Trip date: December 2023
Our ferry landed at Picton on the South Island at 12:30am, then we had a 3 minute drive to the Sequoia Backpackers Lodge from the ferry dock. It definitely took us longer to find parking that to actually arrive at the lodge.
Gail and I shared a tiny room with 2 twin beds and a bathroom. But we were only staying because it was so close and we knew we would want to go straight to bed after arriving.
The next morning we were up and out and on our way to Blenheim in the Marlborough wine region. Marlborough is actually the largest of the 10 wine regions in the country, and Sauvignon Blanc from here is the biggest exported wine of NZ, making up over 85%!
We had a lovely tasting at Nautilus Winery under a gorgeous canopy of trees. We were all in agreement that their Marlborough Cuvée Brut NV was our favorite, which the winery has been making since 1989 so obviously we aren't the only ones!
At Framingham there were around 13 wines you could taste from. We didn't have time for that so we picked a Sauv Blanc and then a few of the Rieslings, which is what they have been planting since 1981. We sat out in the garden to take advantage of the gorgeous day, but there is an inside tasting room also.
And then we were back on the road, our next destination Christchurch was about a 5 hours away mainly driving south along the coast on State Hwy 1. We decided to stop for lunch at Karaka, a lobster shack right on the beach easily spotted by the large crustacean on the roof!
This area is known for its abundance of seafood, with lobster, or crayfish as the locals call it, being a specialty. This is a super fun location and you can stroll along the boardwalk while waiting for your order.
Karaka also has fish and chips, which is another reason we chose it as one of our travellers doesn't eat lobster. For the 3 of us who do however, we just had to decide which size lobster for each and if we wanted fries with that. The split crays were perfectly cooked and served with toasted garlic bread and some seafood sauce. A delicious lunch at a picnic table looking out at the ocean!
The coastline all along here is just gorgeous, very rough and wild! We decided to drive out to the Kaikōura Peninsula Walkway. It's a 3-hour walk, which we didn't have time for, but we did scramble along the exposed tide platforms and cliffs for a while. Stunning!
In Christchurch we had an Airbnb townhouse that was perfect for the 4 of us. We walked almost all over town and found Christchurch to be very pretty. And very small at a population of under 500k! In fact, I hadn't realized that the entire South Island has a smaller population that the city of Auckland alone!
I'm not generally a fan of only 1 full day in a city but I felt that we saw a lot of Christchurch, we all really liked it, and it was a good stop on the way to Queenstown.
From here the drive to Queenstown was about 6 hours, again made easier with Forest and I splitting it up. She took the first bit, the road now moving a bit more inland. Our plan was to stop in Fairlie for the famous meat pies but the line was out the door and down the block so we continued on.
Next stop, Lake Tekapo. WOW! Just incredibly stunning scenery that photos can't do justice to! We walked around taking in the views of the turquoise lake and snow capped peaks behind; an excellent place to stretch your legs. We grabbed lunch at one of the casual restaurants near the park, it was fine but the views of the lake more than made up for the 'meh' meal.
My turn to drive, as we were just about 3 hours away now, and as the driver you get more say in where you want to stop. I chose High Country Salmon. New Zealand farms over ½ the world's King salmon and is famous for being the only farmed salmon to be on Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list. High Country is a place you can see the fish pens, buy from their deli, eat at the floating restaurant, and even fish if you want!
We just picked up some salmon, cheese, crackers, etc for apero hour and continued on our way. The road started to climb and I found myself driving over another stunning sight, 3185 feet high Lindis Pass. Really dramatic views of the grassy mountains on either side!
And then right before getting into Queenstown we stopped for views at the very pretty Roaring Meg Canyon. Just 40 more minutes to our next destination!
All photos from Picton to Queenstown here.
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