Our decision to switch our hiking days paid off. Yesterday’s cold front passed through after dropping about six inches of snow in the valley, leaving the air crisp and clear, and the termperature hovering around freezing. We drove over to the trailhead for the Hooker Valley Track, a 10 km return hike (6.2 miles, round-trip). … Continue reading →

The original plan for our first full day at Aoraki/Mount Cook NP was to hike to Hooker Lake. It is from that vantage point that you have the best view of Mount Cook. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate as another cold front was passing overhead that morning, enshrouding the mountains with cloud cover and … Continue reading →

In 1905, my favorite U. S. President, Teddy Roosevelt, gave ten North American Elk to the then-British Colony of New Zealand (the islands became a British dominion in 1907 and an independent nation in 1947). They were released into the wild midway between Milford and Doubtful Sounds, together with an additional ten purchased by the … Continue reading →

After our hike on the Milford Track, we drove back down to Te Anau to spend the night. Next morning, Wednesday, October 30, we hopped back into the car and headed for Pearl Harbor at the settlement of Manapouri to catch the ferry across the lake. That’s our boat, furthest to the right. We’re off … Continue reading →

Returning to the lodge after kayaking, we learned that the forecast for the following day was rain, a disappointment since we planned to go hiking. But we were encouraged the next morning upon throwing open the curtain to see clearing skies and an early ground fog slowly climbing up the mountain, an indication of warming … Continue reading →

Monday morning we were up early to go kayaking in Milford Sound with Rosco’s Milford Kayaks on their half-day, guided rentals they call the “Sunriser Classic.” We headed down to the meeting point at Deepwater Basin where the commercial fishing boats dock. They mostly haul lobster pots. There were eight couples signed up to go … Continue reading →

Our first excursion in Milford Sound was to explore the entire sound by boat, an afternoon voyage with Southern Discoveries (iPhone app here). We left Freshwater Basin in the early afternoon. Just around the point from the harbor was the first of many beautiful waterfalls we would see, Bowen Falls. Here’s a view looking back … Continue reading →

On Friday, we drove from Queenstown to Te Anau, the gateway to Fiordland National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the  largest of New Zealand’s 13 national parks, encompassing 10% of the country’s land mass, the Southern Alps, and 14 fjords. Our plan was to visit two of the fjords, those accessible by vehicle: … Continue reading →

In land area, New Zealand (inclusive of both islands) is about the size of the state of Colorado. Like each of our fifty states, New Zealand is divided up into administrative districts, similar to how states are carved up into counties (the exceptions being Alaska, which is divided into boroughs, and Louisiana which is split … Continue reading →

Immediately upon docking in Aukland, we hopped onto the airport bus to catch our plane to Queenstown. It was a short, two-hour flight, with crystal clear skies and views of the snow-peaked mountains of New Zealand’s Southern Alps as we neared the airport. Mount Cook is in the Southern Alps. We’ll be visiting it near … Continue reading →

We were aboard the cruise ship for two days in Hawaii, followed by five days at sea, then two days in French Polynesia, one each on Tahiti and Mo’orea, the subjects of my last two posts. After leaving French Polynesia, we were at sea for seven days before ultimately seeing land again, that is, the … Continue reading →