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Once we learned that AirTahitiNui offered a stop in New Zealand, I had to look at a map to find it. Then we had to figure out what to do there. After checking out TripAdvisor.com it became clear that New Zealand is the natural scenic wonderland of the Southern Hemisphere.
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to open the map in a new window. From Auckland, we flew to Christchurch, then drove the BLUE route, staying at the big DOTS on the map (listed below) over 6 days, then flew from Queenstown back to Auckland. |
New Zealand is comprised of two big islands: the North and the South. Both islands combined are about the size of California and Oregon combined.
We were immediately drawn to what is known as the Southern Alps, a mountain range that runs the length of the West side of the South Island. A popular tourist attraction is to take a train from Christchurch to Greymouth, not identified on the map but at the dot to the left of 'Zealand'. Most reviewers on TripAdvisor recommend driving this route, called Arthur's Pass, then continuing South. So that is what we did, and we were not disappointed. Actual driving time was about 3 hours a day.
We spent the night at the following places (big DOTS on the above map) before flying to Sydney:
Christchurch
Kumara (close to Greymouth).
Fox Glacier
Lake Wanaka
Te Anau (2 nights) with a ride to Milford Sound in between.
Auckland, then Sydney
The country was populated relatively recently, dating back only 700 years when it was discovered and settled by Polynesians. This is recent compared to almost anywhere in the world, especially the United States which was populated about 30,000 years ago by Native Americans from Siberia. The early Polynesians developed a distinct Maori culture. We didn't see many Maori on the South island. It is quite a bit colder than the North island.
The first European to 'discover' the island was Abel Tasman in the 1670's, followed by James Cook about 100 years later.