Over the past six months, Alex and I have been able to see, explore, taste and experience so many beautiful and amazing things while traveling around Australia and New Zealand. During the last few weeks of our trip, we started reminiscing and looking through pictures which led to a discussion of our favorite memories and highlights. Below is a compilation of our favorite memories and experiences we shared during this time.
Read MoreWe have officially left Australia and are back on the homeland! It has been an amazing adventure and I feel so fortunate to have been able to see so many places over the past year. Australia has always held a special place in my heart ever since I studied abroad there 14 years ago. And, after this trip, I have even more appreciation for the beauty and kindness of this wonderful country.
Read MoreAlex here!
Rachel and I feel so grateful for the opportunity to travel to all the incredible places we have over this past year. Rachel has done an incredible job documenting our travels so we can remember it for the rest of our lives. It takes an enormous amount of time and I wanted to thank her for all the hard work.
Read MoreOur last stop before leaving New Zealand was to the region of Marlborough. We are staying at an adorable hotel near Blenheim and arrived early on Friday after driving from Abel Tasman National Park. The Marlborough region is best known around the world as a leading producer of sauvignon blanc wine and there are numerous wineries in the area. We read the best way to explore the wineries is by bike as most of the vineyards are clustered around a few square miles.
Read MoreTo break up the drive from Fox Glacier to Abel Tasman National Park, we stayed one night in Hokitika. By early afternoon we had arrived at Hokitika Gorge to enjoy the milky blue-green waters of the Hokitika River as they flow through the gorge. There are several viewpoints along the trail and it was pretty as a picture!
Read MoreAlex and I made our way from Wanaka to Fox Glacier which took a little over three hours. It was a rainy and foggy drive for the most part, but we did make a couple of stops to admire the views alongside the road when the rain let up.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreWe 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.
Read MoreIt 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.
Read MoreOur drive from Christchurch to Tekapo took us three hours. Driving around the corner and seeing our first glimpse of Lake Tekapo had us grinning ear to ear! We did not expect such a bright turquoise blue color! The unique color is caused by finely ground rock in the glacial melted waters that formed the lake.
Read MoreWe 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.
Read MoreWe arrived in Taupo around 9:30am and grabbed brunch at Storehouse, an adorable restaurant housed in an old plumbing store. Alex and I shared the chicken and waffles and huevos rancheros - both were delicious!
Read MoreRotorua 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!
Read MoreIt 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.
Read MoreSunday, 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!
Read MoreWe 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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