where are you going?

I love a good road trip. There's nothing quite like hitting the open road, windows down and music blaring with nothing but adventure on the horizon. (Or, you know, maybe you'll be driving twisty mountain roads in the pouring rain… either way, ADVENTURE!) On my last trip to New Zealand, I went on my own mini road trip from Christchurch to Kaikoura and back (and then did another one-day roadie with a friend to Mount Cook from Wanaka). Driving in New Zealand is always an adventure — and not just because they drive on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car. This is a road that two-way traffic drives on. Driving in New Zealand is like driving through some magical fantasy land (it really kind of IS Middle-Earth). There are so many amazing landscapes — and they can change drastically even when you're just driving for a couple of hours. That being said, there are some things you need to know if you plan on renting a car and driving in New Zealand. D...

The day began early. Before 6 a.m., in fact, as myself and two travel buddies were picked up by a taxi and groggily deposited in downtown Queenstown in order to catch the bus that would take us to Milford Sound for the day. Milford Sound (really not even aptly named, as it’s actually a fjord – or fiord as the kiwis spell it – and not a sound at all) is New Zealand’s most well-known tourist destination. It’s a gorgeous fjord on the west coast of the country’s south island that you can sail through on ferry boats or hike around, rain or shine. Mostly, it’s rain, as Milford sees upwards of 6,800 mm of rain per year – that’s more than 265 inches! Our bus driver actually told us that the Sound sees less than 150 rain-free days per year. Somehow, Jamie, Andrea and I had managed to hit one of these 150 days. Driving the Milford Road The sun was just painting the mountains pink as we boarded our Milford Select bus in Queenstown and hit the road. By the time we were near...

“I'm not really a hiker, Liz.” I didn't keep track of how many times I uttered this to my friend Liz as we were driving around Wanaka, New Zealand, and she was pointing out all sorts of mountains she wanted to make me climb. There was talk of a hike to Rob Roy Glacier in Mount Aspiring National Park. A hike to Rocky Mountain Summit just outside Wanaka. And what would have probably been a full day climb of Roys Peak. “Again, I'm not really a hiker, Liz.” I said this many times, but what I really meant was “I'm so incredibly unfit and I actually HATE hiking and I may cry and just sit down in the middle of the track and tell you to leave me.” But of course I never said these things. I stayed quiet, secretly hoping the weather would be terrible or that Liz would forget about all the hiking. (But who was I kidding? This is the girl who spent weeks riding horses around Mongolia and who lives in NEW ZEALAND now, for God's sake.) Thankfully for us both...