Our trip to NZ began with our quick stop over in Fiji (Fiji blog link- here). That felt like a loooong ways away once we got to Queenstown. First stop- our amazing hotel, the Sherwood. Sherwood's whole vibe is like Brooklyn meets New Zealand. They have a hipster open space for the lobby, loads of communal tables, a quality coffee shop and a delicious farm to table restaurant. Every detail was thought through in terms of sustainability. I felt right at home. Day 1 we went out early to bungy jump (Matt, not me)! The Kawarau bridge is where they invented the bungy so one of us had to do it. It is INSANE. We had a lot of hiking in our plans and wanted to explore some near by mountains. We spent a couple hours hiking ("walking" as they call in there) Mount Crighton. The perfect quick afternoon hike.
While we were planning this trip we kept finding blog posts with campervan itineraries. Luckily we realized it was the ONLY way to get the full south island experience and booked one. We rented our camper from Britz. Our little home on wheels was so perfect for our 8 day adventure. Day 1 - Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo. The turquoise glacial lakes were the brightest blues we've ever seen. The pictures don't do it justice, it was unreal. The area is one of a few designated dark sky reserves in the world. There is so little light pollution that it looks like every inch of the sky is full of stars. From Lake Tekapo we headed to Mt. Cook Village. Here we were surrounded by snowy mountains and of course more glacial lakes. The campground/parking lot in Mount Cook National Park is the trail head to the hooker valley track. The hike is 3 hours full of icebergs, swing bridges and glaciers. The scenery here was one of the highlights of our trip. You could pick up glacial ice right out of the lake.
To break up the drive down to the Milford Sound we spent the next day in Wanaka. We hadn't planned much there other than wine (Ripon Vineyard). Once we got talking to a few kiwis we realized we had to hike to Rob Roy Glacier. We put our campervan to the test in some serious off roading through rural farm land. I was in awe as we drove past cows and baby sheep for an hour (the gopro footage is straight up unbearable to listen to). This hike was such a surprise and one of our favorites. Since its unpaved roads a lot of tourist don't find themselves out there but it is a must if you find yourself in Wanaka!
SO much more to come from NZ... part II coming soon :)
xx, J
Do:
Church of the Good Shepard (Lake Tekapo)
Tekapo Springs (Lake Tekapo)
Hooker Valley Track (Mt. Cook National Park)
Rippon Vineyard (Wanaka)
Rob Roy Track (Wanaka)
Eat:
Sherwood Queenstown (Queenstown)
Ivy & Lola's (Queenstown)
Bakery (Wanaka)
Stay:
Sherwood Queenstown (Queenstown)
Lake Tekapo Motels & Holiday Park (Lake Tekapo)
White Horse Hill Campground (Mt. Cook National Park)
Wanaka Holiday Park (Wanaka)
