Exploring New Zealand

     While working at the center I accrue vacation time and have a lot of flexibility in my work schedule which gives me the opportunity to go travelling and exploring beyond just the weekends.  Ideally I would have loved to be able to take a month a then end of my time at the center just to travel around and explore however it was just not possible to do so with my time frame in which I need to return to work at home with the Forest Service.   Having the flexibility to incorporate travel throughout my time here is a definite perk of the casual work environment at the center.  Recently I used some of my vacation time to travel to the South Island of New Zealand with my mom while she was in town.  It was an incredibly worthwhile trip as it is a short and affordable flight from Sydney yet entirely different terrain and landscape.  We flew into Christchurch and picked up a rental car there to begin our road trip.  Christchurch is a relatively popular city to explore however a massive earthquake hit Christchurch last year destroying a lot of the historic buildings thus there is a lot of construction going on currently to rebuild.  After a short trip into the city we opted to continue south and stopped at a fruit and veggie stand on the outskirts of town to stock up for the week.  Our next stop was Queenstown.  The drive there was beautiful through a lot of farm land and upon our arrival in Queenstown we took a very scenic gondola ride and explored Arrowtown, a historic gold mining town, and stopped at one of the many wineries of the area.  From Queenstown we headed to Te Anu for a horseback ride and to check out the wildlife refuge, beautiful lake and lakeside tracks and glow-worm caves which we took a night tour of.  Our next stop was Milford Sound, not actually a Sound but a stunning miss named fiord.    From Milford Sound we headed to Mt Cook National Park which offered plenty of hiking and we took a boat ride out to the Tasman Glacier which is the largest glacier in New Zealand.  From Mt. Cook we headed back to Christchurch for our return flight to Sydney and then road tripped up the coast from Sydney to Byron bay before heading back to my house in Coffs Harbour.  It was an action packed couple of weeks but an absolutely amazing experience and I would recommend that any one travelling to Australia also makes time for a pit stop in New Zealand as well.

Fruit and Veg Stand

Woodend Beach just Outside Christchurch 

The giant Salmon we encountered on our road trip

Amisfield Winery

Red Deer farmed everywhere

Lake Te Anu

Our trusty steeds:  Kepler and T.J.

Cruising Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Tasman Glacier