Fooferfish

WE are stopping in Nelson this new year for a few days and wanted to come back down the West coast , where is a good place to stop over on way down the coast , and how long is the drive with a few stops on the way ?

Justcol

604 km / 7 hours 23 minutes. . . .Google maps

alanmacc

Google maps may be 7hr 23 but lets face it add in to the mix the NZ roads and you can easily add anout hour or so on top of that not counting any stops

DC10

It's a big, full day to cover that route.

Fox or Franz Josef glaciers might be the obvious places to stay, but they are well down towards the Haast end of things. I like Hokitika and around, but that's where my dad's family are from so I would say that.

PS there is absolutely nothing to see in Haast itself so don't make the mistake of staying there. Just a string of petrol stations and motels beside a big bridge on the highway.

Fooferfish

Sounds like Hokitika it is then , i met a guy in UK long time ago, whos rellies moved to Hari Hari as school teachers and they loive it there, going to try and see if they still there and say Hi , people have told me going from top of South Island down the coast is way better than going up ! and as we are in Nelson, thought a trip back down the coast was better than going back down same way we went up thing is my wife will not drive those gorge's and places where there are no barries between you and sheer drop offs , so looks like it will be me doing the driving again .

Will also do a stop over in Queenstown for a night and then back home to Dunners.

Thanks for your thoughts .

Now to try and find a B&B in Hokitika

DC10

Things I would try to take in en route:

Punakaiki Blowholes and Westport to Greymouth coast road

Hokitika Gorge (about 20km inland). On a sunny day it is amazing. Hokitika Gloworms if you are at a loose end at night

Fox or Franz Josef Glacier with walk around Lake Matheson (near Fox)

Have fun

cleverchap

I did that route last year and you can do it in a day but whats the point? Take your time, chill out and have a ball.

southerner

Hoki or the glaciers.

We did it a couple of years ago and stopped at Westport, but in hindsight I would stop at Punakaiki for lunch, pop into Shantytown (just south of Greymouth for a couple of hours fun) and then push on to Glaciers for a couple of nghts. Roads are all good these days, you can travel them probably faster than on SH1.

There are plenty of things to see and do all down the coast but my favourite bit is south of Glaciers through to Wanaka.

karron

westport was one place in nz i would struggle to think of anything nice about it.

southerner

Agree with that. Hokitika is the only one of bigger towns worth stopping in.

gozzy

You will need to take a second mortgage to stay in franz joseph .
Make sure you fill up with fuel before you get there.
A beautiful trip though , am jealous

chc4me

I agree on both points. Also the Blue pools just north of Haast are a must, nothing in Haast except sandflies!