Mom's Visit to NZ

I had a very nice and amazing trip with my mom for the two weeks she was here. I tried to give her as many highlights as we could fit in her time here. She arrived Saturday (Nov. 20) and we spent the rest of that day and the next walking around Auckland. I showed her my campus and where I like to go; including: the aquarium, Mission Bay (closest beach), Auckland Domain (park and museum), and the restaurants. We ate so much food!!

The following Monday we flew down to Queenstown, probably the nicest "city" in NZ. We slept in a tent and I FROZE! We spent about two days there before heading to Te Anau where we spent another night FREEZING before we began the Milford Track -- 33.5 Miles/4 days of hiking out to Milford Sound. It was, hands down, the best hike I have ever done. Mom wasn't used to the hills so much, being from the flat mid-west, and was quite stiff. We met a great group of people from all over and got to know some of them in the four days we all spent together. At the end, we had a beautiful cruise through Milford Sound and camped yet again...not nearly as cold as before our hike though, so it was really nice.

When we got back up to Auckland we rented a car and drove north so that she could get both mountains and beach for her visit. We drove all the way up to Cape Reinga via Whangarei and Bay of Islands on the east coast and back down the west coast. It wasn't as cool as the Milford Track, but I think she still liked to see how different the NZ landscape is for how small the country is. I think she really enjoyed her visit. I know I did, because time flew right by! And now, in about 5 days, I'll be off to Norway for a month. What a summer this has been!

Thank you for the wonderful visit, Mom. I hope you had a great experience in NZ! Don't forget to do the survey for Air NZ and you might win a trip for you to show Dad :)

[reading the Milford Times (our hometown paper) on the Milford Track, NZ]
[After a rainy afternoon on day 2, we make it to Clinton Hut, a bit cold and wet]
[Great views the entire walk!]
[On the ferry to the start of our hike - these pictures are in reverse order on here]
[Our tent site at a backpackers in Queenstown - roughin' it!]


More photos available via Facebook...or when you see my mom. She has nearly 4G of photos!

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