Carol & Bill's Epic Adventure

We began our North Island exploration in Rotorua, an area of NZ unique for its geothermal activities. The remnants of the ever-present volcanic activity show their features in the form of spurting geysers, bubbling mud, steaming cracks in the ground, and hot pools of mineral-rich water. It didn’t take long to find (or smell) the sulfur-rich attractions of Rotorua…a short walk to a nearby park had many areas of small pools of natural warm mineral waters (to soak your feet), several gated-off pools of bubbling mud, and many areas where steam was constantly rising from holes in the ground!

The next day we headed off to see the nearby Mt. Tarawera volcano that last erupted in 1886 completely burying a nearby village, killing most inhabitants. Along the way we stopped at the beautiful Blue and Green Lakes, and had a great hike around the Blue Lake…loved the palm-tree lookalike trees, but with fern branches instead of palm leaves…looks like Billy loved them, too!

While checking out views of the dormant volcano, I met Irvin, a 5th generation Kiwi! He told us about his ancestors coming over from Great Britain looking for land …

Our NZ South Island exploration had us driving north back past the beautiful Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown and the Remarkables Mountain Range and then a road that goes up over the Crown Ridge Mountains…another pretty intense drive on a road that covered great altitudes in a short span…meaning A LOT of hairpin turns while driving at what felt like a 45 degree angle! At the summit we stopped at a spectacular overlook enjoying our last view of Queenstown and surrounds. I offered to take a photo of a family so they could all be in the photo (very common offering while traveling!) and could easily tell they weren’t kiwis (meaning New Zealanders), and it turns out they are from Durham, CT!!! They’re living in Canberra for a few years working for DEA in the US Embassy and loving their Aussie life! They then took our photo!!

Our destination was Wanaka, another lovely town on a beautiful lake surrounded by snow-peaked mountains. It’s kinda’ a mini Queenstown…a bit more subdued but a young and active town. Our arrival day was warm and beautiful with clear skies…Billy had his heart set on Para-Gliding and it was perfect weather so we barely checked into …

It didn’t even take leaving the airport in New Zealand to get a dramatic message on how serious the Kiwis take the unspoiled and pristine condition of their country and environment. We got snagged waiting for our luggage to arrive by a customs agent and her contraband-sniffing dog (a really cute beagle!). Fortunately, we had properly “declared” on our customs form that we had some fruit and dairy products; had we not, we would have had to immediately pay $400! “Sniffy” found our cheese and crackers while I (Billy) was openly eating the grapes (anticipating their confiscation). I was soooo right! After gathering our luggage, we were directed to additional customs inspection and wound up with them very carefully checking and cleaning all outdoor shoes and scrutinizing our wooden souvenirs. We’ve never experienced customs like that…New Zealand is a special place! We finally cleared customs and immigration, secured our rental car, and were off to Queenstown (QT)…. and what a great place we found!

For starters, QT is self-proclaimed as the “Adventure Capital of World”…and any walk down the main street (Shotover Road), has signs everywhere advertising a long list of adventure opportunities and offerings!

Just shortly after we checked …