The breathtaking beauty of South Island, New Zealand

lorisolan
Sep 9, 2016
3 min read

Denver and I had lived in Australia for 6 years and not once did it cross our minds to hop across on the short 3 hour flight to visit New Zealand. I guess there is just so much to do in Australia itself, we got preoccupied with where to go there. We planned to pack up our lives in Oz and leave in December 2016. It was in January of that year I saw amazing flight deals to Christchurch, NZ for $350AUD return and thought of Denver's 30th birthday in August at the same time. I made the snap decision, booked the flights and kept it as a surprise for his big day. I arranged with his work for time off and planned away secretly. The more I researched what to do and where to go, the more excited I became.

I decided with the 8 days we had, it would be better to stick to one island and see as much as possible, so I chose the South Island. Apparently both North and South are stunning however according to many travel blogs and the likes, the South just wins by a nose. I pre-booked all of the accommodation and the hire car but left all of the activities for when we got there. The few months flew by and before you know it we were sitting on our late night Jetstar flight to Christchurch.

Day 1: Christchurch to Lake Tekapo

We landed in Christchurch early morning and picked up our car at the airport. We drove in to Christchurch and had breakfast then began our adventure. The drive was lacking in scenery in comparison to other routes as it was quite inland. It didn't help that the weather was dull either. We got to Tekapo and checked in to our accommodation - The 5* Peppers Bluewater Resort. Our room was lovely and $150NZD per night which is quite reasonable for a 5*.

Tekapo itself was a very small town with a handful of restaurants and shops. We walked down to the lake and it was pretty disappointing. From the images I had seen, the lake was meant to be a bright turquoise blue colour but I guess when the sun isn't shining it will look like the below image. Don't let that deter you as it is meant to be beautiful with the right weather.

We went to the Lake Tekapo Springs for a couple of hours. It was in a lovely setting with a back drop of the lake and mountains. It was so lovely to be immersed in hot water when the weather was so cold. With your entry fee, you had access to the steam and sauna rooms inside. There was a decent enough cafe as well along with a ski slope at the main entrance that you could toboggan down.

We were booked to go star gazing at the Mount John University Observatory at 8pm. While we were waiting, we went for a lovely dinner at the Lake Tekapo Tavern and then had a beer by the open fire at The Tin Plate Kitchen.

Unfortunately, we got a call from the Observatory to let us know that as it had been wet weather, the access to the observatory would be too muddy and they had to cancel our tour. Again we were pretty disappointed as the lake and the observatory were the main reasons we made the trip here. So do your research and make sure the weather is favourable.

Day 2: Lake Tekapo to Fox Glacier

We left Tekapo really early the next morning as we had figured there was not much else to see or do here and it was a long drive to Fox Glacier. The sun was shining slightly on the way out so the lake looked slightly more impressive than the day before. The drive was very scenic.