Mount Cook national park

Mount Cook (Aoraki) is New Zealand's highest mountain. The surrounding land is a national park with many impressive peaks and several large glaciers. The park provides easy access to walking tracks and spectacular views.

We arrived at the park headquarters at lunch time. The Department of Conservation has a beautiful campsite with snowy peaks as a back drop. Our initial plan was to have an easy afternoon with a short hike and some relaxation time around the camp ground.

As with any alpine location the weather can change fast and a new weather forecast turned our plan around. The weather was still great but during the night a storm was expected. We had to forget about our relaxing afternoon and put on our hiking boots and gear up for the hike ahead of us. If we wanted to see the glaciers and get a closer look at the surrounding nature there was no time for waiting around until the next day.

Our hike provided us with spectacular views of Mount Cook perfectly lit up by the sun with a bright blue background. It was however very windy, the predicted storm was on it's way. With 120 kilometer winds that night we almost thought that the motor home would blow away. Luckily it didn't and we could continue our journey around New Zealand.

Abel Tasman national park

After enjoying some relaxed beats at the hippie bar in Marahau the previous evening we were ready for a day hike in the Abel Tasman national park. Even though the hike was pretty much the opposite to our hike in Tongariro it was just as amazing.

Abel Tasman is a coastal national park with beautiful white sand beaches and turquoise water. All surrounded by native bush. Following the coastal hiking trail you encounter several unspoiled bays and lagoons. The only inhabitants are seals and exotic birds.

Nelson

Our first stop on the south island was Nelson where we visited Erika's old work colleague Lili. After the rain up north and the wind in Wellington, Nelson felt like the perfect place to visit. It is the town with the most sunshine per year in New Zealand.

After catching the early morning ferry across Cook Straight we had plenty of time for our drive to Nelson. We therefore decided to take the scenic route along the Marlborough Sounds. The road was windy and narrow but it was worth it. A number of lookout points along the way provided lunch and coffee spots with excellent views. Before we got to Nelson we also had time to stop and jump off some cliffs into a crystal clear river.

The day after we arrived in Nelson, Lili took us to her favorite swimming spot. After a BBQ lunch outside the motor home in the hot Nelson sun we jumped into the water to let the slow current take us down the stream.

At the end of our Nelson day we headed up along the cost towards the Abel Tasman national park. We wanted to spend the night in a good spot for the hiking adventures that were planned for the following day.

Wellington

New Zealand's capital is in a beautiful location on the southern tip of the north island. It provides stunning scenery with water in three directions. It is however also known for it's extreme wind.

During our visit to Wellington we got to see some great city scenery from the top of Mount Victoria and we sure got our fair share of wind as well.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

The Tongariro national park in the middle of New Zealand's north island is the countries oldest national park and the forth oldest national park in the world. It consists of three large volcanoes and is situated on a high altitude plane.

New Zealand is know as a country with many great hikes and the Tongariro national park is no exception. There are several hikes to choose between, the most famous being the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It is 19.4 km long and often described as New Zealand's best one day hike. Starting at an altitude of just over 1000 meters it climbs up to an altitude of 1866 where it crosses the mountain ridge between the two volcanoes Tongariro and Ngaruhoe before starting the descend.

We had to postpone our hike hike for one day when the weather forecast looked bad. With the alpine conditions along the crossing we did not want to risk getting stuck on the mountain in bad weather. As the forecast for the following day looked very good, the decision to postpone the hike was an easy one.

After a very cold night's sleep we got up early and started out hike at seven o'clock. The air was still misty and cold as we began the climb towards higher altitudes. As we continued hiking the mist cleared and the sun began to warm up the air, it was only the wind that did not want to be on our side.

The first part of the hike provided spectacular views of the mountain ridge that we were going to cross but the real wow feeling came once we reached the highest point of the trail. It was a landscape consisting of volcano craters, turquoise lakes and cone shaped mountains in the foreground and lakes, green fields and rivers in the background. With the view provided from the top on a clear day, the Tongariro Crossing is just not worth doing on a day with bad weather.

After a manageable but challenging seven hour hike we felt a sense of accomplishment. It was a great feeling to see our motorhome and know that there was well deserved beer in the fridge waiting for us.

Waitomo Caves

The Waitomo caves are formed from under water rivers and passages that erode huge cavernous tunnels. The rivers and waterfalls make for an adventurous trip to view not only the caves but also the glow worms. The glow worms are actually maggots the size of a matchsticks which burn off there waste matter that then produces a light.

In order to explore these caves we went down the underground river on inner tubes. This "black water rafting" included drifting down tight passages, limboing under low rock ceilings and racing down rushing water passages in complete darkness. The light from the glow worms guided us through this underwater labyrinth. The scariest part was jumping backwards in our inner tubes off a 3 meter waterfall in complete darkness.

Kiwi fruit and dairy cows

During our stay in Te Puke, Pär's host family took us to visit their kiwi fruit orchard and their dairy farm. Both kiwi fruit and dairy farming are very important industries in the Bay of Plenty region and it was interesting to learn more about these areas.

Kiwi fruit farmers are currently very worried because of a terrible bug that has attacked the golden kiwis. It is still unclear what makes it spread and the reason as to why it attacks only certain trees. An interesting fact about the kiwi fruit trees is that there are male and female trees. Only the female trees carry fruit but you need both the male and female trees together in an orchard for them to reproduce.

It was amazing to see how one person can milk 400 cows in an hour with a turn table milking machine. We also got to learn about how the cows are rotated between the  paddocks in order to maximize the amount of grass.

Thank you again for taking the time to show us around:)