New Zealand | North Island to the South Island

28 Feb New Zealand | North Island to the South Island

For those of you unaware, I’ve just returned from a 3 week adventure/belated honeymoon in New Zealand. Out of a promise to many friends and family members, I’m posting a TON of photos from my trip. You’ve been warned. This is a long one. It’s ok if you don’t make it to the end. This is a post for me. I spend a lot of time documenting everyone else’s lives, so it’s about time I did a little documenting of mine. This is a mix of photos from my iPhone and my actual camera. I must admit it was freeing to be out and about with only my phone, but there were places that were just so insanely beautiful, I knew I had to have my camera with me. For those just browsing the photos, this is your chance to begin to scroll. For family and friends wanting to know more, I’m posting the story of our adventure after the photos.

Our adventure began on the North Island in Auckland (actually 17 hours earlier in Seattle, but I digress). We landed EARLY. Nothing was open, so we wandered the streets for a bit. Auckland is a safe, clean, and friendly city. It really reminded my of Seattle. It has a working waterfront. Ferries. A love of beer and seafood. And even it’s own Space Needle called the Sky City Tower. With time to kill, we did our first (and mainly last) very touristy thing, and went up the Sky Tower. It was cheesy, but we were tired and it gave us a great perspective of the city. After sleep and showers, we found ourselves at a seafood festival on the waterfront, where people kept giving us free beer tickets–awesome! Giddy with first day of vacation excitement (and possibly a little buzzed from all the free beer) we made friends with three locals who invited us back to their house and gave us a rundown on what to do in NZ. *I must note we owe a huge thanks to our friends Katie, Andrew and Libby who also provided us with invaluable NZ travel advice–thank you!* With advice from many sources, the next day we grabbed a ferry out to Waiheike Island for some beach time and wine tasting. From there we ventured back to the city for an amazing dinner at The Depot (very Sitka and Spruce for you Seattleites). The next day we picked up our tin can of a rental car we called the blueberry and headed north to the Bay of Islands. We stayed on a super quaint island called Russell at New Zealand’s oldest hotel, The Duke of Marlborough. We ate well. Went sailing with dolphins. Hung out on another island. Ate well again. And took in the second most incredible sunset of our adventure.

Our next journey took us to the surfer town of Mt. Maunganui. It’s location was perfect and I fell in love with the sheep everywhere, but we both agree we would have loved this town a lot more about 10 years ago. This is an 18-25 year old’s mecca. Super fun, hipstery bars. Girls WAY overdressed for drinking beer from the back of a food truck, and a main street that seems to never sleep. We loved it, but know we would have loved it more if we were just a bit younger. The Mount put us close to some great beaches, one of our favorites actually. You start at Waihai Beach and then go for a beautiful 30-40 minute hike to a much more isolated, but GIANT beach that you get nearly to yourselves. This was a great spot for wave riding, having lunch, and cat napping. The Mount also gave us The Mount to climb. It was a hot climb to the top, but totally worth it and I might have fallen in love with the sheep roaming everywhere. Seriously, they are EVERYWHERE. From Mount Maunganui, we needed to head to Wellington–the country’s capital and overall cool city. It was a long drive for the blueberry, so first we stopped in Tongariro National Park and hiked between a couple of volcanoes (one of which was Mt. Doom in LOTR!) It was insanely beautiful with a waterfall along the way for cooling off. I have to also say we were sad to miss the Superbowl, but our car radio kept us informed of the score–Go Hawks! Back on the road, we stopped over for the night in Lake Taupo and did some stand up paddle boarding, sunset watching, and again, some beer drinking. (Kiwis love their beer) It was a quick stop as we were back on the road, excited to get to Wellington where we would get to cross to the South Island. Wellington is a very hip city, with great restaurants, bars, and Te Papa–a FREE museum that was a combination of natural history, culture, and science…so cool! After doing some laundry, eating some great food, and exploring this artsy city, we said goodbye to our blueberry and the more developed lifestyle of the North Island and jumped on a three hour ferry to the rugged beauty (and our camper van) awaiting us on the South Island.

Once we arrived on the South Island, we headed north to Abel Tasman, a national park filled with hiking trails and golden sand beaches you reach by boat. A boat drops you off in the morning. You hike, swim, lunch, and hike some more towards a destination where another boat picks you up and brings you back to civilization. This is also a trek that you can break up over days and camp along the way with the right permits, camping gear, and time (if only we had more time 🙂 ). We stayed in the northern area for a couple of days and then began to head south along the west coast. It was on this adventure that we saw our first real rain, and the crazy mountains everyone talks about. They are MAJESTIC and there’s no way the photos do them justice. We drove a lot this day through the rain with our mouths constantly dropped open in disbelief. It was as if we had left Hawaii and landed in Alaska, all in a couple hours of a drive–crazy!! Our destination and stop for the night was at a campsite in Hokitika. We cruised into our campsite just as the rain stopped and and the sun was setting. THIS was the most amazing sunset we saw on our trip. It was surreal. I can guarantee you I desaturated the photographs because the reds and oranges were so intense. After our first night of camper van cooking and sleeping, we awoke the next day ready to cross those glorious mountains towards Wanaka. Wanaka is a smaller, slightly more laid back version of Queenstown, and we loved it. Also, little did we know at the time that this area of New Zealand would provide us with our absolute favorite adventure of the trip. Taking advice from a couple of different people we met along the way, and after a night of camping along the neck of Lake Wanaka, we drove the longest unpaved road in the world (ok, maybe just New Zealand–ok, maybe just in that area) and geared up to hike to the Rob Roy Glacier.  It was a hard (for me), steep hike, but it was 100% doable and worth it! We fell in love with this spot immediately. From a massive glacier that isn’t getting any love in the travel guides (yet) to the 10+ skyscraper sized waterfalls pouring down the side of Mt. Aspiring, this place immediately took our breath away and reminded us powerful and awe-inspiring nature can be. I took way too many photos and none of them convey the magic, not that it matters. Rob Roy is a must see if you ever get the opportunity.

Coming down from the high (and height) of the amazing Rob Roy Glacier and driving back down that long, gravelly torture strip they call a road, we headed back to Wanaka to set up camp lakeside and watch the sun go down. We cooked up a huge meal, drank some wine, drank a little more wine, woke up a couple in their tent (due to said wine) and crashed hard with visions of Milford Sound in our heads. The next morning we found an area of free wifi (Have I mentioned how awful the wifi/internet situation is there?–it SUCKS), and after a quick check-in with the real world, headed towards the Milford Highway.  On route to the Milford Hwy, we stopped in Queenstown for the best cups of coffee and brunch we’d had since landing in NZ. The next major stop along the route is Te Anau. It’s fairly unimpressive, but the last slice of civilization before you head out the Milford Hwy. We stopped for a map of the government campsites and began the journey of finding the right one. The Milford Highway is remote and mountainous dead-ending at the Milford Sound. We would have loved to do The Milford Track, which ends at the sound and is one of New Zealand’s Great Walks. It takes 5 days to complete and is one of the most famous walks…and was booked through May :)). Knowing that was out, we settled for camping along the highway on Lake Gunn and then taking to the sound by boat in the early morning. Our campsite was the most beautiful, peaceful, albeit buggy, site along the highway. That is, until everyone else discovered it too. It says that it holds 10 campsites. When we arrived we were number 6. By the end of the night I would estimate at least 30 camper vans (probably more) had played one unique game of tetris to fit. The peacefulness was gone, but so was the sun and our beer, so we hit the hay to get ready for our EARLY departure to the Milford Sound. It’s a harrowing drive from Lake Gunn to the sound (might I remind you that New Zealanders drive on the left). With not enough coffee in us, we somehow maneuvered the 20+ hairpin turns coming down the mountain–phew! and  headed out to cruise the socked in, haunting Milford Sound. At first, I was a bit disappointed–2 hours on a boat, getting rained on, looking at the slices of mountains the clouds would allow, seriously? And then the clouds lifted just a bit. And the captain took us so close to the steep sides we could touch them. And then he told us there are only 2 places in the entire sound shallow enough for a ship to drop anchor. And then he told us that 5 ice ages created what we were seeing. And suddenly, I was captivated. The scene was daunting and the vibe eerie. I spent the rest of the day, and trip for that matter, thinking about that damp place. Heading out of the sound, we thought we would clear our heads hiking up Key Summit. We stopped to enjoy our lunch at Humboldt Falls and headed to the base of the trail, where we noticed one of our tires was just about flat. Since we were out in the middle of nowhere, Zak Speedy-Tire-Changer-Gonzales, went to work with some help from me. I do know how to change a tire, but he knows how to change it faster. We noticed that another tire was about to go as well and with the treacherous drive back to Te Anau, on a donut no less, we skipped the hike and found the friendliest mechanic ever. Since Lucile (I may have forgotten to mention that we named our camper van Lucile), needed 2 new tires and an alignment, we walked into town to find the nearest campsite for the night. Our friendly mechanic, bumped a client to get Lucile back to us that evening (amazing!) so we set up camp for the night and planned a quick exit back to Queenstown in the morning.

Queenstown is the adventure junkie capitol of the world. People of all ages come here to bungee, jump out of airplanes, ride mountain bikes, ski/snowboard, boat, jet ski, parasail, zip line…if it gets your adrenaline moving, Queenstown offers it! Being that we both have been skydiving and zip lining, and ski and snowboard pretty regularly, we decided to opt for more city adventures while here. It’s a great little place with so much energy, that reminded me of a slightly bigger Whistler. I advise you to check it out and be crazier than us—maybe throw yourself off of a bridge strapped to a rubber band? At this point in our journey, we knew it was coming to an end and we were getting a bit sad. We couldn’t wait to get home to our families and of course, our dog, but we wish we had just one more week. (We highly recommend giving this adventure 4 weeks). We didn’t dwell long, we celebrated the nearing end of our adventure with fancy cocktails and a delicious dinner at Fishbone. We camped one last night and then prepared for one more stop on our journey, Christchurch. We didn’t know what to expect in Christchurch since most of the travel books have done very little exploring there since the earthquake. It was a devastating blow to their downtown core and the area still looks, well, devastated. We were in a bit of shock as we pulled up to the hotel (where I took the longest, hottest shower and belly flopped onto the dreamy, pillow top mattress). The downtown core doesn’t look like it’s been touched. We stayed in Cathedral Square, where most of the cathedral is in ruins. The surrounding buildings are either held together by graffiti paint, plywood, and prayer,  or are now reduced to parking lots. I’m not kidding. We parked on the remains of a building. It seemed hopeless, but we knew there had to be a heart and soul to this city somewhere so we headed out to find it. As we started our walk, we found some life. Colorful art installations began popping up everywhere in this devastated downtown core. Then we discovered their “mall.” It was constructed of giant shipping containers filled with stores and restaurants. This had been the quick solution directly after the earthquake, but keeping in the creative spirit we had heard this city once had, they embraced the containers and made the area a “town center.” From this town center we ventured out into the neighborhoods where “pop up” restaurants and bars have become the norm. One place we stopped was using damaged city buses as their main bar/kitchen for their outdoor courtyard of tables, chairs, and benches all made from reclaimed materials. While the city’s infrastructure is still in major disrepair, it seems its spirit has been bandaged up, which will hopefully lead to more innovation, repurposing, and an even stronger city than before the earthquake.

After a good night’s sleep in real bed, we headed to the airport and flew to Auckland. It was Valentine’s Day and we had some time to kill, so rather than spend it in the airport, we bussed into town, walked the waterfront and treated ourselves to a lovely Valentine’s Day lunch, which included delicious wood-fired pizza, and yes, more wine. Hey, New Zealanders make good wine :). It was such an amazing journey with our only regret being that we didn’t get to spend just one more week there. I hope our adventure will encourage you to consider discovering New Zealand for yourself. You won’t regret it! Thanks for making it through this gigantic post and going along on this journey with us. Cheers!