New Zealand Jan 2026

Today we actually got to sleep in! Of course, we didn’t. We’ve been awake by 5:30 or 6 most mornings and today wasn’t an exception. But we had a leisurely start and headed out for a short walk before breakfast. Breakfast was the hotel buffet and I stuck to yogurt and coffee.  After breakfast, we were given a box lunch to eat later in the day. We then all headed over to the Kingsgate Hotel for a conservation lecture. It was interesting but not much new information from what we’ve already heard. Undoubtedly, I have learned a lot about the wildlife in New Zealand and how much work is being done to save the birds from extinction.  We had some free time before our next event. Matt and I headed out and walked a few miles along Lake Te Anau. It was a cloudy morning but not raining and pretty nice. I actually took my jacket off. We returned from our walk and ate a little lunch in our room. We headed down to the jetty at 1:45 to meet the group for our Te Anau Glow Worm Tour. The wind h...

Today was the earliest morning yet. Downstairs at the hotel buffet at 6:45 and on the bus at 7:15. The drive to Milford Sound is 120 km and our cruise is at 10:30 so an early start is needed.  The drive was incredibly beautiful. The day started out very cloudy but we started seeing some sun breaks with the mountains peaking out. We started to realize what the New Zealand hype is all about. The fjords are magnificent. Hard to describe. We stopped at Mirror Lake and did a very short walk. We couldn’t see much as it is was too cloudy but there was a billboard picture there and the mountains surrounding the lake are spectacular. We continued our drive with another short stop. By now, we could see more of the mountains. Incredible.  We arrived at Milford Sound at about 10:00. Walked around some and soaked up the incredible beauty. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. Got on the cruise at 10:30. The boat is really nice and they served us a box lunch which was quite good. W...

On the road again. We were out of bed at 6 am and packed and ready to go at 6:45. Walked up to the cafe where we would eat breakfast. The food is good and the coffee is marvelous. I didn’t sleep very well last night. Had a very vivid dream that David was alive and I was trying to explain all the decisions I’d made since his death. It was a bit unsettling. After breakfast, we boarded the bus and started our trip to Te Anau. It was a beautiful trip. Through the rolling countryside of New Zealand, peppered with sheep and cows. We stopped about half way for a bathroom stop and I bought another Americano at a place called Coffee Bomb. It was good but not as good as the coffees in the cafes.  We drove through Te Anau to the Kepler Track, a hike in the Fjordland National Park. The group divided into two hikes, one longer than the other. We hiked the long one of course. The day was nice, cloudy but pleasant. The foliage reminded me a lot of the Olympic Forest in Seattle, moss and ferns eve...

I woke up feeling like a truck hit me. My head was throbbing and I had a hard time getting out of bed. Matt is always so gracious and got up and showered first.  I finally dragged myself out of bed and showered. We got to the cafe for breakfast and I started feeling better. My ciabatta sandwich was absolutely fabulous. The ciabatta is like nothing I’ve ever eaten. So good. And of course, the coffee was wonderful.  After breakfast, we boarded the bus and headed to Omakau where we will be fitted for our bikes to do our bike ride today. We will be riding a section of the Otago Central Rail Trail that will cover about 18 miles. After everyone had been fitted and worked out the kinks, the bikes were put on a trailer to take to the start of the ride in Oturehua. It is kind of funny. At both the bike rides, there was one bike with no name on it. Both times it was mine. Not sure if the universe is telling me I’m nameless. But I’m ok with it.  We took the bus the rest of the way t...

We packed so much activity into this day. Wow. I’m so tired writing this. Last night, we had a very amusing thing happen. It was about midnight and Matt and I were both asleep. We woke up to someone in our room. The person was profusely apologizing saying she had accidentally gone into the wrong room. We just lay there quiet. I recognized the woman’s voice and realized she was part of our group. She struggled with the door and couldn’t figure out how to let herself out the sliding door into the courtyard which was the way she entered. She finally apologized again and let herself out the front door. After she left, Matt and I both started laughing hysterically. Pretty funny. The good thing was that Matt was now awake and got a chance to go out and see the stars in a dark sky environment.  We started the day with breakfast at a local cafe. Coffee was great. The granola and yogurt could not compare to Hamner Springs but it was ok. After breakfast, we boarded the bus and headed to Bann...

Another early morning. I woke up at 3:30 am when Erika sent me a text and it took me a while to get back to sleep but I still had a good night of sleep. We had our buffet at the hotel again, dressed for our bike ride, got our suitcases into the bus and headed out to where we will meet the company with the bikes. It is a cool morning but more blue sky than clouds. By the time we got onto our bikes and received instructions, the sky is even more blue. So happy to see the sun. We are riding a trail called Alps2Ocean. It is a very long trail through New Zealand and we are riding one stretch of it. A bit into the ride and we could see the godly Mt. Cook! The ride was so beautiful. We rode along the shores of gorgeous turquoise Lake Pukaki with the mountain soaring in the background. Very idyllic and beautiful. The bike ride was a lot of fun, even with many stops. About halfway in, we stopped and had some sandwiches and rested a bit. Now the trail pulled away from the lake. It was still beau...

We woke up to more cloudy cool weather. Today, we are walking the Hooker Trail walk by Mt Cook and we were hoping we would get to see the mountain but it doesn’t look likely. At least it is not raining!  We had breakfast in the hotel and I stuck to yogurt and granola and I paid for an Americano. They have brewed coffee here and it is gross. Not willing to drink it if I have a choice. I did eat some sort of a custard tart too. I’m enjoying the sugar, no doubt about that.  After breakfast, we loaded on to the bus and drove about an hour to the Hooker Track Trail. We will not be able to hike the six miles on this trail that was planned as it is closed half way up. It will be about a three mile hike. It is really windy and cold, temps in the 40’s. But we are dressed warm and using our rain jackets for windbreakers so it isn’t too bad. It is New Zealand beautiful but we are unable to see the mountains very much. The clouds are very low. As we hiked, we started to have occasional su...

 Today is our longest journey on the bus. The trip from Hamner Springs to Twizel is over 400 kilometers.  We had our delicious breakfast at Fire and Ice. I think this is the last I will see of delicious breakfasts since the rest of them are buffets at the hotels, more typical of these tour groups. After breakfast, we boarded the bus. The rain has finally stopped at Hamner Springs but it is still cloudy and we will leave this town without really seeing it. It has been buried in clouds continuously.  The bus drive was uneventful. We drove with a couple of “comfort stops” but mostly stayed on the road. It is beautiful but not really remarkable in any way. You could have been in Wyoming or Montana and driving through rolling hills and farms. We eventually stopped at a Farm Cafe in the town of Geraldine for lunch. It was a special lunch and very New Zealand like with sharp cheeses and crackers and mince pies. We also had a delicious turnover of some type and I am honestly not ...

 Today is our rafting day and the rain is still persistent, although occasionally lighter. We headed over to breakfast at Fire and Ice again. This place is wonderful and the food and coffee are absolutely perfect. It is the high point of the day for me. After breakfast, we boarded the bus and headed to Hamner Springs Attractions where we will do our rafting trip. There was a lot of hurry up and wait with briefing and fitting us to our clothing. It was fun, not. Strip to your swim suit, put on a wet suit, a wet jacket on top of that, a wind breaker on top of that, a life jacket on top of that. Add booties and a helmet and you’re ready to go. If it was hot, the clothing would have been awful but we appreciated the protection from the rain and cold. We hiked down to the river, got a few more instructions and off we went. This river is a grade 2 so very calm with a few rapids that offered a little excitement. The gorge was beautiful in spite of the weather. Normally the water is a beau...

 We woke up this morning to the promised forecast, rain, rain and more rain. We showered and headed over to breakfast at Fire and Ice. Wonderful food and coffee. No problem there for sure. After breakfast, we headed out to hike. We hiked to the top of the Conical Hill. On a nice day, apparently the views are breathtaking. But we could see absolutely nothing. It was foggy and as far as we knew, there were no mountains anywhere. It was very green and the trail was nice but you had to talk to yourself to keep a decent attitude. We hiked about 3.5 miles and by the time we finished, we were soaked clear through, in spite of our rain jackets. I was wet down to my underwear.  Matt and I came back to the room, stripped and attempted to hang our clothes throughout the room. We turned on the heat and tried to dry out. We had a box lunch that the tour director gave to us earlier. Matt had packed it in his backpack though our hike. Normally, there would be a nice spot on the hike to eat b...

Today is the official first day of our tour. We got up at 5:30 and caught our Uber to the airport at 6:30. Everything went smoothly and we arrived in plenty of time. We got a coffee and I got some chia pudding to eat. Matt wanted to share my coffee but I want an entire coffee by myself! I really didn’t want to share. I’m treating him like my husband these days. Telling him what I think and how I feel. He ended up getting his own coffee. Oh dear. But he is ever the good sport about everything. The plane was on time and we got to Christchurch with time to spare. Found our group and then waited a very long time for two missing people, both older guys. We finally found one of them wandering around. He somehow missed us, I have no idea how. The airport is small and there aren’t a lot of places to be. We never did find the other guy and the rest of us finally went on to our lunch spot in Kaiapoi, which was pretty close. After we arrived there, we found out he was already in Hamner Springs an...

 I didn’t sleep as well last night. I woke up a few times and was done sleeping by 5 am. But it was still a decent night of sleep and I felt good when I got up. Started the day again at Gloria Jean’s coffee shop. We’ve really enjoyed the Americanos there and the breakfast food is good too. I was actually able to get yogurt today! It had some compote that made it too sweet but also had berries and granola so I enjoyed it very much. After breakfast, we decided to head for Takapuna beach. We walked the first mile or so and then took a bus over the bridge and into the Takapuna area. The day was beautiful with paradise weather. Warm but not too hot. We walked along the beach for a while and then stopped so I could have round two of coffee. Headed out on a loop hike along the water from Takapuna beach to Milford beach and then up into a residential area and around Lake Pupuke, which was also a wild life reserve. Everything was extraordinarily beautiful, there were swans, geese and other ...

 Matt was up and showered before I was completely awake. This guy. He is indestructible with unending energy. I feel so lucky to be with him. I slow him down, not the other way around. I finally dragged myself out of bed after sleeping over eight hours! I never do that at home. Got showered and we headed out for coffee. Shared a smoked salmon sandwich and had coffee at Gloria Jean’s, same place we went on the first day. We are going to walk the city some and take a ferry to one of the islands today. I’m trying not to freak out looking at the weather in Hanmer Springs. Heavy rains on the day we are supposed to raft. I’m not sure whether we will do it anyway, or if they will change gears. We’ll find out! In any case, I’m glad to be here and can tell I’m settling in mentally to being in another country away from home. Auckland feels like a US city anywhere, in many ways. It is definitely not the unique city much of Europe offers. But we are happy to be here.  We started the day b...

 Day 1, 2 and 3 Not really three days have passed but we lost a day in crossing the equator. Left SFO on January 9th at 7 am and arrived in New Zealand on January 10 at 9:30 pm.  We got up at 4 am to be picked up by our Uber at 4:45. And the day was off. Everything went smoothly but it felt like a particularly brutal travel day. We flew to Honolulu and had a three hour layover there. We had access to a lounge in SF - which was very nice - and also in Honolulu. But that one had nothing to offer but awful coffee and soft drinks. Crowded and really not any more comfortable than the airport. We tried to walk some in anticipation of lots of sitting but the time dragged. Finally got on the plane and then some piece of equipment had to be changed last minute so we sat for 30-40 minutes on the tarmac. Finally on our way. It was a wonderfully uneventful flight and really quite comfortable but by the time we got to New Zealand, we were exhausted. The plane had to be sprayed with insecti...