katkat

We just came back from a 12-day trip to South Island, NZ. (December.) Wonderful wonderful time. Amazing penguins, spectacular nature and friendly folks. It was unseasonably chilly though, and always raining - but the weather did clear up for us at the most appropriate times.
A big thank you to all of you who have given me valuable advice and suggestions!

All prices below are in NZ$

DAY 1 Layover at Christchurch, then to Dunedin
We've got a bit more than 2 hours to kill at the Christchurch airport before the domestic connection to Dunedin. (No, don't expect to be able to stand by for an earlier flight. You would have to purchase a new ticket in order to do that...) The Antarctic Center turned out to be just the perfect time killer. http://www.iceberg.co.nz
There's luggage storage at the airport at very reasonable rates. The Antarctic Center is just an 8-minute walk from the airport - follow the blue footprints. We weren't thrilled by the exhibitions, but kids might just love it. An hour was all it warrants - for us. There's a snowstorm room where you can experience a snowstorm (every 30 min, with jackets and shoe cover provided) - quite fun if you don't already drive through snowstorms to work every day. The ride seemed interesting, but we didn't have time for it.

Taxi from Dunedin airport to city $67+5 for luggage. 30 min. Or you could take a shuttle for $15 each.

Dinner - Bell Pepper Blues. http://www.bellpepperblues.co.nz/
We were booked for 8pm, but had to wait at the bar till 8:45pm. They had the tables but it was their kitchen that could not handle the orders. Rather slow service. Nice (and very filling) pate appetizer (they call it "entree&quot to share. Lamb tenderloin was terrific. Melt in your mouth. Skip the pork - very dry.

Accomm - Motel on York. $140 (saw someone walking in and got a discount) http://www.motelonyork.co.nz/
Our little terrace room on the first floor was not exactly same as their lavish online pictures... But for that rate we have no complaints. Facilities same as a US motel. Nice bed. Clean, rather new, pleasant and functional. No in-room safe. Don't expect bending-over-backwards service from the front desk which closes at 10pm. (We had to insist before they agreed to ring a taxi for us to the restaurant - before that they pointed us to the phone book!) Small bathroom. Tiny shower - I'm very small and still felt claustrophobic in that little cube. Heater in bathroom. Love the kitchen counter and well-stocked cooking utentil closet. Terrace (shared with one other room) was a nice touch - would've loved to sit outside had it not been that cold...

DAY 2 Otago Peninsula
Dunedin was very quiet with all the students away for summer vacation.
Brunch at Nova at the Octagon, not bad. (10 min downhill walk from motel.) Lovely shop closeby: the Happy Hens. Picked up car from Budget close to the Octagon.
There's a visitor center in Octagon with internet access and all the info you can pick up. (Maybe they would have low tide info available - better to get it here and plan the Catlins drive accordingly - more on this below.)

Drove 1 hour to Royal Albatross Colony. $25. http://www.albatross.org.nz/
Booked on 3:30pm tour. No flying albatrosses. Saw maybe 4 birds from the observatory. But pretty up close. Nice and fun. The group was a bit too big to fit along the windows of the observatory though. Need binoculars. You could see the albatross activity through the real-time TV down at their base office.

Booked on 4:45pm Penguin Place tour. $30. http://www.penguin-place.co.nz/
Went with a group of about 10. Taken to about 6 hides. Yellow-eyed penguins quite far away (nothing like their online pictures) except for one which was sleeping. Saw a couple penguins coming up from the shore - again very far away. (If you've seen penguins up close at, say, the Curio Bay on the Catlins Coast, I'd say skip Penguin Place.) Bring binoculars.

Sandfly Beach - 40 minute roundtrip walk. Supposingly lots of seals. But it was too gusty and rainy for us to go.

Dinner - High Tide - nice shell fish appetizer. Skip the bread.

DAY 3 Drive Catlins Coast (MUST DO) to Invercargill, then Te Anau http://www.southernscenicroute.co.nz/
Brunch at Everyday Gourmet. Nice "flat white" (cappucino) and hot raspberry chocolate. Be sure to pick up some of their yummy chicken kumara wraps to go as there's nothing to eat on Catlins until Invercargill. Lots of gourmet jams and olive oils to bring home.
* We started driving out of Dunedin shortly after noon, and didn't get into Te Anau until 11pm. It might be better to start earlier, but we were thankful that we were at the Cathedral Caves and Curio Bay at exactly the right times. Read on...

2 hours to Nugget Point (signposted after Balclutha). 20 min roundtrip walk. Wonderful views to the ocean and colonies of (noisy!) seals. Nice photo spot. Bring binoculars.

1 hour to Owara visitor center - get low tide info. Very nice and helpful staff.

20 min to Purakauri Falls - 20 min RT walk, quite nice especially after rain.

40 min to Cathedral Caves. MUST SEE. Gates open 2 hours prior to low tide. Closed 2 hours after low tide. There's a small admission fee. 10 min walk to beach. 5 min walk along beach to caves. You shouldn't get wet half an hour before and after low tide. Gorgerous interconnecting caves. It was my husband's favorite.

35 min to Curio Bay. MUST SEE. This is my favorite. The petrified forest was ok - but it was the yellow-eyed penguins there that got me! Go at low tide time and also around sunset to see them! We were there at 7pm and we got to about 2 feet away from the penguins - could've been much closer but we didn't want to bother them. There were 3 of them and one of them were just standing there, staring out at the sea, complemplating on life, etc and completely ignoring us! The other two were either scratching or grooming themselves.

1 hour to Invercargill. We didn't have time to eat but were planning on eating at the Zookeepers. Note: gas stations were all closed at Invercargill when we got there at 9pm.

2 hours to Te Anau (via Lumsden). 11pm.

Accomm : Te Anau Hotel and Villas. $215. http://teanauhotel.co.nz/
This was when I started to miss Motel on York. Sure TA H&V had larger rooms but they were definitely older. We somehow got upgraded to a lake-facing room. It occurred to me that all their hotel rooms have 2 queen-sized beds. Ideal for tour groups I suppose. Their bathrooms seemed even smaller than Motel on York's. The mini-bar was hidden behind the closet door and it smelled... Interior was very, um, lacking in taste. Just like their online pictures. Absolutely love the lake front view though. I wish we had more time to stroll along the lake or go canoeing.

DAY 4 Milford
Te Anau is a little nice tranquil resort town. Lots of cafes.

Brunch - Naturally Fiordland. Nice coffee and juice. Confused waitresses. Very slow service. Wouldn't let me skip the cheese in my sandwich.

Milford Road - 2 hours to Milford
* We started off at 12:30pm and found this to be a perfect time to go - no cars, no tour busses - and this was peak season! Great timing for the less crowded and cheaper 3pm Milford cruise.
* Buy the $2 "Road to Milford" pamphlet for km-by-km guide of the road. There're also (quite expensive) narrative CDs/cassettes of the points of interest which you can listen to as you drive - like Hawaii's "Road to Hana" narrative I suppose. Didn't pick one up though.
* Buy strong insect repellant from the pharmacy. $20. My husband got bitten in Catlins and the affected area is still a bit swollen as of now...
We passed through a lovely lupine field (they are, sadly, considered weeds in NZ) on our left at 36km.
After the Catlins Coast drive and all the expectations for Milford, we must say that we were unfortunately a tad disappointed by the Milford Road. Maybe we should've done the whole NZ trip backwards! And, no - the Milford drive was not dangerous at all, maybe just some caution and slowing down through the dark tunnel.
Right before going into the tunnel, a pair of kea were trying to dismantle people's cars and what-not, providing heaps of fun and photo opportunities.
The Chasm (about 10km before Milford) was the highlight of the road - for us at least. 20 min roundtrip walk. Amazing huge rocks eroded by the running water.

3pm - 4:40pm Real Journey Milford Cruise $48 www.realjourneys.co.nz
Allow 10 min to walk from carpark to pier. Or wait for the free connecting shuttle at the visitor center.
Our boat was really new and well maintained. Very comfy seats with tables. But of course you want to go upstairs to the deck. Wear a hat and a windbreaker as it's very gusty up there. It was a nice cruise but we didn't see too many waterfalls. Saw some seals on the "Seal Rock". Quite close. 1.5 hours was about right - wouldn't mind if it's shorter... No we weren't too impressed. There was only 1 or 2 other boats on the fiord (the reason why we picked this later cruise), and we were lucky to have only 1 tour group onboard with us. I'd say our boat was about 60% full.
I saw Red Boat's "Pride of Milford" which was very new and nice too, and they even had floor-to-ceiling windows.

Dinner - Olive Tree Cafe. Pretty good warm seafood salad. And they even let me have the sauce on the side - a first in NZ for us so far The seafood pasta was horrible.

DAY 5 Queenstown
Drove 2 hours+ to Queenstown. (You might wanna wait till Queenstown to get cheaper gas)

Lunch - Eichardt's Private Hotel The House Bar. http://www.slh.com/new_zealand/queen...ts_queeic.html
My favorite in NZ! Very comfy interior with fireplace, only 6 tables. Very few people at 1:45pm. A good place to chill out. The venison carpaccio with black sesame seed vinaigrette was reeeeeeeally good, and in truly generous portions! Waitress was really friendly and even helped us with deciding between excursions _after_ we paid - without tips!

We didn't plan for it, but my husband really wanted to go for the shotever jet. http://www.shotoverjet.com/
So we signed up for the next departure, which is - 10 minutes away? They leave every 15 minutes so there's really no need to book. Quite expensive for the 25 min ride though at $95.
Major fun with lots of 360degree turns! Believe me, 25 minutes was really enough. Sit in the middle if you don't wanna get (too) wet. Waterproof (unhooded) overcoats provided.
* Gotta go with something to cover your ears! My husband is someone who considers anything remotely resembling those sissy. But this advice actually came from him! It was a rather warm day at around 17C but the jets were going so fast (70km/h) through narrow canyons that the winds were like sharp knives to the ears. Believe me, your face will be deformed too LOL! Bring gloves as well.
* Hahaha we were very cheap and didn't buy the photos they took of us - you could see them (at very low resolution) on their webpage.

Dinner - Boardwalk. http://www.boardwalk.net.nz/
We had a seafood platter for two which was really fresh and good. Yummy crawfish, clams, oysters and poached salmon. Good service. Ask for a table by the windows while booking.

Accomm - The Heritage. $215. http://www.heritagehotels.co.nz/default.asp?sectionID=5
Excellent location slightly outside the noisy and touristy town. Plain rude frontdesk staff. She literally threw the credit card back at my husband. Another one was really rude with giving driving directions. Don't know what's up with the Heritage.
We love our room, nicest of our entire trip. It faced the forest with a bit of the lake in the corner. Perfect. (You pay more to get full lake views.) Our first sighting of an in-room safe in NZ. Heated towel bars. Adorable terrace with chairs and a table. Lovely decor. Furniture in good taste although not very well kept - the closet door was about to fall off. Almost yummy manuka honey shampoo and aloe vera conditioner. Lavender liquid soap. Even Grohe faucets!
Underground parking was a life-saver in rain, although it did get filled up during dinner times by outside guests.

DAY 6 Queenstown - Glenorchy & Nomad Safari
Pleasant 45-min drive to Glenorchy. Very pretty Lake Wakatipu with a snowcapped mountain backdrop. Bring insect repellant to walk down to shallow beaches (with beautiful purple rocks). I heard they shot a BMW commercial on this very road.

1:30-5:30pm Nomad Safari $120 (Wakatipu Basin Tour) http://www.nomadsafaris.co.nz/
Picked up at hotel in 4WD. There was only 1 other passenger with 4 no-shows. We climbed halfway up (I meant the 4WD did) the Remarkables on bumpy dirt road and our guide showed us Deer Park Heights where Gandalf stood and where the LOTR crew could have a 360degree shot with almost no sign of civilization. Saw the Pillar of Kings location - from the opposite direction. The funnest part was driving on the Arrow river in Arrowtown, criss-crossing up running waters. Saw filming spot of Ford of Brunei. We stopped in the middle of the river and there our guide pulled out a box full of tea, coffee and cookies for us! After tea it was work time and we panned for gold. No luck for any of us but I must say all those shiny grains looked perfectly like gold to me. The drive to Skippers Canyon was built by hands long time ago and was quite scary. Peter Jackson had considered this location before but the road was way too narrow for camera crew to come with all the equipment.

Skyline Gondola Dinner Package http://www.skyline.co.nz/
The gondola ride was nice and actually quite long. Luge rides were a lot of fun but a bit too crowded for safety's sake. This is also one of the 2 tandem paragliding sites in Queenstown. It's something like $240 and it includes a free roll of film where they take pictures of you paragliding.
It's a good idea to get seated in the restaurant before 7pm so as to get a table by the front windows. Better yet, get the corner table. Food was alright and I love the oysters. The live music was a bit depressing.

DAY 7 Drive to Fox Glacier
Lunch - Tatler. Horribly dry salmon.

45 min to Cromwell. It was the cherry season. Very good pick-your-own Dawson cherries at $7.5/kg
1 hour to Wanaka. Unplanned stop at Puzzling World $10. http://www.puzzlingworld.co.nz/ We probably spent too much time in the maze... Good idea to leave behiind all that you can before stepping into the maze.
The drive to Haast was past some winding roads along the lake. Picturesque - use caution.
We've planned to make a stop at the Salmon Farm which was 1 hour before Fox Glacier. http://www.glaciercountry.co.nz/oper...ails.asp?id=22 Cooked and smoked salmon dishes. But they're closed at 5pm.

9pm Arrived at Fox Glacier.

Accomm - Te Weheka Inn. $295 including full breakfast (don't expect much - although mushrooms were really yummy).
http://www.teweheka.co.nz/
Very chic, modern and charming design, but rather unhygienic - the kitchen sink smells mouldy, the toilet bowl stinks, and they put the toilet brush inside the bathroom (which was huge though)! The light swithces are quite dusty. All sinks are clogged.
They leave your windows open. Super unstable water temperatures. Heated bathrooms. Bath robes.
Try to ask for a room on the 2nd floor or you'll get the exciting view of the roof of the office. Nice touch was the evening drinks at the very nice lounge - they could've turned this huge lounge into a corner room! The lounge has trail maps and boardgames.
Friendly staff though. Oh, if they tell you there's no vacancy, I would double-check with them, they tend to be a bit absent-minded

DAY 8 Fox Glacier Heli-hike $245 (MUST DO) http://www.foxguides.co.nz/
Alpine Guides was just a 2-min walk away from the hotel. The "town" was really small anyway. You can buy jackets / fleece / hats / gloves there. But IF it's not gusty, it'll actually get quite hot up on the glacier. They gave us woolen socks to put over our own socks - I was expecting new ones but, oh well. Then you put on heavy boots with hobnails. Proved to be very useful on that slippery ice.
The helicopter ride was short but fun, including a few turns. The helicopter could take about 5 passengers. They tend to seat you by weight.

There were only 9 people in our group. They actually added an extra departure for us. Weather was definitely cooperating and it was a really fine day. (Don't forget your sunglasses!) This was the highlight of our trip. Walking pace was just right and our guide Abel was really good. There were frequent breaks when Abel would talk about the glaciers and take questions. We saw a lot of ice caves and walked through an ice arch - I thought I was gonna slip into the rather wide crevase in front of it.
Spectacular glacier! Well worth the price!

3pm Late lunch - Cafe Neve. White bait omelette was quite good. White bait is an extremely tiny fish found usually on the west coast.
There was a 20% surcharge for NZ national holidays, "by new labour act".

7pm Gillispies (black sand) beach. Desserted. 20 min roundtrip walk. You would need another 4 hours to reach the seal colony.
Saw stray sheep and campers.

9:15pm Lake Matheson walk. 1.5 hr roundtrip. We're about 30 minutes too late. It would've been lovely to see the setting sun shine on Mt Cook and have it reflected on the lake. Plus it was getting rather dark on our way back.

10pm Dinner - Cook Saddle Cafe. Love that place! A lot of ambience. Midwest. Howdy doodle (chicken) burger quite yummy. Nasty nasi goreng quite good too. And they actually let me have salad in place of the fries!
Another 20% surcharge.

11pm Glowworm Dell, right across the street from BP Gas Station. You'll see the glowing green signpost (almost like a haunted house). There's a suggested $2 donation - which is quite worth it as some kind soul has built handrails for you to follow through the little garden. You don't really need a flashlight. Just hold onto the handrail. That makes our (inexpensive) fix of NZ glowworms. Lovely. You would need no more than 10 minutes.

DAY 9 Tranz Alpine train ride to Christchurch
Drove 30 min to Franz Josef. Saw the 15-minute movie "Flowing West" at the visitor center/theatre. $10. Show times: 10:30am/12pm/1/3/5/6/7:30 It was quite ok.
Shopped at the "Flights of Fancy" right across the street. Lovely art pieces to bring home.

2 hours to Greymouth. Cheapest town to get gas so far. The train station was quite a mess in terms of crowd control. Better watch your checked luggages until they go onto the belt as they're likely to be left unattended before then. Extremely hard to get a push cart.
Budget and National have rental office right inside the (very small) train station. To return your car, you can just park your car in the vicinity and drop off the key without waiting in line.
The train ride http://www.tranzscenic.co.nz/
* Try to request seats on the left side (i.e. the north side) of the train while making reservations (buy online early to get discounted price, $91 for us from Greymouth to Christchurch). All major sights are on the north side. Of course they were unwilling to change your seats once they got assigned. If you change to a different seat on board, make sure you let the conductor know so that someone else boarding at the next stop won't be sitting on your lap! They sell muffins and drinks in the cafe car.
Get ready and head out to the open viewing car well before the train reaches Arthur's Pass, as a lot of people will be competing for a photo spot. Be prepared to stay out there fore 20 minutes. The crystal blue river was really pretty. Passing through tunnels was fun too.

6pm Right on time to Christchurch. Short supply of push carts again. Quite a mess at the luggage claim. Not a place to go alone with tons of luggages. Easy to get a cab which cost us $15 to get into town.

Accomm - Crowne Plaza, Club Floor. $220+GST. http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/cp/...chcks?irs=null
Free continental breakfast (don't expect too much) and evening canapes (yummy, from the restaurants) and wines in club lounge. Quite nice. Lounge open 24 hours for drinks.
The view was yucky, facing a casino. They said the rooms were newly refurbished!?? We could hardly see a hint. Was promised a king sized bed and got something like a queen. No time to fight for it at the front desk though. Oh, toothbrushes and razor in room - sheer luxury Nice and fairly big room. Bathroom was not small but the bathtub/shower had a raised floor and that part of the ceiling was therefore only about 6.5 feet away from the floor. Quite claustrophobic. Super weak water pressure.
The free red bus stops right in front of the hotel. And you could borrow bikes for free from the hotel.
Exceptionally helpful staff and concierge who helped us get packing materials for the art pieces we bought.

Dinner - Le Bon Bolli http://www.lebonbolli.co.nz/
(the downstairs Brasserie which doesn't have a dress code).
Would love to go back! Bread served with an interesting garlic fondue. No, bread is seldom free in NZ. Good escargots. The seafood salad and the sole wrapped in ham were really good.

DAY 10 Christchurch / Willowbank
Took 20-min tramway loop to get a feel of the city. Paid $14 on board for a 2-day pass. Funny drivers who loved their jobs. A costumed lady jumped up our tram with free fudge samples. We passed through the school filmed in Peter Jackson's NZ movie "Heavenly Creatures" and our driver was in the movie for 20 seconds, driving a tram!
Got off at New Regent Street. Short street with Spanish buildings. Lunch.
Alfreco lunch - Blue Note. Wonderful baked scallops in the shell and chicken fettucini.

Parts of the city were quite smelly and run-down. The free bus smelled, the bus stops smelled, reminding us almost of LA! Well, CHC was our first "large" city in NZ.

Punting on the Avon. $12/person/20 min. You could even get your own boat if there's not too many people waiting. Parts of the river were surrounded by older buildings which was quite nice. But don't expect Cambridge.

Picked up by Sunshine Shuttle ($15/roundtrip/2 people) to Willowbank Reserve. They pick up anywhere in the city. But our shuttle spent 30 minutes going around town to pick people up, while the actual ride was just 15 minutes...

Willowbank $16 http://willowbank.co.nz
Don't forget to buy some animal food (both for farm animal and birds) when you pay for admission. There're some eager mouths in the reserve. Lots of free ranging birds and ducks. Loved it. Loved the laamas too. We were able to see 3 very active kiwis, right up close!
* If you have honey with you, the kea will LOVE you. It's very likely that one of them will land on you...
Make sure you take one of the 1-hour tours - the guide has food to feed the otherwise sleepy animals, e.g. adorable possums (the ones you see dead on highways).

Dinner - Crowne Plaza cafe. You can truly skip this one. We wanted to go to Canterbury Tales which was supposed to be very good but they were closed till late January...

DAY 11 Christchurch city
Brunch - Tap Room on Oxford Terrace (alfresco). Good people watching spot. Quite yummy smoked salmon pizza.

Duck feeding by the Avon. Bring bread! Eager ducklings and seagulls.

We spent an hour or so at the newly opened Art Gallery with its interesting collection of modern art.

Closeby, the Art Center was actually a whole campus of buildings housing shops, galleries and workshops. It was where the Canterbury U used to be. Beautiful tin boxes of fudge+chocolates at the Fudge Cottage to serve as souvenirs.

We spent no more than 20 minutes at the Canterbury Museum. I liked the reproduced old street of Christchurch though. Don't forget to take a picture of yourself on that super tall "bike".

Regretted not spending time in the Botanic Gardens...

The Cathedral interior was beautiful. It felt a bit weird to have to pay to go into a church though.

Just outside Cathedral Square, DF Souvenirs was quite a bargain as compared to the posh DFS. The Manuka honey hand cream smells really good, and I got some lanolin eye creme as well. The Budget coupon book has a 10% coupon for this shop!

Dinner - Retour. http://www.travelindex.co.nz/traveli...none%29/000303
It lives in a restored rotunda right by the river but so do the office buildings across the river. However it's still nice to sit by the windows and look at the river and trees as you eat. Yummy warm (and free!) bread. Yucky watery seafood soup. Scrumptious beef medallions with miso sauce. Very nice monk fish, even for a non-fish-eater like my husband. A wonderful finale for the trip.

DAY 12 Leaving
Super Shuttle $9/person to the airport - no circling in town this time as our ride was really early. About 20 min to the airport.
Pay $25 airport tax - credit cards ok.

Other tips and observations:
- Try to have www.jasons.co.nz mail you at least an overall NZ route planner. Or pay to have the more detailed ones sent to you. Very useful.
- Film is very expensive in NZ.
- Apply lots of sunscreen always. NZ is pollution free and the sunshine index is always "extreme" even when it's raining.
- No, they really don't expect you to tip, which will take a while to get used to.
- If you're buying an expensive but small art piece, it might be worthwhile to ship it - as you don't need to pay GST if you ship.
- Service could be slow and unattentive, but folks are friendly.
- Don't order bread at dinners unless you have to - we've found them to be quite disappointing even at top restaurants
- Don't forget to try white bait omelette and pavlova among all other things.
- Bring binoculars if you don't have a videocamera

Jed

Hey katkat - I've been waiting for your report and I am not disappointed. Many thanks for the details and interesting sidelines.

Questions:
How and when did you get your accommodations? Considering that it was vacation time, were the hotels crowded?

How was your car, Budget, size, what would you recommend?

What kind of rain gear would you suggest?

How many times did you say: kia ora?

I will take you report with me for our upcoming trip in March.

kodi

Katkat, it's great to read your report. Thanks for posting in such detail. I, too, will print out your report and take it with me. Only just over a week til I leave!
I've already thought to pack those stretchy dollar store golves. It sounds like I might need them at times.
I will be doing quite a bit of driving too, and wonder about your day from Dunedin to Invercargill. DO you think it's a 'not to be missed' drive?
Is there anything else you wish you'd had time for? Or anything you would have skipped?

Chenoa

hey! that's a rather detailed report. Any idea if we can purchase the "Road to Milford" in Queenstown? cos will be driving to Milford Sound from Te Anau before the info. centre opens at 8am, and will be arriving in Te Anau after it closes at 6pm on the day before.

Chenoa

Found the "Milford Road Experience" brochure from the following:
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Regional-Info...ravel-tips.asp

Is this the same as what katkat purchased for $2?

katkat

Sorry I got a bit tied up until today --

Kia ora Jed and Kodi. Glad to be of help.

I made all my hotel bookings online - auto server with Heritage & Crowne Plaza and emails/fax with the rest. Since it was around Christmas time I made all my bookings back in early November. I would suppose March is not peak season though? - Just a guess!
But I’d say there’s no harm in making reservations early, especially with places with not too many rooms. All of the places we stayed at just needed a couple days of notice to cancel without penalty, so I just made the basic reservations and fine-tuned and made changes as I went on planning. I do remember seeing “No Vacancy” at Te Weheka Inn and Motel on York. Heritage was extremely busy too. With Crowne Plaza, you do get much better rates if you book early.

We got an Intermediate size car, and were pleased with it. The size was perfect for all those winding roads. A 4WD would be nice if you want to drive to Paradise (after Glenorchy) or up the Remarkables. But we didn’t regret not having one.

Rain gear – I brought with me two of those disposable raincoats which were extremely handy. I saw them available in Queenstown too. Super light to fit in your pocket should it suddenly begin to rain while you’re hiking 30 minutes away from your car. It was raining quite a bit, especially on the Catlins – for us at least. Waterproof windbreakers and pants also.

I was also glad I brought warm waterproof gloves with me. It was supposedly summer but it got so cold that even my husband didn’t find those gloves offensive like he usually would.

We didn’t see any Maori show – but I did exchanged quite a few kia oras with friendly visitor center staff and booking agents over emails!

Is Catlins Coast (the “Southern Scenic Route”) a must do? Let's say it'll be the #1 thing we both wanna re-do if we were going back to that same area! (Actually I wanted to re-do it right when we got to Te Anau! LOL) Fox Glacier will be a close #2. As Frommer’s put it, on top of the highlights I wrote about, the Catlins is a rich, unspoiled coastline… containing the most significant area of native forest on the east coast of NZ. I was sceptical at first and it was a last-minute change that I did to my itinerary, after listening to several fellow-Fodorites. Boy was that some excellent advice! (Most probably won't re-do Milford or the Tranz Alpine - but didn't regret doing them once.) And like I've said, we probably should have done the whole trip backwards - saving the best for last, that is!

REGRET NOT DOING:
I tend to pack too much into our trips. Though this time I'm glad we didn't have to wake up earlier than 9am on any of the days. However I still wish we could have some "down time" where we could just stroll along Lake Te Anau, etc. You know! Or just sip tea on the terrace of Heritage Queenstown (however too cold).

Wish we had done paragliding - we were thinking about it as it's rather expensive, but the office closed before we finished thinking! I think Queenstown is the perfect place to do it with all its scenery.

DONE DIFFERENTLY:
Maybe we should've stayed a night at Invercargill. That way we could get some rest after the long day on Catlins Coast before heading onto Te Anau. It was getting rather dark after 9:30pm, especially with no lights along the way. But well, I like to minimize packing/unpacking!
(NB: make sure you time your drive according to the low tides!!)

TO SKIP:
Queenstown skyline buffet - just do the gondola and get a drink at the bar! same views!
CHC antarctic center - unless you have an hour to kill during layover like we did
Otago penguin place - i'm sure there's other places with much closer encounters
Wanaka puzzle world - there's similar places all over the world. (unless you like life-size mazes like my husband...)
Chrischurch makes a good final stop as it is quite urban, and will serve as a nice "buffer zone" between life back home and the wonderful wilderness of NZ! but it's easily skippable, especially if you're from england or even new england.


OTHER NOTES:
Visitor centers along the Catlins Coast (and other rural area I suppose) close fairly early. e.g. the Owara one closes at 4pm. If you were to forget something at one of these centers (like we did!) and not to realize so until after hours, you might try calling up other bigger centers in the area (like the one in Balclutha) to see if they could get hold of the staff on their cell phones!

Visitor centers in small towns tend to have free phone for local calls too! (usually outside the office)

ON PACKING:
I was caught by surprise when we were requested to have our hand luggage weighed when we passed through security check. It weighed in at 10kg, being 3kg over the limit. (They had the limit as a safety measure against heavy items dropping from the overhead bins.) I was so thankful that I had a sturdy plastic shopping bag with me. After some rearranging my hand luggage still weighed in at 9kg (oops) but she let me go...

Want to go again!!
Kat

katkat

Hi Chenoa, that brochure is the free one picked up at the visitor centre. What it lacks is just the exact location in km. I believe all the stops are signposted, but since the roads are pretty curvy and you might miss some of the stops if you don't pay enough attention to watch out for them.

Large visitor centres tend to carry brochures of other regions as well, so you might try your luck at closeby visitor centres. There's also an email addr at the bottom of the page you posted. Think they might have a better idea?

Kat

kodi

Kat, Thanks so very much for more details....and important ones too!
Sounds like I'll have to try really hard to the the Catlins drive. I'm not sure I can hang around for low tides, depending on when they are. I will have to leave Dundedin early and need to be back in Queenstown by 8 pm or so. It will be a rushed trip, but I'll take your word for it , that it's not to be missed.
I'll print out this post...you've added so much interesting stuff and and practical ideas.
Maybe my dollarstore stretchy mitts won't be enough.

Thanks again for the great report.

katkat

Kodi, looks like you'll have luck with the low tides at the Catlins if you go this coming week --

http://www.niwa.cri.nz/services/tides

I used "Bluff" as the location and got the following low tide times. You could also use the cursor to get more accurate info. Have fun!

If you leave by 10am you could easily get into Queenstown by 8pm, with lots of stops! And there'll be bright daylight for you.
(Pure driving time from Dunedin to Invercargill thru Catlins = 3.5 hrs; Invercargill to Queenstown = 2+ hours)

For more info you could email Jane at [email protected] She gave me the url.

Jan 14 - 10am
Jan 15 - 11am
Jan 16 - 12N
Jan 17 - 1pm
Jan 18 - 2pm
Jan 19 - 3pm
Jan 20 - 4pm
Jan 21 - 5pm
Jan 22 - 5:40pm
Jan 23 - 6:22pm
Jan 24 - 7pm
Jan 25 - 7:38pm

- Kat

Chenoa

Hi!
I'm using the niwa tides as well, and these are my findings:

Nugget Point: refer to Nugget Point

Curio Bay / Porpoise Bay: refer to Waikawa

Cathedral Caves: it's midway btn Waikawa & Nugget Point (or about an hour later than Bluff)

kodi

Kat and Chenoa, thanks so much for the additional information. Kat, like you, I will now make a last minute change to my itinerary to include the Catlins coast drive. I'll get an early start and be in Queenstown before dark. Thanks for reassuring me that I can make it.
Now, enter kodi looking stupid!
I really am not familiar with tides. Oh, I know the water level changes... but I don't really and truly understand why it's best to do these stops at low tide. But I won't worry about it too much now, and I'll plan the day after I get to Dunedin. I'll actually be doing the drive on Feb 3....so I hope the tides are in my favour. I looked at the chart, but I'll study it again.
Only 3 more getups and I've got too much on my mind, I guess...and the excitement too!

Chenoa

Hi Kodi,
you can get the tide times from www.cathedralcaves.co.nz

Have a look at www.catlins-nz.com or www.catlins.org.nz for some more information on sites

kodi

Chenoa, thanks so much for the web sites.
I'll print this post so I have the sites with me when I'm away.. I'm running out of 'research' time!!
Too much left to do! But I'm so glad I've added the Southern drive to my itinerary.

Chenoa

I have just clarified with a staff at the Visitor Centre that the cathedral caves are only open for a set of low tides. So, make sure you use the tide details on their web site.

kodi

Chenoa, Thanks very much. I'll be sure to check the tides. I'm looking forward to that south drive.

dotty

Hi, Katkat,
I want to go to this wonderful place you have visited!! As a Kiwi I was very impressed with the honesty of your extremely comprehensive report. Well done. I think the NZ Tourism Board could use it.
I have been to all places mentioned although I have not been done the TransAlpine tip (was planned for our trip we have just returned from but now on plan for next January!) and we have not been on Fox since 1973! I was interested to read your comments about the places I loved. I was sorry you had not seen the penguins on the Otago Peninsula - when we were there 3 years ago we watched penguins returning from the sea, and were within a few feet of adults moving around the hides. Pleased to see you made it to the Happy Hens - great fun shop, isn't it.
Curio Bay is an amazing place, although we didn't see any penguins - we were obviously too early in the day. But we did see Hector's Dolphins in the next bay, Porpoise Bay, and that made our trip in that region. Sadly didn't get to Cathedral Caves but we willl do that in the next few years.
We passed many stands of lupins on our trip over the last 3 weeks, especially around Springfield and Porters Pass in Canterbury. There was an article about the lupins in the newspaper last week. In the Cant'y region they were planted by a lady some years ago, but are now considered a nuisance as they have started to invade the waterways, so the Council is planning a 'search-and-destroy' mission. I took photos of the lupins on the Milford Road three years ago, and more this year around Porters Pass. My husband drove us out there one afternoon especially for me to take photos!!
Once again, thank you for your most enlightning report.
Dot.

katkat

Hi Dot!

I'm honored to have my report approved by a Kiwi!

The guide at Penguin Place told us that only 1 chick out of 9 (?) survived this year. Pretty sad. But we were happy to see the penguins enjoying themselves at Curio Bay.

By the way, my husband agreed to go to Curio Bay mostly because I kept reminding him of your comment. And we wouldn't have noticed Happy Hens had you not told us about it! Now we've got 2 hilariously happy hens sitting happily on our table.
Thank you!!!

Kat

RichardJ

We will be staying in Dunedin at Motel on York for 2 nights, one full day. The on line brochure gives it a 5 star quality rating. New is good but I am disappointed you felt it still seems like a motel (the word motel reminds me of all of the grim overnight stops I made with my parents on childhoood vacation treks across the country with my parents) Would you stay at this place again? We are going with another couple and asked for a suite with an adjoining room--very reasonable rates. I presume it's not a noisy location?

We were planning on the 4 hour drive to Te Anau via the inland route. How much longer would the Catlins drive take? We are staying at Radford's Lakeview--new two story motel recommended by the Browns Boutique Hotel (where we are staying for 3 nights in Queenstown). We have a glow worm cave tour reserved 6:45 PM the day we arrive in Te Anau. Doesn't sound like we could leave Dunedin, drive the long route, check into our hotel, eat dinner and get to the tour center by 6:25 check in time? We really don't want to get up at the crack of dawn and hurry, hurry.

I made reservations for the overnight on Milford--hopefully we will enjoy that experience.

We will be in Dunedin during the rhododendron festival the end of October but it's also during the mating season for the albatross so the center does not allow vistors. In retrospect, would you suggest the Elmfield wildlife tour or go to the Penguin Place on our own?

Did you happen to go on the Cadbury chocolate tour or the beer tour? We would only take time for one.

Your report was so helpful. Thanks so much for taking the time to post such much information.

CDJD

Richard - Unless you are able to reschedule your Glow worm tour booking I wouldn't recommend trying to squeeze in the southern scenic route. My husband and I just did this trip 2 weeks ago and we left Te Anau around 9:30am and arrived in Dunedin around 8pm. The southern scenic route was terrific but as mentioned you have to be in the right place at the right time to see some of the attractions. The Cathedral Caves were by far our favorite but low tide was at 3:45pm and it does take about 30 min just to walk down to the beach and over to the caves. You would be stretching yourself thin. It is definitely worth visiting though if you can manage it.

In Dunedin we did the Cadbury tour and it was good. I work in the health & safety industry in the USA so I had more interest in seeing differences in how they run their operations. They pump you with candy throughout the tour and you see some lines running and at the end there is a 1 ton chocolate waterfall which is neat. We enjoyed it but I wouldn't say that it is a must. The Otago Peninsula was fabulous. We stopped at Larnach Castle and drove up to the tip near the Albatross Centre and watched the seals (saw a baby penguin too)

mlgb

Richard, I agree that to do the Catlins in one day is a rush, and you probably won't get the most out of it.

I enjoyed the beer tour and especially the sampling tour in their bar at the end. Two years ago I was in Dunedin during the Rhododendron festival,and was able to visit some of the private gardens that were open. I especially loved the ones in the residential area above the quarry on the way out toward Otago Peninsula. There was no charge for most.