New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand — We have landed

Today we landed in Auckland around 12:00 after what was a 14 hour flight. After getting through customs without any incidents we found a city shuttle and were on the way to stay at our first ever... read →

Auckland — A short walk that turned into miles

Today we made our way into Auckland on foot to explore the city. What started out as a harmless idea ended up being somewhere close to 10 miles worth of huffing it. Nevertheless we ended up seeing a... read →

Auckland to the Coromandel Peninsula — Look kids, it's Big Ben

Today is the day we got our first set of wheels. Craig was voted first driver and did a great job. It was very weird at first but I made sure I kept him on the left hand side of the road. Finally a... read →

Coromandel to Fletcher's Bay — Fletcher's Bay

We hit the road early today in hopes that we could get in a hike around the peninsula. The drive was another excellent one and the views were spectacular. We couldn't find the hiking trail so we... read →

Coromandel to Mt. Maunganui — Visiting friends!

On the road again. We woke up to our first rain since we arrived but it quickly let up. Today consisted of stopping through Hahei to see Cathedral Cove and Hot Beach. After we found Mt. Maunganui we... read →

Rotorua — Zorbing

Today we ZORB'd and it rocked. We took off from Mt. Maunganui and traveled to Rotorua so we can ZORB. For those of you who do not know what ZORBing is, it's where you get inside the middle of a big... read →

Kaiate Falls and the Mount — Hiking and Kaiate Falls

Today we went to Kaiate Falls to do a quick hike. Kaiate Falls was only 20 minutes outside of Mt. Maunganui. It was nice little hike and we took some pictures of the Falls. Not getting enough... read →

Gisborne — Driving to Gisborne

We woke up early today and said goodbye to Andrea. JT left work too early for us so we said goodbye to him the night before. The entire day was spent driving from Mt. Maunganui to Gisborne where we... read →

Te Karaka and Napier — Kia Ora & Happy Birthday Barb

This morning we looked around town so I could call Mom and wish her a happy birthday. Her birthday is the 3rd, but it was the 4th for us here in New Zealand. After finding a pay phone and talking to... read →

Napier & Hastings — Wine Tasting

On Saturday we decided to do a wine tasting tour and off we went by 10:00. Now some of the wineries open at 10 and others at 11. The first winery we hit we were the only people there and we... read →

Napier — Burning off the wine tasting

After all of the indulgences we took part in on Saturday we decided Sunday would be an active day. We decided to walk into town and get a better feel of the Art Deco vibe and take in the ocean view... read →

Napier to Wellington — Driving down to Wellington

Today we left the Napier and Hastings area for Wellington. I was super psyched to find that most of the trip was straight highways so it seemed to go faster than the windy roads. We got into... read →

Upper Hutt — Hiking in Rivendell

Woke up to a bright and shining day. We've been so lucky with the weather and have been in heaven with the mild days. We decided to take advantage of the weather and went into the Upper Hutt area to... read →

Wellington — Checking out the city

Hung around the city both days. Nothing too spectacular or noteworthly about either. We did go to the Te Papa Museum on the 9th which was a nice museum and free no less. On the 10th we toured the... read →

Wellington to Picton — Heading to the South Island

Up early to make our 9:30 ferry. We are on the way to Picton, NZ today. The ferry will take 3 hours and it's looking like a great day is forming... Well we are in the South Island now. The ferry ride... read →

Picton — Hiking the Queen Charlotte Track

Today was another day for a hike. We decided to go a part of the Queen Charlotte Track. At the beginning we decided we'd do about a 2-4 hour hike but we decided to make it closer to 6 hours. We... read →

Picton, NZ — My birthday spent at the police station

Today Craig and I had planned to drive from Picton to Nelson. We were all ready to go and just got done filling the car up with gas and getting ice for our cooler. On our way out of town we took one... read →

Queenstown — Bungy Jumping Today

Ahh today was a great day! We slept in 'til 9:15 and did our bungy jump by 11:00. We did our bungy jump just outside of Queenstown at the Kawarau bridge over the Kawarau River. Tina was lucky enough... read →

Christchurch — Our last day in New Zealand

Today is our last full day in New Zealand and it has consisted of checking out Christchurch and getting some souvenirs. Christchurch itself is a cool town with a lot of nice architecture and seems to... read →