Looking for itinerary tips for our 12 day road trip in NZ

Hey everyone,

My girlfriend and I are heading to NZ from Aug. 7-19th. We've rented a Spaceship camper van and plan on driving from Auckland to Christchurch and then flying back up to Auckland to save time and money. Seeing as though we only have so much time we are trying to pick the best things to do and see to make the most of our time. We have a rough itinerary but want to know your favourite spots/places/things to see. If you can suggest cool places to camp with our van as well please do. Any and all feedback is welcome, we're looking for tips from the travelling community!!!! Happy Travels!

Hi guys, you are really missing out on the best of NZ by finishing at ChCh (Christchurch). twelve days is heaps of time to fit in heading down 8 more hours to Queenstown. heading through Lindis pass in south island and the Aoraki to see Mount Cook is a must if you are going that far! If you are after scenery...the best places are definitely the top of the south island around Marlborough, Nelson is a perfect little place to base your self for a couple of days to head out on the boats around the sounds. I personally perfer the east coast of the south island, kaikoura etc. However Arthurs pass is beautiful also...so much to choose from, it is all very picturesque driving down south.
I can't stress enough how much you will be missing if you don't go further to Queenstown, see the Remarkable mountains surrounding Queenstown...theres a reason they are called that! Get some adventure under your belt in Queenstown. Head over to Te Anau and the fiordlands, fox glacier etc
North island wise is great for NZ culture, i would recommend heading to Rotorua, it is a predominant maori town settled amoungst the thermal springs so smells really bad but you get use to it in a couple hours...great place to learn about maori culture and our history, see the 'pancake' rocks and go for a stroll to the blue lakes. Wellington is big little city if that makes sense, if you feel like heading out on the town there are some great bars. Number one being the Bangalore Polo club in the CBD .Make sure you get your ferry tickets from north to south a few days ahead to make sure you get a spot.
There has been major crack downs on freedom camping so make sure you find a place to park up legally at night to avoid a big fine. The 'top 10 holiday parks' are everywhere and decently priced.
Check out www.newzealand.com
I hope some of this helps, NZ is a great driving country, make sure you have a good camera, and seriously see if you can fit in a couple days heading down to QT and back up to ChCh.
Good luck!

Hey Jess - Thanks for the reply! Should have mentioned we are for sure hitting up Queenstown on the way then back up to Christchurch for flying out. Here's a rough rough Itinerary - lemme know if there's anything else u think worth adding in while we're around these areas. We've left a couple days extra just in case we want to stay in one spot longer than the other.

Auckland - Mount Maunganui - Rotorua -
Waitamo - Tongaporutu - Wellington -
Nelson - Golden Bay area- cape Fouldwind- Punakaiki- Greymouth - Arthur's pass-
Tasman lake- Mount cook - Queenstown - Lindis pass- Lake Tekapo - Christchurch

Assuming we have time we might try to throw in an extra place to stop either Dunedin or Kaikoura - Any suggestions? We just don't want to give ourselves too much realistically! Also we are going in August so on the south Island are the roads actually covered in snow? Is it very cold? We're from Canada so we're use to freezing cold but are hoping it doesn't get too chilly!

You will literally just be driving and sleeping on that itinerary! This a drive by holiday, you will have very little time to actually stop and do anything, especially in August with less daylight hours.

Forgot about the daylight thing - do you think it would be beneficial to cut down on our itinerary a bit and see more of fewer places rather than see less of more place?

You picked one of the best places for a driving holiday :) NZ South Island has spectacular scenery just about everywhere! We spent 2 weeks doing the same and it was amazing. Definitely check out Queenstown, as well as Milford Sound, Lake Tekapo and either Fox or Franz Josef glacier.

I wrote about our whole journey, including some great pics if you want more ideas or inspiration. We did it by car instead of camper, so unfortunately I can't advise on places to camp in the van, but certainly happy to advise on things to do/see :)

Awesome! I think we are now considering flying to christchurch and doing a full 12 days around the south island instead of both. I don't want to rush everything. Anyone have any thoughts on the Catlins? What were your favourite places on the South? And should I be concerned at all about major snow storms affecting our itinerary? Thanks for all the help!

You need to consider carefully how far you can go in one day and still have daylight left to explore. No point in just ticking of places as you drive past - 12 days is just enough time for half of the SI IMO. Don't forget it will be below zero most nights so you will need super-thick sleeping bags.
1. Arr NZ; fly to CHC
2. Explore Chch; drive to Punakaiki
3. Drive to Fox Glacier (2N)
4. Explore
5. Drive to Wanaka
6. Drive to Te Anau (2N)
7. Coach tour to Milford Sound (don't drive due to avalanche danger)
Option A:
8. Drive to Queenstown (3N)
9&10 explore/ski etc
11. Drive to Mt Cook
12. Return to Chch
Option B:
8. Drive to QTN (2N)
9. Explore/ski etc
10. Drive to somewhere along the Catlins eg Nugget Point
11. Drive to Dunedin
12. Explore/Drive to Chch
And yes - you will need to be aware of snow & more importantly ice. Check weather forecasts daily and do not drive before 10 am or after dark on rural roads.

At that time of year I would definitely want a better van than a Spaceship. I love campervan trips and actually got back from 12 days in NI last night, but we definitely would not have wanted to go smaller than our Apollo hi-top and thats April. In August it would be a euro tourer with its own toilet or nothing I'm afraid.
We found in April that it was either too chilly or wet to sit out on an evening, so we always cooked in our van, then played cards/read, before turning it into a bed and keeping warm under the duvet from about 9pm.The cooking really warmed the van, but we still used the heater occasionally. We are English too so used to cold.
We have done 2 10-12 day trips, and still have missed lots. I would do just one island myself, do it reasonably well, without heaps of crazy driving, then hope to come back one day. We did 11 days SI last year and still missed Milford and anything south of QTN, and 12 days North Island over this Easter, and didn't get time for the Bay of Islands, Taupo or more than an evining in Auckland.
The roads take much longer to drive than expected, especially in SI, and it wouldn't be fun doing it in the dark at all

Thanks for the input! Question: Are there any restaurants or places we can have a drink or two/grab a bite once the sun goes down in some of the less populated areas? I'm sure Queenstown will have lots to do just wondering if places like Lake Tekapo would have any sort of place to hang out for a few hours once we've arrived?

If you keep to one of the itineraries I gave you above, there will be pubs &/or restaurants at all the major towns. Mt Cook has only 1 cafe besides the hotel & the Catlins has limited choices. If you are camping you will need to be self-sufficient there. With so little time you don't have time for intermediate towns like Lake Tekapo.

Queenstown is obviously a fab place for an evening, we stayed at the campsite near the bottom of the Gondola as whilst not cheap, it was so easy to walk to everything.

Wanaka was another fave place, check out the Cinema Paradiso. Absolutely fab experience.

We also liked Franz Zosef for an evening out, and whilst we didn't stay in Nelson, that looked great too.