Canterbury's Mountains - Britz

Two nights and 305 kilometres in a loop from Christchurch in a campervan, inland into the Canterbury mountains.

Methven comes first, an hour and a half across the plains, and it exists largely as a service town for Mt Hutt, the ski field above it. The season there runs roughly June to October, and the access road climbs steeply enough that the shuttle is the sensible way up.

Lake Heron follows, a high country lake in a basin of tussock and braided river, where there is no settlement and consequently no light, which makes the night skies as good as anywhere in New Zealand. Huber’s Hut sits on the way. Terrace Downs closes the loop, a resort in the Rakaia gorge that runs golf and clay target shooting, before the return 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. Three days and three hundred kilometres makes this a weekend rather than a trip, and it suits a traveller collecting a camper in Christchurch who wants a short run before something longer. Winter is the season if the skiing is the draw and summer if it is the lake and the stars. The Mt Hutt access road is not suitable for a large camper in snow. Lake Heron is the part worth the detour: high country tussock, braided rivers and no one else around, half an hour off the main road.