Christchurch to the West Coast and Marlborough: a 16 day wellness and outdoor campervan itinerary - Britz

Fifteen nights and 1,800 kilometres in a loop from Christchurch in a campervan, round the top of the South Island at a slow pace.

Hanmer Springs comes first with its thermal pools, then Kaikoura, where seals lie on the rocks at Point Kean and the whale watching goes out over a canyon close inshore, and Blenheim in the Marlborough vineyards.

Picton follows, then French Pass, a narrow channel at the end of a long gravel road where the tide runs through at up to eight knots and the water visibly boils, which almost no visitor reaches. Nelson and Marahau come next for Abel Tasman, then Nelson Lakes, where Lake Rotoiti sits in beech forest with a jetty that appears in a great many photographs, Carters Beach on the West Coast, and Lake Brunner inland before Christchurch.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, 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. Sixteen days for 1,800 kilometres leaves real time at each stop, which is what the itinerary is built for. French Pass is the detail that sets it apart from the other northern loops, and the road out to it is narrow and unsealed in places. The thermal pools at Hanmer and the beaches at Abel Tasman bookend the trip neatly. Sixteen nights also allows two-night stops at Kaikoura, Marahau and Nelson Lakes, which is where the extra time is best spent rather than adding further destinations.