11 day road trip on the South Island of New Zealand, part 2

Read about the beginning of my 11 day road trip on the South Island of New Zealand, part 1 here.

Day 7

On day 7 we woke up in Dunedin and got up early because we had a busy schedule. Before we continued on we wanted to explore the area a bit and in particular the Otago Peninsula. We went to Sandfly Bay, this is a beautiful bay where you can spot marine animals. We mainly saw seals coming ashore, a very nice sight! After we walked a bit through the city and visited Baldwin Street and the botanical garden, we got back in the car.

We went towards the West Coast. On the way there we stopped many times, at among others, Wanaka, Fantail Falls and Thunder Creek Falls. We spent the night along the highway, at the Pleasant Flat Campsite overlooking the Haast River. We did not enjoy this as it was full sand flies, I don’t know if you have any experience with them, but they aren’t pleasant! Everywhere along the West Coast we found many sand flies, but nowhere as bad as here.

Day 8

The next day we drove further up the West Coast and went to visit the glaciers. First we went to the Fox Glacier. We walked the Fox Glacier Valley Walk to get a better view of the glacier. This is a short one hour walk. Before we went further north we also passed Lake Matheson. This lake is known for the mirror image of Mount Cook that you can see on a clear day. Unfortunately that was not the case with us, but it was still a beautiful lake with a nice easy walk.

The next stop was Franz Josef Glacier. I found the road towards it very impressive. There were signs along the road showing how quickly the glacier has declined in size in recent years. The walk to the Franz Josef Glacier was a bit longer, but also a lot more impressive. The walk goes through a valley surrounded by high mountains and along a river with glacial water.

After visiting the glaciers we drove a bit further and spent the night at Pukekura Lodge. Here we could sleep in the car for a small amount and use their showers.

Day 9

The schedule for day 9 was to visit more of the West Coast. Our first stop was Hokitika, a cute village where we had lunch. After some short stops we ended up in Greymouth. We went to Shipwreck Point where you can spot dolphins. We were very lucky because as soon as we got there we saw a Hector Dolphin! After 8 busy days we were actually very tired and decided to take it easy. We went to watch a movie in the cinema in Greymouth. After the film we drove a little further north and spent the night in Rapahoe Bay Holiday Park. We could sleep in the tent and use the facilities. This is a very beautiful place where we enjoyed the sunset. There were many other travellers here with whom we had a pleasant evening, playing games and chatting.

Day 10

The next day we drove a little further north to Punakaiki for the famous Pancake Rocks. The pancake rocks were quite a bit out of the way for us as we had to return to Christchurch. That’s why we wanted to stay a little longer and decided to do a hike, the Pororai River Track. This hike takes about 2.5 hours and runs along the Pororai river and through forests, a very nice hike! After the hike we drove south again to Kumara Junction from where we could drive east on our way to Arthur’s Pass. At the end of the afternoon we arrived at Arthur’s Pass, where we spent the night. We slept in the tent at the Klondyke Corner Campsite.

Campsite.

Day 11

On our last day, we wanted to discover Arthur’s Pass. We had selected two hikes in advance: the Devils Punchbowl track and the Bealy Spur Track. The Devils Punchbowl hike is a short 30 minute walk that took us to a beautiful waterfall. The Bealy Spur Track is an intense 2.5-hour hike. But what a beautiful hike! We walked through forests, open valleys, rocky landscapes and we had the most beautiful views.

After the two hikes we headed back to Christchurch. We stopped at the Castle Hill Limestones in between. This is a beautiful place with many limestone boulders where you can climb, but if you aren’t into climbing them it is also nice to just walk around. We also stopped in Springfield because of the life size Simpsons donut and as always when I’m in the area we went to Sheffield. Sheffield has the best “pie shop” in New Zealand! I always take one or two for on the road, as well as some frozen (meat) pies for later, for just $ 1 each! ?

I hope you enjoyed my travelogue. I thought it was a fantastic trip in which we saw a lot of amazing things. I advise everyone to visit the South Island with their own transport as there are so many nice and beautiful stops along the way.