We arrived in Taupo a few hours after leaving National Park (aka Tongariro). Smelly, weary, and hungry, we wanted to settle in fast. Turns out our camper van park had a heated pool, so we quickly jumped in for a soak. It was a nice way to end a long, long day. Bev concocted a great dinner out of leftovers, we cooked meals for the next few days, and we promptly passed out. The next day, it was raining pretty hard, so we decided to do something really exciti...

We woke up really tired and decided to take the 8AM rather than the 7AM suttle to the trail head. We jumped on the shuttle, and within twenty minutes we were at the trailhead on a crisp, fairly overcast day. We took off through sub-alpine brush as we worked our way to the foot of Devil's Staircase, a steep climb up volcanic rock to the saddle between two volcanoes. We climbed for an hour or so pretty much straight up over loosely defined trail. We landed at the ...

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...