Hi all,
Am travelling to New Zealand to see Santana in Christchurch on 17 March 2013. Have until 3ish that day to see the best of Christchurch and another 3 and half days to see as much as possible and be back at Christchurch airport by 3pm on 21 March.
Was thinking of good scenic flight and hiring a car for 3 days for a quick round trip.
Only criteria is my son wants to see snow, my husband wants to visit the Hamner Springs and I want to see as much as I can in the time we have. Any suggestions?
3 & 2 half days to exlore from Christchurch
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March is early autumn, so it's unlikely you'll see snow.
You might do something like this for a quick easy loop:
Christchurch-over Arthur's Pass-side trip to Punakaiki (Pancake Rocks)-then SH 6/69/7 over Lewis Pass to Hanmer Springs-then back to Christchurch. This will also take you through Waipara, an up-and-coming wine growing region about 40 minutes north of Christchurch.
Christchurch to Punakaiki is four hours
Punakaiki to Hanmer Springs is four hours
Hanmer Springs to Christchurch is two hours
You could spend a night each at Punakaiki, Hanmer Springs and Waipara. It's easy to get to the airport from Waipara the day of departure -it's only about a 40-45 minute drive
Or, you could spent the last night in Akarora, driving fro Hanmer Springs to Akaroa on your day before departure. This way you could also see Banks Peninsula, although only breifly.
Hanmer Springs to Akarora will take three and a quarter hours, then Akarora to Christchurch on your departure day will take about 90 minutes.
Your son might enjoy the Antartic Center in Christchurch.
http://www.iceberg.co.nz/
we really loved kaikoura...any wildlife draws us in so we were thrilled to see seals around kaikoura including the babies playing under the fresh waterfall...go check out the directions at the information centre..easy access and something special, i feel...
not too far from christchurch, by the way..about 187 km north and an easy drive
akaroa... on the peninsular near christchurch is really pretty..we had a big motorhome but chugged along nicely even along the rather scary ( for me lol) summit scenic route on the way back to christchurch...
theres so much to see and we sure packed it in in the 18 days we drove the south island
A few more suggestions along those directions:
- Castle hill on the way to arthur's pass, which your son (and parents as well) might enjoy - it's sort of a natural theme park of pretty limestone formations.
- Cathedral cliffs ( just north of port robinson ) can make for a nice short picture stop along the way to/from kaikoura if you decide to go there.
- Just north of Punakaiki, Fox river has some potentially fun walks to some caves that are not too difficult.
- 1 hour south of Punakaiki is Hokitika, and you can visit the gorge which is an easy and beautiful walk.