Wrap-up New Zealand

Below is an interactive map of our approximate route through New Zealand and the places we stopped. To see a listing, click on the square on the upper left.



These are some highlights (in chronological order):

	Coromandel Peninsula Beautiful sunny beaches, stunning scenery, and fun hikes. Plus it's only a few hours drive from Auckland.
	Hobbiton A must stop for fans of Lord of the Rings. The tour is well worth the price of admission. Release your inner Hobbit!
	Flightseeing the Southern Alps A great way to see this fabled mountain range is from the air - especially on a clear day.
	Milford Sound There's a good reason why Milford Sound is listed as a "must see" in New Zealand. We were lucky to be there on a rare beautiful day.
	Abel Tasman Track Again it's easy to understand why this beautiful track always ranks high on the list for New Zealand hiking.
	Hot Springs There's no shortage of good hot springs especially on the North Island. We certainly did our best to try out as many as we could.

Overall the varied landscape is what impressed us the most about New Zealand. Yes, bigger mountains and more impressive glaciers can be found in Alaska and the Yukon, but to see them takes weeks of driving versus just a few hours in New Zealand. Don't like where you're at? Just drive a few miles down the road and it's completely different. The contrasts are amazing.

	From sunny beaches
	to ice and snow covered mountains
	then through ferny forests
	and even desolate volcanic deserts.

Then there's the Kiwi's themselves. We thoroughly enjoyed 99% of the people we met. In fact, we found fewer grumps in New Zealand than usual.

Most Kiwis live up to their  reputations as being both quirky and easy going. We especially got a kick out of the Kiwi bland of humor, which appears to be an earthier version of the traditional British tongue-in-cheek dry wit.

Once back home, a question we often get asked is "Was New Zealand THE trip of a lifetime?"  "No" we generally reply, "but it was certainly ranks up there as ONE of the trips of a lifetime."

In short, we had a blast and hope to return.

Nice place - it needs a little modernizing, but we'll take it!

Interested in visiting New Zealand? Try this page on travel tips - it's got all the stuff we wish we knew before we went.