Deep Canyon run exciting canyoning trips in the spectacular canyons of the Matukituki Valley. The trips include abseiling down waterfalls, climbing, swimming and plunging down slippery shutes. The basic Niger Stream trip is their most popular trip which is suitable for most people but the “Big Nige” option is “steeper and deeper” and better suited to fit people with some abseiling experience.
A lot of people consider canyoning to be the best activity in Wanaka. Canyoning trips operate November-March.
Canyoning New Zealand operate several canyoning trips that depart from Queenstown. These include half- and full-day trips from Queenstown and they also run full-day trips departing from Wanaka.
The Kawarau half-day canyoning trip in the Gibbston Valley is a good introduction to canyoning and it gives you the opportunity to participate in everything that is great about canyoning including climbing, hiking, sliding down natural water slides and abseiling through waterfalls.
The Black Spur full-day canyoning trip starts with a water taxi ride across Lake Wakatipu (it is accessible only by boat) followed by a 45-minute walk and offers a full day experience including abseiling, climbing and a jump into water. This is a more scenic option with stunning views of the Remarkables. If you prefer not to start this excursion with the 45-minute walk, there is the option to helicopter in right to the start of the canyoning experience.
In either case you will get wet so it is best to wear shorts and definitely avoid wearing anything that doesn’t dry quickly (no denim).
The Cardboard Cathedral (also known as the Christchurch Transitional Cathedral) is an A-frame structure built from cardboard tubes and shipping containers with a polycarbon roof. The cathedral on Latimer Square, which seats around 700, is the world’s only cathedral constructed substantially from cardboard.
The cathedral was built as a replacement for the Christchurch Cathedral which was originally built in 1874 and which dominated Cathedral Square until it was destroyed in the February 2011 earthquake. It is intended as a temporary structure to be used by the Anglican Church while the Christchurch Cathedral is being rebuilt.
Underworld Adventures operate several cave tours to the Nile River Cave system in Pararoa National Park. These include a glowworm cave tour, cave tubing/black water rafting trips and adventure caving tours.
The Charleston glowworm cave tour starts of with a ride on a narrow-gauge train along the Nile River Canyon through lush rainforest, followed by a walk through the cave where you can see glow worms as well as stalagmite and stalactite calcite formations. The return trip from Charleston takes 3½ hours with two hours inside the cave.
The popular Underworld rafting trip is a four-hour cave tubing adventure that starts off with a ride on the narrow-gauge Nile River Rainforest Train before entering the cave decked out in a wetsuit and helmet. A large part of this trip involves floating on the underground river on inner tubes where you are treated to a spectacular view of glow worms as well as calcite rock formations.
The adventure caving trip is a more full-on experience that involves a 40m (130ft) abseil into Te Tahi Cave followed by real caving.
Tours depart from Underworld Adventures’ Charleston base on State Highway 6.
The Christchurch Art Gallery us the city’s impressive art museum that features a substantial permanent collection and a programme of temporary exhibitions.
The Christchurch Arts Centre is a complex of Gothic Revival buildings that was originally part of the University of Canterbury. The Arts Centre is now a vibrant arts venue with cinemas, theatres and galleries plus shops, bars, cafes and a bustling weekend market.
Ernest Rutherford studied here when it was a university and his den has been made into a multimedia exhibit showcasing the scientist’s life and achievements.
The Arts Centre is also home to the Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities, which has one of the most important collections of artefacts from ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt.
In addition to serving as the hub of the city’s local bus network, the Christchurch Bus Interchange is the main stop for most bus and coach services to other parts of the South Island, including services by Atomic Shuttles, InterCity Coachlines and the West Coast Shuttle.
Bus and coach services that depart from here include services to Akaroa, Dunedin, Fox Glacier, Greymouth, Hanmer Springs, Kaikoura, Picton and Queenstown.
The Christchurch Bus Interchange has better facilities than most other long-distance coach stops in the South Island and includes an information counter, luggage lockers, toilets and a few shops.
The gondola ride in Christchurch’s southern suburbs offers excellent views of the city centre and surrounding areas including Lyttelton Harbour, the Canterbury Plains and the Southern Alps.
Christchurch International Airport (CHC) is 12km west of the city centre. It’s the country’s second-busiest international airport and an increasingly popular international gateway, particularly for flights from Australia.
There are several airport shuttle bus services, including Super Shuttle, which operate a door-to-door service to hotels and hostels around Christchurch. This shuttle runs around the clock and charges $25 to go to most parts of the city.
A much cheaper option is the local bus routes (purple and route 29), although timing may not be practical if you have an early morning flight. The cash fare to the airport is $8.50 ($2.55 if you pay with a Metrocard), but it only costs $4 if you get off the bus a stop before the airport (near the Antarctic Centre).
Christchurch train station is in Addington, just west of Hagley Park, around 3km from Cathedral Square. It’s adjacent to a big retail park on a side street between Blenheim Road and Whiteleigh Avenue.
Although a fairly basic station, it is a modern station with an enclosed waiting room, toilets and an information desk.
There is only one train per day from the station (two per day in summer after the Coastal Pacific starts running again. The Coastal Pacific train goes from Christchurch north to Picton and the scenic TranzAlpine train goes via Arthur’s Pass to Greymouth on the West Coast.
The 120 and Orbiter bus routes stop near here, but these routes don’t go into the city centre so you’ll have to get a bus to the Westfield Riccarton shopping centre first (the purple or yellow line will take you there) before changing to the Orbiter or 120.
Clapham’s National Clock Museum is an unusual museum that has been around for over 100 years and now boasts a collection of over a thousand timepieces.
This 232m-high extinct volcano dominates the centre of Mount Maunganui. At the northern end of Maunganui Road, take the walking track to the summit for a great view.
It is a 45-minute walk to the top and 25 minutes back down.
InterCity Coachlines coaches stop in Clive on their Hastings–Auckland, Hastings–Tauranga, Gisborne–Wellington, Napier–Wellington, Tauranga–Palmerston North and Palmerston North–Napier routes.
Coaches from Clive go to most major destinations on the North Island including Auckland, Gisborne, Hamilton, Hastings, Napier, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga and Wellington.
The Clive InterCity coach stop in is outside the BP service station (174 Main Road, Clive).
The Coaltown Museum focuses on Westport’s coal mining heritage with interesting exhibits of mining equipment in addition to displays about transport and brewing.
The Comet Line is a 160m-long flying fox/zip line ride across the Buller Gorge.
There are two options for riding the Comet Line, the standard (cheaper) option where you are in a ‘seated’ harness and the more expensive ‘Supaman’ ride where you are in a harness that has you lying face down (like a super hero).
The Comet Line ride is part of the Buller Gorge Swingbridge complex, in the Upper Buller Gorge 14km from Murchison.
Craters of the Moon is a unique lunar landscape that is the result of the 1954 explosion during construction of the Wairakei geothermal power station.
There are a several walking tracks that let you see the geothermal activity including the main loop track (45 minutes) that takes you through this active thermal area that features craters, mud pools and steam vents plus the Top Track (an additional 20 minutes) that takes you to the upper lookout.
There are several wildlife spotting cruises operating on Akaroa Harbour that give you the opportunity to see marine life including the rare hectors dolphin.
Black Cat and Akaroa Dolphins both run cruises departing Akaroa that give you the opportunity to see the hectors dolphin in its natural habitat.
Both companies have their offices on Beach Road with two-hour cruises departing from the adjacent jetty.
The following booking grid allows you to book Black Cat Akaroa Harbour cruises online:
Several different companies operate cruises on Milford Sound: Mitre Peak Cruises, Real Journeys, Red Boat Cruises and Southern Discoveries are more focused on conventional tourists while Go Orange and Jucy Cruize are cheaper with more of a budget backpacker focus. A lot of the conventional cruises are on big, impersonal boats but Mitre Peak Cruises have the smaller boats and offer a less touristy experience. Real Journeys also have some smaller boats.
The main advantage of these cruises is the view of Mitre Peak, so they are a waste of money when it is covered in fog and low-lying cloud. The first cruise departures each day are usually much cheaper, primarily because your view is more likely to be obscured by fog; although these can be great value on a clear morning.
The following video and booking calendar is for cruises on Mitre Peak Cruises:
Longer day walks departing from St Arnaud include the hike up Mount Robert (5 hours return), the St Arnaud Range Track (5 hours return), which climbs through beech forest from Kerr Bay above the tree line (1400m) to a height of 1650m offering spectacular views. The Lake Rotoiti Circuit (6–9 hours return) combines the Lakehead and Lakeside Tracks to circumnavigate Lake Rotoiti.
This brewery tour lets you take a look at the brewing process at the DB Draught Brewery where DB Draught, DB Export Gold and DB Export 33 are brewed.
The tour shows the beer production process and concludes with tasting of brewery-fresh beer. Clydesdale horses, which used to deliver the beer, graze on the brewery grounds,
The brewery is located on Sheffield Street in Washdyke, north of Timaru.
The seaside suburb of Devonport is a popular excursion for visitors to Auckland. Victoria Road, near the ferry terminus, has some good pubs and fish and chips shops while the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park at North Head is a great place to explore with its maze of underground tunnels.
The DOC (Department of Conservation) Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre in Te Anau is a great source of information about hiking trails in Fiordland National Park including the Kepler, Milford and Routeburn Tracks.
Located just 3km north of Coromandel Town, the Driving Creek Railway is the creation of potter Barry Brickell, who built the country’s only narrow gauge railway over a period of 26 years. The one-hour train trip passes replanted kauri forest and it includes a unique double-decker viaduct plus two spirals and a great view from the ridge-top terminus.
Dunedin is the terminus for InterCity Coachlines services to Christchurch, Invercargill and Queenstown and InterCity coaches also stop here en route between Christchurch and Te Anau.
InterCity coaches stop outside Ritchies InterCity Travel at 7 Halsey Street near the corner of Sturdee Street. It’s not the nicest location for a coach station, but it is only a 20-minute walk to the Octagon.
Dunedin International Airport is the third-busiest in the South Island. Air New Zealand operates direct flights to Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington; Jetstar Airways fly to Auckland and Wellington and Virgin Australia have direct flights to Brisbane.
Dunedin International Airport is 28km south of the city centre. Local buses don’t serve the airport, but Super Shuttle run a door-to-door shuttle that picks up and drops off at hotels and hostels in central Dunedin.
The Dunedin Public Art Gallery is a large art museum that is home to a collection of New Zealand and international art with a notable collection of European art and Japanese prints. An programme of changing exhibits complements the permanent collection.
In its heyday, Dunedin railway station was New Zealand’s busiest, handling 100 trains per day. Nowadays, the only trains serving the station are heritage railway services including the Taieri Gorge Railway and the Seasider tourist train. It is an impressive station built in the Flemish Renaissance style with stained glass windows, a prominent clock tower and a booking hall that features a mosaic floor made from almost 750,000 tiles.
Dunedin is the terminus for the Taieri Gorge Railway, which travels to Middlemarch where there is a connecting coach service to Queenstown. The Seasider runs to Palmerston a couple of times a week.
Dunedin’s train station is on Anzac Street, about a five-minute walk from the Octagon.
If you walk across the Wanganui City Bridge you’ll come to the Durie Hill tunnel, which takes you 205m into the hill where it meets the Durie Hill Elevator. Built in 1919, this historic lift takes you 66m up to the top of the hill. Once at the top, you can climb the 33.5m Memorial Tower for spectacular views of the city. On a clear day you can see Mounts Ruapehu and Taranaki.
The Dusky Track (84km, 8–10 days) links Lakes Hauroko and Lake Manapouri. It offers a wide variety of landscapes as it crosses two mountain ranges and three major valleys. It is a very challenging track that is best suited to experienced hikers.
Inclement weather conditions can easily hamper your progress and flooding and avalanches are common. Take extra food in case you are stranded for a day or two.
The Edwin Fox is the world’s ninth oldest ship and is the focal point of this small maritime museum near Picton’s ferry terminal. This ship was built in Kolkata (then Calcutta) in 1853 and is the only surviving wooden ship to carry immigrants to New Zealand and convicts to Australia. It is also the oldest surviving troopship that has served in the Crimean War.
This small museum features displays relating to local history. These include the de Surville anchor, which was left in New Zealand in 1769, earlier than any other item of European origin. The other main attraction at the Far North Regional Museum is a replica of the ancient Kaitaia carving.
There are two Queenstown-based flying fox/zipline tour operators and each one offers quite a different experience.
Ziptrek Ecotours
Ziptrek operate from the Skyline Queenstown complex and is the more family-friendly of the two zipline experiences. Although this activity involves facing your fears of heights, it is not really an extreme sports activity and is more of an educational immersive nature experience that is suitable for everyone from children to the elderly.
The two Ziptrek tours include the four-line Moa tour and the six-line Kea tour.
The Moa tour is geared more toward beginners (as well as children and seniors). It is a 1.5–2 hour experience that involves four ziplines, the longest is 240m with a maximum speed of up to 50 km/h and eight treetop platforms, the highest which is 25m (around the height of an eight-storey building).
The Kea tour is a more advanced tour. The experience takes 2.5–3 hours and involves six ziplines, the longest is 300m and 12 treetop platforms, the highest which is 25m (around the height of an eight-storey building). The final zipline on the Kea tour descends the equivalent of 30 storeys at up to 70 km/h.
Most people take the Skyline gondola to the Ziptrek (you can’t drive up, but there are a couple of hiking trails). This means that you need to budget the cost of the gondola when budgeting for your day, although it does make sense combining it with the Skyline luge for a great day out.
Shotover Canyon Fox
While Ziptrek is a family-friendly nature experience, the Shotover Canyon Fox is pure adrenaline.
The Shotover Canyon Fox starts off with a five-metre freefall onto a slack cable suspended 182m above the canyon floor (equivalent to a 47-storey building). You then zip across the canyon on a 445m-long cable.
This military post was developed in 1885 as part of Dunedin’s harbour defences. It is now open to the public and features a lighthouse, tunnels and a working Armstrong disappearing gun. The fort is also home to seals, a Stewart Island shag colony and the world’s only mainland albatross colony.
The Royal Albatross Centre has displays that provide insight into these enormous sea birds, which have a wingspan of 3m, and it also leads guided tours of the albatross colony between late November and mid-September.
Off Road NZ offer a range of activities that include a 4WD Bush Safari where you drive small four-wheel-drive vehicles through a muddy course and a Monster 4WD Thrill Ride where you come along for the ride in an expertly-driven specially-modified vehicle.
The 4WD Bush Safari experience takes 45–60 minutes and the muddy course features a water crossing and a six-metre controlled slide down an 80º incline. It’s the most fun you’ll have in a Suzuki Jimny.
The Monster 4WD Thrill Ride is a 15-minute experience where someone else does the driving. It’s a bigger, open, vehicle that is much higher off the ground so it there are plenty of thrills.
The Off Road NZ course is located on a 54.5ha (135 acre) course, a 20-minute drive north of Rotorua.
InterCity Coachlines connect Fox Glacier with Greymouth and Queenstown with with direct coach services to Franz Josef, Greymouth, Hokitika, Queenstown and Wanaka.
The Fox Glacier InterCity coach stop is on Main Road outside Fox Glacier Guides.
