How should travellers plan a South Island road trip?
A good South Island trip is built around fewer bases and better days. Queenstown, Wānaka, Milford, Aoraki/Mount Cook, Tekapo, the West Coast and Abel Tasman cannot all be treated as quick neighbours.
Answer
The South Island rewards a route with room in it. Queenstown and Wānaka make sense as southern bases, Te Anau changes the rhythm for Milford Sound, Aoraki/Mount Cook deserves more than a perfect-weather assumption, and the West Coast or Abel Tasman can be brilliant only when they fit the line of travel. What weakens the trip is the collector’s loop: one night everywhere, long drives most days, and no spare time when rain hides the thing you came to see. This is where the map lies. Places look close because they sit on the same island; the driving still has bends, passes, stops and weather. Fewer regions usually mean more New Zealand.