A Real Roadtrip

Watch out! A 7-hours road trip in New Zeeland can easily end up to be around 12 hours long.

If you decide to go on a road trip around New Zeeland, make sure you have lots of time on your hands! There are lots of beautiful things to see, scenery to photograph and film. When we drove from Hanmer Springs to Queenstown on the 30th of December, our 7 hour drive, ended up being around 10-12 hours long.

 

Beautiful scenery on the road between Hanmer Springs and Queenstown.

 

The road between Hanmer Springs and Queenstown is around 610 km long. If you drive on the “Scenic Route” (road 72), you save almost an hour, cause you skip all the red lights in and around Christchurch. Just a tip! =o) But… taking the “Scenic Route” might not save you time anyway, because it’s so beautiful all around you, that you probably stop everywhere anyway to photograph and/or film and just enjoy the nature around you. =o)

 

Aoraki/Mt Cook, is the highest mountain in New Zealand.

On our road trip from down to Queenstown we saw Aoraki Mt Cook, which is New Zealand’s highest mountain, and it is a part of the Southern Alps. The mountain is 3,754 metres (12,316 ft). The Southern Alps are one of only two mountain ranges in the world than run from the South to the North, instead of West to East.

We also stopped to film/photograph Lake Tekapo. You can see Mt Cook at the end of the lake, and that is a very beautiful sight.

Lake Tekapo on the South Island in New Zealand.

Yeah, you see wuite a few mountains, mountain ranges and similar stuff on your way through the South Island. This scenery definitely reminds me of Norway, and makes me miss Scandinavia. I thoroughly enjoyed the road trip down to Queenstown. We arrived in Queenstown around 8-9pm. The town was full of tourists! Most motels, hotels and backpackers said “No Vacancy”. We were lucky, and when we looked for a motel, a couple had just cancelled their room, which we then got. Usually, Queenstown is fully booked many weeks before New Years Eve. It is a very popular town to celebrate New Years in. Usually, there are around 22 thousand people in Queenstown, but during high season (mostly summertime) the population doubles!

We had some indian dinner, and then went to bed, very tired after the long drive.

Agrodome

Rotorua is a fun city to be in as a tourists, and there are lots of things to do and see.

One of the things I would urge people to do if they come to New Zealand, is to visit the city Rotorua and its many sights and activities. Rotorua is in the Bay of Plenty region o the North Island. The city has been a popular tourism destination for over a century, and it is probably most know for its geothermal activity.

However, I would urge people to go to Agrodome! A unique experience in New Zealand where you can visit a sheep farm, see how the sheep are sheared, how cows are milked, lambs fed and you can visit the farms Organic Orchard!

The Agrodome Sheep Show is fun for both adults and children

When I visited Agrodome, I started off the visit with the Agrodome Sheep Show. A very fun show for both adults and children. The more than energetic presenter shows off his shearing skills, tells the audience about the different breeds of sheep and introduces his nice dogs as well.

On the farm tour we saw sheep, Ilama, Deers and other animals.

Then I went on a tour of the farm, including the Organic Orchard where I got to see Kiwi vines and Feijoa bushes. The group also got to try some kiwi juice, kiwi wine and honey. Delicious!

Top Left: Feijoa Bushes; Top Right: Kiwi Vines; Bottom: Kiwis

You can go on a full day visit at Agrodome and finish off your tour of the farm with some drenaline Activities, such as Zorb or Bungy.

As they say at Agrodome “See you at Agrodome soon!”

 

Kaikoura – South Island, New Zealand

In October 2010, I visited the coastal town Kaikoura, on the South Island in New Zealand.

It is a very beautiful little town and you can go whale watching, dolphin or shark swimming,  and many more things.

I went on an Albatross Encounter and I saw the seals along the coastline of Kaikoura.

If you ever go to Kaikoura, make sure to try out the seafood which is delicious in most of their resaurants.

This is a short video with footage I took when I visited Kaikoura.