Queenstown Road Trip - Britz

Six nights and 1,057 kilometres in a loop from Queenstown in a campervan, out to the Otago coast and back through the Mackenzie.

Cromwell comes first, then Dunedin, which has a strong Scottish inheritance, the steepest residential street in the world and a railway station that is the most photographed building in the country. The Otago Peninsula follows: the only mainland royal albatross colony anywhere, where birds with three-metre wingspans nest within half an hour of the city, with yellow-eyed penguins and fur seals on the same headland.

Moeraki and the Waitaki come next, with the boulders on the beach, then Omarama, Lake Tekapo and Aoraki Mount Cook, where the Hooker Valley track crosses three swing bridges to a glacial lake below the highest mountain in New Zealand. Wanaka closes the loop before Queenstown.

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. Seven days for 1,057 kilometres is a reasonable pace. The albatross colony is managed with timed tours and no sighting can be promised, though the birds are present for most of the year. Aoraki is the stop worth two nights if the schedule can take it, since the valley walk and the dark skies each want their own day. The Otago Peninsula is the other stop that rewards slowing down, with the albatross, the penguins and Larnach Castle all on the same headland.