To recover from our hike, we took a few days to drive leisurely down the coast of the the South Island of New Zealand. The well established Southern Scenic Route had lots of options for activities along the way ranging from hikes and wildlife preserves to historic lighthouses and fishing villages.
The Milford Track was one of the greatest adventures of our travels and the one we had been planning for months. It is a four day, three night, 33.5 mile hike along the ‘finest walk in the world’. The path is historic having been discovered in the 1880’s and leads hikers through green forests, into…
Te Anau is a small town on Te Anau Lake and the Fiordland National Park border. The lake and mountains surrounding Te Anau are beautiful. Te Anau town seems to exist because of people hiking three nearby great walks in Fiordland National Park: Milford Track, Kepler Track, and Routeburn Track. It is a good place place to…
We had been looking forward to the drive through New Zealand a lot because New Zealand is known for its great landscapes. Unfortunately, it was overcast at the best times of the day, and rainy with bad visibility at the worst times. In March it is New Zealand’s autumn and early in the drive we…
Rotorua is a small town on a nice lake. Its popularity stems from its convenience to many North Island attractions. For us, this meant trips out of Rotorua to geothermal sites, traditional Maori villages, and the Hobbiton movie set. Day 1 – Wednesday, March 4, 2015 The drive to Rotorua from Waitomo was lovely. Rotorua…
Waitomo is known for one thing; caves. Cave tours in Waitomo range from walk through tours to tubing and repeling, but all are under glowworm lit cavern roofs. Day 1 – Tuesday, March 3, 2015 We arrived late afternoon in Waitomo and to our hotel, the Waitomo Cave Hotel. The hotel was very nice and…
Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, was even busier than normal during our visit because of the Cricket World Cup. Unfortunately this meant hotels were hard to come by and we had to cut our time in the city short. Day 1 – Monday, March 2, 2015 Our flight into Auckland arrived late, at almost 1am.…
Herr We Go 