It’s not easy to get from Canada to Te Waipounamu, which is the Maori name for New Zealand’s South Island. Unless you live in Vancouver, the long and wearisome journey requires, at minimum, two flight connections and almost 24 hours of travel. But it doesn’t take long to forget the whole trek, and by the end of your trip, you’ll be wondering when you can go back to the remote South Pacific country—known by the Maori as Aotearoa, which translates to “land of the long white cloud”—for more.

Sixty percent of the South Island is made up of mountain ranges, and there are more than a dozen fjords, 10 national parks and multiple glaciers and temperate rainforests. Some hurried international travellers try to cram all the must-see destinations into just a few days, but, as I discovered on a recent summertime road trip, the best way to explore the island’s dramatic, varied landscape is at your own pace with plenty of pit stops and detours along the way.

The drive from Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island, to Queenstown, known as the country’s adventure capital, can be done in as few as six hours. But with just under two weeks to spend in this beautiful, remote part of the world, I opted for the long way around, criss-crossing the island to take in top sights like Fiordland National Park, the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers and Mount Cook. Along the way, I was enchanted by the sight of endangered dolphins frolicking in the turquoise waters around the Banks Peninsula, stood face to face with a rushing waterfall in Milford Sound and even panned for gold in a historic mining town. It turns out this is a place where a lot can happen during a 12-day trip.

Christchurch

My trip started in Christchurch, New Zealand’s “Garden City.” Still slightly dazed from jet lag, I spent hours wandering the lush grounds of the botanic gardens, where in late December the hydrangea bushes are in full bloom and the rose garden is a riot of colour. Later, I strolled through the charming city centre and enjoyed people-watching from the historic Antigua Boat Shed Café on the banks of the winding Avon River, to which tourists flock for “punting” boat trips that recall Venice’s famous gondola rides.

Once I was calibrated to the 16-hour time difference, a day trip to the nearby Banks Peninsula to see the endangered Hector’s dolphins—which are one of the smallest and rarest marine-dolphin species and only found at Akaroa Harbour in New Zealand—was essential. There are dolphin-swimming tours, but I was content to stay in the boat and watch a pod jump and swim alongside as well as spot cormorants and seals along the rocky shoreline.

West Coast Region

From Christchurch, I made my way to the island’s west coast via the Great Alpine Highway. There are two worthy pit stops along this busy route: the Kura Tawhiti Conservation Area, where a 20-minute walk takes you through and around dramatic limestone-rock formations as high as 30 metres, and the impressive Devils Punchbowl Falls, which is in the 1,185-square-kilometre Arthur’s Pass National Park. The stunning views of the Southern Alps—a range that runs along the length of the South Island and is the highest in Australasia—soon give way to flatter terrain and glimpses of sandy dunes and crashing waves.

Inside the Westland Tai Poutini National Park, a World Heritage Site and marine reserve that’s home to the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, is an area with remarkable geographic diversity; on one short hike along the Ōkārito Trig Walk, there are wetlands, forests, lakes and beaches as well as views of glaciers and mountain ranges. Carnivorous plants and surreal-looking bright-blue mushrooms line the steep, tree-lined trail.

Otago Coast

After spending a few days on the rugged west coast, I decided to take it easy on a lavender farm near Dunedin, a city on the island’s east coast that’s also known as New Zealand’s wildlife capital. My Airbnb host delivered freshly baked bread each morning, and guests wandered through the blooming lavender fields at their leisure. Nearby, along the coastline, the strangely spherical Moeraki Boulders—rock formations believed to be 65 million years old—are a must-see, and bobs of seals lounge on the rocks at the nearby Katiki Point Lighthouse.

But the main draw in the area is the Otago Peninsula, just east of central Dunedin. Its sandy beaches are, unlike those on the west coast, blessedly free of biting sandflies, and it is home to little blue penguins and rare yellow-eyed penguins as well as the southern hemisphere’s only mainland colony of albatrosses. Head to the secluded Allans Beach and you might spot penguins coming ashore or grey fur seals and sea lions sunning in the sand.

Queenstown

The final destination on my South Island journey is perhaps the most well known: Queenstown. Over the past few decades, the city has evolved into an adventure capital, becoming the country’s second-most-popular destination for international visitors after the North Island’s Auckland. Paragliding and heli-hiking were not on the agenda for me, but the city is a beautiful and convenient base from which to visit Fiordland National Park and indulge in quieter pleasures like water therapies and boat cruises.

The glamorous Hotel St Moritz—an elegant, sustainability-minded hotel with an old-world European feel and alpine-inspired decor—provides a welcoming base in the bustling city. It’s centrally located just steps from the tourist strip, and the lakefront rooms on the higher floors offer panoramic views of Lake Wakatipu. After I’d spent more than a week on the road, a soak in the hotel’s verdant hot-tub garden and a hot wood-fired pizza at Lombardi, the award-winning hotel restaurant, were very welcome indulgences.

For even more pampering, I booked an early-morning visit to Onsen Hot Pools, where I soaked in a private cedar-lined hot tub overlooking the scenic Shotover River. It was a very calming, meditative way to kick-start the day before I headed off for an afternoon in Arrowtown, a tiny historic gold-mining town with an adorable main street. At the Lakes District Museum, you can rent a pan for just a few dollars and head to the river to try your luck—any gold flakes you find are yours to keep.

The trip came to a close with two very different guided tours. First was a cruise in Milford Sound, operated by local outfit Southern Discoveries. The excursion included a spectacular coach drive along the Milford Road, a three-hour cruise to see the waterfalls and wildlife of Milford Sound—which is actually a fjord—and time in a floating underwater observatory. On the water, we cruised past fur seals and a pod of dolphins; underwater, we saw shellfish, sea cucumbers and coral galore.

Then there was the second tour, RealNZ’s unique half-day Walter Peak Eco Experience, which departs from the centre of Queenstown. It starts with a trip across Lake Wakatipu on a vintage steamer and continues at the picture-perfect Walter Peak High Country Farm. The tour delves into the land-restoration project in progress and includes a meander through the farm and vegetable gardens as well as a tree-planting experience. The next time I’m back in this part of the world, I’ll be able to see the grown-up versions of the saplings our group put in the ground on that sunny January afternoon.

New Zealand’s South Island—a place where visitors can swim with dolphins one day and hike on a glacier the next—is truly a bucket-list-worthy destination for nature lovers. Scenic mountain ranges, sandy beaches, bucolic farms and more—in this remarkable place, they’re never too far away.

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