Post with our 4-day motorhome itinerary on the South Island of New Zealand, passing through Christchurch, Arthur's Pass, Franz Josef and Fox Glacier. 🙂
1st day – Monday (05/28/2012)
We arrived in Christchurch around 1pm and we called the company campervan Jucy to pick us up at the airport. In less than 15 minutes they showed up and we went straight to their store, next to the airport, to arrange to pick up our mini motorhome, of the model Crib. We were quite excited to drive what would be our mobile home for 7 days =D
We left there and decided to visit the Orana Wildlife Park , a zoo that we had read was very interesting. It is all outdoors, with huge spaces for the animals and during the day there are several interactive activities with the animals. When we got there, we went to see the Rhinos being fed and then the Cheetahs being fed, which are so beautiful, even when they are still. Imagine them running – they are the fastest animals in the world, in case you didn’t know.
Then we went to see the hyenas being fed and we were shocked by how noisy and aggressive the animals were! They only threw one huge piece of meat to four hyenas and they fought to get the food. The first hyena got out of the fight when she managed to snatch a piece for herself, as did the second and third. The fourth hyena, poor thing, didn't get anything for herself and ended up not eating that day. I asked the zoo employee if they weren't going to give her a piece of food and he said no, because they had to replicate what happens in the wild. He even said that the next day that hyena would try harder and would definitely get some food. It was a shame, but what can you do?
Then we went on to see the feeding of the meerkats or meerkats, in Portuguese. What beautiful little animals! I was enchanted by them.
We also saw a huge porcupine, cute otters, a lion, a tiger, kangaroos, monkeys, lemurs, zebras, giraffes and llamas. The most special animal we saw, which is only found in New Zealand and is the country's mascot, was the kiwi, a flightless bird with a huge, very strange beak. We were only able to see it in a super dark environment prepared for visitors, but the photos didn't come out very well.
We left the zoo and went to the city of Christchurch, which unfortunately was completely destroyed because of another earthquake that had happened 2 days before we arrived (there was another one at the beginning of 2012). We stayed inside the campervan We were driving around looking for a restaurant to stop at, but since it was already a bit late, we couldn't find anything open other than Pizza Hut. We went there anyway! =P
During dinner we started looking in the guides for a place to sleep inside our campervan. There are what they call Holiday Parks, which are basically parking lots with communal bathrooms. We called the North South Holiday Park and they were still accepting guests. We went there, parked our little house, went to the bathroom and then went back to the car to sleep. It was very cold at night. We realized that there was no heater in the car, unless we left it on. We did that, but when it was time to sleep, we turned the car off. We decided to sleep with lots of clothes on our backs and with all the blankets the company gave us, but even so, we were very cold. What a horrible night!
2nd day – Tuesday (05/29/2012)
We woke up determined to give it a go upgrade of campervan. We went to the store and they explained to us that campervans that have a heater are the largest, which can accommodate 4 or 5 people. We took the model Condo, much larger than the Crib and therefore much more comfortable. It is possible to assemble two double beds and the stove and refrigerator are internal, which I thought was really cool.
To have the heater working at night, we have to rent parking spaces in the Holiday Parks of the type powered, that have sockets. We plug a car cable into this socket and ta-da…we are warm all night long! Living and learning.
With the new house, we followed the road that would take us to the Arthur's Pass National Park. What a perfect road! Both for the quality of the asphalt and the view, full of mountains, lakes and vegetation with incredible colors.
We stopped in a small town to buy supplies at the supermarket and made a great breakfast, which we ate while driving. We stopped to take pictures at places that we thought were fabulous. One of them was the largest waterfall in the region, the Devils Punchbowl Falls, whose trail from the road took less than half an hour. It was totally worth it!
We headed back to the road towards the glaciers and were forced to stop when we saw a campervan being devoured by Keas, birds in the region that love the rubber on car windows. The owners of campervan They were having a blast, taking lots of pictures. We did that too. =D
We continued on the road and after a few hours we arrived at Franz Josef, where we stayed in a holiday park full of forest, very cool. We did Mac and Cheese for dinner and we slept like logs in our now super heated house.
3rd day – Wednesday (05/30/2012)
We woke up and decided to go see the glaciers on our own, without paying for the climbing and helicopter tours that were very expensive and very long. We drove to the Franz Josef parking lot and walked as far as we could without a guide, without going onto the ice, as the paid tours do.
It was a long walk, about 1 hour to get to the closest point to the glacier and 1 hour to get back to the car. The cool thing about the walk is that it is in a valley and we passed several beautiful waterfalls until we reached the final point.
We left there and went to the next glacier, the Fox Glacier, which I thought was the most beautiful of the two. We parked in the parking lot, prepared our lunch, ate lunch and went for a walk to the closest point to the glacier. A good way to digest, for sure. We took another trail to see the glacier from further away, but I didn't think it was worth it.
After there, we went to the Lake Matheson, very close to this last glacier. The reflection of the mountains in the water is very beautiful. It's worth seeing!
We hit the road and as soon as it got dark, we decided to stop at the first holiday park that appeared, which was in Haast. Very good too, with very welcoming staff. We didn't want to drive at night, because we knew we would miss out on wonderful views and we weren't willing to do that. We had dinner and slept very well, although we were worried about being the only ones parked there.
4th day – Thursday (05/31/2012)
We woke up, took a shower and soon hit the road. We had to drive about 200km to Queenstown and we wanted to arrive with time to do something radical. We went to visit the beach, which was very close by and we liked what we saw, despite the cold weather.
We had breakfast while driving, enjoying the beautiful scenery. We arrived at the lake. Wanaka and the view surprised us…what a beautiful place! We stopped to take lots of photos and enjoy the peace of the place. We then continued along the road and came across another view of the lake that was also incredible. must see in NZ for sure!
We headed to Queenstown with a heavy heart to leave such a beautiful place. We wished we had more time to do it. picnic, have lunch and do nothing there, just enjoy the beauty. Who knows, maybe one day we'll come back =D
We took another lovely stretch of road, this time through very dry vegetation, until we reached Queenstown. Many adventures to come. 🙂
If you want to know more about our trip to Australia and New Zealand, check out the links below:
- Summary of 30 days in Australia and New Zealand
- Itinerary – Sydney and Blue Mountains (5 days)
- Itinerary – Auckland, Waitomo and Rotorua (3 and a half days)
- Itinerary – Christchurch, Arthur's Pass, Franz Josef and Fox Glacier (4 days)
- Itinerary – Queenstown and Milford Sound (4 days)
- Itinerary – Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Philip Island and Yarra Valley (7 days)
- Itinerary – Brisbane, Surfers Paradise and Gold Coast (5 days)
- Itinerary – Alice Springs (Australian outback) (5 days)
If you want to book tours safely in New Zealand, be sure to check out Civitatis' options:
