New Zealand Pics, South Island Road Trip

Got back yesterday afternoon form a fantastic time spent touring New Zealand for 20 days. We'd been taking about going for years, but put off by the expense, and the long flight times, but as we've been married for 20 years this year we decided to use that as a good enough reason to knuckle down, start saving and planning the trip. I posted on here last year asking for advice from folks that had already been, thanks to everyone for your help. We took your advice and decided to concentrate on the middle region of the south island. I did my research and planned our driving route. The flights, car hire and most of the hotels were booked through Trailfinders. Three of the towns on our route were not covered by Trailfinders so we booked the accommodation ourselves online. To maximise our time in NZ we bit the bullet and decided not to make any stop overs en route. The flights were booked through Los Angeles with Air New Zealand who were excellent.

Our alarm went of at 6am and the taxi arrived at 7am for the short drive to Manchester airport where we boarded the shuttle to London Heathrow. It was a clear morning and as we circled the capital we had great views of all the sights along the Themes. At approx 2:30pm we were taking off for the 11hr 45min flight to LAX. Arriving in LA we had to get off the plane while it was re fuelled, cleaned and stocked with food, meanwhile, we "stood in line" for a hour, to have our photos taken and fingerprints scanned, then had to sit in a large room for 90 mins with nothing but a coffee machine and toilet facilities that reminded me of Midnight express; welcome to America! I wouldn't have believed I'd be so happy to get back on the plane. That didn't last long though, it was a 12 hr 45min flight to Auckland. The entertainment systems on board were very good with choice of about 100 movies, TV shows, and CD's. Having a wander around the plane to stretch my legs in the middle of the night, I went right to the back of the plane and opened one of the window blinds. Looking out across the massive wing of the 747 400 on a starry night, 35,000ft above the Pacific ocean, travelling at 600mph, 3000 miles from LA with over 3000 miles to Auckland. It really was a beautiful sight. As I looked around inside the aircraft carrying some 370 passengers , which was mostly in darkness, lots of people were sleeping, or trying to, some were reading, some watching movies, I really was staggered by it all.

Touching down at dawn in Auckland it was a miserable, wet, grey morning, but we were too tired to care. Shortly after we boarded the 1hr 20min flight to Christchurch, and the weather started to improve as we headed south. On reaching Christchurch it was a lovely sunny morning which raised our spirits. Our bags were loaded into a taxi and we headed for our hotel in the centre of the city. At 9am local time we checked into the hotel, 37 hours after leaving home for Manchester Airport. Unfortunately our room wouldn't be available until 2pm, so we went for some breakfast and strolled around Christchurch in the sunshine. It was about 4:30pm when we crashed into bed, totally knackered!

Pics and daily reports to follow.

Dave

Welcome home Looking forward to the photos.

Hey Lisa

Day 1 - arrive in Christchurch

Christ Church Cathedral


Arts Centre


Forgot to take more pics, my head was scrambled with jet lag.

Bite to eat before bed

Day 2 - Christchurch

Our hotel had a great location.


The England cricket team were staying there. I don't follow cricket at all, bloody hate it, but I did recoginse the bloke who is dating the fit burd from Liberty X. Then spotted the Indian looking chap who always wears a head scarf thingy.

What better way to start your holiday than a visit to a classic car show in the morning






Looks like this baby has seen some real action




Bloody Avenger












There was another car event on at the raceway at the other side of town, so we went for a look.
Drifting competition


Nice classic


Crazy motorbike stunts


There was also a bikini competition, but I didn't get any pics of that

Christchurch was full of imported Jap cars, all seemed to have modded exhausts to. I thought it was quite good but the locals are very pissed off with it, and it was reported on the news every night.

Shame on you
Welcome back chap, nice pics as always.
I guess nows the time to start thinking about your new stead

And your next holiday of course

Keep the pics coming

Jonathan

I just want to see what you hired in the end

Welcome back Dave.
Great pics already, looking forward to the rest
As a youngster I always wanted to ride in a Lincoln Continental - but never have done. A mate of mine has a Daimler Dart, but nowhere near as tidy as the one in your pic.

"Bloody Avenger" made me think, "Jolly hockey-sticks lights".

you never fail. great pics! looking forward to updates

We were both up at 3am for breakfast, then watched the Australian GP live.

Jet lag sucks

Great stuff Dave.

Looks like you had a fantastic trip - but where is the S??

I love your trips Dave

Glad you enjoyed it Dave. Fantastic place isn't it?

One of these days I#ll drag Kate out there.

Thanks for the advice Mark. You were spot on

Dan - there were plenty of times I'd have loved to have been in the S.

Day 3 - Christchurch to Kiakoura - 110 miles via the Alpine Pasific Triangle Route.

Plan for today was to head north from Christchurch and drive the coastal leg of the Alpine Pasific Triangle, to Kiakoura. This small town is overlooked by majestic mountains, rising spectacularly from the Pacific Ocean and renouned for it's wealth of marine wildlife.

First job was to pick up our hire car.
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Here it is


1976 TR6


Then hit the road








Stopped off at Motunau Beach




Then we're back on the road


Another place too lovely to pass without stopping (there were many on this trip)






We arrive in Kiakoura and take in the view from our deck

Fantastic pictures dave.

TR6

I miss kaikoura. I had a fantastic few days with a japanese girl there.

Great post & with a TR6, a great hire car, one with the added excitement of not knowing if you will get to your destination if "Lucas, the prince of darkness" decides to strike. Anyway more seriously, can you give the Hire Company details? As I have New Zealand pencilled in for a long vacation and that would give some added interest to have one of those on the intinerary.

Well Done Dave,

Glad you had a great time in New Zealand, the write upp is great and the pictures a re fab.

3 Weeks to go and I'll be out there 21days in total doing the North and South visiting freinds and family.

Can't wait, and these pictures have teased me even more, can't wait to get home, yippie

Cheers
Kiwi

Day 4 - 130 miles - Kiakoura to Christchurch via Hanmer Springs on Inland Alpine Pacific Triangle Route.

Our room was facing due east


so I was up early (not a problem whilst still suffering from jet lag), to watch the sun rise over the Pacific.


We had planned to do some whale watching yesterday but all the boats had cancelled any sailing trips due to rough seas. The boat trips are typically 3-4 hours and with us not being good sailors the thought of spending half the day throwing up was none too appealing. So we opted for the helicopter instead and went out in search of sperm whales.


We did see one whale but I didn't get a good pic of it.

Great views of the Kiakoura Peninsula from the chopper


Looking north to the mountains


After the chopper flight and a re-fuel of the TR we headed inland on route 70, destination Hanmer Springs. The road from Kiakoura to Waiau is an absolute classic. Up and down, twisting and turning on a lovely surface with hardly any other traffic. The TR was great fun, shifting up and down the gearbox, flicking the overdrive switch, wallowing through the bends and giving myself plenty of time to get the braking done. Fantastic!






Stopped for lunch in Hanmer Springs then we're off again heading for Christchurch


Before we dropped the TR off we had a coffee in Sumner and spotted this lovely E Type


But we're still happy with the old TR


Then we were off to hand back the keys . Lee (the owner of the TR, of whom I will post more details later), is an absolute top bloke. We unloaded our luggage from the TR and he brought out the Daimler to waft us back to our hotel

Nice photos

The radio looks a tad out of place in the Daimler

Wow! Great photo's Dave, glad you had a great time!

Love the TR great pics too!

Have to say, great idea renting the TR.

Last time I was there I rented a Toyota Starlet. Not quite the same

And that Daimler - Blagtastic.

Day 5 - 210 miles - Christchurch to Mount Cook

First job for today was to pick up the car I had chosen to take us around NZ for the next 12 days, unfortunately nothing like as cool as the TR; a Toyota Rav 4. I've never driven this type of car before and thought it would be a nice change. It was great having a car that swallowed all our luggage with plenty of room to spare; not something you get with the S.
The first couple of hours were pretty boring as we crossed the Canterbury Plains.

Rakaia River bridge near Mount Hutt




Looking out over Lake Tekapo


As we wait at the junction to turn onto the Mount Cook road a couple of old cars turn in front of me.


I'm not too sure what they are but we follow them all the way to Mount Cook (35 miles), and they park up at our hotel, the Hermitage, where they meet up with several other similar cars. I can't wait to get the camera out and get some pics.






We go to the hotel reception, pick up the key for our chalet and drive around to find out where we're going to be spending the next coupe of nights. Looks like we have an interesting neighbour.


I have a chat with the gentleman who tells me they belong to the UK Bristol owners club. They've been doing a tour of both islands over the past month which will be coming to an end later this week. They had all the cars shipped over from the UK (like you do), but the ship missed it's connection in Singapore and they were delayed for a week; not too much of a problem for these fellows.

Took a walk to the Hooker River for a better view of Aoraki (Mount Cook), the highest mountain in NZ at 12,349ft