3/3/14 – 3/8/14: Bethells Beach, New Zealand
Pretty much everyone who knows Katie and me knows that we love the show Xena: Warrior Princess. In fact, we met because of that show over 19 years ago. So when the opening narrator says “her courage will change the world” I can definitively say that it changed mine for the better.
2/21/14 – 3/3/14: Cape Reinga / Kaitaia, New Zealand
Seashells crunched below our tour bus as it barreled down Ninety Mile Beach toward Cape Reinga, the northern tip of New Zealand. Katie and I were on a day-tour that consisted of sand dune sledding and lunch at Tapotupotu Bay, but it was the beach cruising that had lured us in. There something about speeding headlong down a sandy beach in a gigantic bus that felt…unique. Our juggernaut got us to Cape Reinga in record time.
2/17/14: Hobbiton - Matamata, New Zealand
After principal photography for The Lord of the Rings trilogy ended in 2000, the sets were quickly dismantled, leaving the New Zealand countryside as the filmmakers had found it. Understandable, since you don't want travelers stumbling upon broken down, two-sided castle facades while traipsing through the mountains. What Kiwis didn't realize was that Peter Jackson's films would become the cornerstone of their tourist trade.
2/6/14 – 2/15/14: Wellington to Tongariro Northern Circuit, New Zealand
Hiking Kepler Track was a sweet conclusion to the South Island of New Zealand. I wish I could say the North Island gave us a warm welcome, but apparently we did something to piss it off.
01/31/14 – 02/02/14: Kepler Track, Te Anau, New Zealand
Finding ourselves alone once more, without the distraction of parental guidance, Katie and I buckled down for a week’s worth of RTW trip planning. With year-long travel it’s impossible to map out everything ahead of time, you need to make room for research along the way. With this in mind, we rented an airbnb outside of Christchurch for a week-long sequestering, nothing but the internet and a fridge full of groceries to sustain us.
01/02/14 – 01/21/14: Queenstown to Nelson, South Island, New Zealand
As you know, our trip to New Zealand in 2011 beguiled us to no end. We told anyone who'd listen about the country's welcoming people, adventurous spirit, and extraordinary beauty. You can't turn your head without seeing another sublime vista or mountain begging to be climbed! It truly is a remarkable place. (No, New Zealand isn't paying us to be ambassadors of their country, though they should!)
12/24/13 – 12/28/13: Routeburn / Caples Track, Glenorchy, New Zealand
When Katie and I decided to go on a RTW trip we had no idea where we’d be traveling. The options were limitless. How would we narrow it down? An easy way to start narrowing it down would be to immediately rule out places we’d visited before. For instance, New Zealand, where we’d experienced 9 weeks of nirvana back in 2011. It was, literally, the perfect vacation. Based on that perfection, it was hard to resist the opportunity to return…