I have wanted to visit New Zealand for a long time and so I was excited to finally arrange a 3 week trip here.

We split our time between the South and North islands equally and flew into Christchurch in the South Island to start our tour.

We hired a car and drove from Christchurch on the east coast, through Arthur’s Pass to Hokitika on the west coast, it’s a fantastic drive!

Christchurch to Hokitika Drive – click photo to see post

Hokitika is a really cool beach side town on the west coast of the South Island.

From Hokitika to drive to Franz Josef in the heart of the glacier area.

We drove from Franz Josef to Queenstown, another fabulous drive!

From Queenstown we took a day trip to Milford Sound.

From Queenstown we drove up to Kaikoura over a couple of days driving by the mountain lakes enroute.

Kaikoura is a smallish beach town on the north east coast of the South Island, known for whale watching and it’s scenic coastline.

From Kaikoura we drove up to Picton to get the ferry to Wellington on the North Island.

Heading north from Wellington we drove up through the Volcanic Loop Highway to the Tongariro National Park to Turangi.

From Turangi we had a short drive north to Rotorua to see the geothermal activity in the area.

Our final stop was Auckland, hastened by the incoming cyclone Gabrielle.

And so that’s is for our travels through New Zealand. There was so much more to see but we were so impressed by the places we did get to see. New Zealand does not disappoint!

Next we head to the Philippines.