nolife

I took my first trip to New Zealand starting on 18 February, 2005 and ending on 6 March, 2005. I took the trip by myself, passing my parents somewhere over the Pacific Ocean as they left New Zealand.

I’ve marked the enteries that came directly out of my journal with a (j) and inserted comments surrounded by [brackets] in an effort to keep everything right with my feelings at the time, yet produce something readable. I’ll probably move through the enteries and try to fill in the blanks as time goes by, as well.

WordPress sorts all of the blog enteries in reverse order, the newest coming first, the oldest last, so you’ll find the start of the trip on the very last page of the blog. Be sure to look for more… links at the end of some posts – I get very wordy occasionally.

If you want more visual representation of this beautiful country, check out my Flickr photos.

After some consideration I’ve decided I’d make this page the home of a very brief version of the trip, as well.

• Friday, Feb 18. Drove to Atlanta, flew to LAX. Flew from LAX to Auckland.

• Sunday, Feb 20. Arrived in Auckland at sometime around 7am. Flew to Kaitiai around 3pm. Stayed in the Mainstreet Lodge hostel.

• Monday, Feb 21. Took at tour of Cape Regina with Harrison’s Cape Tours. Rode with Rachel to Paihia and stayed in the the Pickled Parrot hostel.

• Tuesday, Feb 22. Rode with Rachel from Paihia to Whangarei then stayed in Orewa at the Pillows hostel.

• Wenesday, Feb 23. Rode a bus from Orewa to Auckland city, then changed to the airport bus. Flew to Queenstown, leaving around 10am, arriving near 12pm. Rode with Backpacker’s Express to Glenorchy. Stayed at what may one day be The Crib hostel.

• Thursday, Feb 24. Backpacker’s Express dropped me (and 11 others) off at the trailhead for the Rees-Dart track. Slept in the New Shelter Rock hut.

• Friday, Feb 25. Second day on the Rees-Dart track. Slept in the Dart Glacier hut.

• Saturday, Feb 26. Third day on the Rees-Dart track. Slept in the Daley’s Flat hut.

• Sunday, Feb 27. Fourth and final day on the Rees-Dart track. Rode from the end of the track back to Glenorchy. Stayed at The Crib again.

• Monday, Feb 28. Rode with David and his co-workers to the Queenstown airport. Rented a car and drove to Mt. Cook. Stayed at the Hermitage hotel. Took at tour of the Tazman glacier’s terminal lake.

• Tuesday, Mar 1. Drove from Mt. Cook down the East coast to Dunedin. Stayed at the Elm Street Lodge.

• Wednesday, Mar 2. Drove from Dunedin to Wanaka. Visited “Puzzling World” and stayed at Big Foot (?) hostel. (They had big metals boots in front of the driveway…)

• Thursday, Mar 3. Drove from Wanaka to Fox Glacier. Stayed at the Fox Glacier Holiday Park. Walked to the terminal face of the Fox Glacier.

• Friday, Mar 4. Drove from Fox Glacier, through Franz Josef, stopping Hokitika to see the glass studio. Drove through Arthur’s Pass to Christchurch. Stayed at the Old Countryhouse hostel.

• Satudary, Mar 5. Turned in the car early at the airport and spent several hours in the airport. Flew to Auckland, then to LAX and Atlanta.