Drive in South Island

Victor wrote:
Thank you for all your invaluable comments.

I need to adjust my itinerary, as most of you pointed out clearly that the
kids may find it boring. For only 5-6 days, if I need to choose between

1) Queenstown thru Mt Cook to Christchurch
2) Queenstown thru west coast to Christchurch

which one has more scenery and need to go once in my life.

Via west coast is definitely the more scenic route - don't miss it.

BTW if you really want to go to Mt Cook you can fly there by light plane
from Franz Joseph.

--
Burn the land and boil the sea,
You can't take the sky from me.

In article , Victor says...
Peter,

Thank you for detailed information. I am much appreciated.

Having considerated your advice, I will revsie my itinerary as follows:

Day 1 (10th) noon-time arrive in Queenstown - city wanderer
Day 2 (11th) fly and cruiser to Milford Sound and play in Queenstown
Day 3 (12th) drive north to FJ or Fox with several brief stop
Day 4 (13th) fly to/back Mt Cook and walk on the glacier. Stay in Gleymouth
Day 5 (14th) go to Hanmer Springs or Kaikoura
Day 6 (15th) go to Christchurch
Day 7 (16th) go back home

That sounds doable, expensive for the flights, but if you want to trade
money for time spent on long drives, that will work fine.

Be aware that weather is a big factor in Milford Sound expeditions. I've
been there twice and though each time it was a marvellous experience,
neither time was it what you'd call fine weather. It rains a LOT there.
This could well affect flights in and out.

You also miss a great drive in and through the Homer Tunnel, but frankly
I'd swap that for a flight any day!

If you don't mind, I would ask the following questions:

1) any suggestion to good seafoods in West Coast or other cities?

Fish and chips is good everywhere. Lobsters and salmon and mussels are
extra good. A regional speciality on the West Coast is whitebait, little
fishies eaten whole, usually in some sort of fried mass.

2) any suggestion on the reasonable priced accommodation among the above
cities?

The Top Ten chain of tourist parks have a range of accommodation from
basic cabins with shared kitchen/bathrooms to self contained two or
three bedroom flats. Buy a discount voucher at the first one and you'll
get 10% off that night and every other night. They'll give you a map
showing the details of the others in the chain.

Queenstown has two parks in the chain. The one closer to the town centre
is the better one.

Franz Josef has a camp and my cabin there was just heavenly. I sat on
the porch, drank the local beer and looked up at the high mountains as
the sun caught the snow on the peaks long after it had set where I was,
then it faded to pink and purple and black and I was left with the
stars, brilliant on the black sky.

Christchurch has a huge camp, with a large range of accommodations. The
prices throughout the chain were very reasonable, all well under a
hundred $NZ.

I wrote a book about my trips, which is available as a PDF download or a
print-on-demand trade paperback. The second time I had a couple of
teenagers in the back seat. http://www.lulu.com/content/56751 More
details there.

Peter

in article , Victor at
wrote on 25/11/04 4:01 AM:

Peter,

Thank you for detailed information. I am much appreciated.

Having considerated your advice, I will revsie my itinerary as follows:

Day 1 (10th) noon-time arrive in Queenstown - city wanderer
Day 2 (11th) fly and cruiser to Milford Sound and play in Queenstown
Day 3 (12th) drive north to FJ or Fox with several brief stop
Day 4 (13th) fly to/back Mt Cook and walk on the glacier. Stay in Gleymouth
Day 5 (14th) go to Hanmer Springs or Kaikoura
Day 6 (15th) go to Christchurch
Day 7 (16th) go back home

On Day 4 - you can only do this by charter flight (ski plane or helicopter)
and they are very weather dependent.
Day 5 - Greymouth to Kaikoura will be quite a long day - very twisty roads
through the Lewis Pass. Unless you really want to see the whales I'd
suggest you stop at Hanmer Springs.

Vicki

in article , Victor at
wrote on 25/11/04 4:01 AM:

Peter,

Thank you for detailed information. I am much appreciated.

Having considerated your advice, I will revsie my itinerary as follows:

Day 1 (10th) noon-time arrive in Queenstown - city wanderer
Day 2 (11th) fly and cruiser to Milford Sound and play in Queenstown
Day 3 (12th) drive north to FJ or Fox with several brief stop
Day 4 (13th) fly to/back Mt Cook and walk on the glacier. Stay in Gleymouth
Day 5 (14th) go to Hanmer Springs or Kaikoura
Day 6 (15th) go to Christchurch
Day 7 (16th) go back home

On Day 4 - you can only do this by charter flight (ski plane or helicopter)
and they are very weather dependent.
Day 5 - Greymouth to Kaikoura will be quite a long day - very twisty roads
through the Lewis Pass. Unless you really want to see the whales I'd
suggest you stop at Hanmer Springs.

Vicki

Vicki,

I want to spend one day before I go to Christchurch, unless we can find more
activities to stay 2 night in Christchurch. Any suggestion to the route?
Hanmer Spring, is it a nice place?

Best regards,
Victor

"vicki Steven" wrote in message
.. .
in article , Victor at

wrote on 25/11/04 4:01 AM:

Peter,

Thank you for detailed information. I am much appreciated.

Having considerated your advice, I will revsie my itinerary as follows:

Day 1 (10th) noon-time arrive in Queenstown - city wanderer
Day 2 (11th) fly and cruiser to Milford Sound and play in Queenstown
Day 3 (12th) drive north to FJ or Fox with several brief stop
Day 4 (13th) fly to/back Mt Cook and walk on the glacier. Stay in
Gleymouth
Day 5 (14th) go to Hanmer Springs or Kaikoura
Day 6 (15th) go to Christchurch
Day 7 (16th) go back home

On Day 4 - you can only do this by charter flight (ski plane or
helicopter)
and they are very weather dependent.
Day 5 - Greymouth to Kaikoura will be quite a long day - very twisty roads
through the Lewis Pass. Unless you really want to see the whales I'd
suggest you stop at Hanmer Springs.

Vicki

Vicki,

I want to spend one day before I go to Christchurch, unless we can find more
activities to stay 2 night in Christchurch. Any suggestion to the route?
Hanmer Spring, is it a nice place?

Best regards,
Victor

"vicki Steven" wrote in message
.. .
in article , Victor at

wrote on 25/11/04 4:01 AM:

Peter,

Thank you for detailed information. I am much appreciated.

Having considerated your advice, I will revsie my itinerary as follows:

Day 1 (10th) noon-time arrive in Queenstown - city wanderer
Day 2 (11th) fly and cruiser to Milford Sound and play in Queenstown
Day 3 (12th) drive north to FJ or Fox with several brief stop
Day 4 (13th) fly to/back Mt Cook and walk on the glacier. Stay in
Gleymouth
Day 5 (14th) go to Hanmer Springs or Kaikoura
Day 6 (15th) go to Christchurch
Day 7 (16th) go back home

On Day 4 - you can only do this by charter flight (ski plane or
helicopter)
and they are very weather dependent.
Day 5 - Greymouth to Kaikoura will be quite a long day - very twisty roads
through the Lewis Pass. Unless you really want to see the whales I'd
suggest you stop at Hanmer Springs.

Vicki

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:35:35 +0800, "Victor"
wrote:

Vicki,

I want to spend one day before I go to Christchurch, unless we can find more
activities to stay 2 night in Christchurch. Any suggestion to the route?
Hanmer Spring, is it a nice place?

Best regards,
Victor

http://www.christchurch.org.nz/

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/maps/Wises/

http://www.canterburymuseum.com/

http://www.iceberg.co.nz/

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/parks/BotanicGardens/


http://www.hanmer.com/

for route: www.aaguide.co.nz

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 22:35:35 +0800, "Victor"
wrote:

Vicki,

I want to spend one day before I go to Christchurch, unless we can find more
activities to stay 2 night in Christchurch. Any suggestion to the route?
Hanmer Spring, is it a nice place?

Best regards,
Victor

http://www.christchurch.org.nz/

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/maps/Wises/

http://www.canterburymuseum.com/

http://www.iceberg.co.nz/

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/parks/BotanicGardens/


http://www.hanmer.com/

for route: www.aaguide.co.nz