(To see the photos, click on any of the pictures below. It will take you the Flickr website, where the photos live. The photos are divided into 9 sets.)
Photo Links
Maps
Lists of candy, restaurants and places we stayed
In December 2004, Chris and I went to New Zealand for two weeks. This was my first visit, but Chris had been there in 1995.
We had a direct flight from SFO to Auckland, and after picking up our bag and going through customs, we went to find the rental car desk. As we wandered towards the front of the airport, we saw someone holding a sign with Chris's last name on it! It was spelled wrong, but nevertheless, it was very exciting. The guy holding the sign drove us to the rental car agency and we picked up our tiny car. We normally book the smallest manual transmission car possible, because it's cheapest, but we've never actually been given a tiny manual. This time we got one. We managed to fit our luggage in by folding down the back seats.
Once
we left Auckland, it became rural very quickly. Two lane
roads, beautiful countryside. We drove to Kuaotunu, which is on
the Peninsula, and stayed in a beautiful rented house
by the
beach for three days. On the way there we stopped at Coromandel
Town for lunch and went on the Driving
Creek Railway. Chris's
friends Matt and Clare had rented the house, and we stayed with them
and their three kids. It was the perfect way to start our
trip--very relaxing.
After
leaving Coromandel, we drove south and west to Waitomo, where we
saw the fantastic glowworm
caves. The glowworms are a winged insect at the larval stage
of their life cycle. They give off an eerie green glow.
Next
we drove to Rotorua, famous for its Maori culture and geothermal
activity. We saw a sheep-shearing
show, a traditional Maori
musical performance, and hot-water geysers. We also relaxed
in
the famous Polynesian Spa.
We also had the longest Thai food
dinner of our lives. Rotorua has a distinctive
sulfur smell, though you get used to.From Rotorua we flew to Queenstown, which is on the south island, and spent the next few days there. We visited the magnificent Milford Sound (which is really a fjord), rode the luge, had delicious food, went jet boating, and went parasailing. (Well, I did--Chris stayed on the ground for that adventure.) Queenstown is a beautiful town.
We
rented another car in Queenstown and spent the next two days driving
towards Kaikoura, north of Christchurch. The first day, we
stopped at Kawarau
Bridge to watch the bungee jumpers. In Wanaka, we stopped at
Puzzling World,
famous for optical illusions. We spent the night in the small
town of Twizel. The next day, we took a detour to Mt. Cook (AKA Mount
Doom from the Lord of the Rings movies) and went on a great hike to a
glacier. We spent the night in Ashburton. The next day we drove to Kaikoura, noted for its highly successful whale and dolphin watching. We had booked a trip to swim with wild dolphins, which I've always dreamed of doing. We arrived at the busy Dolphin Encounter office around 8 AM and they suited us up with wetsuits and snorkels. Then we boarded a small boat and off we went. One of the guides pointed to the buckets at the back of the boat and said she hoped we didn't break her record from that morning, when all the buckets were used by seasick passengers. Grreeeat. I kept my eyes on the shoreline. During a quick break when the boat had stopped,
I
took a
chance to use the bathroom in the back, but
the boat started up again while I struggled to get my wetsuit back
on. I opened the door and tried to decide whether I should try
and head back to my bench seat. The boat was bumpy, but I finally
decided to make a break for it. Bad idea--the boat hit a rough
patch and BAM, I went down. Skinned my knee, but nothing too bad.We found a pod of wild dusky dolphins, and got our snorkels ready. Then the boat blasted an air horn and we all jumped in. It was amazing--the dolphins were everywhere. We were told not to touch them, but they came close enough that we could've. Several times, I made eye contact with a dolphin and turned in a circle, and the dolphin swam around me faster and faster. We didn't spend too much time in the water, but got back in the boat and traveled to a new area, and then got back in again. We did this several times. It was a wonderful experience.
After
a relaxing
lunch (venison burger for Chris, veggie for me) we
drove back to Christchurch to spend the night. We spent one day
in Christchurch, visiting the New Zealand Air Force museum, and the Antarctic Center, which
has a ride on a Hagglund
and a visit to a room
which simulates an Arctic storm (Chris wisely wore shorts). Then
we flew back to Auckland.We spent our final day in Auckland, where we spent the morning avoiding the downpour. It cleared up enough for us to enjoy a nice lunch in the revolving restaurant in the Sky Tower, where we got to watch crazy people drop 175 feet to the ground below. We took a ferry over to nearby Devonport and had a nice walk. Eventually it was time to head off to the airport and home again.
All in a all, a great trip. When can we go back?
Maps
These maps show some of the places we visited
Photo Links
These links map to the same places as the photos above. The photos are divided into nine groups. These links will take you to the Flickr website. You can view the photos one at a time or in slideshow mode. The number in parentheses is the number of photos in that group.
Coromandel (19) Waitomo (6) Rotorua (23) Queenstown (34) Milford Sound (24)
Mount Cook (14) Kaikoura (18) Christchurch (18) Auckland (14)
Lists
Here are some lists from the trip
Candy and drinks we tried during the trip
Restaurants we ate at
Places we stayed
Last updated: 4/24/05