This entry will include many spoilers for the Wētā Unleashed experience. If you want to go, I’d recommend perhaps skipping this one. Wētā 1: a large brown wingless insect related to the grasshoppers, with long spiny legs and wood-boring larvae, found only in New Zealand. Translates to “God of all ugly things”. That’s it, back […]
Read MoreToday was a travel day, resulting in what I think will be a short but sweet entry. We woke up well rested after our feast at Hobbiton, got ourselves ready and started our travels towards Auckland. As we made our way through the winding roads and rolling hills towards the city, the landscape slowly transitioned […]
Read MoreDisclaimer: This post is very heavy in photos, so may take longer to load than usual. 12, 058 Steps 143 km Driven Today we move on from Rotorua and make our way towards Matamata for another bucket list experience. But first up, we’ve booked tickets to the Wai-o-tapu Geothermal Wonderland. In Maori, Wai = Water, […]
Read Moretitiwai 1. (noun) glowworm, Arachnocampa luminosa, adult fly of the glowworm. Translates to “lights reflected in water”. This morning we had a pretty long and early drive out to Waitomo, so after fueling up with a Micky D’s stop (the sausage muffins were specifically recommended to us to experience the beef – I agree, it’s pretty top), we […]
Read More11,911 Steps Today we have a couple of interesting things planned, first up being Rotorua Zip-lines! We had a group of 10 guests in our group and 3 guides to take us around the Okere falls area, showing us the highlights, teaching us about the local wildlife and Maori stories tied to the area, all […]
Read More13,217 Steps Surprise daylight savings coming into effect meant this morning was a mission to wake up. We had 7am alarms (4am back home) to give ourselves plenty of time to get ourselves completely repacked and out to explore Christchurch for a few hours since we fly to the north island today. Last night we […]
Read More349km driven Today we say goodbye to the mountains and make our way towards Christchurch. Another long travel day which started with a stop at Lake Pukaki. It was a little overcast at the start of today, which meant that the lake didn’t have its bright turquoise shine, but the sight was beautiful nonetheless. We […]
Read MoreA journey well worn Eternal sleep in the bay Ice becomes the sea 20,314 Steps 15.01km walked 21 “floors” climbed We woke up to the most incredible weather! Sun shining, blue skies, bright white snow over the mountains – night and day to what we experienced yesterday. As much as that is salt in the […]
Read MoreEmails have told us that at this stage, we should be boarding a helicopter and visiting the peak of Mount Cook today, but looking outside this morning makes me second guess that optimism. Until we know for sure, it’s all systems go! This morning we had a short walk planned, but we sort of messed […]
Read More378km driven Today is our biggest drive of the trip, where we’re leaving Te Anau and snaking our way through Arrowtown, Wanaka and landing about half way up the south island in Twizel, which is pretty much a full day of driving. Tomorrow is planned as our heli-hike day on Mount Cook, but that is […]
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