Itinerary: South Island, starting out in Christchurch

West coast? East coast? North? South? Depending on time, you will need to take some decisions about which parts of the South Island you plan to visit. There are two passes that across over the Alps: Haast and Arthur's. Taking into consideration that the Southern Alps run the entire length of the island, you should decide on your focus before you start out. We ended up driving 3000 km in 20 days, driving from:

• Christchurch to Dunedin, driving all day with two short shops; stayed 2 nights in Dunedin

• Dunedin to Invercargill, driving all day along the Southern Scenic Highway; 1 night

• Invercargill to Arrowtown, arrived later in the afternoon; 3 nights

• Arrowtown to Aoraki/Mt Cook, arrived later in the afternoon; 4 nights

• Aoraki/Mt Cook to Kaikoura, took all day, drove along the Inland Scenic Highway; 3 nights

• Kaikoura to Nelson, very long driving day, lots of windy roads; 2 nights

• Nelson to Picton, easy scenic drive; 1 night in Picton to take ferry to Wellington next day

The starting point: Christchurch

Christchurch is in the process of rebuilding the city center after the devastating effects of the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. The famous cathedral was destroyed - parts are propped up and there is an ongoing discussion about whether to rebuild or totally demolish it.

The Botanical Gardens are a good place to recoup after a long flight. There are also some cafés, pubs and bistros in that vicinity. Had our first green-lipped mussels at Villas, delicious.

We decided to ease our way into traveling and get over jet-lag before launching out on our own by splurging on a tour with Canterbury Trails. Sheer luxury! But also money well spent because in one day we managed to see and do more than we could have otherwise. The tour we chose was to combine a ride on the Tranzalpine, stopping at Arthur's Pass and then driving back to Christchurch with a stop at Castle Hill. The tour company purchased our train tickets, had a van pick us up at our motel and take us to the station, and then we were met at Arthur's Pass.

There is a lot of hype about the Tranzalpine train tour. Many tourists are lured into the one-day trip from Christchurch on the east coast to Greymouth on the west and then return to Christchurch. Return tickets cost about NZD 200. The train leaves Christchurch at 8:15 a.m. and there is only one train per day. We were disappointed – no Wow factor for us. It could have been the time of year – the scenery is probably far more interesting in early spring when the snow is still on the mountain tops, the rivers are flowing with glacial run-off and the wild flowers are in full bloom. 

So we were very glad that we had arranged to stop at Arthur's Pass rather than travel all the way to Greymouth and back. Our guide took us to the museum there to get some history and on some of the short walks. The highlight of the day was our visit to Castle Hill, which is not something we had heard about before: we only found out about this place through reading about the tour. So it was a fantastic surprise. A sacred place for the Maori – as well as the Dalai Lama.