And the 2 weeks of traveling begins!
Sunday morning at 8am, Hannah, Courtney, and I took the 5 hour bus ride to Christchurch. From there, we picked up our rental car and drove to Abel Tasman. We got in around midnight, and slept in our tiny car.
Monday we drove to the Golden Bay. It was so pretty that we decided to do a scenic flight around the bay. Such a great decision, it was so much fun.
Afterwards we went to the Pupu Springs, a beautiful fresh water spring with crystal clear water.
Then did a small hike to Wainui Falls.
After driving around Abel for a bit, we drove to Nelson and stayed at a hostel for the night.
Tuesday we took the 3 hour ferry from Picton to Wellington. We walked around town for a bit, then grabbed some takeaway and ate up at Mount Victoria.
We stayed at Hannah's friend's place 45 minutes outside of the city, at Raumati Beach.
Wednesday we spent the day walking around Wellington. We saw Parliament and the Treaty of Waitangi, went to the Te Papa museum, rollerbladed on the waterfront, and even ran into Prince Charles!!
We stayed with the same family again, and woke up early to go hike the Tongariro Crossing. Unlucky for me, my camera battery broke- using my friend's pictures for the rest of the blog. It was poor weather, but still a lot of fun. I ran into a girl that goes to UNC on the trail- small world!
We stayed with another friend in Tauranga that night. The next morning we headed to Auckland. Along the way we stopped at Mount Manganui.
Next we stopped in Coromandel for the hot water beach and Cathedral Cove. At the beach, we rented a shovel and dug a hole in the sand to get to the hot water. The name was no joke- the water was HOT!
We stayed with my friend in Auckland for the night and just hung out for our last day in New Zealand.
Leaving tomorrow for Australia!