caligirl56

I'm back--and I've reworked our itinerary for Feb./March 2012 after taking lots of great advice (from all of you!) into account. I thought I had come up with the perfect order for everything, until I realized that I was wrong to assume that it is possible to drive sort of "straight" from Mt. Cook to Arthur's Pass.

For background, here is what I'd come up with:

Fly into Dunedin
Otago Peninsula near Portobello: 3 nights
Drive to Queenstown via Maniototo Plain
Queenstown: 2 nights
Milford Track: 4 nights
Queenstown: 1 night
Drive to Arthur's Pass via Lindis Pass and Lake Pukaki (to catch a view of Mt. Cook if we're lucky)--drive through Omarama and Mackenzie Basin
Arthur's Pass Wilderness Lodge: 3 nights (for hiking, sheep and hoping to see keas!)
Christchurch: 2 nights
Drive through Kaikoura to Picton ferry
Marlborough Sounds: 3 nights
Moteuka: 3 nights (to explore Nelson and Abel Tasman)
Drive to Picton for ferry to Wellington
Wellington: 2 nights
Drive to Rotorua, stopping to see views of Tongariro National Park and Huka Falls
Rotorua: 3 nights
Drive to Auckland via Waitomo Caves
Auckland: 2 nights (my husband wants to sail in an America's Club yacht here--hence the 2 nights)
Fly home

So--now I realize that to drive to Arthur's Pass, it looks like we'd have to almost drive all the way to Christchurch and then head back east again, is this correct? We don't mind having a few long driving days--and that is why I had considered taking a detour in hopes that Mt. Cook would be visible from Lake Pukaki. I also really wanted to travel through the Mackenzie Basin, because you all suggested that we might really enjoy that country. I'm not sure this is doable, now. Anyone know how long this might take?

Can you see any solutions to this? It had even occurred to me to give up Mt. Cook (we were only going to glimpse it anyway--and I know there's a huge chance it will be covered by clouds) and immediately travel west from Queenstown--go up the west coast, and make Abel Tasman our next stop. But, that looks really long for one day as well (we really don't like one night stops). I think we aren't that excited about seeing the glaciers--and we really were looking forward to seeing Christchurch. In this new scenario, I don't know how we'd work Christchurch into it.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Melnq8

<So--now I realize that to drive to Arthur's Pass, it looks like we'd have to almost drive all the way to Christchurch and then head back east again, is this correct?>

Actually, you'd need to drive almost to Christchurch and then head WEST to reach Arthur's Pass if you plan to go via the inland route you've outlined. Then you'd need to backtrack east to Christchurch and up the coast to Kaikoura.

I can't remember if Mt Cook is visible from Lake Pukaki, but as you're going to be right there anyway, I suggest you just drive on to Mt Cook for a quick look-see. It's not that far, 55 km each way.

One trip we drove from Wanaka, made a stop at Mt Cook, then took 79 from Geraldine and Scenic Route 72 to Christchurch (bypassing busy SH 1 up the not-so-pretty east coast. The drive took us 7.5 hours.

From Queenstown, you can reach Christchurch in about seven hours, assuming you take the less scenic east coast route (north of Timaru). Add to that a detour in Mt Cook, plus the time to drive to Arthur's Pass from Christchurch (about 2:10) and yeah, you're looking at a very long day.

I don't like one night stays either, but in this case maybe one is warranted...perhaps a night in Twizel, Mt Cook or Lake Tekapo to break up the drive and still take the route you want to take. You could also fit in a visit to the Omarama Cliffs and take the scenic route (Geraldine towards Christchurch via Methven) thereby avoiding SH 1.You'll also get to see Rakia Gorge this way, which is a hidden gem IMO.

According to my map, this route joins the road to Arthur's Pass near Sheffield. That way, you'd have the best of both worlds.

Queenstown to Abel Tasman is about a 13 hour drive, so that doesn't solve anything either. You'd need a least a one night stay along that route too.

caligirl56

Melnq--Thank you! And yes, I guess going east from Christchurch would send us all the way over to Chile--whoops!

So, in researching your ideas--I have found a better map than I had before. I hadn't even been aware of highway 79 until you mentioned it. It looks to me that we won't have to go quite all the way to Christchurch if we take 79 and then 77 through Methven. Do you remember what 79 was like between Geraldine and Methven? Is it very slow?

When you took 7.5 hours to drive from Wanaka to Christchurch on the scenic route, did you make any little rest stops (besides the presumably sort of longish one at Mt. Cook?). I'm thinking that although it would be long, maybe it would be "just" a 9.5 hour drive for us to do the whole Queenstown/Arthur's Pass drive on the scenic route.

Here's the adjustments I made to your 7.5 hours: you said you started in Wanaka, so I added an hour, since we'll be starting in Queenstown (maybe this isn't enough?). Then I added another hour for the drive to Arthur's Pass (instead of Christchurch). It does sound like a long day. but if we left at 9:00 a.m., we'd make it by 6:30 p.m. or so.

Your ideas for places to stop sound wonderful. It's just that in addition to our aversion to one-night stays, I'd promised my husband that we absolutely would not go over 3 weeks (he'd been lobbying for 2 1/2 weeks). Since this itinerary is right at that limit, I'd have to steal a night from somewhere else--and that isn't easy either!

Melnq8

Route 79 isn't any slower than other drives on the SI, but it's longer, much more scenic and a heck of a lot less busy.

SH 1 up the east coast can get fairly busy by NZ standards - lots of truck traffic, etc. It's sort of industrial and we avoid it when possible.

Here's an excerpt from my trip report regarding the drive from Wanaka to Christchurch which includes our stops:

<We reached Omarama just over an hour after leaving Wanaka, and continued on to Twizel. We passed the turnoff to Lake Ohau and the snowfields beyond, which looked to have no shortage of snow. The sun was shining; on a whim we decided to make the 55 km detour to Mt. Cook, driving alongside the creamy, turquoise waters of Lake Pukaki. As we closed in on Mt. Cook, dark clouds began to gather and we found ourselves in the rain, looking at a completely socked in mountain; just like every other time we’ve tried to catch a glimpse of the majestic and elusive peak.

After a quick stop at the Hermitage, we backtracked to SH 8, leaving the rain and gloom behind. The closer we got to SH 8 the better the weather became; soon we were back in the sunshine and on our way to Lake Tekapo, surrounded by distant towering snowcapped mountains.

Lake Tekapo has grown quite a bit since our last trip through here. There are several new homes, hotels/motels and an ice rink. A quick visit to the Church of the Good Shepherd and a few photos, then we were back in the car. We turned on 79 to Geraldine and suddenly the road was no longer straight, the landscape was green and wooded. The drive became even prettier after passing through Fairlie. After a Tip Top break in Geraldine, we chose Scenic Route 72 instead of taking SH 1 up the east coast to Christchurch. We passed Mt. Somers, Mt. Hutt and Rakaia Gorge, a beautiful spot and a complete surprise. We’d never been through here and were quite taken with the scenery.

Near Oxford we picked up 71, and eventually made our way to Christchurch, arriving 7.5 hours after leaving Wanaka.>

I failed to mention that we've also driven from Queenstown to Christchurch a few times, the latest of which took nine hours. Here's the excerpt from that particular trip.

<We left Queenstown via the Crown Ridge Alpine Scenic Route to Wanaka. This stretch of road seemed prettier than it was back in August – greener and slightly less stark and barren looking, but personally, I prefer my mountains with snow.

We passed the Wanaka airport, which was gearing up for the Warbirds over Wanaka air show, to take place over Easter weekend. As we worked our way north to Omarama, it seemed as if the entire island was headed south for the long holiday weekend: countless cars, campers, and boats. In all our trips to the South Island, we’d never seen so many people on the road; one of the benefits of visiting during the off season and outside of school and public holidays.

The normally quiet town of Omarama was bustling and it was here that we encountered the most expensive gas of the entire trip - $1.87 per liter!

Just past Omarama, we took the turnoff to the Clay Cliffs, which is located 10 km off SH 8, four km of which passes through private land, $5 per vehicle admission. Once at the car park, we walked the trail up and into the gap between the cliffs, where we scrambled through the rocks for a bit. This was a new find for us and I really enjoyed this little detour. How we missed the cliffs on past trips is beyond me.

We continued our trek north, stopping in Twizel for some much needed ice cream, before taking our next detour to Mt Cook. We hemmed and hawed about whether or not to drive to Mt Cook (55 km each way), as we’d been there before, but once again, it was just so darn pretty, and we could actually SEE the majestic mountain looming in the distance, so we just couldn’t resist. Neither of us could remember ever seeing Mt Cook so clearly.

We then backtracked, passing dead calm, opaque turquoise Lake Pukaki, and rejoining SH 8. Once again I was surprised at how much Lake Tekapo has grown – new accommodation, new homes and restaurants, etc. The landscape north of Tekapo was brown and dry and dare I say it, a little short on scenic. Funny how quickly one becomes jaded in such a beautiful country…

The scenery improved dramatically around Burkes Pass. At Fairlie, we picked up 79 to Geraldine, and soon we were on SH 1 headed to Christchurch. If we didn’t like this route on the day we arrived, we liked it even less the second time around, due in part to the seemingly endless traffic on this eve of a four day holiday weekend.

Having survived our marathon nine hour drive, we checked into our home for the next two nights.>

Here are the drive times I'm coming up with for your route:

Queenstown - Mt Cook - 3:45
Mt Cook - Fairlie 2:00
Fairlie - Geraldine - 40 minutes
Geraldine - Methven - 1:10
Methven - Arthur's Pass - 3:05

Mind you, that's approximate, but it's looking like over 10 hours, not including stops.

Queenstown to Wanaka is more like 1:30-1:40. It will take
more than an hour to reach Arthur's Pass too - it's 214 km from Methven and 150 km from Christchurch.

So much to see and do, so little time...the ongoing dilemma.

caligirl56

Wow! Thank you so much. I've actually read so many of your trip reports (you got me through Tasmania 2 years ago!!)--but I didn't remember these excerpts. Very helpful.

And thanks for the drive times. If we went from Queenstown to Cromwell and then up 8 toward Mt. Cook, we'd be going through Lindis Pass, right? Would we be missing a lot of beautiful scenery by skipping the road to Lake Wanaka (I'm guessing that this would save us time--but maybe that's not even true??).

If we did go to Lake Wanaka first, and then drive out to 8, would we still go over Lindis Pass? (I think I remember one of you telling me that we would like the country around Lindis Pass).

There's never enough time. If I gave myself another week, I'd have that full--and still be needing more!

mlgb

Don't miss Lindis Pass, it's just gorgeous and has that tussockland and lupine scenery.

The best routing from Mt. Cook to Arthur's Pass is
Route 79, then I would head off just after the Orari Bridge to Methven (prettier than taking Rte 1) meeting up with rte 77 and to Rte 73. You can see the minor roads on Google Maps, you don't have to stick with highways in this part of Canterbury, it's quite flat and you go at pretty much the same speed on the minor roads as long as they are paved.

I would perhaps recommend a night in Methven/Mt. Hutt and then 2 nights in Arthurs Pass which gives you an option to actually drive in toward Mt. Cook in the morning if the weather is nice.

mlgb

Can't recall if I posted my video but the first few scenes are Lindis Pass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B_zuuxp5hY

kiwi_rob

I'm chiming in here a bit belatedly, but I just want to confirm the advice given regarding the drive from Mt Cook to Arthur's Pass. Do take Route 79 and, if you want a break for lunch, etc, Geraldine and Methven are nice little towns (you would need to do a small detour off 79 to get to Methven -- only 5 minutes or so though). To get on to Route 73, I prefer to turn left off 72/77 just before Glentunnel and head for either Springfield or Sheffield. Springfield is a bit more direct, and there is nothing at Sheffield, but there is not much in it either way distance-wise.

These are country roads, and they are a bit narrow in places, but they are not necessarily "slow" roads. You just need to watch for trucks and, occasionally, animals on the road.

caligirl56

mlgb--I had seen the video (loved it!)--but hadn't realized that the first pictures were of the Lindis Pass region. Very pretty! Thank you!

I appreciate the detailed driving advice. Now I guess I'll just have to work with this a bit more--there are so many trade-offs.

Melnq8

<If we went from Queenstown to Cromwell and then up 8 toward Mt. Cook, we'd be going through Lindis Pass, right? Would we be missing a lot of beautiful scenery by skipping the road to Lake Wanaka (I'm guessing that this would save us time--but maybe that's not even true??).>

It's a moot point. You'll cross Lindis Pass either way. Lindis pass begins north of Wanaka. By "the road to Lake Wanaka" I assume you mean the Crown Ridge Alpine Scenic Road?

I personally don't have a preference, as I find both routes to Wanaka scenic. I think the route along SH 6 takes longer, but it's pretty as it goes through the Kawarau River Gorge (where the bungy jumpers do their thing). You'd also have to double back a bit on this route, taking SH 6 into Wanaka and taking 8A back out, then joining 8 north. It's not a huge detour, but it's probably more time consuming than taking the Crown Ridge directly from Arrowtown.

mlgb is the fan of Lindis Pass, I much prefer the West Coast route, but that's strictly a personal preference.

caligirl56

kiwirob--Thanks! Sounds like 79 is the way to go--and I'm making a note to head toward Springfield. Good idea to stop in Methven or Geraldine for lunch (or a break if it's past lunchtime by then!).

melnq--Thanks so much for coming through again. I know it sounds like I don't know how to read a map--but, somehow, all my research only told my that Lindis Pass is just between Cromwell and Omarama (not very precise!)--and I couldn't find it marked on an actual map.

I think we'll probably try to do the marathon drive (Queenstown to Arthur's Pass), instead of breaking it up with a layover. Maybe we'll see how early we get up that day (also take a look at the weather) and decide about Lake Wanaka then-- it sounds like it won't add too much time if we choose to go that way.

Now I just have to get all of this past my husband--and show him why we can't possibly do it in just 3 weeks.