Looking back, moving forward

So after you have returned to the real world, unpacked, sorted the pile of dirty laundry and waded through the many photos of your travels (ok, so technically I'm still doing this, but 3000 photos are a lot to get through!), what comes next? Why, planning the next trip of course! My adventures in New Zealand were very much a 'highlights' tour, and there are many places I'd like to go back to, plus visit a few places we missed - and that's just on the South Island! So, here is what I'll be looking to do on my next trip to New Zealand, along with a few tips and recommendations for places to go and things to do...

Marlborough Sounds - like many visitors to the South Island, our experience of the Marlborough Sounds was limited to the ferry ride into Picton and travelling along the Queen Charlotte's Drive. But the glimpses of hidden inlets, golden beaches and lush, forested hills has put it firmly in my top 10 of places to go and explore properly. Our of season, the Queen Charlotte track is open for mountain biking - and with the lack of crowds that flock to Abel Tasman, what are you waiting for?
Nelson Lakes National Park - definitely one of the remoter parts of the South Island - head here for some solitude and a good old tramp!
Golden Bay - a place to relax, take life easy and escape from the world for a few days
Arthur's Pass - the TranzAlpine train journey is supposed to be one of the most spectacular in the world, but sadly we didn't have time to fit it in. Though if the weather was good, I'd also want to take in the views from the summit of Avalanche Peak
The mountains - ok, that's a bit generic, but I'm a mountain girl at heart and boy, did we drive through a lot of mountains... The beautiful drive through Mt Aspiring national park, and our all-too-brief time round Mt Cook reminded me of alpine adventures and the magnificent views you get from mountain summits - I was down in the valleys but longed to be on top of the mountains.

And places not to return to?  Well, we didn't feel our heartstrings tugging when we left behind the grey gloom of Bluff and Invercargil...but perhaps we were just there on a bad day.

Don't miss!

In no particular order, my top 10 Trip highlights:

1. Swimming with dolphins in the Catlins
2. Trekking the Routeburn - great track, fantastic views
3. Floating through pitch-black caves with thousands of glow worms overhead with Underworld adventures
4. Golden Bay - the wild expanse of Wharaiki beach with its nursery pool of baby fur seals, followed by the tranquility of Shambhala and the nearby, lively Mussel Inn
5. Sunrise over Milford Sound
6. Sea kayaking round Abel Tasman National Park
7. Swimming in Scorcher Bay followed by great coffee and lunch at Scorch-O-Rama
8. The West Coast - desolate, beautiful beaches, weird rocks and tongues of ice- trapped between the mountains and the sea, this is one place I would definitely like to explore more
9. Mt Cook National Park and Lake Tekapo - beautiful moutains, stargazing and hot pools - what more could you want?
10. Wine tasting in Marlborough country

Back to the mountains

Leaving the Catlins was hard, but with just a few days remaining of our holiday, we were keen to explore more of New Zealand. We drive up the coast, passing through Dunedin and stopping for a quick look at the Moeraki boulders further up the coast. These amazing round boulders look like beach balls part buried in the sand - giraffe-like patterns form on the surface of some, where the crystalline calcite deposits have broken through the shell of the boulder. Elsewhere on the beach, boulders have split open, looking like cracked eggshells. We were not the only ones stopping to view these geological phenomena - we see more tourists on the beach than we saw in two days in the Catlins!

Back in the car we drive north to Oamaru, then inland on Highway 83, stopping off to see some Maori cave paintings and at a place called Earthquakes (professional curiosity...) where a dramatic cliff is actually the result of a landslide, not an earthquake. We had lunch at Elephant Rocks - a fantastic playground of large limestone boulders set in pastureland, with a mountain backdrop. Out came the rock shoes which had been festering in my pack, and I spent a happy half hour on the pocket-covered boulders whilst MizHB patiently took photos and made friends with the local sheep.

Sadly we still had some miles to go, so we got back on the road and continued our drive inland, up through Twizel to Mt Cook village. The views of Mt Cook on the drive up to the village are spectacular, though when in the village, the big one is hidden and it's neighbouring Mt Sefton that provides the snow-covered backdrop. There is just time for a short walk through the forest, with a good viewpoint of Mt Cook, before we check in to our hostel, have dinner and squeeze in a quick session in the sauna before bed.

Next morning dawns bright and clear, and we headed for a half-day walk up Hooker Valley. The good track meanders gently up the valley, with great views of the surrounding mountains, to the Hooker glacier terminal lake. We then drove round to the Tasman Valley, where a short walk led to a viewpoint over the glacier and glacial lake - famous for its icebergs. It was difficult to get an idea of how big these were until the appearance of some Zodiac boats gave an impressive sense of scale.

It was a short drive from Mt Cook to Tekapo, where we were spending our penultimate night. We had been looking forward to the Tekapo hot pools throughout our visit and they didn't disappoint. Almost empty at the end of the day, we lay back and relaxed I'm the warm water, watching a beautiful sunset and the first stars appear in the sky. A relaxing end to a busy couple of days.