New Zealand Self Drive (Part 1 - South Island: Christchurch, Lake Tekapo, Mt Cook, Oamaru)

 Planning and Preparations

Wow!! This will be my very very important trip. It's my honeymoon and my 1st self planned trip. There were heaps of research to do, survey and reading. But we had time constrain. We gotta prepare for our wedding in the month of Oct and our trip is in November. In some of the things, I am a perfectionist. I wanna plan a perfect trip, which is memorable to me and my hubby. In order to make our work easier, we bought a travel book- Foder's New Zealand travel guide. We booked our accommodation and car rental package at MSL. They are very helpful in our planning. Compliments to be given to my hb whom is also my co-planner who went to the GP to get some necessary medicine to bring along. And he also bought a new camera with tripod for this trip.

And without further ado, let's hop into our journey to New Zealand self drive tour!!

Day 1: At KLIA

We reached the KLIA around 7 pm. Our flight is very full.
Our flight from KL to Auckland by Malaysia Airlines -MH0131Y. Departing on 2 Nov 2006 @ 21:25.
Flight tickets, Accomodation and Vehicle Vouchers (by MSL)

 Maps, booklets, information (you can get lot of information at the airport and tourist information center) and Fodor's NZ travel guide.

Day 2 : Auckland - Christchurch

Photos taken from the aircraft, upon reaching Auckland.

Arrive at the Auckland International Airport (New Zealand's largest international airport, gateway to their biggest city, which is home to a quarter of this country's population.), on the way to the domestic terminal for transit to Christchurch. Boarding Qantas Airlines, QF4147 and arriving at destination- Christchurch Airport around 17:20.

YHA Christchurch City Central 
Add: 273 Manchester Street, Christchurch 
Qualmark rating of 4+ stars
 We book a twin sharing room and the toilets in YHA are for sharing too. They have the smallest rooms compared to the other YHAs in New Zealand.

Since we reach in the evening, most of the shops and places of interest are closed. We just walk around the city nearby our hostel and look for food.

Christchurch, The Garden City

Internationally fame "The Garden City", Christchurch's well-established expansive parks and public gardens owe much to the planning and foresight of the city's founding fathers.

 ChristChurch Cathedral-in the Square is the heart and soul of the city. This fine example of English Victorian Gothic church architecture is the most visited church in the country.
Cathedral Square- Right in the middle of the city, the Cathedral is a stunning architectural structure built in Gothic tradition from Canterbury stone and timber, and completed in 1881.

 Christchurch Tramway - 2.5km track links central city shops and attractions, including The Arts Centre, Christchurch Botanic Gardens and Cathedral Square.

 Our 1st meal at Christchurch- Korean Cuisine.

Day 3 : Christchurch - Lake Tekapo

We wake up 4am in the morning, very excited looking forward to ride the hot air balloon. But to our disappointment it is canceled due to bad weather. We have no choice but to reschedule our ride on Day 13 of our trip. Well, ok, since we hardly sleep, because of jack lag, since New Zealand is 5 hours ahead of Malaysia. We go back to sleep again.
We then pick up our rental car at 11am from Omega Rental Cars, it's a Nissan 1500cc, automatic 3 speed.

We park our car at YHA and continue to stroll around Christchurch city.

Bridge of Remembrance - built in 1924, constructed to commemorate those lost in WW1.

City Mall - is a walking street with variety of shops.

Stroll along Avon River, there are some locals punting on the Avon and families in canoes on the river too.

Just before the bridge is the statue of the Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott , sculpted from Carrara marble by his wife Kathleen in 1917.

The Arts Centre - This beautiful Gothic buildings was formerly the home to the Canterbury University College, first established in 1873. Sitting right across from the Botanic Gardens, now they're home to over 40 craft shops, boutiques, galleries and cafes, as well as contemporary and traditional artists studios.

 Saturday and Sunday Market outside the The Arts Centre, with huge range of stalls offering a rich variety of exceptional goods and fantastic gift ideas.

Canterbury Museum (donation NZ$5 per entrance)- founded in 1867, its traditional power with national and international museums was in moa bones. The museum still houses one of the largest collections of artifacts from the moa hunting period.

We do not have time to visit the Botanic Gardens and Queen Victoria Square for today, we will be back in Christchurch again on Day 12 and 13.

We depart Christchurch in the afternoon and drive along 'Inland Scenic Route 72' to Lake Tekapo. This touring route provides the most scenic journey between Christchurch and Queenstown, it is perfect for the visitor who like to get off the main highways. The Scenic Route 72  takes us through the heartland of New Zealand's friendliest rural towns. Every township has its own character and attractions that offer countless opportunities.

Following State highway 72 it journeys from Amberley, in the north of the Canterbury region and runs parallel to SH1 to Rangiora. It then follows SH72 inland past Methven and the Mt Hutt ski field. It passes fabulous views of the alps and cross several Canterbury rivers. From here it continues to Geraldine and regions State highway 1 at Winchester. This route allows easy access to the Mackenzie Country, Aoraki Mount Cook and Queenstown. 

In order to save time, we took most of the photos from our car without stopping.

This journey is very enjoyable!!

Here we are at Lake Tekapo in the evening.

Maori translation: 'teka'-sleeping mat and 'po'-night. 

Originally a rest stop enroute to Mt. Cook and Otago, Lake Tekapo became a 'hydrotown' in the late 1940s when canals and dams of the Waitaki River were commissioned. Now Lake Tekapo is a popular destination for thousands of international and domestic visitors. 

Lake Tekapo Night Sky - It has the clearest, darkest and most spectacular night sky in New Zealand.

Our accommodation tonight is at Lake Tekapo YHA.

Day 4 : Lake Tekapo - Mt Cook

 

  We wake up very early in the morning, around 5.30am thinking very naively to watch the sun rise. However, the sun has already up. We go to the lake, freeze in cold by the lake side, early in the morning to snap photos.

Church of the Good Shepherd

Early settlers built this beautiful church in 1935. It is interdenominational and very popular for wedding ceremonies.

The Sheep Dog Statue

Mt John Observatory - very nice scenery up the hill!!

 Leave Lake Tekapo and head to Aoraki Mount Cook Mackenzie.  

New Zealand highest mountain at 3754m. Aoraki Mount Cook, is dazzling, here are 27 other peaks in the Southern Alps over 3050m and hundreds of others not far short of that.

The driving journey up to Mount Cook is excellent experience.  

We are staying at YHA Mt Cook tonight and this is the one I like best amongst other YHAs.

Views around the hostel.

 We are not so lucky today as tt drizzles the whole day. Despite the rain, we continue our exploration to Kea Point Track, the track takes up to 2 hours. However, we could not shoot nice photos as the vision are blurry.

Day 5 : Mt Cook - Oamaru - Dunedin

 

The next morning, we are off to Hooker Valley Track (the whole track takes up to 3-4hours return). However, due to time constrain, we do not go for the whole track.

This is one of the most popular walks in the park, it leads up the Hooker Valley from the White Horse Hill camping area towards Aoraki Mount Cook. The track passes the Alpine Memorial. Continue on the Hooker River and cross two swing bridges before reaching Stocking Stream Shelter. Continue alongside the river will reach the Hooker Glacier terminal lake.

 Tasman Glacier & National Park Eco Tours by Glacier Explorers (NZ$85/ adult)

Tasman Glacier is New Zealand's largest glacier. 

We have to walk about half an hour to the terminal lake of the Tasman Glacier. A guide will whisk us away in a stable MAC BOAT to explore the melting ice face of the Tasman Glacier and icebergs which have carved into the murky waters of the lake. The lake feel incredibly eerie as the boat cruises slowly from one interest point to the next.  

The views are magnificent that we just can't stop snapping photos during the whole tour. We take more than 100 photos within this short tour. We are glad that our camera has the anti-shock function.

 On the way from Mt Cook to Dunedin, we en-route to Oamaru- Penguin Capital of New Zealand.

We stop to see the unique Moeraki Boulders, located 40kms south of Oamar, are the world famous Moeraki Boulders. 

We also stop by Oamaru's harbour before turning inland. Oamaru's harbour is home to a colony of Blue Penguins which can be viewed coming ashore each evening. However, we did not spend time to visit the penguins as we have seen in Australia and another reason is we have to rush to Dunedin for dinner with our friends.

More to explore..

New Zealand Self Drive (Part 2 - Dunedin, Invercargill, Te Anau)