New Zealand

It’s obviously a long, long… long journey from Kansas City to New Zealand. So we made no plans of driving anywhere after we landed in Auckland, and instead spent our first day walking around the city, getting a couple drinks by the harbor, eating some tasty food, and relaxing at the park.

On day two, we were already over our jet lag, and we picked up our rental car and went on our way south, driving on the opposite side of the road, constantly turning on windshield wipers instead of turn signals. We left early enough that we had time to kill, so we went to Hamilton Gardens for a lovely walk around and a garden lunch.

The highlight of the day, though, was Hobbiton. I mean, it was chaotic and overcrowded and hot… but it was still really cool seeing all the hobbit holes surrounded by green hills.

At the end of our tour, we had a beer at the Green Dragon, and then we were back on the road.

We arrived in Rotorua in time to go get dinner on Eat Street and go on a short walk around Kuirau Park before relaxing in our hot tub for the evening.

We were up early on day three, driving out to Rainbow Mountain through the early morning mist for a shaded but steep hike.

We could see so much of the countryside at the top. We took it all in, our faces pink from exertion, enjoying the reward for our effort.

Once back down, we went to Kerosene Creek, and we found the perfect spot to soothe our tired legs. The water was the perfect warmth and the perfect depth, and we hung out there by ourselves, staring at the pretty little waterfall in the jungle.

Afterward, we went to Orakei Korako, a geothermal paradise across a beautiful blue lake. The sun was shining and hot, which combined with the heat from the geothermal activity around us, made for a sweaty walk, but I welcomed the warmth, and it sure was beautiful there in the sunlight.

A quick stop at powerful Huka Falls, and then we were on our way back. We wandered around the Redwood forest that evening, and then enjoyed our hot tub one last time before leaving for the South Island.

An early morning flight gave us a good start on our roadtrip around the South Island. We rented a Spaceships Dream Sleeper Mini for our car and home, and we immediately cut across the island, going through Arthur’s Pass. Weather was awful for the first portion of our drive, starting to clear right as we made it to Arthur’s Pass.  We stopped long enough to climb up to Devils Punchbowl Falls and then were back to driving, this time in sunshine.

Once we hit the West Coast, we made a detour to Hokitika Gorge, then back to town for dinner, and then to our lovely campground for the night, Lake Mahinapua, a DOC site that seemed popular with locals.

We enjoyed a relaxing evening at camp as well as a beautiful, musical sunrise there.

And then we were winding our way around mountains along the coast, toward Fox Glacier. In Fox Glacier, we waited for word on whether our heli-hike would be able to go forward, as there were low clouds in the valley. They went back and forth for awhile, until finally, they decided to go for it. We were slightly nervous they wouldn’t be able to legally get us back out due to the clouds, which would have resulted in the tour group camping on the glacier for the night, but that didn’t sound like the worst thing in the world, so we shrugged it off.

The helicopter ride up to the glacier was incredible. It was such a cool, fun experience climbing off a helicopter onto ice, staring up the steep glacier and over to a beautiful waterfall.

We got our crampons on and then went marching up and across the ice, checking out ice caves and crevices and getting closer to Victoria Falls.

We hiked back to the landing spot and waited for the helicopter to come pick us back up and whisk us away to town. After some lunch and beers, we spent the rest of the day at camp, Fox Glacier Top 10, where we took advantage of the amenities.

The next day, we had a sunrise walk around Lake Matheson to view the reflections of the mountains in the smooth water. We had low cloud cover ruining the effect a bit, but they did at least lift enough to let us see the mountains.

After, we had a gorgeous drive along the coast and through big green mountains, and made our first stop at a pretty unknown waterfall hidden back behind some trees. Anthony climbed around there, while I sat and listened to the birds.

Our next stop was the Blue Pools hike with its beautiful, crystal clear water, where people shrieked and laughed as they hopped off the bridge into the water far below.

The rest of the drive was along gorgeous Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea, their brilliant blues contrasting with the orange around them.

We went to camp, the Lake Outlet Holiday Park, where Anthony went for a freezing swim while I laughed at him. We went on a short walk along the Clutha River, and then headed back into town for a free wine tasting at Rippon Winery.

Rippon is set up a ways, overlooking the water, and I can’t imagine a prettier spot for a winery.

We bought a bottle of wine, picked up some veggie burritos from in town, and went back to our campground for the evening.

Sunrise was spent at That Wanaka Tree, which has to be the most photogenic spot in New Zealand, considering the lack of effort to get to it.

We were supposed to go paragliding that morning, but it was too windy and got cancelled. So we got an early start on our hike instead. We opted for the Rocky Mountain hike, rather than the overly-congested and not at all shaded Roys Peak and were pleased with our decision.

We didn’t see anyone else on the hike, but we did see lots of spectacular lake views.

It was a tough climb, but we were back down after a total of around three hours. We continued driving down the road for awhile, but we were exhausted and decided to go nap by the lake for awhile. After getting rested, we went across the street to a bar for a beer.

After lunch, we found our way to our adorable AirBnB for the night. I had decided that we would appreciate a night in an actual bed somewhere that we could do some laundry and charge up electronics in the middle of our camping trip, and I was right. We had a fantastic stay there, enjoying the solitude, the outdoor shower, and the beautiful night sky above our hot tub that night.

The next day was a long day of driving, but fortunately, you tend to be surrounded by wonderful scenery when driving through New Zealand. We went straight to Te Anau, where we had a fantastic lunch and then hopped on our ferry over to the glowworm caves.

The caves themselves were really cool, with rushing rivers and gushing waterfalls, and then suddenly, we entered a very quiet, very dark portion of the cave and were rowed down the water, glowworms all around us.

After the ferry back across the lake, we drove on to the first campground along Milford Road, Henry Creek, a DOC site. There were horrible drop toilets, home to hundreds of sandflies, and nothing else there. But we got a lovely lakeview spot in the trees, with a short, easy path down to the water, so I couldn’t complain.

We had a morning scuba diving tour, so we were on the road before the sun was even up. We made a stop to see the sun starting to rise over the mountains, and another stop at the Chasm, but had to skip any other stops for the time being.

We made it down to Milford Sound and got suited up into a crazy amount of neoprene – socks, double vests, an 8 mm suit with hood, booties, and gloves. It took a lot of time and a lot of effort, but I will say, everything but my face was happy to be protected from the sandflies. They took what opportunities they could get and flew up our nostrils, into our eyes, down our throats when we talked. It was really not a very comfortable time, but soon enough, we were out on the water.

We went all the way down the fiord and then were at our first dive spot. Our gear had to be very heavy to help combat our extra buoyancy, so standing up and shuffling to the edge was no easy feat, but it was probably easier than controlling my buoyancy once under water. Everything would happen very quickly. One second I’d be sinking all the way down, and the next second I’d be quickly floating all the way back to the surface. While I struggled with this, I did see some black coral, a huge eel, and a stingray bigger than I ever imagined they could be.

Back on the boat, the guides gushed about how warm the water was. We drank some tea, ate some falafel, and then swam over to land to hike across some rocks to a waterfall. We had another dive stop, this time my buoyancy much better, and saw dozens of massive lobsters.

Back on the boat, we got to sit and enjoy the views along the way back, as well as check out some seals sunbathing.

We went under a glacial waterfall for some fun, and then all of a sudden, we were back on land.

Starving and exhausted, we made our way back up the pass, eating some PB&Js while surrounded by Keas.

We made a couple stops but needed a nap, so we went to camp, Cascade Creek, for a nap. It was a gorgeous campsite, and I fell asleep staring out at the mountains.

We woke up and went on the Lake Gunn nature walk near camp, and then returned for the evening.

The next day, we were going to do either the Key Summit or Lake Marian hike. Key Summit has you looking down into the valleys, and with the heavy fog that had settled in that morning, we knew we wouldn’t be able to see anything. Instead, we did the longer and harder Lake Marian hike, which takes you up to a beautiful alpine lake. The beginning of the track is lovely, with rivers and waterfalls. Then the rest of the track felt like climbing up dry creek beds until we reached boggy areas, tiptoeing and hopping around on sticks and rocks to keep my feet from getting soaked.

We finally reached the top, hearing a waterfall, but not having made it through the clearing of the trees yet. Outside of those trees, this lake would greet us.

Except it didn’t. Instead, this lovely fog greeted us.

We waited and waited for the fog to clear, but it made no progress. So we made our way back down, sopping wet with mist and dew and, in Anthony’s case, lake water. We got lost for a bit but found our way back to the track. We were a bit beaten up and sore by the end, but it was still a lot of fun.

Another stop in Te Anau, and then we were on our way Queenstown. Upon arrival, we checked in at the Creeksyde Holiday Park, right next to town. We walked into town for dinner, and then caught our complimentary shuttle for Anthony’s Valentine’s surprise.

We ended up at Onsen and were led to our beautiful hot tub overlooking Shotover River Canyon. We had wine and dark chocolate waiting for us, and had a wonderful hour-long soak.

After, we put our robes and slippers on and were led to the massage room, where we had an hour-long therapeutic couples’ massage. We were groggy and relaxed by the end and were sent on our way with more goodies to enjoy back at camp.

We let ourselves sleep in for the first time and then went on a late morning paragliding trip to make up for the one we couldn’t do in Wanaka. We chose the high launch point to give more time and height for aerobatics. I was the last to run off, and the air lifted us high up, giving us the flexibility to do flips and guide ourselves down close to rocks.

We spent the afternoon taking a beautiful roadtrip along the lake to Glenorchy. We were pretty eager to make the drive again, so we didn’t waste much time before driving back toward Queenstown, getting out of the car every now and then to be blown around by the wind.

We turned off before reaching town to head out to our campsite for the night, Moke Lake DOC. I fell absolutely in love with that area.

The sun was hot and the water was perfectly cool, so I went for a swim before we went on a hike around the lake.

Dinner and wine with ducks as company, and it was a wonderful evening spent at camp.

Driving through Lindis Pass the next morning was lovely, but even more lovely was our approach to Mount Cook.

Clouds were rolling in, but the sun was out long enough to show off the turquoise waters of Lake Pukaki and give us a glimpse of what we had in store for us at Mount Cook National Park.

Unfortunately, the gale-force winds and heavy rain arrived shortly after we did. We spent the majority of the day cooped up in our van. As soon as we were able, we went on a short walk to Kea Point.

The following morning, we saw the fog clearing around Mt. Sefton and decided it was a good time to start the Hooker Valley trek.

The low clouds framed the views but were not so dense to block them.

That is, until we turned a corner towards Mt. Cook. We caught our first site of Mt. Cook, already mostly obscured by fog, and after going around the bend, all we could see was grey.

Upon arrival at Hooker Valley lake, the fog would start to clear and then reform over and over, until finally they cleared for good.

We spent half the walk back looking backwards so that we could see what we had missed on the way there.

We hit the road, stopping for a quick run up to the glacier overlook, before heading back towards Lake Pukaki.

The turquoise waters of Lake Pukaki were brilliant in the sunshine, and we took a scenic route to Lake Tekapo, allowing us to drive alongside the east shore of Pukaki as well, before cutting across countryside.

In Tekapo, we ate lunch, got some views, and hung out by the water for a bit.

We continued on so that our drive the next day wouldn’t be so long. We ended up at an off-the-beaten path DOC site, Waihi Gorge, and it was beyond peaceful there. A few locals, but no one else, and the sun was warm, the creek was flowing, and we had no service. I did some yoga, we cooked our last meal, and drank some rose and relaxed.

The next day, my end-of-vacation blues had crept in, along with grey, cool, rainy weather. We skipped out on our planned stops and went straight to Christchurch, where we dropped off our van, got some food, and checked into our apartment right in the middle of town to do laundry and shower.

That evening, we went exploring a little bit, walking through some lovely parts of town, impressed with Christchurch when we weren’t really expecting to be. We had a great dinner, had a couple drinks, and then returned to our apartment for our last night in New Zealand.

The two weeks had flown by, and I definitely would have enjoyed having another two. It’s a beautiful country with friendly people and a variety of landscapes worth visiting.