours was very cool and almost right in the beach. The hosts were from England and nice to chat with. 

After a beautiful sunset, and some epic star gazing, we woke up to heavy rain and wind. We were determined to see the West Coast glaciers, so down South we drove through heavy rain and wind. We got to Franz Josef Glacier in the afternoon, did a very short walk in the drenching rain, and saw a glimpse of the giant, receding glacier.

The West Coast is basically semi-tropical, so lots of tropical type plants, growing up towards the receding glaciers. Amazing! We stopped back by the main town, where Jos took a short inside tour at a nature center to see a Kiwi bird. She has been wanting to see a Kiwi since she first came to NZ in 2011. She said they were bigger than she expected and incredibly cute! After a nice day, we headed back North looking for our next hotel.  

After a night’s sleep in Westport, we backtracked to the pancake rocks for some lovely views, then headed for the North Shore of the South Island, on Golden Bay. The road to the quaint little town of Takaka had been badly damaged and closed for a year by a hurricane. It was still under reconstruction, but passable. The road was crazy windy and steep. More fun driving! But unexpected.

In Pohara, we check into another very cute spot in a holiday park on the bay. This was a prefab unit right on the beach, with a nice deck to enjoy the pleasant weather. The star gazing the first night was amazing.. a perfect viewing of the southern cross. The beautiful weather stayed with us for two more days as we relaxed in our cool spot. Apparently, one of NZ’s pro rugby players brings his family there every year, but Jos only only got to see the signed jersey.

After a nice stay, and the crazy drive back out over Takaka hill, we were off to Picton to pick up our ferry ⛴ to the North Island. We did of course have to stop by a winery in Nelson to try the Pinot Noirs of the region. Jos again picked a great winery. The host was a lot of fun to talk to and the grounds were lovely.

Side note: I have been amazed by how many wonderful people we’ve encountered on our travels. People who love to travel have a kindred spirit with other travelers. Sharing stories, life events, and their perspective of the world. I will miss that whenever we settle down into our next permanent place. 

After picking up a few more bottles of good, and very reasonably priced wine we drove a few hours more along the North coast to Picton. Once we checked into the little motel there, we went around the corner to the laundromat. While doing laundry, the laundromat owner stopped by to do some maintenance. Turns out, he‘s from Picton but had lived in Colorado for many years. He was a nice and interesting guy. Another great conversation with a fellow traveler! Picton was also having a fair celebrating the 250th anniversary of James Cook first sailing into the area. There were bands playing, replica ships, and more festivities. After our short stay in the cute harbor town of Picton, we boarded the ferry with our car and set sail for Wellington, the capital of NZ on the SE shore of the North island. It was a very beautiful 4 hour ferry ride. 

Once we landed, we visited friends Elliot and Ruth and kids, who were kind enough to invite us over for a home-cooked meal. We had a great evening drinking wine, eating delicious food they prepared, and enjoying wonderful conversation until it was later than expected. We met then briefly when we were in town in March, but this time we spent some good time together staying up late chatting. We could have talked all night, I think! Thank you guys for your generous hospitality. Hope to see you again before too long.

I forgot to mention that the car’s airbag light had come on in Picton and, since we planned on driving another 2k kms, we ended up having to exchange it for a newer rental in Wellington. I had a lot of fun with that old Corolla hatchback with 140k(!) kms and Supercat tires. Yes, that was really the name of the tires. I thought they would be cheap, but they got us through some rough weather and crazy roads. Go, go Supercats!!  🐈 🚗 Our replacement was a brand new Toyota Corolla hatchback. Nice upgrade, but no Supercats!! 😀

We took off for our the next big adventure of NZ, one of NZ’s Great Walks, the Tongariro Northern Circuit trek. 

pictures on in reverse order.