We visit New Zealand’s South Island city, Dunedin, taking the opportunity to check out the steepest street in the world, tour the Cadbury’s chocolate factory and Speight’s beer brewery. While there, we also check out the nearby Otago Peninsula, famous for its abundant wildlife.
We depart the mountainous interior of New Zealand’s South Island and head for Oamaru to watch the little blue penguin spectacle, sample delicious cheeses, and tour the Victorian limestone architecture.
We catch some sunny weather and make a break for New Zealand’s highest mountain – Mt. Cook. Along the way we check out beautiful turquoise lakes, stunning glaciers, and impressive mountain peaks.
From Christchurch, we explore the stunning scenery of the nearby Banks Peninsula. In the natural harbor town of Akaroa, we take a sailing trip through the stunning blue water and go on the hunt for little blue penguins.
In Christchurch, New Zealand we get locked down in an old prison-turned-hostel and observe the horrific destruction caused by the catastrophic 2011 earthquakes.
As we left the Marlborough wine region, we made one last stop at Peter Yealand’s vineyard. This winery uses environmentally-friendly growing and wine-making procedures. The location of his grapevines was dubious at first, as he chose an area with many hills that are battered by strong winds. Somehow, it all paid off and his wines […]
Nursing our hangovers from Toast Martinborough, we woke up insanely early for our ferry journey through the Cook Strait to New Zealand’s South Island. I had never driven on a car ferry before, so this was a new experience for me. After a nice breakfast on board, we found a comfy couch and I settled […]
Before even arriving in New Zealand, we had read about the Toast Martinborough Festival, held each November in the wine-producing region near the capital, Wellington. Unfortunately, the event sells out very quickly with only 10,000 tickets offered for sale. By the time we had heard about the festival and figured out that we would be […]
We check out the creepy Napier Prison – New Zealand’s first – seeing more damage from the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake.
Our trip to sunny Napier on the North Island’s East Coast, home to delicious red wines and a very unique, preserved collection of Art Deco buildings.