New Zealand South Island: Part 1

New Zealand's South Island

Part 1

19 November 2025

Fur Seals on our drive from Blenheim to Christchurch.

20 November 2025

We drove to Arthur's Pass National Park.

View from a hike on the Bealey Spur Track

I noticed this sticker on one of the trail markers. 😁

Tirade Viaduct lookout

Devil's Punchbowl Waterfall 

Castle Hills Bouldering Basin. I kept my feet on the ground, mostly. Bouldering looks intense and not for me!

21 November 2025

We drove from Christchurch to Twizel.

One of the amazing views along the way!

22 November 2025

We headed into Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park. That's the name of the tallest mountain, at 3724 meters / 12,217 feet.

Aoraki is the indigenous Maori name of the mountain. It's also commonly called Mt. Cook.

We took a short walk on the Hooker Valley Track. We would've gone further, but much of it is currently closed for repairs on the second swing bridge. We did go across the bridge pictured here.

We also walked the Red Tarns Track, since our other hike was shorter than anticipated. 

We enjoyed a stop at the visitor's center. Who doesn't love looking through a load of historical and current information, especially when it's a bit rainy outside?! And nothing like a Bible verse alongside memorial books... listing everyone who has died in the park, including a short bio for each. 😢 We just did general hikes on marked trails, bit there are people who come to climb the actual mountain, which can be much more dangerous!

23 November 2025

We returned again the Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park. 

We hiked the Sealy Tarns track, which has been my favorite thus far! We had great weather at the top, hence the amazing view of the mountain and bottom of the glacier while we ate our lunch. 

24 November 2025

We were in the city of Dunedin, which is on the east coast.

Tunnel Beach, view from above.

Tunnel Beach, view from below, after walking through the tunnel and down the stairs to get there.

Ness happily went surfing again today.

25 November 2025

Art walk around Dunedin before leaving town, on our way to Invercargill.

We stopped at Nugget Point Lighthouse. What a spectacular view! 

Paramount Falls

Curio Bay

26 November 2025

We headed to Fiordland National Park (after Ness got pulled over for speeding through the town 😬). Thankfully she only got a warning. Once inside the park, we set up our tent at Cascade Creek Campsite.

We hiked the Marian Lake Track.

That night, our tent started leaking during the rainstorm, so we ended up sleeping a few hours in the car. We're borrowing gear from a local who gave us a few different tent options to choose from. We chose the smallest and lightest option, knowing we would be carrying it for a 4 day future hike. What we didn't realize is that it didn't include a rainfly. Oops!

27 November 2025

It rained most of the day, which tracks with this area being known as the rainiest in the entire country, I believe. We already planned to sleep in the car again, so that worked out just fine.

We had a boat cruise booked into Milford Sound that day. With all of the aforementioned rain, the waterfalls were spectacular, even whike it continued to rain!

28 November 2025

We hiked the Lake Gunn track and then headed to the Key Summit track. This is also one of the possible starting points for the Routeburn Great Walk. More on that later, as we had already planned to start on the complete opposite side of the trail later in the trip.

Lake Gunn track.

Before we started the hike, a kea landed inside the back of our car and stole Ness' loaf of bread. They are known to be curious and naughty birds, especially in the crowded tourist areas.

It actually has become quite a problem when they are fed or steal/eat human food. And here is a short blurb from the New Zealand Department of Conservation website about these birds. 

"Kea are a native parrot. Their natural range takes them from the sea to mountain tops. They are highly intelligent and inquisitive birds.

Kea can damage cars, items on car roofs, aerials, bikes, motorbikes, helmets, and tramping equipment. Using a car cover is recommended. Loose items should be packed away or covered. Any interesting objects left exposed are likely to attract kea, who will pull it apart to see how it works. 

Do not feed the kea as this encourages them to areas like carparks and is harmful to their health."

We attempted to hike the Gertrude's Saddle track. Before the start of the trail, we were wading through shallow, yet still, glacial water. Within the first half mile of the trail, we decided to turn around, since the trail was still water-covered and becoming increasingly dangerous to cross the water to follow the trail markers. 

We got an amazing view, and I had much more fun during this hike than I had anticipated! The water behind us, in the picture is much deeper and faster moving than it looks, so this is where we turned around.

29 November 2025

We've arrived in Queenstown! A bit of culture shock ensued, as this is a very busy and touristy city compared to where we've been lately. We listened to live music at an Irish Pub for a few hours. Then we headed to a bar called Cowboys, where there's a mechanical bull. Ness tried to convince me to ride it, "since you're American" she said 😂, which I respectfully declined. 

30 November 2025

Plan and chill day at the hostel.

This is the view of the gondola from the balcony at our hostel. Cheers to being surrounded by beautiful landscapes!