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April 01, 2017
Prep
I’ve almost finished packing and I don’t think I’ve ever packed this much technology for a trip before!!! This will be an interesting learning experience!
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April 02, 2017
Arriving in Queenstown
After setting my alarm for 3:30AM, I got an Uber to the airport and met the group at about 4:00AM. The roads and the airport were really quiet at that time so it was a nice leisurely pace. The only problem is that most of the food places were clos...
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April 03, 2017
The Luge
Today our main plan was to go to the Luge at the top of the mountain near our hotel and see how we go for time after that. It was about a 5-10 minute walk and we arrived at the base of the mountain where there was the Skyline Gondola terminal. We ...
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April 04, 2017
Milford Sound
After a really good night sleep last night we got up, got dressed, packed our things and were on the road by about 6:15AM. We had a bit of a hard time getting the van out of the car park, but after about a 9 point turn we were on our way! The roa...
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April 05, 2017
Lord Of The Rings 4x4 Tour
This morning a couple of us decided to sleep in a bit while the rest of the group went into town for breakfast and coffee. I had a good sleep in to around 10AM-ish and ended up going through some photos and writing some blogs until around midday w...
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April 06, 2017
Lake Tekapo
This morning we checked out of our accommodation in Queenstown and headed in the direction of Christchurch but with a stop at a place called Lake Tekapo for a helicopter ride to a glacier for a hike. The only problem is that the weather was not ve...
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April 07, 2017
Tasman Glacier And Christchurch
This morning we left the house to go back to the helicopter tour place. The weather was so much better than yesterday, it was fairly warm in the sun, nothing but clear blue skies and barely any wind. Looks like a great day for a helicopter ride! ...
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April 08, 2017
Christchurch To Wellington
We got up bright and early this morning, checked out of the hotel and made our way to the Jucy depot at the airport to drop off our cars. After some quick formalities we got a lift on the shuttle bus to the airport terminal and got some food. We e...
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April 09, 2017
Wellington Zoo
Today we went to Wellington Zoo. We drove our van over to the zoo but it was pretty hard to find parking! We were expecting a massive car park but either they don’t have one or we just couldn’t find it. We ended up parking on the side of the road ...
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April 10, 2017
Weta Workshop And Te Papa Museum
Today we went to Weta Workshop which is a local business that started as a small special effects company and is now responsible for the effects in massive titles such as Lord Of The Rings, Avatar, The Avengers, Power Rangers, Ghost In The Shell, K...
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April 11, 2017
Wellington To Rotarua
Today we checked out of the hotel, packed the car and started our long journey to Rotorua. The drive is supposed to take close to six hours but we always allow much longer than that so we can stop along the way as we need to. One of Tom’s friends...
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April 12, 2017
Exploring Rotorua
Today we were supposed to be doing the White Island volcano tour, but because a cyclone was on it’s way the weather wasn’t safe for the tour to run so Amy found a few other things for us to do instead. She had found a privately owned geothermal pa...
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April 13, 2017
Cyclone Wedding
Today was the big day! Anthony and Amy would finally make it official. Normally for the morning of a wedding I’d be putting on a suit, my best leather shoes and trying to remember how to tie a tie again but this wedding is very different! Not only...
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April 14, 2017
Rotorua
Today was good Friday but there was still plenty to do. The weather had cleared up to become quite a nice day and Amy had recommended we visit Wai O Tapu today which was another geothermal area not too far from us. We all met at the nearby cafe ag...
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April 15, 2017
Glowworms And Jet Boat
Today is sadly our last full day in New Zealand and it’s been an amazing trip so far. To top it off, our plan for today was to go through some caves and look at glowworms! We got up a bit earlier today to make it to our tour in time. After a quic...
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April 16, 2017
Hobbiton And Farewell
Our last did not involve a nice relaxing sleep in, instead we got up really early to drive out to Hobbiton to be there for our 9am tour. We arrived just in time and once again transferred over to a tour bus to get to the Alexander Farm. Peter Jac...