New Zealand 2020

In January we went to New Zealand's south island with friends from the UK.

We flew into Christchurch and hired a car.  Our basic route was :

Christchurch to Twizel

Twizel to Queenstown

Queenstown to Milford Sound

Milford Sound to Te Anau

Te Anau to Wanaka via Queenstown

Wanaka to Franz Josef

Franz Josef to Hokitika

Hokitika to Kiakoura

Kiakoura to Christchurch

Lake Tekapo

Lake Pukaki

We drove up the Remakables mountains on the way into Queenstown

We went up the gondala in Queenstown, which gives a good view over the town and the Remakables in the background

Big trees in the Botanical Gardens

From Queenstown we went to Milford Sound, which has one of the worlds better car parks!

We went on a boat tour around the Sound

Because of the scale of the mountains, photos don't do any justice.  For example, there is a cruise boat in the next photo

Heading back to Te Anau

As good a road as the Great Ocean Rd in Victoria

75% of the gang

After a night in Te Anau, we headed to the Shotover river and had a ride on the jet boats

From there, we headed over the Crown Pass to Arrowtown

After a night in Wanaka, we headed to the Franz Josef glacier on the west coast.  We did a short walk to see the near by Fox Glacier

We arrived at tea time into Franz Josef, and decided we wanted to see a glacier close up, so we took a helicopter

we then drove to Hokitika also on the coast.  We had a beach front stay with a good sunset.  Its odd being in snow one day and on the beach the next

We drove on to Kiakoura on the east coast and stayed in a quirky farm stay.

We went on a boat trip to see several hundred dolphins in the bay

Then it was a trip back to Christchurch and a last meal out together, before going our separate ways the next morning, and returning home