A Majestic 12-day Winter Trip in South Island, New Zealand

We thought we'd get tired of the views, but we never did. The nature in New Zealand is somehow a little bit different from other parts of the world - it feels a little prehistoric, raw, and it has this ability to make you feel small, humbled, and in so much awe of the universe. It was beautiful, yes, but it was a very ancient kind of beauty.

Alright, I'm going to save more gushing for the rest of this post (so be prepared, muahaha... brb going to dig out the thesaurus as I run out of ways to describe the magnificence of our experience).

Four important things to bring on any trip to New Zealand in my opinion - passport, mobile phone, money, and sunglasses. When the sun comes out, it glares in your face like it wants to show off how bright it can be. And you don't want to be squinting your way through your holiday. So bring a pair of sunnies!

We drove throughout our trip, and we were glad we brought our road trip essentials - USB cable and a little mobile phone stand that we suctioned onto the windscreen as the Android Auto didn't work on the rental car we got. Our car had a GPS but we depended on Google for live traffic updates.

Pro tip: We found the Gaspy app extremely useful - it showed the nearest petrol stations to us and their prices so we could go to the one with the most affordable petrol. Some people even gave reviews of the gas stations and it states what services they provide.

Itinerary

Auckland (1 night) >>> Christchurch (1 night) >>> Franz Joseph (2 nights) >>> Wanaka (1 night) >>> Queenstown (4 nights) >>> Lake Tekapo (2 nights) >>> Christchurch (1 night) >>> Auckland (1 night)

Itinerary below, but the travel times aren't 100% accurate:

I wanted to go to Milford Sound but the drive from Milford Sound from Queenstown is very long, and we didn't want to go to Te Anau (the nearest big town to Milford Sound) because besides the lake and glow worm caves, we didn't find anything else we wanted to do.

We also didn't feel like taking a tour to Milfrom Queenstown, so we ended up doing the Routeburn Trek which was amazing. But there are quite a lot of ways to get to Milford Sound it you want to - including flying there.

The weather on the day we were supposed to go to Milford Sound was cloudy so I made myself feel better by telling myself that even if we went, we wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway, haha. And the rain along the Routeburn Trek somehow made it pretty magical (more on that later).

Christchurch

Will be skipping ahead to Christchurch since we only stayed at an airport hotel in Auckland - will share more about our time in Auckland on our return leg.

We decided to start our road trip after one day's rest in Christchurch just to be safe. Our first stop would be to Franz Joseph which is around 5 hours from Christchurch by car! Don't want to be driving that distance while jetlagged.

Logistically, we decided it made sense to rent the car from Christchurch airport and return it at the airport too, so we could just drive ourselves from and to the airport on our return leg.

We didn't visit all of these places on our first day in Christchurch - some were visited on our return leg, but I've just put our recommended Christchurch activities here.

Recommended visit: Riverside Market. A hip marketplace of restaurants, coffee joints, and food stalls. We had a souvlaki from Dimitri's Kitchen and it was delicious! Also had craft beer at Canterbury Brewers Collective which was also very good. My husband liked the coffee from Empire Coffee as well.

Another good place for food is Little High Eatery. It's a food court with many different stalls and you can choose what you want to eat. We had some Korean fried chicken, and a dish from a stall that sold Argentinian food. Lots of choices! The ramen and dumplings looked good too but the queue was so long. Go early if you want good seats!

On our first day in Christchurch, we drove up to Christchurch Hill for some sunset action and managed to get some!

A good place for brunch and coffee is C4 Coffee Roasters. Their food was super yummy and it looked like they were a bar at night as well. They sold lots of equipment and cups if you brew your own coffee at home too.

Another place for good coffee, Embassy Coffee Roasters.

International Antarctic Centre

Oh another good place to visit in Christchurch is the International Antarctic Centre! It's near the airport, which is a 15mins drive from the city centre. The best part of the trip was seeing the little blue penguins!

We also got to experience an Antarctic storm. Was kinda interesting but I don't think I'd come here just for this. You basically go in a room and then they blast really cold air and maybe a bit of snow.

There was other exhibits in the centre which went into very deep detail about life in Antarctica but I was a little too jet lagged to read them all in detail. I would say the Antarctic Centre is worth a visit if you have time, but I personally wouldn't spend too much time there.

Off to Glacier Country!

We got up bright and early (like every day of the trip, haha) and after an extremely satisfying breakfast at C4 Coffee Roasters, hit the roads. Our first ever road trip in New Zealand! We were ready for mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers and sheep!

When we first entered the countryside we were greeted by fog. It was a teeeeny bit creepy.

And then magically, the fog cleared up and we got this:

One of my favourite experiences was driving closer and closer to the mountains, and you really feel like you're right next to them.

A third of the photos in our trip album are probably photos of the scenery we saw on the road. There are many viewing points along the highways in New Zealand so you can stop any time you want.

But don't stop too often if you want to make it to your destination on time!

We're so glad we stopped over at Castle Hill Conservation Area. It's a sacred area for the Maoris, as they used the rocks here to align with the stars to set their calendar. They also foraged for food in this area in the summer.

It always amazes me how erosion makes such curved shapes out of hard rock. It shows how much time it took... slowly... steadily. That persistence makes you see things in perspective.

We walked up the small hill along a path which took us around the rock structures, which looked different from different angles. I know these are just rocks but the sheer size of them and how they appear against the sky... it just hits different.

The view from the top of the hill:

We spent almost an hour here and it was lovely. We were supposed to stop by Arthur's Pass but somehow it looked like there wasn't much to see so we didn't stay long.

Franz Joseph Township

We headed straight to our accommodation for the next 2 nights and it was a lovely little cabin next to our farm, managed by a sweet husband and wife with two young children.

Helpful tips from our host! Things to do on the way to Wanaka.

We had some time before dinner so we did a very short walk per the tips found in our host's helpful guidebook. The Terrace Walk was actually our first mini hike and it was so unexpected. We were expecting to see dry shrubs as it was winter time but we were so surprised to see rainforest. It was beautiful and since it rained earlier in the day, the leaves were dewy.

The whole walk only took about 30mins to and from, so it was a nice start to our hiking adventures.

There's not much in terms of food in the township - a small selection of restaurants. Be prepared to pay around NZD 25 at least for just a main dish.

We ate at Alice May Restaurant which had good pasta!

When in nature, always look around you - later that night after dinner, we looked up and were treated to this:

My first time seeing the Milky Way! It was beautiful. One of the perks of travelling in winter is that the skies are much clearer - less cloud cover. I felt very lucky to be able to see this.

Glacier Hiking - an Epic Experience

One of the most memorable things I've ever done in my life happened today. We went Glacier Hiking on Franz Joseph Glacier. You can't hike on Fox Glacier (the other glacier in this area) as there's a lot of ice fall, but on Franz Joseph it's still fine.

The glaciers have receded so much that we can't hike up to the glacier - we can only take a helicopter up to it. We paid a lot for our tour (because of the highly trained and excellent guides and the helicopter ride) but after going through it - I felt it was worth every cent.

Our guide was very good - young chap who was very energetic and you can tell he's well trained. He was very strict about safety - every time on the ice when someone stepped a centimetre outside the path he kindly but firmly reminded us to stick to the path. We're allowed to step outside the path only with his permission.

This is because there could be loose snow below and you could fall through - he himself fell through a hole the day before our tour and the hole was already covered by snowfall on the morning of our tour.

Pro tip: take the very first session when you sign up for the glacier hiking tour! You can see the sun rise (in winter) over the mountains when you're on top of the glacier and it's beautiful. Also, the paths are fresh and when our guide was hacking ice to create steps and new pathways, we had extra time to take more photos! Haha...

The tour itself was good. We were given proper equipment - waterproof outer wear, snow crimps, helmet, hiking stick, and a small bag for our items. They provided extra layers, gloves and beanies for those who needed it.

We were led to the take off point for the helicopter and soon we set off!

It was my first helicopter ride and I was very excited.

Seeing the landscape from above was an experience in itself - I can now tell myself I don't need to pay for an extra helicopter ride to see the glaciers!

However, my first sight of the glacier was a mixture of awe and a small tinge of sadness.

I felt sad to see how much the glacier had receded, despite how beautiful it was. Our guide told us that when he was a child (he's probably in his 20s), he remembered that people could hike up to the glacier.

Finally we reached the part of the glacier we could walk on.

The guides and crew were very helpful and gave very clear instructions every step of the way. Kudos to them!

Our guide and our group (about 11 people including my husband and I) obediently following instructions. And we're off!

The glacier didn't look very big from the helicopter but when we were on it, the pathways extended everywhere! We really depended on our guide to lead us - all the ice looked the same to me so I had no idea where we were going.

Such majesty.

The little cloud puff you see below is directly on top of a rainforest.

The ice is so blue. Our guide explained that it's so blue because after the snow compacts to become ice, the only colour that passes through (and seen by our eyes) is the colour blue.

We walked and crawled through crevices, and climbed up steps of snow and ice. Being in such close quarters with the ice was pretty surreal, and I was busy touching and admiring the ice. Our guide also explained that the ice, although it looks like the ice cubes we see in our drinks, is actually a lot denser (which is why it is also a more vibrant blue).

The sun is rising over the mountain tops...

Look at it peeking over the shoulder of the mountain! I loved that we were so close to it. This is one of the advantages of an early morning tour - we get to see the sunrise right on the glacier!

Close up of us going into a crevice.

I also love how the snow forms its own curves and undulations.

Just for fun, our guide let us slide through a crevice like this. For people who are claustrophobic, they could walk around the ice. This was one of my favourite parts of the hike.

We found a pool that had frozen into the shape of heart in the centre! Our guide tried to break the ice to let us taste some glacier water but it was too frozen.

Soon it was time to head back, and we got the view of the pla

It was such an unforgettable experience - I can still remember what it was like being and seeing on the ice. I made sure to memorise what the ice looked like because I don't know when I'm going to see something like this again.

Fox Glacier

After this, we did a quick hike to the Fox Glacier viewpoint. Pleasant walk with some uphill parts.

I'm amazed at the rainforest below the glacier.

Zoom lens!

Lake Matheson Walk

We next went to walk around Lake Matheson, which has views of Fox Glacier as well. This turned out to be one of my favourite walks as well, because of the beauty of the lake with the mountains. We even spotted a rainbow!

There are toilets, a carpark, and a café/shop at the start of the walk. Throughout our trip in New Zealand when we were hiking, we always headed for a toilet whenever we saw one. Toilets are not usually found along the trails, and are usually at the entrances intead.

The walk started with wide open fields.

We saw some animals grazing! (not shown in the photo)

Then as we headed into the trees, it became rainforest (I had to stop myself from writing "tropical rainforest", haha but I'm really only used to seeing rainforests in the tropics!).

Eventually, we saw glimpses of the lake! So beautiful.

But it was going to get better.

On a still day, the mountains and clouds would reflect perfectly on the water!

See the rainbow?

The Lake Matheson Walk basically takes you to the lake then you walk around it. So we got to see it at different angles.

There was even a little jetty with inspirational quotes along the sides haha...

Same angle but more of the lake...

We stood on this little jetty and watched the ducks

On our way back out, we saw the rainbow from a different angle.

This is Franz Joseph township and when the skies are clear, you can see the mountains!

Wandering towards Wanaka

It was time to leave glacier country... today was another long-ish drive - this time towards Wanaka. We took our host's advice and dropped by a few towns along the way, and even a beach!

We did drop by Haast Beach - got a bit lost along the way because we saw a motel called Haast Beach Motel and thought the beach was further down. Ended up driving another 20mins and couldn't find the beach so we went back and found a tiny entrance to the beach in front of the motel!

By the way, motels in New Zealand are not like motels in most parts of the world. They're mostly clean, just simpler in design and very functional.

The beach was pretty, and a good stop along our way.

The roads in New Zealand were pleasant to drive on. Signages were clear and there were sufficient rest stops along the way, which is important as the drives can be very long, so stopping regularly is important. Just follow road signs and speed limits and you'll be fine!

We stopped by a few waterfalls along the way too.

The water was so clear I wanted to dip my feet in and relax for a while. In warmer months I'm sure it would be lovely to have a picnic here.

We wanted to check out the Blue Pools Walk but it was closed on this day, so we satisfied ourselves by gazing at the rolling mountain ranges of green.

Driving along the New Zealand State Highway 6 we passed Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. We passed though a slip of land between these two lakes called The Neck (thought it sounded cute, haha).

We had to stop for our first view of Lake Wanaka.

Then we drove on and got a closer look at Lake Hawea.

We reached Wanaka slightly ahead of schedule and had enough time to go for a walk around Lake Wanaka!

Driving around the residential neighbourhoods, we had a feeling the people here were pretty well-to-do. Their houses looked very nice, like the kind you would see in a design magazine. I would imagine these are actually many people's summer homes.

We took the Waterfall Creek Track which went from the town centre in Wanaka and around the lake to the Waterfall Creek, which we didn't see. Haha... the track ended at a carpark which I assume leads to the creek. But we didn't continue on and instead turned around and went back the same way into town.

The track passes That Wanaka Tree, which looked a bit sad and small in my opinion. But it had a kind of pained quality which would look nice against a dramatic sky.

I did enjoy this walk because it allowed us to have a nice look at Lake Wanaka. It was also easy to do. People brought their dogs for walks along this track and we saw a lady pushing a child in a pram too.

We had dinner at a lovely restaurant, highly recommended - Kika. Make reservations beforehand because they were packed even on a Wednesday night!

The food was delicious and full of flavour. Easily one of our favourite places to dine in!

To Queenstown we go!

On our last morning in Wanaka, we climbed Mt. Iron. Frankly, I felt this hike was very strenuous, comparable to climbing Queenstown hill, which I will talk about later. But we got to see some lovely views of the town and lake - would recommend!

The view of the town below was so quaint and pretty, especially in the morning light.

Pro tip: Starting your hikes early in winter means you get to see the sun rise. There also seem to be fewer people on the trails early in the morning - usually residents who live nearby going on their morning walk. They have to be really fit if THIS is their morning walk... omg.

Wanaka was lovely, but we were keen to get to Queenstown for more adventures.

We had many beautiful drives on our trip, but I think the drive on Crown Range Road is my favourite. It helped that it snowed earlier in the day, so the hills looked like they were warm bana

And a closer look at the lake in the distance:

That's how close we got to the mountain side - I don't think I'll be able to get over this. It's like seeing mountain ranges in photos and then actually getting right up close to it.

There was a viewpoint after the Crown Range Road viewpoint that we (and lots of other cars) stopped at and this was the view of the valley below. Such peace.

Shooting off to Arrowtown

We were early for our jetboat booking, so we headed off to check this lovely little town out. An old gold mining town, it still kept some of its historic vibe - clearly for tourists. But it didn't feel fake at all. Arrowtown was actually a place I liked visiting because it somehow still had a small town feel despite being a hub for tour groups.

We had a drink at Wolf Coffee Roasters, and had a light lunch at a sweet restaurant called The Dishery. Walked around a little bit, and also had gelato at Patagonia Chocolates, which can also be found in Queenstown.

Zippy zip zip on a jetboat!

The jetboat was a great way to see the Shotover River and have fun at the same time! We booked the boat beforehand - the last slot of the day to give us time to get over from Wanaka.

It was fun speeding along but I underestimated the need for a beanie hahaha and ended up covering 3/4 of my face with the snood (fitted scarf) they provided for free. During registration, the staff member told us she highly recommended us using it. Glad we took her advice, haha.

It was cold AND we were going at high speeds so the wind was smashing into our faces and heads. My head was frozen by the end of the ride - should have worn that beanie. Would highly recommend the ride though! You go up and down a section of the river at high speeds and the drivers are a little wild - they try to get you splattered with water and skillfully drive close to the rocks just for that little thrill. Didn't manage to take many pictures because we were having a lot of fun.

Fergburger

After arriving in Queenstown, we immediately headed for food. One of my favourite things we did was eating burgers from the famous burger stand Fergburger by the lakeside. We went the moment we saw a short queue (it's otherwise very long) and took out our burgers to eat by the lake.

Pictured below are the breakfast burgers from Ferburger.

We ended going to Fergbaker, their bakery store right next to Fergburger. every morning for breakfast!

Do also try their gelato called Mrs Ferg as well. They're open super early in the morning too, and serve coffee, so if the queue for coffee at Fergbaker is too long, you can get coffee here too!

One thing to note about Queenstown - I don't know if this is just unique to us, but the traffic coming in and out of Queenstown was always bad. The morning jam was terrible, and the evening jam starts at 3pm. I think booking accommodation within Queenstown itself or at the residential areas within walking distance of the town centre is best, so you can just leave your car at your accommodation and walk around.

Finding parking inside the town centre is tough too - everyone's jostling for space. Also, there are quite a lot of road works going on and they don't seem to be ending any time soon. The town centre is lovely to walk around in anyways - lots of shops and restaurants.

Getting on different types of high

We got high today - don't worry, it was done safely and legally. My husband got to achieve one thing on his bucket list: bungee jumping! I have no such ambitions so I was very happy to zipline.

We went to the AJ Hackett Bungy Centre where you can bungy off the historical Kawarau Bridge from a height of 43m. We booked our appointments beforehand so all we had to do was turn up and register.

I'm very proud of him and happy that he had such a good time! The staff were professional and also very fun. Lots of them were from Australia! Very interesting. You'd bungy off the bridge and then get lowered into a boat to get taken back to shore. There's a little platform where you can watch people jumping too.

It's beautiful because the bridge is over the Kawarau River. It was all very enjoyable. The signages in the building were cute too! Very inclusive.

The zipline looked very short but it wasn't any less fun. In fact, while waiting to get turned around, I was left dangling at the end of the course and I was a little scared haha. I was gripped tightly onto the ropes, afraid to lean back in case I flipped backwards. Your girl here has no core strength so I would not be able to sit upright.

Highly recommend this activity! There's something for anyone to try. My husband wanted to go do the Nevis Swing (basically you swing over a giant canyon), but to go there you have to take their 4 wheel drive to the place which is quite far away. It would be almost a whole day trip and we didn't have enough time for that (I heaved a silent sigh of relief. Obviously between the two of us, I'm the chicken.)

Off to wine country

After jumping off a high bridge, we went to Central Otago region for some wine tasting! Don't worry we did it safely. Here are the vineyards we visited:

1. Mount Difficulty

The drive up to the winery was beautiful - it was on a little hill that overlooked the vineyards. It was not difficult at all getting up here.

The wines were ok - we preferred the wines from the next two.

2. Te Kano

I'm not a white wine person but I enjoyed the ones I tried here. We didn't make an appointment but luckily managed to get a slot at the last minute from the nice staff who saw us driving in while they were attending to some other guests.

The wines are served at one shot, with little notes explaining a bit about the wines - it was a "self-service" tasting of sorts. But because we were the only ones there, the nice staff member kindly spoke a bit more about the wines to us, and we even had a nice chat with her about non-wine related stuff, such as why are eggs so expensive in New Zealand?!?!

Yes, we saw eggs being sold for NZD10 per dozen!!! Apparently this is because just this year, New Zealand just declared that all eggs sold in the country must be free range. This limits the supply of the eggs and hence increases the price. Some supermarkets even began limiting each customer's purchase of eggs to one or two dozen each only. No wonder the cafes were selling Eggs Benedict for almost NZD30.

The building where the wine tasting was held in was so beautiful too. Look at that!~

3. Felton Road

Tastings are by appointment only so this was the only one we booked. The staff forgot to place us in the calendar but luckily she was in the office so she could let us in, haha. She figured it was an error on her end because otherwise, we wouldn't have known the lock code on their gate! (as confirmation of our booking, they provide the code on their gate's lock)

My husband and I enjoyed the wines here the most - also because the staff member we were chatting with was so lovely. I'm not a wine aficionado (my husband knows more about wine appreciation than me) but I like what she said -

it doesn't matter what or how much you know, as long as you enjoy what you're drinking, because that's what we make wines for - for people to enjoy.

I enjoyed the wine they made from a single block within a singular vineyard (versus wines from multiple vineyards, or within a larger singular vineyard). But apparently that was super rare and you need to be on their list in order to bid for the next round of wines released from a singular block.

Well we bought enough wines to get on that list! We liked so many of the wines we decided to buy a "packaged" selection of wines.

The wine that surprised me the most was a Riesling (a kind of white wine). Central Otago (this region of New Zealand) is known for pinot noir (a red wine), but this Riesling was delicious! It tasted so fresh. I think it helped that it was drunk cold. Back home in our humid weather, we'd definitely need to have it super chilled. I don't even like Riesling, which usually tastes dry (it leaves a dry taste in the mouth).

We ended our day back in Queenstown for dinner. There are quite a lot of food options, here are a few of our favourites:

Taco Medic - We realised that they're a chain restaurant when we saw another branch in Auckland!

Bombay Palace - Yummy Indian food. At this point we were really missing the varied flavours of Asian food, so this was a blessing.

Ramen Ramen - Delicious Japanese ramen - you get to customise your bowl.

Queenstown Hill hike - the toughest hike we were on?

Today was the day. The day of the Queenstown Hill hike. We'd read online that this hike was pretty tough because it contained a lot of uphill sections that were pretty steep.

Yeah, they weren't exaggerating. We followed signs from the main town centre to the residential area just outside to the start of the trail. The residential areas are located on very steep hills by the way - I feel like these are some of the steepest roads I've seen in my life. Glad I don't need to drive a manual car on them.

You can actually head from anywhere to the starting point - look for Belfast Terrace. One of the trail's access points is this one:

Getting up to the trail took the wind out of us already, haha. Some people drove all the way up to the starting point, but if you go later in the day there won't be many parking spaces left.

This hike and the hike up Mount Iron were the toughest for me. We were panting and puffing all the way up.

Glimpses of the amazing (i'm sorry, I cannot think of any other word besides amazing) views on the way up.

We kept pushing on and passed by some farmland.

I would recommend starting this trek early. When we were on our way down, at about 11-ish I think, lots of people started coming up and the trail got crowded. When we were heading up around 9am, there were only a few other people. The quiet and serenity made us feel like the whole place was ours - it was lovely.

Before we knew it, we were at the top! I'm just going to let the pictures tell the story. Also, I'm running out of adjectives

On our way down, we cheered on fellow hikers on their ascent who, like us not much earlier, were gasping for air.

On a quest for more Asian food (I'm sorry, we had had enough pies by day 4), we decided to try Ramen Ramen back in the Queenstown town centre. We were walking around the other night and saw very long queues for this place. The ramen was indeed good!

Moody Moke Lake

After lunch, we continued our adventures at Moke Lake. Driving to the lake itself was quite thrilling. A 4WD would have been perfect for the drive in. I our Toyota Corolla would last the trip (it was fine - good sturdy car it was! Thanks Toyota).

We were the only ones on the road and the sky was getting cloudy and a bit dark by then. We followed Google Maps and hoped we were going the right way.

Thankfully we saw the sign for Moke Lake. We wanted to go on the walk that goes around the lake, but unfortunately the hike was longer than we thought and we wouldn't be able to finish the hike before sunset.

So we just spent some time gazing over the dramatic lake and skies.

What a pity, looked like it was a good hike! No matter, we snapped a few pictures and made friends with some extremely extroverted ducks.

They were adorable - kept coming up to us even though we had no food to give them.

There were lots of open spaces at Moke Lake. It's an official camping ground and I think it would be lovely to camp here!

A Routeburn Trek experience that was like that emo but mesmerising rocker dude you can't keep your eyes off of

We'd been fortunate to have really good weather the trip, so we didn't mind just the right amount of drama for our Routeburn Track hike. We were supposed to check the trek out as well as visit Glenorchy, and do a little walk in town there, but we only made it to Routeburn Trek due to the weather. Nevertheless, it was pretty amazing and definitely unforgettable.

The day started with cloud

The roads got progressively rugged after this.

The drive into the trek was past a couple of quaint small towns, and onto a dirt trek full of Indiana Jones-esque adventure too (I was silently praying for the suspension on our car - may it be blessed with lots of good karma after what people who have rented it are putting it through). The dirt track had a few potholes but otherwise it wasn't that bad.

Finally after an adventurous drive in, we reached the parking lot.

The entire Routeburn Trek is actually a multi-day affair, and in the winter, you need to have alpine experience along certain points. Hikers must also register with the Department of Conservation if I understand correctly and there are checkpoints along the route where they're encouraged to report in.

The Routeburn Shelter at the starting point has toilets and lots of information about the trek. The skies looked pretty ok when we left Queenstown, but it started drizzling slightly when we reached the trailhead.

And we're off!

From Routeburn Shelter, we decided to walk to the Routeburn Flats Huts, which was a 15km hike (return). It took us about 4-ish hours to complete - our longest hike of the trip. I thought the Routeburn Flats were interesting because so far on our trip, we've been on mountain tops, glaciers, and seen lakes, but we haven't really seen flat plains.

Routeburn Flats Huts is first campsite and checkpoint along the enture Routeburn Track and has sheltered huts (hence the name) with basic facilities. There were bunk beds and spaces for camping too. There was even a special toilet used for the winter!

One of the shorter trails along this track is the Routeburn Nature Walk (a loop walk) which takes about 40mins to an hour - good for families I think.

Armed with a bag full of snacks, waterproof gear and water, we were ready. The rain set a contemplative mood and gave the hike a kind of deeper meaning. When you're in nature, you tend to ponder things. And with the drizzle (not that heavy yet), it somehow made you go deeper into your thoughts.

We assured ourselves that we'd be going to Routeburn FLATS Huts so the track would be FLAT-ish, and not steep like Queenstown Hill, haha... clearly we were still a little traumatised. And yes, it wasn't as steep as Queenstown hill. The inclines were gentle with only a few steep parts at the beginning.

There was a random toilet along the way, and as we were in nature, we just went even though we didn't need to go. Because you'll never know how far away the next toilet is. And yes, because we're in nature, there's no flush >:) I do not want to use this toilet in summer. Haha...

We stopped along the way to see this beautiful little part of the river flowing down from the mountains (it was kind of like a stream, actually?). The water was SO BLUE, and reminded us of our trip to the glaciers. Also we realised how steep it was so near the riverbank!!!

We crossed a few suspension bridges too.

Walking up, we kept seeing glimpses of the river through the green and brown rainforest - so beautiful.

The Bridal Veil Falls is one of the sights to see along the trail and it was pretty cool. I love how the water has eroded the rocks to such rounded shapes and its still going...

Walking on through the trees and rain...

The moss was so green and lush... still not over how

A little friend we spotted along the way.

Finally emerging out of the forest, we saw the flats. Mesmerising.

Here are some pictures of the facilities at the huts.

The mountains guarding the plains. The mist like a protective cloak. Simply magical.

Soon it was around midday, so we turned back.

Stopped by a small stream for some pondering...

We saw lots of these lovely blue streams that brought down water from the mountains.

The path was pretty much like this.

More streams because reasons.

One of the three or four suspension bridges we crossed. They had this wiring thing over the wood which helps prevent people from slipping... very useful!

Similarly, on our way back, we saw more people heading towards the flats as compared to when we started. At this point the rain got heavier. I was so glad we had our waterproof gear.

What an amazing trek!

Let's go go go to Tekapo

As if reminding us of her beauty, we left Queenstown to lovely blue skies and this scenery on our way out. We had to stop by the roadside for pictures.

We stopped by Sanga Pies in Cromwell for pies. I know we were supposed to be all pie-ed out, but these were good! (plus we were hungry haha)

We continued driving on till Lindis Pass. Highly recommend a stop here! We braved a short muddy path to reach a lovely viewpoint.

Look at this beauty. This pass is sometimes closed in bad weather, so as with all driving in New Zealand, always check weather conditions!

Onward to Tekapo!

We wanted to have some fresh salmon sashimi at Mount Cook Alpine Salmon Shop by Lake Pukaki, but their next batch of sashimi wasn't coming in till later that afternoon. We decided to visit the alpine shop on our way to Hooker Valley instead - but something else happened on our way to Hooker Valley which I'll share later.

Up the windy and wind-y Mount John

We pressed on towards Lake Tekapo and since we reached ahead of schedule decided to walk up Mount John to the Mount John Observatory instead (we were saving this for our last day before we headed to Christchurch - but so glad we climbed it today instead).

That turned out to be a great decision.

Leaving the temptation of a luge on the snow behind, we found the entrance to the walk amongst some construction.

More uphill climbing ensued. We're experts at this point!

When we walked out of the forested area, it felt like the wind that was taken out of us was being blown at us, right in our faces. It was so windy near the top of the hill!

Made for great photos though.

This wasn't the top yet...

And here's the Mt John Observatory (in the day!)

Bless. Look at that view of Lake Tekapo.

GorJUS.

We rounded the corner after coming down from the summit.

There's an option to walk further but we decided to turn around and go back the same way we came.

This looks like something out of a Star Wars movie.

We took so many pictures here. It's such a beautiful place. It's not very high up but still you can feel that silence and stillness (except for the wind) of being in nature. It's so calming.

After we made our way down, we headed straight for the most favourite fish & chips we had on our trip - The Better Batter. They're a little food van run by a husband and wife team - and the batter really is so much better than some of the others we had on our trip. Get the coleslaw, it's delicious as well!

Lookout for this little van - that's them!

And the star (debatable) - Best Fish and Chips we had on the trip.

Oh our accommodations were gorgeous - stylish and comfortable and pretty good view of the lake.

Under the magical starlit sky - The Dark Sky Project tour

We prayed that the clear weather we had climbing up Mount John would stay on towards the night because we were going for an important tour - Stargazing with The Dark Sky Project! After we registered, the staff managed our expectations and told us that there was a 40% chance of cloud, and offered a refund if we wanted to back out. One person did but the rest of us decided to stay. For my husband and I - it was a risk we didn't mind taking.

The guides told us it would be very cold up at Mount John (we experienced climbing it just in the afternoon!) so they recommended we borrow the thick Antarctic jackets they provided as part of the tour. (Spoiler alert - SO GLAD we took the coats. If you join the tour, just TAKE the jacket!)

It was very organised - we were shipped off into little buses driven by a very enthusiastic and animated bus driver who told us jokes and made the drive up fun.

In Tekapo, there are no street lights as the area is designed as a Dark Sky Reserve. So no light pollution is allowed. The street lamps here are uniquely designed - they have little caps on them so the light doesn't shine upwards.

This makes the night sky here simply magical.

After winding up Mount John, we finally reached the observatory. There are a few types of trips - an indoors sky experience, a trip to just the observatory, or a trip to the summit of Mount John and the observatory. We took the latter and we're so glad we did.

After we got off the little tour bus, we were each given lanyards with tiny little LED lamps on them to help us see on the ground. We weren't allowed to use our phone torchlights so that our eyes could adjust to the darkness and to allow everyone to see the stars better. Those little lamps were so cute too bad we had to return them after, haha.

Our guide, Cal, was AMAZING. Even though her face was shrouded in darkness for 80% of the tour (since she was guiding us outdoors and we couldn't have light), I could feel how passionate she was. She was so knowledgeable and energetic - sharing lovely nuggets of information with us and taking our questions in complete darkness. I couldn't see her properly but I learned so much from her and got really excited about the stars. I think she was a big part about why we enjoyed the tour so much.

Through the windy and extremely cold night air, Cal brought us on a quick tour of the Observatory then took us to the summit, where we saw one of the most magnificent and magical sights. I don't think it's something I'll forget.

Thankfully, the skies cleared and the most beautiful sight came to us. The whole night sky was filled with stars and we saw the MILKY WAY. It was so unreal. I couldn't believe we were seeing it right in front of our eyes.

Nobody whipped out their phones to take pictures - we were just awestruck at these little specks of light so far away. While the stars above gazed upon us, our guide Cal shared her love for the stars with us.

She explained about the different constellations, planets and moons. She also taught us how to find due south using the Southern Cross, like a navigation pro!

One mind-blowing thing I learned was that the light from the stars that we see take many many light years or millions and billions of years to reach us (appear to our eyes). Which means we're actually seeing something so far far back in the past. It's unimaginable.

There are stars whose light still can't be seen by us yet because they are so far away so the light will take many many more years to be seen. We'd probably be long gone by then. Makes me feel so humble and small, like a little atom.

We then got the chance to look through different telescopes at the observatory. At this point, we're very sure Cal is more than just a guide - she actually studied astronomy. The other guides helping Cal are probably researchers at the Observatory too and they were very knowledgeable as well. The telescopes were positioned to look at different groups of stars - I remember one called the Jewel Box because the stars were different colours! There was another one that looked like pennies at the bottom of a well.

But the highlight was definitely getting to see the plant Saturn and its rings through a badass big telescope. It looked like an illustration because it was white in colour, against a pitch black background. That was pure magic. My husband and I asked to see it twice because we couldn't believe we were looking at a whole PLANET. What an unforgettable sight.

I like how in New Zealand, we've been so lucky to see so many different types of beautiful nature - mountains, mountain ranges, rivers, lakes, glaciers, estuaries, forests, hills, clouds, beaches, snow, and now the stars.

We were sad to leave the stars (but not sad to leave the cold and the wind) but we headed back down with the memory of such beauty in our hearts. Highly recommended experience.

The Day of Snow

After breakfast at The Greedy Cow, which was pretty good, we set off to Hooker Valley! Then along the way, it started to snow. We thought - oh that's lovely, we'll be hiking along some lovely gentle falling white snow. Oh, we were wrong.

The snow got heavier and heavier... becoming a proper storm. We saw cars along the way starting to put on snow chains. We had none, as we weren't planning to go up the ski slopes. Disappointed, we decided to turn around.

We stopped by the Salmon Shop since our plans had changed and ended up feasting on fresh salmon sashimi against a backdrop of snow (indoors, haha.. the salmon shop has a small seating area. Most of the benches are outside).

It was such a unique experience. We couldn't see much of Lake Pukaki since the snow was pretty heavy but it was still nice and cozy since we were indoors.

After our mini feast, we were on our way back to Tekapo when we noticed the snow storm slowing down. We decided to take a risk and headed back to Hooker Valley. The ground was blanketed in snow and there was even a couple taking wedding photographs!

Excited at the thought of being able to hike Hooker Valley, we drove further towards Mount Cook. It was almost an hour in when the snow got heavier again. Many cars were going away from Mount Cook whilst we headed towards it - so we decided not to take the risk and turned around again. The weather in these kind of alpine regions changes very quickly and we should have stuck to our choice.

Yet again, the weather started clearing up and we decided to take one more chance. Turning back again towards Mount Cook, we pressed on through the snow. But this time, as we got further on, the storm was really proving to not be clearing up. We decided to turn back for real this time.

Just as we were looking for a good spot to turn around, we got stuck in the snow by the side of the road. Using my hiking stick, we poked at the snow stuck around our car tires. But because our car wasn't a four-wheel drive, it couldn't get enough grip on the snow, even though we had snow tires.

Finally a very sweet couple came to help us push the back of the car so it could get going. Silly me! You always see in movies how pushing the back of the car helps! I completely forgot it in that moment. There were other people around that we could have asked to help push the car. They were just kind of resting at the side of the road, perhaps waiting for the storm to stop.

It was pretty scary being stuck, but thankfully we were along a busy road so we could easily get help. We're super thankful to the sweet couple who came to help us. Lesson learned - don't drive in the snow!

On our way back, we decided to take a little trip to the small town of Twizel instead. On our way there the weather cleared up beautifully - it was as if it wasn't snowing a 30mins drive away. We stopped by a rest stop to eat the salmon we packed as our snack, and cheer ourselves up.

We found a simple hike we could do that runs along Twizel River, called the Twizel River Trail. The whole walk takes about 5 hours return, but we walked till a certain point then turned around, since it was already past noon at this point.

Getting to the starting point was a bit of a challenge - we got lost along the way but managed to get some lovely views of the mountain range! We parked the car at the Twizel Town Centre and walked to the starting point - look for the Mobil petrol station, walk straight out to the state highway, cross it, then you'll find the starting point which is a small gate.

The walk was peaceful and tranquil. The paths were marked with these bright orange markers so it was pretty easy to follow. There was no one else on the trail!

The Twizel River was very pretty, and seems to be a lovely place for a picnic. The terrain was pretty flat, and signages told us that people do mountain biking along this trail too.

There was nothing but vast plains, dramatic skies, and grand

We also stopped by The Church of the Good Shepherd... for some pretty pictures!

After our quaint little jaunt, we headed back to rest in our room. But not before buying dinner from The Better Batter! We tried their other sides this time and obviously got a large side of coleslaw.

We went shopping for dinner at Four Square Tekapo, which is a good place to shop at, by the way! They have lots of stuff if you want to do your own cooking. We got some snacks and cheese and headed back to our room. Dinner saw us whipping out the instant noodle cups we'd been saving the whole trip. This put together meal was yummy and memorable.

Seeing the stars from our room was a lovely end to our last night in Tekapo.

Back to the City

And back to Christchurch we go! We had a lamb pie at a little cafe called Fairlie Bakehouse, but the rest of the drive back was pretty unmemorable - there are lots of stops you can do apparently but we didn't! Stopped by the town of Geraldine but we didn't find anything interesting to do. I shamefully fell asleep as my husband drove but he told me it was fine, haha.

We stayed at the same hotel as the first time in Christchurch, which was a self-check in and out thing, very convenient! The hotel was called The Parque.

We were craving for Asian food again and decided to try Korean food at an establishment called Korea House. Food was very good - all those flavours hit the spot!

Some of the things I mentioned to do in Christchurch we actually did it on this 2nd trip back - like the souvlakis - but I decided to sum it up earlier so you get a quick summary of what to do in Christchurch.

Chilling in Auckland

The weather in Auckland was way way warmer than in Christchurch! It seemed to be about 15 degrees when we landed! Our luggage got delayed, but we finally got them.

We headed to the Uber pick up point to get a car. A man came up to us to say he drives for Uber and asked if we wanted to just skip booking by the app and just pay in cash with him now. It sounded dodgy so we said no, we'll just book via the app. He tried his luck with another group who also firmly and politely told him no. It didn't take too long for us to get a driver via the app actually.

After checking in, we walked around the main CBD area in Auckland. My husband said it felt a lot like Sydney - a big city. I noticed a lot of international students - especially those from China. There were a few nice trendy malls and in the evening we found ourselves along the pier.

We headed to some restaurants along the far end of the pier, and decided to have Italian food at Baduzzi. Man - that was some high quality Italian food.

Everything was so good. They're well known for their handmade meatballs and we're so glad we gave it a try. It was delicious and really did taste very homey. The ambience was also not so stuffy - it was relaxed and semi-casual. This was a lovely end to our New Zealand trip.

Souvenirs to buy - perhaps

Oh yes, we shopped for gifts for our friends and family along the way. We purposely bought snacks to try so we could bring the nice ones back, haha. My personal top choices are:

1. Whitakers chocolate - the berry one and popping candy chocolate was nice. They also had these chocolate bars which were nice. There are lots of variations to buy as souvenirs! We bought these from any supermarket or hypermarket.

2. Peckish Fancies Rice Crackers - we liked the Caramelised Onion & Balsamic Vinegar rice crackers but they have many other flavours.

Homeward bound

New Zealand is one of those countries you go to a few times in your life, but each time, it stamps something memorable and unforgettable inside you. Its experiences hit you in a good way and for me, I felt glad to be alive. It made me realise how small we are in the universe, and that being able to be in this world was something so wonderful.

The nature here is so raw, almost prehistoric. It's so different from other parts of the world. To me, the word I would use to describe our trip would be "majestic".

Who knows if we'll get to come back again (the flight is long and tickets are expensive, haha), but if we do, I'll know how lucky I am.