New Zealand - Jan 2002

Queenstown

At the end of the year that we were married, we went on a two week vacation with Kim and Tom to New Zealand.  The four of us met at LAX on Dec 26th so we could still have Christmas with our families.  From there we caught a flight to Auckland via Sydney.  We picked up the rental car at Auckland airport and spent the first night in Auckland to get over our jet lag. 

North Island
Our first destination was the Bay of Islands.  We left Auckland early and headed three hours to Paihia.  After checking in at our hotel we reserved our boat trip for the next day and then went on a hike to Haruru Falls.  The following day we sailed around the bay where we saw beautiful waterfalls, sandy beaches, and dolphins playing in the water.

Rotorua

After a day of sailing, we drove to Waitomo, a 5+ hour drive.  We had one major objective for this stop - Black Water Rafting.  This is caving with a river running through the cave - just awesome.  It involved descending to the bottom of the Ruakuir cave, where glow worms cover the ceiling.  It was a 5 hour adventure with a 100 foot rappel down a waterfall, zip line, and cave tubing.  It was a blast, with the only downfall that Tom put his back out a bit.  After a full day in Waitomo, we drove the two hours to Rotorua where we celebrated New Year's Eve.

Rotorua is known for geothermal activity - creating geysers, boiling mud pools, and stinking to high-heaven.  It is beautiful in a bizarre kind of way.  After a full day seeing the Rotorua sights, we drove back to Auckland for an overnight before our flight to Queenstown on the South Island.  While in Rotorua, though, we stopped by a doctor for Tom's back, which we later found was a ruse for Kim to see if she was pregnant (she was - with Kaley)!.  Kim told us it was a pretty funny conversation with the doctor: he asked "do you feel pregnant?  Then you are pregnant!".  Definitely a good use of money at a doctor visit.  

South Island
Queenstown is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts.  We rented an apartment for six nights and tried to get in as many activities as possible.  The first day we hiked to the top of Ben Lomond so we could stretch our legs and get the lay of the land.  Queenstown is situated on the shore of Lake Wakatipu and surrounded by mountains.  The other activities we did included Boogie Boarding on the Shotover River, Jetboating, Mountain Biking, Riding 4 Wheeler ATVs with Criffel Peak Safaris, Wanaka where we visited the quite cheesy (for adults) Puzzling World, riding the cable car, riding the Skyline Luge, and getting a crazy-cheap massage (and Tom's very first).  In addition, we took a sunrise hot air balloon ride, which was a wedding gift from Keith's sister Margaret. 

On Top of Ben Lomond in Queenstown

Boogie Boarding on Shotover River in Queenstown

Milford Track Hike

After almost a week in Queenstown, we all headed on the four day Milford Track Hike.  The hike has been called one of the best in the world.  Only 40 people per day are allowed to start, and all hike in one direction.  We caught the 2pm ferry from Te Anu to Glade House, then hiked one hour to camp at Neale Burne Hut where we stayed the first night.  Each of the next three days were about 6 hour walks, camping at Mintaro Hut and Dumpling Hut.  The hike was gorgeous, though there was a lot of fog, cloud, and rain, so we did not get to see the full beauty of the area.  The last day was six hours to Sandfly Point, which is not named ironically!  Instead of jumping on the ferry at Sandfly point, we instead arranged to kayak for 30 minutes and then catch the ferry.  In retrospect, this was not really necessary and was no more valuable than just seeing the scenery from the ferry. A shuttle met us and took us back to the car, which we had left at Grumpy's Backpacker.

Beginning of Milford Track Hike

We then had a six hour drive (at night) to Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers.  We were the enemy of quite a few rabbits which made a horrible thud-thud as we hit them driving through the national forests.  Since there was no radio stations in range, we bought a Nelly Furtado album, though the only song we really liked on it was "I'm Like a Bird, I'll Fly Away" - which we played so many times it still haunts us.

Heli-Ice-Climbing on Fox Glacier

Keith Ice Climbing

After a short night's sleep, we went Heli-Ice-Climbing on Fox Glacier.  The helicopter part really just was taking us up to the glacier where we did climbing and rappelling in several places - a blast.  Although Shawna was not as much into it since she is scare of heights - she probably only made it up about 5 feet and then decided she had enough of it.  After a half-day of ice climbing, we drove another five hours to Christchurch, where we had a quick walk around town and stayed the night before starting our trip home.

Sydney
Flying home from Christchurch, we had a five hour layover in Sydney.  While not much time at all, we were able to meet up with Mia, Byron, Peter, Hanna, and the family for a couple of hours - wandering the harbor front.

With Mia, Byron, Peter and Hanna in Sydney

For more photos of this trip: