Month Long Tour of NZ

Part 1:

Just a couple days after Christmas my flatmates and I headed up to the Coromandel peninsula to Matarengi Beach where a friend of theirs had a place. Michelle and I got to stay at Jason's aunts house in comfy beds while the rest camped out on the plot (maybe about 25 people). We spent the days on the beach, watching the boys play cricket, and going on little day trips to nearby towns and beaches. It was a great New Years!

The day after Michelle and I fly down to Christchurch in the South Island. We didn't stay there too long, just long enough to meet up with Erica and Tessa. Erica was also an au pair in Switzerland with us and she's from Australia. She was over in NZ visiting her cousin Tessa and so we decided to all meet up and go on a trip together. The only thing we did in Christchurch was go to the circus!! I know it seems strange, but a friend of Michelle works for the circus (which was a bit like a mini Circ de Soleil) and it was really pretty good. We picked up a rental car and drove to Mount Cook, NZ's tallest mountain. As we got closer the mountains were so intimidating with clouds looming all around. We got there in time to set up camp. We set our tent up at the foot of Mt Cook. Unfortunately, we weren't really prepared for the weather. The Gail force winds leveled the tent on us while we were trying to sleep and eventually snapped 2 of the poles. That night all 4 of us ended up in the car. haha! The next morning, all a bit tired, we took a look at some near by glaciers before heading to Cromwell.

We spent the day in a smaller town called Cromwell, known for it's vineyards and fruit orchards. We went on a wine tasting and bought the best bunch of cherries I've ever had. We had planned to camp there, but since our tent was now in pieces, we stayed in a hostel!

Our next stop was Queenstown. Queenstown is such a hip town with tons of adventurous things to do. Just about everyone I met there was a foreigner, mostly German, working there and loving it. Anyways we stayed in Queenstown just one night because we used it as our base for or big 3 day hike, the Routeburn track.

So, the morning of our trek we took a bus from Queenstown to the start of the track. In total over the 3 days, we walked 32km up and over mountains around lakes and past dozens of waterfalls. I took so many photos on the trek and it was so difficult for me to cut it down to this many. I have to say photos don't do it justice, because this place was pretty amazing.

Notice how BLUE the water is. It's all from glaciers so it is an amazing turquoise color. You can also see some snow in the back. We had quite a range of weather in the 3 days. It rained a few times, there was extreme wind at some points, one day there was so much fog you could barely see your hand, one morning we woke up to snow, and then at the very end it was a beautifully sunny day.

I loved all of the waterfalls and the magical forests on the trek; I swear there were fairies in the forest parts! Also, that building in the last picture is one of the huts we stayed in. They are filled with bunk beds and people come and go as they please, though we had to reserve it ahead of time. The Routeburn was my first multi-day hike and I absolutely loved it. I will most definitely be doing some more of these in the future!!

And last, here's a map of my route so far: