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Help Me Honeymoon in New Zealand (South Island)
LoveIsUnity
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm going on my honeymoon in mid January, and I'll be headed to New Zealand's south island. I've done a fair bit of research, but it's always easier to ask people who live there or who have been there. So, after going to the Australian Open a week before and dicking around in Sydney for a few days, my fiance and I will be flying into Queenstown for a week or so of good times in New Zealand. We want to spend a couple of days hanging out in Queenstown and doing the hikes/adventure sport type of stuff, but we would also like to see some of the fun things around the south part of the island. So, in no particular order, here are some questions.
We will be renting a car, how hard is it to get to Milford Sound and the fjordlands? We are probably going to rent a car, but I know sometimes a train or a bus is a better option for this type of thing. I've mapped it out a bit with travel guides, but I don't think I have enough information about the actual travel times in New Zealand to draw any types of conclusions. I know traffic and road conditions can be treacherous at times (or at least that's what I've read), so any help here would be appreciated.
In addition to Milford Sound, we wanted to check out Lake Wanaka, which I know is north of Queenstown while Milford Sound is kind of southwest of it. I also know that it's not a straight shot to a lot of these places. Am I being ambitious thinking I could do this in 7-10 days?
I also heard there was a beautiful train ride from the southwest part of the island to the southeast part of the island. Any experiences with that?
Finally, I will be flying out of the south island to Auckland to catch a flight. What areas would you recommend ending the trip at that are close to an airport where I can catch a flight to Auckland?
And, when all else fails, I'll ask this: what have you seen/done in New Zealand's south island that was totally awesome and that I shouldn't miss? What food was the best and where did you find it?
Thanks!
We will be renting a car, how hard is it to get to Milford Sound and the fjordlands? We are probably going to rent a car, but I know sometimes a train or a bus is a better option for this type of thing. I've mapped it out a bit with travel guides, but I don't think I have enough information about the actual travel times in New Zealand to draw any types of conclusions. I know traffic and road conditions can be treacherous at times (or at least that's what I've read), so any help here would be appreciated.
In addition to Milford Sound, we wanted to check out Lake Wanaka, which I know is north of Queenstown while Milford Sound is kind of southwest of it. I also know that it's not a straight shot to a lot of these places. Am I being ambitious thinking I could do this in 7-10 days?
I also heard there was a beautiful train ride from the southwest part of the island to the southeast part of the island. Any experiences with that?
Finally, I will be flying out of the south island to Auckland to catch a flight. What areas would you recommend ending the trip at that are close to an airport where I can catch a flight to Auckland?
And, when all else fails, I'll ask this: what have you seen/done in New Zealand's south island that was totally awesome and that I shouldn't miss? What food was the best and where did you find it?
Thanks!
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Queenstown and Wanaka are very different now than they were even a decade ago. Not necessarily in a bad way, but different all the same. They used to be local holiday towns, for people in the lower South Island, now a lot of people from the North Island and Australia holiday there too. I'll even be in the area the week before you arrive, before flying back to Europe.
It isn't particularly hard to drive between Queenstown and Te Anau, if you are used to driving for a couple of hours through narrow country roads. Milford Sound I think is a bit further away, maybe another couple of hours. I would think you are best to stay a night in either place outside of Queenstown. You have to understand this area is pretty much the most mountainous, forested and unsettled part of the country, so the road/transport network isn't particularly good. It is certainly worth it though.
From Queenstown to Wanaka is much more straight forward, a lot more people live there and it isn't so awkward to build good roads. There are two routes and you might as well go to Wanaka on one, then back on the other. The traditionally less travelled route is the Cardrona Valley and rather pretty. The main route is via Cromwell and Lake Dunstan (a hydro lake), which, while also pretty, has more restaurants, wineries, darling little towns that kind of thing. Well, one darling town. Cromwell. It isn't really that darling. It is handsome though.
Wanaka is pretty neat. Wanaka used to be a bit more relaxed than Queenstown, although it has become more of a resort this last ten years or so. The lake is rather pretty, worth a drive around. Perhaps pick up some food en route and sit on a beach out towards the west, around Glendhu Bay? There are nice restaurants and such. You could stay here too, then drive up between Lakes Wanaka and Hawea towards the West Coast through Mt Aspiring national park/Haast Pass. It is rather pretty.
The train ride is between Christchurch and Greymouth, where the former is the capital of Canterbury and the largest city in the South Island and Greymouth is a small rural town on the West Coast. I've not done it but lots of people I know have and like it.
http://www.kiwirailscenic.co.nz/tranzalpine/
I'm not sure if this will be practical, but what you could do is go Auckland>Queenstown - muck about there for a day or two>Te Anau-Milford for two days>then another day in Queenstown>Wanaka during the day/night>Greymouth (long drive - 5 hours)>drop car off in Greymouth and train to Christchurch>Auckland. That rough route is pretty standard.
I think a car is the better option, unless you prefer coach tours (I don't). The South Island is very pretty, but it is sparsely populated and not particularly convenient if you don't drive/fly. The roads are ok, but they are certainly not a developed motorway network. Much of the intercity network, even on the more populated (relatively) East Coast is two line (one each way, with passing lanes). The speed limit is 100 km/h and if the police/speed cameras catch you going more than about 105 km/h you may well be stopped or fined.
Traditional cuisine, if there is such a thing, in Otago is pretty standard Anglo food. So, lots of lamb/mutton, beef, pork, chicken and fish - meat and three vegetables. Then there are the usual suspects (French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Indian etc). That is no bad thing, but if you are from the US, Australia or the UK that won't seem particularly adventurous. I would suggest you try the venison (deer), sheep (mutton or lamb) or fish, as that might be more of a NZ experience. Foreigners tend to be more appreciative perhaps of the ingredients - locally sourced, that kind of thing.
Local specialities aside from that would fish & chips and meat pies. Seriously! The meat pies are a NZ-Australian speciality (Try Jimmy's) and hard to find outside of the area.
Coffee - well, the coffee should be pretty good, if you like that kind of thing. Don't go to a Starbucks, if you can find one. They are strictly tourist only and usually more expensive/not as good.
Wine - Central Otago is one of the better districts - Pinot Noir and the other usual suspects.
Beer - the local mass market beer is Speights. Don't drink it. It is not bad, but you don't travel across the world to drink a large international brewing company's local brand right? There should be craft brew available. I can give you names if you want.
Well, I'll shill the East Coast. Coastal Otago is rather nice! You could drive from Queenstown to Dunedin (the capital), via Alexandra, Roxburgh, the southern route. Or you could go via the northern route, Omarama, but from Queenstown it is a bit out of the way. Both routes are rather pretty and worth going the trip. Dunedin itself is a pretty little coastal city, with a fine collection of late 19th century buildings, spectacular local scenery (the Otago Peninsula is fantastic). You could fly from here to Auckland easily, as there are a few flights each day.
The northern route is the one I usually take as we went to Wanaka a lot. From Wanaka you drive cross the Lindis Pass, which is a high pass through a range of tussock brown mountains, that then sink down into the Upper Waitaki Valley, to Omarama, which is a small village waypoint. From here you either go south to Dunedin, via Oamaru, or to Christchurch via Twizel-Tekapo-Mt Cook. If you want spectacular natural scenery - go north. If you want less, but nice all the same landscape, head south. Oamaru is yet another small rural town, but has a unique set of limestone Victorian buildings. It is now rather a tourist destination. Also, there are penguins and pies.
January is a great time to be down there; I've spent most of the last four US winters down there (North Island as well), and hope to make it five. I've spent a lot of time traveling on the South Island, but have never made it to the east coast. I am absolutely in love with the west coast, and tend to spend most of my time there, in the north (Nelson/Abel Tasman/Murchison), and in/around Queenstown.
Queenstown is incredible, and you could easily fill up your week without really going more than a day or twos drive from there. Like Kalk said, Wanaka is great - it's right on a beautiful (but mad cold) lake and is a bit more laid back when compared to Queenstown. Queenstown itself is a world class vacation city. Quick things I recommend... Day trips - hike Ben Nevis (big mountain towering over QT) - take the gondola up the mountain, do the sleds, then mountain bike down - lots of pub crawls if that's your thing - drive/take the bus out to Arrowtown and hike - ADVENTURE! (sky diving, rafting, 4x4 treks, bungee, canyon swings).
If you want to do a longer (think 3-days) backpacking trip, look at the Routeburn Track or the Greenstone-Caples Track. Book the Routeburn early as it fills up. If you want to spend $2kNZ+ you could probably get on a Milford Track guided trip.
I've done a stupid amount of rafting in NZ, a lot of it in the south island, so if that's something you guys might be interested in, let me know. There are rivers from tame to crazy town, all of which are in amazingly beautiful settings.
Oh, regarding Te Anau and Milford Sound - I'd actually recommend visiting Doubtful Sound (or both) and doing an overnight boat trip. It's amazing, and waaaaay less frequented than Milford, mostly because it's super remote. You take a bus, then a ferry, then another bus just to reach the dock where the boat is moored in the sound. Anyway, it's amazing and most charter companies will let you kayak/swim in the sound, and then serve you really good, local food. Depending on who you go with (more people = less money, all high standards) it'll be about $300-500nz per person for an overnight trip. Totally worth it if you ask me.
Milford is great too, but gets really crowded. The way I did it, and would recommend if possible, was leaving QT early in the AM (on a bus) thru Te Anau, saw Milford and did a boat trip out there, came back through Te Anau and spent the night at a hostel, then caught bus to Doubtful Sound early the next morning. Spent the night on a boat out there, then bussed back to QT.
Food-wise, tons to choose from in and around QT. I'll say this much - if you don't get at least one Fergburger while you're there, you're out of your damn mind.
we flew into Christchurch, drove down the east coast to Dunedin, then across to Queenstown. We stayed in Queenstown longest, and made trips from there to Milford Sound, and nearby wine country.
Unfortunately I don't remember the names of the places we ate, but there's a winery in Cromwell, just outside of Queenstown that I miss greatly as their wine isn't available here. Go to Aurum, and try their Noble Riesling dessert wine. Trust me.
Milford sound is a fair drive, but a worthwhile one that's not as far out of the way as Stewart Island.
Go hiking, if you can at all manage it; the Lake Waikaremoana walk is lovely, the starting bit of the Abel Tasman walk we did was lovely, basically anywhere will be fantastic.
Yeah, all of our airfare is booked, actually. We haven't booked lodging yet, but we're doing that in the next week or so. Also looking to rent a car. I'm kind of nervous to drive on the opposite side of the street as the one I normally drive on.
The glaciers are really great. We go rock climbing, so we went ice climbing which was a really good day out. My wife did the hike which she also enjoyed.
I also really loved the Speights brewery tour. The beer was good and the food afterwards was also good. I do agree with the above statement about craft beer, but the tour and restaurant was good fun and great food.
I think it was in Dunedin, there is the Cadbury tour, which was pretty average, but still value for money, and the Chinese gardens, which were also really good.
Whilst not New Zealand, if you like interesting cuisine, I would highly recommend going to Ms G's in Sydney. It's near King's Cross (or in King's Cross), which isn't great, but it was excellent food. A little pricey though.
Origin: KafkaAU B-Net: Kafka#1778
I'd suggest booking a kayaking tour if you want to kayak on Milford. Unless your and your fiancee are pretty experienced kayakers, I'm not sure how feasible it is to just rent boats out there. It is also great to have a guide, as they are by and large extremely knowledgeable about the area. I'd recommend Roscos' if you're keen. You've probably seen this come up in your research, but it rains a ton down there. Honestly, I think Milford is much better in the ran - yeah you'll miss out on the cool views of Mitre Peak, et cetera, but the rain creates innumerable waterfalls. Bring rain gear for sure.
Kayaking on Lake Wakatipu is wonderful fun too. You can rent sit-on-top kayaks on the beach, but you can't take them very far out on the lake. Again, I'd recommend a guide - in this case Rippled Earth. I did the Glenorchy island trip last December and it was great. Sam - the super chill guide/owner - will pick you up in QT, you drive up to Glenorchy (a tiny, very neat little town about 40 min north of QT on the northern end of Wakatipu).
Oh and if you do rent a car, driving up around the north of the lake is a good way to spend an afternoon. Outside of Glenorchy, there's a tiny little settlement called Paradise, which is pretty neat. There's also a spot called Kinloch which is worth a stop. And if you just keep driving up the Dart river until the road runs out, I can promise you'll see some cool stuff.
Driving on the other side of the road is cake after a little bit of adjustment. One trick is just to repeat, in your head, "left-left" when turning left, and "right-left" when turning right so you end up on the proper side after your turn. I will say that getting comfortable shifting from the opposite side is a bit tricky to get used to, but you should be able to rent an automatic if you can't/don't want to bother with a manual.
Let me know if you want any more info on anything specific as far as adventure-y stuff goes.
What's the deal with caves? I don't think I'm going to be in an ideal spot for that (I've heard north island is better), but I wanted to know if that was possible.
The famous cave systems are up north in Waitomo. And man they are amazing. Did a caving/underwater tubing trip there a few years ago.
Oh there's a glow worm cave boat trip you can take from Te Anau come to think of it. Not sure if you can get out and walk around though.
There are some hardcore gourging trips around the area if you're into that. Absailing, waterfall jumps, natural slides, all that fun stuff.
That is a fair point I guess, the tour/restaurant is a good way to fill in afternoon-evening. For Dunedin though I'd just recommend heading out to the Peninsula and wandering around the beaches, Portobello and Larnach's Castle.