Fiordland National Park

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The drive from Queenstown to Fiordland National Park took a little over three hours. Fiordland National Park is the largest national park in New Zealand covering 2.9 million acres. It is considered the "Walking Capital of the World" as it is the gateway to numerous walking and hiking trails. There are very few places to stay in Fiordland National Park other than camping sites, so we made Te Anau our home-base for the time we were there. Once we arrived to Fiordland National Park, there were several lookout points where we stopped to take photos.

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Queenstown

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The drive from Cromwell to Queenstown only took an hour and we started the morning with a hike on the Moke Lake Loop Track.  This short two-hour hike goes right around Moke Lake through grassland and is surrounded by mountains.  It was a chilly morning and there was even a few snow flakes falling.  

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Cromwell

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We left Mount Cook Sunday morning and drove to Cromwell.  On the 2 1/2 hour drive, we passed through Lindis Pass, a scenic reserve with grass-covered mountains and valleys.  It is a winding road and the views were just beautiful.  There were several lookout points where we stopped to take pictures and enjoy the scenery.  

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Mount Cook

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It is only an hour from Tekapo to Mount Cook and the drive was absolutely beautiful.  We passed by the turquoise waters of Lake Pukaki and could see Mount Cook in the distance.  Mount Cook is New Zealand's highest mountain with a height of 12,316 feet.  

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Christchurch

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We flew from Auckland to Christchurch on Monday and arrived in the South Island at 10:00am.  We picked up our rental car and drove to the city center.  Walking around Christchurch, Alex and I could not help but notice how bare and damaged many of the areas still are around the city. 

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Rotorua

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Rotorua is only an hour drive from Mount Maunganui and you can smell it before you see it!  The area is known for its bubbling mud pools, shooting geysers and natural hot springs. There is definitely a hint of "rotten egg smell" everywhere you go.  Even as I type this blog post, it smells like someone keeps passing gas in our hotel room!  Ha! 

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Mount Maunganui

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It is a three hour drive from Coromandel to Mount Maunganui and we arrived to town around noon.  Mount Maunganui stands 761-feet tall and there is both a summit walk to the top as well as a base walk.  Since we were not wearing our hiking clothes, we chose to do the base walk in the afternoon and later returned to do the summit walk at sunset.  It was a beautiful hike and the water looked so blue.  

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Coromandel

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Sunday, we left the Bay of Islands and drove to Coromandel. The drive took about seven hours total, and I was ready to be out of the car by the time we arrived!!  We did wind up passing back through Auckland and stopped at Dear Jervois for brunch which helped break up the trip a bit. Moving forward, the drives will not be as long between towns and I am most thankful for that!  

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Auckland

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We have arrived in New Zealand!  We will be traveling around both the North and South Island for the next 40 days and are looking forward to exploring this area.  We have heard from multiple people New Zealand is one of their favorite countries to visit and I have feeling we are going to really love it here.  We are starting on the North Island before flying to the South Island.  

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Red Center Way - Part III

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From Kings Canyon, we made our way to our final stop in the Northern Territory, Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park.  About an hour from Uluru (Ayers Rock), is Mount Conner which we originally thought was Uluru.  Alex and I couldn’t figure out why it was located so far from our hotel until we realized we did not have the right rock – oops!  Apparently, locals call Mount Conner "Fool-uru" as many people mistake it for Uluru!  

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Red Center Way - Part II

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Saturday, we left Glen Helen Gorge and made our way to Kings Canyon.  On the way, we made a stop at Tnorala (Gosse Bluff), a 12-mile crater created 140 million years ago from a comet.  The area is a sacred site for the Aboriginal people who believe the crater was formed when a woman dropped a baby while dancing across the Milky Way.

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Red Center Way - Part I

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We arrived in the Northern Territory of Australia where we have been for the past five days driving along the Red Center Way.  The route starts in Alice Springs and runs through the Australian outback, linking the MacDonnell Ranges and Watarrka National Park (Kings Canyon) with Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). 

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Blue Mountains

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Alex and I decided to wake early Sunday morning in order to catch one of the first trains to the Blue Mountains.  The train ride takes a little over two hours and we arrived around 9:30am.  The slate-blue haze that gives the Blue Mountains its name comes from a fine mist of oil emitted by the huge eucalyptus trees covering the park. This World Heritage region is known for its beautiful scenery and rich Aboriginal history.

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Macquarie University

On Sunday, Alex and I took the train to Macquarie University, the college where I studied abroad in 2004.  It was so weird being back on campus as the school is currently undergoing some major construction and there were a lot of new buildings.  School had started the previous week, but the campus was SO QUIET while we were there - we only saw a handful of students.  It was nice walking around the campus (despite almost stepping on a spider the size of a tennis ball - ewww!) and seeing how much has changed.  

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