New Zealand South Island, November 2019

We spent about 2 weeks in New Zealand overall and we managed to cover quite a lot of ground in that time. We had a pretty tight schedule to fit in everything that we wanted to do, but luckily it all went to plan so we were able to explore highlights of both the North and South islands. Hands down NZ has become my new favourite destination and I really would love to go back to explore much more of it, as I know we barely touched the sides! During our time in the South Island we used the Inter City buses to travel to each different destination, and they were great. We were slightly worried about how easy the travel would be as we don't drive, so we knew we would have to rely on their set schedules, but the coaches always ran on time and were pretty well priced considering how far some of the journeys were. Most of the journeys we did, the bus drivers also gave us a bit of a tour guide on the way which was cool too so you could learn a bit about the places we were passing. We used Christchurch as our base, spending a few nights there when we first arrived from Singapore, but then also another couple of nights later in the trip to split up long coach journeys. We also stayed here again before catching a short flight to Auckland for the second part of our trip. 

Christchurch

I found Christchurch to be a really interesting city, one that I felt at home in almost instantly. In some places, it felt like a very quiet and small city, but then in some areas, it felt very modern and busy. The food quality here was amazing and we ate in some great restaurants, along with finding a brilliant food court called 'The Terrace' which was new when we visited. There are loads of small independent food shops but I'd recommend the burgers at Shaka Bros! There is also a beautiful botanic garden very close to the center which is a great way to spend a day exploring, the highlight being the rose garden there. You can also visit a viewpoint on the edge of the city, taking a trip up in the gondola, though we didn't have time to do this ourselves. The city is also covered in amazing street art which I read had become popular after they were rebuilding the city after the latest earthquake, which did a lot of damage across the city. (Sorry these photos were taken on my phone, as I was too tired on the first day to bother with carrying around my camera haha)

 

We also visited the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve which was just outside the city center as there is the opportunity to see a Kiwi bird along with some other native birds of NZ. The Wildlife Reserve does a lot of work to help breed and reintroduce Kiwi birds back into the wild, and it was amazing to be able to see one in real life... Although of course, it was in the dark as they are nocturnal, so you could hear the bird better than you could see it. We also saw a lot of other native birds (in the nature reserve and also in the wild!) including the Takahe, the bird with the red beak below, along with the NZ Silvereye which I was very happy to photograph. We saw a lot of Fantails whilst we were in the mountains but they were too quick to get a good pic of, unfortunately.

Kaikoura

After a few days exploring Christchurch, our next stop to visit was the beautiful coastal town of Kaikoura. This part of the trip probably remains my favourite, simply because the scenery was so stunning and there are so many opportunities to see some amazing animals up close in their natural habitat. The town itself is quite small with only a few shops and restaurants along the main high street, but there are plenty of small shops and nice cafes to explore still. There is also an information center that has some guidance on some of the local walks around the area, including the Kaikoura viewpoint walk which is a (very) steep walk but well worth the reward at the end with a beautiful panoramic view across the town. The area is mostly famous for its rich sea life which is what attracted me to it, and we were lucky enough to see two sperm whales while we were there on a whale watching trip, which has been a dream of mine for years! 

I also did a dolphin swim during our time there, which is an experience like no other. It was absolutely amazing to see them swim around so gracefully in their natural habitat - The dolphins in this area are called Dusky dolphins, famous for their playful jumps and summersaults so they're so brilliant to watch, either from the water or the boat. The water is so unbelievably cold that when I first got in, I panicked a little as it was so hard to catch your breath but once I was over that I didn't want to get back on the boat! There were over a couple of hundred dolphins in the area when we were there, so it just shows how huge a pod of dolphins can get.

The incredible nature experiences of Kaikoura don't end there either - There is a seal colony nearby that you can walk to by following the seafront. It's well worth a visit as it's incredible to see the animals up close, although you have to make sure you keep enough distance as they can get aggressive as (of course) they're wild animals so you need to just stay sensible... We even had to walk through the water at one point instead of using the path, as a seal had sat right in the middle blocking the way and didn't want to move as it was clearly a comfy spot!

Tekapo

Lake Tekapo if further down the South Island and is part of the UNESCO Dark Sky Reserve meaning that at night, with a clear sky, it's a perfect place for stargazing. We were very lucky when we visited that the weather was clear enough for us to be able to see clearly, spotting shooting stars and even planets! We chose to book the tour which included a dip in the thermal pools after meaning you were able to be outside and stargaze for even longer whilst still being kept nice and warm. The lake is also famous for its lupins which grow all around the area in spring, along with the picturesque Church of the Good Shephard which is one of the most photographed places in New Zealand.

Mt Cook

As you can probably see in the photos taken in Tekapo, there appeared to be a lot of snow-topped mountains popping up in the background... Something we hadn't quite bargained for, which probably sounds quite naive now haha. I had to buy an emergency waterproof coat in one of the gift shops in Tekapo, which will show you just how unprepared we were for the snowstorms in Mt Cook National Park! The long beautiful hikes I had imagined were put on hold unfortunately as the weather wasn't good enough, but we did manage a couple of shorter ones when the snow did stop which were still breathtaking. Mt Cook Village itself is tiny, but definitely has a lovely feel to it. The Mountaineers Cafe offers amazing views across the park and I managed to get a picture of the top of Mt Cook (we only saw it once in the two days) shown below whilst having dinner and a glass of wine!

If you want to continue reading about my trip to New Zealand, click here to read about my experience in the North Island.