New Zealand Road Trip Itinerary (part 3): Christchurch, Kaikōura & Auckland
After Lake Tekapo, we continued to Christchurch for the final part of our South Island road trip, following by a flight to Auckland, where we stayed for over two days before bidding farewell to New Zealand.
This last chapter of our New Zealand trip felt very different from the first two. The landscapes gave way to farmers’ markets, harbor towns, wildlife encounters, ferry rides and city walks.
We also slowed down - at least a little - after nearly three weeks of chasing light, staying up late, and getting up early in the morning and driving from one photography location to another.
In Part 1, I shared our journey through Arrowtown, Wānaka, Queenstown, Glenorchy, Te Anau and Milford Sound. Part 2 continued along the Southern Scenic Route and the Catlins before heading north to Twizel, Aoraki/Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo.
This final part covers Christchurch, Lyttelton, Kaikōura, Auckland, Waiheke Island and Rangitoto Island.
Christchurch / Lyttelton
Christchurch was our final base on the South Island. As a matter of fact, we stayed in Lyttelton, a small harbor town outside Christchurch. It was simply one of my backup options for southern lights.
After so many days surrounded by lakes, mountains and remote coastlines, returning to a larger city felt like a change of pace. We spent time taking the Christchurch cable car, visited the International Antarctic Centre, and simply chilling in the small town with beautiful landscapes.
Lyttelton Farmers’ Market
Street photography has never been my top preference, even though I photograph most of our family travels in a street, documentary style.
It is also not the easiest thing to do while traveling with children. Looking for stories on a busy street while making sure everyone stays together requires a very different kind of attention.
Still, I wanted to push myself beyond the landscapes that had dominated the first part of the trip.
I intentionally planned to arrive on a Friday night, so we could make to Lyttelton’s weekly farmers’ market on Saturday.
But after checking out a few stalls, we soon realized a big problem - we didn’t have cash. In fact we traveled to New Zealand without any cash and had been lucky so far without any issues. But the farmers’ market only accepted cash.
We had to retrieve to a restaurant for breakfast, and by the time we came out, the market was already beginning to pack up.
So these few shots were all I had devoted to street photography in South Island. Sometimes a location does not unfold exactly as planned, but there is usually still something worth noticing.
Kaikōura - Whale Watch
Kaikōura was about a three-hour drive from Christchurch, which meant six hours on the road for a single-day excursion.
We previously joined multiple whale-watching trips in Washington and Hawaii, where we had seen humpback whales and orcas. Usually, however, each trip featured only one species, and sometimes only one or two whales.
Kaikōura was on a completely different level.
For the first time, I saw sperm whales in the wild. We encountered three different sperm whales across four sightings. Each one surfaced long enough for the passengers to watch and photograph before raising its tail and disappearing beneath the water.
Then, during the final half hour of the cruise, two humpback whales appeared beside the boat.
They swam next to each other and breached four times in a row.
It was my first time photographing a full whale breach, and the experience happened so quickly that there was little time to think. I simply kept the camera ready and followed the movement.
Everyone on the boat seemed to stop and stare.
Some experiences stay with you long after the photographs are taken. The long drive, the quiet wait on the water and the uncertainty of wildlife watching all felt worthwhile in that moment.
Photo Tip
Wildlife photography from a moving boat requires anticipation more than perfect composition. This is one of the very rare occasions I turned up the burst mode. But in hindsight, I should have maximized the burst mode of 20 frames per second on my Canon EOS R5. I simply didn’t expect so many whale breaches in one boat tour. Did I mention we have taken multiple whale watch trips before? And I had photographed zero breach before.
Had I maximized the burst mode, I would have captured more shots through the full sequence rather than just a few. Now I felt I just talked myself into more whale watch tours in the future.
Here’s a rundown of the camera gear I brought to this trip, and why I picked them.
Auckland
After returning to Christchurch, we flew to Auckland for the final three nights of our New Zealand trip.
We stayed at Intercontinental right on the waterfront near city center. It was also right beside the ferry terminal. I imagined we would finally slow down, wander through the city and enjoy a little urban life.
Then something very unusual happened.
The moment we checked into the hotel, my husband volunteered to take over the planning. This almost never happens on our trips, so I happily retired from logistics for once.
Perhaps the ferries outside our window inspired him, he somehow transformed our only two full days in Auckland into two separate island day trips.
So much for my plan to spend those days practicing street photography.
No complaints, though. We enjoyed ferry rides, evening walks along the waterfront and a very different side of New Zealand from what we had experienced on the South Island.
Waiheke Island
We began with our first, and only, winery visit of this trip before a spontaneous zipline eco-tour.
Upon arrival, we boarded a tour bus departing from the ferry terminal every hour and made our first stop at Stonyridge Vineyard, one of Waiheke Island’s best-known wineries, tucked among vines and olive trees in the Onetangi Valley and particularly known for its syrah.
But as soon as we stepped in Stonyridge Vineyard, it started to rain. Our first winery stop became a long brunch plus casual tasting with kids sitting right next to us. In fact it turned out to be our only wine tasting in New Zealand. Compared to our Malbec hunt in Mendoza Argentina 7 years ago, this was very uneventful.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed the relaxing, rustic setting of Stonyridge and decided our next stop should be a zipline tour. Unfortunately, our younger son didn’t meet the height requirement, so he and I stayed behind.
He was visibly upset and kept mumbling “I’m not tall enough” while we walked along the street to Onetangi Beach. The ice cream stop at Three Seven Two cafe finally cracked a smile out of him.
We spent the rest of the time on Onetangi Beach, which turned out to be the highlight of our Waiheke Island tour.
After being told he was not tall enough for the zipline, he climbed onto a tree and proved that he could be tall after all.
When we regrouped, the boys didn’t want to leave the rope swings on the beach as the setting sun beamed from behind with the soft glow. This was the my favorite time of light to photograph my children.
It was one of those unplanned family moments that became far more memorable than the activity we had originally booked.
Rangitoto Island
The following day, we boarded another ferry to Rangitoto Island, a car-free volcanic island just 30 minutes from downtown Auckland. We hiked through rugged lava fields and native forest to the summit, with sweeping views of the city and surrounding islands, a surprisingly wild landscape so close to Auckland.
After weeks of driving (on the left), it felt refreshing to leave the car behind and explore somewhere entirely on foot.
Evening Walks in Auckland
Although our island trips left little time for exploring Auckland during the day, we returned to the waterfront in the evenings.
We walked along the harbor, enjoyed the evening streets as well as the nearby restaurants.
We met up with a couple of friends I hadn’t seen in over 15 years at Bivacco, and enjoyed our last dinner at Baduzzi—both with great food that even my two picky eaters loved, in casual, relaxing settings.
Our post-dinner walks along the harbor, surrounded by sailboats and city views, felt different from many of my photography outings earlier in the trip. There was no plan, no particular shot I was chasing. I simply photographed whatever caught my attention and enjoyed our last few hours in New Zealand.
Perhaps a little too much, I nearly missed our pre-booked ride to the airport on my way back.
After nearly three weeks of carefully planned sunrises, sunsets, night skies and road-trip stops, it was a fitting way to end the journey.
Looking Back on Our New Zealand Trip
I returned home with nearly 15,000 photographs from three weeks in New Zealand.
The trip included major tourist attractions: That Wānaka Tree, Milford Sound, Nugget Point, Aoraki/Mount Cook, the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Southern Lights.
But many of the photographs I value most came from moments that could not have been planned:
A morning walk with my younger son along the Te Anau waterfront
The boys bouncing on a trampoline beneath the mountains in Twizel
A rare break in the rain near Glenorchy
Two humpback whales breaching beside each other
My little boy finding a tree swing after missing the zipline
Our final evening walks along the Auckland waterfront
Travel photography gives me a reason to wake before sunrise, watch the weather and search for beautiful places.
But it also helps me notice the smaller moments happening between destinations, the ones that may eventually matter most.
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Part 1 of our 17-day New Zealand Road Trip Itinerary: Wānaka To Milford Sound
Part 2 of our 17-day New Zealand Road Trip Itinerary: The Catlins to Lake Tekapo
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From the windswept coast of the Catlins to the Southern Lights near Twizel, this part of our New Zealand road trip brought some of the most memorable moments of the journey—including waterfalls, Nugget Point at sunrise, the Milky Way, Aoraki/Mount Cook, Peter’s Lookout and Lake Tekapo.