Northbound Scenic Sights Itinerary - Britz

Eleven nights and 2,512 kilometres from Christchurch to Auckland in a campervan, up both islands.

Twizel and Queenstown come first, then Fox Glacier on the West Coast, and Westport at the northern end of that road, with Nelson beyond it.

The Cook Strait ferry crosses to Wellington, a three-hour run that threads the Marlborough Sounds at the southern end, then Greytown in the Wairarapa, and Napier, rebuilt in art deco after the 1931 earthquake flattened it. Taupo and Rotorua follow in the geothermal belt, then the Waitomo glow worm caves before Auckland.

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. Twelve days for 2,512 kilometres and two islands means long driving days, and the South Island half is the part that suffers from the schedule. The Cook Strait ferry takes campervans and needs booking well ahead. This is a one-way hire, so a relocation fee is worth checking at booking, and anyone with a fortnight should give the south two or three extra nights. What the route does offer is a continuous drive from the Mackenzie to the Bay of Plenty, with the glaciers, the ferry and the geothermal belt in sequence rather than chosen between. For a traveller repositioning between the two main gateway cities it beats flying by a wide margin, since nothing on the route is a detour.