Because Wednesday was such a nice day (short sleeves!) we had an opportunity to do two outdoor activities we had been wanting to do. The first was the “Polynesian Spa.” This spa pipes in water from the hot springs of Rotorua into seven different mineral pools. These pools are high in alkaline and acid making [...]
Continue reading about Natural Springs and Maori Performance
Dan is now another year old and another year wiser (as he so nicely pointed out to me). I guess since he’s older than me he’ll always be wiser than me. It was hard for me to do much for his birthday since we are pretty much together 24/7, but I took advantage of [...]
As our last stop in NZ, we’ve decided to go to Rotorua. Rotorua is well known for their geo-thermal activity which manifests itself all over town in the form of steaming pits, bubbling mud, and even a few geysers. Rotorua is also known for being very heavily populated by people of Maori culture — and [...]
After a month in New Zealand, we’ve decided to begin wrapping up the New Zealand portion of our adventure. Before leaving though, we needed to get back to the North Island (so that we could fly out of Auckland, which is the major international airport). We took a flight from Wellington to Auckland (for only [...]
Wellington, NZ We spent a few days in Wellington which is NZ’s capitol and is located at the southern end of the north island. While in Wellington we visited the Te Papa museum. We continue to be really impressed with how hands-on the museums are here. There is so much to see, smell, touch, and [...]
We took the Interislander Ferry between Picton and Wellington today (to get us from the south island to the north island of New Zealand), but we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We learned (at the END of our 4 hour ferry ride – too late) that the waters are rougher in [...]
Picton, NZ We are now making our way back up north, so we decided to take the Tranzcoastal train up to the North part of the South island today. The train started in Christchurch and made its way up to Picton. It was a fun (and cheap – about $25US) way to get there. Along [...]
Christchurch, NZ Our next destination was Christchurch. We ended up making it a pretty quick trip (mainly because it’s a big city that seems a lot like any other big city). Despite it’s name, “Christchurch,” the city is really more about shopping, bars, and nightlife which isn’t really our thing. We visited the cathedral in [...]
Oops . . . We found some more pictures of Queenstown that we wanted to add to the blog. So, here you go: Watching the sun rise with coffee in hand at our Queenstown hotel. The day is just dawning in Queenstown. Look at those colors! We watched the sun rise in Queenstown. Dan enjoys [...]
While in Queenstown we took a day trip to Milford Sound with Mitre Peak tours. It was a really long day as we left at 6:20 in the morning and didn’t return until 7:00 at night, but it was well worth it. Milford Sound isn’t too far if you go as the crow flies, but [...]