New Zealand
Ben's sabbatical trip to New Zealand!
Days at a Glance
| Date | Day at a Glance |
|---|---|
| 16-19Feb26 | North Island, Mount Maunganui |
| 20-22Feb26 | Twizel, Mount Cook |
| 23-25Feb26 | Wanaka, Mount Aspiring |
| 26-28Feb26 | Fiordland |
| 01-02Mar26 | Great Walk: Hump Ridge Track |
| 03-05Mar26 | Queenstown |
| 06Mar26 | Auckland |
High-Low-Hero-Chow/Ciao*
| Ben | Maggie | |
|---|---|---|
| High | Runs and volleyball in Wanaka | Milford Sound cruise |
| Low | Travel delay both ways | 12 hours in Dallas airport |
| Hero | Meg for planning an amazing trip! | Ben on achieving Epic sabbatical! |
| Chow/Ciao | All the iced lattes | NZ fresh fruit ice cream |
*A game I learned from Ben, who uses it with friends as a fun way to reflect on an experience
Journal
Ben's first sabbatical trip! A huge congratulations to him for making it 5 years at Epic, a serious feat that not many Epic employees achieve. I'm genuinely very proud of his hard work to make it this far, and a big thank you to him for taking me along for the ride!
When we first started dreaming about the sabbatical trip, we threw around a bunch of different options, but Ben's heart was almost always on New Zealand. Jen and Mike had recently gone and absolutely raved about it, and it's a frequent Epic sabbatical location, given the distance (free flights? what's the furthest place we can go?). The sabbatical trip is 4 weeks that you can take in 2 chunks, a year apart (so stay subscribed for next year's sabbatical blog post). Ben added a week of vacation, meaning we were taking a 3 week vacation to New Zealand, with flights paid for, and a per diem of $500 for 12 of the 18 days. Pretty sweet, huh?
I planned an exciting trip, starting with 1 week of relaxation, beach, and culture on the North Island, and 2 weeks focused on hiking and nature in the South Island.
Big thanks to our friends and family in Madison for watching Maisy while we were gone. 3 weeks is a long time, and it's nice to know she's with folks she trusts (1 week each with Noah, Sarah, and Maria!)
Saturday 14Feb26
Trip started off with Maria giving us a ride to the airport and quickly fell of the rails when the first of our 3 flights was delayed. Our MSN to MSP trip was delayed enough that we knew we would miss our connection to LAX. We decided to make it to MSP anyway: if we couldn't start our vacation in New Zealand, at least we'd get some time to see family, and cross one of the flights off our list. We landed and Ubered to Jen and Mike's, arriving around 8PM, where we were greeted with homemade chicken piccata, and I got to meet their new puppy, Stella. She's adorable!
Sunday 15Feb26
We slept in, had pancake breakfast, went for runs, and played a bit with Stella, before a quick lunch and a ride to the airport. We had a 6 hr layover in LAX where we got turned away from the Delta lounge (apparently Ben's Gold Medallion status isn't worth anything if we're in Economy seats...), so ended up at Panda Express.
The 13hr flight from LAX to AKL was thankfully uneventful. We both watched a few movies, slept a decent amount, and then landed at 8:30AM Tuesday 17Feb26, New Zealand time. We never "lived" Monday 16Feb26, Garfield would be proud. We crossed the date line, meaning the 17-hour time difference sounds extreme, but it's effectively only a 5-hr difference from central time. The adjustment was much easier than usual jet lag.
Tuesday 17Feb26
We grabbed our rental car and started to drive South. They drive on the left here, and Ben handled it like a pro, only using the wipers instead of the turn signal 5 times (I giggled every time).
Hungry and in need of caffeine, we stopped at a "BakeHouse" that served hot breakfast food and had 6 cases of food. We ordered the "Kiwi breakfast", a muffin, an apples and cream turnover, and 2 iced lattes. Everything was amazing.
We finished the drive to our Mount Maunganui Airbnb. For the North Island, I wanted us to stay somewhere on the beach, to enjoy the summertime in February. "The Mount" seemed like a place where New Zealanders went to vacation. It was lovely. The beach was beautiful and clean, with a lovely boardwalk full of runners and bikers. The tip of the Mount ends in a volcano, with trails around and up it, that are supposed to be beautiful, and a big reason why I booked it. When we arrived at our Airbnb, Ben felt like going for a run, and I told him to go check out the volcano trails while I read on the beach, just across the street from us. A bit later he met me on the beach and explained there was lots of security and signs preventing access to the volcano. After a quick google, apparently just a few weeks ago a landslide occurred that killed 6 people, with the bodies yet to be discovered. Reading that changed our attitudes from disappointment to gratitude that we missed it.
Reading on the beach was lovely, we're reading the 4th and 5th books in Sanderson's Stormlight Archives. It was a perfect temperature; the only part of me that got sunburnt were my love handles that I didn't realize were poking out from my shirt, whoops!
We walked into town (~1.5 miles from our Airbnb) for dinner. Downtown was nice, with plenty of options, and I was surprised at how clean and quiet it was. While it may be a town where New Zealanders vacation, most places closed around 7 or 8PM, and the vibe was more laidback surfing than party town. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant, where the waitress asked if we were old enough to drink before explaining the cocktail menu (drinking age is 18...). We ordered Banh Mi and spring rolls; the freshness of the Vietnamese food was delicious.
We ended the night with some Olympic curling, making it to 9PM! Way to go us!
Wednesday 18Feb26
First full day of vacation! I slept 10 hours (bragging) before waking up and heading out in search of coffee. There's a food truck a block from our Airbnb where I ordered 2 iced lattes from a Kiwi with a strong accent, saying "Sweet As" after I ordered (thankfully I'd done my Kiwi slang homework before coming, "as" is used for emphasis). After a stop at a nearby grocery store for some quiches and fruit, I brought Ben home some breakfast that we ate while watching more curling.
We both went for short runs before starting our drive to Rotorua, a town ~1hr South from the Mount. I'd booked us a guided tour of a living Maori village and geothermal area. We stopped in town for some Maori food first. We ate a Hangi meal (named for the oven the food is cooked in, that is warmed by geothermal steam) with some fry bread. The Hangi was served in tin foil and consisted of some root vegetables, very tender chicken, and bread that felt like stuffing. Overall it felt like a very Thanksgiving meal. Everything was very mushy and flavorful.
The guided tour was really interesting. Wharekarewara is a village where ~14 families actively live, and they only offer guided tours through 4PM, ensuring that all non-residents are gone by then. Our tour guide was a Maori women who lived in the village, and multiple times she stopped the tour to say hi and introduce a passing family member. From research, I knew that we'd have some free-time after the tour to check out the geothermal area. From this, I expected the Maori village to be nearby geothermal sites, but no, the village was integrated into a very active geothermal area. We passed houses that had active steam vents in their yard. The public kitchen had a geothermal pool that is hot enough for food preparation, and the guide's nephew prepared us some boiled corn that we enjoyed. That pool can be drained into the public bath area. The Maori will bathe together in the extremely hot water to build community. She explained that for young kids or newbies, they often lower the temperature with cold water, as it's that extreme. She described a day where she would drop off her food in the Hangi oven in the morning, have it cook all day while she was at work, then she'd bring the kids for a communal bath and grab the now-cooked food from the Hangi on their way home. She described the Hangi as a slow cooker, saying there was never a concern about burning something, just of food turning to mush (she said just how she likes it!).
She explained the meaning of her chin and lips tattoo, and the overall importance of tattooing. She described the village as a community, where raising the children is a responsibility of all. We walked by a school for young kids where they learn Maori language, a place of huge importance given that Maori speaking schools were banned for decades. She appeared fluent in Maori, greeting her family members this way. She explained that there were 75 different Maori tribes that had distinct dialects, but even those fluent in Maori may not be able to distinguish the subtleties, meaning that effectively all Maori people share one common language.
We learned about the importance of carving, and how that is used on their public house, where meetings are held. We were not allowed to enter this space, but allowed to see the carvings from the outside.
Overall, I was really impressed. As a foreigner entering a space, it's hard to balance learning and paying respect to local cultures without intruding or objectifying. This tour was really well set-up, with defined boundaries of what would be shared with us, and what was private for the community. I found that our guide genuinely wanted to share her culture with us, so we could learn and understand.
After the tour, we had some time to kill, so we headed to the lake. There was lovely public park and walking trail along the lake. Ben finished the last Sanderson book while I worked on the blog.
We grabbed a quick dinner at J's (seafood boil? Chinese food? Fish and chips? Maori fry bread? They have it all!) The fish and chips was quite tasty, and the frybread dipped in creamed paua was nice, reminiscent of artichoke dip.
Our final event of the night was a kayak tour I'd booked us. Glow worms are a popular tourist attraction in New Zealand, and Ben and I like kayaking, so I figured it'd be fun. Wrong. The reviews were great, giving me false hope that this would be a nice night, but it became clear very quickly that the 3 guides on tonight's tours were very new and did not have proper training. There was no instruction or expectations given on how long we'd be kayaking or where we were going, and while the 3 young guides were clearly trying to keep spirits high, they didn't have many interesting things to say. The best they could do was ask if we were familiar with Canadian Geese.
The nature itself was nice. The sun was setting, and soon the stars came out, and they were brilliant. It was fun to see a different set of constellations. It was nice to kayak with Ben.
After some brief time where we were kayaking ourselves up the river, we were told to link up. The main tour guide gave us instructions that we were to hold the kayak next to us tightly, and the 3 guides would each tow a group of 2-5 kayaks behind them. The only rules? 1) Don't let go. 2) Don't let go. Okay, fine. Except that our assigned guide said this was his first ever tour, he didn't know he'd have to do this, and he didn't know how to guide us. Ben and I were the outermost kayak of our group of 3, and we were run into the brush multiple times. It was truly dark, so it was hard to see, and the feeling of being surprised by trees to the face and leaves to the mouth is very unpleasant.
The destination of the tour was a cavern that was lit up with glow worms. It was surprisingly bright, and looked like the cavern had constellations all over it, each glow worm acting as a brilliant star. It was beautiful and surprising and impressive (although doesn't photograph well, so take my word for it). The main guide pulled out his phone to read to us the Maori story of these glow worms (reading at 2x speed), before explaining the lifecycle of these worms. They glow to try and attract bugs into their silk link. All too quickly, it was time to go. The main guide told the other 2 guides to turn around in the cavern before making his way out. Very soon, our guide realized he didn't know how to do that. How do you have a group of 3 kayaks that you're towing do a 180 in a cavern that is about the width of 3 kayaks? Don't ask our poor guide! Flustered and embarrassed, he kept paddling hoping something would change, with the Aussies in our group trying to be encouraging. Ben started paddling on his side to try and give a boost, and that helped, and we finally made it out.
As we made our way out of the cavern, it was truly dark, and with no glow worms to help guide us, it was hard to see. We paddled past a power station, still hooked up as a group instead of kayaking on our own power, when suddenly I hear Ben yelling at me to let go of our nearby kayak. I let go just in time: we collide with the structure of the power station but thankfully don't tip. Close one!
We finish the end of the kayaking thankfully not in a group, and Ben and I can secretly whisper to each other about how this tour is off the rails. When we reach our original starting point, we're told to queue up and approach the sloped launch area one at a time so the guides can help us out of the kayak. At some point the guides get bored of this, and tell people to just start coming in. This means that as Ben and I are getting out of our kayak, the next group rams in next to us and crushes Ben's fingers real good. About sums up the night of poor management by the guides. I want to write this bad tour story in a funny way, because while it sucked and offended me at how poorly it was run, it should be whatever, right? Nobody was (permanently) hurt, the glow worms were actually cool, and what's some sticks and leaves in your hair among friends, huh? But I paid $350 for that tour. Then it's not so funny.
The tour finally ended (30 min late...) at 10:45PM and we drove home. We watched some Olympic curling and ate some Tim Tams to take the edge off.
Thursday 19Feb26
Beach day! Started with a slow morning watching some curling and eating some cereal, before heading out for nice runs. I ran along the beach boardwalk on the West side of the peninsula, wrapped around to the East side to check out the port, dodging old couples getting off a cruise, then a bit more inland, seeing more of the local area, including old folks dressed up with matching jerseys playing an organized tournament of lawn bowling. I grabbed some lunch food (savory pies and a corn beef sandwich) and carried that while I awkwardly finished the last half mile.
After lunch in the Airbnb, we headed out to the beach. It was a beautiful day, a bit over 70F, strong sun, but not too hot. We set up far down the beach from Airbnb near the volleyball courts, so we could be ready at any sign of action. We read our books, took short naps, and I grabbed us some New Zealand ice cream. I learned this is vanilla ice cream thrown into an extruder with fresh fruit of your choice. It was delicious, very refreshing!
While eventually there was some action on a volleyball court, there was unfortunately no Godfather that we could approach and ask to join. Instead, it was an impenetrable fortress of women avoiding eye contact. It was clear they had an organized training, so instead of asking to join, we used our own ball on the nearby court to get some reps in. Eventually a Swiss guy, Mateo, approached us and asked if he could join us. He asked the New Zealand women if we could all play together and they said no, so it was just the 3 of us. We did some serve-receive together for a bit before wrapping it up, but it was nice to get some touches in.
We grabbed some pizza and salad to go and started the long walk back to our Airbnb (Ben getting crabbier as we walked until he finally just ate a piece of pizza on the way). After a quick shower, we ate our food while we watched the first half of the new Frankenstein (1 of the 2 remaining Oscar-nominated Best Picture films we haven't yet seen). We called it an early night.
Friday 20Feb26
Early morning! 9:20AM flight to the South Island at Hamilton airport, 1.5hr drive away. We called Lucien on the drive. The airport is tiny, and there was no security or ID check. Just baggage drop with our boarding passes before we walked directly to the plane.
We landed in Christchurch at 11:20AM. It's the second most populated city in New Zealand after Auckland, so I wanted to check it out. It seemed like a lovely place to live as we drove in: huge park in the middle of the city with charming and new homes. We parked by the Bridge of Remembrance and walked to Riverside Market for lunch. I love a public market, and this one was charming with lots of food options. I got an iced latte and some Indonesian food and Ben got a gyro. We ate outdoors with other market-goers.
After lunch we walked around for a bit, checking out Cathedral square and grabbing a few post-cards. We did a solid section of the river walk, checking out the folks punting in boats. Sections of the riverwalk were patterned to represent Maori quilts and there was a sculpture representing the type of boats the Maori would use to navigate the river.
After we'd seen our fill of Christchurch, we drove 3.5 hours to Twizel. Twizel is the closest I could get us to Mt. Cook National Park. We got dinner at a fun restaurant, Mint Folk. I had some New Zealand white wine (bit sweet for me) and we shared a tasty pork belly on crispy pancake and a salmon dish. Ben made a pit stop at a grocery store across the square while I finished my wine, and then we walked back to our Airbnb. We watched even more curling before bed.
Saturday 21Feb26
Usual morning of curling (USA women lost in semifinal) before we drove 50 minutes to the Mt. Cook visitor center. It had some nice exhibits about the history of the mountain and the wildlife, and gave us an opportunity to talk to a ranger about the hike I'd been planning for.
Ben and I hiked to Mueller hut, which was a challenging 8 miles and 4500 elevation ft. gain. After a brief flat section, we climbed ~2000ft up stairs to reach Sealy Tarns, a plateau with a lovely view. The stairs were challenging as they felt never-ending, and it was surprisingly crowded.
After the plateau, it was more technical and scrambling, which was slower going, but more fun than monotonous stairs. We stopped for a snack break (lots of cheese balls and Tim Tams) before finally climbing over the ridge. The views really opened up and we could see the other side of the mountain we'd taken hours climbing: it was incredible! Very windy, but with an expansive view of the mountain range, and lots more glacier. We veered off to the right for a better view point and to shelter from the wind for some more cheese balls, before continuing onto the left to see the hut.
Mueller hut, while currently under construction, is a hut that houses trampers. We'll be staying in a hut for a Great Walk later in the trip, so we both wanted a sneak peek.
The climb back down went way faster, hopping down the stairs quickly (my calves felt tight for days after this!). We headed back to the car, I changed into some nicer clothes, and we went to the Hermitage Hotel. We ran into an old fella that we'd passed on the hike, who had remarked upon our Madison marathon shirts, sharing he was from nearby in Illinois. (Ben and I have a history of unintentionally matching shirts, a bit embarrassing!). We shared a lovely conversation with him and his wife for quite a while, before it was time for our dinner reservation. At Jen's recommendation, I'd booked us a spot in the panorama room at the hotel. It was a 3-course meal with a lovely view of the mountain with huge windows. The food was fancy (lots of purees dotted on the plate, foie gras, etc.) and tasty. It ended with a chocolate lava cake, so Ben was a fan.
Nothing eventful about the drive home except Ben accidentally hit a bunny that darted under our tire at the last second. As if out of a horror movie, a few minutes later we had to hard brake for a bunny that stopped in the middle of the road that refused to move for us. It's like they knew.
Sunday 22Feb26
We wanted a day to relax, needing a vacation from our vacation. We both slept in and watched the final curling match of the trip (USA women didn't get the bronze :-( ), the sheer hours of curling on this trip is truly insane. We both went for nice runs in the Twizel area, checking out different lakes. The water is so blue here against the dusty mountains.
I went grocery shopping and made us a homemade meal (green bean and fake Italian sausage with ravioli and salad), it was nice to have something home-cooked. We finished Frankenstein (meaning we've now seen 9/10 of the Oscar Best Picture nominees, but honestly don't know how this was Oscar nominated. Can't recommend). We then watched Eyes Wide Shut. Crazy movie, especially to watch with your spouse! Ben had a boysenberry magnum (9/10) and I had a Peppermint magnum (8/10). It was a nice night.
Monday 23Feb26
No curling to watch this morning! I felt purposeless. We packed up our Airbnb, which was honestly a relief to leave. This place was very cheaply built, and the wind always made the walls shake, and the carpet and furnishings were...questionable. I wanted to be close to Mt. Cook, but was surprised at how few options I had, most places were sold out. We later learned there was a large event happening in Twizel that likely explained the limited options. Apparently they decided that changing the windows while we were still in the Airbnb was acceptable, so ~9AM loud construction noises started happening. Well, time to go!
We drove 2 hours to Wanaka, listening the Eyes Wide Shut rewatchable pod. Lots of dusty mountains and sheep on the drive.
Wanaka really impressed us both (probably helps that on day one we had grass volleyball and bagels). Wanaka is on a lake, surrounded by mountains, with a cute walkable downtown and a park full of food trucks, it was a perfect vacation spot. We started our Wanaka experience in the food truck park, which had a lovely stream, feisty duck population, and lots of food options. We enjoyed some iced lattes and bagels (only a mid-bagel, but nice bagel sandwiches, salmon for Ben, halloumi for me). We had some time to kill before we could check into our Airbnb, so we wondered around the lake, enjoying the view of the water and the dusty mountains.
We noticed some young folk playing grass volleyball, and after observing for a while, we worked up the courage to walk over to ask if we could join. Before we could even get the words out to ask, they waved us over and encouraged us to play. Turns out it was a group of 8-10 folks who half knew each other, having met as long-term expat tourists, driving around in their vans. Van culture is big here, and most of these folks were on months long vacations in New Zealand, driving around and checking it out. Some Germans, some Americans, some UK folks, it was a nice mix. We played Queens court in mini-games to best of 3. It was a nice mix of volleyball skill but most folks had played, so generally high enough quality. At one point, one of the Germans started leading those interested in a guided stretching workshop, so it was just me and Ben against 2 guys. It was fun, but the wind from the lake started to really pick up, making high quality play difficult.
Play eventually wrapped up and we just sat in a circle for a long while, chatting. We learned more about van life. When I asked about how they shower, they pointed to the lake. They discussed the difficulty of cooking in the van, admitting they often do $6 Dominoes pizzas instead. It's always nice to meet people on vacation, and they were especially helpful for local recommendations and hiking tips in this area. They were shocked we weren't doing the van life. When I shared that we were just doing Airbnbs, their first question was "how long in advance did you have to book that?" I shrugged, "3-4 months maybe?" They were gobsmacked. Ben and I can hang with the young folk, but it was a nice reminder what a privilege it is to have Epic money to help pay for this vacation.
The party eventually wrapped up, so we said helped take down the net (doing an epically bad job, and having to spend an extra 15 minutes trying to untangle the mess we'd made), before heading to our Airbnb. Wanaka is a small town, and the homes in the neighborhood near the lake feel new, modern, and expensive. We had a private apartment on the back of a million dollar home. It was nothing fancy itself, with one of the more uncomfortable TV/couch set-ups we've had, but it was a nice location.
Many of the restaurants were closed on Mondays, so we made our way back to the food truck area. I got some nice tofu Pad Thai and Ben ordered some loaded fries and a burrito. He underestimated their spiciness rating, ordering an 8/10, and his food came so spicy that he struggled to eat it. It was fun to watch him struggle with spicy food, doesn't happen often.
We watched Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" back at our Airbnb while we enjoyed some Magnums ("White" is a 6/10). I had loved this book in book club and had fun watching it with Ben (30 minutes into the movie, during a pee break, Ben asked me if Rebecca was going to be a horse instead of an ex-wife). It also gave me my first nightmare in months, great work Hitchcock!
Tuesday 24Feb26
We slept in and had a lazy morning at the Airbnb. I've been getting insane amounts of sleep on this vacation, usually 9-10 hours per night. I headed out to get us coffee and some scones at a nearby place. Our Airbnbs have often had instant coffee but nothing else. While I actually enjoy instant coffee, Ben doesn't as much, so we've taken turns going out for coffee runs.
We watched an episode of the Pitt, a medical TV show we've been really enjoying, before driving an hour to a hike (the perfect length for a podcast about the Pitt episode we just watched....). We picked the Rob Roy glacier track to hike, partially from AllTrails recommendation, and also from a recommendation from our volleyball friends. Wanaka is in the Mount Aspiring national park area, but unlike Mt. Cook, which has a visitor center as an obvious launch point for a specific hiking area, Mount Aspiring is more spread out. We had stopped at the Mount Aspiring visitor center yesterday, which is just in Wanaka instead of nearby Mount Aspiring. The guide had also recommended this hike.
It was a lovely 7.5 mile hike (out and back) with a moderate ascent of 1750ft. This was a constant and slow uphill with a generally wide, defined track, often well shaded, making this hike relaxing and enjoyable. There were multiple viewpoints of the glacier as we approached.
We stopped and dipped our feet into the stream for a while, keyword being dipped as it was quite cold! The end point opens up into a wide field with many other hikers finding a private spot to just sit and enjoy the view. The glacier was large and expansive, with many waterfalls stemming from it. It was beautiful.
Hungry from a good hike, we stopped at Paloma Taqueria in Wanaka on the drive home, an upscale trendy place tucked into an alley of downtown Wanaka. Ben loves a drink with grapefruit juice, so he had a paloma, I had a margarita, and we enjoyed our tacos, salad, and patatas bravas. It was lovely.
We ended the night with another episode The Pitt and then an episode of The Studio.
Wednesday 25Feb26
Lazy day! Ben fetched us some coffee and sandwiches, and we chatted with our friend Kyla on the phone. We both headed out for 10 mile runs. Wanaka lake has lovely paved or gravel trails along the lake that we (separately) enjoyed. I stopped for a photo of "That Wanaka tree," a lonely tree seemingly growing out of the lake, a major icon of the city. It was weirdly surrounded by tourists, people love That Wanaka Tree!
I showered, had a sandwich, then headed out to explore downtown. I ducked into shops, casually looking for art or post-cards, but not finding anything (lots of paintings of That Tree). I got some gelato that I enjoyed by the lake, before grabbing some dinner for me and Ben at "Big Fig," a restaurant that serves casseroles of very home-made food that they throw into one big container. Roast courgettes, lentil stew, beef cheek, chickpea salad, everything was great. I also snagged some kombucha after double checking the ingredients on it, confirming it was actual kombucha. (most of the grocery store options are "kombucha with plant-based sweeteners" so it's very Stevia tasting instead of funky).
I brought dinner back to Ben and we enjoyed while we read our books. I finally finished Rhythm of War, really enjoying the last 150 pages. We tried to watch Brokeback Mountain, but illegal streams let us down, and we only made it ~40 minutes in. To be continued!
Thursday 26Feb26
We packed up and said goodbye to our Airbnb, starting the 5 hour drive to Milford Sound. We stopped for gas on our way out of town and used that as a chance to grab some lattes from the gas station, something Jen and Mike had frequently mentioned "they have actual espresso machines in the gas station, how crazy is that?!" Great tip from them, it was fun and weirdly delicious to have gas station lattes. I will say I'm craving drip coffee at this point in the trip, and we haven't found much of that, but I can't complain about lattes.
We stopped for delicious slow cooked meat sandwiches and a potty break, but otherwise made good time driving to Milford Sound. Once we passed Te Anau, the drive became beautiful. Dark green forested mountains plunging into water, with small waterfalls everywhere we looked. It reminded us of the Icefields Parkway, the road between Banff and Jasper, that was one of the most beautiful drives we've ever done.
We arrived at the Milford Sound visitor center area. We parked and checked in at the cruise visitor terminal. I was surprised at how little there is to do to see Milford Sound from the ground. The entrance view of Mitre peak is spectacular, but there's no hikes or walkways that help you travel the Sound, you have to take a boat to see it. Lucky for Ben, I booked us a cruise to do just that! Slightly unlucky for us: our main cruise boat was slightly defunct and could not sail. The compromise from the cruise company was to use a different boat for a 2hr cruise to see the entire Sound, and then while docked at the wharf, use the main boat for dinner and accommodation. While I was disappointed, as sailing the Sound while eating was part of the appeal, we got a 50% refund, which was actually quite meaningful, as this was the most expensive part of the trip ($873 NZD per person! for a 4PM-8AM experience!) When I thought about it as a 2hr cruise of the Sound, and then staying at a hotel at the wharf, I felt better about it.
The 2hr cruise was astounding. This was some of the best natural beauty I've ever seen. The sharp steep cliffs jutting out of the water, creating narrow channels, all with plentiful waterfalls, it was gorgeous. It reminded me of the islands in Thailand, but at a much larger scale, and with hundreds of small waterfalls. We had a tour guide giving us some nature commentary during the experience, and he was easily the best tour guide I've ever had. He described the glacier activity that created these channels, painting a picture of the landscape 10,000 years ago. He described the bird life that we encountered, including some crested penguins!!! They were absolutely adorable, it was so fun watching them clumsily walk. Clearly more of a swimming bird....Folks would come up to the guide and ask him questions and it felt like he knew absolutely everything. It was clear this guy was a real pro, and everybody on the boat noticed (we heard multiple conversations about how impressive he was). Someone finally asked him how he knew so much, and he shared that he's actually on sabbatical from his real job, doing these fiords for fun. His full-time job is giving pro-level Nat Geo tours of different parts of the world. It showed.
It took an hour to get to the Tasman sea and turn around. The weather was just perfect, sunny, but having recently rained (just that morning), so the waterfalls were still apparent. We were told multiple times how rare this was by our tour guide, most photos of Milford Sound appear more misty and moody, as it rains most days. Generally we've gotten very weather lucky this trip, which has been a big blessing.
When the tour concluded, we were transferred to our main boat and checked into our cabin. We started dinner soon after that. The main common area had large tables that seat 6, and we were paired up with 2 other couples that also happened to be Midwest high school sweethearts (turns out this is not that rare!). We learned that one of the couples is from Oregon WI, very near Fitchburg. Small world! We swapped travel stories and discussed our New Zealand experiences. It was quite fun. Dinner was buffet style and the food was nice!
After dinner there was a 15 minute presentation on Milford Sound by a crew member. It was more the level I expected: not Nat Geo level, mostly cell phone videos from crew members of different wildlife sightings, but still enjoyable! Ben and I enjoyed another round of wine and beer and hung out with our new friends, chatting until pretty late (10:45PM, late for us Midwest high school sweethearts!). We headed back to our cabin to gossip about the other couples (dang, that mechanical engineer's stories were so boring! man, that patent lawyer probably voted for Trump!), doing it very quietly as we could hear the couple to the right of us snoring, and to the left likely one of our new couple friends.
Friday 27Feb26
Early morning at 7AM (I didn't get my trip usual of 10 hours...) for a hot breakfast and then off the boat by 8AM (ticket said until 9:15AM, so maybe they needed to do maintenance or something). The hot breakfast was good, and I finally had drip coffee. Saying goodbye to our new friends, we exited the boat and hit the road.
We didn't drive far, only 15 minutes away was the start of Gertrude Saddle hike, recommended to us by Jen and Mike. What a recommendation, this hike was incredible! Bit of a rough start (not much elevation gain but tons of glacial till requiring you to watch your step), but then it got fun. Lots of scrambling, including a section with chain to help guide you, if needed. Tons of signs warning death if the conditions are bad, and I get why. There were lots of areas with one large rock, that if it was slick, would've been impossible. The technicality of the hike was fun, and the views ascending were nice, some sheer rocky mountains and a few small pools.
Cresting the top and seeing the new view, it was a feeling I'll never forget. It was an astounding view of the fiords, with large narrow cliffs butting up next to each other. It was truly breath-taking, and felt like a surprise, given the very different types of mountains/views on the way up. We stopped for a snack and to take in the view, and we had fun watching the reactions of all the climbers coming up behind us. Everyone audibly gasped.
We munched on some BBQ chips and an orange, enjoying the view, and spotting a Kea, a beautifully colored bird that New Zealand brags is the "only alpine parrot!" Deciding it was finally time to leave the view, we headed back down. Slow going given how much we had to watch our step, but not too bad. Ben and I competed to find the best line down, as it was often quite far between trail markings. In total it was 6 miles and 2300 ft vertical.
We got on the road and drove to Te Anau, the nearest city, and the location of our Airbnb. The drive was absolutely beautiful, with many stops for beautiful water falls and views of the mountains. We were too hungry to actually stop, but Ben slowed down a bit and we soaked it in as best we could.
Te Anau is another small city on a glacial lake surrounded by mountains, and even had a joke ThatTeAnauTree on Google Maps (9 reviews) to compete with Wanaka. We were staying in a small cottage, and while the TV was way too small, it was otherwise a nice place. We dropped off our stuff and immediately headed into town for lunch, grabbing some lamb souvlaki wraps, berry smoothie, and a banana chocolate muffin that managed to smear chocolate all over both of our faces.
Back at our Airbnb we watched a Timberwolves game, an episode of the Pitt, and finished the NYT crossword. We relaxed until it was time for dinner. We walked to an Italian restaurant on the water and shared some mediocre carbonara and a margherita pizza. We snagged some Magnums from the gas station on our walk back home, where we started Marie Antoinette before we got too tired to finish it, and went to bed.
Saturday 28Feb26
10 hours of sleep later, we ate cereal while we watched more of Marie Antoinette. We didn't quite finish it before it was time to check out. We drove a block down the road, parked near the lake, and both ran for about an hour. The lake had a lovely trail going along it, making for a beautiful run. We discreetly changed into new clothes in the car and headed to a nearby cafe for a really delicious brunch of pancakes, eggs, breakfast meat, and coffee. Our last Te Anau stop was at the library for their free WiFi: they had a weird siloed room from the rest of the library called their "WiFi room," where we finally finished Marie Antoinette.
Having killed enough time in Te Anau, we drove an hour to Tuatapere, where we checked in for our Great Walk. At the main office, a nice fellow talked us through what to expect, gave us a nicely marked trail map, and helped us pay for some Hump Ridge Track merch ($21 for a long sleeve T? Yes please! Ben and I have now added ANOTHER shirt that we both own, making laundry more impossible, and accidental twinning more likely).
We stopped at the grocery store to load up on supplies for the walk, then stopped into one of the two restaurants for some take-away dinner. While we waited for our food, an old man started a conversation with us. What started as a nice encounter with a local took a nose-dive into having a conversation with a lonely conspiracy theorist. This short chat covered a lot of ground: racist opinions on the Maori, the Epstein files, and even that the elites are controlling the weather. ("have you noticed that as technology has gotten better, the weather has gotten weirder? they're making clouds and changing the frequency"...no man, it's called global warming). My research for this Great Walk indicated that this was partially an initiative to bring tourism money into this area, which has been decimated by the decline in the logging industry. It feels that way, this town feels more run down and odd than any other New Zealand town we'e visited.
We ate in our car in the Tuatapere Scenic Reserve while Ben watched an OT game of OKC-DEN and I worked on the blog.
After the game, we drove to our hotel at the base of the Great Walk. It is affiliated with the hike, and the chatty receptionist gave us a full tour of the complex (including a hot tub and a huge TV with a PS5 in the common room). He offered to let us use their homemade sandfly repellent (they seem very concerned about those here), and was shocked to hear that we were doing the Hump Ridge Track as our first Great Walk. "why did you pick the hardest one first?" Gulp, I did not realize it had a reputation of being difficult...
We walked to the beach to check it out before heading back to our place to prepare for tomorrow while watching Dune 2 on the hotel's Netflix.
Sunday 01Mar26
Day 1 of the Great Walk! We ate our cereal and had a complimentary espresso from the receptionist before loading our suitcases into our car and heading out for the hike with just our backpacks. He offered to take our photo as we started, under the Maori carving indicating the official start!
Day 1 was 13 miles and 3900ft elevation gain. It was very flat for most of the beginning miles. We enjoyed forest with babbling creeks, walking along the beach, and fun rope bridges. The trail was very well maintained, often with boardwalks to protect the plants. We passed a nice log for sitting and had a quick lunch of Ritz crackers, cheese, and tuna from a can (Ben was very proud of himself for the tuna idea).
After lunch we started the climb. It was a mix of stairs and sloped dirt, and while challenging, it wasn't as monotonous or tiring as the Mueller hut hike. Ben stopped me after every mile to photograph our process.
As we started to pass the tree line, we noticed the temperature starting to drop quickly, with some ominous clouds forming. We hurried up, passing a few folks, and it started to gently hail squishy bits of ice. Seeing Okaka lodge through the mist was a welcome sight.
We were greeted by a "lodgie", a kind old woman named Shelley, who showed us to our room. 2 minutes after we made it, hail started to come down like crazy. The ice rang sharply against the roof, a loud reminder that we were grateful we made it in time! We changed out of our wet gear and went into the main lodge. Okaka lodge is a complex of multiple buildings connected by boardwalks, including a few different dorm buildings, a main hut with a kitchen and seating area, and a bathroom area. The dorm buildings were not heated, so we went to warm up in the main hut, that was slowly filling with people who had not made it so narrowly out of the hail storm. There were kettles going with hot water, and a cup of tea felt amazing.
The lodges have a full kitchen and also sell food at a very reasonable cost ($21 for a dinner for 2 of "famous Tuatapere sausages", mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy). Ben received instructions from Shelley on how to prepare the meal, and he cooked for us while I read the Okaka lodge book, with a history of the trail. The dinner was surprisingly good, I won't turn my nose up at powdered mashed potatoes after a long hike. The lodge also sold beer, wine, and snacks, and it was getting good use. The main hut felt lively, with every seat taken, and lots of chatter about the hike and the weather. The windows fogged up, but given the stormy weather, the condensation didn't impede our non-existent view. That didn't stop Trudy, the other lodgie, also an older woman, from vacuuming the windows very frequently.
Shelley and Trudy shared the Maori myth about this landscape and more background to the Predator Free 2050 goal for New Zealand. Much of the New Zealand wildlife (mainly birds, they don't have native land mammals other than bats) is threatened by the rats, possums, and stoats that think flightless birds are a tasty snack. These birds did not evolve with these predators and thus do not naturally protect their eggs.
After dinner, I used my $12 token for a 4-minute hot shower. This was the shortest 4 minutes of my life, other hikers at the lodge agreed this was way less than 4 minutes. Regardless, it felt amazing to warm up and the double bed was ridiculously comfortable. Ben and I agreed a multi-day hike isn't so bad if there's a hot meal, hot shower, and cozy bed on each night.
Monday 02Mar26
Early morning with some instant coffee and milky porridge, prepared by Shelley. This porridge was insanely good. We chatted with some other hikers who have done many Great Walks. I asked them about their experiences. They confirmed what the hotel receptionist had said, that this was one of the most physically challenging Great Walks, given the distance and elevation gain. They said their favorite was Routeburn Track, for the views. Ben and I had driven a portion of this, and it was beautiful.
After fueling up, we started Day 2 of hiking. There's a loop track around Okaka lodge that folks usually do when they arrive, but due to the weather, we did this morning. It showcases the view we worked so hard to get, and it was beautiful. The sun was shining through some remaining mist, giving it an ethereal and moody quality. We chatted with a group of 4 women while we walked this loop. They're originally from the US and work in the medical field; they moved to New Zealand after building a nest egg. They explained that New Zealand has a real brain drain problem, with many folks leaving for countries with a stronger currency. It was interesting to hear their perspective, and they seemed very interested in Ben's work, as their small town NZ hospital is still on paper charts.
Day 2 of hiking, with this additional loop, ended up at 14 miles mostly down (1700ft up, 4400ft down). Luckily, the descent was never too steep, with a nice mix of stairs and boardwalks. The first few miles were along the ridge, so we could continue to enjoy the view. On one side was the bay, and on the other was the rolling green mountains.
The middle miles were in a nice forest. We heard tons of bird calls, including some birds that sounded like R2D2. Ben would often respond to them with his best impression. There were many New Zealand fantails that hopped around on the path in front of us. We joked it was clear that they had not evolved to recognize predators.
We had lunch of cheese, crackers, and tuna along an old viaduct. It was quite the impressive structure, and marked the start of the final trail portion today: the old rail trail. This was honestly quite boring. To keep us entertained, we had fun reading the names of the stoat traps. There is a program to sponsor a stoat trap for a year and comes with the privilege of naming it. Some of our favorites were "Stoatal Annihilation," "Stoaty McStoat Face," "Stoatal Recall," and "Here Stoaty, Stoaty."
Finally, after many hours of walking, we made it to Port Craig. This lodge was built in an old village that used to house loggers. There were placards and old building remains with information about this, but after hours of walking, we were not very interested.
We dropped our bags in our private room and headed straight for the beach, hoping to catch sight of some dolphins. We were in luck, there were a few in the bay! They were hector dolphins, with more of a rounded fin. They were quite close, and while they ignored my shouted suggestions to do tricks or jumps, it was still quite entertaining watching them surface for air. We stayed for a while, just watching, and feeling the cool ocean on our tired feet.
I made dinner tonight, not yet tired of the sausage and mashed potatoes. As we finished up, a group of 5 kiwis came and joined our table. We ended up chatting the whole night. They were a really friendly bunch, and it was awesome to ask them all the questions I've been wondering about. What are the stereotypes of the different islands? South Islanders are known as being friendly and easy going, whereas Aucklanders are known for being more status and money obsessed ("Jafas", Just-another-fucking-Aucklander, is their "FIB" equivalent). What is the stereotype of Aussies? Loud and rude. What NZ food must we try? Cheese scones, ginger slice, and hokey pokey.
After a hot 4 minute shower, we both slept very deeply in our comfortable lodge bed.
Tuesday 03Mar26
Last day of the hike! Another morning of porridge and instant coffee and then we were off for our final 13 miles. This was all flat and included ~6 miles that we had done on day 1. We walked briskly, excited to finish. There were multiple sections on the beach, and we'd been warned multiple times that the sand flies would be terrible. Honestly, they were very mild. I had a bit of itchy ankles after the hike, but it was clear that these kiwis are not used to any kind of wildlife or bugs that are annoying. Midwest mosquito experience has prepared us for much worse.
Reaching the car park was victorious. I re-enacted finishing a race and breaking the ribbon, Ben barely managed to chuckle, likely sick of my shit at this point. We used the hotel's bathroom facilities, and they shared with us free hot cinnamon rolls. Let me tell you, these cinnamon rolls tasted unbelievable.
We drove off, starting our 3hr drive to Queenstown. We stopped at a cafe about an hour in for some "world famous" venison pie and a breakfast plate that was tasty enough. We were both surprised at how mentally tired we were. Even though we'd gotten plenty of sleep, I felt like I could take a nap right there.
The only eventful part of the drive was being pulled over for a speeding ticket. The cop was very friendly, and determined our 130kph in a 100kph zone warranted a ticket, not a warning ($140, ouch!).
Our Queenstown Airbnb had a beautiful view of the city, which is on a lake that is surrounded by mountains. It seems like every place we've stayed has fit that description, but we both found Queenstown less charming than Wanaka or Te Anau. Given the sizable airport, and proximity to Milford Sound, it's touristier. It has a reputation for being for "thrill seekers": with lots of tour companies offering bungee jumping, sky-diving, mountain-biking, etc. You name the tourist attraction, Queenstown has it (mini golf, gondola, iFly-shout out to the original Treat Yo Self in Texas 2018). It feels like a young city growing to meet tourist demands, with many of the buildings seeming new. We walked around a bit to take it in, but we were gassed. We ordered some Nepalese food that we ate in our Airbnb while we watched TV. We sipped the complementary port and whiskey before an early bed time.
Wednesday 04Mar26
I slept very deeply for over 10 hours (bragging). We both went for runs along the lake. I snagged a cheese scone and some sandwiches at a cafe that we enjoyed back at our Airbnb.
We headed to the Kiwi Park, the only tourist attraction I was interested in. We've heard so much about the national bird but hadn't seen any. This park had all sorts of NZ wildlife (mainly birds, because that's what they've got), so we checked it out. We started with the "kiwi experience", which meant entering a dark room with 4 kiwi enclosures, giving us an opportunity to watch these nocturnal birds, while a young NZ woman quietly shared some information. Given the hype of these birds, and the number of stuffed kiwi birds we passed, and maybe because I'm getting crotchety, I expected to be underwhelmed. But honestly, they were really cute. Flightless birds with extremely strong legs means they're quite lopsided. They run fast and are very mobile, digging their long skinny beak into the ground looking for insects. A few impressive kiwi facts: they're one of the few birds that have bones with marrow, given they evolved to have strong legs instead of keeping weight low for flying. This means they're incredibly strong, and their kick has ruptured a human spleen before (ouch!). The females are large and lay eggs that are absolutely huge compared to their body size, that the males then sit on for 3 months. This huge egg means the baby kiwis come out ready to live on their own. This has worked for generations, until rodents not native to the area were introduced. While adult kiwis with their strong legs can stand their ground against possums and stoats, baby kiwi cannot. A very small percentage of wild kiwi babies make it into adulthood. This is why NZ folks are so concerned.
We spent about 30 minutes learning about the kiwi and watching them run around and explore before we headed to the "Conservation Show." This was a 25-minute program where we got to see different NZ wildlife on display with trained handlers. We got up close and personal with a tuatara, and multiple bird species fly within the audience, moving from handler to handler. This included the NZ wood pigeon, which we actually saw multiple times on our hike. They fly very loudly!
Ben left early to catch a Timberwolves game, and I stuck around, exploring more of the park. I ended up staying for 3 hours, checking out the different bird species, watching the geckos, and enjoying the free honey samples. Really cool place.
When I'd had my fill, I wandered around town for a while, eventually making my way into an art shop. Our new home has a lot of empty wall space, and I'd been looking throughout the trip for art, but hadn't found anything that felt right. This store was run by an old woman who would take loud speakerphone calls, including a scammer call trying to get her to buy an EV, but she was very sweet, and had TONS of art. I hadn't yet been able to find any actual paintings for under $1k, mainly just prints, but this store had quite a few options. I ended up with two beautiful oil paintings of various NZ scenery that we'd seen and loved. It felt very adult to buy real art (and I was aided by the NZD to USD conversion rate!).
I headed back to the Airbnb with my haul, got Ben's approval, and then we vegged for a bit. For dinner, we headed to Fergburger, recommended to us by some folks on our Great Walk. It is a take-out burger shop that clearly blew up on TikTok, as the line was over 30 people long and wrapping around the street. Luckily it moved quickly, and in ~30 minutes we had our burger and fries. While not worth the hype, as the burger was erring on well-done, it wasn't very expensive and was quite large. The Fergbaker treats I got were truly excellent, a very fudgy brownie and a solid cream donut. We enjoyed our food while we watched all 3h20m of Godfather II. Good movie!
Thursday 05Mar26
We slept in and watched some competitive Valorant, eating cereal and some lattes I grabbed for us, before heading out to rent some bikes at a shop I scoped out yesterday. We rented bikes for the full day, and planned to do a 35-mile loop, heading out to Arrowtown and then coming back. The rental guy seemed a bit concerned that we were getting such a late start (10:30AM!) and stressed multiple times that we needed to be back by 5:30PM, and double checking that we were experienced bikers. The trails I had scouted online did estimate that it would take 8.5 hours of biking, but Ben scoffed and said 35 miles wouldn't be that long. He was right! It only took us ~5 hours, and that included a stop at Arrowtown.
The bike ride was lovely! We biked in the valley of the mountain range, sometimes climbing some pretty serious hills, but nothing too scary (2500ft elevation gain total, so it added up!). We passed fancy golf resort towns, beautiful lakes, and often followed a bright blue river.
Arrowtown itself was cute! The main strip had old-timey buildings selling things to tourists. We got some sandwiches and a ginger slice (great recommendation by our kiwi friends, very tasty!). We ate them near the Chinese village, a historic area with old buildings from a Chinese-immigrant population from the gold rush era. Very interesting placards!
I enjoyed the bike ride, even if I did need to put my chain back on 4 times (derailleur's fault, I swear!). Ben's tire needed a serious fill up at Arrowtown, and didn't quite make it back. He was biking on a flat for the last mile. They had given us a hand pump but it did not have the right connection, so we couldn't use it. Maybe there's a reason they were the cheapest bike rental...?
Dinner was at a Japanese restaurant. We did chef's choice, where they brought out 7 different small plates. Everything was great. We snagged some gelato and ate it on the beach, watching seagulls annoy tourists.
We ended the night getting tipsy on port and whiskey and watching a mama double feature: "Mamma Mia" and "Y Tu Mama Tambien." It was an awesome night.
Friday 06Mar26
Last full day of vacation! We took a short flight from Queenstown to Auckland and dropped our bags off at the Marriott that we booked using Ben's hotel points from all his work travel. We ate some delicious Korean chicken for lunch before going for runs. I like running as a way to see a city. We'd been told that Auckland was boring, and I can confirm! It had some nice activity along the water, and a few nice parks, so it wasn't without its charms. But there wasn't anything that notable, and the sky needle was embarrassingly short, in my opinion.
By random chance, we ran into our friend Anna Patel in the Marriott lobby. A fellow Epic employee that lived in the Netherlands, we often watched each other's dogs, and were casual friends in NL. She moved to Australia and was taking a weekend to explore Auckland. Given all the Marriott points Epic employees have, it makes sense we'd run into her there, but what a small world!
We agreed to get dinner together, and she suggested the Botswana Butcher, a fancy place right on the water. We met her and her friend there and had a lovely time. We ordered a bottle of local white wine, some lamb and fish, and got to hear about life in Australia. It was nice to catch up.
We said goodbye to Anna, got some gelato on our way home, and then finished the night watching an episode of the Pitt on our king-sized bed.
Saturday 07Mar26
Time to go home :-( We both took morning runs along the water and were surprised by just how many Aucklanders were out there! Quite an active city. The fancy hotel breakfast was lovely, and I had the best scrambled eggs I think I've ever had. Our 13:30 flight from AKL to DFW was uneventful, we finished Brokeback Mountain and watched Million Dollar Baby.
Summary
What a wonderful trip! What an epic sabbatical! Hopefully first of many sabbaticals, I could get used to this! I'm proud and grateful of Ben, who has worked very hard for 5 years to earn this trip.
New Zealand was wonderful. The nature was varied and beautiful, we saw beach, rainforest, glaciers, mountain, and even geothermal oddities. The infrastructure for hiking and biking was incredible. The culture of the kiwis we got to know was very friendly and down to earth. It made for a very relaxing trip. In some ways, it was a bit anticlimactic to travel so far and land in a place with architecture, infrastructure, and food that felt like a cross between America and Europe, two places we know well. While there was some unique food culture (cheese scones and savory pies everywhere! hokey pokey?!), it was mostly food we were familiar with. However, the plus side of the familiarity meant this was an extremely relaxing trip. There was never any miscommunication from a language barrier, no food poisoning incidents or worry, we didn't even take out cash because everywhere accepted credit cards. Driving was a breeze (given Ben's a pro at driving on the left), and we had no major issues or travel hiccups. I've never gotten so much sleep in a trip, and we've never been so active (hiking, running, biking, it was all so easy with the trails!). We watched a ton of movies, drank a ton of lattes, and I can now say I've been to the Southern Hemisphere! Weird constellations down here.
Cheers to a relaxing and wonderful sabbatical in New Zealand!
For the Record
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Arrival | Delta, Monday 16Feb26, 8:30AM (MSN-MSP-LAX-AKL) |
| Departure | American Airlines, Saturday 07Mar26 |
| Mount Maunganui Accommodation | 188A Marine Parade, 3116 |
| Twizel Accommodation | 10 Irishman Drive, 7901 |
| Wanaka Accommodation | 16 Kelliher Drive, 9305 |
| Te Anau Accommodation | 66 Mokonui Street, 9600 |
| Rarakau Accommodation | 1304B Papatotara Coast Road, Rowallan 9691 |
| Queenstown Accommodation | Ballarat Street, 9300 |
| Auckland Accommodation | Marriott, 22/26 Albert Street, Auckland Central, 1010 |
| Maisy | with Noah, Sarah, and Maria each for a week! |
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