My New Zealand Road Trip.
During November of 2016 I spent 2 months in New Zealand. For 1 week of those months I went on a New Zealand road trip around the gorgeous south island. Below I will highlight the best places I visited along the way and why you should stop there to.
After setting off from Nelson with a 4 wheel drive and no road trip experience, the first night was a nightmare. After a full days driving we hid ourselves off the road in an opening surrounded by plants, trees and bugs. Now if there is one thing I hate in this world it is mosquitos. Granted after spending time in South East Asia, these non-disease carrying blood suckers now seem like my best friends, but at the time I couldn’t think of anything worse. My road trip partner insisted on having the windows down so that it didn’t get hot, which is fair enough. However when faced with a choice of being a little warm or spending the night with mosquitos dive bombing ever sliver of available skin, I’d say put me in an oven because I’m closing those f*cking windows.
I attempted to have only my nose poking out of the assorted items of clothing and sleeping bag I was using as makeshift mosquito armour. This resulted in the flying vampires landing at my ear, then slowly making their way around until they would land on my nose causing me to smack myself in the face, ruining all my efforts at some semblance of skin protection and sleep. At that stage in the night I was contemplating dousing myself in gasoline and jumping into the fire just to take some of the suckers with me. Upon waking up I was covered with bites from my face to my lower back.
Now that my Mosquito rant is over, the 3 highlights of my New Zealand road trip I want to get into: Queenstown, Milford sound and just generally driving.
Queenstown:
A small cluster of cute cafes, excellent food and a vast array of retail shops all surrounded by snowcapped mountains. What more could you want? Queenstown is a place that seems to have everything. If you are into skiing or snowboarding it is a perfect base to make your way to the encompassing slopes, and why not return to the excellent nightlife of fantastic bars and clubs.
If food is more your style, seek out Fergburger, a excellent restaurant with a sense of humour, filling their menu with names such as “Holier than thou” for their tofu and “bun laden” for their falafel burgers. Although the wait is significant (can be up to an hour), my “chief Wiggum” burger with slow roasted pork belly, lettuce, tomato, red onion , hash brown, aioli and apricot mustard was definitely an experience worth trying. After Queenstown, the next best stop is all the way down south at Milford sound.
Milford Sound:
To some, the 8th wonder of the world. Milford sound is one of, if not the most wondrous place I have ever been. A cruise through the staggering peaks and cascading waterfalls will reward you with a sensory overload of natural beauty, unattainable anywhere else in the world. Home to fur seal colonies, penguins and dolphins, it provides an almost prehistoric look into the past, as you can imagine this landscape has remained unchanged throughout the centuries.
I was lucky enough to witness a pod of dolphins, an experience not afforded to many as this particular pod only enters the fiord around every 2 weeks. We watched as these wonderful creatures swam inches from unsuspecting kayakers, dwarfed by the sheer faces of the colossal mountains beside them. Although these popular tourist spots are a must see, it’s the journey between these places that truly makes you fall in love with New Zealand.
The Journey:
If you are fortunate enough to visit New Zealand, road trip it! After sleepily waking up in the back of a car, finally adjusting to the morning light streaming in through the back window, you are treated to a view that seems only fitting for a special destination, yet it is just a side of the road many pass by. Traversing the ever-changing landscape of the south island you are privy to what seems to be a constant, magnificent transition. From snow capped mountains, to rainforest, to beaches, to open fields and then back to snow capped mountains, it is unlike any place I have ever visited. It is thee hidden gems that you discover along the way that makes New Zealand so unforgettable.
“It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey” certainly holds true for New Zealand, however when both are this incredible it’s about whatever the hell you want it to be.
If you have any questions about going on a New Zealand road trip of your own, let me know in the comments below.
Don’t stop wandering.