If you want to experience the truly natural and untouched beauty of the world then New Zealand should be on the top your list. I must say that it is one of the greenest and purest country I have ever visited. The freshness of the air and the clean roads with mesmerizing views of mountains, farms and lakes completely absorb you in the nature.
Our itinerary went like: Christchurch > Franz Josef > Queenstown > Rotorua > Auckland
New Zealand was my honeymoon trip. As we were newly married, it was a wonderful opportunity for us to spend some great time with each other in the country far away. This blog is the description of my best moments and the best things about New Zealand as a whole.
Christchurch is a beautiful small city with a number of gardens, churches, market, bars etc. What was quite surprising about the town was that after sunset (which is around 8 p.m.) it becomes very quiet there. When we headed for dinner, there were very few people out in the town at 9:30 p.m. We grabbed an ice cream from a store and walked through the streets enjoying the serenity and the artistry of the town.
On the next day, we had to go to Franz Josef through Tranz Alpine train. On our journey we saw miles of native beach forest, wide spread farms, rivers and lakes, and the magnificent alps. We traveled while sipping drinks and clicking a lot of pictures.
To finally reach Franz Josef, we had to go by a bus from station which was around four hours drive and on the way we stopped in Hokitika for one hour. When I remember Hokitika the only thing that comes to my mind is tranquility. The town was very still and noiseless.
Franz Josef again is a very small town famous for its glacier walk. Due to the rough whether we could not go for Heli hike which is said to be the most adventurous part of Franz Josef. However, we did other fun activities there like trekking in the dense forest and going for a long walk across the road towards glaciers. The whether was very amazing as it was drizzling constantly and the sky was cloudy.
Our next destination was Queenstown. Queenstown is an adventure packed town with a lot of entertaining activities to do and mind blowing landscape. We went for the Milford sound cruise, cruising amidst the beautiful giant mountains and water falls. We went for the Gondola ride, did para gliding for the first time, and also covered the city tour in which we relished all the fascinating views of the town from height. We also went for the famous Shoot over jet boat ride and relaxed in the Onsen hot pools while admiring the spectacular landscape.
We boarded flight from Queenstown to Rotorua. Rotorua is known for its thermal wonderland, nature parks and Maori culture. Unlike Queenstown, Rotorua is a less urban town but also a very unique one. On every corner of the street, you could see thermal gas coming out from below the surface. In Rotorua, we went to Rainbow springs nature park where we saw diversity of birds and came to know about their national bird Kiwi. Then we went to the Maori museum where they showcased the clothes worn by the Maori people, weapons owned by them, and their paintings. We also explored the thermal park and natural mud pools. Our last whole day in Rotorua was reserved for the Hobbiton movie set tour. This is the place where movies like "The hobbit" and "Lord of the rings" were shot. It is an artificially created set on a wide spread area but looks very real and lovely.
Our last stop was Auckland. On our way to Auckland, we visited the Waitomo glowworm caves. Those caves were very interesting to see. It is known for a species of glowworm that is found in large quantity in New Zealand only. We did boating on the black water inside the caves while looking at the glow worms shining above.
We were quite saddened by the fact that our trip was going to end soon but at the same time we were very happy about the trip so far and curious all the time. The trip was going very smoothly. Besides exploring the culture and sight seeings we enjoyed our stay in the resorts as well, some days we took day at leisure to get rid of all the fatigue and prepare ourselves for the next city tour. Far away from any kind of commotion we were just relaxing and living the moment.
In Auckland, we went for the sightseeing and Kelly Tarltons Sea life aquarium followed by the Sky tower. Our shuttle took us to various points to capture the ultimate view of the Auckland city from different angles. The Kelly Tarltons sea life aquarium is a nicely build aquarium displaying huge number of Penguins. The sky tower is 328 meters tall tower which gives you an amazing view of the whole city. There were many cafes and restaurants in the tower and a souvenir shop on the Ground floor. We explored the streets of the town and did some shopping from the market behind our hotel.
And this is how our trip went. Adventurous, relaxing, fun filled and full of life..
"There's a real purity in New Zealand. It's actually not an easy thing to find in our world anymore. It's a unique place because it is so far away from rest of the world. There is a sense of isolation and also being protected."
- Elijah Wood
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Nice😘
ReplyDeletevery well written
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