How to travel around New Zealand in 2 weeks? – week 1

Yes, it’s correct, in 2 weeks. It is quite hard to see everything, but we tried to visit as many places as we could in this short period. 

I had one of the best Christmas gift somebody can wish for, my friend visited me and stayed for New Years Eve and my birthday. 

I was working down in Hastings, so I headed back to Auckland on the 23rd December. The journey was not smooth, but I was happy to get back after 5,5 hours drive. I stayed with my friend and celebrated Xmas with her. On the 26th December, I picked up my friend from the airport and we straight headed to the north. Well, if you ask her, maybe she had other plans for the first day (eg have a shower after spending 2 days on flights), but I dragged her to vanlife from the first second. We went as far as I could drive – so we ended up on Sandy bay. There is a free camping area (even for non self contained) where we could spend the night there with Sullivan. 

Next morning after having breakfast at Sandy bay we visited Whale bay. I don’t know how I never been there before. It is beautiful, maybe one of the best spot in the north. Absolutely worth a visit if you are in the area.

I regretted a bit that I was not wearing my swimsuit because the weather was way better than the previous days. We spent an hour there and headed to Tutukaka lighthouse. I am obsessed with lighthouses and that’s why this one was a big disappointment. It is not a proper lighthouse just a square concrete. However it was still worth the hike for the view. The “lighthouse” is on a peninsula, well on an island if you go high tide, so better check the tides before you are going there. I knew, that we are going to drive and do so much on the south island, I didn’t want to rush in the north. We stopped at Goat Island, but it was packed and I was so hungry we left and looked for a nice fish and chips shop. We spend the night at Ruakaka camping, had wine on the beach and was chased by oyster catchers as it was nestling period. By the way, have you really been in New Zealand if you never been chased by a bird? Mostly magpie. Hmm well, I don’t think so. I will write about that chase in my “Travelling around the east cape” post…

The next stop was Waipu caves. For my friend this was the first time to see the glowworms. On the itinerary we had two other places with glow worms – I know addicted, aye? But they are just sooo beautiful, really feels like you are under the starry sky.

What do you need to know about Waipu caves? That is one of the free caves where you can see glow worms. The cave is a minute walk from the carpark but you need to go further in to see them. You have to cross a stream and everything is muddy, so don’t wear fancy clothes. Most of the time I went barefoot, however I know there is some eels in the water. Last time I went with my flatmate and he tried to get me through a tunnel to see the cathedral with more glowworms. I am claustrophobic and also not feeling safe in water where I can’t see the bottom. Well, in this case, you are in a dark cave (obviously we don’t have a headlight only our phones) with a ceiling started at your belly button and the water is knee deep. I was not feeling safe at all – especially if an eel touches me. First time I was not brave enough to cross the tunnel. This time the water level was lower and there were more people around. I told to a group next to us, that they can cross and there is a big cathedral there etc. They were 6-7 of them and I convinced them to go. So we followed them. 😀 It was way easier to follow a group and of course it was not a long tunnel, however for me seemed forever, but at least I know what to expect on the way back. By the way there were less glowworms so I am not sure if it worth, but I faced my fears for sure!

The rest of the day we tried to find a camping. Everything was fully booked as it was the summer holidays between Christmas and New Year. I forgot this and had no booking, so we were driving around for hours. Luckily the traffic was on the other way, everybody coming to north from Auckland and we were heading back to Auckland. After visiting 3 campsite without any luck, I called a couple and in Red Beach there was some space. Well, it’s almost back to Auckland but still on the beach so we stayed there. Original plan was Snells beach or anywhere in that area.

The next day we left Sullivan at my friend’s place and went to the airport. We were flying to Christchurch, where we rented a self contained car for a week. I had a plan where to go, what to see. I still can’t believe we did that and I drove that much, but let’s start from the beginning.

We arrived to Christchurch and we spent the night at my friend’s place – had a shower as we didn’t know when will be the next opportunity and slept in a normal bed. Next morning we picked up the car, went for food shopping and headed to Mt Cook. We took the scenic route from Christchurch but the weather was not on our side. It was too cloudy so we didn’t see Mt Hutt or any other mountain on the way. 

Our first stop was Tekapo. We saw a lot of pictures of the blooming lupines and we found one huge area just before Tekapo. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the one by the lake. As it was close to New Years Eve, the police was breath testing everybody. This was the first time for me (unfortunately not the last :D). It would be nice to spend the night here and stargazing but as I said we had a strict travel plan so we didn’t have time to spend too much time anywhere. From Tekapo we got on the road and headed to Mt Cook. This is one of my favourite road, once you take a left turn you can see Lake Pukaki and that endless blue. My heart was beating faster and I had goosebumps once we got there. I love that part. Also Lake Pukaki is one of my favourite with all the mountains in the background and the drive all the way along the lake heading to Mt Cook. I am simply in love. The last time I visited Mt Cook, Hookers Valley was closed due to the bridge damage. Well I mean there was no bridge due to flood, so this time I really wanted to walk along and go as close as I can. Luckily it was open and it is an easy walk to the mountain. Definitely recommended! You need around 3 hours for the roundtrip, not because it’s that long, but you will stop every 100 meters to take pictures and just look around, adore the view.

My friend is a mountain lovers, while me, I prefer beaches but I have to admit I am getting more into mountains now too. Lake Pukaki and Mt Cook got me. 🙂 We left before it got dark, however once we reached the camping it was pitch dark. I tried to find a place to park for the night but the surface was not really even and as I said I couldn’t see anything. We parked next to a camper and hoped Barry’s handbrake works properly. This was our first night in the rented car – we named him Barry as he looked like a giant blueberry. Luckily we woke up in the morning at the same place and not in the lake. Good job Barry. And the view… The view was amazing. Mt Cook always treats me well. Most of the people can’t see the top or anything as it’s covered by clouds, however for me it was clear weather both times, included that morning. I am not joking, I could wake up there every morning, living in my campervan even if it’s not by the sea. 

From Lake Pukaki our way was leading to Wanaka. I skipped the new years eve party as it was too expensive and I decided we can do way more in the 2 weeks than be on a festival. Wanaka was packed as I would expected, but we still enjoyed the nice weather by the lake. Also one of my friend was there- I know, I have friends everywhere, so it was really nice to catch up with her after half year. Thank you Femke again to meet us. 🙂 

Our plan was freecamp by one of the lake, but as soon as we settled down the ranger came and sent everybody away. There were only one free camping close by, very far from the lake, but we had no other choice. I couldn’t believe that everybody was so quiet, there was no firework and we were sleeping by 00:02. 😀 What a celebration. 

Next morning we woke up that the ranger arrived. He told us where we can have a shower for free and other useful information – which we didn’t need at all to be honest. Getting out the car, we realized something is not okay with the weather. The sky was orange, it looked like the world ended during the night. After we figured out, it was the smoke from the bush-fire from Australia. I am not joking, it looked very scary and apocalyptic.

We had breakfast and planned our day – visiting as many waterfalls on the way to Fox Glacier as we can. We had a helihike booked for the 2nd January, so we didn’t had too much time to wondering around Wanaka and west coast. Learning from the previous mistakes, I called the backpackers at Fox Glacier if they have any free spot left. Luckily they said they always have free spots – thank you Sabina for the recommendation. Anyway it was better to make sure than arrive there and we realise we can’t stay.

Our first stop was Blue Pools. I am still amazed how clear blue is the water there. And of course there was a lot of sandflies again, but we were prepared this time and we had the spray. Literally we sprayed ourselves in every 10 minutes. The next stop was Fantail fall. All of these waterfalls are 5-10 minutes walk from the car park so it is very easy to visit 3-4 on the way. It was so funny, as we always saw the same people at every stop. After a while we were like do you think the couple with the white car come here as well? We were disappointed if we haven’t see our favourite person at the next stop. Good game, hahaha.

If you heading west on road 6 (well there is no other option) the next waterfall is Thunder Creek falls. Maybe this one was my favourite. I really like the short walk there and that you can walk down to the river and I think you can walk under the waterfall as well. The temperature was not on our side, it was pretty cold so I was not risking falling in the water. Also sandflies were eating us, so we didn’t spend much time at any of these waterfalls. Last but not least we stopped at Roaring Billy falls. It started to pour down, so we just had a quick look.

In Haast I was facing my biggest fear. A long narrow bridge. Well, if you read any news of New Zealand, you know there were a couple of bridge collapsed because of the flood. This bridge in Haast is nightmare. Long, one lane with a couple passing bay and just looked like it can collapse any minute. I was hoping that nobody will come in front as there was no way I will stop at the passing lane. I would never stop on a bridge.

The rain was still pouring down but we stopped at Knights Point lookout and Bruce Bay. The sky still looked like the end of the world is coming, it was really hazy and orange. We reached Fox Glacier late afternoon and checked in to the hostel. Well, as I mentioned we spent the night in the carpark. It will be an important information later.

The hostel has a restaurant as well, so we decided to eat in instead of cooking. Finally we could charge all our phones, cameras properly in the common area. In the kitchen we met a french guy who told us he has been at Blue pools and all the waterfalls and stopped by Bruce bay. I told him, surely he is on my picture somewhere. 😀 As I mentioned before, everybody stop at the same places and follow each other. Later on we joined a couple of people and talked about where we are from. So weird, there was a french couple who lives in Hungary and an Austrian guy (my friend lives in Austria) and also later we heard that there is a Hungarian couple as well. I bet there were the most Hungarians together at the same time in that hostel in whole New Zealand.

We went to sleep quite early as next day we should go helihike. After like 20 mins we heard the fire alarm went off and 5 minutes later the siren went off as well. I am quite chilled person, but when you are at Fox Glacier during the night, you have a lot of thing in your mind what could go wrong. It was not long after that the whole west coast was flooded and all the road was closed – so we were lucky it was opened back by the time we arrived, but still, I was not trusting mother nature. I was thinking that if there is a tsunami, we are safe as we are far away from the sea and also far from sea level. If there is an avalanche, well, there was no mountains with snow on top close, so I was not worried about that. So I googled, what should you do when you hear the siren in Fox Glacier. Well, nothing as it just alarming the closest fire person in charge… 2 minutes later the fire truck arrived and of course all the people from the hostel had to leave. We were lucky staying in the car as we could just drove off. Once we decided we are safe, we went back to sleep. Of course next morning we met the french couple and they asked if we smoked in our room which set the fire alarm off?! We told him we were sleeping in our cars so we didn’t even know what’s going on. 😀

We woke up excited, but as soon as we looked out we realized it’s raining… Worse, it was a thunderstorm. Guess what, the heli hike was cancelled. We could get the refund or rebook it for the next day. There is not much to do in Fox Glacier, except spend a lot of money, so we decided to get the refund and stuck to the original plan and stay in Kaikoura 2 day not at Fox.

So a bit crying as this would be the highlight of our trip, but well it happens a lot of time. West coast weather is not really nice so these helihikes get cancelled all the time. 

As we are halfway of our trip and this post is getting longer and longer, I need to cut it in half. Stay tuned, second part is coming soon – I promise.

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