The ferry over the Cook Strait (Wellington – Picton) takes 3-5 hours. The views arriving to Picton, a little picturesque town in the north of Southern Island, are magnificent. It’s the area of Marlborough Sounds, and the ferry arrives on one of the four main waterways: Queen Charlotte Sound.

Later, we came back to Picton after our driving through the Southern Island, and waited for the ferry to cross on the night.

Due to the ferry schedules on the most hectic holiday season, we were left only with only 12 nights in Southern Island. Christmas time hit directly between our travels as well, so the scheduling was pretty demanding.

Our driving route on Southern Island:

And here is roughly the route and places we slept over:

Picton – Nelson (1 nights) – Westport (1 night) – Franz Josef (1 night) – Wanaka – Cromwell (2 nights)– Te Anau (3 nights) – Milford Sound – Queenstown – Wanaka (1 night) – Lake Tekapo – Timaru (1 night) – Akaroa – Christchurch (1 night) – Arthur’s Pass – Greymouth (1 night) – Reefton – Picton

That’s a long way, and thinking back, we should have tried to cut it shorter, there was too much driving per day. So much to see, that you get greedy!

Tip! Roads in NZ are different, reserve time! The travel times given by navigators are not really matching, even it’s possible to drive 80 km/h, the reality can be 60 km/h.

Our first stop was Nelson, where we stayed one night. As we anyway arrived late, we spent the following day there.

Nelson Market is held on Saturdays Montgomery Square, and it’s definitely worth for a visit! There we met also a local carpenter, who eagerly showed the great works of his hands.

Nelson is having the geographical Center Point of New Zealand on Botanical Hill, it’s a short (20 min) walk up there and the views are really nice.

We drove out to beautiful Rabbit Island (Moturoa), a great swimming beach where we enjoyed a picnic. Didn’t swim, too cold water!

From Nelson, we took the direction to the West Coast!