One hour from Wellington, on the south side of the west coast of the north island, there lays an island that is a holy grail for ecologists, Kapiti Island. The New Zealand Department of Conservation has rebuilt Kapiti Island as a predator-free nature reserve, where native flora and fauna can thrive. Before we describe why this is so cool, a little history is in order: When New Zealand broke off from Gondwanaland 120,000 years ago, the birds on the island evolved...

The ferry ride to Wellington went really smoothly. I took the opportunity to catch up on burning photo discs and sleep while Bev wrote in her journal. We arrived three hours later, and we drove off the ferry and headed towards downtown. Our first task was to go to the Department of Conservation to book two slots to gain access to the nature reserve on Kapiti Island, as they only allow access to 50 people per day. Since we only have a two-day window to try ...

We have decided to hike, rather than kayak, along the Abel Tasman, another of New Zealand's "great walks." We figured we would finish our planning up in Nelson, at the top of the North Island. Other than being named for my brother-in-law, the town of Nelson itself was a bit unremarkable for us. We had high hopes, but other than orchards and wineries (we've got them in Virginia) and bling bling bed and breakfasts, it didn't have much to offer the average backpac...

Our next leg of the trip involved working our way up the west coast of the south island, starting with the famous glaciers, Fox and Franz Joseph. We left Wanaka just after lunch. We got to Fox Glacier first, just before sunset, so we did a quick walk to get a view of the terminal face of the glacier. We would have liked to spend more time there, but with sundown imminent, we needed to find a place to stay. We found a holiday park in Fox not far from the glaci...

To get to Wanaka, we left Te Anau and had to drive for two hours back to Queenstown and then out another two hours. We accidentally turned onto the "scenic" road to Wanaka, which meant it would have taken an extra three hours over a mountain pass. Since we were driving at night, the scenic road would have been a waste anyway. We tested out my stick shift abilities with a three-point turn on a small gravel patch on the side of the mountain, and since I am now a st...