We set out on Lake Wanaka today with Wanaka Cruises to Mou Waho Island, one of 4 islands in the lake. Mou Waho island has been cleared of introduced pests & predators (rats, stoats and possums) creating a reserve with diverse birdlife. The flightless Buff Weka has been ‘extinct’ on the mainland since 1920 but…

Lake Wanaka is ‘famous’ for the willow tree growing in the lake. It’s a popular spot for photographers! We tramped the Diamond Lake/Rocky Mountain Track today. A tough but lovely 6km mostly uphill! After hiking, we made a quick stop at the grocery store in town for dinner fixings. With relatively good timing, we made…

We said a sad goodbye to our rainforest lodge this morning and headed inland to Wanaka passing through Mount Aspiring National Park. We stopped at Ship Creek to walk the Dune Lake Track, a nice loop that starts in the forest and ends at the beach. Wilson Creek Chasm is somewhere between 800m and 1.5km…

Our lodge owns a secret penguin breeding area that is closely guarded from the public. Protection of these birds includes keeping the area free of dogs, rats and stoats to limit predation. Due to the mild human caretaking this rookery has grown from 30 breeding pairs to over 100 in the last 30 years. Meanwhile…

We completed the drive through Arthur’s Pass today, heading to the west coast with plans to stop several times. Our first surprise stop was about 1km down the road. The Bealey River Bridge was having some work done and closed to traffic for about half an hour. There are tons of one-lane bridges out here…

At breakfast this morning our B&B hosts invited us to watch the rugby World Cup game between the New Zealand All Blacks and the South Africa Springboks. Alas, after a nail-biting match, the All Blacks lost by one point. We think all of New Zealand is grieving today. After the devastating loss, we set out…

Punting on the Avon River is a popular tourist activity in Christchurch. We had booked a ride Tuesday afternoon but the high winds forced them to close for the day. We managed to rebook for early this morning so we could still squeeze it in. Our punter took us about 20 minutes up the Avon…

We were caught off guard this morning by cool temperatures and rain that quickly turned into snow. So we bundled up in all our merino wool layers and headed out. We drove about an hour north of Christchurch to the Canterbury wine region in Waipara to visit two wineries. At Terrace Edge winery, a small…

Today we explored Christchurch. We got a day pass to ride the 1900’s vintage sight-seeing trams that run through the Central Business District making 18 stops on their figure-eight route. Each driver offered up a running commentary about local sites often with some humor added. Our first stop was Victoria Square. New Regent Street is…

Unfortunately, air travel is often still a messy experience. We have done tons flights and have learned never to trust that things will just go as planned. When Air New Zealand moved our flight back a day it meant we couldn’t check into our Auckland-Christchurch leg on the day we left Vancouver. When we weren’t…