Northern South Island Exposure - Britz

Four nights and 779 kilometres in a loop from Christchurch in a campervan, over the Lewis Pass and back down the Kaikoura coast.

Waipara comes first, a small cool-climate wine region an hour north of the city, then Hanmer Springs with its thermal pools, and the Lewis Pass itself, which crosses the Southern Alps through beech forest rather than bare rock, with Maruia Springs on the far side, a natural hot pool in a riverbed.

Murchison follows, then St Arnaud and Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park, where the lake sits in beech forest and a jetty runs out into water clear enough to see the bottom. Blenheim comes next in Marlborough, the largest wine region in the country, with the Awatere Valley on the way south, and Kaikoura closes the loop, where the seals lie out on the rocks at Point Kean.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Five days for 779 kilometres is a comfortable pace and the whole route is sealed. Both passes are open most of the year, though snow is possible in winter. Three sets of hot pools, two wine regions and a seal colony inside five days makes this the best value short loop in the South Island. It also avoids the Christchurch to Queenstown corridor entirely, which is where most of the island’s camper traffic goes.