6 days in Beijing: some tips

We booked all accommodations and one day journey to the Great Wall.

We lived in Novotel on the first 3 days and the address:

1 Chongwenmen W St, Dongcheng, Beijing, China, 100005

We took No 1 airport bus from the airport to Beijing South railway station which is the terminal station. Then walked 15 mins to Novotel:

Then we travelled to Dashilan ( 大栅栏) via bus 673 or 9,  if you have Baidu map, you can easily find the way to Da Shi Lan:

6 days in Beijing: before you go.

We spent our holiday in Beijing on September last year, some tips for preparation:

Wanaka

After Milford Sound, I wanted to go back to Queenstown due to earthquake around glacier area.

Wanaka is a place for me to take a break after the Mount Cook during the journey.

We accommodated here:

Wanaka Lakeview Holiday Park  NZD 36

Two unforgettable things:

      1.   There is toasted lamb in the big shopping centre in Wanaka;

      2.  The scene on the way from Wanaka to Queenstown, there is a sharp climbing mountain road , which is quite scary from a far distance looking, it zigzag upwards the mountain like a snake!

Milford Sound

Before departing Te Anau, be aware to fulfil your oil tank, I need to emphasize this point again. There is no petrol station on the way and in Milford Sound, and you even cannot call for help because there is weak or no wireless signals on the way…I was almost stranded on the road on my way back.

Another tip is:

make sure you do your supermarket shop before you arrive in Milford Sound as there are no grocery supplies available in Milford.

Route: Te Anauà Milford Sound 118 km – about 1 hour 43 mins.

Te Anau

It takes too much driving if I go from Queenstown to Milford sound, so Te Anau is a stop to take a overnight break, it is the perfect town to base yourself from to visit Milford Sound.

arrow town, Queenstown

It takes about 2 hours and 45 minutes’ driving from Mt Cook to Queenstown. On the way we visited Arrow Town.

Arrowtown is a delightful gold rush village nestled below the beautiful peaks that surround the sparkling Arrow River. You’ll be enchanted by Historic Arrowtown, a New Zealand treasure. We spent around 2 hours or so walking around the historic open museum retrospection how difficult it was for our Chinese ancestors to come and survive in this place. It has also a quaint Main Street and lovely old cottages. The trees lining the road date back to the late 1670's.  This is really a lovely experience.

In Queenstown, we camped our little van here:

Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park

This is quite convenient place and 10 minutes’ walk distance to the centre of the city centre.  Queenstown is rather crowded with people due to its fame and popularity.

I missed the toasted lamb leg in the shopping centre of the city, I cannot find the same wonderful cooked food in the supermarkets of Victoira.  There is also a sort of big hamburger to sold near the beach site, it is easy to be identified—lots of people lined up all days..

Mount Cook

Route: Lake Tekapoà Mt cook   101 km – about 1 hour 26 mins

We camped here with a non-powered site:

Glentanner Park Centre

Mount Cook is really a fairy land in the earth.  I don’t want to say more with my barren language.  I f I could I would spend half of my journey time here. There is a hooker valley for walk track, the full Hooker Valley walk takes 4 hours return. Starting at the Visitor Centre or White Horse Hill campground/carpark (at the end of Hooker Valley Rd off State Highway 80). The track leads up the Hooker Valley, along the Hooker River and ends at the glacier lake, where there are amazing views of Aoraki/Mount Cook on a clear day.  The Hooker Valley track is mostly flat and well-formed but some sections are rocky or muddy, and there are three or four swing bridges to cross.

On your way to Glacier Lake in the hooker valley, be aware of wooden shed,  a lot of people carved their names all over the interior walls,  there are people from Japan, UK, US, China… I would not recommend you to do the sameJ

Christchurch

It is about 2AM in the morning when we arrived Christchurch; we rested ourselves in the waiting area in the airport until 6 or 7 in the morning. Then I found a private shuttle bus, after minutes bargaining, we reached an agreement 40 or 45 NZ dollars for 3 people ( I cannot remember clearly. ), I was so happy then because AU dollars were at a very high level at that time.

Lake Tekapo

I obtained my camper van around 6 PM which is very later for me.

Route: Christchurch-àLake Tekapo  243 km, 3 hours 13 mins in the Mackenzie Basin.

So you can imagine it was very dark when I arrived the holiday park. This is the place I settled the van:

My itinerary

·         Day 1:  Christchurch

·         Day 2:  Lake Tekapo

·         Day 3:  Mount Cook

·         Day 4:  Arrow town && Queenstown

·         Day 5:  Arrow town && Queenstown

·         Day 6: Te Anau

·         Day 7: Milford Sound

·         Day 8: Wanaka

·         Day 9: Queenstown

·         Day 10: Mount Cook

·         Day 11: Lake Tekapo

·         Day 12: arrived Christchurch and went back Melbourne.

Southern island of New Zealand preparation