11 days visit to New Zealand - South Island

Recommendation

1. Choose good AirBnBs (which are a bit high on a hill, we chose at Fernhill and Frankton (both in opposite direction to get diff views) in Queenstown. You will not regret it
2. If taking helicopter ride on Franz Joseph, chose the one which drops you higher (HeliHike) for further hiking. Glaciers are receding.
3. Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki offer unbelievable views. It should be there in your trip.
4. Going to Puzzling World (in Wanaka) on a hot day could lead you to frustration when searching for routes in the maze.
5. You should book a good car (higher power) as many drives pass through mountains.
6. Accommodation in Milford Sound (only one lodge) gets filled up pretty fast, so book them early if planning to go during festive season.
7. There are lot of scenic routes in South Island, so you would want to stop at every point to take pics. At most places, you would find look out point which will anyway offer spectacular views. So follow the signboards.

New Zealand South Island journey has been the most spectacular journey thus far. Routes are most scenic, first time on glacier - hiking, different color lakes, milford sound, seals, beautiful views of queenstown, gorges etc etc. We avoided Sky Diving and Bungee as we have done it before. But in all, driving south island is a ggreat package. I'm listing down my journey route, nights we spent at different places and costs etc to plan your own trip. We landed in Christchurch and decided to go anticlockwise as shown in figure below. From my research, it didn't appear that we should be spending anytime in ChristChurch so we left directly from airport and stayed at Hokitika.

Click on read below for more information



Hokitika - 1 Night
There is nothing in Hokitika and we decided to just spent our night in Hokitika as we had booked Helihike activity for Franz Joseph. Upon arrival, we got to know about this beautiful Hokitika Gorge, which was a nice experience. Water color is turquoise and we both have never seen a more beautiful gorge than this one. It was a nice experience.

 Hokitika Gorge

Franz Josef Glacier - 2 Nights
We regret staying only one night in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland as it was the most beautiful valley; so we decided to stay 2 nights in Franz Josef. Moreover, we had our glacier hiking activity planned here, so I wanted to give a fair chance if weather turns negative. It is a nice small town. Stayed at YHA, pretty decent and offers a huge kitchen where you can prepare your own food. First night we went to the Glacier which is around 5 KMs from the town and then walked all across to the foot of the glacier. Next day was our helihike, weather was fine and we had a ride of our lifetime. Landing on glacier was pretty cool and then we hiked for nearly 2 hours. It was an awesome experience and this should not be missed.

 Helicopter Landing on Glacier

 Glacier View From Helicopter

Passing through Glacier tunnel

Queenstown - 2 Nights
Distance from Franz Josef to Queenstown is high and we stopped at Wanaka only for puzzling world. In my opinion, if you have ample time, then only cover this. Could be avoided. Queenstown was nice. The wharf is perfect and gives the best view of mountains and lake wakatipu. Next day we made a trip to Glenorchy. Weather was absolutely nice and it offered great view of the snow capped mountains from a distance. We walked on a trail for 45 minutes, didnt do any of the hiking. Next day we covered luge and gondola, weather was again good for us and we got great snaps of us from the mountain. We then drove to Milford Sound.

 On the way to Glenorchy

View of Remarkables, Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu from Gondola

 At Queenstown Wharf

Milford Sound - 2 Nights
Milford Sound is the heaven on earth. I have never ever seen so many waterfalls from a mountain at any other place in my life. It is a feeling which cannot be described in words. most people do one day trip to Milford from Queenstown but since I was the only driver we decided to stay for two nights. On hindsight, I think one night is fine. We also crossed Mirror Lakes while going to Milford Sound which offers great view of moutains in a lake. We took Jucy cruise and we were happy with it. Milford Sound Cruise was the best cruise I have done thus far. So many waterfalls, cold breeze, rain and awesome views. First time saw seals in their natural habitat. After cruise, we did a little walk on a trail, and to our surprise saw a seal in a bush, which then moved all the way to the water. We were just lucky to witnessed this. Also, I had enquired from locals here and their view is that if you are doing Milford Sound, Doubtful sound could be avoided.

 Mirror Lakes

 Waterfalls (thousands of them)

Seals

Queenstown - 2 Nights
We went to a small loop that covers Cromwell, Arrowtown etc and also covered three vineyards. Wines are expensive compared to wines in Capetown. We were then off to Lake Pukaki. Lake Pukaki is one of the most beautiful lake I have seen. It is surreal to see the lake color and then snow capped Mount Cook at the background. We drove all the way to Mount Cook, hiked the hill where you could see the Tasman glacier (must-do) and then finally stopped at Lake Tekapo.

Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook

On the way to Mount Cook

 Tasman Glacier

Lake Tekapo - 1 Night
Star gazing is a phenomenon at Lake Tekapo. However, weather keeps changing and it is risky to book in advance. you should definitely go to Sir John Observatory during the day time as it offers 360 degree view of Lake Tekapo. Again a beautiful site. We also did one hour horse ride around lake tekapo. It was good and we enjoyed it. We were then off to Christchurch. Recommended to take inland scenic highway after Geraldine. We stayed our last night at Christchurch.

Lake Tekapo from Sir John Observatory

In all, it was an extraordinary trip as posted pictures say. We hope to return to New Zealand some day in future, but until then, I need to plan my next vacation ;-). Find below some useful information on price and distance between cities.