So that was New Zealand. Done. In 3 weeks. Tick.
Blogging while travelling around New Zealand in a campervan is unfortunately a tremendously difficult affair. I managed 1 entry from the airport on the way out and 1 entry while in Whakapapa, about to do the Tongariro crossing. For the rest of the trip coming across internet connections was a) quite hard and b) i just didn’t have the time. So i didn’t do any and now since being back i have been too busy and out of a rhythm of blogging. So here i go again…
The epic journey that was New Zealand consisted of (in no particular order): one lost bag (relocated after a week); 3,250 km of driving in our van called Nicola which we rented from Explore More (everyone else’s vans had cool names like Jaffa, and we had Nicola! I’m sure she’s a lovely lady…); endless packets of sour cream and chive crisps; speights beer, waikato draught, monteiths summer ale and tui; lots of orongo bay oysters; green lipped mussels; t-bone steaks and lamb chops from the mad butcher; camping in designated campsites; freedom camping; swimming in the sea and the lakes; hiking across the tongariro crossing in 6 hours; hiking for 24 km of the Queen Charlotte Trail (in 6 hours); doing a wine tour of the Marlborough Region; flying over the Remarkables; hiking over the Fox Glacier (for 6 hours); a boat trip around Milford Sound; fush’n'chups; pinot noir; buying icebreaker gear from the outlet store; missing lots of the amazing views as it was raining so much (worst summer in 40 years apparently); getting bitten by sandflies (lots); showering out the side of the van; sea-kayaking around the Bay of Islands and most importantly of all saying “Howareya?”… a lot (kind of instead of “Hello”).
I have put up a selection of photos from the trip on my website to give a taster and have plenty more where that came from – but for now here is my favourite shot of the trip. I hope you like it….
Chilling on Sumner Beach, Christchurch.
(Click on it to enlarge it….)