Britz Deep South Itinerary - Britz

Six nights and 303 kilometres in a loop from Queenstown in a campervan, around the head of Lake Wakatipu and the Central Otago gold country, which averages out at fifty kilometres a day.

Glenorchy comes first, forty-five kilometres up the lake on a road that runs along the water the whole way, with the Humboldt and Richardson ranges standing over the flats at the head of it and the beech forest beyond used as Lothlorien in the films.

Arrowtown follows, a preserved gold town with the remains of its Chinese miners’ settlement on the river bank, then Wanaka, and Cromwell at the top of Lake Dunstan. Clyde and Alexandra come next in the dry heart of Central Otago, where the stone cottages, the sluicings above the town and the Otago Central Rail Trail all date from the gold rush, and the Gibbston Valley closes the loop, a schist gorge planted with pinot noir where the vineyards sit either side of the Kawarau River.

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. Seven days for barely three hundred kilometres makes this one of the most stationary itineraries in the range, built for stopping rather than driving. The Glenorchy road is sealed and among the best short drives in the country. The rail trail can be ridden in sections with bike hire at Clyde and Alexandra, and some campers carry a rack, which is worth confirming at booking. The loop format avoids a one-way relocation fee. Central Otago also has the most continental climate in New Zealand, so the autumn colour there is the best anywhere in the country.