4-Day Great Southern Island Circle Tour from Christchurch

Day 1: Christchurch – Mt Cook – Queenstown Travel through the Canterbury Plains to the Southern Alps. Cross Burkes Pass to Lake Tekapo and visit the Church of the Good Shepherd. Travel up Lake Pukaki to Mt Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain. Stop for lunch (own expense) before crossing Lindis Pass and continuing along Kawerau Gorge to Queenstown. Overnight: Heartland Hotel Queenstown or similar in Queenstown Day 2: Queenstown – Milford Sound – Queenstown Travel along Lake Wakatipu beneath the Remarkables Range to Te Anau. See the Mirror Lakes and continue past Christie Falls. Enter the Homer Tunnel, drilled through the solid rock of a mountain. Take a cruise on Milford Sound where you'll see Mitre Peak and rock walls rising vertically from the sea. Re-board your coach for a Queenstown return. Optional lunch on the cruise is available.  Overnight: Heartland Hotel Queenstown or similar in Queenstown Day 3: Queenstown – Franz Josef Glacier Travel along Lake Wanaka to Haast Pass. Pass through Central Otago and the majestic peaks of the Southern Alps with its rivers and rainforests. Continue up the West Coast past mountain ranges, native forests and lakes to Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. Franz Josef Glacier is considered a living river of ice that is over 7,000 years old. Overnight: Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier or similar in Franz Josef Day 4: Franz Josef – Greymouth – Arthur's Pass – Christchurch Travel along the West Coast to Shantytown, a reconstructed Gold Rush town, and then to Greymouth, where thousands of diggers lived during the gold strikes of the 1860s. Travel through Arthur's Pass to Christchurch via the TranzAlpine Express.