New Zealand: First Impressions

Let's start right here:

These are from Kaikoura, a small town on the east coast of the South Island, famous for its seafood, whale watching and seal colonies.

The views are quite impressive too, especially when the mountains are tipped with snow (sadly, this is one of the few times of year they are not).

While we were stunned by the views that Kaikoura had to offer, it only got better from there as we headed further south, first stopping at Lake Tekapo.

We set out on a short hike up nearby Mt. John for some more views.

Fortunately, the dark clouds in the distance never reached our campground, but made for a cool sight as the clouds and ground sandwiched a sliver of the snow-capped glaciers in the distance. Speaking of camping, we were back at it (details on our first attempt to come in a later post on Australia, which we hope to post soon!), this time with some pretty nice views.

And we were also better prepared to deal with any cold weather after a trip to duty free.

During the short drive from Lake Tekapo to the base of Mt. Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand), we were completely blown away by the view for the first time. After going over a mountain pass, we rounded a corner and were suddenly met by this:

We have seen countless, incredible views on this trip, but this was the first time that we both yelled "WOW!" at the same time. The colors were just so vivid, we had to stop and spend 15 minutes taking pictures.

And then stop again 10 minutes up the road for more pictures.

We finally made it to our camp and set out on a couple of hikes around the area. Warning: many landscape shots to come...

One hike was affectionately known as the "Stairway to Heaven." It's name was appropriate.

And our reward at the top of the (very long) stairway!

Then it was back to the campsite for the night. Must say, the view wasn't bad.

We got up early (while the moon was still out) for one last look before heading further south.

We left the mountains for a day, as we couldn't pass through the wine country of Central Otago without stopping for at least a night. Setting up camp in Bannockburn, Alexis was very pleased that the area is best known for its Pinot Noir and Mike was very pleased that we could walk to five wineries from our campground! A few highlights from our short visit:

After stocking up on wine, we were on our way to Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand!