All you need is 4 days in your New Zealand itinerary, a car and a good company to explore the northern and the western coast of the South Island. The coastal scenery with mountain ranges and cliffs will bring Instagram pictures to reality. The green mountains sprinkled with white clouds and soaked in the turquoise Tasman sea is a sight that will turn every wanderer to a nature enthusiast.
Often these regions are less explored by tourists on a tight schedule. But if you are looking for relaxing & rejuvenating days prior to exploring the adventures in New Zealand, then this region must make it to your itinerary!
Traveling with the memories of Tongariro hike from the north island, we reached Wellington around midnight and boarded the 6 am ferry next day from Wellington to Picton. The 3-hour cruise as most say is pretty and scenic but we made most of our downtime and caught up on sleep. The change of weather from thunderstorms at Wellington to welcoming sunshine at Picton made us believe that we are lucky! We were warned by the locals to plan minimal, and give the weather a chance to alter some plans.
Day 1: Indulge in the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noirs
After relishing a delicious brunch at a harbor side restaurant, we picked our rental car from Avis (opposite the ferry terminal at Picton). The road trip of the north and the west coast began at Picton, the seaside gateway to the island.
We headed to drive the Queen Charlotte Scenic Road. The drive runs alongside the Marlborough, Kenepuru & Pelorus sounds (sounds are sea-drowned valleys). This 75 km drive does not offer many overlook points. So make sure to pull over at the dedicated stops to cherish the beauty of the sounds.
Governors Bay: Within 15 mins from Picton, this is the first, small, car park area alongside the main road. The views of the bay are beautiful from this spot.
Taking a right on the Kenepuru road, we drove halfway to Eatwell lookout for 30 km to catch scenic glimpses of the sounds. But the Eatwell lookout was almost 50 km further north so we decided to turn around and rather continue the drive on Queen Charlotte.
Cullen Point Lookout: From the main road of Queen Charlotte, we took a stopover at my favorite; not to be missed, ‘Cullen Point lookout'. This is the most accessible spot on the drive to glimpse the valleys of Marlborough drowned in green waters.
Use this link for navigation to cover the above spots.
Marlborough Vineyards: After driving for about three hours, we still had a few hours before the clock ticked 5. So we decided to explore some wineries in the area. We filtered the ones that were open at the last hour and found Highfield TerraVin and Hans Herzog Estate in the Blenheim region. Being the tail end of the working hours, we had a private wine tasting experience at both these locations.
This region receives the most sunshine during the day and gets cooler in the evenings. The climatic conditions are favorable for the grapes to flourish making it one of the top wine producing region in the world after Napa Valley of California.
With glamorous mountain views, lush green vineyards and a tipsy head; we headed towards Abel Tasman national park. Details on our stay can be found here - LINK
Day 2: Soak in the Tasman sea (& sunshine)
Abel Tasman is a unique national park with golden sands and turquoise waters with coastal tracks running through the beaches and forests. The most popular excursion is sea-kayaking on the Tasman Sea.
Our stay at Kaiteriteri cabins was right opposite the beach. There are 2-3 breakfast options with 2 small cafes and 1 restaurant facing the beach - Kai Restaurant and Bar. Their pancakes are delicious and a must try!
The booking offices for cruises and kayaks was 3 mins walk from our stay. If you would like to sea kayak, it is recommended to book at minimum a day in advance. We opted for a relaxing 3-hour cruise with Abel Tasman Water Taxi Company (from Kaiteriteri for NZD $50 pp) along the entire coast of Abel Tasman. This cruise offers hop on-hop off services at various beaches (which can only be reached by water) The beaches lead to various short walks along the coastal trail.
After re-energizing by the beach, and grabbing dinner at Lana Thai, we started driving towards Nelson Lakes National Park via Route 6. Route 6 is a major highway connecting the northern and southern tip of the south island.
Our next stop was at Lake Rotoiti to witness a sunset by the jetty. What made the sunset unique was the changing colors in the sky at dusk. The jetty seemed to be placed right in the middle of the mountains making it a great backdrop. Splashing our skins with insect repellants, we dared to get out of the car. We reached 5 minutes before the sunset and saw changing hues in the sky from lighter blues to purple. The most Instagrammed couple photo on the jetty is a must at Lake Rotoiti!
Day 3: Explore the landforms along the coast of Canterbury
Coastal drives have always been my favorite. After a home-cooked breakfast with Indian masala tea, we started driving from fox river Airbnb at 9 am (Details on our stay can be found here - LINK) towards Punakaiki (again via the Route 6) along the Tasman Sea. We were glad to reserve our stay at For River and not Punakaiki else we would miss this scenic drive. Our day was full of visits to interesting landforms.
Perpendicular point: Just minutes away from fox river, this lookout point is quite visible. There is an observation deck at a higher elevation than the road. Good views (5 on 10) of the Irimahuwheri bay, crashing waves, and rocks are popular at this location.
Punakaiki’s Pancake Rocks and BlowHoles: Driving further south of 5 km, there is a 20 min loop short track - gov.nz to visit the pancake and blowholes rock formations. Ample parking is available at this spot.
● We hit our first tower of pancakes just within 5 minutes of the loop. These magnificent limestone formations are eroded by the sea and have got its unique shape.
● The second formation was of a blowhole. Think about a blowhole as a hole in the mountain caused by compressed water pressure and air flowing through the caves.
Arthurs Pass National Park:
If your phone’s memory was already not full this far, this drive (west coast route 73) will certainly make it. This pass gains an additional elevation of 900m making it the highest pass of the southern Alps connecting the coasts of NZ. It’s a challenge to try taking your eyes off the drive for a minute!
After driving south from Punakaiki, we took a left at the Kumara junction for the pass. The drive from Kumara junction to the castle hill (where we wanted to end the drive) was 130 km one way. On our journey, we did stop at multiple locations, every stop beating the previous one with its beauty. We covered:
● Otira Viaduct Lookout: Scenic lookout for Arthurs pass.
● Lake Pearson: Countryside lake in the Waimakariri Basin.
● Castle Hill or Kura Tawhiti conservation area: This is a 10 min loop track.
● Cave Stream: This is a 30 min loop track to the mountain caves.
Hokitika Gorge: Our return drive from the cave stream to the Hokitika Gorge included crossing the Arthurs pass once again; which we did not regret driving for a minute!
Hokitika Gorge is a hit or a miss! The waters of the gorge are known to be turquoise in color depending on the clouds. We couldn’t see the color but were certainly looking at the water composition that it could have been turquoise due to the chemical particles in it. Not spending much time at the gorge, we headed towards Lake Kaniere. We drove around the entire lake and reached Dorothy Falls.
Right before the sunset, we sat a while under this waterfall, recollecting our eventful day of various landscapes from snow-capped mountains, pancake rocks, both coastal & countryside drive through the highest pass to end with this peaceful waterfall; in the span of just 5-6 hours. Clearly, we were getting richer in travel each day!
Town of Hokitika is pretty with many dining options and hence hikers prefer staying a night. We opted to drive overnight and cover a good distance of 135 km to Franz Joseph village (as the road is inland).
And our journey to adventures begins!
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Click the following links to explore other regions and read our adventures:
2 days in North Island
12 days in South Island
Marlborough, Nelson, & West Coast (Day 1 to Day 3) - Read here
Queenstown, Otago, Dunedin (Day 4 to Day 9)
Southland- Milford, Te Anau (Day 10 to Day 12)
~ Nomadic Traveler~
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