Our Trip to New Zealand Journey to Middle Earth -Days in NZ: 16 -Distance driven: ~2920 km/~1750 miles -Nights camped/in hostels: 8/8 -Favorite campsite: Routeburn Flats (on Routeburn Track) -Nights it rained on us in the tent: 0 (luckily!) -Most expensive lodging: 58NZ$ (~$40US) -Nights with en suite bathroom (!): 2 -Most unusual animal spotted: Ostrich -Fish and chips meals: 2 -Times Shirley said "that was SO cool!" after seeing the One Ring: more times than Chris cared to hear -Towns we passed through that had more than one lane roads: 2 (Christchurch and Nelson) -Days between stoplights at an intersection: about 14 -Most-eaten snack: biscuits! -Interesting NZ fact learned: They hire backpackers as migrant labor (i.e. fruit picking, etc.) Gallery 2: 31-60 pictures Gallery 1: 1-30
 
       e spent 16 days in NZ (South Island) in February 2006 (the Southern Hemisphere summer). We'd both been wanting to go to NZ for years, so we were excited to be there at last.  NZ was an amazing place – it was easy to get around, people were friendly, it was not very expensive and the scenery was gorgeous (we saw mountains and lakes almost everywhere we drove).  After landing in Christchurch, we rented a car and drove to Lake Tekapo and Aoraki/Mount Cook, then to Queenstown (a cute town that is considered the adventure capital of NZ).  We then headed to Milford Sound (the Sound didn't photograph well – you really have to go see it in person). We hiked (tramped) the Routeburn Track (one of NZ's "Great Walks") with our friend Sabrina – gorgeous (see the pictures!).  Next we headed to the sparsely populated West Coast (fewer than 40,000 people spread out over 500 km),
where we encountered rain and the Franz Josef Glacier.  Our guided day hike on the glacier was one of the coolest things ever (up there with seeing lava flow in Volcanos NP in Hawaii last year).  We then drove north to Nelson (a very pleasant town where we saw the original Ring from the Lord of the Rings!) and spent a couple of days & nights kayaking and camping along beautiful coastlines, beaches and islands in Abel Tasman NP before heading back to Christchurch. Chris thinks this may have been our best trip ever!  We're ready to go back…
    
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