New Zealand has finally ended. Three months was a long time to dedicate to one country, but it was a great decision. I’ve absolutely loved the mountains and I’ll definitely be back in the future. However, for the first time in the trip we actually feel like we’ve seen a country well and are ready to move on.
A good idea for a year of travel may well be to spend three months each in four different countries. Obviously different countries are different sizes and hence there is more or less to see accordingly, but three months feels like a nice amount of time to get to know the culture of a place.
It was good to spend some more time with friends over Christmas and New Year, and I feel we gave Jen a varied and thorough experience of NZ with just three main locations: the volcanos of Tongariro, beaches of Abel Tasman and mountains near Kaikoura.
After a few dismal days of weather over xmas, it has returned to typical glorious NZ with plenty of sunshine and even too much heat at times. We returned to the far south, two months after we visited with Dave and Lauren, and it was noticeably less snowy. The scenery is still spectacular but it lacks a certain magic without the white blanket. I’m glad we came at the start of November and in future I’d consider visiting even earlier in spring.
Having flexibility to adjust your plans according to the weather is really useful here, and we timed it well to even get sunshine on our trip to the second rainiest place in the world.
After many multi-day tramps with Alice, I’ve ended our trip with a couple of long and fast solo day walks. Both have been well worth it for the spectacular Fjordland scenery and probably my best photo of the trip so far.
Now Santiago then Patagonia, I’m excited about that but a little sad to have left New Zealand. I waited 32 years to come here for the first time, I’ll be very surprised if I’m not back within the next three.