South Island Adventure 14 Days
South Island (Reversible)
For those who love the outdoors, this South Island 14-day tour has a great mix of sightseeing, hiking, and unique adventure activities
Travel Style: Private driver I Self-drive I Independent Coach
Accommodation Style: Motel I Hotel I Boutique Lodges
Day 1: Christchurch
Suggested activities for Christchuch
Explore: Christchurch
New Zealand's garden city is steadily being transformed into a vibrant urban destination. Encompassing a large green belt, it is known for its wide tree-lined avenues and lush gardens. A great way to explore is to take the double-decker hop on/hop off bus for an easy way to see the sights. Or for more dramatic sights, head slightly out of town to the zip line or gondola
Day 2: Christchurch to Greymouth
World Famous: The TranzAlpine Scenic Train
Considered one of the world's great train journeys, the TranzAlpine Scenic Train takes you from Christchurch to Greymouth. Leave Christchurch and travel across the windswept Canterbury Plains and across the South Island through Arthur's Pass National Park. From the comfort of your carriage, see lush beech forest, deep river valleys, and the spectacular peaks of the Southern Alps.
Day 3: Paparoa National Park
Suggested activity
Adventure: Underworld Adventures Black Water Rafting
A superb four-hour Black Water Rafting adventure in the Paparoa National Park. You meander through a paradise of stalactites and stalagmites in the upper dry levels of the cave. You then enter a slow-moving underground river on which you float in your tube using only the natural light of an awe-inspiring display of glow worms for navigation. Emerge from the cave into a remote and untouched world before leaving its tranquillity for the rushing bubbling waters of the low-grade Nile River Rapids.
Day 4: Paparoa to Franz Josef Glacier
Adventure: Okarito Lagoon Guided Kayak Trip
Kayaking is by far the best way to enjoy the flora, fauna, and scenic grandeur of New Zealand's largest unmodified coastal wetland. Previous experience is not necessary. Okarito Lagoon covers more than 3240 hectares of shallow open water and is well known for its outstanding birdlife, including white heron and royal spoonbill. Exploring the open water and river channels that lead you deep into the heart of the rainforest is like stepping back in time to pre-European conditions and on a clear day, you enjoy fantastic views of Mt. Cook and the Southern Alps.
Day 5: Franz Josef
Suggested activities for Franz Josef
Explore: Franz Josef Glacier
Franz Josef is a small but lively town in the heart of the West Coast, known for its 12km-long glacier. Surrounded by lush rainforest-clad mountains, the township has a vibrant and bustling atmosphere. To see the ice from a viewpoint, you can walk along the valley floor to the viewpoint below the terminal face. However, to go on the glacier itself you must take a licensed helicopter tour.
Adventure: Half Day Franz Josef Glacier Eco Tour
Enjoy walking through regenerating forest for your first glimpse of the magnificent Franz Josef Glacier. Your experienced guide will take you off the beaten track as much as they can safely, to discover hidden waterfalls and 'dead' ice, and lots of other treasures.
Adventure: Franz Josef Glacier Helihike
Take a scenic flight over all three Franz Josef glacier icefalls. Landing high on the glacier, take a two-hour guided trip through some of the most beautiful terrain in the country. Your guide will choose the route as you go through a wonderland of blue ice and frozen pinnacles. You'll have endless views of the surrounding mountains and rainforest as well as plenty of opportunities to take photographs.
Day 6: Franz Josef to Wanaka
Heading south you pass through the small town of Fox Glacier. A short side trip to view the glacier is recommended before heading along the coast and through more classic West Coast bush scenery. At Knights Point Lookout, fur seals and sometimes elephant seals can be seen basking on the sandy beaches at the far end of the point. Crossing the Haast River you’ll turn inland and through the mountainous valley littered with waterfalls. Continue on past Lakes Hawea and Wanaka into the alpine township of Wanaka.
Day 7: Wānaka
Suggested activities for Wānaka
Explore: Wānaka
Wānaka draws those seeking adventure, spectacular scenery and a relaxed atmosphere. Known as the gateway to the Mt Aspiring National Park, it's a walker's paradise of remote wilderness, high mountains and beautiful river valleys. For those seeking an adrenaline rush, try skydiving, rock-climbing, jet boating, paddle boarding or a scenic flight over Wānaka in a historic Tiger Moth aeroplane.
Nature: Lake Wānaka Cruise and Island Walk
Lying close to the centre of Lake Wanaka is Mou Waho Island Nature Reserve. A unique glacial remnant of the last ice age, the island is also the historic site of early shipbuilding and was a stopping place for the steamers and log rafts that once plied the lake. A well-formed track leads from the landing and climbs steadily through native bush to near the top of Tyrwhitt Peak. Just before the top, we see Arethusa Pool, a small lake on the island with small islands in it - very intriguing! From the top, enjoy a sweeping 360-degree view of Lake Wānaka.
Adventure: Wildwire Wanaka
Conquer the highest waterfall cable climb (Via Ferrata) in the world. Explore and climb Twin Falls – one of Wānaka’s most spectacular waterfalls, located just a short drive from Wānaka town centre at the gateway to Mt Aspiring National Park. The opportunity to explore these falls up close is an exceptional and truly memorable experience. Explore hidden pools, picnic next to towering falls, and enjoy breathtaking mountain and lake views.
Day 8: Queenstown
Suggested activities for Queenstown
Explore: Queenstown and surrounds
Celebrated as New Zealand's adventure capital, Queenstown offers far more than a fast-paced action-packed holiday. Settled on the shores of Lake Wakatipu beneath a soaring panorama of the Remarkables Mountain Range, this alpine town is surrounded by a plethora of historic, gastronomic, and scenic wonders.
Adventure: Bungy Jump
If you’ve ever wanted to discover what you’re truly made of, we’ve got plenty of ways for you to find out. Strap up at the World Home of Bungy, the Kawarau Bungy Centre, freestyle it up at the Ledge, or stare fear in the face, out at the Nevis Playground.
Day 9: Queenstown
Suggested activities for Queenstown
Adventure: Routeburn Track Day Walk
A journey to the head of Lake Wakatipu is the ideal preparation for the splendor of the world-famous Routeburn Track walk. As you travel northwest on a road that clings to the very edge of the lake, your guide will introduce you to the history and landscape of the region. Recently glaciated, there is a wealth of information imparted by your guide as you travel. From time to time, the road rises to superb vantage points where you will enjoy unparalleled panoramas of jagged, snow-capped mountains, rolling alpine farmland, and acre upon acre of glorious lake land tussock meadows.
Relax: Bike The Wineries
Take a relaxing bike ride along the Gibbston Bike Trail as it follows winding rivers through stunning scenery and over impressive suspension bridges on its way to the world-famous wine region, the Gibbston Valley (Valley of the Vines). With the option of an E-bike or mountain bike, you will visit local wineries known for pinot noir plus delicious winery cuisine.
Day 10: Queenstown
Suggested activity
Nature: Milford Sound Cruise and Coach Tour
Get up close and personal with Milford Sound on a leisurely cruise of this spectacular fiord. Experience the spray of a thundering waterfall as you cruise close to sheer rock faces, marvel at sky-high mountains and see lush rainforest. Informative, participative, and relaxed, this cruise is the perfect way to experience Milford Sound to the fullest.
Day 11: Queenstown to Aoraki/ Mount Cook
Travel through Central Otago past the stone fruit capital of Cromwell and the amazing Lindis Pass. Catch your breath in Omarama before taking in the view of Aoraki Mount Cook (New Zealand's tallest mountain) from the shores of Lake Pukaki, known for its glacier-fed turquoise blue color. Continue along the lake to your final destination, Mount Cook Village.
Food: High Country Salmon
Caught from the crystal clear water of Lake Pukaki, high country salmon is a popular delicacy on the way to Queenstown.
Day 12: Aoraki/ Mount Cook
Suggested activities Aoraki Mount Cook
Scenery: Heli or Ski Plane Flight
This Mount Cook helicopter tour or ski plane adventure is the ultimate way to see the Southern Alps. Traverse the Main Divide to the West Coast and view the magnificent landscape of the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. Track north along the Tasman Sea before recrossing the snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps to the Tasman Glacier.
Adventure: Mt Cook Helicopter Experience
Landing amidst the crevasses of the Tasman Glacier, you will put on snowshoes or crampons to explore the glacier’s seracs, icefalls, and astonishing caves of ancient blue ice.
Scenery: Hooker Valley Walk
The Hooker Valley Track is the most popular short walking track within the Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand. At only 5 kilometres length and gaining only about 100 m in height, the well formed track can be walked by tourists with a wide range of level of fitnes
World Famous: Big Sky Star Gazing
Take a mesmerizing journey through the cosmos as you explore the wonders of the night sky, home to planets, stars and a whole other world we only dream about.
Day 13: Aoraki/ Mount Cook to Christchurch
Today you'll drive through the heart of the South Island, you'll come to the picturesque lakeside town of Tekapo then onto the vast Canterbury plains. Catch your breath in Geraldine before continuing to Christchurch.
Suggested activities Tekapo
Relax: Tekapo Springs Hot Pools
Experience the total relaxation of soaking in hot water in an alpine environment 720 meters above sea level. Our three hot pools are filled from an underground source near Tekapo.
World famous: The Church of the Good Shepard
Visit the most photographed stone church in New Zealand. Situated on the shores of Lake Takapō amongst the natural beauty of the lake and the mountains, the Church of the Good Shepherd was built to the glory of God and as a memorial to the pioneers of the Mackenzie Country.
Day 14: Christchurch
It’s time to leave or journey onto the North Island for the second part of your New Zealand vacation.