New Zealand South Island Highlights

It was no luck that director Peter Jackson shot most of his "Lord of the Rings" scenes on this island. Highlights of the South Island and travel information. South Island is the larger of New Zealand's two main islands, but less densely populated.

Must-see-sea sights on New Zealand's South Island

After shutting down my five Must Do's on the New Zealand northern island, it seems only right to appeal to the southern island as well. From the very top to the very bottom and in as many places as possible in between, we travelled for two long weeks in the South Island of New Zealand in the autumn, and we went when the island came under the control of a freezing explosion in the Arctic.

South Island is very different from Northern Island. Less populous, it hosts the rather stunning South Alpine Mountains, a chain of mountains that leads down the whole island, with a series of stunning summits that overshadow everything the island has to boast.

It' also home to breathtaking sandy shores, rain forests, glaciers and New Zealand's biggest Nationalpark. These are five of our attractions from this two months journey, without which no visitor to New Zealand's South Island should be able to get along! Hidden at the upper edge of the western coastline of the South Island is the small city Karamea, which could best be described as relaxed.

Karamea area is definitely a must, if only for the Oparara Basin. Situated high up in the Karamea mountain range, in Kahurangi National Park, the Oparara Basin is a serious gem with a series of imposing outcrops.

One of Australasia's longest arches of calcareous stone, the Oparara Arc itself, with a gigantic length of two hundred meters, is the highpoint. Come and see us and enjoy yourself. There is much to discover beyond the Oparara River valley. The Heaphy Track, one of New Zealand's great hikes, ends just off Karamea and is probably the major cause why humans end up here.

There is no way to get to the South Island without one (or both) of these icebergs, which are both easy to access and easy to handle. Especially noteworthy for their closeness to the sea, you can reach these two icebergs for free by taking a brief stroll from their parking lots.

Whatever you decide to see the glacier, you will be amazed by its immeasurability and the effects it has had on your area. In the south of the western coastline (the western coastline is a South Island highlight!) lies Fiordland Nationalpark, the biggest of New Zealand's fourteen Nationalparks and a UNESCO World Heritage area.

It is a place of discovery, from fog-laden fjords to snow-capped peaks. The fauna is abundant, as is the flora, and this is a place in New Zealand (of many!) where you can really lose yourself in it. To be frank, the highlights for many people, including myself, is the unbelievable Milford Sound, a huge inflow of fresh air created by the glacier movements of a few thousand years ago.

For me, the South Alpine is one of New Zealand's most beautiful scenery, and no part of it is more spectacular than Aoraki or Mount Cook, the highest in the area. With a height of almost four thousand meters, this hill is viewable from many places, among them the renowned Spiegelsee on the western part.

But to get an impression of the mountain's spectacular scenery, you want to be near and personally, so that an excursion to the town of Mount Cook, deeply in the mountains, is on the agenda. There are many walks from the town and its surroundings offering unbelievable panoramic vistas of the mountains and countryside, such as New Zealand's longest glaciers and glacial icebergs.

Across the eastern seaboard, and the strangeness that is the Banks Peninsula. It has a truly relaxed atmosphere and offers innumerable possibilities for discovery - from walking to the top of Mount Herbert (home of a beautiful picturesque bathroom and a view over large parts of the South Island) to discovering the French-influenced city of Akaroa.

Like in much of New Zealand, you can enjoy many exciting activities here! The adventurous city of New Zealand, if not the most adventurous in the whole wide New Zealand area. It is also wonderfully situated with the unbelievable Remarkables mountains, known as the Remarkables, which provide a beautiful setting - you can simply settle here for a whole week, even a month!

This is what I need to see on the South Island of New Zealand! For more information to help you schedule your New Zealand adventures, look no further than my range of New Zealand travel books, which covers everything from looking for free web access to purchasing and sales of a car to the ideal one-month New Zealand travel route.

Thank you for having read my favorite activities on the South Island of New Zealand!