Where does one go for a weekend getaway in Auckland New Zealand in the middle of winter?  Rotorua hot springs of course. Its an easy and beautiful 2 hour drive south of Auckland through farm and hobbit country.  We stayed at the Hamurana Lodge over the weekend which I would highly recommend.

Instead of driving our campervan the 4 plus hour one-way trip to get to Milford Sound from Queenstown we opted for the Mitre Peak coach-cruise-coach tour bus experience.  We met the bus in Queenstown at about 7am to begin our (very long) daytrip.  The luxury liner bus was very comfortable but unfortunately our driver seemed incredibly fond of hearing himself talk so we spent most of the morning listening to him saying things like:

"and on your left you will see the old Lake Wakitpu yes the old lake is pretty impressive....and next to the old lake you will see the old manuka bushes which can be recognized by the small white flowers on them..."

It went on and on but to his credit, he actually did have a few interesting stories about the history of the South Island.

We learned that President Roosevelt (an avid hunter) gave a gift of 20 Elk to New Zealand in 1909. After letting them run free up in the mountains, they multiplied rapidly and began to destroy the local bush. As this became a major problem, the NZ government decided to place a bounty on any deer killed. Eventually this lead to farming of the deer as they learned they could sell the meat and skin for leather as well as the antlers for medicinal reasons to certain Asian cultures. We actually passed quite a few deer farms on our trip and we often saw venison as a specialty item on the menu. Kingsley and I also had the opportunity to try some of the local venison on New Years Eve and found it to be very good.

The Possum was introduced in 1837 because people had killed off the majority of the seal population that New Zealand had. Before the arrival of humans a population of about 2 million fur seals inhabited New Zealand. The onset of European sealing for meat and pelts in the 1700s and 1800s pushed them to the brink of extinction. Since their protection in 1978 numbers have increased gradually. Current  population estimates are 50,000-60,000 fur seals. Anyway, they decided to bring this Possum in to help offset the fur seal trades. The possums here are very soft and reddish color, not the grey we find at home. After a lot of great trading happened initially and then animal activist started to get involved and protesting. At this point, the price of fur went lower, people stopped hunting them. With no natural predators in New Zealand the possum population has exploded and is still a big problem today. They are currently eating the vegetation faster than it can grow.


On the way to Te Anau (the bathroom break spot halfway to Milford Sound) we passed some beautiful lakes, snow covered mountains, green grassy farms with sheep and elk, and rough rocky terrain. We stopped in Te Anau for 30 minutes for a bathroom break and a quick cup of tea to warm up as the old bus driver liked to keep the bus pretty cold!



As we started up over the Divide, the point at where the Fiordland Mountains and the Southern Alps meet, we began to go through some absolutely breathtaking scenery. Glacier covered mountains with lakes at the base and amazingly green forests all around us.





With 182 days of rain every year, Milford Sound is one of the wettest places in New Zealand.  Thankfully although it had rained a ton the previous few days, it didnt rain a drop the day we were there.
After arriving in Milford Sound we hoped on the Mitre Peak Cruise Boat which took us on a 2.5 hour tour of the actual Sound and all the way out to the Tasman Sea. The winds were a little strong for the first part of the trip made for a very chilly ride if you were standing outside, so Kingsley and I found a cozy spot inside and enjoyed our self-packed picnic lunch. Most everyone else on the boat had opted for the pre-purchased lunch which looked pretty dismal in comparison to our smoked salmon, goat cheese, fresh fruit and chocolate picnic. After lunch the sun came out and the view was incredible.

The 45 minute journey from Queenstown to Glenorchy was one of the most scenic drives we have ever experienced. The road follows the edge of Lake Wakatipu, providing spectacular views of the surrounding mountains which rise abruptly from the lake's shores.  The day started off a little cloudy which provided a mystical backdrop for our multitude of photos.

It makes perfect sense to me that the spectacular landscape around Glenorchy has been the backdrop for many film locations including the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Narnia movies.


This is the area where they filmed the Lord of the Rings section depicting the Misty Mountains.  We literally saw no one as we drove around the backcountry. It was incredibly amusing to watch the, beautifully fluffy - but mostly deviod of thought, sheep panic as we drove by.  The sheep were fenced in pastures leading right up to the main highway and yet they seemed shocked to see a car coming down the road. As we drove along we would see a mass of sheep, heads down, chomping away on grass, and then all of a sudden they would scatter in a chaotic mix of running, leaping over invisible fences and pushing each other in the rush to get away from our car. If you are the sort of person (and I most certainly am) who enjoys watching such erratic behavior, then sheep watching in New Zealand will provide you hours of entertainment.



Glenorchy is small folksy town with a Tavern and Genuine Possum Fur shop as the main attractions. Here Kingsley is standing in the main intersection in the town.  I am fairly certain he could have stood there for quite sometime before any cars came along.

From the town of Glenorchy we traveled deeper into "Middle Earth" by following the road signs which lead us to the start of the infamous Routeburn track. We ended up driving down a very bumpy gravel road for about 40 min without seeing a single other person or car before we reached the start to the Routeburn track. At the entrance we saw a few hikers preparing to begin the 4 day trek and a few that had just completed it. They all looked very impressive with their backpacking gear and walking poles.  I have to hand it to the Japanese hikers though, they really took it up a notch with matching outfits head to toe.   (Note to self - one of these days I need to find a way to trick Kingsley into wearing matching outfits with me.)


If we had had more time I think it would have been a fantastic trek to do.  I was able to walk a short section of the beautiful track which included crossing a raging river on a swing suspension bridge.

One of the highlights of being in Queenstown was getting to spend some time with our good friend Abe Laguna who is the owner of Fly Paragliding. Kingsley and Abe have been paragliding together for many many years so it was extra special for them to spend some time in the air together.  I was also very fortunate to get a chance to fly tandem with Abe.  There are very few tandem pilots in this world that Kingsley would trust to fly me but Abe is the best of the best and we had a fantastic flight together.


A video overview of our trip which includes my tandem flight with Abe Laguna.




Queenstown has such stunning scenery everywhere you look. It has to be one of the most scenic spots we have ever flown.

The Onsen Hot Pools experience is all about unwinding and relaxing while soaking-up the spectacular scenery looking out over the Shotover River. I booked the Onsen experience as a surprise for Kingsley on New Years Day.  Kingsley typically does not handle surprises very well so he was incredibly anxious about what was in store for him.  I probably didn't help matters by telling him to bring a flashlight,  his swim trunks and the GoPro camera. After swimming with wild dolphins a few days earlier I'm sure his head was spinning trying to figure out what we would be doing, especially with all the crazy adventure activities available in Queenstown.  I am pretty sure he was convinced that I had planned some extreme nighttime whitewater rafting excursion (which actually sounds really fun!).

On our way to the Onsen, I did mis-lead him a bit by making him drive into the entrance of the Shotover river water sport activities center just to keep him guessing (and freaking out for as long as possible). I am sure he was incredibly relieved when we finally arrived at the Onsen.

There are 6 private pools at the Onsen - each one is a large cedar tub that seats about 4 people - with a retracting window. I booked the candlelight package from 9pm - 10pm which was cozy and romantic. The view from our tub out over the Shotover River was stunning and very peaceful. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone who is spending a few days in Queenstown.

We went to the New Years Eve party at the Bathhouse in Queenstown.  It’s one of the most iconic eateries in all of Queenstown, located in a Victorian bathhouse built in 1911.

I pre-booked our NYE tickets about 3 months in advance. The tickets were $90 per person which included a welcome glass of champagne and unlimited tapas all evening.  The staff was great and were always bringing around drinks and tapas. We found the food to be excellent quality and seemingly endless - some of our favorite items were the venison, oysters, salmon and the portobello mushrooms. The Bathhouse is the only beachfront restaurant/bar location in Queenstown so it had by far the best undisturbed view of the fireworks.

It was an unusually rainy cold New Years Eve so I felt very fortunate to be warm and dry with a stunning view of the lake. I am not sure we would have had very much fun with the massive crowds standing outside along the lake promenade shivering for hours waiting for the fireworks to start.

By the end of our evening at the Bathhouse we had met new friends and everyone clearly enjoyed themselves.

An important note to make sure you have a great experience at the Holiday Parks.  Make sure your campsite is VERY near the bathrooms and kitchen. We learned this trick early on and it made life so much easier.

After spending several days in the rain driving down the West Coast we were pretty happy to leave it behind and arrive in sunny Lake Wanaka. Wanaka is is a beautiful little town nestled within a ring of stunning mountains.


As I mentioned earlier, we saw very few people while driving along the West Coast of the island. We drove through entire towns that seemed completely deserted and kept asking ourselves "where are all the people?".

When we arrived in Wanaka, we found the people...ALL the people! The campsites in town were PACKED full of people, tents, boats, bikes and cars.  We actually passed on staying at the Lake Wanaka Top 10 Holiday Park campsite for the night when they offered to cram us into a tiny (technically not a spot) spot between two campsites.


So we drove onward about 10 minutes out of town to the Glendhu Bay campsite and were fortunate enough to be given one of the very last spots available. Evidently the entire population of the South Island camps in Wanaka between Christmas and New Years. Entire extended families were all camping together and had some seriously elaborate tents systems set up. There were kitchen tents, sleeping tents, family hang out tents, and children time-out tents. It was pretty impressive. Aside from being overwhelmed by the volume of people in one tiny campsite we were also a little ashamed by our lack of tenting accessories. I am fairly certain we got a few crazy looks as we "set up camp" with our tiny campervan awning!

After days of hardly seeing anyone - it was a bit of a shock to be packed in with so many other campers but it was a fun family friendly environment. The campsite is right on the lake so we enjoyed a post evening stroll through the campsite and along the lake, secretly checking out and ranking all the fancy tents as we went along.

Tea and a serious game of Gin Rummy was our typical post dinner routine.  Poor Kingsley didnt stand a chance at cards but he was a good sport about it (most of the time).

The West Coast, or ‘the Coast’ as locals call it, is a wild place of rivers, glaciers, rain forests, and rugged coastline.  We saw so many beautiful landscapes it seemed like we were always pulling off the road to take pictures. We learned the sandfly lesson the hard way at our first stop. We left the car doors open as we took a few pics.  When we got back in the car it was infested with sandflies.  It was the Sandflies vs Lynn as I became the official sandfly swatter for the next few miles - it wasn't pretty.   Between Kingsley and I we had at least 50 bites. Sandfly bites are so much worse than mosquito bites as they remain itchy and sting for days after.