New Zealand - Page 1
Our big trip for summer 2006 was to New Zealand for 2 weeks to cool off and get to see some good mountains. Felicia, Kendra, Susie, Larry and I flew to LA and then on to Auckland (12-hour flight for the final leg). We decided to spend one night on the North Island and the rest of our time on the South Island. The girls booked us to stay in some interesting cabins, bed & breakfasts and on some farms.
We saw beautiful mountains and valleys, glaciers, snow, beaches, rain forests, fiords and met some very nice people. Also saw millions of sheep and deer and cows and some very nice farms and vineyards. We have all decided that we could be very happy living in New Zealand (if they get a few more TV channels).
2023 Note: I have been to 48 countries so far and this trip is still one of our favorite trips. I have been back to New Zealand for work, and I would go back any time for vacation.
Click on any photo to see a larger view
We flew into Auckland and while still very tired and sleepy learned how to drive on the left-hand side of the road. Larry and I are now old pros at driving on the left-hand side, we drove over 2500 km on our trip – we are now ready for our trip to Ireland.
After arriving in Auckland, we drove to the town of Rotorua to see the volcanic hot spots, steam vents, geysers and to see the large Maori villages. We spent our first night in Rotorua and then we flew down to Christchurch to start our trip on the South Island.
On the South Island, we drove in a large loop around the island that started and ended in Christchurch. We spent our first night at Arthur’s Pass high in the mountains, the next two nights at Frans Joseph Glacier on the west coast by several glaciers, two more nights at Queenstown, two nights at Te Anau near Milford Sound on the west coast, two nights at Lake Tekapo near Mt. Cook and the last night on a farm outside of Christchurch.
