New zealand adventure holiday

New Zealand Adventure Holiday

Sunset at Lake Tenau

Australian fine art photographer and author - Barry Epstein - explores the South Island’s beautiful scenery by car and provides helpful hints on where to go and how to get the most out of your trip

Driving around New Zealand’s South Island for just over 3 weeks in December was a delightful experience. Although we were unsure exactly where to go, we collated advice from many friends, relatives and travel experts and planned the 1,900 kilometre trip well. This article is intended to share the adventure and deliver information that may be of use for your own holiday planning.

we picked up our RAV 4 and overnighted near the airport in a very clean and modern motel (Airport Palms). Motels in New Zealand cater for families and these self contained facilities had a bedroom and two beds in the lounge area.

We were advised to stay away from the earthquake devastated downtown region that we drove through and saw first hand how bad it was.

The trip with my wife Mimi and two sons, Luke (25) and Ryan (21) began in Christchurch where

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but the two lanes frequently turned into one lane over the many bridges with the right of way well designated. Lunch at the Arthur’s Pass Village is recommended. Most likely you will get to see the Kea birds that are large NZ parrots. They are not shy but we were warned that they can give you a nasty bite if you get too close. You must stop just before heading out of town to see the very large waterfall.

Arthur’s Pass Early the next morning we drove West to Arthur’s Pass that took about 2 hours driving on winding roads that revealed spectacular waterfalls, rivers and mountain vistas. The roads were easy to drive

The rainforest type flora changed dramatically on this side of the pass as we continued driving towards the west coast destination of Punakaiki.

It is recommended to stock up on food at Greymouth before turning North.

Punakaiki Across from the Punakaiki information centre is the well marked and maintained trail for the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. Please note that the hike is very short, flat and easy but there are several steps near the end and there is no wheelchair access.

One of the things that we missed on this trip was a drive about 2 hours North to Westport that was touted in one of the brochures as being rated as the top coastal drives in the world!

Sunset at Punakaiki

Morning near Pancake Rocks Barry Epstein - New Zealand Adventure Holiday barry@barryepstein.com.au

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Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers The next day we drove South back through Greymouth towards the town of Franz Josef. More winding roads through beautiful rain forests for about 3.5 hours until we arrived in a quaint town geared for mountain and glacier adventures.

My oldest son Luke went helihiking on the glacier located in the Westland National Park, which he said was magnificent but difficult.

The rest of us went for an easy 45 minute hike to the base of the glacier where two splendid waterfalls were literally on the trail and easy to photograph. You can only get a glimpse of the glacier at this point. But it is only a 10 minute easy walk to see Peters Pool that provides great mountain reflections. Or if you have the inclination, you can take a very difficult vertical trail for about 3 hours that took my son up into the clouds where it was unfortunately raining. On a good day, the view of the glacier is inspiring.

Driving to the nearby Fox Glacier only takes about 30 minutes and we did this at sunrise one morning to try and get a mountain reflection at Lake Matheson. Although the clouds covered the mountains, we still enjoyed the 25 minute hike.

Afterwards, we hiked up the trail to view the glacier and this is worth the effort but it is a bit difficult as it is steep in some places. There are several companies offering helicopter glacier landings and it is best to check with the Department of Conservation’s Information Centre as they give excellent advice. If interested try to book early as cancellation due to weather is an ongoing issue.

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Peters Pool, Franz Josef Glacier

Lake Matheson, Fox Glacier

Waterfall, Franz Josef Glacier

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Wanaka The ride to Wanaka traversed the Haast Pass through the Mount Aspiring National Park which, again was lovely.

Although it was about 3.5 hours, time traveled quickly as each turn had something interesting and to look at. Just past Lake Hawea, is Wanaka, a modern, stunning, ski town located on the glorious Lake Wanaka. What

Lake Wanaka

a great feeling to arrive at this location. We regret that we had only booked one night there.

Mountain Panorama sunsetLake Te Anau

Te Anau We bypassed Queenstown to go directly to the gateway to Fiordland - Te Anau. This sleepy old town is located on Lake Te Anau which exhibited incredible sunsets. The road to the Milford Sound was closed due to safety issues and reading the local newspaper, the tour operators were quite upset at the frequent closures during and after rain. You can drive about 1 hour North on the MIlford road, however you must turn off before the road closure and drive on gravel for about 20 km. There are several hiking trails off of this road and the one we took was quite difficult as it was

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vertical that allowed us to see a nice waterfall.

The road closure had created havoc for the Milford Sound cruises. Fortunately, we had previously booked the less touristy but more remote and adventurous Doubtful Sound Cruise that operates rain or shine and there is less risk of being cancelled due to road closure. After being picked up at our hotel in the morning by a bus, we were taken to Lake Manapouri and boarded a 45 minute boat ride to the other side of this fantastic lake. A fter a brief and not too interesting tour of the power station we boarded a bus that took us over the pass.

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We boarded the boat and although the rain was exceptionally heavy, we were able to see the most incredible waterfalls during this 45 minute segment of the trip. The boat ride was around 3 hours and the heavy rain prevented us from seeing the real beauty of the ords but we did see spectacular water falls. The boat did go out into the ocean which was a bit too rough for my liking. At the end of the trip, I did get sick.

Boat passing by in the Doubtful Sound

Remarkables Mountain Range , Lake Wakatipu and the Town of Queenstown

Queenstown Arriving in Queenstown was quite memorable.

The mountains surrounding a crystal clear blue lake combined with the modern town located on the shoreline was impressive to say the least.

Walking through the town revealed an array of international travelers that seemed to have a common adventure theme. This is adventure mecca and caters for just about anything that will pump your adrenaline.

Both of my son’s went heli-biking at the top of the Remarkable Mountain range, landed in the snow on a helicopter, rode the jet boat in the Overshot Canyon and more. This is just the tip of the Barry Epstein - New Zealand Adventure Holiday barry@barryepstein.com.au

iceberg of what you can do. The restaurants are quite diverse in price and cuisine. The buffet meal at the top of the mountain was a highlight of the trip and it is recommended. The gondola ride is exciting, the food is great and the view is marvelous.

You can take a nice day trip to Glenorchy. The road follows the lake to the other side and takes about 1 hour.

Hint: If you have a four wheel drive, continue past Glenorchy on a gravel road for another 40 minutes. You must drive through some streams.

The scenery is breathtaking.

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Mount Cook Panorama, Aoraki Mount Cook National Park

Mount Cook National Park Driving 1 hour North of Queenstown were many vineyards and wineries that should be explored. A further three hours drive revealed the crown jewell in the Southern Alps - Mount Cook. The closer we got the better it looked and all of the other mountains.

We had previously booked the Argo Tour that took us deep into the park to see Mount Tasman on an all terrain vehicle. This does toss you around a bit but it is worth it. The end of the tour,

you must hike up a fairly steep bank about 100 meters that we were all able to handle with some effort. The view from the top of this was the most spectacular of the entire trip (see cover photo).

There were numerous other trails to hike on that ranged from quite easy to very difficult. If you drive to the campsite, it is only a 30 minute easy walk that reveals a beautiful mountain range, lake and river. If you can hike in a further 1 hour, you get close up and personal with Mount Cook and a lake with small icebergs. This hike was a highlight and it was quite an effort.

Mount Tasmin, Aoraki Mount Cook National Park Barry Epstein - New Zealand Adventure Holiday barry@barryepstein.com.au

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Lupin flowers

Lake Tekapo The drive to Lake Tekapo from Mount Cook was short and uneventful. We overnighted and the next morning we returned to the Christchurch airport for departure back to Australia. Although the beautiful lupin flowers were out I would not recommend spending any time in Lake Tekapo.

The adventure holiday in New Zealand was spectacular and went well beyond our expectations.

The previous year we drove a similar distance around Alaska and I have to say that New Zealand had the sights without the dangers of the Alaskan bears.

Good Sheppard Church

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Trip map

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Some adventure activities

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Some food

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About the photographer / author Barry Epstein is an Australian fine art photographer, medical imaging specialist and life science executive living in Perth, Western Australia.

He has traveled into remote wilderness locations (Alaska and Australia) and has taken landscape, architectural, portrait and transportation photographs from metropolitan and rural areas throughout Europe, Asia, USA, Russia and other locations.

Born in Brooklyn New York, Barry graduated from the University of Alaska in Biological Sciences. He then received a Diploma in Diagnostic Ultrasonography from the New York Radiological Institute that was aďŹƒliated with two large hospitals (Columbia Presbyterian and Mount Sinai). He was instrumental in clinically validating and launching a new diagnostic technique – Doppler Echocardiography - into world markets that is now the gold standard for cardiovascular diagnosis.

commercializing biomarkers (protein molecules) used to develop molecular diagnostic tests for several diseases.

Please contact Barry if you are interested in publishing this article and have a look at the website www.barryepstein.com.au. Telephone +61 412 788 665 Email

He has written and produced two medical education videos that won awards from the American Film Festival. He was a coauthor for a textbook entitled, Diagnostic Ultrasound in Heart Disease that was published in New York City.

Barry has written and published several photo-travel stories and a photoautobiography.

Currently, he is the Vice President of Commercialization / Marketing for a biotechnology company Proteomics International that is actively

Barry Epstein - New Zealand Adventure Holiday barry@barryepstein.com.au

Family at Lake Wanaka

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