The plan is simple. The details are not.
Five of us will fly from Singapore to Christchurch on Singapore Airlines SQ297 on Friday 31 July, landing early Saturday morning in a South Island that is — if we are lucky — painted in frost. A seven-seat SUV will carry us west across Arthur's Pass into the rainforest, south along the West Coast to the Franz Josef glaciers, over the Haast Pass into Central Otago, and finally east through the Mackenzie dark sky basin to Lake Tekapo, where we will wait for the aurora.
We have removed the helicopter. In its place, we walk. Every restaurant and attraction here carries a Google rating above 4.2 stars, each one tied to its place on the map with a single tap. The budget comes in at roughly SGD 3,100 to 3,800 per person — glaciers and aurora included, premium flights and all.
What follows is the itinerary as it stands today, chapter by chapter, written to be read rather than scrolled past.
Franz Josef
Glowworm tunnels, rainforest walks, a glacier that comes down to the sea.
Wānaka
A quiet lakeside pause. Puzzling World, the Cardrona drive, a famous tree.
Queenstown
Crown Range, Glenorchy, the hill walk above town, the famous burger.
Lake Tekapo
The Hooker Valley, Mount Cook, and two dark-sky nights watching for the aurora.
Non-stop · 9h 40m · Economy Standard
Non-stop · 10h 50m · Economy Value