New Zealand!

Chris and I had a fantastic vacation in New Zealand in mid-March! We spent two weeks enjoying the stunning and varied landscapes of the country – lush green rainforests, towering sheer cliffs covered with waterfalls, fjords, volcanoes, glowworm caves, and glorious picture-perfect coves with white sand and turquoise water.

Auckland	Waiheke Island

Queenstown	Milford Track

Coromandel	Tongariro and Taupo

Karekare Beach

We spent our two weeks like this:

• 2 days in Auckland, with a day-trip to nearby Waiheke Island for some lovely wining and dining.
• 1 day in Queenstown, to prep for the Milford Track.
• 5 days on the breath-taking Milford Track, which has been called "the finest walk in the world".
• 1 more day in Queenstown, to get some adventure sports in! Ziplines and jetboats!
• 2 days in Hahei, on the Coromandel peninsula, to relax, recover, and lounge on the beach.
• 2 days in Tongariro, where we were supposed to do the "Mt. Doom" hike, but we got rained out. We spent the day exploring Taupo and its geothermal and honey-farming features.
• 1 day spelunking in the Waitomo glowworm caves. Totally more awesome than we expected!
• 1 day strolling on the black sand beaches at Karekare, and driving back to Auckland Airport.

We've been wanting to go to New Zealand since 2001, when the Fellowship of the Ring came out, and it didn't disappoint! All the New Zealanders were incredibly warm and friendly, and I think my new favorite animal is the kiwi, with its furry feathers and cute wingless waddle.

My camera didn't quite survive the trip, since the Milford Track got pretty wet, and the LCD screen shorted out. After a few days of using the tiny view finder (I know, view finder?!) and dozens of "don't-worry-just-press-the-button-it's-taking-the-picture" explanations to kind strangers offering to take pictures of us, I was terrified that I was going to have hundreds of blank pictures when we got back.

To my HUGE relief, the pictures mostly came out fine. Some are dark or sort of misty and ethereal-looking, but that's not too far off from the reality. Certainly better than nothing!

Over the next week or so, I'll write more posts and highlight details and pics of the places we went. Highly recommend taking a trip to New Zealand if you've never been and you love the outdoors!