Abel Tasman Active Escape - South Island itinerary - Britz

Five nights and 1,060 kilometres in a loop from Christchurch in a campervan, up the east coast to Abel Tasman and back over Arthur’s Pass.

Kaikoura comes first, where the seabed drops into a canyon close to shore and sperm whales feed year round, then Blenheim in Marlborough, which produces the majority of New Zealand’s wine and effectively created the country’s sauvignon blanc reputation.

Marahau is the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park, the smallest in the country and the one most people picture: granite headlands, golden beaches and tidal lagoons, with the coast track walked in sections and water taxis used to skip the rest, or the whole thing taken by kayak. Totaranui sits at the northern end. Punakaiki follows on the West Coast, where the Pancake Rocks are limestone weathered into stacked plates with blowholes beneath them, then Greymouth and Arthur’s Pass back to 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. Six days for 1,060 kilometres means two long driving days bracketing the park, which is where the time should go. Water taxis and kayak hire at Marahau both want booking in summer. The Pancake Rocks are best at high tide with a swell running, when the blowholes actually perform. Abel Tasman is where the extra nights belong: it is the warmest and most sheltered corner of the South Island, and the beaches there are the reason people come back.