What do you think of when you hear New Zealand? The home of the Kiwi, a flightless bird endemic to New Zealand? The Haka, traditional Maori dance that signifies strength, culture, and unity that can be welcoming or initiate preparedness for battle? The Alps of the southern hemisphere with glacial valleys, fjords, and sounds that rival some of the most spectacular geographic and wildlife environments anywhere in the world? The Lord of the Rings…… probably this, yeah?
New Zealand to us represents nature at it’s finest, mostly untouched by human interference, and a calming and safe environment to explore why we are just specks in this vast world and universe of unknown. From high mountains, to rolling hills, to expansive ocean and never ending free roaming sheep without a true predatory animal to humans in sight, the pure remoteness of this country was a fascinating and memorable experience for us pre-kids seven years prior. So, this time, why not visit the South Island and do a campervan experience with a 1 and 4 year old? Great idea, right? Sounds calming, yes?
I cant recall what came over me when I decided a campervan experience with young children would be a great idea, but the combination of planning this trip over 8 months in advance, and finding excellent award tickets on Singapore Airlines for half the points, made me think we should fly into Christchurch and plan from there. I was probably more caught up in the deal of being able to use 20k points for two economy class tickets, and then 50K points for one business class ticket (for K and my wife), that it seemed destined that Christchurch should be the place….. yes, this is how I am.
In preparation for this trip, since we had experienced an absolute meltdown on our overnight trip home from Perth in December with Jai, I had to prepare myself mentally for a 9 hour overnight flight to Christchurch with just him and I in economy. We had purchased a Kooshy Kid’s inflatable bed seat cover, and practiced with him beforehand the expectation of being uncomfortable and trying to sleep anyways on the plane. For my wife and K, we figured having a true lie-flat bed for an overnight flight would be the least stress on the family and the points deal for business class made it worth it.
Getting through Changi Airport was seamless and pleasant as usual as I prepared my mind for setting limits on Jai’s tv watching and necessary meal eating as he often only eats bread and the dessert. Once upon the plane, we were lucky enough to have the row to ourselves so Jai could lay flat without the bed, and I set an appropriate expectation for when he would fall asleep (2+ hours after his normal bedtime) around 11PM when the lights finally dimmed. The night went about as well as it could, with Jai smoothly falling asleep and only waking 2-3 times at night freaking out about being constrained with his seatbelt in a small space (he likes to flop all over his bed at home usually). I slept for maybe 4-5 hours on and off and he got a whopping 6 hours before being woken for breakfast and landing.
Upon reuniting with business class baby and mama in Christchurch baggage claim, the feeling in the air was a world’s difference from the humidity of Singapore. Entering the fall months of the South island, it was a cool 50 degrees with plenty of biting wind, and five hours ahead so well into the late morning. The crispness and just the space, as I always comment on our trips out of Singapore, brought a different and freeing energy to start the travel. After a 30-minute uber ride chatting with our Filipino driver about his experience coming to New Zealand as a construction worker helping to rebuild the city after the devastating 2011 earthquakes and acquiring citizenship, with a good sales pitch how nice it is to live there, we arrived at our Airbnb.
Our top priorities when we arrive into a new country with little ones is to first get on the local time zone, stock the food essentials, and find outdoor play space to help with the acclimation and process of feeling like a place is home. Being 5 hours ahead of Singapore time made for a tricky transition, meaning that normal 8:30PM bedtime meant 1:30AM equivalency in New Zealand, an unacceptably late time to go to sleep. So, this meant accounting for both the lack of sleep on the plane, incorporating it into a short midday nap time that coincided with K’s usual one nap a day, and then getting as much physical energy out to somehow fall asleep by 11PM and start the process of adjusting to the local time zone.
Since we had planned 3 nights in Christchurch before heading on our campervan portion of the trip, we had scoped out some highlight activities for the kids and an excellent playground to visit multiple times, Margaret Mahy family playground. Originally designed with the input of children who were asked what elements they would most love to have in a playground, and then created with the feedback, resulted in an amazing experience for the kids. Plenty of climbing walls, sand play, water play, varying slides and netting, and ziplines (this became a theme throughout New Zealand playgrounds), we visited this kid wonderland the very first day to expel such energy.
Christchurch, while the second largest city in New Zealand by population size at 400,000, had a very quiet and sleepy feel to it. Part of the allure of New Zealand is it’s unique geological structures and it’s very disperse and small population relative to the landmass, but what this also means is that even in the second largest city in the country, the tourist spots to visit are much more low key and simple. On our first full day in the city, we rode the city’s historical tram while getting a guided tour of the sites, and hearing from a conductor who lived through the devastating earthquakes of 2011, describing it as an event that many of them still have deep trauma from. Of course, jetlagged little K ended up napping on the tram despite our best efforts to keep him awake with activities until proper naptime.
Since New Zealand was experiencing one of it’s largest weather systems when we arrived, on and off heavy rain covered our first two days there. In the afternoon, following our rainy tram ride and searching for another indoor activity, we visited one of the coolest free lego exhibits, Imagination Station, in a public library. Built with the intent to provide the communities children a creative space to engage, this independent charity welcomed anyone to the space with an optional donation via credit card payment to create a smooth and easy process. We ended up donating $3 because of how wonderful and well thought out this experience was for kid’s of any background to enjoy.
Our last ‘big’ attraction in Christchurch was the Christchurch Gondola, a cable car experience that provided sweeping landscapes of Canterbury city and as far beyond to the southern alps. Riding cable cars has become a thing for our family as this is one of Jai’s favorite activities. We have ridden cable cars in Singapore, Hong Kong, Langkawi, Palm Springs just to name a few, and this one in Christchurch was one of the most simple and least extravagant, which was perfectly fine considering the views again provided a feeling of smallness in the grand vastness of the world.
We didn’t have much positive or negative thoughts to reflect on during our short 3-day stay in Christchurch, other than it was a good basing point to get on schedule before the 8 day tour of the south island in a campervan. Those days provided us with an introduction to the massive baked goods made in New Zealand, a laid back city experience, and plenty of outdoor and family time. Simple things like running up and down small hills with K trying to copy everything Jai did were the type of things we struggle to do in Singapore, mainly pertaining to the geography and climate. Simple is good, and what we were in store for with our campervan trip with a young family was simple in idea, but complicated in execution.
The day had finally arrived for us to start our campervan experience, a kind of nervous excitement that contrasted the stable and fixed home of Christchurch the past 3 days. I had many questions how we would manage all our meals, K’s naps, and driving a huge campervan on some glorious yet windy and tricky roads. I was also nervous about maintaining water levels for the van, emptying the waste, finding freedom camping sites, and pretty much all the uncertainty that goes with life on 4 giant wheels. I kept thinking about how much safer it would have been to just rent a car and base ourselves in Queenstown to explore the rest of the south island, but once we arrived at Wilderness Motorhomes, only my excitement took hold.
We had booked a King/Twin for 4 motorhome, which basically had the rear of the home set up as a large King bed or could be divided into two twin beds, with a separate drop down from the ceiling double bed toward the front of the cabin. Because of the children’s age, we figured keeping the King setup with my wife and both boys sleeping there was best, and I got spoiled with my own bed toward the front of the home. Seeing all the motorhomes, and then completing the paperwork and introductions to how the motorhome functioned was quite exciting. Even better was a section of the front office with left over good and foods like olive oil, paper towels, etc., for finishing campers to donate and new campers leaving to pick up, so to not waste resources. There are always mini condiments and supplies you need to cook that are a hassle to buy brand new, so what an excellent start to the experience.
Our plan for the 8 day trip was to go as far south as Milford Sound and maybe one national park. Most itineraries for the South Island recommend at least two weeks to explore properly, but budgeting holiday time and what was realistic with two young kids we settled on a shorter stint. We marked off several major stopping points and would play it by ear when reserving either a holiday park (powered or non-powered amenity camping site) or attempting to go freedom camping (rely solely on campervan propane and facilities). Since this was our first experience, we needed to be careful with how many days we could freedom camp with attention paid to water and energy usage and waste buildup. Just driving the hulking campervan with dishes rumbling in the cabinets and other creaks and noises was an adjustment to get used to.
After about an hour on the rode, we stopped to load up on groceries which is always a task with two little ones in tow. Following groceries, we drove another 1.5 hours to Lake Tekapo to stretch the legs and some playground time, and then another 2 hours to Lindis Pass where we decided we needed to stop for dinner before it got dark. Thanks to the trusty Campermate App, we could easily locate freedom camping sites, holiday parks, gas stations, and other essentials ahead of time to plan out where to stop. One thing we quickly realized is that all estimated travel times would take us well longer because of the speed of the campervan and the need to set up and repack where we stopped. Wanting to avoid sandfly’s (specific to NZ south island that eat at you) by dusk, we pulled over to a deserted small campsite and began our first meal in the outdoors.
After a relatively successful stop, and getting a good feel for packing and unpacking needed items, preparation and cooking of food, we dressed the children in their pajamas for the nighttime 2 hour drive to our true camping site for the night. We arrived at Lowburn freedom camping site around 9:30PM after driving in the dark around winding roads, glad to finally have reached our destination. As usual, the goal was to setup the campervan for bed and shuttle the already sleeping kids into the bed from their car seats, and then plan for the next morning. After completing all the tasks, I spent the next 1.5 hours awake attempting to troubleshoot our fridge that was struggling from switching over from the car battery to the propane tank that is required when freedom camping. Worried to death over food items spoiling overnight, I finally was able to reset the fridge and go to sleep.
Lowburn campground was a great stop overlooking a beautiful lake. In the morning I took the boys to explore the campground while my wife cooked breakfast. The whole point of this campervan trip was to relax, so we tried to take moments to do so and let the kids entertain themselves in nature, despite the fact that the adults still had so many responsibilities with the campervan and planning. After a leisurely morning, we decided to drive 30 minutes to Mt. Rosa Winery for lunch and views. This reminded us a lot of our time living in California and visiting Napa Valley, an experience we did multiple times with Jai when he was a baby.
After our lunch stop at the winery, we had a 4 hour drive to our main destination, Te Anau, gateway to Milford Sound. We had decided to stay 3 nights at Tasman Holiday park in Te Anau, walking distance to local eateries, nearby playgrounds, and the central departing location for Real NZ tours. We figured it would be good to have a powered site, where we could plug in our campervan battery, and have other amenities so as not to worry about so many things for a couple of nights. At most holiday parks showers and toilets, bbq grills, kid’s playrooms, and other amenities are available. Dumping sites for our toilet and sink waste as well as ample fresh water is also available. Basically, it is a really nice parking lot with modern amenities.
The campervan routine whether at powered sites or freedom camping are relatively the same. Turn on propane for gas and electricity or plug in campervan to electrical site. Use your freshwater hose to refill campervan and your dark water hose to dump used water into approved dump stations. Remove toilet carrier and dump at dump station, then wash out and add disinfecting/dissolving agent into toilet. Switch over energy systems in the campervan to joint propane/electricity or just propane. Take out and setup camp chairs and table and grill and hook up to secondary propane. All the while keep the kids from making your tasks more difficult because they always have to be in your business….. We hate to admit that we used the tv and wifi in our van on several occasions, especially when raining, so that we could complete our tasks. There is only so much room in a campervan anyways….
On our first full day in Te Anau, after a morning activity of playground and ziplines, we took an afternoon cruise across Lake Te Anau to a limstone cave system full of glowworms. Glowworms are not actual worms, but a common name for various groups of insect larvae that are bioluminescent, or in other words, glow in the dark. My wife and I had experienced another glowworm cave in the North Island 7 years prior, and figured this would be an interesting experience for the kids. After traversing many steel scaffolding up, down, and around the inside of the limestone cave with massive water flows rushing beneath us, we entered a small canoe in a part of the cave completely pitch black. Inside here, glowworms hung from the ceiling, and not an inch of light or noise was allowed to disturb them. Little K whimpered in the dark, then fell asleep out of fear. Jai held onto me tightly also scared, but upon leaving the cave system was set on getting a t-shirt of his experience.
The next day was the highlight of our South Island experience with a trip to Milford Sound. Traveling by coach bus, a 2.5 hour drive through Fiordland National Park took us to what is regarded as New Zealand’s most popular destination, a world heritage site renowned for it’s fiords. A fiord is a long narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs created by a glacier and often containing numerous waterfalls. These are mostly only in New Zealand, Antarctica, and Norway due to their location near the poles. The travel through the switchbacks carving the mountainsides of Fiordland National Park, with the accompanying amazing scenery, was all the more impressive by large coach bus. We had contemplated driving our campervan through here ourselves, but had read the roads could be tricky in addition to the large amounts of rainfall the sound experiences regularly.
After arriving at Milford Sound, we then boarded a 1.5 hour cruise through the inlet out to the sea and back. The calmness and serenity just at the dock took me to another place, looking out at the clear glass waters and towering cliffsides. On the cruise, I spent most of the ride on the open rooftop thinking to myself that it doesn’t get more heavenly than this, aside from the children causing disturbances all around me. Closeups to cascading waterfalls were aplenty and spotting of seals near and around rocks were had. All that was left was a 2.5 hour drive back to Te Anau. Although experiencing this wonderous site is a tremendous privilege in itself, if it weren’t for kids, we most certainly would have flown by helicopter over the fiords to witness this grand nature. Yes, we are jealous of the childless.
Our three night stay at the entry to Milford Sound was coming to a close, and we had started to plot our trip back up to Christchurch with a mix of different camping stays. Our next stop would be Moke Lake, a tucked away freedom camping ground several kilometers in between mountain sides outside of Queenstown. As we approached via gravel winding road and mostly sheep in sight, we witnessed a water plane taking off and landing just outside the campground site, a nice welcome into the secluded, but unique campsite we would be entering. As a freedom camping site, we were required to pay $30 for the night to the drop box at the entrance, and from there it was park anywhere and enjoy yourself.
The campgrounds were quite serene and relaxed. After setting up next to the lakeside, we took a tour around the grounds to discover some public toilets, grills, sinks for cleaning fish, and plenty of massive rabbits. As this was a freedom camping site, there was not potable water and we were not connected to any public wifi due to it’s remote nature. The latter made me worry, being disconnected from civilization for one night, which goes to show the first world issues I suffer from. As usual, dusk was approaching quickly, with temps moving to the high 40’s, and setting up the grill and getting the cooking started, while also keeping mindful of where the children were running and how to clean everything before it all became dark, was a challenge. I wish I could relax more, but the first time doing so many new tasks overwhelmed me pretty easily. Good thing we had head lamps so I could at least clean the grills in the pitch black of the night.
After a decent nights sleep, the next morning we were set on hiking around Moke Lake after breakfast. Our goal for the 3.75 mile hike around undulating hillsides was neither to make it fully around or by a certain time, but rather to enjoy it for however long we could at a leisurely pace. Unfortunately, once we made it around several bends of the lake, we realized it was too long to turn around, so we proceeded to complete the loop, taking periodic breaks and keeping Jai motivated that his legs would not fall off because he was so tired. In the end, K ended up falling asleep on me, and we completed our hike, tired but accomplished almost 3 hours later. After eating lunch and cleaning up our campsite, I was eager to move back towards more civilization.
Our goal for our last two nights with the campervan was to do another freedom camping experience, but closer to Christchurch so our final day’s drive would not be rushed. We had planned on stopping at Lake Pukaki, a gorgeous lake on the main highway we had passed while making our way down to Te Anau earlier, but unfortunately were severely disappointed with the grounds only being on rock and gravel and no green spaces to set up. After some careful deliberation, we gave in and paid for two nights at another holiday park at Lake Tekapo, a popular tourist stopover we had visited early on in our travels.
We were both disappointed thinking we had caved to the comfortable and easy route at a full facility holiday park, when the whole point of this experience was to camp away from people with just our campervan. But, after checking in and touring the facilities and it’s relative exclusion from the more popular town square, as well as the relatively quiet nature of the holiday park, we were glad we just settled for the comfort. The holiday park allowed for several playgrounds, nice cooking and eating overlooks of the lake, and entryway to running paths along the mountains and quick access to Tekapo Springs, or hot pools.
Our last two nights were pretty laid back. I went for a run in the mountains around the lake, which was amazing and refreshing. We spent some time at Tekapo Springs which had varying temperatures of hot pools to wade in, to which K protested for the longest time until HE decided it was his choice to go in. And we relaxed around the grounds and my wife even attempted to read a book! That didn’t last for too long, because little kids….. but the idea was in the right place. On the morning of departure, we rushed to pack everything up and were required to empty all our grey water and toilet waste before returning the campervan. We had a 3 hour drive back to Wilderness motors where we sadly bid goodbye to our home on wheels for 8 days.
After returning our campervan, we checked in to a nearby airport hotel for the final night stay before our morning flight back to Singapore. As is usual in our relationship, my wife pushes for us to do and see more, and I crave the comfort of doing less. That mindset doesn’t always work well when you have little children who are antsy from sitting in a campervan for over three hours, so we rushed off to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve to catch an hour or two of unique New Zealand wildlife before it closed. On our short trip, little K was extremely excited to say hi to all the animals, search for the illusive Kiwi, and point at every bird and exclaim to his parents what we clearly didn’t see. Even though I hated rushing to get to the reserve after such a long morning drive back to Christchurch, I am always grateful for my wife’s opposite mindset that pushes me to do more, unless it doesn’t work out….
The day of our departure was pretty uneventful. We were all sad to leave such untouched nature and plentiful open space. New Zealand has a way of clearing your head very differently than any other place I’ve been, and this trip was surely a memory of a lifetime for our family. All that was left was a 10.5 hour flight, with all of us in economy, back to Singapore. The flight also turned out about as well as it could, with K napping for 2 hours and us breaking up tv watching with doodling and other non-screened activities. Upon touchdown, it was back to life in Singapore, with a lot of uncertainty about our future to address. Maybe this will be in my next post.
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