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!
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My favorite trip on the North Island so far was our girls weekend in the Coromandel Peninusla. Located just around the eastern coast from Auckland, we spent a long weekend exploring many of the beautiful hikes this area boasts. New Zealand's natural beauty never ceases to amaze, and I haven't even gotten to the South Island yet! Hahei, New Chums, and Hot Water BeachesCathedral CoveNext stop was a hike along the coastline known as Cathedral cove. Stunning little beaches with the gorgeous color of the water - and the ever-present bizzare rock formations. We had the perfect day for exploring! The PinnaclesThe denouement - this epic hike was the reason for our journey to the Coromandel! 3 hours (one-way) to the most incredible views of an untouched national park. The rainforest walk was beautiful in its own right, but the last half-hour of this hike was the most enjoyable. Scaling the mountain face to reach the top of the Pinnacles range was an awesome adventure - ladder rungs were actually drilled into the rock in order to climb to the top! One of the best experiences I've had so far for sure. That's all for this post!! Sorry I'm a little bit behind guys - but I will be updating soon! My next post will be all of my photos from my week-long trip to the South Island!! Stay tuned....
Next up on the tour of the North Island was the Bay of Islands - as the name suggests, it's an incredibly scenic coastline that's dotted with small islands of the most interesting formations, due to the volcanic activity in that area. We had a great time exploring the port town and even took a boat tour through the islands - we got some fantastic views! Rainbow FallsNearby the Bay there were several hikes that we travelled down. By far and away the most scenic was the hike to Rainbow Falls, in which we could hike right up to and under the waterfall: After our first day in Auckland, we travelled to Rotorua which is just 3 hours south of Auckland. It is located on a hot bed of geothermic and volcanic activity, which creates mineral pools and hot springs - but the sulfur smell was a hard to get used to! Smelled like eggs everywhere.... Wai-O-Tapu: Geothermal Wonderland |
Johanna StokesAmerican student discovering the Kiwi way of life ArchivesCategories |