Joseph We’ve added photos to the New Zealand album.  Enjoy! When we reached the north island we had one main thing that we wanted to do; the Tongariro Crossing.  Tbe Crossing is a 1-day, 17 km walk that takes you through dramatic volcanic landscape.  It has a stark beauty that was the reason it was…

Penny For the past few days, we have been making our way north on the West coast of the South Island of New Zealand.  According to many, the west coast drive is among the most beautiful in the world. The road passes by small towns and villages (some only have about 100 residents, if that),…

Joseph and Penny In 1888, Quintin Mackinnon, a surveyor and explorer was commissioned to cut a track up the Clinton river valley from lake Te Anau in southern South island of New Zealand.  He did this and discovered a pass through the mountains which is now named after him.  The track itself is named after…

Joseph We’ve only been here for less than a week, but in that time we’ve driven almost the whole length of the country.  My impressions of the country so far?  Well, at least much as can be made from the front seat of a speeding vehicle… * New Zealand is a large and absolutely gorgeous…

Penny After 5 months of depending on others to get us from place to place, we decided to get our own set of wheels to tour both the North and South islands in New Zealand. Unfortunately, this convenience also has a cost.  Being on a tight budget, we went for the cheapest option.  We rented…

Joseph As I sit here driving through the rolling hills of New Zealand, dictating this post to Penny it is easy to look back and smile about the difficulties we had getting here. But at the time, it didn’t seem so funny. We arrived at the Bali Airport with plenty of time to spare.  We…