Surely A Travel Addict: New Zealand (South Island)

The real road trip begins the following day; put our driving skills to the test.

We drove from Christchurch to Franz Josef via Arthur’s Pass; Distance 382 Km, approx 5.5hr drive (non-stop).

It is pretty straightforward for us when driving in New Zealand as we mainly relied on the GPS to get our directions. It is left hand side driving of the road and the driver seat on the right i.e. same as Singapore. Most of the roads are single lane for each direction without barriers in between. You hardly see any other cars when driving along the road. We have definitely seen more cows and sheep than human for the whole my NZ road trip.

Do cater time for plenty of stops to take photos and breaks.
The views are just so crazily awesome that you might shout to stop at every 10-20min throughout the journey, no joke.

Also, not to underestimate the drive time required based on map, as it is common in New Zealand that the roads tend to be narrow and windy which may requires much longer time. Conclusion: Always allow for more time than you think you’ll need.

It took us approx. 8hrs to reach Franz Josef with stops in between to take many photos and breaks. As sunsets as early as 5pm during our travel period, so we drove slower as it is dark and small animals such as wild rabbits may just dash out of nowhere when they are “crossing” the road.

Greeted us with the magnificent view at Arthur’s Pass

Be it taking photos from the car's front window or side view mirrors... The views are simply just so awesome!!!

It was an action packed day for our first day at Franz Josef.
I have accomplished my another ✔ CHECKED in my bucket list - Skydiving in NZ.
I am thankful that my "morally supported" travel buddies accompanied and drove me to Fox Glacier for my skydive. It is approximately 30 min drive from Franz Josef to Fox Glacier. Thereafter my skydive, we went to the nearby Lake Matheson for a walk.

Next, we went for the helicopter scenic flight, yet another first for us.The flight is approximately 30 minutes which includes 10 minutes of glacier landing at Franz Josef and Fox Glacier.

In the late noon, we went to the West Coast Wildlife Centre to see the Kiwi birds and at night we visited the nearby glowworm caves (free entry) - do bring a bright torchlight along to shine your path as it is very dark.