West of the Lewis Pass

The Lewis Pass is the northernmost pass allowing road traffic through from the east of the South Island, to the West Coast. Travelling west, even before the Pass, the landscape has changed from the usual grass-covered hills and plains of farmland, to dense native forests of evergreen Beech and Podocarps, with an understorey dominated by [...]

Christchurch Sightseeing

These are some suggested sightseeing ideas within the Christchurch area. The day trips are very easily arranged by either using the city buses and tram (all buses depart from the main, Cathedral Square, where there is also a bus info kiosk); or organised guided tours in the case of Akaroa. Like all other NZ towns, [...]

Golden Bay and Farewell Spit

This region is the most north-westerly of the South Island. Although part of the West Coast, the rainfall here is much less than further south; together with the beaches and wilderness areas, it makes a good holiday location if you want to minimise the chances of rain. Heading north-west along the coast from Nelson are [...]

Central Otago

Otago stretches from the rolling countryside of the east coast around Dunedin, west across the dry interior of Central Otago, to the alpine regions around Wanaka and Queenstown (which is situated by Lake Wakatipu). The vegetation on the barren schist hillsides consists of sparse grass, some scrub, and some exotic weeds such as the very [...]

Lake Manapouri and Te Anau

Travelling west and south from the Queenstown region, you drive through gently rolling and flat farmland, and occasional areas of red tussock. Eventually, you reach Lake Te Anau and, further south, Lake Manapouri. The grassy landscape and climate along the eastern sides of each lake is quite different to the bush-covered west sides, which are [...]

Doubtful Sound

If you take one of the boat cruises to Doubtful Sound, the itinerary takes you westwards along Lake Manapouri’s West Arm, at which point you disembark the boat, and take a coach over the Wilmot pass. This road was the most expensive to construct in NZ, and only one tour operator is allowed to take [...]

Lake Wakatipu and Glenorchy

Queenstown is probably the most well known holiday resort in New Zealand, especially for its winter skiing. However, apart from mentioning that it’s the centre of an exhaustive (and exhausting) list of sports activities in the summer, and that the (small) town is crammed full of hotels, bars, restaurants, people etc. etc.; I’ll move on [...]

Arthurs Pass

Arthurs Pass, named after the man who first documented this most direct route from the Canterbury Plains through to the West Coast, is known both for the stupendous scenery, and the unstable nature of the road itself.The road snakes across the mountainside leading through Otira Gorge; but unfortunately the entire mountainside is one giant slip. [...]

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