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New Zealand in Feb/Mar of 2004 We first visited New Zealand in 1991. We loved it then and were not disappointed this trip! Because it's so far away, it’s taken this long to return. But its remoteness also preserves its magic. The landscape varies from mountains to coastline, volcanoes to rainforests, rolling hills and lakes to glaciers and lava fields. But the truly fantastic phenomenon is not only is this all accessible, but many of these extremes can be visited in the course of a day! We returned to a couple of our favorite locations but concentrated on visiting places we missed the first time around. So with hiking boots and sticks we set off for 3 weeks of travel, spoiling ourselves along the way with some excellent dining and wines. We mostly drove between destinations, but when the distances were too great or destinations too remote, we took some internal flights.
Our route:
(To view the original of this map, go to: http://www.backpack-newzealand.com/mapofnewzealand.html ) Referring to the map, we landed in Auckland [ 1 ] where we stayed only one night before driving to the Coromandel Peninsula [ 2 ] where we stayed 2 nights. From there we drove to Napier [ 3 ] for 2 nights. Next it was on to Tongariro National Park [ 4 ] for 3 nights. After an overnight in Wellington [ 5 ], we flew to the Abel Tasman National Park [ 6 ] for 4 nights. We then flew to Greymouth and continued by car to Fox Glacier [ 7 ] for 2 nights. Our next stop was Wanaka [ 8 ] for an especially relaxing 4 nights. Our journey ended with a drive pass Mount Cook and onto Christchurch [ 9 ] for our last 3 nights.
Our photos from along the way and at the following destinations: Sydney (stop-over on our way home) |
