When We Visited: March 7 – 12 (Days 1-5)
Overview
- Christchurch
- Arthur’s Pass
- Franz Josef Glacier
- Lake Wanaka
- Queenstown
- Te Anau
- Milford Sound
- The Divide and Key Summit
Day 1 – Christchurch
After more than 30 hours of travel, we finally completed our flight from New York to New Zealand via Singapore on Singapore Airlines. It was the first time either of us had flown business class. Aside from the lavish food and continuous flow of alcohol, having the ability to lie down and sleep was critical for allowing us to land in Christchurch around noon refreshed and ready to embark on our nearly 6-hour drive to the west coast of New Zealand. Our drive would take us through the winding, rolling mountains of central New Zealand, through Arthur’s pass, to the beaches of Westland, and eventually to our accommodations in Franz Josef. This route is known for being one of the most scenic in New Zealand.
The landscape changes rapidly, from arid farmlands, to lush and jungle-like hills, and back again. The roads, perched on the side of mountains, followed the peaks and valleys of central New Zealand.
After spending 10 minutes climbing up a mountain, we’d start the descent back to the valley, just to do it all over again. These death-defying roads were tight and winding. We ogled the alien flora and fairytale landscapes which made the drive feel like a breeze… until it started torrentially down pouring. At one point, it was so cloudy and was raining so fiercely that we could hardly see our front bumper. That, coupled with the treacherous roads and flooding made for a perilous journey. Not to mention that the sun was rapidly setting. Just before nightfall, we reached our accommodations. We grabbed a quick dinner at Alice May‘s in town and turned in for the night.
Wanderphil Tip: For anyone interested in driving from Christchurch to Franz Josef, make sure to budget enough time. Google maps tends to underestimate the length of time it takes to drive New Zealand roads. Our drive was supposed to be only 3 ½ hours, but we made a couple of quick stops to marvel at the landscape and snap some photos and it took us nearly 6 hours. For those who aren’t strong drivers or are worried about jet lag after a long international flight, I’d recommend spending the day in Christchurch and leaving first thing the next morning. We also did the drive during the summer so we had more daylight and didn’t have to worry about snow or ice, which I would imagine are major issues in winter.
Day 2 – Franz Josef Glacier
Despite being able to sleep on our flights, we both woke up predawn, jetlagged from the 17-hour time difference from home. Today, we planned to hike through a glacial valley to catch a glimpse of the Franz Josef Glacier.
Over the last 100 or so years, the glacier has been rapidly receding. Once filling the entire glacial valley, the glacier now occupies only a small part of the peak of the mountain and flows nearly 7.5 miles!
As the population has risen and CO2 has increased in the atmosphere, the glacier has retreated more in the last 20 years than in the time period between 1893, when it was at its peak, and 1983.
Reaching the glacial viewpoint at sunrise, we had the entire valley to ourselves — not that things in New Zealand are crowded. Being at the foot of the glacier alone impressed the grandeur of our surroundings upon us and gave us a moment to reflect upon the magnitude of the decision we made to quit our jobs and travel the world. It was truly remarkable. For those intending to visit Franz Josef Glacier, the hike to the glacial view point takes about 45 minutes and is mostly flat so it’s an easy walk.
Having completed our hike, we hopped back in the car for the 4 ½ hour drive to Queenstown. The drive to Queenstown was just as beautiful as the drive from Christchurch with the addition of some massive, beautiful lakes. We made a pitstop in the quaint lake town of Wanaka for lunch before checking into our Airbnb in Queenstown.
Lake Wanaka
Reaching Queenstown in the late afternoon, we grabbed dinner and a drink before the jetlag set-in.
Day 3 – Queenstown
Queenstown is known as being the adventure capital of New Zealand, if not the world. We couldn’t leave without doing some sort of activity. From bungee-jumping, to sky-diving, hang-gliding, gorge swinging, canyoning, water jet-packing, paragliding, and jet-boating, there’s something for every type of thrill seeker. Having always wanted to skydive, this was the perfect opportunity — a beautiful landscape and perfect weather. But for better or for worse, getting old has forced me to contemplate my own mortality. With regret, I passed and settled for the much more thrilling and exciting canyoning (Wtf is canyoning anyway?).
Canyoning
We went with Canyoning Queenstown For those who’ve also had never heard of canyoning, it’s basically thrill seeking for wimps — at least, that was our experience. We spent two hours in wetsuits, splashing in ice cold waterfalls and canyons, zip-lining and rappelling unnecessarily to make us feel like we were doing something fun and exciting. In theory, it sounded way cooler than it actually was. We booked through bookme which had a small discount and it cost us around $100 USD each.
Upon returning to Queenstown, I almost signed up for skydiving just to counter-balance our pathetic attempt at thrill seeking. Freezing and hungry, we opted for coffee and brunch instead.
The rest of the day was spent roaming around Queenstown. For those who haven’t been, Queenstown is a pretty odd place. It’s objectively beautiful, surrounded by mountains on all sides and set on a beautiful blue, serene lake. However, it’s generally pretty small, with a total population of only around 22,000. The center of Queenstown was overrun with tourists, primarily backpackers in their late-teens and early-20s. From everyone we spoke with, it seemed that backpackers were able to find work easily during the summer months and left sometime in the fall. Most were from Europe or the US. The town itself is also relatively small, spanning only a few blocks in each direction. Within a few days, we ran out of things to do. In total, we had 2 ½ days in Queenstown, but felt like we could’ve spent less.
Day 4 – Milford Sound & Key Summit
Day 4 was to be our longest day yet. We planned to set out on the 4-hour drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound for a 2-hour cruise around the sound. We stopped along the way in Te Anau, the only town on the way to Milford which consists of one main strip of restaurants and shops and can be walked end-to-end in all of 5 minutes. The drive is relatively boring, weaving through empty fields and farmland. It isn’t until about 45 minutes outside Milford Sound that the landscape starts to change. Finally reaching the rolling mountains of the Fiorlands National Park, there are innumerable stops along the way with sweeping views of the mountains, lakes, and valleys. One of the most stunning is the view of Mount Christina from Pop’s Lookout.
Panorama of Mt. Christina from Pop’s Lookout
Mt. Christina
In order to reach Milford Sound from here, you have to drive through a tunnel carved through a mountain. Warning: it’s one of the most terrifying tunnels I have ever driven through. The tunnel is single lane, relying on traffic lights at the entrance and exit to control the direction of traffic. It’s a massive slope and looks like it was blasted with dynamite yesterday. Exposed rock juts out from all sides and the tunnel is untiled. Oh, it’s also pitch black with a very dim light every 20 seconds. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Milford Sound
Luckily, we didn’t die in the tunnel or on the following narrow mountain curves and eventually reached Milford just before noon. For those interested in doing a day cruise around the sound, I highly suggest buying picnic supplies in Te Anau as the boats tend to have limited options and there’s nothing in Milford other than a small rest stop serving very unappetizing looking food. There’s no town, there aren’t any restaurants or cafes, it’s basically just a giant tourist hub for people to kayak, helicopter over, or cruise around the sound.
There are so many companies that cruise the Sound, it’s hard to choose which one. We ultimately went with Go Orange. We chose it because of its smaller group size. Essentially, all the boats take the same route and are generally around 2 hours of sailing time so you can’t really go wrong. We booked our tickets through bookme for $32.50 USD each.
We lucked out with the weather for our boat ride. It started off cloudy and cold, but the clouds burned off half way through and was perfect. Glaciers and ice-capped mountains plunge into the sound. There’s a reason why Milford is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The Divide and Key Summit
Our boat docked around 2pm. On the way back, we stopped at the Routeburn track for a three-hour hike up to the Key Summit which has an elevation of nearly 3000 ft. The hike to Key Summit was probably our favorite thing we did our entire time in New Zealand. We wished we had planned better as we heard the hike was pretty easy so, not thinking anything of it, I wore jeans. Well. That was a poor decision. With the sun beating down and the hike gradually getting steeper, I started regretting our decision.
About an hour into the hike, we reached a crossroad. According to the posted signs, we could either continue an additional 30 minutes up to Key Summit or turn back. We were sweating, had no water, and were worried about the sun setting. Overhearing us deliberate, a fellow hiker chimed in and convinced us that the climb would be worth it. Begrudgingly, we made our way up the steep climb to the peak. Luckily, it turned out the hike up was only about 10 more minutes and it was so worth it. Words cannot accurately capture the beauty of the sweeping landscape surrounding us. In the distance snow capped mountains scraped the sky, rivers ran through deep valleys, the flora changed dramatically, and the temperature dropped at least 20 degrees. If you have the energy for a hike after Milford, I’d highly recommend Key Summit. Just make sure you leave enough time to get back down the mountain before sunset.
After our hike, we drove back to the small town of Te Anau for dinner before staying at a farm on the way back to Queenstown.
Day 5 – Queenstown
With five days on the South Island, we felt hit all the highlights. Some itineraries we read talked about spending 2 weeks driving around the south island. I could see spending some extra time in winter to relax at a winter lodge and ski or snowboard and to give yourself an extra buffer with driving as I imagine the roads are not as easily passable, but we would’ve been bored if we stayed any longer. There are only so many mountains and lakes you can see before it starts feeling repetitive. New Zealand is one of the most unique and beautiful places we’ve visited and is definitely worth a visit.