New Zealand South Island - 12 day itinerary

Below are ideas from some of the resources I found the most helpful when planning our time in NZ.

10 Days on the South Island of New Zealand: 4 Amazing Itineraries (Earth Trekkers blog)
https://www.earthtrekkers.com/10-day-south-island-new-zealand-itinerary/

Two Week South Island New Zealand Itinerary: 3 Road Trip Routes (Earth Trekkers blog)
https://www.earthtrekkers.com/two-week-south-island-new-zealand-itinerary/

3 Week New Zealand South Island Itinerary (Earth Trekkers blog)
https://www.earthtrekkers.com/3-week-new-zealand-south-island-itinerary/

South Island of New Zealand (Earth Trekkers blog)
https://www.earthtrekkers.com/new-zealand-travel-guide/#south

Tripadvisor's New Zealand Forum
https://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/ShowForum-g255104-i125-New_Zealand.html

New Zealand Primer - scroll to comment #4 (Tripadvisor)
A quick overview of destinations/activities
https://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/ShowTopic-g255104-i125-k7517257-Where_in_New_Zealand-New_Zealand.html#58815721

Queenstown is an amazing city. I would definitely recommend spending several days there. I would also recommend taking a cruise on Milford Sound. The waterfalls are spectacular.

Would you suggest day tripping to Milford Sound or staying in Te Anau? Thanks!

The highlight of our South Island visit a few years ago was the multi-day hike on the spectacular Milford Track. We did the guided inn-to-inn hike with Ultimate Hikes, with 4 nights in comfortable inns with excellent food. The 4th night is in a hotel right on Milford Sound, and there is a boat trip on the Sound the next morning before the bus trip back to Queenstown. https://www.ultimatehikes.co.nz/multi-day-guided-walks/milford-track?

You mind find some good ideas in this Lonely Planet road trip book. We are using the north island version for planning ours. Lonely Planet New Zealand's South Island Road Trips 1 (Road Trips Guide)

OK, perhaps I should not say this, but I will. We went to New Zealand South Island for two weeks, flying into Christchurch and going north by train to Picton where we took a water taxi to a very nice ecolodge (Lochmara Lodge) on the water and the Queen Charlotte Track. We had 2 days there for hiking and kayaking, then went to Nelson to visit Ablel Tasman National Park for a day-long boat trip and hike to beaches. Back to Christchurch to pick up a car and drive to Queensland via Aoraki Mt. Cook NP and Dunedin, with time spent at each. On the way we spent two nights in a lovely Band B in Clyde to ride the Otago rail trail, before going to Queenstown for our Milford Track adventure. We turned in the car and the Ultimate Hikes company took care of the rest.

Our itinerary was based on recommendations in travel books and research in online blogs. It was all very nice, with welcoming hosts, great food, nice accommodations. But as we were on our way to Queenstown in the car, my husband asked me, “Why did we come all this way to end up in California?” So we talked about that, and we agreed that about 80% of the scenery on the South Island looks like California, especially the wine country of Napa and Sonoma . The other 20% is equally divided between Hawaii ( the north end of the island) and Alaska (Aoraki Mt. Cook). We like Alaska al lot and have traveled there numerous times. This photo of Aoraki Mt. Clook could be straight out of Alaska:

https://newzealandtrails.com/news/mount-cook-new-zealand/

I am not saying “don’t go”; it is a lovely and welcoming place. But be careful in planning your itinerary. The standard guidebook sources may direct you to places thar are full of tourists and not particularly great. The Abel Tasman golden beaches, for example, are nowhere near as beautiful as the California beaches on the Sonoma coast that we knew well. We hiked 10 miles along the coast past these beaches, on a trail with little native vegetation and possum traps every 50 meters or so. Interesting, but not what we expected of a national park. The kayaking at the eco-lodge on the Queen Charlotte track was in water that was devoid of sealife other than numerous little white jellyfish—-not a sea star or other creature in sight.

So my suggestion would be to seek out the unusual, like the Milford Track hike I suggested above. We have hiked all over the world in beautiful places like Patagonia and the Dolomites, and that Milford Track experience was the equal of any, but totally different in terms of scenery. I would rank it as “ world class”, in terms of scenery, but not as difficult as other multi-day hikes we have done, such as the Tour du Mont Blanc.

Another place to consider is one we missed, because we were taking the train up to Pictona and did not =ahve tie to stop. But Kaikoura looks intriguing:

https://www.kaikoura.co.nz/

The next best thing we did was biking on the Otago rail trail from Clyde. The is close to the coastal area for seeing Litle Blue Penguins, and other sights in the area, so look for ways to combine activities there.

Lake Tekapo is beautiful, with turquoise-blue water. We liked the hike to the observatory there.

We did not get to the east coast, which apparently has much to offer as well.

There is magic to be found in New Zealand, but you must choose carefully.

There is a nice overnight cruise in Milford Sound.

I will just mention, since you will be hiking, be sure to clean your boots. Remove all visible dirt and mud, plus pebbles caught in the lug soles. They will be inspected when you go through customs (which is not just a “walk through” like it is in Europe. They do not want any possibly contaminated soil or soil-born pathogens brought in to their island nation. And don’t even think about bring in any honey!!!!

Thank you all for your very helpful comments. We will make sure to scrub our boots and research more from everyone’s suggestions.

I really enjoyed the activities that I did in Kaikoura. I went on an albatross watch and a swim with the dolphins in Kaikoura with Encounter Kaikoura.

https://www.dolphinencounter.co.nz/

For the albatross watch we saw dozens of birds including great albatross, mollymawks, petrels, shearwaters, shags terns, and gulls. The albatross are huge. We also saw dolphins and seals.

The dolphin ”swim” was a highlight for me. A more appropriate name would be ”snorkeling near the dolphins”; this isn’t a swim with captive dolphins in a pool. The Encounters organization is very professional and respectful of the environment. Before heading out, you suit up in a wetsuit and are educated on the dusky dolphins. They take you to an area near the dolphins where you snorkel. You are instructed to make sounds underwater. The dusky dolphins are very curious and will swim over to check out the sounds if they are interested. Dolphins swam underneath our group and all around. It was fascinating to see them up close. If you are interested in the swim, you need to book well in advance. They only allow a limited number of people to do the swim. You can also go out as a spectator which would probably also be fun as the dusky dolphins are very entertaining.

One more thing about Kaikoura. On the train, I sat next to a guy who had done two different activities than I did in Kaikoura. He went whale watching and kayaking to see the seals. He was disappointed in the whale watching trip; they saw one whale. He said he really enjoyed the kayaking. The organization that he went with used pedal kayaks.

If you are Lord of the Rings fans, you can take a tour from Queenstown that goes to some of the sites. The one we took also brought costumes and swords for photo ops. I think the one we took was by Pure Glenorchy.