NZStory

After the months of planning and many teary eyed good-byes we finally made it to our first destination on our exciting around the world adventure. It was a long 13 hours that brought us over the equator and International Date Line to the coastal city of Auckland, New Zealand. We made the most of our flight drinking champagne to celebrate the grand adventure. In Auckland, we met up with Summer's friend Elke, who had been traveling for a considerable time, and set off on a city-wide pub crawl. And of course that is always a great introduction to a city. It�s a pleasant city with a beautiful harbor helping it earn the name "The City of Sails" but it didn't take long for us to realize that we needed to move on from this bustling city. Although beautiful, a city is a city and we didn't come here to sip Lattes.

Lured by the dream of swimming with dolphins we headed to the very north part of NZ and found a tropical paradise. We settled down in the brilliant little fishing village Russell, located in a region collectively called the Bay of Islands. We finally caught the simple life we were chasing...strolls along white sand beaches, swimming in turquoise water and sipping wine while taking in stunning sunsets. As much as we desperately wanted to remain permanent fixtures in this ideal setting we moved on because there was so much more ahead of us.

We caught a bus south to Waitomo, which is in the middle of the North Island. This village is extremely simple but has quite a bit to offer. Adventure seekers travel from many places for the opportunity to explore the huge limestone caves which surround Waitomo.   We couldn't miss this opportunity so we signed up for a cave exploring expedition. After a rough ride in a battered '84 Land Cruiser in the New Zealand backcountry we arrived to our destination, a relatively small hole emitting the roar of an underground river. We threw on our wet suits, rubber boots and headlamps in preparation for our decent. The air was chilly as it rose up from below but we didn't really notice as we abseiled 30m into the cave. Wow, excellent adrenalin rush!!! Once we hit bottom we grabbed the rafts, clicked on the headlamps, and began floating in the darkness. Much to our amazement, what seemed like a whole galaxy was glowing above our heads...talk about a trip. The lights shimmering at us were in fact glowworms, larva with luminescent organs which produce a soft, greenish light (like a glow stick) when hungry, thus attracting other insects. After several hours in this bizarre underground world we had a pretty dramatic rock climb to reach the sun.

On the road again, we arrived in Rotorua (the sulpher city).   This region is the most energetic thermal active area in the country with bubbling mud pools, gurgling hot springs, gushing geysers and evil smells. In fact we just missed a boiling mud geyser that blew up and wiped out half a city block, covering park benches, streets, and trees with it's grey mud. The scene was quite eerie to us but even more bizarre was the mid-40s couple who desperately tried "to get to know us better" with their weird seduction techniques...Yikes, time to leave Rotorua.

After an excruciating over-night bus we arrived in refreshingly funky Wellington - The gateway to the South Island.   This fantastic capital city has a true San Francisco vibe. A must stop is the Te Papa museum, a hands on - fully interactive historical account of New Zealand.

The 3-hour Inter-Islander ferry shuttled us across the Cooke Strait to Picton. We were actually lucky that our ride was calm because this cruise is notorious for making people very seasick. Once we hit land we immediately set out for Tahunanui, which is known for getting more sunshine than any part of the country. The beaches here are fascinating with a 4-meter tide change thereby making the water retreat 2 km from its high tide mark. A few days of sun and surf as we made preparations for the Able Tasman trek.

We embraced the Able Tasman trek like a child to his lollipop; we just simply could not get enough. We spent four spectacular days mesmerized by the massive ocean, remarkable sunsets and forested land. We averaged around 10 km per day which was a relaxed pace and provided for easy-going afternoons on the beach. This trek was one of the main highlights of our time in NZ. The varying landscape, timing our walks around low tides and carrying all of our gear in and out was pretty incredible. With tired legs and weary muscles we jumped back on the coach and headed for the glacier lands.

The Franz Josef Glacier is one of many still covering New Zealand since the last ice age. What makes this one particularly interesting is that nowhere else, at this latitude, have glaciers advanced so close to the sea. These mighty rivers of ice continue tumbling down the valley to the ocean. In fact, it can move up to 5 meters a day, 10 times the speed of the glaciers found in the Swiss Alps. We hired a guide who showed us the basics of ice climbing. It was a little tricky learning to walk with cramp-ons and ice ax in hand but knowing it was necessary, we managed. We proceeded to head up the block of ice and traverse across huge snow/ice fields. We are lucky to even have pictures of this after dropping Summer's camera down a crevasse. We thought it was gone but our guide took matters into his own hands. He got out his ax and chopped a hole in the ice. He then asked us to hold his feet as he slid headfirst into the endless pit. Using his ax, he was able to hook the strap of the camera and slowly pull it up saving it from its icy tomb. The next destination was set for the adventure capital of the world, Queenstown.

Queenstown is a backpacker friendly town located on Lake Wakatipu. Activities include 134-meter bungy (actually this is where it all started), river jet boats, river surfing, rafting, parachuting, skydiving, parapenting - you name it and they have it here. We decided to save our limbs and the pocketbook and just enjoy the scenery from the ground. There were many fantastic walks, though, and the scenery was stunning.

We soon headed out to a small town around Lake Te Anua. This lake was gorged out by huge glaciers and is about 420 meters deep, the second largest lake in New Zealand. A few days of sun and we headed west for the Milford Sound.   The Milford Sound is one of a series found in Fiordland National Park. Towering Mitre Peak (1695 meters high) provides for dramatic reflections on the deep dark water. We hired sea kayaks, which allowed us to absorb the beauty from the sides and the middle of the deep sound. Beyond the beauty of the land we were able to see some native animals. Summer enjoyed the yellow crowned penguins. The one drawback was the sand flies. In case you haven't met any of these nasty biting insects, they are smaller than mosquitoes but with a similar bite. Since, this area is just a fantastic region of New Zealand we were able to dismiss the little buggers and enjoy ourselves.

Much to our dismay our time in this incredible country was coming to an end so we jumped on an east bound coach for Christchurch. Outside the windows of the bus we passed Mt. Cooke, NZ's highest peak at 3755 meters. We admired how stunning the scene was with the aqua blue glacier lake. Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island and it's very evident that is was formerly an English colony. Known as the Garden City it has wonderful botanical gardens with a lovely river that snakes through the city. We kicked around for a few days before it was time to head for Aussie Land.

New Zealand truly is a land of seismic beauty. Neither of us had ever expected to experience such an amazing place. We boarded the plane with the feeling that we will be back one day.

Next Adventure: Mardi Gras Mayhem in Australia