In amongst the family related activities in Sydney, Tom and I were able to spend a couple of days wandering its older neighborhoods, the area around Circular Quay, The Rocks and Hyde Park. We were struck by the number of 19th century, Victorian and Edwardian public buildings and private homes still remain, often tucked up…

Our last two days in New Zealand were bittersweet. We have come to love this country and all it has to offer. Our last full day was taken up with a fairly long and not especially exciting drive from Dunedin to Christchurch, which we had to reach in the late afternoon in order to return…

In my previous visits to New Zealand with my family as a teenager, I found the Kiwis to be the most openly friendly and generously kind people I had ever encountered. Several times during those visits, complete strangers invited our entire family to their homes for a meal. Then, New Zealand’s population was only about…

After enjoying the splendors of Milford Sound, it was time to make our way back to Christchurch, stopping over in Dunedin for a couple of nights. The drive from Te Anau to Dunedin should have taken about three and a half hours, but we made it an all-day affair by meandering through the ever-windy Southland…

As we drove away from Mt Cook, we were second guessing our decision to stay in Queenstown. Our guidebook emphasized its crowds, tourist shops and party atmosphere—all things we tend to avoid if at all possible. The book recommended Wānaka as a much calmer and equally pretty alternative, so we decided to check it out…

When we were planning this trip, we decided to cut our stay in Queenstown in half and move on to Te Anau so that we would be able to easily make a day trip to Milford Sound should the weather cooperate 0n the one day we would be able to go there—not an easy ask…

It’s not that well known that New Zealand had a gold rush in 1860, attracting many of the same men and women who had participated in the California gold rush of 1849 and the Australian gold rush of 1851. New Zealand discovered gold in central Otago on the South Island, and as we drove through…

Of all the things that astonished us in New Zealand, I think the thing we most consistently marvelled at on our journey through the South Island was the color of water. Whether river, lake or ocean, New Zealand’s waters have the most incredible aquas, turquoises, greens, and blues that we have ever seen. We never…

It’s often said that New Zealand is about a dozen different countries rolled up in one, and though it’s a bit of a cliché, it’s undoubtedly true. During three weeks there, we likened New Zealand to many countries, cities and regions that we have been to or lived in, including (but not limited to): England,…

From Christchurch we headed southwest towards our next destination, Twizel (sadly, pronounced ‘T-wise-l’ not ‘Twizzle’), the gateway to Mt Cook National Park. These roads, as well as most that we travelled in the South Island were lined with VERY tall ‘hedges’, usually made up of actual pine tres cut into hedge form. we deducd that…