Considering how I barely had any internet access during the entire duration of my New Zealand trip and struggled to go to all the places I wanted to in Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan, it ends up that I’ll be back documenting a bit.
Hiking wise, New Zealand was by far my favorite destination yet, although driving through New Zealand is something else altogether. If you’ve decided to take the rental car through New Zealand, be prepared for winding roads and steep inclines/declines especially in the South Island. That means do your best to get a car with the appropriate engine and power to travel rough terrains.
Photography wise, I couldn’t hold myself back from taking all the photos - themed and otherwise. The galleries are displayed below as previews, but can be found on separate links under the Photo Galleries section as well.
Noticing a significant amount of interesting fungi during my hikes, I also decided to dedicate an entire album to just the interesting mushrooms I’ve found.
Locations in this gallery include those below and surrounding areas:
Queenstown Hill
Milford Sound
Fox Glacier
Lake Matheson
Since my first experience with New Zealand was through Queenstown and I spent the most time in Queenstown during my South Island adventures, I ended up with many more pictures of Queenstown than anywhere else.
If you’re feeling especially adventurous and have no fear of driving in difficult terrains (i.e. steep, tiny mountain roads, sharp angles, long distances), South Island New Zealand is definitely the place for you. Fair warning though - since there are lots of mountains, sites that may seem a 30 minute drive and fairly close together may actually be 4-5 hours away from each other due to the mountains in between. I learned this the hard way when I tried to get from Fox Glacier to Mt. Cook only to find that the locations were not as close as I thought they were. The sites are amazing, and even when it’s rainy, the atmosphere is awe inspiring though in a completely different way.
Locations in this gallery include those below and surrounding areas:
Milford Sound
Glenorchy
Lake Matheson
Wanaka
North Island was a significantly easier drive, but beware of road construction. Some locations can only be accessed by one or two paths, which means if there is road construction, it will be nearly impossible to get to or you should expect a 2-12 hour detour. I was lucky on my first night in Wellington, as I was right in time for a local food festival and amazing clear days with stars.
I unfortunately did run into road construction while I was traveling through the North Island and ended up on a 2 hour detour to Auckland and did not end up being able to reach two of the locations that I wanted to visit. I was, however, extremely lucky in that it rained very little while I was on the North Island and I was able to spend many nights on beaches enjoying the stars.
Locations in this gallery include those below and surrounding areas:
Wellington
Hobbiton
Hamilton
Coromandel