Te Anau and Milford Sound, New Zealand

After Queenstown, we drove to Te Anau – a tiny lakeside town a couple of hours drive from Milford Sound. Lake Te Anau, seen from virtually anywhere in Te Anau, is one of New Zealand’s largest lakes. Our accommodations in Te Anau was particularly scenic, as we were perched on a hill that overlooked rolling green hills and pastured with snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Milford Sound is a spectacular fiord that was formed by glaciers cutting through mountains thousands of years ago. (Interestingly enough, Milford Sound was incorrectly named a sound by the Welshmen that discovered it. It is technically a fiord, which is a glacially sculpted canyon. A sound, on the other hand, is sculpted by a river.) The rocky cliffs surrounding the fiord were 1,600 meters high and covered with trees, greenery, and many waterfalls.

We took a nature cruise around Milford Sound that lasted a little over two hours. The ship was brand new and offered heaters as well as a café and full bar. The ship was small enough that it could sail underneath waterfalls and right up to the cliffs. We saw fur seals and many friendly, bottle-nosed dolphin. Milford Sound is a wildly natural and beautiful place, and we definitely think it’s a Must Do for anyone visiting the New Zealand. Check out the photos for evidence!

Queenstown, New Zealand

We arrived in Queenstown and walked around the very small city. It reminds us a lot of Lake Tahoe with towering mountains surrounding a picturesque lake, along with high-end shops and restaurants and an overall relaxed atmosphere. Queenstown is the self-proclaimed the “Global Adventure Capital” where we found many adrenaline junkies sky-diving, bunging jumping, canyoning and white water rafting. We somehow managed to abstain all of the extreme sports J. We spent a lot of time window-shopping, walking around the Queenstown Gardens, and hiking along the lake on the Frankton Walkway.

For the first time on our trip, we had free wifi in Queenstown. We have noticed that the New Zealanders do not use wifi much and it is expensive and hard to find. Free wifi was a welcomed change and allowed us to catch up on email and NFL scores!

Lake Tekapo en route to Queenstown, New Zealand

On Sunday, we rented a car (Toyota Corolla) to get from Christchurch to Queenstown, known widely as "the Adventure Capital of the world." (And yes, we drove on the wrong side of the road the whole way!) The drive to Queenstown is about 7 1/2 hours so we split the drive in half by staying overnight in a tiny vacation town called Lake Tekapo (teek-ka-poo).

Lake Tekapo is a beautiful and remote place, with a turquoise lake overshadowed by rolling hills and the Southern Alps mountains. The lake is turquoise as a result of "rock flour" (sediment) in the water's basin, which originated from a stony-bottomed glacier way back when. It's a photographer's paradise.

After a morning hike up nearby Mt John to scope the view and the famous observatory, passing lots of sheep along the way, we hopped back in the trusty Corolla and drove the remaining few hours to Queenstown. Queenstown is one of New Zealand's premier tourist spots, and, by checking our these photos (below), it's easy to see why. We'll be here for the next few days soaking it up.

Christchurch, New Zealand

We had a fantastic couple of days in Christchurch wandering around the small city. Christchurch is the most English of the New Zealand cities, with Euro influence reflected in many of the buildings' Gothic architecture, and we even saw the occasional old school red phone booth. Another English touch is the river that runs through the city is named the Avon. Along the Avon river there were gondola boats giving rides to tourists -- the Kiwis call these "punt boats".

Our first stop was the Christ Church Cathedral which is at the center of the city. (see photo above) After the church, we spent a couple hours exploring and people-watching in the Botanical Gardens. The gardens seemed never-ending and each part was more beautiful than the next.

That night, going on a hot tip from a local, we went to the Air New Zealand Cup rugby finals match- Canterbury vs. Wellington at the stadium. The game was very exciting, the local fans were enthusiastic and the home team (Canterbury) won. We made friends with some locals sitting in front of us and they helped us understand the

rules of the game (see photos).

The bubbling town of Rotorua, then on to Christchurch, New Zealand

On our final day in Auckland, we walked down to the harbor and took a short ferryride over to Devonport , a small village on the North Shore that is home to New Zealand’s Navy. We explored for a bit, including on North Head, where these photos were snapped, ate lunch at a café and headed back to Mt. Eden.

On Wednesday, we hopped an early bus south four hours to Rotorua, New Zealand’s most famous tourist town. Rotorua is known for its geothermal hot springs, bubbling mud polls and geysers. However, what we didn’t know was the sulfurous gases put out by the springs make the town smell like rotten eggs. We spent the afternoon and evening at a spa, dipping in various geothermal pools that were good for our muscles, joints, and skin.

Thursday was drizzly, but we walked around the town of Rotorua anyway, including the Kuirau volcanic park. We listened to a cover band at a pub called the Pig & Whistle and enjoyed our first adult beverages of the trip.

Friday we traveled to Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand. We took a beautiful three hour ferrry ride from the North Island (the city Wellington) to the South Island (the small village Picton) and then an awesome train ride down the rugged northeast coast of the island to Christchurch (see photos from ferry and train). We look forward to exploring Christchurch next!

Auckland, New Zealand

After 13 hours on a smooth flight from LAX, we arrived safely to Auckland, New Zealand. We've spent the past couple of days getting settled in, exploring New Zealand's largest city by foot, checking out Maori treasures at Auckland Museum, adjusting to no iPhone data plan(!), and wandering around the awesome neighborhood we are staying in, Mt. Eden, which includes a lookout from atop an old volcano (see photo on left). Auckland is home to about 1 million New Zealanders, and its volcano punctured land is surrounded by two harbors. The weather has been changing constantly from nice and warm to windy and chilly.

Today is our final day here in Auckland and we plan to take a ferry around the harbor. Tomorrow we'll head to Rotorua, home to natural geothermal spas.