This post is a bit late but for good reason! I just got home from the greatest 10-day road trip adventure that I’ve ever had! My friends Ailin and Kelcie and I left Dunedin at 6am last Friday morning to drive up to Kaikoura for a few day hikes and to see some seal pups. We then continued on the northern tip of the South Island in Nelson to pick up our friend Jacqui who flew in from Auckland to join our adventure. The four of us stayed in a pretty sweet little apartment that night in Nelson to just hang out before beginning the rest of our journey. We started off with hiking 21km on the Abel Tasman track on Saturday. There was amazing views of the ocean every step of the way and the weather was phenomenal. By the end of this whole trip actually, we realized we only had maybe an hour of cloudy weather out of the whole 10 days, so we definitely lucked out. We camped that night in Abel Tasman.
From Sunday through Wednesday, we backpacked our way through Heaphy Track, a total of 78.4 km. It was definitely a strenuous task and our feet hurt every step of the way but it so worthwhile. It was so awesome to share the experience with great friends. On Thursday, we headed to Arthur’s Pass where the snowcapped mountains were endless. On Friday we drove to the Mt. Cook area to check out Lake Tekapo and Lake Lake Pukaki. The blue color of the water was unbelievable and I wanted to jump in so bad, too bad it was freezing. On Saturday we hiked the Hooker Valley track which took us near the base of Mt. Cook, the highest point in New Zealand. The glacial waters were beautiful and Mt. Cook was breathtaking. We then headed out of the Mt. Cook area early this morning to drive back to Dunedin. We made a quick stop at the Moeraki Boulders which were super cool. Now it’s taking all my motivation to unpack and finally do laundry, but reminiscing on this adventure is much more fun. Back to reality.