Driving New Zealand

To really see New Zealand you need to drive around. We started off in Christchurch and made our way south. image

The south was cold, but there were some pretty cool looking beaches (from inside the car).

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There were also really nice views of the forests and landscapes.

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We spent more time driving around the south island and got to see the rolling hills and the big crashing waves. And tons of signs selling bags of pine cones for $4/bag and pony poo for $1/bag.

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It gets pretty cold in New Zealand in the fall and we got to experience the frost and a mild snow fall.

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The sunrises could be pretty spectacular. Although perhaps this was induced by the really, really cold mornings which is why we were up before sunrise.

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The snow did give a nice cover over the mountains and made everything look even more diverse.

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The water was so still some days.

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Maybe more than just a few days.

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New Zealand has quite a few waterfalls and lakes. We restrained ourselves to just investigating a few. This was one that was a river away.

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Some were more straight and narrow as opposed to having multiple cascades.

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The water and rocks were very blue.

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You might not believe us but were were up for several sunrises.

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It wasn’t even just taken from where we slept for the night, but on the road. We actually got up before sunrise some days.

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Sometimes we would see wildlife, which in the case of New Zealand meant birds.

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Lonely Planet instructed us to “stop at this point if humanly possible”. It was, so we stopped. We’re still not really sure why. It looked a lot like all the other points along the ocean road.

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