New Zealand – Two Weeks With My Parents! (Part 1)

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The blog has started to slow down a bit, again. I apologize, but in the balance of travel and blogging, the traveling, seeing new sites, searching out amazing foods, experiencing new cultures, and meeting new people is going to win over sitting at a laptop and searching for Wi-Fi.

I am sure I will finish this thing at some point, but I have to skip ahead a bit. Sorry, New Zealand. You are my favorite country in the World and have been for a long time, but I need to skip ahead. I started going through the approximately 3,500 New Zealand pictures and felt overwhelmed, so I am going to discuss what we did while my parents were there and give you a tiny portion of the photos.

There are many beautiful vistas and places in New Zealand and this is just a fraction. We spent the last two weeks in December 2012 with my parents traveling around – primarily on the South Island.

We spent a day and a half in Auckland after skipping December 16^th by going over the International Date Line from Santiago, Chile. We arrived bright and early at 5:30 AM. We saw the sights in Auckland and stayed at a very nice place with an amazing view of the Sky Tower.

We had dinner at the top of the Sky Tower our only night in Auckland. I was finally able to get a proper meat pie at a little bakery in Auckland and I found some of my favorite cheese in the World.

From Auckland, we flew down to Nelson on the top of the South Island. The general plan was to rent a car and work counterclockwise from Nelson to Christchurch in about two weeks. We spent one day near Nelson hiking (tramping) part of the Abel Tasman National Park.

We took a water taxi out and hiked for about three hours or so from Torrent Bay to Bark Bay. It was a nice walk that included some amazing scenery.

We saw plenty of seals chillaxing on the rocks on the boat ride.

We spent one day walking around Nelson and enjoying the sunset over the ocean.

Nelson is a great little city that Sarah and I would return to multiple times over the next three months.

From Nelson we drove towards Franz Josef Glacier along the West Coast. We stopped many times and admired the scenery along the ruggedly beautiful West Coast of the South Island. One of the stops along the way was at Punakaiki, or Pancake Rocks.

We arrived in Franz Josef in the evening and enjoyed walking around the little town. The next day the weather was not really cooperating with us, but we were able to see the terminal faces of Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers through the rain and clouds.

Leaving the West Coast we drove up and over Haast Pass heading towards Wanaka. Again, we stopped all along the way and took in the view.

We spent a few days in Wanaka exploring the area, near Mount Aspiring, walking around the lake, and enjoying the warm weather and the town of Wanaka.

I love the town of Wanaka and is a more relaxing alternative to nearby Queenstown. Sometimes it could be a bit too relaxed.

On the drive to Queenstown, we stopped in Central Otago and sampled the fresh fruit at one of the many farms around Cromwell.

Later in the afternoon, we stopped at a very nice vineyard in Central Otago and sampled the wines and bought a couple bottles to enjoy later.

Then we made our way to Queenstown for Christmas, which I will save for next time.

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