THE BIG NZ - PART 2

wow! that was a lot for 1 post. i think i'm going to have split the 2nd half of the trip into a few smaller posts. thanks for hangin' in there with me...

- DAY 11 -

we hit the road for taupo this morning. we stopped short of the city to drop off the small group of us wanting to challenge our fear of heights at the rock-n-ropes course...


we caught up with the group a few hours later in town, grabbed a quick bite and headed to our hotel so that we could get prepped for our evening dinner cruise around lake taupo, new zealand's largest lake. we decided to go luau-style... which was apparently a license for the boys to wear women's bathing suits...


while we were out on the lake, we saw some neat ancient rock wall carvings...


we got an awesome view of the lake, had a great dinner and luau'd the night away...

- DAY 12 -

we bid farewell to our lakeside resort and made the long drive from taupo to the capital city of wellington. once in the city, we made a run to the top of mt. victoria for a view of this very cosmopolitan city and harbour.


that night, the whole group went out together and somehow we ended up having gender specific dance contests. they were definitely 2 very differnt experiences. here was the scene when the ladies fought for a round of free drinks...


and... here are our men...


- DAY 13 -

we only had 1 full day to spend in wellington. i opted to make a run for the forest and go quad biking in the morning...



we stopped on the way back for a view of kapiti island, where they filmed king king...

i spent the rest of the day bopping around the city, and then grabbed dinner with a small group at a mexican place downtown. wellington was definitely my favorite metropolitan area in nz.

- DAY 14 -

up early and on to the ferry, we said goodbye to the north island. we had a long drive ahead of us as we made our way to christchurch.

once in town, we got settled and headed out for a night on the town. i grabbed a quick snapshot of the cathedral on our way home.

- DAY 15 -

we had the morning free to explore christchurch, before we headed out on a long drive through arthur's pass and on to our destination of franz joseph.

on the way, we stopped at a few locations where they filmed lord of the rings. look... how... exciting...

we stopped for lunch at arthur's pass where we had our first encounter with a kea (mountain parrot.) these crazy brids will grab food right out of your hand, and they've been know to pull parts off parked vehicles.

we had time for a quick walk to the waterfall and it was back on the road to our accommodation for the night...

- DAY 16 -

we packed it up early and piled on the bus so we could head out on our chosen glacier adventure. i went big and did the heli-hike, and it was worth every penny! we took a helicopter over the rainforest leading up to fox glacier and then landed on the top half, where they gave us crampons to help with hiking on the ice.

the glacier was unbelievable! and because we had a relatively fit group, we were able to hike all over the glacier and even climb through caves. i will never forget this adventure as long as i live...

we were really lucky to make it up with the morning group because by the end of our time on the glacier, the weather was moving in and it started to rain. i have to say, i was really lucky weather-wise the entire time. it rains A LOT in nz and i only ran in to it a few times.

flying high from our outing on the ice, we headed out for the adrenaline capital of the world: queenstown. that night, we took the skyline gondola up to a buffet dinner overlooking the city...

*** ONE MORE PART TO GO ***