21 Days in New Zealand: Our Travel Itinerary

Below is my husband and I's travel itinerary for New Zealand at a glance. We travelled in December-January and the weather was perfect, but fluctuated wildly as we drove from the southern to northern most parts of the islands. As I write posts about our trip, the days will be updated with links and more information. I always find it helpful to see an entire trip in one glance, especially if you are in the planning phases.Our trip consisted of a few relaxing days in The Northlands, which are the very tip-top part of the North Island and then a little over 2 weeks in a camper van exploring the South Island. Feel free to ask any questions you may have about our trip! Tips and other posts about our trip are linked at the bottom. This was by far the best trip we have ever taken and I truly hope you all can experience the beauty of this country one day.We use these journals to plan, prep, pack and help document all our trips. *Note: the only things we 'planned' were our condo on the north island, our flights and our car rentals. All of our road trip stops, directions, plans, etc we decided on each day as we were driving. We booked all campsites in person and found them using the Campermate App. Even though some sites were very full, we always found a site but we began looking around 5pm most days. Any later than this time and they likely would have been fully booked.Day 1-2: Travel Travel Seoul-China-Auckland (14 hours flying total). We arrived in Auckland late afternoon, rented our car from Juicy and made the 4 hour drive north to our condo in Cable Bay.Day 3: Cable BayWe spent the day exploring Cable Bay, getting groceries, fresh meats from the local butchery, going to the local beaches, having the most delicious meal at Manginui Fish Shop and seeing the most beautiful sunset.Day 4: Northland, Cape Reinga, Sand DunesWe did a day road trip up to the Northland, the lighthouse at Cape Reinga and surfing the Sand Dunes. We could have done 100 mile beach if we had gotten started earlier. This took about an hour and half drive all the way to the top. Ps sheep everywhere.Day 5: Bay of Islands, Russell We drove to the Bay of Islands and took a ferry to Russell. This was the least exciting day of our trip, but it was overcast and rainy so the beaches were too cold to visit. They are highly recommended though.Day 6: Auckland to ChristchurchWe woke up at 4am to drive back to Auckland to catch our flight to Christchurch. Once we arrived, we picked up our rental van from Happy Camper (highly recommend), spent the day shopping for supplies at Pac-N-Save and The Warehouse (think discount stores like Walmart) and then headed up the coast, driving on the left side, until we found Goose Bay. We camped right on water and it was gorgeous, certainly the best way to start our adventure in the van.Day 7: East Coast DriveWe woke up, had an incredibly windy breakfast and headed north up the East Coast. We drove through Goose Bay, Kaikoura, Clarence (Black Sand Beach) and stopped at about 1 million overlooks because it was so warm, beautiful and the coast was breathtaking. My favorite two stops were the Seal overlook and the black sand beach this day. We camped at a deserted RV park by the river for free this night and met SAND FLIES for the first time.Day 8: Drive into Abel TasmanWe woke up on America's Christmas Day and spent some time chatting with family. Then we drove into Nelson and caught some boxing day sales, had a delicious brunch and really enjoyed wandering around town. We drove to Marahua, in Abel Tasman National Park, booked our next day's kayaking trip and camped in the most crowded campsite. But we were across the street from the beach, which we explored and found tons of live star fish, and were across from all of the adventure meeting points.Day 9: Sea Kayaking Abel Tasman ParkWe spent the day sea kayaking at Abel Tasman exploring the islands, beaches and meeting penguins and seals. We hit the road asap and drove to the other side of the park to Totaranui. Important note: you cannot just quickly drive through the park, you must go all the way out and around and back into the other side over a high mountain and then down a long, long winding dirt road. It takes about 2-3 hours to make this drive.Day 10: Hiking on the other side of Abel Tasman ParkWe woke up this day and it was overcast and we were tired. The bathrooms were gross where we camped and we were just generally unhappy campers. We had planned to do a long hike this day along the coast, but just couldn't decide and moped around. Finally the sun came out and we chose to go on a short hike, about 45 minutes out to Goat Bay and were rewarded by insane views, an empty beach and the perfect afternoon. Return of the happy campers. We found a close-ish campsite that night to get us heading towards the west coast.Day 11: Lake Rotorua and GreymouthWe started driving in the morning and took a quick stop at Lake Rotorua for a picnic (death to the sandflies) and then drove into Greymouth for the night. We camped by the beach again and it was another black sand pebble beach which just amazes me to no end. We went into town and had dinner at Ali's and had a pasta dish we are still talking about. Ali was even nice enough to give me the recipe! Greymouth is covered in gorgeously painted walls with murals and so much color, all the towns are actually, they are a instagrammers dream!Day 12: Fox and Franz Joseph GlaciersThis was a strange day for us. We felt like this was the main day that our 'no planning' attitude put us in a situation where we kind of missed out. But turns out it really didn't. We went to Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers, which are only about 20 minutes apart. We skipped Franz and headed for Fox, but realized that all of the adventure tours were insanely expensive but were the only real way to see the glaciers. So we did the 30 minute walk up to Fox and were incredibly disappointed. You couldn't really see it or even get close. The valley that it was in was actually pretty gorgeous, but I would certainly recommend planning for a tour if you are really interested in the glaciers. Our friends did a heli-hike and their photos are gorgeous!Day 13:  West Coast driveBest West Coast day we had! The drive down the coast is full of amazing stops to make. We stopped in Wanaka, at the Bay of Pools (and T jumped in off the bridge), Lake Wanaka, Hawari, Mt Aspiring National Part and Haast. We camped on Lake Hawea and slept right through New Years Eve.Day 14: QueenstownWe took the short drive to Queenstown and spent the day here. It certainly lived up to all the hype. It was on the lake, had great weather, there was great shopping, adventure tours to take and it was just a fun, youthful town. We left and made the drive to Tae Anu to prepare for Milford Sound! We drove a little past Tae Anu and found a free campsite that was again, really beautiful like everywhere else we went. The sites at Milford Sound were booked about a week advance, but they recommend booking well in advance.Day 15: Milford SoundWe headed into Milford Sound in the AM, booked a cruise that included lunch, a sound tour and the underwater viewing room tour. If you are not with a guided tour or taking a super intense hike around the sound, there isn't much to do or see here without a boat. After our amazing cruise, we headed out and stopped at Mirror Lakes on our way back to Tae Anu and were a little disappointed as there had been a drought and a lot of the lakes and streams were pretty dried up or non-existent. The lakes were still cool, but to get the true effect they needed much more water. This is a 2 minute road stop, so worth stopping.Day 16: InvacargillWe drove into Invacargill this morning and we were officially in the south as the weather turned and it was frigidly cold. We randomly stumbled upon the Museum here and spent hours being fascinated and educated about NZ history. The museum is free and is a must for your trip. I went to the bathroom and randomly ran into some friends who were also roadtripping at the same time but we just couldn't quite make our schedules match. So we had a fun lunch and then headed our separate ways. We were pretty tired of the camper van at this point and decided to splurge on a hotel downtown (terrible idea, the van was somehow more restful) and went to see Starwars and was certainly not disappointed.Day 17: Bluff and the CatlinsWe really wanted to take the ferry and go to Stewart Island, but all the hotels were booked, so instead of rushing it as a day trip (and freezing to death) we decided to head out. We drove down to Bluff 'to just see the end of the island' and it was gorgeous! We had some of the best seafood and, certainly the best view, at Oyster Cove Cafe.  The we made the long, bumpy ride through the Catlins. We stopped at as many of the points that Lonely Planets recommends, as would could. Our favorites were Curio Bay, Slope Point and the Lost Gypsy Gallery (this is a must) and then finished the drive into Dunedin. We had planned to just stay overnight and decided to see another movie. When we went into town for the movie, we realized that this was the town of our dreams and promptly decided to come back for the day.Day 18: DunedinWe spend the day in Dunedin exploring and had the best brunch at The Perc. We visited coffee shops, galleries, old book stores and the Catholic Church. We were just in heaven. Then the guy in the shoe store recommended going to see the Blue Penguins at Omaru about an hour away. Sold. You can see them pretty much anywhere as they flock (pun) here at night, but we paid to go to the conservation site and it was so worth it to see so many, learn about them and support the project. One even walked right up to us! On our way to the penguins we stopped at the Meraki Boulders, which are just huge perfectly round rocks you can stand on. This was 5 of the most fun minutes we had....After our penguin encounter, we found a free campsite around 11pm that night and went to bed only to wake up to an amazing surprise...Day 19: Mount Cook, Lake Pukaki, Lake TekapoWe woke up on a cliff, overlooking a gorgeous beach. It was by far the morning of my dreams. We wanted to go back to Omaru because the entire town looks like a scene from a movie about the 1900's but our GPS took us a different way before we realized it (still super bummed about this) but we headed to Mount cook, Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki. Lake Pukaki was the most beautiful for sure. We camped, along with 8 million other people overlooking Lake Tekapo.Day 20: Lake Tekapo Hot Springs, Drive into ChristchurchSince it was our last day we decided to treat ourselves to the hot pools and a massage at Tekapo, drove to down into Timaru, but there wasnt much to the town so we drove the short hour up to Christchurch for the night. We had one of the best dinners at Costas Greek Tavern, saw another movie and began cleaning/packing to prepare for our flight the next morning.Day 21: Travel homeWe wrapped up our trip with a quick flight to Auckland, got a hotel for the next few hours to nap, shower and repack (best idea we've ever had) and then took a late night flight to start our trek back to Seoul!Travel Planner: Journals to help you prep, plan, pack and remember your tripMore itineraries: Here is an itinerary by another blogger that I used often when planning our trip. DIY projects from our trip: my journal, our travel time capsule jarsTravel Like An Artist: My ecourse on collecting and using inspiration from your trips in your art. Travel Journal: My journal from this trip (get your own journal here)Travel tips: Road Trip Essentials, Top Travel Tops Part 1 and Part 2, Photos to take while travelling, Instagram While Travelling Tips 1 and 2 ,