Originally Posted by
brenrox
My five cents as a NZer...I wouldn't go out of my way to travel down the West Coast - The drive down the centre of the S.I (vi.a Lake Tekapo) is arguably the best in NZ. If you really want to see glaciers, head into Mt Cook village, you are surrounded by them and there is also the Tasman Glacier which is a 20min walk to view
Depends on what you like. McKenzie country (taking east coast route) is big skies, open countryside, tussocky, blue/turquoise lakes, and big mountains as backdrop. But that is only the last bit. The first part - Canterbury plains - is boring, flat straight.
Whereas West Coast has lots of bush, lush farmland, dark lakes, wetlands, waterfalls, steep glaciers (east coast glaciers are generally flatter), cliffs, hills galore, wild coasts. For Christchurch to Queenstown you'd have 2 major alpine passes as well as lots of smaller passes/hills. It is a longer and slower road, but in my view much more interesting.