MD's blog

With 10 ski areas within 2.5hours of Christchurch, Canterbury is justifiably known as the ski capital of New Zealand. Along with the Queenstown ski area, the South Island offers fabulous scenery and skiing and snowboarding for all levels of experience.

Queenstown is the action capital of the South Island. Whether it’s bungy jumping or jet boating, shopping, visiting Wineries of the Central Otago region or playing one of the scenic golf courses in the region, there is something for all visitors to this spectacular mountainous area.

One of the most spectacular coastal highways in New Zealand, that leads to Punakaiki at the foot of the Paparoa National Park. Punakaiki is famous for it’s Pancake Rocks, a unique natural attraction. Layers of water sculpted limestone, resembling stacks of pancakes with water worn passages through which jets of seawater are forced in high seas.

At 3754 metres, New Zealand’s highest mountain Aoraki-Mount Cook in the Mount Cook National Park is only four and a half hours drive from Christchurch. This area offers many attractions including rewarding walks of varying difficulty, scenic flights, glacier lake exploration and more.

The Milford Road tranverses some spectacular alpine scenery, travelling from Te Anau up the Eglinton and Holyford Valleys, Homer Tunnel and on to Milford Sound.

Taking a cruise of the sounds by launch gives a unique opportunity to get close up views of some of the best scenery Fiordland has to offer. You can find out more about Fiordland here, or to find activities to do in Milford Sound click here.

The two mighty glaciers of Fox and Franz Joseph, unsurpassed views of New Zealand’s two highest mountains, Aoraki-Mount Cook and Mount Tasman and the lowland rainforest of Westland National Park and Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area. Add to this, unique wildlife and numerous pristine Lakes including the world-famous mirror lake, Lake Matheson.

The Crown Range route from Wanaka to Queenstown is the highest main road in New Zealand at 1121 metres travels up the Cardrona Valley, an area that was abuzz during the Otago gold rush of the 1860s.

The Cardrona Hotel (Est. 1863) is one of New Zealands oldest hotels and is a great place to stop for a meal and a pint. They also offer quality accommodation, to find out more about the Cardrona Hotel website click here.

A winter visit in the Porsche Cayenne, to the stunningly picturesque South Island for a skiing holiday or just to take in the spectacular mountain scenery is an experience not to be missed. This Mackenzie Basin hoar frost is formed when water vapour freezes on solid surfaces that are cooled to below dew point of the adjacent air. Being frozen dew, it appears white.