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- Day 65
- Saturday, March 8, 2025 at 11:57 AM
- ☁️ 57 °F
- Altitude: 1,368 ft
New ZealandMackenzie District44°3’32” S 170°53’18” E
En route Christchurch to Lake Tekapo
March 8 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F
It's ~3hrs from Christchurch but the drive to Lake Tekapo (pron: TEE ka po) was stunning.
Drive to Mt Cook
March 9 ⋅ ☀️ 52 °F
Janet & Simon stayed w/ us last night; & today we all went to find a hike for some views of Aoraki (aka: Mt Cook).
Aoraki is NZ's highest mountain at 3724m & is located within the 700 sq km area of SWRead more
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- Day 66
- Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 11:20 AM
- ☀️ 52 °F
- Altitude: 2,887 ft
- New ZealandMackenzie District43°41’21” S 170°6’8” E
Mueller Lake Lookout via Hooker Track
March 9 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 52 °F
We chose the (6.8 mi return) Hooker Valley Track; nice trail, no serious vertical & 3 swing bridges that ends at Hooker Lake with Mt Cook in the background.
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- Day 66
- Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 4:03 PM
- ☀️ 61 °F
- Altitude: 2,648 ft
- New ZealandMackenzie District43°41’45” S 170°10’6” E
Tasman Glacier View Trail
March 9 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F
After finishing the Hooker Valley Trail, we grabbed lunch in the Hermitage Village. We decided we still had a little more 'oomph' left in us, so we went to the Tasman Glacier View Track.
The trailRead more
Hiked Mount John Walkway
March 10 ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F
One more day in the Tekapo area -- one more hike! And this one had an unexpected (solar) surprise!
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- Day 68
- Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 9:05 AM
- ☀️ 54 °F
- Altitude: 1,768 ft
- New ZealandLake Pukaki44°10’58” S 170°9’4” E
Leaving Lake Tekapo
March 11 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 54 °F
A fairly early morning departure, we were rewarded by some amazing views both land and sky.
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- Day 68
- Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 10:32 AM
- ☁️ 55 °F
- Altitude: 1,401 ft
- New ZealandOmarama Stream44°29’10” S 169°58’12” E
Coffee stop
March 11 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F
How can you pass up a place with a name like this?
And the coffee was excellent!!! ☕️
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- Day 68
- Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 11:10 AM
- ☀️ 59 °F
- Altitude: 804 ft
- New ZealandAwakino River44°41’25” S 170°25’28” E
Anyone want to buy a village?
March 11 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F
Full village for sale; NZ$2.9M (~US$1.63M).
Dam
March 11 ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F
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- Day 68
- Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 12:16 PM
- ☁️ 66 °F
- Altitude: 686 ft
- New ZealandWaitaki District44°53’38” S 170°39’22” E
Elephant Rocks
March 11 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
This 'field' was created after the erosion of fossil-rich limestone over millions of years. It's in the middle of practically nowhere -- pretty cool.
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- Day 68
- Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 12:31 PM
- ☀️ 66 °F
- Altitude: 676 ft
- New ZealandWaiareka Creek44°56’8” S 170°40’57” E
Continuing on to Dunedin
March 11 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F
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- Day 68
- Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 2:32 PM
- ☁️ 64 °F
- Altitude: 49 ft
- New ZealandMoeraki Beach45°20’42” S 170°49’34” E
Moeraki Boulders
March 11 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F
Train
March 12 ⋅ 🌧 48 °F
Dunedin Railways runs The Taieri Gorge Train Tour from Dunedin to Pukerangi. It's a neat old train that goes through the Taieri Gorge through areas not accessible via car.
Not the same 'wow' as theRead more
Afternoon post-train
March 12 ⋅ 🌬 52 °F
After the train trip, we still had the bulk of the afternoon ahead. So we hopped in the car & headed out to do a little exploring.
Destination: Otago Peninsula.
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- Day 70
- Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 9:47 AM
- ☀️ 48 °F
- Altitude: 121 ft
- New ZealandLovells Flat46°11’28” S 169°47’25” E
Leaving Dunedin; headed to Invercargil
March 13 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 48 °F
This was a drive-stop-drive-stop day due to the various lookouts between Dunedin & Invercargil.
Still pretty incredible...
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- Day 70
- Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 11:02 AM
- ⛅ 54 °F
- Altitude: 128 ft
- New ZealandNugget Point46°26’53” S 169°49’1” E
Nugget Point
March 13 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 54 °F
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- Day 70
- Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 12:09 PM
- ☀️ 55 °F
- Altitude: 20 ft
- New ZealandNew Haven46°28’25” S 169°43’4” E
Surat Bay
March 13 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 55 °F
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- Day 70
- Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 3:55 PM
- ⛅ 55 °F
- Altitude: 49 ft
- New ZealandCurio Bay46°39’42” S 169°5’53” E
Surat to Curio Bay
March 13 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 55 °F
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- Day 70
- Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM
- ⛅ 57 °F
- Altitude: Sea level
- New ZealandSlope Point46°40’27” S 169°0’5” E
Slope Point
March 13 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 57 °F
A visit to the most southern-most spot in New Zealand's South Island.
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- Day 71
- Friday, March 14, 2025 at 10:13 AM
- ☀️ 54 °F
- Altitude: 16 ft
- New ZealandTalls Point46°21’35” S 168°1’21” E
Riverton
March 14 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 54 °F
Riverton is a nothing special coastal town and port. We stopped, walked the beach, and found some fun sand art on the beach. At the end of our walk, we talked with some locals who made a couple ofRead more
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- Day 71
- Friday, March 14, 2025 at 12:55 PM
- ☀️ 59 °F
- Altitude: 115 ft
- New ZealandOurawera Stream46°19’56” S 167°49’58” E
Round Hill Walking Track
March 14 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F
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- Day 71
- Friday, March 14, 2025 at 2:13 PM
- ☀️ 61 °F
- Altitude: 33 ft
- New ZealandOrepuki46°16’35” S 167°43’48” E
Gemstone Beach
March 14 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F
This beach is known for a variety of semi-precious gems like garnet, jasper, quartz....
The question is: will Janine get her 'gemmy finds' home?
(who puts ROCKS in their luggage??) 🤔
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- Day 71
- Friday, March 14, 2025 at 3:24 PM
- ☁️ 66 °F
- Altitude: 135 ft
- New ZealandTuatapere Te Waewae Community46°1’46” S 167°42’55” E
Clifden Suspension Bridge
March 14 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
New Zealand's longest wooden suspension bridge, opened 1899 & operational through 1978. It was an important transit link in its day until a new (modern) bridge was built 130m downriver. Now it's anRead more
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- Day 71
- Friday, March 14, 2025 at 5:04 PM
- ☁️ 63 °F
- Altitude: 689 ft
- New ZealandTe Anau45°24’33” S 167°42’38” E
New residence: Te Anau
March 14 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F
(Pron: tee ah NOW, or tay AH no -- heard both so far) this is our home for the next 5 nights.
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- Day 73
- Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 7:36 AM
- 🌫 48 °F
- Altitude: 3,146 ft
- New ZealandHomer Saddle44°45’47” S 167°58’9” E
Te Anau to Milford: bus ride pics
March 16 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌫 48 °F
Milford Sound: one of the primary objectives for this trip. We decided to take a bus to the port so we could both enjoy the ~2hr drive. The bus ride itself was beautiful.