Always wanted to do a bit of a road trip in the South Island as I had never been south of Christchurch. Flew into Christchurch, hired a Hyundai Tucson for 5 days and headed south to Dunedin, Invercargill and of course Bluff, then up to Queenstown and back to Christchurch (and all the little places in between). Did approx 1,500k's. I must say the drive from Christchurch to Dunedin was under whelming, but State HW 6 from Invercargill to Queenstown was fantastic! Incredible road, amazing scenery and virtually no traffic. Had it all to myself and luckily all the roads were open and it didn't rain once. I must say, I was rather impressed with the Tucson, although I accidently spun the front wheels trying to turn around at the top of Baldwin st in Dunedin!
intrade,
Jul 9, 9:20am
it has changed emensly since i been south in 1990s. almost no gravel roads there now, Graymouth was a gray town in the 90s and the bridge i drove over was just remains after in 2010 --- virtually no traffic is probably due to that you did not drive there in january.
the-lada-dude,
Jul 9, 9:20am
although I accidently spun the front wheels trying to turn around at the top of Baldwin st in Dunedin!
Yeah right !
tgray,
Jul 9, 10:16am
The thing is it's not a dead end, so near the top I stopped briefly and that's were the trouble started. Remember this is a 2017 modern SUV. Image the old bangers going up there and getting stuck. I did see a chinese guy trying to turn around by backing out of a locals driveway and spinning the wheels badly. The locals must be very patient.
Did you come back up through the center, Tekapo etc?
esky-tastic,
Jul 9, 3:45pm
This! Try a trip down there from November through to about April and enjoy sharing the road with camper vans and rental Tucson’s, Highlanders etc all driven by inexperienced drivers gawking at the scenery.
sandypheet,
Jul 9, 8:50pm
Planning on flying into Queenstown and out again 8 days later next year.Going up to Tekapo area then down to Mosgiel to catch up with an old workmate then onto west otago for 4 or five nights. Mossburn to catch up with another old mate.Just happen to be there at oyster opening so might be a trip to Bluff that day.Its a beautiful place and I wish I had taken more notice when I lived down there and not been on the piss all the time.
tamarillo,
Jul 10, 7:32am
Yer all missing the haast pass through to the lower west coast. , you have to do that, then cross back through Arthur's pass. Plus the inland McKenzie country road through Tekapo etc . That's the lower south.
nice_lady,
Nov 30, 2:14am
Been there done that. Hubby took us for a road trip right round the Deep South, (well the whole South Island actually), a few years back. It was fantastic. Pick your time of year. I'd suggest somewhere round about end March when it's just getting colder but still not too bad. See a bit of snow, and the autumn colours on the trees also.
We went from the Waikato down the west coast, around the bottom and wiggled up the middle a bit then back to Chch and up the East. The trip was just a tad over 5000Km. So make sure you can afford the petrol lol. We did it in two weeks, but would have liked longer, will do it again for sure some time. That was back in 2006 & it cost us $6k staying in motels, cooking brekkie most days, buying lunches and sometimes cooking night meals. Took our own car of course. Hint - do NOT pack the entire boot full of stuff ! Learnt that one the hard way. Poor Hubby had to unpack it and pack it heaps. Must have been 100Kg of crap in there lmfao.
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