Off Road New Zealand

    The first day when our group arrived into Auckland, we immediately began touring the city since we had only one overnight. Auckland is known as the "City of Sails" and has the second largest marina in the world. Auckland will also host the America’s Cup Race in February 2003 and currently holds the cup. We had a chance to experience sailing on one of the vessels that was designed for the America’s Cup Race in 1995. It was wonderful! There was a crew of about 5 members and the rest made up of our group. We had the opportunity to grind the sails and even sail the boat. When we were returning back to the dock, the wind was much stronger and our speed increased to about 10 knots. The sailboat was leaning over quite a bit and the waves were crashing on the side but certainly made the cruise even more enjoyable. It felt like we were competing in a race.

    The following day we drove from Auckland to the Coromandel Peninsula, which is about an hour and a half from the city. The drive was marvelous through the countryside with all of the sheep and deer farms. This area is made up of magnificent scenery along the coastline, which is dotted with numerous tiny uninhabited islands. The peninsula attracts foreign, as well as local visitors because of its flora and fauna and its gold rush history.

    Our hosts for the day’s activities were a local husband and wife team, Doug Johansen and Jan Poole. Doug is known as Kiwi Dundee because he grew up in Coromandel and is very familiar with the area. They offer small, private tours throughout the area, designed for each individual traveler. For our purposes, they gave us a wonderful overview. Doug showed us a region that used to be a gold mining settlement that is now covered by the bush. As we trekked through the bush, we made our way to a small cave of glow worms. In the light, they are very strange looking but once the lights are out, they glow a beautiful blue. Upon our return to the hotel that evening, we had a small head-on collision. We were hit by another car on a one-way bridge. Thankfully no one was hurt and it made the day more memorable.

    We then drove from Coromandel to Rotorua, again passing through the beautiful countryside. From the moment we arrived into Rotorua, we knew we were in a geothermal area. There is a scent of sulphur in the air, which we easily became accustomed to. Rotorua is the heartland of the Maori people and their culture. This is probably the best place in New Zealand to enjoy a Maori Hangi, which is a feast that includes a performance of native song and dance, followed by dinner. The Maori Cultural Center is also located in Rotorua. It is set amidst hot thermal springs, bubbling mud pools and spouting geysers. Rotorua is also the health and spa center of New Zealand. Each spa offers a wide range of health and spa treatments. I enjoyed the Polynesian spa and their natural hot thermal pools that were opened to the starry-night sky and full moon. Before we departed Rotorua, we enjoyed one more activity. I had the chance to drive a four wheel drive vehicle on an off roads course. It was so exciting! There were some obstacles that were scary and challenging but I’m glad that I had the chance to do it. I had no idea that there was so much to see in do in Rotorua and would recommend to anyone to spend some extra time in this great town.

    We were then on our way to the South Island and immediately noticed the change in temperature and surroundings. It was currently winter when we traveled to New Zealand, since their seasons are the reverse of ours, but the North Island was not too cold. However, when we landed in Queenstown a warm jacket and gloves were a must. The South Island is more mountainous than the North Island and the peaks were all covered in snow.

    Queenstown is an small, year round, alpine resort offering a variety of activities. It’s sister city is Aspen, Colorado and has a similar feel to the town area. There are four mountains surrounding Queenstown, which offer snow skiing, all within an hour drive. We took the gondola, located in the center of town, up to the top of the mountain. The views were spectacular of the town, lake and mountains. At the top, they offer an alpine slide, which is kind of like the luge, where you can steer a sled down a track along the mountain. There is also bungee jumping and tandem hang gliding too.

    One of the most popular attractions that Queenstown offers is its accessibility to the Fiordland and Milford Sound. This is a full day of sightseeing but well worth the time. Some of the most dramatic scenery in New Zealand can be found in the Fiordland. In order to travel to Milford Sound from Queenstown, you have 2 options: drive or fly. The most popular way to travel to Milford is to take the 5 hour scenic drive through the mountains and return by small airplane or helicopter. This allows you to see the country from two different views.

    The road to Milford Sound is one of the world’s finest drives. The road winds down through the mountains and valleys then through the Homer Tunnel to be meet by Mitre Peak towering over the glassy waters of Milford Sound. When we traveled to Milford, it rained a majority of the day. It is not unusual for Milford to experience this type of weather year round. Even though it was rainy and cloudy, there were hundreds of waterfalls everywhere. It was spectacular. Once we arrived to Milford Sound, we boarded a boat to enjoy a two hour cruise. The cruise was definitely a must because it provided close up views of the awesome scenery and towering cliffs. After the wonderful cruise, we took a helicopter back to Queenstown. The small planes could not operate in the rainy weather but the helicopters were still flying. The views from the helicopter were incredible. We were flying just above the snow covered mountains for half of the flight then the scenery changed to the rugged farmlands surrounding Queenstown. The flight was well worth the extra expense, not only for the views but it only took 40 minutes to return back to Queenstown.

    The next day we drove about an hour, outside of Queenstown, to a small town called Glenorchy. A majority of the movie, "Lord of the Rings" was filmed in this area. We took a high speed jet boat on the Dart River. The jet boat can travel at high speeds in very shallow water and make quick turns too. This was a lot of fun. There is another jet boat that travels on the Shotover River, that travels a high speeds in a canyon. It is more exciting than the Dart River because it travels close to the canyon walls. There is certainly a jet boat ride suited to meet anyone’s taste.

    The next morning we woke to find that snow had fallen throughout the town area. We were suppose to fly out that morning to Christchurch. Unfortunately due to the weather, no planes could fly into the Queenstown. We had to drive six hours to Christchurch but the scenery was nice. That evening when we arrived into Christchurch, I was surprised to find how large a city it is.

    Christchurch is the second largest city in New Zealand. It is known for its award winning gardens and English influence. The Avon River winds throughout the city and beautiful botanical gardens. Christchurch is also where the United States Research Center for Antarctic is located. New Zealand has a visitors’ center for Antarctic and information on the current research that they are conducting. One of the highlights of the center is the Hagglund - Antarctic Attraction. It is a designed like the vehicles used to travel in Antarctic. They have a very rugged course in which they take you over in the vehicle to simulate the terrain in the Antarctic. It was a blast, definitely a memorable experience. We also had the opportunity to visit a local sheep farm where see saw the dogs guiding the sheep and demonstration of sheep shearing. The end of winter and beginning of spring is lambing season, so there were lots of little lambs around.

    This was a wonderful trip despite a few problems that we had with weather and cancelled or delayed flights. New Zealand is a fascinating destination and it deserves more time than most travelers are willing to give. I plan on returning to New Zealand so that I can spend more time there and enjoy everything it has to offer. Please give me all if you are looking to plan a vacation to New Zealand, Australia or the South Pacific.

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Avon River in Christchurch