So the first part of exploring the South Island was already amazing and we did not even visit the top sites if we must believe the internet. That fact made us very excited for part 2. Kicking of with Queenstown.
Queenstown
Queenstown was gorgeous (starting to repeat ourselves) and we found that this is also your stop for a nice dinner out, which is a nice change from the easy dinners coming out of our motorhome. Queenstown is also known for the best burger in the world, so they claim, at Fergburger. The line was really long and we were crazy hungry so we decided to come back the next day for an early lunch. Good choice, because we had our burgers quickly and it was a truly ‘Amen-experience’. Yep. Really good.
We only stayed for 1 night, again way too short. So much more to do and explore. Hopefully we will come back one day!
Milford Sound
Milford Sound supposedly is one of the highlights of New Zealand, so we booked 2 nights so we could do a full day of exploring. We loved it. There is no internet, no nothing. Just nature. Beautiful and overwhelming. It almost seems fake. We went for a cruise and a canoeing excursion, which we really liked, even though paddling apparently is quite hard…
Not having a connection with the outside world for 2 days is so weird. That almost never happens nowadays. And yes, being the brats we are, we were kind of happy when the connection came back driving to our next location. Sad. But true.
Wanaka
We heard a lot of great things about Wanaka and Kelvin was really eager to get some training in, so we decided to stay 2 nights. We lucked out with the weather so instead of immediately putting on our sneakers and explore away, we trained and we enjoyed the sun and lake Wanaka. Not a bad way to spend your days. 🙂
Fox Glacier
We came to Fox Glacier to do a Heli-hike. Little did we know that they get canceled a lot because of the weather. Our first try got canceled (it was so cloudy, we could not even see any mountain around us), which left us with one more try the next morning before we had to let it go and move on to our next destination. When we arrived the next morning there was a lot of doubt if we could go up or not. The group before us got canceled, but they decided to get us geared up and make the final decision 5 minutes before departure. In the end we lucked out and they took us op on the glacier. It was one of the most shockingly beautiful excursions ever. Just the heli ride alone was stunning. Hiking for 2 hours on the glacier was unreal. The guide was amazing and taught us so much. Again, what a shock how fast everything is melting.
Greymouth
Our last stop on the South Island was Abel Tasman National Park. This was a 6,5 hour drive from Fox  Glacier. Because we tried to get on the heli hike once more on our ‘driving day’ we decided to split the drive and stay somewhere overnight. This ended up to be Greymouth. Arriving late and leaving early for us it was really a place to just get some rest. And do a long run. Duh.
Kaiteriteri (Abel Tasman National Park)
Kaiteriteri. It took us 2 days to pronounce that. Kaiteriteri is a really small beach town (make that beach street) with a really pretty beach. We ended up there because the excursion we booked left from there. We took a boat with Wilsons that took us along the coast and dropped us in the Abel Tasman National Park. After the drop we hiked 10 km along the coast to get to our pick up place.
The hike was hilly, but easy and really pretty. Exotic scenes with gorgeous beaches. Not a bad day out! We can really recommend this if you don’t have a lot of time and want to get a taste of the Abel Tasman National Park.
After this great day it was time to say goodbye to the South Island and head for the ferry and our next adventure, the North Island.
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