Seeing New Zealand in 7 days

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If you only have 7 days to travel around New Zealand, you’re just going to have to resign yourself to seeing a chunk of the country and bypassing the rest. I think you’d be stupid to miss the south island so here’s my suggested 7 days itinerary for the independent NZ traveller:

Day 1

Arrive in Chistchurch, drive to Greymouth. This gives you time to see something of Chistchurch then a fairly short drive through amazing scenery.

Day 2

Hokitika - Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. Another short day with time to see the West Coast of South Island. You could take a scenic flight up the glaciers.

Day 3

Visit Wanaka. You could checkout Queenstown but it’s a bit touristy - not too far to drive and has a beautiful lake.

Day 4

Arrowtown - Queenstown - Te Anau. Heaps of action here - bungy jumping, rafting, jetboating, etc. plus spectaular mountains and lakes.

Day 5

Milford - Te Anau. Milford sound. need I say more?

Day 6

Stop off at Dunedin. It’s an interesting city. You have the option to skip this destination if you want and make day 7 into two easy days.

Day 7

Drive to Christchurch via Mt Cook and Tekapo - fly out. This would be a long day but worth it to see the MacKenzie country I think.

You could opt for a completely different programme but to travel to any of these places in any less time than this would be a crime.

What would be your “must see” destinations if you were to travel around New Zealand in only 7 days?

Punakaiki

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These ‘Pancake Rocks’ at Punakaiki, (956km south of Westport) were created by both the sea and rainwater attacking the joints of a huge coastal outcrop of limestone rock; producing these weird carved shapes. There are a couple of pretty impressive blow holes, when the tide and weather are right. The underlying limestone rock is covered with luxuriant native Bush, and is part of the Paparoa National Park.

The whole area around Punakaiki is noted for its many easy walks (middle image), its long stretches of scenic and empty beaches (maintained that way by very diligent sand flies), and for being the southern-most reach of any palm species (the native Nikau palm).

Across the road from the Pancake Rocks track, (which has over 300,000 visitors annually), the Nikau Palms Cafe is situated near the DoC Visitors centre; and serves light meals and snacks. The DoC Centre is full of geological and botanical information; and for souvenirs, the Art and Craft Gallery next door is good value. For a completely ‘away from it all’ stay, the Te Nikau Retreat is highly recommended.

Punakaiki itself is a small seaside holiday village; there are a couple of motels such as the Paparoa Park Motel and a DoC Youth Hostel. Even though the Pancake Rocks are a popular tourist attraction, Punakaiki is very low key, as most of the tourists just drive through after visiting the Rocks, rather than stay. The beaches are long, silvery, and empty. But, as stated before; that’s how the sand flies like it!