A Semester in Photos
Balancing the desire to explore all the famed beauty of New Zealand with
​studying to complete my degree in the multi-cultural city of Auckland
​studying to complete my degree in the multi-cultural city of Auckland
FINALLY I have had the chance to go through an edit all of my photos (there were hundreds!). For our midsemester break, some of my friends and I planned a week-long vacation to explore the South Island of New Zealand. It was an unforgettable road trip - I can't believe how variable the landscape of NZ can be. Here is a map of the route we took: This was probably the most amazing trip I've ever taken, both in the sights and the experiences. I would highly, HIGHLY recommend this route to anyone thinking of travelling to NZ! Enjoy the photos :) Lake TekapoAfter our flight into Christchurch, our first stop on the route was Lake Tekapo. Located in the Mackenzie Basin, this area is one of the few Dark Sky Reserves left on the planet. Ringed by snow-capped mountains, this lake is a gorgeous shade of blue - we took endless photos as we waited for the sunset. It was just our luck that we were there on the clearest of nights without a single cloud to disrupt the spectacular view of the sky. The darkness erupted into thousands of stars, more than I've ever seen in my lifetime. The milky way was as stark as I've ever seen it, and we sat in awe for hours. We even caught sight of a few shooting stars! My camera, unfortunately, was not sophisitcated enough to capture the light of the stars so while I can't share my own photos of what we saw, please visit http://mackenzienz.com/activities/stargazing/ to get an idea of the view we had that night. QueenstownOur next stop was the "adrenaline capital" of New Zealand! Famed as the origination of the bungy jump, this ski-town has everything an adrenaline junkie could wish for - sky diving, hangliding, speed boating, skiing/snowboarding, bungy jumping, canyon swinging, ziplining....the options were endless! As you'll see, we chose the canyon swing and snowboarding for our Queenstown adventure. The swing was the scariest thing I've ever done! But absolutely an incredible experience. If the photos weren't enough, I actually made a video of my jump off of the canyon swing! While I can't post videos to this site, you can see my edit here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0A_Dkyl6Hq1cktSSk5kZHNXQUE/view?usp=sharing Gives me goosebumps every time I watch it haha. Milford SoundOften referred to as the 8th Wonder of the World, the Milford Sound was a must-hit on our South Island Tour. While it is only about 80km (50mi) from Queenstown as the crow flies, it is a 4-hour drive on a winding mountain path through the Fiordland National Park in order to reach the Sound. While significantly out of the way, it was a beautiful drive during which our bus tour guide made several stops for us to enjoy the scenery. While we didn't have the best of weather for the boat tour through the sound (it was sooo windy!), we were still able to witness the majesty of the Sound and its numerous waterfalls. Franz Josef GlacierDriving up the west coast by the sea, through another mountain pass, and we made it to Franz Josef, famous for its proximity to one of few the low-altitude glaciers in the world. One of the best parts of this trip was getting to ride in a helicopter up to the top, and take a 3 hour hike up through winding pathways carved through the most incredible ice formations I've ever seen. I could not take enough photos (as you'll see) because everywhere I looked was absolutely breathtaking. ....And then we flew back home :( This was an incredible road trip - I hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I did taking them!
1 Comment
Jane Rathbun
10/7/2016 08:31:01 pm
Hanna, you blow me away. The trip to the South Island was incredible! I have enjoyed your pictures over and over, they
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Johanna StokesAmerican student discovering the Kiwi way of life ArchivesCategories |