Southern Alps road trip - Britz

Five nights and 642 kilometres from Christchurch to Queenstown in a campervan, down the eastern flank of the Southern Alps in short daily drives.

Geraldine and Fairlie come first across the Canterbury plains, then Burkes Pass, which is the gateway to the Mackenzie Basin and where the landscape changes abruptly from farmland to tussock.

Lake Tekapo follows, milky turquoise from rock flour, with the Church of the Good Shepherd on the shore and a dark sky reserve overhead, then Lake Pukaki and Aoraki Mount Cook, where the Hooker Valley track crosses three swing bridges to a glacial lake below the highest mountain in the country. The Lindis Pass comes next, tussock country that turns gold in low light, then Tarras, Wanaka, Cromwell and Arrowtown, a preserved gold town with the remains of its Chinese miners’ settlement, before Queenstown.

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. Six days for 642 kilometres means short legs and time for the walks, which is the right balance in this part of the country. The Hooker Valley track is the best short walk in New Zealand and is better done early in the day. This is a one-way hire, so a relocation fee is worth checking at booking. For anyone with a week in the South Island and no appetite for long drives, this is the best balance of scenery to steering in the whole Britz range.