Surf to Summit New Zealand
Updated: Sep 8
Imagine nine days of exploring some of the most spectacular scenery from Christchurch’s surf beaches through Middle Earth to Queenstown, New Zealand’s adventure capital. Along the way you can helicopter up to glaciers, hike in the alpine wilderness, play eight stunning disc golf courses, bungee jump, experience starry night skies and sample some of New Zealand’s award winning wines.
CHRISTCHURCH
The adventure starts in New Zealand’s second largest city with the biggest disc golf community in the country. Most of the inner city was destroyed or damaged during the 2011 earthquake so Christchurch has emerged post quake with a new vibrant downtown. By the Avon River in town is the Riverside Market with many food choices to fill up on. Then head through the beautiful Hagley Park for a short 20 minute walk that takes you to Hagley Golf Club and its disc golf course.
It’s an Avery Jenkins designed course that’s the longest in Christchurch and will take you around the northern end of the park. Head over to the east side of town for another championship disc golf course, in Bottle Lake Forest. It’s a mostly wooded track in a 1000ha working pine plantation. Watch out for the small native Piwakawaka or Fantail birds that will follow you through the forest to catch all the bugs and insects you stir up while walking and playing. It’s also next to the Fairy Village if you have kids with you. This special part of the forest has dozens of individual and unique fairy houses built by anyone in the community who wants to make one and attach it to the pine trees.
Also on this side of town and five minutes drive from Bottle Lake is Ascot Park disc golf. It’s a shorter course but a lot of fun. It used to have a golf course here and the QEII stadium, which staged the 1974 Commonwealth Games, but both were destroyed in the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. Book a relaxing and scenic sunset dip at He Puna Taimoana beachside hot pools not far from Ascot disc golf in New Brighton and right next to the Pacific Ocean.
TEKAPO
It’s time to leave the coast and head inland to scenery that will take your breath away. As you drive up towards the snow-dusted Southern Alps, in summer you’ll pass wild colourful lupins, rural landscapes and lake waters so teal green they look unreal. It’s a 2.5 hour drive to Fairlie, gateway to the McKenzie Country and home to one of the country’s famous pie shops. If this is your first time sampling a New Zealand staple food, you’re in for a treat. Fairlie Bakehouse is legendary for its pies. At lunch time, and especially in summer or on holiday weekends, there is a queue. They make delicious flaky pastry pies that you’d be best not to eat while driving so pull up a pew outside and tuck into the wondrous varieties they have from Pork Belly and Apple Sauce Pie to Venison and Cranberry or the good old Mince & Cheese - it’s a meal in a paper bag.
From Fairlie it’s another 30 minutes to Tekapo and the gorgeous scenery really starts to unfold. Just before you hit the small main strip of Tekapo is a nine hole beginner-friendly disc golf course definitely worth playing for the views out to the mountains and the lake. Glacial meltwater gives Lake Tekapo this surreal milky turquoise colour that is a mainstay for tourists flocking to the lakeside to frame it up with the other famous landmark here, the Church of the Good Shepherd. This church and the backdrop is possibly one of the most photographed scenes in New Zealand. This small rural town is popular for star gazing and the Dark Sky Project has different experiences in the evenings where you’ll get to witness the cosmos through telescopes in Tekapo which has some of the world’s darkest skies.
MT COOK & TWIZEL
Not far from Tekapo is the turn off to Mt Cook Aoraki National Park - home of New Zealand’s tallest mountain. Once you head out on this dead end road, you’ll want to stop at every lookout point - the drive, especially in good weather, is stunning. The rugged icy Mt Cook looms in the background as the highway snakes its way along Lake Pukaki. At the end of the road, you can head out on a hike. There’s the popular Hooker Valley Track or if you want a leg burn try the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ up seemingly endless stairs to the Sealey Tarns or go beyond for a full day trip to Mueller Hut. After this park, the next major stop, with some great scenery enroute, is the alpine town of Twizel. There’s plenty of places to stay and eat here and the Greenbelt disc golf course is right as you enter the town - look out for the tractor at hole one.
WANAKA
Many tourists barely spend any time in Wanaka in favour of the more well-known Queenstown an hour away. It’s a popular summer holiday destination for South Islanders during the Christmas/New Years annual shutdown. There’s so much to do in Wanaka from mountain biking, hiking up Rob Roy’s Peak or the easier Blue Pools Track. Try kayaking the lake or venture out on a stand up paddle board. Check out Ruby Island while you’re out on the water or go and take the quintessential photograph #thatwanakatree. There’s great helicopter flight options from Wanaka up to the glaciers in Mt Aspiring National Park. And with an active disc golf community here, there are courses with views over Wanaka and the lake at Eely Point and the bigger course Lismore Park.
Queenstown
Your road trip ends in New Zealand’s adventure capital, Queenstown. Set in a stunning location, this town has everything you could possibly imagine to empty your wallet from hair-raising jet boating, to cruises on the TSS Earnslaw or lugeing up at the top of the Gondola. The backdrop to all this is Lake Wakatipu, the jagged peaks of The Remarkables alongside high ranges and mountains that surround this town in a stunning alpine wonderland. And at the heart of it, is New Zealand’s first proper disc golf course, in the Queenstown Gardens.
Mere minutes walk from the centre of Queenstown, this short but very fun course winds its way through forest around the peninsular so that you enjoy lake, mountain and town views. There are so many cool bars and restaurants to choose from in Queenstown, some right down by the water to give you views across the lake with the crazy Hydro Attack shark boat that pops up now and then. Back out of town on the Shotover River is the Tucker Beach Disc Golf course - a tussocky course with the odd sheep and gnarly trees. Head out on a wine tour that visit the dozens of vineyards and wineries or head to Gibston Valley and have lunch with wine and beer tasting. Or try the cute village of Arrowtown for a bite to eat as you meander through this old gold mining town past turn of the century cottages. This village is popular during the leaf peeping season around autumn late April.
From Queenstown you can head out to Glenorchy and Paradise on another road trip that begs you to pull over and take another snap up the river. In Glenorchy try some of the best pies or stock up on supplies at Mrs Woolly’s General Store. Lord of the Rings fans can get a tour from here to famous filming locations in the franchise near the settlement of Paradise. If you time your trip right, at the end of summer, and if it’s on that year, one of the most stunning New Zealand disc golf pop up courses is set up here for the Paradise Plates disc golf tournament. Views up to the mountains while you putt out, throwing through lush beech forest and there are rustic cabins available on the property. They are dotted all the course where the tournament is held plus there’s Diamond Lake to cool off in after your round. This would be the perfect full stop to your South Island disc golf road trip and a chance to meet Kiwi disc golfers from all over the country.
