New Zealand Tour

Well, hello there....I am back from my 24 day tour in New Zealand! It was just as fantastic as my other tour!!

We started in Auckland and visited the Bay of Islands where the highlight activity was night kayaking! There was the beautiful southern starry sky above and phosphorescence in the water below! Absolutely gorgeous!! Then we made our way to Rotorua where there are geothermal pools, boiling mud pools which were bizarre to watch but at the same time beautiful. Then we visited Raglan were we surfed in the rain! I was quite skeptical about surfing because...well...It just didn't appeal to me plus the fact that it was cloudy and rainy that way...however, I went and it was the best thing I've ever done!!

It was so much fun and I got to stand up on the board too!
Next we went to Rotorua and the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. It was super super neat! When we went into the caves- we had little lights on our helmets however when we got into the caves we had to turn them off and experience complete darkness. It was very eerie...and when we went deeper into the cave and into a boat we turned them off again but this time the way was lighted by the glow-worms! It was almost better than the southern night sky..!! It was absolutely lovely!

The next stop was in National Park. The weather was wonderful and it was jolly good that it was because we were going to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing! It's a 19.4 km walk and gives you absolutely spectacular views! Up the very top of the pass, there was snow! So it was quite windy and cold but the sun was shining and it was one of the most wonderful hikes I've ever done. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!! (This walk took us about 6 hours)

Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Tongariro

Generally, you cannot see this volcano which is somewhere on the coast, but we were lucky enough with such fantastic weather to be able to see it!

On the way down the other side of the path...about halfway! It was quite a steep climb up and definitely a steep climb down too! (The mud and snow mixed together doesn't help much either..!!)

After relaxing in a sauna that night, we made our way to Wellington to take the ferry to Picton across the Cook Strait. From there we visited Abel Tasman National Park where we stayed one night on a floating hostel and then walked from Anchorage to Marahau which is a 12.4 km or 4 hour walk. This one was a lot easier though-it was completely flat which definitely helps!

The beaches were absolutely amazing and picturesque here. We ended up sitting on one of them for 45 minutes and it still took us only 3 hours to walk that.
On Day 12, we went to Punakaiki and visited the Pancake Rocks, and really they were pretty cool. They definitely do look like pancaked rocks. We saw some seals here as well, and the weather wasn't too great. It was very wet and windy but still definitely enjoyable. We stayed in a really cute little rainforest cabin. The group pretty much stayed in the same house which is always nice! Next day we visited Franz Josef which had a ton of fresh air! We walked from the town of Franz Josef to the glacier for a little walk right up to the glacier. The walk to the start of the glacier walk was longer than the actual walk but never mind. The weather was lovely and we even got lost and found a pretty lake! From Franz Josef to Queenstown, we stopped at Lake Matheson which is one of the most photographed lakes ever. And it absolutely makes sense why that is so:

Right on, so next we have our 3 days in Queenstown! Queenstown is absolutely wonderful- gorgeous place! Definitely, if you are going to the south island do not bother missing out on it- it's not only the adrenaline capital- it is also extremely beautiful!

With the mountains coming right out of the lake in Queenstown you just cannot put your camera down even though you've already taken a thousand photos of it already! The camera just cannot do the beauty of Queenstown justice! Well, my camera can't anyway.

So after Queenstown, we did an overnight trip to Doubtful Sound in the Fiordland National Park. It was quite rainy and cloudy, but we still got a very very good impression of the beauty of Doubtful Sound. We did a little boat cruise out to the Tasman Sea where it got a little rough, but luckily, I don't get seasick! The next morning, we did a little walk to Helena Falls in the pouring rain! It was so wet, I do have a very good rainjacket, but I got so wet- I had to borrow pants and I used my scarf as a skirt and my shoes were drenched- I had to wear flipflops because I had nothing else with me! It was so crazy! But the falls were so pretty and you know what- I might not ever go back..so it's worth it. Okay-dokey, what's next? We then visited Central Otago and stayed in Wedderbern. The plan here was to go do the Rail Trail which we did. 35 km of biking completed! The weather was quite nice, but the wind!! Head wind for the majority of the trail, and I'm pretty sure we did it backwards because we did 30 km of a slight incline all the way until we hit the last 5 km of slightly decline cruising! It would have been ideal to do it in reverse, but never mind! That was so much fun and it was lovely!

After completing that bike ride, the Canadians on the tour had planned a thanksgiving dinner! One of our ladies on the tour was in charge of the pumpkin pie. The problem was we couldn't find an oven! So she roasted the pumpkin on the barbeque and cooked the pie in the barbeque and well, it turned our fantastic! And while we were eating our dinner of chicken, roasted vegetables, stuffing, mashed potatoes-- you will never guess what it started doing outside..!! IT STARTED SNOWING!! (Bloody Canadians!) But it definitely felt like Christmas and thanksgiving....so what else did we need for a Canadian Thanksgiving? We had snow to complete it- lovely!

Day 21 was spent in Christchurch. Witnessing what a mess from the earthquakes that place is in is absolutely heartbreaking.

After Christchurch, we visited a place called Kaikoura which is an absolutely gorgeous seaside town.

Here in Kaikoura, we saw tons of seals and it was absolutely wonderful. In Maori, Kai means food and Koura is crayfish, and the sea here is particularly abundant with these fishes, so yeah, cool stuff! It was also here, that I had a little bit too much too drink- but it led to a wonderful night sleep and luckily the next day we didn't have a big day so it was all good :P
We saw a ton of seals here too! Old ones and baby ones! They were absolutely adorable!! (And yes, this one we could actually get this close too!!( the zoom on my camera is not that good..))!! 

So now I'm back in Auckland and my trip has been another success!! Go G Adventures!! This is my second tour with them and I have not one thing to complain about. I've had fun both times, they've both been extremely different but both extremely good!! :D yay!