Day 14: January 14, Lake Manapouri to Milford Sound What an incredible day. A short drive from the scenic spot of our hotel on the lake brought us to the Kepler Track. There are 9 Great Walks in NZ, and this is one of them, and the only one to be created specifically as a Great Walk. Which simply means…
Category: Down Under in Oz and NZ
Day 13: January 13, Mt Cook to Manapouri Updated
Today was the longest of the travel days, but it was beautiful landscape out the window and nicely broken up along the way with a stop in Queenstown for lunch. I’ve been unable to upload my photos for posting in the blog, which is so unfortunate, because this has been the most jaw-dropping scenery I have ever seen… every corner…
Day 12: January 12, Mount Cook–Updated
After an early breakfast, we headed around Lake Pukaki to Mt Cook National Park, for a day hike. Our destination was Mueller Hut, at 6,000 feet, with a stop for lunch at Sealy Tarns (4,260 feet). From that spot we would have a great view of the Huddleston Glacier, Mt Cook and the lakes below. After a stop at the…
Day 11: January 11, Christchurch to Braemar Station
I met up with the tour group from Active Adventures New Zealand at a hotel just about a block from the one that I stayed in. There were a lot of people there, and it all came clear when we realized it was 2 groups — one doing the Rimu trip northbound, and one doing it southbound. I had been…
Day 10: January 10, Wellington to Christchurch
Another travel day, but what a glorious sea- and land-scape to view. The ferry from Wellington is a HUGE boat, holding 800 cars plus people who walk on — we were greeted on deck 7 like we were coming onto a cruise ship. The trip goes across the Cook Straight, which is 22 km across at it’s narrowest point, and…
Day 9: January 9, National Park to Wellington
It dawned a beautiful sunny day, so gorgeous that it was hard to believe that it poured rain in buckets all day yesterday. I had hoped to get a chance for the 2-3 hour Silica Rapids hike this morning, but ran into some difficulty in getting a transport up to Whakapapa Village, where many of the day hikes start from.…
Day 8: January 8, Tongariro National Park, NZ
Tongariro National Park is NZ’s oldest park and the only one with dual World Heritage designation, for the historical and cultural Maorian importance and the volcanic features. It is almost 200,000 acres with three active volcanos, Tongariro, Ruahepu and Ngauruhoe, all between 8,000-9,000 feet. It’s the only place on the North Island with a year round snow cover making for…
Day 7: January 7, AKL to National Park
Another early day as I set off on the Kiwi Scenic Rail from Auckland to National Park. It’s a beautiful (and apparently rather new) train coach with big windows to look out over the rolling hills as we head south. It’s a gray cloudy day, but the windows provide a constant stream of lovely green and it’s nice to watch…
Day 6: January 6, Hobbiton & Waitomo Caves
Since I’ve spent much of my life either living in or visiting cities in my business travel, I try to get out big towns when on most vacations. So rather than spend a day in Auckland, I booked a tour to go get my geek on in Hobbiton, the set used in the shooting of all three Lord of the…
Day 5: January 5, SYD-AKL
It was not much of a day for photos or adventure experiences, as most of the hours were taken with travel from Newcastle to Auckland. Will was kind enough to taxi me to Sydney airport from his home 2 hours north, and it was rush hour and pouring rain, so we both had a bit of anxiety about getting to…