Adventuriety / Inspirietry
We spent five nights in Christchurch and it was a bit of a fugue. We were all tired and because of the devastating earthquakes in the area in 2010 and 2011, holiday apartments are few and far between. Scott found us a great place though, it was just a bit out in the middle of the suburbs. The Christchurch experience turned out fine though, the internet...
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Adventuriety
We left Hokitika for Christchurch, our final destination on the South Island of New Zealand, as well as our last five days in New Zealand. We drove over Arthur’s Pass and planned to stop at Castle Hill, a place Scott had discovered looking through a New Zealand coffee table book in our apartment in Queenstown. Castle Hill is one of those “places in between.” It is a limestone...
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Adventuriety
Queenstown, New Zealand is a buzzing, year-round, adrenaline destination set on the shores of New Zealand’s longest lake, amid a stunning backdrop of towering mountains and a moody sky. We’ve spent ten days here, the first long stop during our time in New Zealand and our first date with the South Island. This picture is taken from our balcony. You can’t get away from the...
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Inspirietry
Picture taking and posing for pictures has been a topic for debate in this family. Sometimes it is a heated debate but that is not what this blog is about. These New Zealand hikes are kicking my butt and in an attempt to not be very far behind everyone, I have surrendered the camera to Scott, usually with the hope that he will take some pictures...
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Adventuriety
New Zealand is an outdoor enthusiasts dream come true because there are infinite epic outdoor adventures to choose from and today was definitely epic. Scott found a doozie for us by the name of Mt. Alfred. He started off by telling me that the estimated time was 6-8 hours, but he read a blog that said it could be done in a little over four hours. The...
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Adventuriety
It has been cloudy and stormy and beautiful here in Queenstown. It seems like every type of weather is just another way for the mountains to showcase their magnificence. We needed exercise today, but there was little chance of a hike to a view and so our trusty leader decided that we would retrace part of the Ben Lomond track and summit Bowen Peak, another...
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Adventuriety
We planned one week on the North Island of New Zealand. We wanted to show the kids some of the places we visited on our honeymoon and then see something new. Looking around on the internet, Scott found a very interesting beach called Hot Beach (more on that later) but it looked intriguing enough to plan a few days around it since there were plenty of...
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Adventuriety / Inspirietry
We left the magical Bay of Islands and drove towards Waipoua State Forest, another place that we had visited years ago. The kids have seen our giant California trees, but we wanted them to see New Zealand’s behemoths, the Kauri trees. photo by Grant A major threat to the Kauri, identified in 2008, is kauri dieback, a disease caused by a fungus-like water mold that attacks...
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Adventuriety
Scott and I spent a night in Bay of Islands on our honeymoon and have three vivid memories from our visit which is amazing to me because we have no pictures to jog these memories. The first memory involves a one man catamaran and some uncooperative wind. You have to remember that Bay of Islands is absolutely beautiful and pristine and it’s mostly about the water. The...
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Adventuriety
Scott and I have been married a few years. We went to Australia and New Zealand on our honeymoon and overheard a couple at one of the places we stayed talking about how they couldn’t believe that they were already celebrating their 10th Anniversary by returning to the place that they had honeymooned. We thought that sounded like a good idea and now all of...
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