Heading South
From Wellington, we took the scenic and blustery three hour long ferry ride down to the South Island (surprisingly the route is actually almost directly west); we disembarked at Picton, a small, picturesque town. The tour began with Queen Charlotte Drive, a scenic drive, starting just outside of town, that winds through the hills of the Marlborough Sounds towards Nelson. With rolling forested hills and beautiful shining bays, if this drive was at all representative of the rest of the South Island, we knew we were going to love it!
We cruised down the West Coast of the South Island, here are some of the highlights.
Queen Charlotte Track
Typically a multi-day backpacking trip, we did a few miles of this beautiful trail about an hour after arriving in the South Island. It was right off the Queen Charlotte Drive and although it only had a slight elevation gain, we made it to a lookout that provided amazing views of the Marlborough Sounds.
Abel Tasman National Park
Despite not hiking much in the park, we had our first encounter with sandflies, a notorious pest on the South Island. Within minutes, our sandaled feet had 4 or 5 bites, many of which were already bleeding. These little guys are so bad, European settlers used rotten bacon fat as a repellent. We were itching for days after and they haven’t let up since!
Nelson Lakes National Park
The Mount Robert Track was a fun way to see some beautiful views of this park, including Lake Rotoiti and the snow-capped Mount Robert Ridge. Switchbacks straight up for 2,000ft was a good way to shake the cobwebs off our muscles and to get these expansive views!
Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowhole
The name pretty much describes the scene - countless rock faces with lots of long horizontal slits all stacked on one another, making it look like a stack of flapjacks, paired with deep canyons that the water crashed into and a funny little blowhole that burst every minute or so, splashing the people in its path. This was an unexpectedly awesome stop that we’d highly recommend for something unique and fun!
Arthur’s Pass
One of the 3 main passes through the Southern Alps. Our favorites from that area below.
Andrew Shelter
It’s always fun to have a scenic site to park Mayo for the night, and this one may have been the most beautiful of all! After driving through the steep roads of Arthur’s Pass and about 5km down a gravel road, we grew concerned that maybe Google Maps had led us astray, but fortunately, we eventually arrived at Andrew Shelter, our remote site for the night. We didn’t sleep in the shelter, but we cooked our trusty dehydrated meal in there, shielding ourselves from the intense wind coming from the surrounding mountains. Despite there being a few other vans around that night, we felt completely isolated out in the bush.
Castle Hill
An area of rolling grassy hills with huge limestone boulders scattered throughout. Many people boulder and do short sport climbs here, but since we don’t have much gear in NZ, we just laced up our shoes and messed around a bit.
For more pictures, check out our Instagram, from_oakland_to_auckland, also linked below!