New Zealand: Down South

Description

New Zealand’s South Island offers great scenery, dramatic mountain ranges and some excellent four-wheel driving

There are parts of the South Island that most of the people of New Zealand don’t get to see. This tour first accessed isolated Muzzle Station, a sheep station located amongst the Kaikoura Mountains.  With steep-sided mountains on either side of the Clarence River, Muzzle is very isolated. The road in follows the river valley, often along the side of the mountains, or crossing the tributary streams that flow down from the peaks. The road out crosses the river, following the river and creek valleys for a way before venturing to higher ground. Here the views from the narrow track became spectacular.

The group visited visited central Lake Sumner, where the tracks in cross private land, sometimes through thick vegetation at lake level, sometimes across bare hillsides, before reaching the serene lake.

From Murchison, the travellers experienced rainforest and river crossings in the west, before reaching the old mining town of Denniston, and driving down the windy road of the escarpment onto the flat lands below. The travellers enjoyed the challenging four wheel driving throughout.

The tour began and finished at Christchurch and we were amazed at the diversity of terrain and landscapes encountered. From the sheer-sided mountains, to the open pastoral country around Lake Sumner and the rainforest near Murchison, we saw inspiring scenery, majestic mountains and pretty villages along the way. And you can see it all in this DVD New Zealand: Down South.

Included in the DVD is a tourist montage of the South Island, as we travelled to the west coast to experience Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers, Wanaka and Queenstown, Te Anau and Milford South, Dunedin and Mt Cook.

Our adventure was organised by Great Divide Tours and NZ 4X4.

For more South Island adventures see our latest video on DVD Wild Southern Land: New Zealand’s South Island.