Don't Visit New Zealand's South Island Without Watching This Guide!

On New Zealand's South Island, every turn feels like stepping into a different world. From shimmering turquoise lakes, to rugged alpine peaks, to fjords carved straight out of the sea, it's a place that constantly leaves you in awe no matter how many times you stop to take it all in. We spent two weeks exploring some of the most breathtaking spots on the island and in this video we want to bring you along for the journey, sharing not only the beauty of these places but also travel advice to maximize your experience. Make sure to stay until the end where we'll share one of the coolest experiences you can have in all of New Zealand. After landing in Christchurch and picking up our rental van, we went straight for our first stop, Lake Dekobo. Easily one of the most famous lakes in the entire country, allocate about an hour or two to explore the area. What makes this lake so famous is between the months of mid-November and early January, you'll get to see the vibrant lupins that line the lakeshore. Unfortunately we weren't here during this time but it was still incredibly beautiful getting to see the sun glistening on blue waters and the mountains in the horizon. Make sure to stop at the Church of Good Shepherd to capture the essence of New Zealand's humbleness amidst nature. Not only is it a historical church built in 1935, it's actually still an active church which they have service every Sunday at 4 p.m. If you're up for it, make sure to take a dip in the lake itself. Yes it was freezing but so refreshing. If you're road tripping in New Zealand in a camper van like we did and want a serene spot for a lunch break, then drive the 20 minutes along the lakeshore to Motuariki viewpoint. I think we found our lunch spot. It's called Motuariki viewpoint. It's only a 15-minute drive from town. It's so beautiful because it looks out over to the island of the same name so I think we're gonna have to camp out here for a little bit and enjoy some food. After spending the previous week exploring the North Island of New Zealand, we decided to turn in early for the evening as we wanted to explore one of our favorite areas in South Island bright and early. We found a lovely campsite on the shores of Lake Pukaki where we caught a bit of sunset with Mount Cook in the distance. It was like having a little preview of what was to come. We woke up to a pretty cloudy day as we drove into Aoraki or Mount Cook National Park. Along the drive there's a well-known viewpoint called Peter's Lookout which really shines when the day is clear. On our way out of the park a couple days later, we did manage to capture the road to Aoraki perfectly. Just before the entrance to the national park, we could see the moody valley with stunning mountains completely surrounding us. It's probably around this moment that we realized maybe the clouds weren't so bad. The main thing to do at Mount Cook is definitely hiking so we're going to show you guys two incredible yet short hikes that we did here starting with the Hooker Valley Track. Good morning guys we have officially made it over to Mount Cook National Park and we're going to be doing two main things here today. The first one is what we're doing right now which is called Hooker Valley Walk and this is probably the most popular walk in all of New Zealand. The reason why it's called a walk is because it's actually fairly easy. It's a gravel path that's fairly flat. It's only about 130 meters of elevation gain throughout which is across 10 kilometers so it's fairly long. It's going to take about three hours to finish. It's an out and back track all the way to Hooker Lake. We are on suspension bridge number two. There are three in total. Now it is a true suspension bridge. It like absolutely shakes when someone walks by you when you're walking. It's not too sketchy. There is a load of 20 people so I would say if it is a super busy day maybe just wait a little bit before you want to go on because yeah there is definitely some bouncing. Pretty much on the dot it took us about an hour and 15 but we made it over to Hooker Lake, the endpoint of the Hooker Valley Walk and it has been a beautiful walk and obviously the views here are absolutely stunning with Mount Cook in the back. Now there's actually a viewing platform at the top but it is so incredibly busy. It's so much better if you come down to the lake shores like you can see there's nobody around me right now. We have this place almost to ourselves. We checked ourselves into the only campsite located inside the national park itself which we pre-booked online and linked below as the availability fills up very quickly during the higher season. Checking in early meant we had the perfect view of the mountains while refueling ourselves with some lunch and a nice long break before prepping for our second hike of the day. We are officially heading over to Sealy Tarns. That is the second hike that we will be doing today and this one is going to be a lot more strenuous than the first one. It's going to take about two hours just to get there and about an hour and a half to come back. Elevation gain is about 600 meters but it's going to be a lot of stairs so this should be a lot of fun. Hopefully the views are really nice and maybe just maybe it'll be a nicer sunset. The path started off nice and flat and we took in the mountainscapes and golden fields as the late afternoon light began to hit. Unfortunately this easygoing trail didn't last long before the dreaded 2,200 steps that we needed to climb. Our legs were on fire as the stairs felt never ending but we pushed through nonetheless because every time we looked behind us the view of Mount Cook just got better and better. We also caught more and more of Mueller Lake and an impressive valley to our right. Finally we made it to Sealy Tarns and yeah I say this climb is definitely worth it. Just before we close on our time in the National Park there is one more stop that could be worth checking out, the Tasman Glacier. It's an easy walk from the parking lot so it's low effort and to be fully transparent lower reward as well. We made it up to the viewpoint and at first when we got here we didn't even know where the glacier was we thought it was tucked in behind the valley but that pile of dirt where you see the icebergs that is a massive glacier and it feeds right into Tasman Lake. There's a massive glacial lake sitting right in front of me. What the glacier does do though is flow from the Tasman Lake into the Tasman River which is an incredible network of streams that is best seen from the air. Here is where you can do a flyover or helicopter tour which will offer you one of the best views on South Island. On our two and a half hour drive from Mount Cook to the town of Wanaka we passed by some incredible landscapes. Barren lands with mountains and deep valleys that made us want to stop every 30 minutes. We enjoyed the road views and took it slow until we reached our next destination. Wanaka is a picturesque town with a stunning lake and the imposing mountains that surround it. Make sure to pop by the Wanaka tree, a nice little photo spot of a lonesome willow tree that hovers just above the clear waters. While Wanaka is quite famous for its adventure activities like kayaking we came here to do our favorite hike on South Island, Roy's Peak Lookout. Let us be clear in saying that the hike itself is quite boring but the view you get at the top is easily one of the greatest in the country, in our opinion of course. Sunrise is by far the most popular time to tackle this hike so we started our trek at about 4 30 in the morning and by this time the parking lot was nearly full. It's a really strenuous climb at 16 kilometers round trip and over 1200 meters in elevation gain. People usually take about two to three hours to reach the top but once we got there just before the sun came out the landscape before us really came to life. After a pretty grueling hike in the pitch black trying to make it up here for sunrise the pain in my legs it was freezing up here we were in the dark for about an hour here at the top like even right now my hands are fully frozen but it was so worth coming for sunrise the colors up here the way the light hit the mountains you have that perfect pink glow in the clouds as well as the tips of the mountains and the view here is just absolutely spectacular it was worth every minute of it this is probably one of the greatest hiking views i've We'd been looking forward to this all trip and now we were finally heading to arguably the most sought-after scenic area in New Zealand Fiordland National Park home to the mighty Milford Sound but before getting there we drove through the city of Queenstown. We wish we had more time to explore this area as there are a lot of fun things to do here especially adventure activities. If you had a couple of extra days then we'd highly recommend you visit. As it's quite a long drive to get to Milford Sound from Wanaka we camped inside the national park and left early the next morning to explore the area. Driving through the winding mountainous roads was an adventure in and of itself. There are tons of spots you can visit along the way like the vast plains of Eglinton Valley or Monkey Creek with its stunning mountains especially on a day with low clouds. After crossing the Homer Tunnel there's a little pullout that you can make on your way down the mountain pass where we witnessed one of the most jaw-dropping scenes with the deep valley below and the cloud covered mountains staggering above. There are a couple of hikes that we did in Fiordland but first let's head over to the most renowned sightseeing activity to do in New Zealand the Milford Sound Cruise. Milford gets rain about 180 days a year making it one of the wettest inhabited places on earth but the day that we got was bright blue skies. Usually people prefer some rain as the waterfalls are often stronger then and it gives off that mystical ambience that is very fitting for fjord sightseeing but we love the sunny conditions that we got. They allowed us to really see into the surrounding fjords seeing the clarity of each peak and crevice and the up-close waterfall experience was just as thrilling. We also opted to go with a smaller boat for the cruise as those tend to get you a little closer to the falls almost a little too close if you ask us. It is currently about 7 30 in the morning and we are beginning our trek up to Lake Marion. It is listed to be about three hours round trip which honestly is not bad whatsoever but one thing we noticed is that here in New Zealand anytime they give a time estimate they're super conservative with it so I think for us I think we should be able to do this quite a bit faster maybe two and a half hours two hours and 15 but our total time might be a little bit longer because knowing us we're going to want to stop to film take photos and just enjoy the scenery. Whoa guys the mountains look incredible but you know it's so quiet so all I hear are the birds singing in the morning and the lake looks so emerald and reflective right now. I'm so excited! The second hike that we're going to be doing is heading over to the Key Summit and this is on the famous Routburn or Routburn track which is one of New Zealand's great walks. It takes about two to three days across back country tracks. Now for us obviously we're not going to be doing that we're just heading to the Key Summit and it should be some really amazing views. Unfortunately it is a little bit cloudy and it is raining right now but we're it to the Key Summit. The summit itself is a little bit underwhelming compared to the nature walk. I feel like that was the hero of this entire hike but coming here there's a lookout to Lake Marion which is so cool. So we started our morning over there and now we're here. Heading back north for our final spot on our South Island adventure we arrived at the coastal town of Kaikoura. You can kind of tell from the planes over here what we're doing today. We are in the little town of Kaikoura and what is most famous here is for the whale watching as well as dolphin encounters. Now of course you can go take a regular whale watching tour on a cruise and such but we opted to go on a flight. We're just getting checked in and they're going to hop in the air in about half an hour. This was such a special experience. Just 10 minutes into the flight we had our first whale sighting. Two beautiful sperm whales came up at different intervals for air as we circled from above. They actually live in these waters year-round so the chances of seeing them here are quite good but never guaranteed of course. At the end of the flight we also saw a massive fin whale. They don't stay on the surface for long but we did manage to capture a photo of the beauty in the mere seconds before it left the surface. Another must-do in Kaikoura is seeing the fur seals. You can walk along the peninsula to watch them lounging on the rocks or searching for food. They were really adorable and a great way to end our time here. There is so much more to see on South Island New Zealand but we hope this video can give you a good idea of its unreal landscapes. We can't wait to explore more of them someday but until then we'll catch you guys on our next adventure.