Category: Photography

Water rushes over Huka Falls at a rate of 220,000 litres (58 000 gallons) per second.

Mount dooooooooom!

The well known beer was named after this bird!

From the South island to the North island! We traded buses with another Contiki group that’s doing the reverse of our tour. They got off the ferry, and we got on!

There was a little something special this day too – it was the day that my friend got to see the guy she met on our Australian tour. It was a very sweet reunion, and even almost 4 months after the tour, they are reuniting in Thailand for another adventure together! <3 En route we stopped at a seal colony to watch them play in the water and sunbathe on the rocks.

The rain held off for a bit as we trekked up to the glacier which was nice. We were warned that it would be a tough hike – but compared to my 7 hour hike the day before… it was nothing! For the first 10-15 minutes, you need to keep walking since the area is a no-stopping zone. Rocks fall down frequently and without warning, so it’s dangerous to hang around. All the Aussies were frozen solid, all the Canadians were in t-shirts – it was pretty funny! As a special treat, (because we hiked so much faster than other groups) we got to go to an ice cave! It was so cool!

All those little dots are people – gives an idea of scale!

The stairs we walked up were carved out of the ice by the various glacier guides. Our guide, Avalon, was from northern BC and was happy to have other Canadians in her group since she was starting to get homesick.

These cliffs reminded me of the “cliffs of insanity” from the Princess Bride!

This was advertised to us by our tour guide as an all day hike. He neglected to mention it was to the top of a mountain. I’ve done a lot of hiking, almost every weekend in the summer in fact, but this was up uP UP – for 4 hours! Once we made it to the top, we had lunch for an hour or so, and then about 3 hours back down. We passed landslides and hopped across rocks to get across rivers where they were rebuilding the bridges. All the supplies are dropped down by helicopter to preserve the land, plus there’s no way any vehicles would be able to get up there. The scenery at the top is easily one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen. Waterfalls, flat-lands and mountains – amazing. It was even worth all those suspension bridges!

New Zealand invented bungee jumping, which is why most people wanted their first bungee to be here. I am a staying-on-the-ground kinda girl, so I just watched, but it was fun to see my friends do it! Below is a photo from the Kawurau Bridge looking out at the clear blue water, and the guys that are in charge of pulling in the people that have just jumped doing what they do between jumps – tanning! haha!

Another stunning view from my room in Queenstown! Although I have to say, it was one of my favourite places in NZ because it was just SO beautiful.

The gondola up to the Skyline restaurant was pretty scary for someone afraid of heights, it’s quite the angle… but the view from the skydeck was worth it! I also took the gondola up a second time and hiked down with a friend. We didn’t realize it was going to take us 40 mins away from the actual town once we made it to the bottom… but it was a great hike!

This was so pretty, everyone gave their cameras to the people on that side of the bus to take photos for them.

This was in Lord of the Rings… I can’t remember which part, but points for anyone that does!

Also – another beautiful lake, but I can’t remember the name of this one either…