TeamFleury

My wife and I are visiting the South Island in March for 8 nights, arriving and leaving from Christchurch. We are hiring a car the entire time for a road trip. We are focused on seeing the glaciers and Milford Sound and are pretty flexible otherwise. We would love to make it up north, but I don't think we have enough time. Any suggestions/critique of the following itinerary?

Day 1 - Arrive in Christchurch (3 pm) - drive to Greymouth (night in Greymouth)
Day 2 - Visit Punakaiki - drive to Glaciers (night in Franz Josef)
Day 3 - Visit Glaciers (night in Franz Josef)
Day 4 - Drive to Wanaka; drive to Queenstown (night in Queenstown)
Day 5 - Milford Sound day trip (night in Invercargill)
Day 6 - Stewart Island day trip (night in Invercargill)
Day 7 - Drive to Catlins; drive to Dunedin (night in Dunedin)
Day 8 - Drive to Oamaru; drive to Christchurch (night in Christchurch)
Day 9 - Leave Christchurch (11 am)

Any comments appreciated. Thanks a lot.

Melnq8

You're good up until Day 4, then things kinda fall apart.

Technically, Day 4 is doable, but only if you don't plan to do much more than see the lake in Wanaka. Franz Josef to QT can easily take six hours, more with stops, and there are plenty of reasons to stop.

Day 5 - Self-drive, right? You'll have spent the night in QT, and it's a four hour drive to Milford Sound, then a cruise, then a four hour drive to Invercargill. Hmmm...

I'm assuming you're headed to Invercargill for easy access to Stewart Island, but really, Stewart Island doesn't make for a good day trip. It's a lovely place, don't get me wrong, but it's the kind of place you need plenty of TIME to explore...its treasures can be difficult to access (it's 85% National Park afterall). You'll spend most of your time getting there and back. In a day all you'll see is probably Oban (Halfmoon Bay), a beach or two and maybe, just maybe, you can fit in a quick trip to Ulva Island, but IMO it's just not a good use of your very limited time. Have you checked ferry schedules? And two nights in Invercargill? You can do better. Trust me on this.

If the glaciers and Milford Sound are your priorities, why not spend more time there? You've barely allowed a day for Milford. Why not spend a night or two in the area (I'd recommend Te Anau) and really see what's on offer in the area? Loads to see and do if you enjoy the great outdoors.

FYI - the drive up the east coast, particularly the section between Oamaru to Christchurch is the least scenic on the entire South Island. Ick.

Okay, so now that I've blown your itinerary apart, what, other than Milford and the glaciers would you really like to see?

TeamFleury

Thanks for your suggestions! I suspected the drive along the east coast may not be so scenic and have been considering driving inland through Lake Tekapo and staying in the QT area longer. What would you recommend in terms of access to Stewart Island? (Or would you recommend just staying in Te Anau instead?)

Melnq8

All things considered, I'd give Stewart Island a pass, unless you've really got your heart set on it. The ferry leaves from Bluff, which is about 30 minutes from Invercargill as I recall, and when I was there, the ferry schedule was quite limited, so it's quite a time eater. You'll want to research all the transport details in advance if SI is an important destination for you.

Assuming you're not arriving in Christchurch hammered from a long overseas flight, how about something like this:

Day 1 - Arrive in Christchurch (3 pm) - drive to either Arthur's Pass (2:10), Greymouth (3:40) or forge on to Punakaiki (4:20), spend night at one of these - this really depends on how tired you are, etc.

Day 2 - Side trip to Punakaiki (if you've spent the night in Arthur's Pass or Greymouth), then drive to Glaciers, stopping enroute at Hokitika (night in Franz Josef)

Day 3 - Visit Glaciers, explore area (night in Franz Josef)

Day 4 - Drive to Wanaka; overnight (4-5 hours)

Day 5 - Explore Wanaka in morning, drive to Te Anau in afternoon (4:00), overnight Te Anau

Day 6 - Drive Te Anau to Milford Sound (2 hours), exploring Milford Road enroute, take Milford cruise, return to Te Anau for overnight

Day 7 Drive from Te Anau to Queenstown (4:00), explore QT in afternoon

Day 8 - Explore Queenstown

Day 9 - Fly from QT to Christchurch for departing flight (if scheduling allows, otherwise you'd need to fly back the evening of Day 8 and overnight in Christchurch)

TeamFleury

Thank you for your thoughts on this. I do think spending more time around Te Anau would be preferable, as well as perhaps resting the first night and seeing Christchurch a bit. I've gone over the itinerary and have been thinking with that in mind that perhaps it would be better to do the west coast swing later on:

Day 1 - Arrive in Christchurch (night in Christchurch)
Day 2 - Drive to Wanaka (night in Wanaka)
Day 3 - Explore Wanaka; drive to Queenstown (night in Queenstown)
Day 4 - Explore Milford Sound (night in Te Anau/overnight cruise)
Day 5 - Explore Fjordland; drive to Queenstown (night in Queenstown)
Day 6 - Drive to Glaciers (night in Franz Josef)
Day 7 - Explore Glaciers; drive to Greymouth (night in Greymouth)
Day 8 - Side trip to Punakaiki; drive back to Christchurch through Arthur’s Pass (night in Christchurch)
Day 9 - Leave Christchurch

AMKiwi567

You could still get to Stewart Island if you wanted to. Just substitute your night in Invercargill for a night on the island. This would give you time to cover the highlights, perhaps a visit to Ulva Island (which you can combine with a cruise, or a fishing trip) .You could even go kiwi spotting if you were staying overnight as this is one of the few places where you can see kiwis in the wild. There are also quite a few shorter walks in the Oban area which would give you a good flavour of the island.