June 22 - Milford Sound - The Hurricane Cometh!


We woke around 7:15 AM and laid in bed until about 7:40. Last night was the warmest night so far. I remember looking on the thermometer outside the lounge building that it was 13 Celsius, which is in the mid-50s. We went inside and had our breakfast. We ate cereal, a banana, and had hot chocolate. …

June 23 - Milford Sound/Te Anau - Gail Forced Winds, Capsized Boats, and Torrential Rain!


Needless to say we barely slept. It took me forever to fall asleep, and even when I did I didn’t stay asleep for very long. The rain was pretty hard, but that was the least of my concern. The wind was terrible all night. It would slightly die down for …

June 24 - Manapouri/Queenstown


I had a really nice night of sleep. The bed was comfortable and warm. It was good to be out of the elements again. I keep thinking I don’t know how Native Americans could survive in teepees their whole lives. Constantly packing up and moving, sleeping on the ground. It’s a hassle, especially if …

June 25 - Wanaka


We woke up around 7:15 AM. The night wasn’t as cold as I was thinking it would be. I was pretty comfortable all night. We took down the tent and had a banana for breakfast. It was about 8 AM when we finally left the campground. We had gotten in late the night before so we hadn’t paid.

As we drove out of the …

June 26 - Wanaka


We woke up this morning to cloudy weather around 8:00 AM. It had rained a little during the night. I slept pretty comfortably as it wasn’t too cold, even though we were warned it may snow during the night. If it snowed, it didn’t snow at our campsite at all.

We had peanut butter and jelly toast for breakfast with …

June 27 - Haast


We woke up this morning around 7:30 AM to decent weather. It was cold outside, but warmer than it had been in other places. I had a pretty good night of sleep. Our goal for the day was to head for Fox Glacier, or as far as we could get. The road was supposed to be scenic, icy, steep, and we had a few planned stops along the way. …

June 28 - Fox Glacier

I had a good night of sleep. There was only a sheet and a comforter, but it was really warm. We got up this morning at 7 AM. It was still dark outside. I only had to pack up a few things and then we went to have breakfast. We were in a hurry, but decided to have eggs with cheese on the top. They had a cheese grater so we …

June 29 - Fox Glacier/Franz Josef

I woke up this morning around 7:15 AM. It was by far the coldest night and morning of our trip. My back was freezing a lot of the night. Andy had gotten up before me to check the battery I was charging and to go to the bathroom. He also went to put his gopro battery on the charger.

He was outside taking pictures …

June 30 - Franz Josef/Hokitika

We woke up really early this morning hoping to watch the sunrise at Franz Josef Glacier. I think it was about 6:45 AM. It was another freezing night. I slept alright though, but outside it was extremely cold. We didn’t want to spend a lot of time making food so we ate a banana and we each had a piece of peanut …