Great Drive: New Zealand's Southern Scenic Route

A great driving holiday is as much about the journey as it is the destination.

For driving enthusiasts that includes some challenging, engaging roads. For adventurers that includes some unique, adrenaline fuelled activities along the way. For families, that includes fun locations for everyone. And for nature buffs that includes magnificent scenery or rare wildlife sightings.

To include them all in a trip somewhere in Australia is a rarity considering the sheer vastness of our wide brown land. But, for those looking for a compact driving holiday that has it all, it is only a hop, skip and a jump over the Tasman to New Zealand's south island, a destination that is perfect for a week behind the wheel and with something for everyone.

By virtue of its size, topography and population, New Zealand seems created for driving holidays; the scenery is spectacular; the roads wind their way from alpine mountain ranges to windswept coastlines; the place of full of charm; and they drive on the same side of the road with similar road rules.

As for where to start and stop, you could literally throw a dart at a map and pick a location. Firstly, there are quick and affordable flights from Australia's major east coast capital cities direct to either Wellington in the north, Christchurch on the east coast or the adventure capital of Queenstown in Central Otago. Then there's the fact there are countless hire car companies offering vehicles suitable for all types of driving holidays, from campervans to small cars and even a small selection of luxury or sports cars for those with a little more cash to splash. And most hire car companies will cater for one-way trips too, allowing you to start in a specific location and finish in another, without any penalties.

For our journey, we're starting in Queenstown and following the Southern Scenic Route, which traverses through the south-west of the island to Invercargill and then through The Catlins to finish in Dunedin. And our choice of transport is the latest-generation Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the mid-level E350d powered by a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 diesel that offers plenty of poke while gently balancing efficient fuel consumption.

Queenstown is one of New Zealand's prime tourist destinations as it is the gateway to its most popular ski fields with The Remarkables, Coronet Peak and Cardrona all within an hour's drive. By virtue of its adrenaline-fuelled character, it is also the birthplace for extreme activities like bungy jumping and jet boat river tours and attracts millions of others for mountain biking, hiking and world-class golf courses. It is a truly cosmopolitan little city that has great accommodation, top restaurants and an endless nightlife scene.

But getting out of town is just as amazing. Before joining the Southern Scenic Route, I drive the opposite direction heading north to the small village of Glenorchy near the head of Lake Wakatipu. Why? Because the simply-named Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd is the inland equivalent to Victoria's Great Ocean Road; rising and falling with the hillsides and twisty and turning like a serpent snaking its way along the water's edge. To put into context just how demanding some of the sections of the road are, one part is called The Devil's Staircase – a never ending series of corners that winds down towards the water and then climbs back up again.

It's a brilliant stretch of road from behind the wheel, but it is equally as spectacular for passengers too as the view over the turquoise water and into the snow-capped mountains that feed the lake is postcard material.

There's not much in Glenorchy at the end of the road apart from a few quaint coffee shops, an old steam ship terminal on the lake's edge and the incentive to turn around and drive the road again. But you can head deeper into wilderness with a four-wheel drive tour out of Queenstown, like those run by Nomad Safaris, and see some of the areas where Hollywood blockbusters such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Marvel's Wolverine were filmed.

Not surprisingly, the road out of Queenstown in the other direction is just as epic as it also follows the southern arm of Lake Wakatipu on Highway 6 direct to Invercargill. However, the Southern Scenic Route detours off the main road just before the farming village of Lumsden to head west on Highway 94 towards Te Anau (think Keanu – as in Reeves – if you need to stop and ask for directions). Here the road meanders gently alongside sheep – and the occasional deer or llama – farms and, although it's less than 200kms from Queenstown, bank on the trip taking around three hours as the road is more heavily populated with tourists in slow-moving campervans or bus tours on their way to the gorgeous Milford Sound.

Te Anau is perched at the southern end of the lake that bears the same name, the largest lake on New Zealand's south island by area and the largest in the Australasian region by volume. It is the centre of the region known as Fiordland and a quaint stop-over point before a day-trip detour to the Milford Sound, which you simply cannot miss while in the area.

Firstly because the drive to the Milford Sound is simply staggering, with an ever-changing landscape that flows through temperate rainforests, passes-by paddocks littered with spring lambs bouncing on the velvet green grass, carves its way along valleys cut by glacial fiords millions of years ago, climbs and descends mountain ranges where clouds form and then dance from their peaks in the winds, and burrows through the middle of a perilous alpine pass through a one-way tunnel. Again, it is difficult not to be completely overwhelmed by the scenery, let alone the road itself. And, with the sheer number of postcard landscapes along the way, you'll be stopping often enough to take happy snaps that the journey can last for hours, even if the distance between Te Anau and Milford Sound is just over 115km.

Secondly, once you eventually arrive in Milford Sound it is just a picturesque – especially if you ditch the car and see it all from one of the cruise ships that run out to its mouth at the Pacific Ocean and back again. There, you'll see countless number of waterfalls that send streams of water plummeting from peaks as high as 1800m above sea level as well as New Zealand fur seals basking on rocks, penguins preparing homes for the imminent arrival of  hatchlings and pods of dolphins playing in the bow waves of the boat.

What's even better is there's only one way in and one way out of Milford Sound, so no matter if you head out on the water – or not – you'll get to repeat the road back to Te Anau as well.

From Te Anau to Invercargill, the Southern Scenic Route follows the eastern side of the Southern Alps until they eventually fall into the Southern Ocean at McCrackens rest – a lookout that showcases the wildness of nature as the roaring waves pound the volcanic rocky beach below while the craggy mountains fade through the sea mist.

The run along the southern coast to Invercargill also highlights the ferocity of the winds that sweep up from Antarctica as hedgerows designed to shelter sheep from the blustering gales have grown almost sideways and look as though they have been expertly coiffed by a hair dryer.

Australian's love to poke fun at New Zealanders for the pride they have in their sheep. And here, along the coast, you cannot help but understand why that is, as there is an endless stream of perfectly manicured paddocks filled with fluffy white Merinos that have million-dollar ocean views. Even with Australia's remote coastline, I have yet to see animals with a better standard of living. Kiwis clearly love their woolly friends…

Invercargill isn't much of a tourist town, but it's big enough to stock-up on supplies or for a comfy stop over. If you're there late in the afternoon, make sure you drive out to Bluff and watch the sun fall into the Foveaux Strait between Stewart Island just off the coast and the Southern Alps in the distance as it is spectacular.

Otherwise, head out of town to the remote south-west tip of New Zealand and into The Catlins, where the most country's most rugged coastline rises into lush rolling hills and is littered with untouched beaches, hidden lakes, beautiful waterfalls tucked away into dense rainforest, boutique accommodation or remote camp sites. The Catlins is, quite literally, New Zealand's worst kept secret. While it doesn't have the snow-capped mountains or glacial lakes of the west coast, it is equally as stunning, even more secluded and linked by some of the greatest roads on the planet.

It is not easy to find though. Heading out of Invercargill, there isn't any signage towards The Catlins, so it's best to be prepared and either get a map and know where to turn-off Highway One – on the Morton Mains-Gorge Rd just before Edendale – towards Fortrose or plug it into the sat-nav, or your phone, before you leave. If you don't – like I did, assuming it would be signposted - you'll end up at the other of the side of The Catlins in a couple of hours and have to double-back along the coast to see it all. Not that that is such a bad thing, as the drive from Balclutha back to Slope Point – the southernmost point on New Zealand's south island – was as epic as any other on the Southern Scenic Route, which was evidenced at the beginning by a sign that indicated there was a twisty road for the next 56km. Beware though, a 20km section of the road between Slope Point and Curio Bay is gravel and twists and turns over crests like a stage of the World Rally Championship.

Like elsewhere in New Zealand, distance and time are not relative in The Catlins. It isn't a big region, but it can take hours to get to where you ultimately want to end up as you'll want to stop and soak in the beauty that surprises around every corner; from the perfect line of waves rolling into Tautuku beach watched from high above at Florence Hill lookout, to the rainforests that surround the Purakaunui and McLean waterfalls, the rolling green hills dotted with farm houses that time  forgot and, eventually, the sea lions basking in the grass under the lighthouse at Waipapa Point.

For a more personal tour of The Catlins, spend a night in one of the secluded cottages at Mohua Park and take a half-day wilderness tour with friendly owner Lyndon, which includes watching Yellow Eyed Penguins setting off for the day's fishing from Roaring Bay at sunrise, breakfast at the spectacular Nugget Point and visiting off-the-beaten-track places like Cannibal Bay.

The run from The Catlins to our final destination of Dunedin is fairly straightforward in comparison to the rest of the Southern Scenic Route, mostly consisting of dual carriageway on the national highway and with evidently more traffic than the more remote areas we've come from. And while Dunedin isn't a big town by any other standard, it feels like a sudden bolt of civilisation has thundered upon us as the highway transforms into a four-lane motorway and paddocks make way for housing estates.

But the city has an exclamation point to make before we complete this great driving adventure. And it's called the Otago Peninsula, which separates the harbour from the Pacific Ocean and includes a couple of brilliant roads. The first is the Highcliff road that runs along the spine of the peninsula, traversing its ridge past Lanach Castle before cascading down the hills towards the seaside village of Portobello. The second is Portobello Road itself that, while much slower and therefore less challenging, is no less spectacular as it literally runs along the water's edge all the way back to Andersons Bay near the city.

Seriously, no matter where you start and stop, and in which direction you take, in New Zealand's south island it is a driver's paradise. And therefore the ideal location for a driving holiday, whether it's on your own, with your family or friends, whether you're young or old, on a budget or have money to burn.

Andrew Maclean travelled to NZ courtesy of Tourism New Zealand.