I’m in the process of planning my South Island itinerary, going to take about 25/26 days to do it.
I was thinking we would travel north via Dunedin first, do a night along the way there and then when we get to Christchurch travel back down to Tekapo for a couple of nights as a separate trip and back to Christchurch.
Does anyone have any opinions on this?
You'd miss seeing and having lunch at Mt. Cook as "highlights" of the bus journey from Queenstown to Lake Tekapo, but that's probably worth missing out on in exchange for seeing the Invercargill / Dunedin bit. (Well, actually, personally I think both Invercargill and Dunedin are rather boring, and I'd totally avoid them to spend some more time somewhere else, but that's just me.)
So yeah, this sounds like a good plan.
Also, we are doing all this in end of July/first couple of weeks of August. What are the chances of roads being closed etc because of snow and ice?
Not very high. There's a decent chance of snow, but it's not all that common to get bad enough for the passes to be closed, and for the Lake Tekapo stretch, since you'd be travelling back and forth to Christchurch, you'd only need to worry about Burkes Pass. Leave room in your schedule for a day's delay there just in case, and also for a day's delay at Haast Pass (between the glaciers and Queenstown), but you probably won't need that extra time.
I did almost exactly the same route when I was here in 2006, ladybug66, and spent a month here on the South Island. I started in Christchurch and went in an anti-clockwise direction, with the TranzAlpine (Greymouth --> Christchurch, and then Christchurch --> Greymouth a few days later) ride in-between.
Tekapo from Christchurch is easily arranged via the buses, and so is Akaroa. If you have more time left over (quite unlikely, I would think!) and have access to a car, it's worth visiting Hanmer Springs as well. Nothing like a soak in the hot springs (Hanmer Springs or Tekapo), looking out towards the snow-capped mountains, in mid-winter
Thank you so much for the replies!
I have decided to go up the east coast to see Dunedin, then once in Christchurch spent a night or two there and then head down to Tekapo for a couple of nights & back to Chch. Done!
Can't wait. Pity it's not til July though.
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