New Zealand South Island

I recently took a vacation with my wife to New Zealand and Australia, including 6 days based in Wanaka (rhymes with “Monica”) on New Zealand’s South Island. I figured I’d share my experience here, where it can hopefully be useful for anyone else planning to travel to that beautiful country. This wasn’t a “photo trip”, so while I did make sure to place myself in a couple of good locations at sunrise/sunset, it wasn’t the focus of my trip. With that in mind, this isn’t really a photo guide and some of the shots included are more for documentary purposes than artistic. I have included some thoughts about conditions that might be good for some of these locations and am including the equipment and settings I used for reference. I’m splitting this guide into three parts, the first covering some general thoughts, gear, and the area around Wanaka. Next is the Haast Highway and Lake Matheson and then the area South of Wanaka including Queenstown and Milford Sound.

SOME NEW ZEALAND BASICS

We flew from San Francisco to Aukland and then took a short flight from Aukland to Queenstown. New Zealand is very protective about its flora and fauna and does a thorough inspection as you enter the country to make sure you aren’t bringing anything invasive with you. As an example, we had to unpack our hiking shoes from our luggage to show they were relatively clean. Wearing them on the plane may have simplified this. Any camping or hiking gear is likely to be inspected so you should make sure it is clean before you travel.

The Queenstown airport is small and it is easy to get in and out of. Driving in New Zealand, while beautiful, can be wearying. Almost all roads are narrow, 2 lanes, and winding around lakes and mountains. There are a lot of one-lane bridges as well that’ll keep you on your toes. All not to mention driving on the left side of the road… I found that Google’s drive time estimates were pretty good, but the driving does wear on you because there are no easy highway miles.

The country is covered in lakes, mountains, and farms so there is lots to see. The hiking trails (referred to as “tracks”) are well marked, well maintained and remarkably clean compared to what I’m used to seeing around home.

Money is the New Zealand dollar but almost everyone accepted US credit cards with no problems. Power is 220V and they use the same angled 3-prong plugs as Australia and China. I’d heard some talk about car break-ins in parking areas, so we were careful not to have anything visible inside our car when we parked, but I never felt unsafe and we didn’t have any problems at all.

GEAR

Although this wasn’t a photo trip, I didn’t want to miss the shot of a lifetime because I didn’t have the right gear. I used my F-Stop Loka as my primary camera bag with my RRS TVC-24 tripod and BH-40 ball head for this trip. My main camera was my Canon 5DSR with Canon 16-35 f/4L, Canon 24-70 f/2.8LII, Canon 100-400 f.5/6LII and Rokinon SP 14mm f/2.4 lenses. I also brought my Canon M6 camera with its EF-M 11-22 and 15-45 lenses for walk-around shots. I leave this clipped to my backpack strap so it is always within reach on the trail or around town. Having the EF lens adapter also allows me to use the M6 as a backup in case something goes wrong with my main camera.

AROUND WANAKA

Our home base was the Ramada Resort in Wanaka. The room was fairly large, with a kitchen and the resort has a nice pool and the other kinds of amenities you’d expect. Wanaka itself is a small town with a cute downtown area with restaurants, cafes and a bakery we liked. Most mornings started with breakfast and coffee at a cafe and then we’d hit the road. We tended to buy a few pastries and/or meat pies to eat on the road if we expected to be away from civilization for a while. The water is clean so refills are easy.

From the airport in Queenstown to get to Wanaka you can either take the highway (a windy 2-lane road) or the Crown Range Road (a steep, windy, 2-lane road) with better views that takes 30 minutes less than the highway. With those options, we tended to take the Crown Range Road. There are some great viewpoints along the way looking back toward Queenstown.

The mountains along the road tended to attract some clouds, even on clear days, so it was a nice place to find some interesting light too (with the ubiquitous sheep).

Lake Wanaka is surrounded by mountains and there are plenty of spots around the shore to follow the light and look for interesting compositions. The most famous icon on the outskirts of town and on google maps it is referred to as #thatwanakatree. It is small and relatively close to the shoreline. It also draws a crowd, particularly at sunset. While looking at the tree, the sun rises behind you (front light) and sets in front of you (back light) so keep that in mind as you plan your shots. It takes VERY little wind to stir up the lake enough to obscure the reflections. I had one morning with a 1 mph breeze that was too much. Arriving an hour before sunrise was early enough to pick my spot. I don’t think it is possible to have full autonomy at sunset – there are just too many people around.

We took one good hike near Wanaka, up the Rob Roy Glacier Track. While the guides call this a 6 mile easy hike, my phone measured it as 7.5 miles round trip with 1700 feet of vertical. The end result is a viewpoint of Rob Roy Peak and Glacier and some pretty cool waterfalls. It is about a 50 km drive to the trailhead from Wanaka, including about 30 km on a dirt road with about a dozen river crossings. In good weather you can make it in a passenger car. No problem in a 4WD. You can check with the park visitor center for recommendations (it is in Wanaka). Here are some shots along the way:

Once you cross the bridge you head relentlessly uphill through a beautiful forest along Rob Roy Creek. You could spend all day looking for compositions and we had other plans, so here are some quick ones.

WANAKA TO THE WEST VIA THE HAAST HIGHWAY

The end goal of this trek was to reach Lake Matheson and its beautiful view of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman on the west coast of New Zealand. The drive from Wanaka is about 3 hours each way through a varied and beautiful landscape. The first thing we passed was Lake Hawea which runs parallel to Lake Wanaka. Lake Hawea has some of the most beautiful water I’ve seen in a lake. There is a nice overlook near the north end where I stopped to take some pictures. With good light I could see this area as having lots of possibilities photographically. There is a trailhead to Isthmus peak nearby, which appears to have great views looking down on the lake.

From there we drove through “the Neck” back to the eastern shore of Lake Wanaka and followed the road north to where the lake becomes the Makarora River and the road becomes the Haast HIghway. This is a beautiful stretch of road heading over a pass between Wanaka and the town of Haast (the only place to eat between Wanaka and Fox Glacier). There are lots of hikes of various distances along the highway as well as lots of 1-lane bridges to keep you awake.

Our first stop was the Blue Pools. This is one of the more popular hikes along the Haast Highway and lots of people go there to jump off the bridges and swim. The hike is short, maybe half a mile each way, and it should be obvious from the pictures why it is called the Blue Pools.

Next up was Fantail Falls. This was an even shorter walk from the parking lot, which leads to a fantail waterfall cascading down the hillside into the Haast River. The light wasn’t great here, but I have a feeling it would be tough to take an amazing photo here anyway.

Thunder Creek Falls was next and this one does thunder down the hillside. I took this shot at dusk on a different day. There are some nice foreground options with the river in front of it.

I liked the viewpoint below near the Pleasant Flat Campsite as it has a nice view of the river and some mountains and glaciers in the background. I could envision some great shots at either sunrise (with the mountain and any clouds lit by the rising sun) or sunset (if there are clouds behind the mountain to catch the light). I’d want to look for a slightly higher vantage point to get more of the curve in the river (maybe from the nearby bridge) if I was shooting this seriously.

And now we can talk about sandflies. Yes they are real, yes they are there (especially along the west coast), and yes they are an annoyance. We were there at the very end of summer and I’ve heard they are worse earlier in the year. We first noticed them in Haast, seeing little black lines on our ankles and feeling a sharp bite. The bite itself felt a little worse than a mosquito bite, but neither one of us had the same long-term reaction (bumps and itching) from the sandflies that we’ve grown to expect from mosquitos. I got in the habit of covering up when in sandfly country but lots of places sell repellent.

Upon reaching Haast (there is a cafe in town with some decent food and plenty of beer, but that’s about it for this stretch of road) we headed north toward Fox Glacier and Lake Matheson. There are plenty of places to stop along the way, but we only stopped at the Knights Point Lookout which really did have a nice view of the coast.

We eventually reached the town of Fox Glacier. There are several cafes and hotels in the area, so you are back in civilization. Lake Matheson is a short drive from Fox Glacier and has a large parking lot and cafe of its own. It serves snacks during the day but turns into a high-end restaurant at night. The highlight of the area, though, is Lake Matheson.

It is about a 3-mile hike to go all the way around the lake. The best viewpoint photographically is Reflection Island, which is the last viewpoint you reach if you hike in the more common clockwise direction. This allows you to see the whole lake before settling in for your sunset shot (you face east for the reflections of the mountains, so they will be front lit at sunset and back lit at sunrise). Hiking clockwise, Jetty Viewpoint is the first one you’ll reach. The scene is partially blocked by trees as shown below.

Next up is the View of Views – reached by hiking up several flights of stairs on a spur trail.

Our last stop was Reflection Island, reach via another signed spur trail. There is a wooden platform heading down to the lake shore, so there is a limited amount of space. By the time of sunset it was packed with tripods. If this is your photographic destination, I’d recommend being onsite and claiming your tripod space an hour before sunset. I like setting up low for reflections, since the water closest to shore tends to be the calmest, so it was easy for me to work in under someone else. Other things to keep in mind here: (1) You only get reflections if the lake is calm. It is relatively sheltered but it is a good idea to keep track of the wind forecast. The forecast on the day I was there was about 5 mph and the water was fine. (2) You can only see the mountains if they aren’t covered in clouds. Another reason to watch the weather. Our day was clearer than I’d have liked, but we got a nice cloud across the mountains and at least we got to see them. I’ve seen pictures from friends where they were totally missing. (3) Sunset to me is safest, since even on a bluebird day you can get nice light on the mountains. The sun rises behind them so I’d want some clouds to light up if I was shooting sunrise.

QUEENSTOWN, TE ANAU AND MILFORD SOUND

Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park is one of the iconic areas on the South Island and is definitely worth a trip. It is also a 4.5+ hour drive (one way) from where we were based in Wanaka. The Milford Sound Lodge is the only place to stay onsite, but they have limited space and tend to fill up early. If you want to stay there, you should book a room before your trip. This, of course, makes it hard to target great photographic weather unless you stay a while. We ended up booking a room in Te Anau, which is a gateway to Fiordland and a 90-minute drive from Milford Sound itself. Although we visited Queenstown on a different day, we had to pass through it on our way south so I’m including it here.

QUEENSTOWN

Queenstown is on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, and along with Wanaka is one of the two main ski towns in New Zealand. Wanaka is smaller and more relaxed which worked for us. We had a little bit of culture shock going into Queenstown (which still isn’t large by normal standards) and parking can be a challenge. We booked an afternoon boat tour (the “Spirit of Queenstown Scenic Cruise” run by Southern Discoveries). We booked online that morning and it cost us about $35 NZD each for a two-hour lake cruise. We thought it was well worth the money.

There is a farm at the turn-around point. You can combine the cruise with a farm visit if that’s your thing.

Queenstown has some nice restaurants near the boat dock and a nice tourist/shopping area on Mall Street.

We took a walk through the Queenstown Gardens which has some nice water features and bridges, a rose garden, and views of the lake and city.

Heading south from Queenstown you drive along the shoreline of Lake Wakatipu and there are some nice views of the countryside.

TE ANAU

Te Anau is another town on a lake (Lake Te Anau in this case) and it bills itself as the gateway to Fiordland. Their most famous tourist site is the Glowworm Caves. There is one tour operator (Real Journeys) and the tour is $93 NZD per adult. This gives you a boat ride down the lake to the cave site, a guided walking tour in the cave, and then a small boat ride inside the grotto in the cave (in pitch darkness) to see the glowworms. There is also in a film in the visitor center describing the glowworm life cycle (it is pretty interesting) and free coffee and tea. The total time is 2 hours and 15 minutes. Here’s the view from the boat looking past an island in the lake:

There’s no photography in the cave itself (the worms are sensitive to light and flashes would destroy night vision), so I bought the photo package with our portrait outside the cave along with some other scenes they provided. The grotto was really neat. The glowworms look like blue-green stars in the dark cave. The operators bring you within a foot or two from the worms. I thought this was a great diversion before we went off for some dinner (had some great fish and chips and Bluff Oysters at Mainly Seafood in town) and prepared for the drive to Milford in the morning.

MILFORD SOUND

We left for Milford Sound well before dawn so I could attempt some sunrise pictures before a kayak tour I had booked. I was met with clear skies and wind. This at least allowed us to see the mountains (Milford is one of the rainiest places on earth), but I didn’t have great light and getting any sort of a reflection was a challenge. I parked in the main parking lot and there is a trail that parallels the beach. There are large tides in the sound, so foreground options can vary significantly depending on when you visit.

The tide was going out at sunrise, so there was some water near the trail. I found a spot that had some protection from the wind and used it for my sunrise attempts. The sun was rising behind me, but it must clear a mountain range before direct light will reach the scene. I think having some clouds to the west to catch that light along with calm water for reflections would be the optimal conditions, but as our kayak guide said it rains 280 days a year and it is windy on the other ones, so you get what you get.

After sunrise we took off for our kayaking trip. This was our attempt at adventure. I’ve done some ocean kayaking but my wife hasn’t. Most people book a boat tour of the Sound but I thought this would be a little more special. Unfortunately it was windy enough that it wasn’t all that fun and we didn’t make it too far. We used Roscos Milford Kayaks and I was happy with their support, guide and equipment. I’m still glad we did this instead of the normal boat ride.

After kayaking we grabbed a brunch in the park cafe and then hiked the shoreline trail to see the scene and look for some photo opportunities. The tide had receded, revealing some moss-covered rocks that worked great as a foreground. The light wasn’t particularly dramatic, but it was still a beautiful scene.

We drove back toward Te Anau, this time in the daylight so we were actually able to see some of the sights along the road. There are also plenty of places to stop for a short hike. There is a mile-long tunnel that is only wide enough for one-way traffic. The New Zealand Kea (an alpine parrot) tend to hang out by the tunnel entrances to beg food from the cars waiting to pass through. We saw one (bigger than I expected) but the light turned green just as I got my camera ready so I didn’t get any decent shots.

We did stop for a hike at The Chasm which is a pretty cool gorge you can view from a bridge. An unsigned spur trail heads down to an emerald pool that was full of swimmers when we were there. This area would definitely benefit from some softer light!

Our final stop on the way back to Te Anau was Mirror Lakes. The wind had picked up again in the afternoon so there weren’t many reflections. I would expect that this could be very nice at sunrise (unless you’d rather try your luck in Milford Sound! We stopped for Bluff Oysters in Te Anau again before driving back to Wanaka to pack and get ready to leave New Zealand.