We spent a wonderful two weeks in New Zealand. It is a beautiful country, and all the beautiful spots and all close together, so we were able to see quite a lot. There are lovely scenic drives all along the coast and through the pastoral countryside, where you could see fluffy white sheep grazing peacefully in the fields. We climbed Mt Doom, aka the mountain used in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy to represent the evil volcano of Mordor. At least, we climbed partway up before the weather got bad. Among other highlights, we bathed in a natural thermal river! The temperature was perfect...about 40 degrees, and it was just like a jacuzzi except it was a flowing river surrounded by lush natural vegetation!
We enjoyed wine tasting in the wine region of Marlborough, and then drove down to Dunedin where we visited my aunt and her husband. They were very gracious hosts and they were sorry we could only stay one night! Our schedule was tight. We drove through the Fjordlands and camped by a lakeside with a beautiful mountain view. Then we did a hike through the valley near Mount Cook and had a marvellous view of that famous peak. All in all, it was mainly just beautiful scenery. Kiwis are really fond of the outdoors and they have a lot of infrastructure and tourist information set up to help you enjoy it.
We enjoyed the busker festival in Christchurch before flying to Sydney, where we spent the morning walking around the harbourfront. The Sydney opera house was kind of cool, but not amazingly impressive in real life. Then we drove into the Blue Mountains for more beautiful views (and some bright coloured parrots!), and camped a night near some noisy drunk tourists (grr)! In the coolness of the morning we went to a few lookouts on the mountains, and then decided to drive back to the Australian coast. It's too HOT to not be near the beach!
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