CENTRAL SOUTH ISLAND
Central South Island is dominated by the Canterbury plains which covers the eastern third of South Island. New Zealand's main agricultural region, it is a patchwork farms that grow mostly alfalfa, wheat and rye. On the horizon to the west are the snow-capped Southern Alps. To get to the western side of the island there are two mountain passes. The northern route crosses Lewis Pass off of which are tree plantations and mineral spas. The southern route goes through Arthur's Pass, where a national park by the same name is found.
CHRISTCHURCH
Christchurch is the largest city on South Island and the capital of Canterbury. Settled by "sober, industrious and honest" English colonists in 1850 who came to raise sheep, it is a quaint small city with a population of about 320,000 people. Often described as being "more English than England" its features charming cottage gardens, teahouses, elegant parks and grand neo-Gothic architecture.
Situated on the Pacific Coast and also known as New Zealand's "Garden City," Christchurch is one third parks, public gardens and reserves. The largest park in the city, 500-acre Hagley Park, features green lawns, rhododendron dells, daffodil beds, playing fields, a horse track and Botanic Gardens.
Christchurch Tourist Office: Christchurch Information Centre, corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace, ☎ (03)-379-9629, Fax: (03)-377-2424, E-mail: info@christchurchtourism.co.nz. Website www.christchurchtourism.co.nz. Accommodation: Christchurch has a wide choice of accommodation options. It has four ★★★★★ hotels and resorts; 39 ★★★★ hotels; 40 ★★★ hotels and motels; 6 ★★ hotels and motels; several ★ hotels and guest houses; three backpacker hotels and hostels; and 10 motor camps and campgrounds.
How to Get to Christchurch: Christchurch is a four-hour-40 minute or 220 mile drive from Picton; and a six hour or 230 mile drive from Queenstown. Trains include 1) the five- hour-20-minute Coastal Pacific between Picton and Christchurch; 2) the five-hour Tranz Alpine Express between Greymouth and Christchurch; and 3) the 10-hour Southerner between Christchurch and Invercargill. There are buses between Christchurch and Picton, Greymouth, Queenstown and many other towns. Christchurch also has an international airport.
Sights in Christchurch
Sights in Christchurch include the Arts Center (with Maori treasures, displays of early European settlements and works of art by local artists and crafts people), 80-acre Ferrymead Park (a pre-1920s "working town" with old trains, tramways and trolley buses), the Yardhurst Transport Museum (with steam engines, traction engines, vintage cars and the finest collection of horse-drawn vehicles in the Southern Hemisphere).
There are also numerous art galleries. Flea markets are held at the Art Center Market. And dramatic sound and light shows are shown at the International Antarctic Centre. If that is enough the highest bungy jump in New Zealand is done north of Hagley Park, opposite George Hotel.
Canterbury Museum (next to the Botanic Gardens) contains one of finest Antarctic exhibits in the world, with dioramas of penguins and whales complete with sound affects. Both the New Zealand and the United States conduct their Antarctic research programs out of Christchurch for Operation Deep Freeze.
Avon River is a tree-lined waterway that snakes through the central part of the city under bridges and past historic buildings. Many visitors tour Christchurch via Venice-style gondola rides and Cambridge-style river punting trips along the river.
Cathedral Square (off the Avon River) is one the city's main gathering spots. Here "the Wizard" and other soapbox orators expound on the issues of the day while small groups heckle and cheer them. The Wizard usually takes a vacation in June and July. Towering over the Wizard is the neo-Gothic Christchurch Cathedral, the city's most well known landmark.
Near Christchurch
Near Christchurch you can see a kiwi house and roaming lions and other wild animals in the 197-acre Orana Park Wildlife Reserve, the largest wildlife park in New Zealand. The Willowbank Wildlife Reserve features large cats, primates, primates, fish and the largest collection of birds on South Island. There also many beaches, coves and seaside spots accessible to Christchurch. The water tends to be cold though. The nearest ski resort is 42 miles away.
Lyttleton (near Christchurch) is a port city from which cruise ship tours of New Zealand often embark. Described as one of the best places in the world for a pub crawl, it has one of the highest concentration of bars and pubs in New Zealand. South of Lyttleton is Taylor's Mistake, named after Captain Taylor who ran aground in the a shallow harbor there in 1863, thinking he was in Lyttelton Harbor, a safe and deep anchorage. Accommodation: see Christchurch.
Akoroa (near Christchurch) is a seaside village labeled as the southernmost French settlement in the world. Tours of Akaoroa Harbor include spectacular cliffs, sea caves and volcanic craters and usually features encounters with Hector's dolphins, seals and little blue penguins. Accommodation: Akoroa is a fairly small town with 3 ★★★★ hotels; 4 ★★★ hotels and motels; some ★★ and ★ hotels and guest houses; one backpacker hotel and hostel; and 3 motor camps and campgrounds. How to Get There: Akoroa is a short drive or bus ride from Christchurch.
Lake Tekapo is the home of the Collie Dog Statue and the scenic Church of Good Shepherd.
Banks Region (near Christchurch) is a hilly area south of Christchurch which is known for its quaint towns and views of both the Southern Alps and Canterbury Plains. Wildlife on the Banks Peninsula Coast includes Hector's dolphins, little blue penguins and marine bird colonies. Tours are of wildlife areas are organized in Christchurch.
Southern Alps
Southern Alps is a range of snowcapped and glacier-carved mountains that runs down the spine of much of the South Island. Stretching for 185 miles from southwest to northeast, the mountain range includes many peaks over 10,000 feet, including Mount Cook, and over 360 glaciers. The Maori called these mountains “Te Tapu Nui” ("The Peaks of Intense Sacredness").
The upper elevations of the Southern Alps are covered with snow, glaciers and spectacular Alpine features such a sawtooth ridges and cirque valleys. The lower elevations features temperate rain forests with moss-covered trees and giant ferns. Don't hike along the Dingle Burn in the Southern Alps unless you like water. On the two day hike through the gorge you have to cross a freezing glacier fed river 86 times.
Tranz Alpine Express is daily train which passes through the spectacular Southern Alps and connects Christchurch with the west coast of the South Island. A round trip journey can be done in a day. If that is too quick a three day tour is offered which allows visitors to stop at a seal colony, greenstone factories and gold panning stations.
Westland National Park (on the western slopes of the Southern Alps) has been selected as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It embraces Franz Josef Glacier, Fox Glacier, spectacular mountains, forest, lakes, rivers and impressive waterfalls.
Mt. Cook
Mt. Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Selected as a UNESCO World Heritage site, it is 12,315 feet high and lies at the center of an Alpine area with 27 other peaks, 22 of which are over 10,000 feet.
Huge snowfields and glaciers descend from the summits of the mountains. Over millions of years these glaciers have carved out jagged crests and chiseled peaks and other awesome alpine features similar to those in the European Alps.
The glaciers are fed by moist air which blows in from the Tasman Sea and cover both the east and west slopes of the mountains. Even though the eastern slopes receive less precipitation, the glaciers are bigger there because the slopes on the western slope are steep and glaciers slide down more quickly and end abruptly in the forests on the mountain's flanks. The eastern slopes by contrast are less steep and it is easier for snow and ice to collect into massive glaciers. Website www.mtcook.org.nz.
Tasman Glacier (on Mt. Cook) is the largest glacier in New Zealand. Over 18 miles long, two miles wide and 2,000 feet thick in some places, it moves quite rapidly for a glacier, sometimes covering two to three feet a day. Even so, the glacier is not getting longer but is actually getting shorter due to melting at lower elevations. Tasman Airplanes runs flightseeing tours with ski-outfitted planes that land on the glacier allowing visitors to stroll around on the ice.
Mt. Cook National Park (200 miles from Christchurch) is a spectacular park around Mt. Cook. Located in the central part of the Southern Alps, it draws people for hiking and mountain climbing in the summer. In the winter visitors come to ski and helicopter ski on the glaciers and mountains.
Mt. Cook Village is the gateway to Mount Cook and the Tasman Glacier. It has small hotels and cheap guest houses. Hikes through forests and other activities can also be done in the region.
Mt. Cook Tourist Office: Mt. Cook National Park Visitors Center, Bowen Drive, ☎ (03)-435-1818, Fax: (03)-435-1080, E-mail: monvin@nzhost.co.nz. Website www.mtcook.org.nz. Accommodation: Mt. Cook Village is a fairly small place large town with a half dozen hotels and guest houses and a motor camp. How to Get There: Mt. Cook Village is about a four hour drive from Christchurch and a three drive from Queenstown. It can also be reached by bus from Christchurch, Queenstown and several other towns. The turn off to Mt. Cook off the main round is at Lake Pukaki.
Franz Josef Glacier
Franz Josef Glacier(on the western slopes of Mt. Cook) is one of the steepest and fastest moving glaciers in the world. Located in the Southern Alps and named after a famous Austrian emperor by an Austrian explorer, it a part of spectacular two-glacier system that includes Fox Glacier, which is steeper and less dramatic than Franz Josef Glacier but has explorable blue ice caves.
Known for its dramatic retreats and advances, Franz Josef Glacier originates in 8,500-feet-high snow fields and descends seven miles down the mountain's slope to a terminus 1,000 feet above sea level. The glacier moves at speeds up to five feet a day. In 1943 an airplane crashed 2.2 miles from the glacier's snout and was deposited at the bottom of mountain six years and four months later. Part of the reason for the glaciers rapid movement is the smooth "U" shape of valley it descends down.
Beginning in 1965, the glacier advanced 1,300 feet in 22 months but overall since measurements were first taken in 1894 it has retreated 8,200 feet. “Roches mountinées” (humpbacked, glacier-carved rock outcrops) in the Waiho River Valley, miles from the glacier's snouts, are evidence that the glacier was once much larger than it is today. Because of these dramatic changes, Franz Josef is one of the most studied glaciers in the world.
Franz Josef Village is the gateway to the Franz Josef Glacier. It has small hotels and cheap guest houses and a road that leads almost up to snout of the glacier. Organized hikes with crampons are done on Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. Hikes through forests and other activities can also be done in the region. Nearby is Fox Glacier Village which is similar to Franz Josef Village.
Franz Josef Tourist Office: Franz Josef Visitors Centre, State Highway 6, ☎ (03)-752-0796, Fax: (03)-752-0797, E-mail: RMcCallum@doc.govt.nz. Accommodation: Franz Josef Village and Fox Glacier Village are fairly small and have about a dozen hotels, guest houses and backpacker, three motor camp. How to Get There: Franz Josef Village and Fox Glacier Village can not be reached directly from Christchurch or Queenstown. It is necessary to travel to the West Coast of the South Island first. Franz Josef Village is a four hour drive from Greymouth. It can also be reached by bus from Greymouth and Queenstown. There is a small airport nearby.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: New Zealand Tourism Board, National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The Conversation, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, and various books and other publications.
Last updated September 2025