Christchurch to the West Coast and Hurunui: an 11 day outdoor and wellness campervan itinerary - Britz

Ten nights and 1,300 kilometres in a loop from Christchurch in a campervan, built around hot water, with the West Coast glaciers in the middle of it.

Hokitika comes first over Arthur’s Pass, the centre of the New Zealand pounamu trade, where greenstone taken from the rivers is carved and sold, with the gorge inland running an improbable milky blue.

Franz Josef follows, where a glacier comes down through rainforest almost to sea level, which happens in very few places on earth, then the route returns through Hokitika to Maruia Hot Springs, a thermal pool in a riverbed on the Lewis Pass road with nothing else around it. Hanmer Springs comes next, where the pools are developed, with slides and a spa, then Kaikoura for the whales and seals, and the Waipara wine country before 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. Eleven days for 1,300 kilometres is unhurried, and the two sets of thermal pools are deliberately different: Maruia austere and quiet, Hanmer busy and comfortable. Glacier walks and helicopter landings need booking and are weather dependent. The loop format avoids a one-way relocation fee, and the West Coast leg can absorb a wet day without wrecking the schedule. Hokitika appearing twice is not an error in the itinerary but a function of the geography: there is one road and the glaciers lie at the end of it.