Our 5th anniversary adventure brought us through 4 seasons and 2 new countries within 2 weeks. Started our trip hanging out with friends in San Francisco, followed by a relaxing getaway in Fiji, and ended the trip with a 10-day road trip across New Zealand. I'll share more about our adventures in the next few posts. Follow along!
New Zealand 10D9N Road Trip:
Day 1: Hokitika
Day 2: West Coast & Lake Wanaka
Day 3: Milford Sound
Day 4: Glenorchy
Day 5: Queenstown
Day 6: Mt Cook & Lake Tekapo
Day 7: Christchurch
Day 8: Wellington
Day 9: Lake Taupo/Hobbiton
Day 10: Auckland
Nov 30 (Fri): Queenstown - Glenorchy - Queenstown (106kms)
After driving more than 500km/day for the last two days, it was time to slow down our pace and rest up. The only sightseeing we planned for the day was to visit Glenorchy, which is a small scenic town about an hour away from Queenstown.
First task on our agenda was to return our RAV4 at Queenstown airport. Our hotel was only 10 minutes away from Queenstown airport so it was very convenient. We picked this car up from Christchurch airport and drove a total of 1344kms over the last 3 days. We spent a total of NZD85 ($58) for the 3-day one-way rental and NZD223 ($153) on gas.
After returning the Toyota RAV4, the staff from Discount Car Rentals picked us up from the airport and brought us to their off-airport location to collect our SUV for the next 4 days...a SsangYong Korando. Honestly, I've never heard or seen this car model before but I ain't gonna be picky for a FREE car. =P
Yes our rental car was FREEE...4 days one-way rental from Queenstown to Christchuch. =) All thanks to this awesome company - Transfercar. It's a car-relocation website that helps rental car companies transfer cars between their branches by letting people drive for free. Such a brilliant and awesome idea! I've been looking on the website for various routes that could work with our itinerary and as soon as they opened up the booking for this posting at 10pm, I submitted my booking request almost immediately (first come first serve). Apparently, I must have been the first to book it because I saw 4 more requests shortly after I booked, but my booking request was the one that was accepted. =) We had a great experience using Transfercar so we can confidently say that this is totally legit!
After picking up our rental car, we started our drive towards Glenorchy. First unplanned stop was the Seven Mile Point Track car park with great panaromic view of Lake Wakatipu.
Bennetss Bluff Lookout. A scenic view point along the Glenorchy-Queenstown road.
Made it to Glenorchy at noon. Gotta get a picture of this famous Glenorchy red barn.
Glenorchy wharf with scenic views of the snow-capped mountains and Lake Wakatipu.
The Glenorchy-Queenstown road is definitely one of the most scenic drives in New Zealand. Be prepared to make multiple photo stops!
Another unplanned stop on our way back to Queenstown...Wilson Bay Reserve. This is such a cool lil' by you can park right next to the waters and enjoy the views. There was only one other car when we were there so this is definitely a hidden gem.
Last quick photo stop at One Mile Car Park before heading back to our hotel. We originally thought about hiking up the Tiki Trail to get a panoramic view of Queenstown from above but chose to be lazy and avoid the crowded town center.
Dec 1 (Sat): Holiday Inn Frankton Road
We did nothing at all on our last day in Queenstown. We spent the day chilling and resting in the hotel. Hubby wasn't feeling well so it was good that we had one extra day to rest, relax, and recover before continuing our journey northbound.
The only time we left the hotel was to get some dinner from the supermarket.
That's all for day 4 and 5 of our road trip in New Zealand. Stay tuned for the next post! As a token of appreciation for scrolling through this long post, here's our map and itinerary to help you plan for your New Zealand adventure! Click on the top right 'square' to open in Google Maps.
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