The South Island of New Zealand

From my review of the north island, it may be clear that I realize that we could have had a better itinerary. We did good things and had fun, but there were certainly things that we missed or instances where our timing could have been better (like not being in Auckland over the weekend, where Kelly Tarlton’s was packed and Sharondelier was closed).

On the other hand, I feel like we did really well with the South Island. We covered all of the main places that we were interested in, and the order we went in made sense. To be fair, we had help from Chris with planning that, but he was building on our input. If we did not end up being that impressed with Queenstown for shopping (the best shopping was actually in Auckland, on Queen Street) and activities, we certainly loved our hotel and the views. Besides, the airport is there. Christchurch has an airport too, but Queenstown is closer to Milford Sound and Dunedin, and those are places that you definitely need to go.

Dunedin is absolutely great. Downtown is very walkable, with multiple attractions nearby, and the outlying areas have good stuff. The areas between Queenstown and Te Anau, and between Te Anau and Milford Sound and beautiful, and make for great drives. It is very much worth the time.

Again, you need to have your own ground transportation. Having Chris as our escort was great, but you could probably drive yourself as long as you can remember which side of the road you are supposed to be on. If you are relying on buses, you are going to miss a lot. Yes, you can pick up a tour from Queenstown to Milford Sound and back, but you are going to be on that bus all day, except for the couple of hours where you are loaded onto the boat. I don’t know how you would get to Dunedin. (For Back to Nature, Chris’s outfit, a lot of their tour groups come from the cruise ships.)

There are areas where I could have enjoyed spending more time. I would have liked to walk around Steamer Wharf in Queenstown. We would have enjoyed that more than shopping—we just didn’t know in advance. The path around Lake Te Anau had promise too. Actually, I think if we had kept going it ends up being a track. There are several tracks in the area, and if you have time and just want to take long walks, that’s the way to do it.

Of course, what you must do and shouldn’t bother doing is different for everyone. Someone who wanted to bungee jump, then go white water rafting and do mountain luge, would love Queenstown. It’s a perfect place for adrenaline junkies. We love animals, so the deer park was our favorite place there. Therefore, one place that I regret not knowing about on the south island is a penguin colony on the Banks peninsula, near Christchurch. We probably would not have had time to include it anyway, but it’s something I would have at least considered if I had known it existed.

If we had more resources, including time, then exploring some of the smaller islands would have been really tempting. Specifically, I would be interested in Stewart Island and the Chathams, but that’s really a different kind of trip—more for scientific research than vacationing.

I can think of one completely practical, touristy thing we could have thrown in, and that would be the Taeri Gorge Train Ride. It departs from the railway station in Dunedin, and we were there twice. It would have been completely doable, and it looks like it is very scenic. The two days we were in Dunedin were pretty sunny, so that probably would have been nice.

Speaking of weather, you may remember that I mentioned Milford being all fogged in, and that when we were at the Royal Albatross colony there were only two albatross around. We were there in the second week of October. Going a little bit later might have been better in many ways. However, any later for Australia would have made some places way too hot.

Well, it's pretty traditional to pair Australia and New Zealand together, because they're in the same part of the world, and if you are going to spend that long in a plane, you might as well make the most of it. That being said, there are some differences between the two, in climate and mood, that may make it worth separating them. Well, Tasmania and New Zealand are probably a good match, but I might recommend pairing the rest of Australia with Fiji instead.

Anyway, wherever you go or don't go, and whenever, I have no reservations about recommending Back to Nature Tours. They were great:

http://www.backtonaturetours.co.nz/