New Zealand Highlights

Chinese boot camp ended in December. Carmen had a seven week break beginning January 15. What more logical thing to do than spend a month travelling New Zealand?


We started in the far north--Auckland--and drove all the way to the south--Queenstown. We had two cute cars: Miranda and Oliver. Miranda was more of a glorified lawn mower, but Oliver had the kick of at least 10 horses.

Even though Carmen and Wilburt were not getting along, Carmen decided that she could and would do the 17 kilometer, 8 hour trek over Tongariro Crossing. Labelled 'the best day hike in the world', she simply wouldn't let a little campylobacter get in the way. It was a rigid, steep crossing over lots of scree, but we (including Wilburt) made it.



Sea kayaking are two romantic words. "Kayak" is even symmetrical! Within the first ten minutes of our two day kayaking/one day hiking trip, we came a cross a pod of over seventy dolphins. Carmen and I raced to the middle of the pod and played with the huge bottle nose dolphins swimming below the kayak. It was like being in the middle of a shaken soda can--bubbles and splashes were erupting from all sides.

The rest of our trip was filled with smaller mammals: seals and seal pups. Seals have been protected in New Zealand since the '70's and the population has since erupted. Most islands were teaming with lazy bulls and wrinkly pups. Unexpectedly, my seal calls didn't do the job of luring the beasts from their warm rocks.



Franz-Josef glacier is the largest low-elevation tropical glacier in the world--or something with an equal amount of qualifiers. We threw on the pseudo-crampons and hiked on the ice for two hours. Alas, I didn't have such a large axe for the entire journey. The guide loaned it out to make me look more manly for the picture--I don't know why he only handed it to me though...

The Kepler Track is known as one of New Zealand's 'Great Walks' and great it certainly was. The four day hike snaked across the rim of the mountain range and provided birds-eye views of the fjords below. The weather is always supposed to be rainy in NZ, but we didn't see more than a few drops the entire time.

The time Carmen and I spent with my parents will go down as the best I have ever had. At one point, Carmen said, "Wait a minute; you aren't supposed to have this much fun with parents!". That just about sums it up. My dad, Gail, Carmen and I hiked the Kepler, dined in delicious restaurants, drove on the wrong side of the road and cruised the sounds of New Zealand. Throughout the ten days my parents were in New Zealand, they shared stories and advice about the road ahead, which has already proved extremely valuable.