NZL South Island Pt. 1 – Too much to see and to do

We heard from many travelers that the South Island is more fascinating than the North Island. Especially the nature should be more impressive than on the North Island. After we already liked the North very much, we had high expectations – and were not disappointed. We loved the diversity of the climate and wildlife. But let’s start with our visit to the Abel Tasman National Park. This park lies directly at the Northwestern shore of the island and is famous for its costal walk that takes three to four days to complete. We hiked much of the trail by using the watertaxis that brought us to the beaches where the trail goes through. Although there were many hikers we enjoyed the dense vegetation full of fern and palms and the many beautiful views to the blue sea.

A typical view from the coastal track to the blue bays of the Abel Tasman NP

The water taxis only offer wet landings – wet up to your knees.

Another view to one of the beaches. We ate our lunch down there.

Me walking on the costal track

On our way to the track we saw the devastation that cyclone Gita caused in this part of the South Island. Many roads were blocked due to landslides, some villages even had to be evacuated because the only road into the village was blocked and it would have taken a longer time to clear them. Also, many houses were flooded, like the one of our water taxi driver Kathy, who was shaken by that but still made a great job introducing us to the national park.

Punakaiki

After two days of hiking we continued our journey southwards to a famous place called Punakaiki, located directly at the west coast. Many people stop here to see the pancake rocks. They are very special because they look like different layers stacked upon each other – just like you stack pancakes. The phenomenon is still not fully explained or at least the researchers have not agreed on a cause. Anyhow, the rock formations are a great photo motive.

Pancakes all over the place

Christine enjoying and feeling the pancake rocks.

Hawea and Wanaka

Our next day was pretty much a driving day. It took us about 10 hours to get to Hawea, stopping at beautiful lakes and scenic points and crossed a mountain pass. Not only the scenery changed but also the climate: While it rains a lot on the west coast which supports the rain forest there, the area in the middle of the island is very dry despite its beautiful lakes. We stayed in Rory’s house (over AirBnB), a 50+ year old Irish-New Zealand history professor who according to himself lives in the past and does not like the present and future much. The stay was very pleasant and we very much enjoyed the talks with him and the other guests.

A beach on the west coast on our way to Hawea.

Hawea is close to the more famous town Wanaka, which is one of the large outdoor centers of New Zealand. We drove there to do an easy walk at the lakeside, unfortunately were stopped because they were spraying a herbizide on the path and it was therefore closed. This was disappointing and we returned home, however, not before taking a lot of pictures with the famous Wanaka tree, which grows in the lake.

I call this my signature shot of the Wanaka tree

The region offers many great day hikes and we went to the Glacier Rob Roy walk on the next day. There are not many people doing this hike as you need to drive one hour on gravel to get there, crossing several fords. The hike was scenic and ends directly under the glacier named after the Scottish national hero.

Us in front of the Rob Roy Glacier. We were happy that we reached the highest point of our track.

I am standing on the lower lookout point where you can see the large waterfall from the glacier.

Me on the swing bridge that leads to the track.

Christine liked the track very much.

Queenstown

Our next stop was Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. While they offer everything crazy there (from large swings, to parasailing, jet skiing, bungee jumping, you name it) we became to know the city as the one with the fewest parking lots relative to the large crowds it attracts. After arriving at our small „box“ at a campsite (it was cheap and was home of the worst kitchen we saw on our trip – and we saw many bad ones) we went for a treat at a steak restaurant. While Christine made a reasonable choice and ordered a burger, I had to go for the local speciality, the full rack of ribs. After eating everything I had to realise that I am not 20 anymore and should stick to the smaller portions going forward.

On the next day we were happy to leave the campsite and went for the gondolas. We met an American couple from Michigan on the way up and found out that he was a successful self-made businessman who built up a construction company which had over 300 employees when he retired – impressive. Up on the mountain (it was not a long ride) we enjoyed the beautiful view on the blue lake. According to Lonely Planet, scientists rated it as 99.9% pure and it is therefore the second-purest lake in the world. We should rather drink from the lake than drinking bottled water – great stuff.

There were many activities on the mountain to choose from (like bungee jumping, paragliding, mountainbike, etc.) and we went for the luge (a word we both can now pronounce correctly 🤗). The first ride on the beginners track was good but the fun started on the pro track. We enjoyed every bit on our three rides before we went down to Queenstown. We went back on the road to drive to the Fjordland National Park on the Southwestern end of the island.

The luge track with the view to Queenstown and the lake.

This is the advanced luge track.