Quinn's New Zealand Trip Page
Travel with us through New Zealand to,
Dunedin, February 22
Fiordland, March 7
Abel Tasman, Golden Bay, March 26
Westland, April 7
The North Island, April 12
Feb. 3, 2003. Our flight to New Zealand was quite enjoyable, the sound from crying babies in front of us eventually died down. The screens had different channels, one was a map that showed where the plane was, so we always knew where we were. It was a huge plane, it sat nine across. The flight was exhausting.
For P.E., or fitness we usually go to Central Square, here's a picture of that. We walk to the square, it's not that far from our school. Our school is on top of a bus exchange and food court in the middle of the city. The school, Discovery 1 is very different from any other schools I've ever been to. One of the unusual things is at this school you can get a trust license. A trust license allows you to go with two friends and a cell phone, no adults, anywhere in the city as long as you write down where you're going, and other important information. We also get to think of a subject that interests us and research about that. That is one of the things we can use our trust license for. On Mondays we walk to the local swimming pool. We do a lot of hands on things, like for art we built a clock. I also like the fact that we use computers a lot, we also do Imovies and web pages. But one of my favorite things about this school is it has no homework!
Feb. 22. Our first night in Dunedin we stayed in this hotel, it was on top of a bar. There was loud music playing all night. It was a nice hotel although there was a lack of stuff in the room. I slept on the top bunk, there were no sides.
On the beach, on the peninsula we saw lots of seals. They were quite peaceful and most were sleeping when we saw them. Just a little later around 9:30-10:00 the little blue penguins came on to the beach, and up to their nests. The sounds they made were stunning. Since it was dark, and we couldn't use a flash we have no pictures of them. We stayed a while after all the other people had left and all the penguins were on the beach. We then taped some of their sounds. It was amazing, we were only inches away from the penguins. On the peninsula we also watched the albatross, they're a big bird, they have a ten foot wingspan! I took this picture of the albatross. The birds were amazing, their wingspan was so large they could just soar, and glide on the wind.
Mar. 7. Our ten day trip to Fiordland was amazing, here I am on a suspension bridge on our first hike we went to the beach. There were thousands of black flies. A black fly is a lot like a mosquito, except they're smaller, more painful, smarter and they will crawl to a spot where you have nothing covering you. To get there we hiked through a forest. Before that we had gotten lost, we walked up a road and almost onto somebody's property, we scared a flock of sheep. They stampeded to the other side of the field. The hike was a lot of fun, but we got a lot of fly bites. The forest was very dense, there were lots of ferns.
We also decided to hike another trail, this trail was across a lake. So we rented a row boat and crossed the lake. It was a great hike, we saw a bird, it followed us for a while. It was not scared at all. On the way back we were coming along fine, and then, my dad dropped the oar, we almost capsized. This picture I took shows how people are feeling. My brother is covering his eyes, and my mom is pulling out her hair. I found the trip back thrilling, it was one of the highlights. We all got back safe and no one got very wet.
While in Te Anau we decided to go to the glow worm caves. We took The boat ride, we went to the upper viewing deck. After the boat ride, we got on another boat and took a trip through the caves. The glow worms produced a lot of light for such a small thing. The glow worms only produce a light if they're hungry, the hungrier they are the brighter they are. That works quite well because the insects they eat head towards the first light they see, which is usually a glow worm. Our guide for the caves was really nice. You're not supposed to take pictures in the caves but he let us take some, as long as no light was emitted from the camera, they didn't let any one else take pictures. Here's one.
On our last day in Fiordland we took a cruise through Milford sound, we stopped at an underwater observatory. There we saw black coral, an animal native to New Zealand. We also saw lots of other native animals. We then went out into the Tasman Sea. We saw seals and lots of waterfalls, in fact our captain got us so close he put the bow of the ship under the fall. On the way back we spotted some dolphins. They were a long way off and hard to see but I got this picture of them. It was quite a nice boat ride. We saw lots of amazing sea creatures.
Near the end of our trip we went to a bird sanctuary, we saw a Takahe, a large, flightless bird that was thought to be extinct. This is a picture of that bird. There are thought to be only around one hundred and sixty, still alive. There we also saw a Kea, a large parrot that lives in the mountains. We had seen a Kea before while hiking at the Chasm, a part of a world heritage sight, they are a colorful bird with usually a green body and are multi colored under the wing. The Kea is a very smart, clever bird.
Mar. 26. The third weekend in march we went to Abel Tasman and Golden Bay. One of the days we were on the bay we got up to see the sun rise over the water on the east coast, and then left to see the sun set over the water on the west coast. I have not done that before, it involves a lot of driving unless you're on a very thin spit of land. I was glad to get the chance to see the rise and set of the sun. Here is a picture of the sunrise. We stayed in a nice cabin only a ways away from the water. We would always get up early, watch the sunrise and walk on the beach. Lots of creatures lived in the water, including lots of starfish. We also saw quite a few small fish in it. The water wasn't very cold, we swam in it. I also kayaked in it. It was my first time kayaking or sea kayaking, we all tried, none of us capsized. While we were there were very few clouds in the sky, the sun was out, it's still summer here.
While going to see the sunset on Wharariki beach, we saw seals and seal pups. They were playing with each other and with a white shell or rock, this seal has it in it's mouth at the time. While on Wharariki beach we also saw some fish and other sea creatures. There were also quite a few large sand dunes, we had a lot of fun jumping off of and running down these dunes. These dunes had lots of sand, so sometimes our feet would sink in quite a ways, so every now and then we would fall. The sand was exceedingly fine, it felt nice. It was exhilarating to run down and jump off these dunes.
On our way to and from the peninsula we saw a kingfisher. We also saw many unique birds on the trip. In one of the bays we passed there were hundreds of black swans all over. In another bay there were quite a few Oyster catchers, they have long orange beaks that they stick into the sand and try to catch clams and oysters. It was interesting to watch them try to catch things. We also saw seagulls that flew and then dove into the water, that was amazing.

While in Golden Bay we went on a hike to Wainui falls. The forest we hiked through was lush and green, there was a river running through it. There was a swing bridge we had to cross, (a swing bridge is suspended by two cables attached to either side, the floor is metal mesh with metal supports attaching it to the wire every now and then). There were also quite a few pukekos on the path, (a pukeko is a bird native to New Zealand). I thought the trip to the waterfall, and the waterfall were amazing.
Apr. 7. On this trip, we went to the west coast of the island. There are quite a few glaciers on this part of the island. We went on a short hike on a trail on Arthur's pass, we saw some good views of the mountains on that hike. The next morning we hiked to Fox glacier. It was amazing how large it was and how fast it was moving. It moves one meter a day! It was huge. The glacier and the run-off was quite blue. Earlier we had gone to the Franz Joseph glacier, but we couldn't get very close because a hole had opened up on the glacier and a river began to flow out of it. After hiking as close as we could get to the glaciers we went on the Minnehaha walk which goes through some rainforest. It was really raining the whole day.

Today we went on a hike around Lake Matheson. On the way there because it was raining there were quite a few nice waterfalls that weren't there before, but because of the rain we had to be very careful with our cameras. There were quite a few viewpoints along the trail, so we were able to get some nice pictures. It was quite foggy and cloudy all day so it was quite difficult to see the mountains. But at the end for about ten minutes the clouds parted and we got a spectacular view of the mountains. Near the end of our hike we saw and heard quite a few birds, such as, the kea and the pukeko. Because it was cloudy all day we are going to do the hike again tomorrow if it's nice.
Today it was not so nice, it was raining today. But we still went to Lake Matheson. We saw and heard a few keas. We also saw a few pigeons native to New Zealand. We got to see some more plants and animals because it was not as dark or late as yesterday. About halfway through the hike the clouds parted and we got to see the mountains. Today we left Franz Josef, on the way back we saw a lot of mountains we hadn't seen before because it was earlier. It was amazing that where we were staying was extremely rainy, but when we crossed over to the east side of the mountains. You could see the difference, clouds in the west and clear skies in the east. Finally we got back, I thought the trip was quite wonderful.
The North Island
The first leg of our trip we got to Picton. The next morning we took the ferry to Wellington. The trip through the open water was nauseating. Later we arrived in Wellington, there we visited the national museum, Te Papa. They had a Lord of the Rings, since it was filmed in New Zealand, most of the costumes worn by the actors were there, except for Legolas, and Gimli. There were also a few of the weapons used in the movies, along with the ring. They had some of the chain mail and some swords used in the movie that we could touch. There were lots of documentaries on the Lord of the Rings. It was really cool. Sadly there were no cameras allowed in the exhibit. We then explored some Maori exhibits, we learned quite a bit from the exhibit about the carvings and the houses. Nearby there was the theatre that hosted the world premiere of the movie. There was a gollum on top and a rotating ring out in the front of the theatre. While driving around Wellington we saw a bungee, we decided to check it out. It was a lot of fun we went quite a ways up, it was also quite tiring. At the end I got pulled down and shot up quite high.
On the third day of our trip we went to Mt. Ruapehu, the Whakapapa ski field. It was there that they filmed Mordor, you can see why they filmed it here. On the hike there was no vegetation, it was all rock and ash. We were able to see quite a few other mountains and volcanoes. We took the ski lift about halfway up the mountain. We then climbed quite a ways up. The hike was lots of fun, I like the steeper hikes.
On the fourth and fifth day of our trip we went to Rotorua. There are hundreds of thermal springs in Rotorua, so the whole town smells of rotten eggs. In Rotorua we went to the Maori arts and crafts institute. There we watched a haka, (a Maori war dance, or dance). It was really cool, I sat in the front row. The haka took place in a whare nui, (a large, grand house). We then went through the rest of the institute, there were some geysers, thermal springs, and thermal mud. While we were there we saw one of the geysers erupt. Then we went through the kiwi enclosure we saw a kiwi or two, but no cameras were allowed in the enclosure. We next went through a wood carving shop, we saw people carving a large range of things. We then left the institute and went back to our cabin. It was interesting how the thermal springs were everywhere, the houses were off the ground because of the thermal springs. There were even springs in people's backyards, and popping up on the side of the street, and in cracks in the road.
After Rotorua we went to Matamata. Somewhere in a farm in Matamata, Hobbiton was filmed. It was private property so we had to go on a tour to see Hobbiton, but we decided to do it anyway. The props and sets were no longer there, but quite a few of the hobbit holes were still around. And the party tree and the lake were still there. A few hobbit holes had collapsed but all of Bag End was still up, and we were allowed to go inside. It was really cool. We got to meet the man who owned the farm, and because he was there we got to stay a little longer. From Hobbiton we could see Mordor in the distance. It was amazing to see the hobbit holes. If you would like to see Hobbiton here's a movie.
On the seventh day of our trip we went and did some of the Tongariro crossing, it was another part of Mordor. The Tongariro crossing is a ten hour hike through rocks, over streams and over small shrubs. We only went a little ways to a small falls. It was pretty cool, we also got to see a few mountains and volcanoes. We didn't climb any of them but we got quite close.
New Zealand is an amazing country, you can travel from a golden beach to a lush forest in a matter of minutes. New Zealand has it all, dry deserts, hot sand dunes, lush rainforest, snow capped and rocky mountains, golden beaches, and rolling grasslands. In the short amount of time I was here I made lots of friends, had heaps of fun, and had many adventures. It is a truly amazing country and I hope to come back some day.