New Zealand South Island

April 8 We made a full circle on the South Island, back to the exact city where we started our journey two and a half months ago in Nelson. Tomorrow, we fly to Auckland for six weeks to explore the North Island. We even stayed in the same Airbnb and got spoiled once again by …

April 7 My first decent sleep in five days. A/C! Yay! We had a nice breakfast at Courthouse Cafe, same place we ate dinner at last night. There aren’t many options for eating in this town; we lucked out in that it had very tasty food for both dinner and breakfast. Mitch packed up the …

April 2 Abel Tasman was a Dutch explorer who was the first to discover New Zealand in 1642. Although the area existed well before Abel arrived, the Abel Tasman National Park is named in his honor. The park is the smallest of NZ’s national parks and receives the most visitors. Today is the first day …

April 1 We stayed less than 24 hours in Cape Foulwind, which is a shame because it’s a really beautiful spot. We left early because we had a three hour drive ahead of us to Motueka. The drive was beautiful, windy and narrow at times with the road built just under carved out mountains. A …

March 31 Bye bye smelly Airbnb. Today we are en route to Cape Foulwind, a headland on the West Coast of the South Island overlooking the Tasman Sea. It was named by English explorer James Cook after his vessel was blown off course by the prevailing westerly winds. Let’s hope for better weather! On our …

March 30 What a beautiful day to take a scenic helicopter flight over six NZ glaciers. It’s also a great day to take video of Mitch going up in the helicopter for his flight while I wait safely with my feet on the ground. The pilot was clucking at me because I didn’t go. Wow, …

March 29 Ah sunshine. A perfect day for our bike ride on the West Coast Wilderness Trail. The trail is 89 miles long, from Ross to Greymouth, and goes through rimu forests, wetlands, over former railway bridges and along the Tasman Sea. We only biked a portion of the trail though, not the whole thing! …

March 28 And that we did. We woke up to pouring rain. I have found the forecast in NZ to be surprisingly accurate, which comes in handy when planning activities. We left Tui Cottage in Okārito and headed further north up the West Coast. I drove to Hokitika for two white-knuckle hours in heavy rain …

March 27 We had another wild night of stormy weather. I’m not used to weather waking me up in the middle of the night. When snow falls in Denver, it’s quiet! The rain had stopped, but it was really windy when we woke up. We had a slow start to the morning, ate breakfast and …

March 26 The Okārito Boat Eco tour of the wetlands started off our day at 9 a.m. Paula, owner and guide, along with her husband, Swade, gave us the deets about the birds and the ecosystem (not the bees 🤪) for our two hour journey up the lagoon. We meandered out into “dead low tide.” …

March 25 The wind and rain were so loud at 3:30 a.m. that the storm woke me up. I hunkered down under the covers and fell back to sleep. Have a listen to this crazy rain. Still raining when we woke up, Mitch got the fire going to ward off the morning chill. We sat …

March 24 I was a fan of Cash, the owner’s dog at Wild Earth Lodge, until this morning at 6:15 a.m. when he started barking non-stop and interrupted our blissful sleep. On and on he went. I tried to block out the sound by putting a pillow over my head, but no luck. After what …

March 23 Getting out of bed when you have a view like this is difficult. Lucky for us, we had no plans today other than to soak up the views and enjoy the beauty and solitude of this private sanctuary overlooking the Wilkin mountains. Mount Aeolus is one of the peaks in Mt. Aspiring National …

March 22 6:30am! Rise and shine. Listen to our wake up call below. That was our morning alarm! A call for all the volunteer Wānaka fire fighters to report to the fire station for emergency. Looking out the window, this is what we saw. It was an incredible sunrise. No fire in sight, so we …

March 21 A chicken mushroom pie (a veggie one for Mitch) from Pembroke Patisserie was a great start to our day. The almond croissant and cardamom bun put us over the top and we rolled out of the delicious patisserie bursting and well fed. Of course we took a Turkish focaccia to go and the …

March 20 It’s another beautiful day in Wānaka. Let’s go on a boat ride to an island on a lake on an island on a lake on an island. Huh? I’ll explain in a minute. Brent from Wānaka Water Taxi was our skipper to the predator free island of Mou Waho on Lake Wānaka. We …

March 19 Roy’s Peak hike was a 10-mile combo of Day 3 of the Milford Track and Day 3 of the Queen Charlotte Trek, all rolled into an excruciating 4-hour climb, with an extra few thousand feet of elevation gain thrown in for good measure. We arrived to a car park that was almost full. …

March 18 They sent their cousins for us in the middle of the night — first, second, once and twice removed. The sandflies, that is. We learned that the females need a blood meal just before laying their eggs so they are the ones that bite, and boy did they ever get a feast. I …

March 17 Happy St. Patrick’s Day. I’m wearing green pants to mark the occasion. They’re also my only clean pair of pants at this point so, yeah. The TSS Earnslaw Lake Cruise was highly recommended by locals and many friends who visited Queenstown. We opted for the 9 a.m. cruise to start the day early, …

March 16 There’s only one road up and down from Milford Sound to Queenstown and it took us about four hours on the winding road to get there. I drove for the first time since we arrived in NZ. It’s definitely weird to drive on the left side of the road with the steering wheel …

March 15 A few hours later in Milford Sound makes a world of difference. We awoke to blue skies, a comfortable temperature and a great breakfast delivery from the lodge kitchen. The storm had passed as quickly as it arrived. Mother Nature was smiling down on us once again. In 1891, British author Rudyard Kipling …

March 14 We awoke to what Doubtful Sound is truly known for, rain and misty clouds floating over the mountain tops and along the banks. It was like an entirely different place we experienced yesterday, magical and mystical. Breakfast was at 7 a.m., an OK buffet of continental and hot foods. Mitch was longing for …

March 13 After a night of pouring rain in Te Anau, we awoke to some sun peaking through the clouds and set off on our short drive to the Port of Manapouri for the start of our overnight cruise with Real NZ to the remote waters of Doubtful Sound. At the Manapouri dock, we boarded …

March 12 Michelle and Stuart provided us with another delicious breakfast to start our day. This time, Michelle made us shakshouka in individual cast iron pans and Stuart baked date scones. We have been spoiled rotten by these kind, generous people. We hugged our gracious hosts and said our goodbyes, arriving as guests and leaving …

March 11 I slept through my alarm and Mitch woke me up 10 minutes before our prearranged breakfast at the main house. He wanted to let me sleep as I guess the hike wore us down and I needed some more rest. I quickly got ready and was only a few minutes late. Our breakfast …

March 10 Today is our last day of waking up early, sandwich making and hiking. I thought Rachel, one of our four guides, would’ve forgotten about a conversation we had about me tasting one of her favorite foods- vegemite. She found me in the dining room on the last morning and approached with a plate …

March 9 This lyric from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical, Hamilton, has been drifting in and out of my head since we arrived in NZ, and even more so today, the second and most memorable day of the Routeburn Track. It was another picture-perfect blue sky day for our 7 mile hike. How are we so fortunate …

March 8 At 9 a.m. we boarded another bus with our new guide, Rosie, to meet up with our next group and 3 other guides at a nearby cafe in Te Anau to start the Routeburn Track, a 3 day, 20-mile hike. There were 35 hikers on this trip and 4 guides. We did some …

March 7 A Day of Rest & Recovery Today was the first time in four nights that we had the chance to sleep a little later. Mitre Peak Lodge was once a hotel and it had all the comforts of that plus amazing views. This was the first lodge where we had a washing machine …

March 6 It was another sunrise start for us when the generator kicked on at 6 a.m. We had an early morning kickoff again as our final stretch was 13 miles to reach the finish line at Sandfly Point. The good thing about this section of the track is that after a short descent, the …

March 5 At last night’s briefing, the guides shared that this 9 mile day up McKinnon Pass from Pompolona Lodge to Quintin Lodge would be a challenge. It could take up to nine hours or more to reach our destination. The weather report called for snow, wind and more rain, especially at the summit. They …

March 4 The lodge generator turned on at 6:30 a.m. and we arose to the occasion. We prepared for our hike donning our rain gear from head to toe not even knowing if we were hiking or flying. It was still raining. And it had snowed. White caps covered the mountain tops and ridge lines …

March 3 March 3 The first day of our hiking trip didn’t involve much hiking at all. We arrived at the Ultimate Hikes Centre in the morning and boarded the bus with 46 other hikers and four guides. We drove a few hours to Te Anau, stopped for lunch and carried on to Te Anau …

March 2 This will be the last post I write for the next 7 days. Tomorrow we start our four-day Milford hike in Fiordland National Park. We will take a bus from Queenstown to Te Anau and then a 30 minute boat ride to the start of our hike at the northern end of Lake …

March 1 We were sad to leave the beautiful Otago Peninsula this morning. We headed towards Queenstown and stopped first for a late lunch at Mt Difficulty winery. It was a beautiful setting, a good flight of a variety of five wines, but the roasted lamb was much too rich for both of us. Mint …

February 29 Happy Leap Day! To celebrate the occasion, we enjoyed another bird encounter and got up close with a lot of native NZ birds we haven’t seen yet. According to the Department of Conservation, a.k.a. “DOC,” NZ is known as the seabird capital of the world and is also home to a number of …

February 28 We did a big fat nothing on this drizzly Wednesday morning except look out our balcony window and see this iridescent rainbow over the harbor. We made a wish and then called and texted our friends back home whose birthdays were today (HBD Alon and Steve — Tomorrow it’s yours Grandma Roz! We …

February 27 Sandymount hike was an incredible start to our day. What began as a chilly, cloudy morning turned into a beautiful, partly sunny day with magical clouds. We drove past hidden bays and dirt roads to find the trailhead. Along the drive we saw some new birds again and others we’ve already seen. Lots …

February 26 Our BIG hike is one week from today. Yikes! To get some steps and elevation in, we took a relatively short but steep hike at Tunnel Beach Walk. There were beautiful coastal views and a really cool sandstone archway jutting out into the ocean. We walked through an 1870’s hand dug tunnel to …

February 25 Since the Countdown grocery store in Dunedin is currently closed due to a rat infestation, we did our shopping at New World instead. That was our exciting morning activity, and once again I discovered some really cool stuff: Frozen chocolate covered blueberries, strawberries and cherries; chocolate covered marshmallow “fish” and these BBQ rice …

February 24 Our good weather luck ran out today. We had a great run of it though, really only that awful day of rain in Picton after our Queen Charlotte hike where we were too exhausted to care what it was doing outside. And that was several weeks ago! So we really can’t complain.  Before …

February 23 Clay Cliffs in Omarama was our first stop of the day. These tall pinnacles of gravel and silt were formed millions of years ago by, you guessed it, glaciers. Mitch scaled the backside of the cliffs through a very narrow tunnel archway that another tourist suggested was safe to climb even though it …

February 21 and 22 On May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary was the first person to summit Mt Everest with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Hillary was from NZ and used Mt Cook/Aoraki as his training grounds. Apart from the 5:15 a.m. alarm this morning, I think today was my favorite day of the trip so far. …

February 20 I know most of you are dying to know if we made it to our stargazing experience last night. We did! It came close to being canceled due to the high winds. Thankfully we were able to go. After choosing our super warm Canada Goose jackets at the Dark Sky Reserve, we boarded …

February 19 Today’s planned hike of Mt John Summit got derailed due to 45 mph gale force winds. So I did laundry and ate a delicious mince (beef) pie from Fairlie Bakehouse instead. Not the planned start to the day, but productive nonetheless. We were getting antsy sitting around the apartment, so we decided to …

February 18 The drive from Akaroa to Geraldine through the Canterbury Plains was the equivalent of a Midwest road trip minus the snacks. Sorry if I offend you Midwesterners but it wasn’t too exciting. We did run into one apparently traditional NZ roadblock that caused us a slight setback. Once we made the turnoff towards …

February 17 A two hour boat tour of the Banks Peninsula with Black Cat Cruises started off our day. We saw more Hector dolphins, but not nearly as many as we did in the Sounds or Kaikōura. Still no whales, but we did see amazing scenery. After our cruise, we strolled through the small town, …

February 16 We left a smoky Christchurch behind this morning. Nearby towns were fighting fires in the hills above the city as a brush fire started in the dry and windy conditions. We smelled smoke overnight and when we left town. Hopefully the firefighters extinguished the flames quickly with minimal damage to homes and businesses. …

February 15 New Zealanders know how to make scones. Cheesy ones with spring onions seem to be the most popular and Child Sister went one step further by adding chunks of roasted potatoes. Yum. Plus, the coffee was so good Mitch had a second cup. A great start to the day. A quick stop at …

February 14 ❤️ Happy Valentine’s Day! What better way to celebrate than head to Sumner Beach, a quick 20 minute drive from our apartment. It was a beautiful day, sunny with a slight breeze to keep us cool and keep the sandflies away. Just perfect. So relaxing. Practically had the whole beach to ourselves. Enter …

February 13 Littleton CO is 7,691 miles away from Lyttelton NZ. It’s a port town with 0 Starbucks and 1 amazing Lyttelton Coffee Company. After our coffee stop on London Street, we meandered up the coast, stopping at quiet Cass Bay before heading on to Ohinetahi Gardens. This hidden gem of a garden sits on …

February 12 My best iced latte of the trip so far came from Belle cafe and micro roastery. I sipped it enroute to the Christchurch Art Gallery where we spent a few hours getting cultured. The original gallery, built in 2003, suffered significant damage to its foundation after the 2011 earthquake. Amazingly, only one piece …

February 11 We always love visiting farmers markets when we travel. There’s usually some bakery displaying delicious looking pastries or cool gifts we can bring home for family and friends. This was not the case at the Riccarton Market. This place was full of tchotchkes, loads of items that looked like they were hauled out …

February 10 I guess we were channeling M.F.K. Fisher today. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Powerhouse Cafe in Hanmer Springs and then headed south to Black Estate Winery in the Waipara Valley. Yes, we went from one restaurant to another because that’s what we do best. We’ve perfected the art of eating. Mitch claimed …

February 9 I originally didn’t have Hanmer Springs on our itinerary. It was an out of the way destination that I wasn’t sure was worth it. Pretty last minute we decided to add it, and I’m so glad we did. After a very winding two hour back road drive from Kaikōura, we arrived at the …

February 8 The Kaikōura Peninsula Walkway is a 6.8 mile hike along the beach and up on top of the ridge, overlooking the South Pacific Ocean with sweeping panoramic views. The cloud cover and windy day was ideal hiking weather. It was a cake walk compared to the Queen Charlotte, with minimal elevation gain. There …

February 7 Victoria stayed back on land while I ventured to sea in search of whales. My first clue that Victoria made the right decision was when the announcement came over the lobby reception PA saying the captain had made the determination to sail, but he warned against a high probability of sea sickness. They …

February 5 After a restless sleep in a hot, stuffy motel room, we had a quick breakfast and then headed to Omaka Aviation Heritage Center. The museum featured several original aircraft and artifacts from WWI and WWII. We took lots of pictures for our friend Jim, a Southwest Airlines pilot, who we’re sure would want …

February 4 The Trials and Tribulations of Traveling We picked up our rental car this morning and left Picton behind. We really enjoyed our time there. We headed towards Marlborough, NZ’s largest wine region, which is known for Sauvignon blanc. The sunny, dry summers with little rainfall and cool winters are ideal for growing grapes. …

February 3 Today was a long day on the water. Since we postponed the mail tour yesterday, we had to double up on today’s water activities. Thankfully the storm passed overnight and we woke up to beautiful weather. We were up early and down at the marina at 8 a.m. for our E-Ko swim with …

February 2 The word of the day is CHILL. We grabbed some pastries for breakfast at the Dutch inspired Picton Village Bakkerij and then popped to the grocery store, not once, but twice. Very exciting! Wandering the store, I noticed the aisle signs. I love how the Maori language, called te reo, is so integrated …

February 1 A solid 8 hour sleep despite the mosquito crime scene on the ceiling of our hotel room. I thought for sure I’d be chasing bugs again. I guess I was either too tired to notice them or they knew not to mess with me after the day I had. I felt good. My …

January 31 For those who have been following along every day, you may have noticed that the blog skipped a day. I was so exhausted after the third hike that I couldn’t muster the energy to write about it. So I’ll back up a day to get you caught up. But before I write about …

January 30 We were sad to bid adieu to Furneaux Lodge this morning. After a hearty breakfast overlooking the Sounds, we set forth on our second day of the Queen Charlotte Track. Mitch was glad to leave the resort behind after ingesting what he thought was honey or simple syrup for his tea. Turns out …

We checked in for our hike at 9am and caught a water taxi for a 60 minute boat ride from Picton marina to Ship Cove, where we set off on the first leg of our four-day, 42 mile hike. Ship Cove is a famous landmark notable for the British explorer Captain James Cook, who visited …

January 28 Today was a pretty chill day as we prepared for our first hike tomorrow, Queen Charlotte Track. We will be hiking 42 miles over 4 days in the Marlborough Sounds. We spent the morning packing and sorting our stuff, as we’re only allowed to bring a certain amount of weight. Fortunately for this …

January 27 Small but mighty! Those sandfly bites had me scratching all night. A squirt of Purell seemed to calm down the itch. We left drizzly Nelson behind this morning and drove east to Picton. Our first stop was Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve, whose location appeared in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. It was a …

January 25 After an awesome 10 hour sleep (!) we awoke to our amazing Airbnb hostess, Meredith, arriving at our door with warm, homemade cheese scones and coffee beans. Talk about gracious! She set the bar really high for our future Airbnb stays. We then popped over to an adorable open air coffee spot at …