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48h of Banks Peninsula

Landing in New Zealand

By Javi Lorbada

March 5^th, 2019

After 36 days of incredible Australia driving through the Great Ocean Road, New South Wales and Queensland, we moved onto the last country we would visit on this journey.

New Zealand

I was stoked before even jumping on a plane, but as soon we crossed the Tasman Sea and I had the South Island in sight, stoke levels raised like never before.

I had a window seat on one side, and the other side was empty, so you can imagine.

I, literally, was jumping the aisle side to side amazed to see those Southern Alps from above.

48h of Banks Peninsula

New Zealand First Sight

New Zealand hosted us for

48 DAYS

and we drove for

7251.8 KM

That's longer than the distance between the two mainland most southern and northern point in Europe, and longer than the distance between any two mainland points in the contiguous 48 states of the United States (2,892 miles / 4,654 km).

There will be a few stories from the incredible country, for now, let's start with the landing, Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

Landing at Christchurch

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

This trip through New Zealand was possible thanks to Travellers Autobarn, who allowed us to drive through the country in their Kuga Campervan in exchange for photography and blog stories.

Christchurch - Akaroa

After a couple of short days in Christchurch, we picked up the van, yikes!

At the office of Travellers Autobarn, they had everything ready and our check in was very smooth, in no time we were driving.

First stop? Supermarket, in this case in a bigger mall. Here we loaded the van with stuff. A heater for the cold times, a couple of raincoats, some new trousers and foooood, lots of food.

Morning was gone, so we ate something quick and headed to another store, this time to get a hard drive for the pictures.

Our destination for the day was Akaroa, 1:30h drive through a scenic route. Firstly, the amazing winding road through the mountains. Then we reached Akaroa which was even more beautiful with the view to the bay.

The second ingredient for this scenic route were the Autumn colors, wonderful yellows, and reds along the road, everything looked like a postcard here.

On arrival we looked for a camping place and found it, to finish the day we walked around town and called it a day with dinner.

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

Akaroa - Okains Bay

I woke up, I looked at the mountains through the window, first light touches and changing color, then we had breakfast.

This day we had a walk, for this country we had planned plenty of hikes, this one a 5h hike called "Round the mountain", starting in Akaroa and finishing as well.

The first 2 hours were constantly going up, some parts very steep, but the weather was perfect, cloudy enough to not let the sun burn out skin, and warm enough. It was a wonderful walk through the bushes and Autumn forest, green tones were everywhere.

We summited the highest point in about 2h 30min, just behind the mountains which allowed us to see a different bay, mesmerizing view with a snack.

After that, we continue towards Akaroa, and this part wasn't easier despite going downhill, knees were suffering from that, and surprisingly it was very steep as well, thanks to the view for healing all pain.

We arrived back in Akaroa about 15:30h ready for a late and quick lunch. And then we drove all the way to Okains Bay for the overnight camping. The drive was spectacular as well, can't believe this peninsula was formed from a volcano eruption and how incredibly beautiful it is.

Once we arrived at the campsite we were exhausted and soon we fell asleep.

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

Okains Bay - Pigeon Bay - Port Levy - Diamond Harbour - Christchurch

Went to sleep raining outside and woke up raining, slowly we had a warm breakfast and got ready for the day.

Instead of walking we drove most of the day, driving through those roads didn't get me tired, however, I felt the need to stop every ten minutes, the view was constantly stunning.

Our first stop was at Little Akaloa, followed by Pigeon Bay, in which I decided to take the drone out, it was raining, but it seemed it wasn't going to stop raining the whole day, so I gave it a try and no issues, the bird view didn't disappoint either.

We kept going until Port Levy, where we stopped for lunch, the view to the pier and the small island full of trees was the perfect scenery

After lunch, we realized we stopped too much and we had to keep cruising, the weather didn't invite for more, more rain was coming and every time we got out of the van we got soaked.

Finally, we arrived at the Christchurch where we did some groceries and headed to the campsite for the night.

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

48h of Banks Peninsula

Well, this is it! Arrived in New Zealand!

Excited to share more and more of this fascinating country!

Thanks for reading ❤️

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Instagram @javilorbada | Behance @javilorbada | Facebook @javilorbadaphotography

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Footnotes

Fujifilm X-T2 + 16mm F1.4 + 18-55mm F2.8-4 + 55-200mm F3,5-4,8 + DJI Mavic Pro

FootNotes

Fujifilm X-T2 + 16mm F1.4 + 18-55mm F2.8-4 + 55-200mm F3,5-4,8 + DJI Mavic Pro

© 2026 Javi Lorbada

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