L'étrangère: December 2012

We flew into Christchurch on the 7th. Unfortunately, because of the earthquakes, the town is still in shambles. Donc, we joined the masses sleeping in the airport for the night until everything opened up the next morning, as there was no accommodation available. We had about 16 days to explore New Zealand, we drove from the South Island to the North Island. New Zealand is by far one of the most beautiful countries I have seen. The South Island is still pristine, as most of it is uninhabited...by humans anyway...there are SO MANY SHEEP! I don't know if it can be described as 'expansive', but that's the word that's coming to mind. The land is comprised of huge mountains and lakes, which make beautiful landscapes. I believe the population is only about 1 million on the South Island, and on the North Island it's something like 4 million. I was enchanted. Great country.

This was our itinerary (I'm copy/pasting), which we pretty much followed:

ChristChurch to Lake Ohau, Lake Ohau to Dunedin, Moeraki which hosts massive boulders on the beach. See Baldwin Street (the world's steepest street) right outside of Dunedin and then in Dunedin take a tour of the local Speight's Brewery. Dunedin to Queenstown. From there drive to Franz Joseph Glacier via Milford Sound which is in Fiordland National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Take a day cruise around the glacier.

After, travel through Haast Pass. Stop in Hokitika which is a quaint town that hosts traditional Maori Art. Then, drive through Arthur's Pass. Pancake rocks. Take the Inter-Island Ferry to Wellington.

Go to the peak of Mt Victoria for good views. From Wellington, drive to Taupo. Visit the dramatic volcanic landscapes from LOTR. World Heritage Tongariro National Park. Mt Doom! Also saw the rapids they used in the new film The Hobbit. Also went to Hobbiton, which was amazing. Saw the set used in LOTR and The Hobbit. :D From there, drive to Rotorua via Huka Falls (waterfalls), see geysers, mud pools & hot springs. (It seriously smelled of sulphur there). Here we also visited a recreated Maori village which was awesome. They show you how the Maori's used to live (very few still live this way) and then at the end of the evening you eat a traditional Maori meal, that they cook in the ground ! I thought it would be lame and touristy, but luckily my mom made us do it anyways because it was one of the coolest things we did in NZ. Learned a lot. From there, drive to Waitomo and see the caves - awesome limestone and glowworms. From there go to Bay of Islands (we wound up not being able to go there because of flooding) via Auckland. Visit the Sky Tower and Cross the Harbor Bridge in Auckland.