Christchurch to Milford Sound and the Catlins Loop - Mighty

Fourteen nights and 3,200 kilometres in a loop from Christchurch in a campervan, with two alpine crossings and the Catlins coast on it.

Pines Beach comes first on the coast north of the city, then Tekapo, milky turquoise under one of the largest dark sky reserves in the world, and Aoraki Mount Cook with two nights, where the Hooker Valley track runs below the highest mountain in the country.

The Lindis Pass turns the route south through tussock country to Wanaka, Queenstown and Glenorchy at the head of Lake Wakatipu, then Te Anau and Milford Sound through the Homer Tunnel. Fortrose and Kaka Point follow along the southern coast, where the Catlins hold a petrified forest on the tide line and the Nugget Point lighthouse above its rock stacks. Wanaka, Fox Glacier, Arthur’s Pass and Kaikoura carry the route home.

The camper and the day-by-day plan come from Mighty, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Fifteen days for 3,200 kilometres is a fair pace with the first two days spent around Christchurch and two nights at Mount Cook. The Catlins are the part most itineraries leave out and the part worth the extra days, though some of the side roads there are unsealed. Milford cruises and the glacier trips both need booking and are weather dependent. The loop format avoids a one-way relocation fee, and crossing the alps twice gives the route its shape.