We took three nights in Queenstown. One day, we drove to Glenorchy and went out for a trip on the Dart River. This area is magical in its beauty. The backdrop of the mountains are stunning. We went upriver into Mount Aspiring National Park on a jetboat, passing one Lord of the Rings (Isengard) filming location. After going up river, we switched to inflatable kayaks and paddled back down.

After Queenstown, we drove to Te Anau, back on the wet side and rain forest. We did a 6-mile hike on a portion of the Kepler Track.

The next day we took a tourist bus to Milford Sound where we boarded a small cruise boat for a 2 hour journey on the sound. Usually one is able to make the 2-hour drive to Milford Sound independently, but there was a horrendous storm about a month before us that caused widespread damaged that closed the road completely for a while. Due to current road repairs , they were only allowing buses to pass either way at specific times each day. To add to the adventure of the day, our bus got a punctured tire on the way back. We took the opportunity to take photos in the road and relax. It was a nice break in the ride.

Click here to see the complete collection of photos from our New Zealand Adventure.

We crossed over to the west side of the south island at Arthur’s Pass in a downpour. We drove to the small village of Okarito on the coast where we would have gone kayaking if not for the rain. Instead we went for a short walk in the wetlands and rainforest. It was beautiful in the forest, but then the rain returned so we turned back.

The next day was overcast but the rain had passed. We were off to the Alex Knob Track, 10 miles with an elevation gain of 3,600 ft. The rainforest was steamy from the previous day’s rains as we started.

On our way, there were two places where there was an opening in the trees to give us a view of the Franz Josef Glacier. Unfortunately, when we reached the top at Alex Knob we were in the clouds and there was no view.

The next day we drove to Lake Wanaka (back to the dryer side of the island) with lots of stops and photo opps. The day after that we did the hardest hike of the trip. Roy’s Peak Track was 10 miles with a nonstop gain of 4,000 feet. The weather was great and the views were magnificent!

Click here to see the complete collection of photos from our New Zealand Adventure.