This was a very special year – with a birthday which is divisible by 10. The birthday request? Be out of the country, somewhere far away on the day. So, in typical fashion, that started the planning wheels spinning.
Planning actually started a year in advance. Our love for the outdoors and hiking made New Zealand a real draw – not to mention things like their Great Walks, the Milford Track, and the big bonus of it being early summer AND the possibility of crossing the International date line on a very special birthday, in effect, skipping the day! It was perfect!
We decided against doing a multi-day trek – it would make the logistics a bit easier. While there are huts with cooking facilities along the great walks, one needs to carry food for the multi-day. And with a multi-day, you’re always at the mercy of the weather – ‘zero’ days just aren’t an option on a multi-day trek. Instead, we planned for day hikes – with a little vacationing mixed in.
And it really turned into a truly epic vacation – we experienced some summer heat and sunshine and at least one gale with probably 5+ inches of rain in as many hours, we did some hiking in the snow, saw multiple rainbows and waterfalls, trekked through some alpine environments and a few different cold rain forests. And we also did a few touristy things – visited the Sydney Opera house and walked across it’s famous harbor bridge, we took a gondola ride up to a ski field, visited a few vineyards, and took a cruise through some fiords – all halfway around the world, for over 2-1/2 weeks.
You can read about the multiple hikes in the following blogs:
Ben Lomond Track
Roy’s Peak Track
Routeburn Track, section to Routeburn Falls Hut
Lake Alta Track
Queenstown Hill
Milford Track, section to Giant’s Gate Falls
Lake Marian Track
Kepler Track, section to Moturau Hut
In all, roughly 63 miles of trekking, with a total elevation gain just shy of 3 miles.
Read also about some of the touristy things we did:
Sydney and Manly Bay
Queenstown, Arrowtown, and the Vineyards
Milford Sound and the Cruise
Definitely an epic adventure – oh, and one of the highlights was the return trip from Australia in business and first class – it should really be on everyone’s bucket list.
In all, New Zealand has some very beautiful countryside. We only saw a small portion, staying on the south island and centering near Queenstown. Even so, we experienced some stunning scenery and it’s definitely a place we’d return. Until next time.