Category: New Zealand

After an early flight to Christchurch, we picked up our home for the majority of our trip – a Spaceships Dream Sleeper Mini, a small campervan to better manage the windy roads of the South Island.

We eagerly started off on our road trip, driving across the island via Arthur’s Pass, known to be one of the –if  not thee—most scenic drive in New Zealand! … only to hit fog. And rain.

But, the closer we got to Arthur’s Pass, the more the clouds lifted until we had pleasant weather.

We did the trek up to Devil’s Punchbowl Falls, enjoying the opportunity to stretch our legs and get some exercise.

When we left Arthur’s Pass, we had beautiful clear skies to showcase the beautiful countryside around us.

We finally saw our first glimpse of ocean, having reached the west coast. But, we turned back inland for the detour to Hokitika Gorge.

Hokitika Gorge is known for having brilliant turquoise waters, from the sediment flowing into it. On days when there is more sediment, it turns to more of a milky blue, almost gray, which is what we had while we were there.

We went across the bridge to get down closer to the water where a few people were sunbathing, and others were picnicking.

When we had our fill, we went back into Hokitka town for dinner before continuing on to our campground for the night at Lake Mahinapua, a DOC site.

Campgrounds in New Zealand are typically split between DOC sites which have minimal, if any, facilities, and holiday parks which are more expensive, typically less scenic, but have far more amenities.

It was a beautiful evening to relax down by the water, followed by drinking some wine in bed in our campervan.

The next morning, we got up to see the sunrise. And hear it! I was amazed by the song of birds that sounded like someone playing the xylophone.

Coffee finished, we started the two-hour winding drive to Fox Glacier for our morning heli-hike.

Fox Glacier has retreated so quickly recently that now, the only real option for hiking the glacier is to fly in a helicopter up to it. So that’s what we did!

When giving us the safety briefing, they mentioned that we may not get to go because of cloud cover. Of course. They also mentioned that if we do fly to the glacier, and then clouds quickly fill the valley and the helicopter can’t get back into us, we’d have to spend the night in a makeshift tent on the glacier. Awesome.

We went to the launchpad and had to wait about half an hour while the pilots went back and forth on if we could go or not.

But at last the decision was made, and up in the air we went (but not before I overheard our pilot telling our guide “Well, I’ll get you in there ok, but I might not get you back out” … -_-).

Hopping out of a helicopter and onto the ice was too fun, and the ice too beautiful. Anthony and I agree that it was one of the more memorable moments of our lives.

Having done a glacier hike in Iceland already, we were surprised by how steep the glacier was… and by the gorgeous waterfall.

We put on our crampons and climbed up the glacier a ways, exploring caves and crevices.

And of course, getting closer to Victoria Falls.

It was afternoon by the time we were done and back, so we grabbed some wifi and lunch. Everything else on my schedule for the day also had to do with the glacier, and since we felt we had seen it enough, we checked into our campground, the Fox Glacier Top 10 Holiday Park,  to just relax for the evening instead.

The next morning, we went to Lake Matheson at sunrise. We speed walked through the path until we got to the View of Views. But, as is our usual luck, it was too cloudy.

We continued on to Reflection Island. Still cloudy, but it looked promising, so we sat there, enjoying the peace and beauty, waiting for the clouds to slowly lift.

At one point, some ducks swam through, their ripples ruining the reflection.

But it smoothed back out, and we got pretty darn close to unobstructed views in the end.

We quickly finished the rest of the path, ending our time on the west coast with a bang before starting our drive down south, out of glacier country.

I fell asleep on the plane still on the runway at LAX late on a Friday night. Tossed and turned as well as one can on a plane, and then woke up in the air near Fiji on Sunday morning, having lost a day to the time zone change.
The sun was starting to rise as we flew into our layover, casting a pink hue everywhere we looked.

A quick layover in Fiji, and then we were boarding our third and final flight to New Zealand, where we spent a day in Auckland relaxing in order to get over any jet lag. We didn’t actually end up resting much, instead walking all over town, eating at a couple restaurants, enjoying Albert and Victoria parks.

The next day, we had a slow-paced morning, ate some yummy breakfast, and then marched up a hill with our luggage for 15 minutes to our car rental.

We had to re-adjust ourselves to driving on the opposite side of the road while winding through traffic to get out of Auckland, but we were making good timing, so we stopped off at Hamilton Gardens to enjoy a stroll and lunch.

The main event of the day, though, was our next stop – Hobbiton. Showing up, I was shocked by the number of tourists there. I knew it was a popular tourist attraction, but I had assumed that the set tours would prevent it from being total chaos. Instead, we could barely walk without bumping into 15 selfie sticks or a large group cutting in front of us, and then all of a sudden, we were catching up with the group in front of us, and then being sandwiched in by the group behind us.

Nevertheless, Hobbiton was even more beautiful and impressive in person than I had expected, and I’m glad we did it.

It was sunny, and awfully hot, but the rolling green hills and little hobbit holes were worth all the trouble.

The tour ended at the Green Dragon, where we got to enjoy a beer that is unique to Hobbiton, the highlight of the tour for Anthony.

We drove the rest of the way to Rotorua, where we had time for a dinner on Eat Street, a stroll through Kuirau Park, and a soak in our hot tub (it was much cooler after the sun went down) before we went to bed.

The next morning, we drove through golden fog as the sun rose. After a 20 minute drive, we were at the car park for Rainbow Mountain, and we hiked up to the summit with no one else in sight. It was very steep in places, but it was mostly under the cover of trees so that we didn’t get overheated.

It took about an hour to reach the top, and the 360 degree views were wonderful.

Or at least I thought so. Anthony is spoiled and jaded, and when I asked him if he wanted his picture taken there, he said “Nah, I’ll wait until we are in the South Island and have better views.” I gave him a hard side-eye.
The trek back down took another 40ish minutes, and then we drove to Kerosene Creek, a geothermal river that you can bathe in and enjoy the greenery surrounding you. The water temperature was perfect, and we found a spot next to a pretty little waterfall to hang out.

Once we were officially refreshed, we drove to Orakei, a geothermal park that just so happens to be next to a gorgeous lake.

We paid our entrance fee, hopped on the ferry to get across the water, and then walked around the park, melting in the hot sun and the steam from the geysers and steam vents and bubbling mud pools.

Even after traveling around Iceland twice, this was probably our favorite geothermal destination. The surroundings were beautiful, the colors of the ground unique, there was a cave to walk down to, and while hot, everything looks prettier in the sunshine.
Our final stop of this tour was Huka Falls, a pretty small but very powerful waterfall that is the most perfect shade of blue. The water rushed down the river to it, and then went gushing over the edge. We loved it. It was an easy stop with a high reward.

That evening, back in Rotorua, we went to the Redwoods, to walk the free trails there. They have a Redwoods Treewalk, where you can walk along bridges higher up, but it’s around $25 per person, can have a long line, and then you’re stuck between other groups of people. We decided walking on our own through the grounds was plenty good.

A night at home, relaxing in the hot tub and reading was the end of our North Island stay before a very early flight the following morning.