Cromwell

Beautiful weather, an abundance of vineyards, and nothing to do but drive from one to the next sampling crisp, New Zealand wines. If there is one place I'd like to retire, Cromwell, in the heart of Central Otago, would be it.

Lake Wanaka

We spent the weekend sleeping in a campervan park on the shores of Lake Wanaka, and while we were in town so was the Gypsy Fair! Pony rides for the kids, a delicious Latte for me, and a Whitney Houston CD for the Hatch.

Southern Alps

The morning after hiking Franz Joseph we walked to the Mirror Lakes and a lookout of New Zealand's other famous glacier, Fox.

Then it was back in the Hatch for a full day of driving with hopes of reaching Wanaka by nightfall.

Just have to say how FUN it is Val and I are traveling New Zealand together. This will probably be the longest consecutive time we spend together now that we live in different countries, and we're driving around in the Hatch, getting delicious tomatoes from honesty boxes, and hiking glaciers.

more Franz, more artsy

Glacier water! Can't drink that every day

FRANZ

We drove trough the Westland National Park, which has 60 named glaciers, including Franz Joseph and Fox Glacier - two of three glaciers in the world (the other is Patagonia) that descend into a rainforest. The large amount of snowfall each season makes Franz Joseph one of the few glaciers in New Zealand that continues to grow, sometimes as much as 70 centimeters per day!

Val and I did a day hike with Franz Joseph Glacier Guides, which was quite an intense ice climb (sidenote: I asked Valerie the day before our trip if she thought we would be hiking the glacier or just walking to the base, which is hilarious in retrospect as the first five hours of the day were spent climbing through crevices and up ice stairs), but also one of the most rewarding experiences. 

NZ coffee, blackboard style

Ross

The West Coast was the site of New Zealand's gold rush, and although the mine in Ross was closed years ago, more than two million dollars of gold still lies underneath the ground! We hiked a former gold-mining track and stopped for some photos in the small, deserted town.

Pretty shrub with shoes on the side of Highway 6.

Pancake Rocks

Punakaiki (Poo-na-kai-key) is best known for the Pancake Rocks, a series of limestone stacks, which over thousands of years due to wind and water have eroded to giant piles of stacked pancakes. Yum and cool.

From East to West

Cutting through the South Island via Nelson was quite the trek. After hours of inland driving we were caught off guard upon reaching the coastline, which drastically changed from mountains and farmland to the open-air Tasman Sea. How massive and endless the water felt in those first few looks; wave after wave fiercely crashing against the gray driftwood-strewn beach.

State Highway 6 stretches along the West Coast, some 435 kilometers from Wesport to Haast. Hours of driving lay ahead, but in that moment Val and I were completely mesmerized.

You say tomato

Let me introduce you to a little New Zealand tradition called honestly boxes. Orchards and farms leave their freshly-picked produce in stalls on the side of the road. The fruits or vegetables, jams, homemade chutneys, or nuts are priced accordingly, and anyone driving by is free to take the produce in exchange for money, which is deposited in an honesty box.

Valerie and I are both big foodies, and we scored delicious pears, apples, zucchini, and peach-nectarine jam all along the main highway. And that beefsteak tomato in my hand - by far the best tomato I have ever eaten in my life.

It's becoming more and more difficult to capture the beauty of this country in a photograph. The colors in New Zealand are on steroids! Blues are bluer, greens greener, and the beaches a rich golden hue.

Abel Tasman National Park

New Zealand's smallest national park, Abel Tasman is absolutely stunning. We spent the day kayaking, cruising, seal watching, hiking, and relaxing on one of the park's secluded beaches.

If I can make one recommendation to anyone traveling to New Zealand it would be to go in the month of  March. We had gorgeous weather minus the crowds of high season. It almost felt as if we had the whole national park to ourselves for the day, and if there's one place in the world to experience such uninterrupted beauty Abel Tasman would be it.

Lost and Found

Local beer tasting in Nelson

Nelson is the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park, and apparently home to "The World's Most Popular Restaurant Publication". We only planned to spend a few hours touring the city until yours truly lost her wallet (!!) One second I was in a second-hand store purchasing boxes of vintage NZ matches and the next second we were back at the Hatch and my wallet was gone. The bad news is I spent the next few hours at the Nelson police station and on the phone with my bank canceling my credit cards. The good - or rather FANTASTIC - news is a very nice Kiwi man named Mike found my wallet in the car park a few days later and it was returned to me! My mother said it perfectly: I have very good travel luck.

Excerpt from this week's free weekly coffee news in Nelson:

Did You Know?
Groups of Geese: When you look into the sky and see the V-formation of geese, that grouping of the birds is called the skein. But when the group lands, it becomes a gaggle of geese.

Lots of colors: Crayola is one of the most famous crayon manufacturers in the world. It started producing crayons in 1903 featuring eight different colors. Today the company offers 120 color selections

Changes: Canadians and hockey just go together, and in 1917, when the NHL was formed, it was not a surprise that 97 percent of the NHL players came from Canada. In 2000, about 60 percent were Canadian, with other players coming from such diverse areas as Nigeria and South Korea.

Good friend: Sherlock Holmes always referred to his colleague in a very formal way, addressing him as Doctor Watson. But, Doctor Watson did have a first name. It was John.

On the Lighter Side
There are only two things to worry about – either that things will never get back to normal, or that they already have

Even a mosquito doesn’t get a slap on the back until it starts to work

Aquadextrous: Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off with your toes

Marlborough

We spent the next few days driving through Marlborough, famous for its abundance of vineyards and one of the world's finest regions for Sauvignon Blanc. We spent the afternoon tasting New Zealand's finest at the many wineries between Blenheim and Renwick before stopping for the night at a campground on the Pacific coast.

An afternoon nap for the seal colony in Kaikoura.

beautiful morning

Sunrise in Kaikoura, the South Island's best kept secret.

Christchurch

On February 22, 2011 Christchurch was hit with a 6.3 earthquake that killed around 180 people and practically flattened the city's CBD. The Prime Minister called it "New Zealand's darkest day", and we heard many stories of the devastation during our travels. Though we flew in and out of Christchurch airport the city was closed off during our time there.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Christchurch and all those in New Zealand affected by the quake.

Kia Ora South Island

Meet Hatch! Our campervan. We flew to Christchurch from Wellington where we picked up Hatch from the Explore More office to begin our two-week trip around the South Island. Val and I are big Lost fans, so it was appropriate the campervan was named Hatch, which plays a huge part in the show's earlier seasons.

Hatch is a male, by the way, and sometimes we called him "Hatchy-Hatch", and once we had about 40 mosquitoes trapped inside of him - which was horrible! - and twice his battery died, which were also not-so-fun situations. But at the end of the day Hatch transported us safely from city to city, so I really can't complain.