Christchurch to Queenstown in a day

Today I'm going to try and keep the blog post fairly short, the topic being the road between Christchurch and Queenstown and the main attractions on the way. We've driven this road several times, in both directions, most recently with Giigan's parents in March. After the transalpine train journey to Greymouth on the West Coast, we traversed the 490 kms from Chch to Qtown in just one day together with them.

We left Christchurch early in the morning, just before 8 am, and arrived at our first stop at around 11 am. This was Lake Tekapo. Lake Tekapo is perhaps most well known for its small stone church, the Church of the Good Shepherd, overlooking a heavenly panorama of turqouise water and jagged mountainridges. On a clear day, with the mountaintops covered by shining snow, it's probably one of the most peaceful views on Earth. No wonder the church sports a 1,5 by 3 metre window towards the lake instead of an altar painting.

Lake Tekapo.

If Lake Tekapo is just a brief stop-over, a visit to the church and a coffee at one of the cafes in the village will suffice, but if you have a couple of hours, or a day, there are many walking tracks around the lake. A brand new spa has also been recently constructed on the outskirts of the village right next to the lake. It's actually very good. Giigan and I can totally recommend the sauna and the cold water pool.

20 kms after Lake Tekapo you'll drive past Lake Pukaki, from where you have a clear view across 50 kms of lake water towards the highest mountain in NZ: Aoraki/Mt Cook (3754 m). We had a pot of luck handed to us when driving past with Giigan's parents, as the weather was quite clear and we could see the top of the mountain. Aoraki was at its best; giving testimony to its Maori name, meaning "Cloud Piercer". It is possible to drive to the foot of the mountain and go hiking in the national park (which Giigan has done), but we didn't have time for that with Jaakko and Eeva-Inkeri. We had to be happy with just the mesmerizing view.

Aoraki/Mt Cook - "Cloud Piercer".

Wanaka is a largish town about an hour's drive before Queenstown. In many ways it resembles Queenstown - it also lies by a beautiful lake surrounded by high mountain peaks - but is a lot more tranquil than the never-sleeping party town. A must-visit is the Rippon vineyard, and it's not just for the free tastings. The vineyard not only produces some of the best wines in the country, it also occupies one of the most amazing spots overlooking Wanaka, the lake and the crown of mountains shredding the horizon. On a sunny day, it's the perfect spot to enjoy a bottle of wine and a platter of cheese - which we did!

The Rippon vineyard in Wanaka.

On a previous visit to Wanaka Giigan and I visited the Wanaka Beerworks brewery, which is located by the airstrip out of town. How we found out about this brewery is in fact a funny story. In short, it goes something like this: In February when we were still on the North Island driving from Taranaki to Wellington, we picked up a flyer in a town called Whanganui. We thought the brewery was located there and followed the instructions on the flyer to drive to "the airport 6 km out of town". Well, we found the airport next to Whanganui, but no brewery was in sight. Then we started looking at the road number on the flyer. It didn't match any around Whanganui. Then we looked up where a town called Wanaka is in our Lonely Planet. Imagine how stupid we felt when we realized Wanaka was on the South Island and we wouldn't get there until a month or two later!

Anyway, Beerworks produces some very good European style lagers. The brewery is very small, but the friendly staff will take you on a personal tour and let you sample the beers for a small fee.

From Wanaka you can drive to Queenstown either over the mountains or along a river. Over the mountains is a better drive, shorter, and a lot more exciting (go for the Cardrona ski field). It's also better for all trigger-happy cameramen and -women.

Jaakko and Eeva-Inkeri at a lookout crossing the mountains between Wanaka and Queenstown.

That's that for now! MORE PICTURES available in our picture gallery.