Friend who was there:
"Where to start? The towns and cities are fucking hideous, people are generally rude, ecerything is totaly makeshit, a total cultural wasteland, everything is super expensive, the entire urban environment is built around cars. The scenery is why people come here. It is 90% shit, 10% breathtaking. The 'Southern Alps' are amazing, and so are the fiords. But I can see the original Alps for less money, and go to Norway for Fjords. Finally, the car was broken into.
I met so many other travellers who are doing the South Island loop who all really want to love NZ, but after some honesty talks have often admitted it's failed to meet their expectation.
Basically it's a shit country."