We traveled from Hokitika to Christchurch; our last full day with the van.

Here’s an interactive map of our route, with some of the stops marked:

The town of Kumara; amusing as that is also the Maori name of a sweet potato:

One lane bridge:

Taipo River:

Taramakau River:

Otira Stagecoach Hotel, with Gollum on the roof:

Another one lane bridge:

Roadworks light with a countdown; nice:

16% downgrade:

Interesting avalanche guard:

“Thank you for not feeding me”:

Otira Viaduct Lookout:

Alpine Parrot Cafe for a coffee and slice:

Kea:

Kea info:

Arthur’s Pass National Park Visitor Centre:

Arthur’s Pass:

My beard having “main character energy” as the kids say:

Dusty:

Interesting rocks:

Castle Hill rocks:

Springfield doughnut:

Sheffield Pies:

Perhaps the tastiest pie I had in NZ:

Christchurch Fanfare Sculpture:

Arriving at Top 10 Spencer Beach:

Our site:

Pre-loved items bin; a good idea, since a lot of people end their trip in Christchurch (as we did); we had too much stuff to fit in that bin, so we took it to Red Cross before dropping off our van:

Shower:

We went out to a laundromat to do a last load of laundry:

And got takeaways from Kaikanui Fish & Chip and Chinese Restaurant next door:

Which we took back to our site (not the best, but the last):

This was our last night in the van.

We traveled from Queenstown to Lake Hāwea.

Here’s an interactive map of our route, with some of the stops marked:

Shockingly, another scenic drive in NZ:

We explored the Cromwell Heritage Precinct, which saved some historic buildings when the main street of Cromwell was submerged due to the construction of the Clyde dam:

 

Coffee and a slice at the Seed & Grain Store:

More exhibits:

Clutha River:

Cromwell stone fruit sculpture and sign:

45th Southern Parallel marker, halfway between the equator and the south pole:

Vines:

Interesting rocks:

We were going to stop at Wanaka Lavender Farm, but there wasn’t convenient parking, and most of the lavender wasn’t in bloom, so we skipped it:

Puzzling World is a cheesy tourist trap; we never intended to stop there, and didn’t:

We did stop at the Mount Aspiring National Park Visitor Centre, more our speed:

Of course, we had to take some pictures of That Wanaka Tree (along with several other people):

We had lunch at Scroggin in Wanaka:

A one lane bridge with a traffic light:

Arriving at our campground for the night, The Camp:

It was laundry time again, so we tried the laundry facilities at the campground, but most of the machines were out of order:

The showers were very basic too:

A cabin with a view:

Lake Hāwea:

Outdoor fireplace:

Dome:

Our site:

Since the campground laundry was unusable, we went back to Wanaka to do laundry at a laundromat. Which was a useful experience; we found that taking our laundry to a laundromat was easier than using a campground laundry, since we didn’t need to fuss with coins or small unreliable machines.

After laundry, we had dinner at Hello Ranger:

Then back to our site for the night:

We traveled from Milford Sound to Queenstown.

Here’s an interactive map of our route, with some of the stops marked; a big loop, because there isn’t a more direct route:

A rainy morning lead to hundreds of waterfalls:

Waiting to go back through Homer Tunnel:

Hollyford River:

Morning snack at Alpine Centre Cafe in Te Anau:

Sheep:

Lunch at Route 6 Cafe in Lumsden:

Lake Wakatipu:

Arriving at Driftaway Queenstown, where we spent three nights (the longest stay of this trip):

Our waterfront site:

Power and water:

Other sites:

Jump pad:

Shower:

Laundry:

View out our front window: