We flew 1,000 miles south of Fiji to New Zealand, both on the same time zone. New Zealand consists of two main islands, both about the same size as Oregon as well as their population. We crossed the south 45th parallel during our drive from Auckland to Queenstown.
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| This RV was home during our ten day stay in New Zealand. It is about half the size of our RV in the states. | The dining and living room and bedroom are the same 6'x6' room. The up side was we drove it to downtown Auckland. |
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| New Zealand was kind enough to periodically remind us foreigners which side of the road to drive on. Like Fiji, the Brits left there imprint--English, Metrics and all coins have the Queen of England's face on them. | Auckland is their largest city, and interestingly it is the same size as Portland, Oregon. It boasts of having the largest manmade structure in the southern hemisphere called the Sky Tower. |
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| The spectacular view is from the 61st floor looking southwest. The city of Auckland can be accessed from the oceans on both sides of New Zealand. This one marina alone had over 2,000 boats. | This picture does not do justice to the beauty of the country side. It was ooze and awes at every turn. We were impressed how green and lush everything was, even though they were going into their autumn season. |
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| One hundred percent of the nine Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies were filmed in New Zealand, tourism is taken advantage of their popularity. This is the tourism office located in Metameta, near Hobbiton. | The village of Hobbiton is purely a movie set where 37 Hobbit homes dot the landscape of the hill sides. There are no actual homes, just the appearance of homes, all have their own chimney. |
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| Although a free drink was provided with the cost of the ticket, Larry thought they said BYOB. The bar and restaurant were built to replicate the interior design of the Hobbit homes, which was pretty exquisite. | Our next stop was in Rotorua and Te Puia, New Zealand's center for Maori culture. Carla, our tour guide, is one of nearly 600,000 people native to New Zealand. Yes, the word on the sign is a Maori word. |
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| The center has two schools designed to pass on the traditional skills to younger generations. They are weaving and wood carving. This work of art was crafted by students under the guidance of a master carver. | Te Puia is also home to an active geothermal area. In addition to the Pohutu geyser, which erupts 90 feet once or twice each hour, this area is home to bubbling mud and pools of boiling water. |
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| The Kiwi is native to New Zealand. They are flightless and nocturnal, and are unfortunately endangered of going extinct. The Maorians have joined forces to help protect them. | As we went hiking along the shores of Lake Matheson on the south island, we took this picture of a "perfect" reflection. On a clear day, we would see Mount Cook, New Zealand's largest at 12,218 feet. |
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| When we got to the southern tip of the north island, we spent the night in the parking lot next to the ferry, drove on board the next day and sailed some 60 miles or three hours to get to the south island. The south has fewer people, more sheep and mountains galore. | Thanks to Ajijic friends Peter and Sybilla, we joined up with their friends Shirley, Todd and Sophie. They live in a coastal town called Nelson. After giving us a tour of the area, we enjoyed dinner and conversation overlooking a marina. |
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| After a wonderful night's sleep at their home, we had breakfast, meandered through a huge Saturday market and got a big kick out of this Guinea Pig Village with a dozen pigs looking for treats. | We drove to Hokitika along the west coast which is the home of New Zealand Jade, called Pounamu by Maori which means "greenstone." In one store, we saw one as large as a couch. But mostly they are sold as pendants, bracelets, or other jewelry. |
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| One lane bridges are a common site throughout the south island. But this one had added significance. It also doubled as a train bridge. The sign indicates who has the right of way. | It was surprising to see the fall colors in April. We had planned to stay at some free campsites along the way, but none had electrical hook ups and with cooler temps, we needed it to run our heater. |
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| We left the coastal highway and drove inland and were in awe as we got closer to the Southern Alps. They are spectacular. | On the east side of the mountains, we spent some time touring Wanaka, a cute little town on an equally breathtakingly crystal clear lake. |
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| The area between Wanaka to Queensland is called Central Otago region and is known for its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards so we stopped at one for a bit of sampling. | Rather than drive an additional 12 hours from Queenstown to Milford Sound, we decided to fly in this 14 passenger Cessna Caravan. The pilot was the only person from New Zealand. |
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| In route to Milford Sound, we flew over the Southern Alps. This is one of 3,000 glaciers that dot the landscape of the New Zealand's south island. It, along with this green milky glacier lake, was one of the many highlights of our trip to Milford Sound. | Milford Sound is actually a fjord, misnamed by early explorers and is one of 14 fjords in Fyordland National Park. It gets over 200 inches of rain annually, which creates these giant waterfalls. Some days there are hundreds of waterfalls. |
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| Fjords were formed by glacier. Milford begins at the Tasman Sea, is 8 miles long and 1-1/2 miles wide, with peaks over a mile high and sea depths of over 1,360 feet. With only a few days of sun, this rainbow is a rare sighting. | The ride back to Queenstown was equally stunning. This is where the Southern Alps meet the Fiordland National Park, the oldest of New Zealand's 14 National parks. |
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| Lake Wakatipu is the third largest lake in New Zealand, over 110 square miles. This is one of a thousand pictures we took in the air. | As we were descending into Queenstown, we saw this peninsula converted into an 18 hole golf course. Awesome. |
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| Queenstown sits along the shore of Lake Wakatipu in the heart of the Southern Alps. It is transitioning from a summer adventure paradise of bungee jumping and jet boating to a winter paradise of downhill skiing with the longest vertical drops. | On our last day in New Zealand, we followed the north shore of Lake Wakatipu for 45 minutes to view one of the places used in the filming of the Lord of the Rings. As you can see, New Zealand was a no brainer for the film crew to make this part of the movie set. |
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| Sheep and New Zealand go hand in hand. While their sheep population is half of what it was in the 1980s, they still have more sheep per capita than any other country in the world -- 20 sheep for every person who lives here. | The weather could not have been better during our 10 day stay in New Zealand. After a short hike, we replenished ourselves with grilled chicken, salad and corn on the cob at a day camp set up for hikers. |
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| After we finish our picnic, we picked up Monja, a hitch hiker/back packer and gave her ride back to Queenstown. She lives in a village in the Black Forest of Germany and is spending seven months hiking throughout New Zealand. Flat Sierra joined her! | The campgrounds we stayed at were called Holiday Parks, made up of cabins, tents and plug in sites. Seventy-five percent of the campers were kids from around the world, like Monja, taking a year off between high school and college to explore the world and find themselves. |
Our impression of New Zealand:
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