Month Three Top Ten When Five Is Not Enough
We’re now more than three months through and well over halfway. We’ll be back home again before we know it, with only 6,000 photos (and counting) and a whole lot of memories to show for our adventure!
Month three has been pretty special, taking in the final days of (finally sunny!) Sydney and four weeks in beautiful New Zealand. We tried to get it down to five highlights, but there are just too many, so this month we’ve got the top 10. Here goes…
- Epic walks – Fording rivers on the NSW Coast Track, crunching through snow at Mount Cook, dodging avalanche paths on Fiordland’s Routeburn and sliding on ice around volcanic Mount Doom. Hiking (or tramping) doesn’t get any better than this.
- Beautiful views – Driving through stunning NZ scenery, and not knowing which way to look because it’s so pretty in every direction.
- Barry the campervan – Our NZ home on wheels, freezing cold, slow up hills, laden with design flaws and a petrol gannet. But also a provider of countless giggles, beautiful sunrises and freedom to roam. Who needs showers anyway?
- Heli-hike – Taking a helicopter onto the Franz Josef Glacier and donning crampons to squeeze through icy crevices.
- Spontaneous half marathon – Running the Paihia Half Marathon on 15 hours notice, through a kiwi sanctuary, in the pouring rain. Because what better way to explore the Bay of Islands?
- Hot stream – Enjoying a free spa in a steaming natural rock pool, thanks to geothermally-heated water in volcano country.
- Milford Sound – Getting soaked under 200m waterfalls, in awe at the thundering power of nature.
- Gore Town & Country Club – An unexpected night stop dancing with the locals, learning about paua and sleeping in the car park.
- Christchurch – A city that responded to adversity with creativity, rebuilding from the 2010 earthquakes with an abundance of stylish shipping containers.
- White-water rafting – Upholding our national honour at the head of a rubber dinghy, faced with a torrent of water and kiwi abuse.