Kuah and I got up early on Friday and drove to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. It had been raining on and off as we drove. When we arrived it was just drizzling but it went from drizzle to hard rain during our walk around the hot springs. We knew it was going to rain so we . . . read more

Oakura is the exact opposite of Tasman. We loved hiking and ocean side walks here but didn’t love our Airbnb. Although the place had beautiful views and was setup nicely it was not well up-kept. We arrived late at night and first thing the next day we went out and bought cleaning supplies. We put . . . read more

Our Airbnb in in Tasman was divine. It had huge floor to ceiling glass doors so that you could look out onto the ocean. There were 2 outdoor wooden hot tubs. We really only needed 1. There was also an amazing kitchen and bedroom. Lets start with the views. We were able to see the . . . read more

When we planned our trip we didn’t pay enough attention to how slow traveling the roads here would be. When we looked at the distance between Queenstown and Tasman we thought we could drive it in 1 day. But it turns out that while being about 500 miles apart many of the roads are curvy . . . read more

Queenstown has a cute downtown that is right on the lake. We visited it a few times during our stay. It’s a quick drive or a half hour walk. Out Airbnb is partway up a mountain so there are some steep parts to walking downtown. It’s a nice walk though. We ended up having several . . . read more

With my recent back and not so recent foot injuries we’ve been gradually working back into longer walks. We found that the Lake Hayes Trail was the perfect place for this. It is 8 km, about 5 miles long. It has an elevation gain of about 347 ft. There is a mix of flat sections . . . read more

When looking into things to do in this area of New Zealand Milford Sound (which is actually a fjord) continuously came up as the can’t miss activity. Because you have to drive around mountains to get there it is about a 4 hour drive each way. You can take a bus trip, drive yourself, go . . . read more

Kuah and I decided to try the course lunch at Amisfield. Reading a lot of the reviews it seemed people either loved it or hated it. Being a picky eater wasn’t sure if I would enjoy the food or Kuah would end up eating both our portions. But it looked like, either way it would . . . read more