My last day in Abel Tasman started out pretty sweet - with hang gliding!  Yup, I’ve done that now, too.  We had the option of doing that the evening that we first arrived as well, but I was sort of tired from the long drive, and the cloud cover wasn’t the greatest at the time.  The morning that we left was much better.  I managed to drag myself out ( Read more... )

First things first: Abel Tasman is the Cancun of New Zealand.  There, that’s out of the way.  It’s hard to describe just how clear or blue the water there is because the photos just don’t do the place justice.  You just have to go there yourself to understand.  I’ll start from the beginning.  By the way, this post is going to be a little bit ( Read more... )

Wow, a lot has happened since Wellington.  I really don’t even know how to start this next post because just thinking of all the things I have to catch up is giving me a bit of a headache.  Oh well, best to start from the beginning, I suppose - the ferry to the South Island.

As I mentioned two posts ago, I had to catch the 7am Bluebridge ferry ( Read more... )

Now I’m going to go into what was, quite possibly, the best day I’ve experienced in New Zealand so far.  Yes, I’m talking about the full-day Lord of the Rings Tour all around the Wellington area.  Eight brilliant, glorious hours of touring all around the city and checking out the exact locations used for the filming of the trilogy…I was in heaven ( Read more... )

Last time we “talked,” I was on the verge of collapse after the Crossing, so it was a nice change of pace to just cruise around a big city for a few days. I was originally planning on being there Saturday through Tuesday, but, once again, Stray had availability for everyday except Tuesday, so I ended up staying until Wednesday instead.  I didn’t ( Read more... )

Remember way back when I put together a to-do list of things to be accomplished in New Zealand?  Well, I can officially cross “Climb Mount Doom” off the list now.  Well, sort of.  Let me explain.

As soon as I made the conscious decision to leave Taupo for real and start traveling around the country, the weather spontaneously decided to do a ( Read more... )

( So there we were, completely lost and holding our shoes in our hands as Henry kept bursting out into old show tunes. )

( The basic thing to keep in mind about Art Deco if you have no idea how to identify it is to think of geometric, angular patterns and shapes. )

( The weather was perfect, and the water was like glass the entire way. )

( Yep, yet another thing to cross off my little NZ bucket list. )