So 2020 has arrived and it’s been a while since the last post, oh well! While I was in the area, I couldn’t go without seeing New Zealand. I flew into Christchurch and immediately the friendliness of the NZ people greeted me with a free beer at the hostel I stayed in. I didn’t stay too long in Christchurch, and ventured down towards Queenstown, stopping off at Lake Pukaki on the way.
Queenstown is the adventure capital of NZ with plenty of stuff like bungee-jumping and jet-skiing available. Downside is that NZ is fierce expensive so paying 300 NZD for these was a bit out of my budget. Thankfully there’s plenty of hiking and walks available to do in the vicinity.
It’s quite easy to see how people can fall in love with NZ. It’s definitely a place I want to go visit again. I unfortunately didn’t plan my trip there all that well, and divided my time evenly between the South and North Islands, missing out on some things like Franz-Josef Glacier and Milford Sound.
I flew up to Wellington then and got to visit Weta Workshop, most famous for doing the props for Lord of the Rings. It was so cool to see the amazing work and detail that they’ve put into everything. Definitely worth going to visit their place even if you’re not a fan of LOTR.
After Wellington, it was up to National Park, near Tongariro Crossing and Mount Doom, sorry, Ngauruhoe. Unfortunately as it was April there, and I was woefully unprepared for the falling temperatures (it was coming to their autumn in April), I didn’t get to go up the hikes here. I did hike towards Tupapakurua Falls as a back-up so not all was lost.
Then up to Auckland for a bit of rest and recovery before heading off to Ecuador! Again, I missed out on a lot in NZ like Hobbiton, so I’ll have a better plan for my next visit there!