Back and Settled Part 2: More NZ Travel Thoughts

After being in NZ for two months and travelling solo for 2 weeks, I finally picked my girfriend up at the Nelson Airport. That is the longest that we have been apart in almost 5 years, and I can't thank her enough for supporting me in going to NZ. Now we were finally back together, and had 16 days to travel!

The weather between May 30-June 16 was pretty miserable, and it probably rained a minimum of around 12 days. Also, it was getting dark out pretty early, right around 5pm. So, we made do and had the best time possible. For winetasting this weather is ok, and IMO is ideal for sampling wines; lack of crowds and what else would you do? For everything else it sucks. While on the South island it rained every day we were there but one... We still went hiking in the Abel Tasman National Park, which is not in any way a winter destination. This area is on the coast, has a lush rainforest like terrain, and the waters are pristine and calm. The whole time we were hiking we were thinking to ourselves "I wish it was warm and we could go swim in these beautiful waters".

With the wet weather we spent our last day on the South Island touring the Marlborough Sounds on a "mail boat". This was a 3+ hour cruise where we went out on a boat that was dropping mail off to residents throughout the remote areas of the Marlborough Sounds. This was a great activity; both time and money well spent. The boat was comfy, the ride unique, we could bring our own alcohol, and we managed to get some great pics. After that we were on our way to the north island.

We arrived in Wellington and stayed a couple of nights in the downtown area. This was Amanda's favorite city of the trip, and for good reasons. The city itself is "San Francsico-esque" with its proximity to the water, weather, nightlife food and downtown area. We enjoyed ourselfs at the Te Papa Tongewera, a massive 4 story musuem full of NZ history about the people and the land. We also took the cable car up the hill to the Karori Bird Sanctuary, http://www.sanctuary.org.nz/. This is a 550 acre fenced off area in the hills surrounding Wellington. By being fenced off it is rodent free (no rats or stoats etc.), which is the way that NZ was before the introduction of the pests by the Polyneasians and European Settlers. The place was full of beautiful birds chirping and singing away, and we also saw some Cave Weta (a really big gross looking transucent bug). That was our one dry day in the last 5, and the next day.... it was raining.

The next two stops were Martinborough and Napier in Hawkes Bay, were we did a total of 4 days of wine tasting... its also where I got a ticket for going 126kph in a 100 zone :( From Napier we went to Taupo and attempted the tongariro crossing, which is an alpine crossing that gets you up close to Mount Doom, which is Mount Morridor from Lord of the Rings. It was snowing and the visibility was bad, so we couldnt go over the summit. We still had fun and hiked about 15k. From there we shot over to Rotorua, which is situated in an amazing geothermal area. We actually stayed 4 nights here... we were a bit travelled out and wanted to relax, and relax we did. We got Massages, did a Hangi (an evening of entertainment and eating with the local Maori tribe), went to hot pools and also a geothermal park. We also had a fun day of "luging" and went on a sky swing, which was pretty fun.

The last highlight of our trip was the Waitomo Caves, where we went "black water rafting" and saw glow worms. You basically get in a wetsuit with a hard hat and a light, and hike and innertube your way through a very dark cave. In parts of the caves there are glow worms, which are actually worms that glow (although I believe it is their poop that really glows) This was also a very cool experience and a great way to finish off the trip. From there we went to Auckland where we stayed at the Sky City Casino and had a very fun evening of Wine, Champagne, Oysters and some casino action to get the bday celebrations rolling..... the Next day we were on an airplane back to San Francisco.