A Great Driving Experience in South Island

I by all means was responsible to drive the car throughout the journey for the 11 days because I was the only one who could drive and had a valid driving license. I had no other complaints except sometimes I couldn't take the pictures while driving. On the other hand, I actually enjoyed very much driving on the roads in South Island. The landscapes were always so magnificent along the journey. Sitting beside me, my friend Yen occasionally helped to look up the map and entertained me in the car :D  


Scenery on the journey to Kaikoura

 


Beach views along the East Coast

 

We stopped off at the beach and enjoyed our prepared lunch before continued driving to Kaikoura


As long as follow the road rules and routes, it shouldn’t be a problem driving in New Zealand. To me, driving on the left side of the road is stress-free as I used to follow the rule in my country. However, it may seem unaccustomed for some international drivers. Please click on this Driving In New Zealand section to learn more about the visitors driving license, road safety and rules in New Zealand. 

Snowy mountains seen on the road trip began in Wanaka

A large field with the mountains backdro

By and large, we had pleasing moments and enjoyed every road trip reaching the different regions of South Island.

Returning to Christchurch from Lake Tekapo (Day 11)

On the last day of our itinerary, we spent the morning hours in Lake Tekapo. It’s actually not much traveling on the last day. I drove the car on the State Highway return to Christchuch. Christchurch is one of the stations where we could drop the car to the rental company.

When we reached the city of Christchurch, it’s about late afternoon. We checked in a backpacker hostel then we cleaned the rented car a bit before we returned the car on the next day, in the hope that we won't get charges for the car dirt.

Both of us had so many clothes to clean and things to pack. We’re tired after the long trip, especially me, as the only driver along the journey. At the same time, we also felt a little down owing to the end of traveling. It meant that we need to find some jobs again and save some money before we could have another trip. Traveling is never enough for us, lol!

A Road Trip from Mt Cook to Lake Tekapo (Day 10)

From Mt. Cook, I kept driving and enjoying all wonderful panoramas surrounded us along the trip to Lake Tekapo.

 They’re still in my mind these days, at least at this moment of writing.

We stopped off few times on the roadside for photography before we reached the small town more than an hour later. 

Lake Tekapo is embellished with the milky blue waters in the lake. At nearby, we visited the Church of the Good Shepherd and viewed the Collie Dog memorial, they’re some of the legends here.

The town at Lake Tekapo is small and there're only a few shops to visit. However, the best part of staying in Lake Tekapo is to watch the twinkle twinkle little stars at clear night skies, before get on the bed.

Experiencing the Aoraki / Mountain Cook National Park (Day 10)

Together with Yen, we came to one of the sites where the movie 'Lord of The Rings' took place. There’re not many choices of budget accommodation and there’s no any BBH hostel in Mountain Cook, so we stayed in the only one YHA hostel.



YHA hostel with mountains backdrop



It was clean and warm. In fact, we didn't book in advance but we're lucky that there're vacancies for both of us when we arrived after sunset. Or else, we had to be freezing in the car, just like my bottle. See, I forgot to bring it along from the car and the next morning it became frozen same as the car.

After checked out from the hostel, I drove through the Mt Cook and surroundings. We in person experienced the spectacular majesty of the highest snow-capped mountains of New Zealand as shown in the movie.

Frozen leaves on the ground

A layer of ice created and covered the road

At Mt. Cook, it’s too cold for my body and my palms turned red even I wore gloves. I really couldn't afford to accompany my friend completed the Hooker Valley Track up to 4 hour return on the cold late autumn; despite I knew that the journey would be great if we really could make it. So sorry...my dear friend… However, we did explore around Alpine Memorial, Hooker Valley, Blue Lake and the glaciers.



Alpine Memorial to remember those who perished on Mt Cook



Hooker Valley



Blue Lake(but the lake is obviously green, why not Green Lake?)











Enjoying Wanaka and Puzzling World before Heading to Mt. Cook (Day 9)

Situated in the picturesque region of Otago, Wanaka has beautiful lake and mountain panoramas. As if Queenstown, tourism is the primary activity that contributes to the local culture and economy of Wanaka. However, it’s less commercialized than Queenstown.

Retails shops in downtown

Cafes that offer great sights of Lake Wanaka

I was somewhat frustrated while uploading photos to this post because I’m hardly chose the only best photos since all of the pictures taken in Wanaka seems amazing to me (I didn’t mean my photography skill is good but the place is really gorgeous). Sorry that I’m too desperate to share all these photos…:P  

Lake Wanaka and the surrounded mountains offer adventure activities for travellers who love kayaking, sailing, walking or hiking.

My friend and I visited the Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World located just 2km away from Lake Wanaka.

Hey! The puzzling world is interesting! In fact, it’s a must-see attraction and it should be part of your itinerary in South Island. There’s a few dollars charge if you intend to visit parts in the building such as The Great Maze and Illusion rooms. But some people were just like us, focused on the artworks viewing or photographing of outdoor funny structures which charged nothing. There's an indoor area we visited where we could get some models and played free. We also took some hilarious pictures especially with the leaning clock tower in the garden.

 

An indoor area for games playing

Leaning Tower built in front of the building

Puzzling World

Location: 188 Wanaka Luggate Highway 84 Wanaka 9382.
Tel: (03) 443 7489
Opening hours: 8.30am daily, last admission 5.30pm (summer) & 5.00pm (winter), (10-3pm on Christmas Day)

Our itinerary in Wanaka seemed more to enjoy the landscapes than participating in the adventurous activities. Therefore, we only spent the previous night in Wanaka and carry on our journey to Mt. Cook after exploring the puzzling world in the afternoon.