20 Feb-27Mar 2015. I have many stories to tell about New Zealand. We saw some extraordinary things, met some wonderful people, had some incredible experiences, did a lot of walking, quite a bit of talking, and explored the country almost from one end to the other. All these stories I’ll share in future posts. New Zealand is without doubt one of the most beautiful countries we have been to, so first I want to introduce you to the infinite gorgeousness of Aotearoa, the Land of The Long White Cloud. In the order that we saw it, this is my photo essay of the continually changing landscape of our five-week road trip.
Day 2 Banks Peninsula
Day 4 Driving from Christchurch to Queenstown
Day 5 Milford Sound
Day 6 Lake Te Anau
Day 7 Driving from Queenstown to Dunedin
Day 9 Moaraki Boulders
Day 11 Otago Peninsula
Day 12 Driving from Dunedin to Wanaka
Day 13 Mount Aspiring National Park
Day 13 Wanaka
Day 14 Franz Josef Glacier
Day 15 Callery Gorge
Day 16 Driving from Franz Josef to Greymouth, Mount Cook in the distance
Day 17 Greymouth
Day 18 Punakaiki – Pancake Rocks
Day 19 Te Pukatea Bay, Abel Tasman National Park
Day 20 On the Ferry to the north island
Day 23 From the top of Mt Ruapehu
Day 23 Sunset in Ohakune
Day 25 Somewhere near Matamata
Day 25 Lake Taupo
Day 26 Waiotapu
Day 26 Waiotapu
Day 26 Waikato River
Day 26 Orakei Korako
Day 27 Te Puia, near Rotorua
Day 27 Somewhere between Te Puia and Taupo
Day 30 Coromandel Peninsula
Day 31 Cathedral Cove, Coromandel Peninsula
Day 32 Whangapoua Beach, Coromandel Peninsula
Day 33 Mercury Bay, Whitianga
Day 33 Hot Water Beach, Coromandel Peninsula
Next post: We began our New Zealand journey in the quake-damaged city of Christchurch. It’s one thing to read about a tragedy, and see the pictures in the news, it’s another thing to have direct experience of the reality of it, even four years later. Cheers and tears for Christchurch.
All words and images by Alison Louise Armstrong unless otherwise noted
© Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart, 2010-2015.
Adventures in Wonderland 
Great pictures – you were extremely lucky with the weather, especially in the South Island. Milford sound is usually wet about 366 days a year!
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Thanks Helen. Yes we were lucky with the weather, but we planned a bit too. We lost only one day to total socked-in rain and it was the day we were driving over the Haast Pass so we missed the scenery due to the mist 🙂
I’d been to Milford Sound about 40 years ago and by sheer good luck got a sunny day. This time I knew enough to check the weather forecast and we actually planned our journey around getting to Milford on the one day it was most likely to be sunny. It worked! But bonus- we ended up with a sunny day at Te Anau as well.
Alison
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Glorious! Awesome! What a breathtakingly beautiful country! I think my favorite picture was “Day 26 Waikato River” but all of your photos were lovely. Looking forward to reading about your travels. Anita
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Thank you so much Anita. Yes, it is a beautiful country, no matter where you go. And the scenery changes often; around every corner a new beautiful vista.
Alison
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❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
There aren't enough hearts to express how much I love your photos. You're blessed to have been able to see all these with your own eyes and I'm happy for you!
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Thanks so much SGMT ❤
Indeed, we are very blessed, and very lucky. New Zealand is very beautiful corner of the world.
Alison
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makes a most beautiful
travel promotion of the land
and vibrant New Zealand life 🙂
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What a fab set of photos! North Island is fascinating. South Island, too, though it’s strikingly familiar; one could almost simply change the names for places in BC, especially Vancouver Island!
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Keith, you’re right! If you put NZ upside down, it’s similar to the west coast of N.America in terms of latitude as well as the look and feel of it.
vancouver 49N & 123W –> san diego 32N & 117W
invercargill 46S & 168E –> auckland 36S & 174E
The only huge exception to their being alike is the warm ocean.
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We didn’t go as far south as Invercargill, but the areas around Te Anau, and Wanaka especially were just like the Okanagan. We thought we’d got lost 🙂
Alison
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Thanks Keith. You’re so right about the similarities to western Canada. Honestly sometimes we thought we were in the Okanagan!
Alison
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smilecalm thank you
for your kind words
Perhaps I should
write travel brochures? 🙂
Alison
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Gorgeous, gorgeous – you are right that New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places on earth. We did a very similar drive (at least on the South Island) in 1999 and we would love to go back and do it all again. Milford Sound’s weather did not cooperate as well for us as for you, and we did not do justice to the North Island. I will be sad to see your post on what Christchurch’s damage looks like; it was such a charming city. Thanks for this beautiful photo essay!
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Thank you so much. Yes – gorgeous. We were filled with beauty every day. We wove our itinerary around the weather forecast for Milford making sure to get there on the most likely sunny day – it rained on the way out but by the time we got there the sky had cleared. We also did not do justice to the north island – 3 weeks in the south and two in the north – not nearly enough time. 8 weeks would have been better. As it was we had to choose between Bay of Islands and Coromandel peninsula. Chrishchurch post next.
Alison
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What a beautiful country! What are those animals from day 27?
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Yes, it’s a very beautiful country. Quite magical. The animals are deer. They are farmed for both meat and horns.
Alison
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Thanks for the pictorial review of places we saw and fell in love with. Wishing it weren’t so far from here… I’d holiday there a lot. Or live there.
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You’re welcome Kate. Glad you enjoyed it. We fell in love with it too.
Alison
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I love New Zealand! Wow 30 plus days is extraordinary!
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Yeah, we love it too. It’s so beautiful. Five weeks was not nearly enough! We needed at least another week, but could have easily filled another 2 or 3.
Alison
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I would love to go back to NZ and Australia. Before parts of the world and friendly people! 😊
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What amazing photos! Every one of them looks like it could be on a postcard 🙂
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Thanks so much Bec. I must say NZ is definitely a picture postcard kind of place 🙂
Alison
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Just loved it all so much, Alison and Don. It all looks magical. Fond wishes
Ros
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Thank you so much Ros. It was indeed magical.
Alison
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Hi Alison and Don, thank you for sharing your beautiful images with us all. It looks like you had a wonderful trip. My husband Dave and I are in Noosa, we’ll be kind of “retiring” at the end of June and we’ve bought one way tickets to Christchurch in August! We’re going to mix up the travel staying in apartments (like airbnb), camping ground cabins and house-sitting. Definitely slow travel and self catering or a couple of months – or so. Your photos are amazing and inspire me, make me feel so excited about what we’re about to embark on, the places we’ll visit. I’ve really enjoyed reading some of your other posts and your background, and will poke around your site a bit more. I started a blog, just for fun, a few years back when we visited China and I haven’t updated it since. It’s not professional, but it’s mine and I love re-reading it. We’ve done a quite a bit of travel and I wish I had written about it all on my blog. However, I am working on the format etc and will be writing about our retirement travels……. Cheers, Sue.
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Hi Sue, thanks for visiting and commenting. Yes, we did have a wonderful trip. You’ll definitely need a couple of months in NZ. We discovered that 5 weeks is not enough, could have easily used 8, and in the end had to choose between Bay of Islands and Coromandel. Glad my pics have inspired you. You’ll love it there. Thanks for your kind comments about the blog. And do keep up with your own if only for yourself! I too enjoy occasionally reading posts from the past to remember some of the things we’ve done.
Cheers, Alison
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Thanks for your response Alison. In February we spent 2 weeks in and around Russell and the Bay of Islands. Very beautiful. We also traveled from Auckland to Wellington by train on the Northern Explorer, and this experience made us think about starting our homeless nomadic life in the NZ South Island so we can check out the Trans Alpine train trip. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement and we will do our best to travel to the Coromandel this time, as like you, we had to make the choice.
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Ah glorious, natural New Zealand. Everything I read about the country only makes me want to go there even more, experiencing its pureness. It’s funny how a few years ago someone from Uruguay thought that I was a New Zealander of Maori descent. 🙂 Looking forward to your posts on Aotearoa, Alison!
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Oh yes – glorious New Zealand. It is a land much blessed with beauty. Hope you get there Bama – put it on your list!
Alison
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I have been enjoying reading your blog for awhile now but this is my first post. I’ve just come back from a wonderful 25 day trip around the South Island, which in all my 74 years I’d never done before much to my regret now (I’m a kiwi born & bred). I thought I saw you one day as we were walking from the boat in Milford Sound but I see you had left NZ by the 1st of April which is the day we were there. I posted photos to my blog daily, well almost daily when we could get wifi! They aren’t as professional as your wonderful photos so looking forward to seeing more of them in the coming weeks. Cheers….Dawn
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Hi Dawn, thank you for reading and for commenting. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the blog. It sounds like your trip around the South Island was an unforgettable experience, and it’s so wonderful that you finally got to do that. It really is a special place. Lots more photos to come 🙂
Cheers, Alison
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Wow. just wow!
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Thanks Sandra. It’s a wow kind of place!
Alison
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Gorgeous! Add it to my list! My hubby doesn’t have it as high on the list because he thinks it will be much like Canada, but I’ve never seen a beach in Canada that looks like Day 19!
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Thanks Caroline. Yes, add it to the list! It’s a fabulous (if very expensive) country. And most of it is actually not like Canada at all. I’ve heard the Bay of Islands in the north is like Canada, and certainly the Queenstown/Te Anau/Wanaka area reminded us a lot of the Okanagan, but there’s so much else there that is unlike anything in the world. It’s worth going just to see the astonishing thermal fields near Rotorua, and the beauty of Abel Tasman National Park, and the view of the volcanoes from the top of Ruapehu – nothing like that in Canada at all.
Alison
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Wow! Such beautiful pictures. The natural scenery out there is incredible! I can’t wait to read more about your New Zealand adventures. 😉
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Thanks so much Ana. You’re right – it is incredible, an amazing wealth of beauty. Lots more about NZ to come 🙂
Alison
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Fabulous pictures. Look forward to hearing more about your wonderful trip.
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Thanks so much Darlene. NZ is so beautiful that everywhere you look there’s more to photograph. Lots more stories to come.
Alison
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Stunning images, you guys. I’m in graphic overload. One in particular touched me, and that was Day 9, the Moaraki Boulders. I think it was the roundedness of the stones, the gentle way they lay in the water, like a line of eggs and the one cracked open. What emerged from that shell? The softened edges of stone speak of how ancient they are in their slumber… This piece was beautiful top to bottom.
Michael
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Thanks Michael. Graphic overload is a good thing! I have taken to photographing signs at places we visit so I can have something intelligent to say on the blog about them, but didn’t do so at Moaraki Boulders. The signs explained how they were made. There were more of them back from the beach, some almost crumbled away. You see more of them at low tide of course, but unfortunately that’s not how our day unfolded. Still, I am happy with what we did see. I agree they are like ancient slumbering eggs. What a beautiful way to describe them. There’s a sense of eternity about them.
Alison
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Excuse me a moment . . . I need to pick my jaw up from the floor before I can comment meaningfully here. Be back soon. ❤
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Chuckle. Isn’t it all breathtaking! Day after day we couldn’t believe it – endless beauty. We were swooning.
Alison ❤
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Wow, your photos are gorgeous! New Zealand was a possible travel destination for next summer, so this definitely helping my decision! It’s so beautiful. Thanks for sharing them!
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Thank you so much. I highly recommend new Zealand. It’s pretty expensive, but so beautiful and there’s so much to see and do there. we loved it.
Alison
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GORGEOUS photos, Alison! You’ve captured the unique beauty of the ocean in New Zealand — it’s like nowhere else. I was happy to find Abel Tasman included here. I did that hike in 2000 by myself. A big memory for me and so exquisitely beautiful. Thanks for sharing this country through your eyes. Can’t wait for more! ~K.
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Thanks so much Kelly. We loved our short time in Abel Tasman. More than anything with NZ we wish we’d allowed more time – so much to see and do there.
Alison
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Alison…my wife Diane and I were in New Zealand in 1994 when I was teaching at the University of Adelaide (Australia) business school. We loved the north island but were struck with what seemed to us to be an incongruity…..the breathtaking landscape coupled with the dismal architecture….maybe it was a question of money but the buildings were drab and boring…did you see that, too?
David and Diane
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Hi David and Diane, thanks for your comment. I suppose the short answer is yes. In Christchurch in particular we noticed the architecture – beautiful colonial style houses and the vacant lots next to them, shattered buildings that were obviously once beautiful, one large lot for sale (I think) with a photo of a very elegant brick building that used to be there, and a whole row of in-tact pastel coloured buildings in what I’d maybe call Art Deco (limited knowledge here). We were very much aware that this was once a very lovely city. In Dunedin also there is some fine architecture (and a lot that’s quite drab), and apparently Napier is the Art Deco capital of the world. The first two are on the South Island, Napier is on the North Island. Having said that, we didn’t actually notice the architecture in any other city, or town we went to – which is to say it was completely unmemorable. We’re not architecture buffs at all but certainly appreciate, and photograph, fine buildings when we see them.
Alison
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Stunning! What a beautiful country this is
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Thanks. Yes, a very beautiful country. We’re really glad we went.
Alison
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I was aware of the earthquake activity in the area you photographed, wasn’t as aware of the volcanic and geothermal. Lots of geological diversity in your photographs this time. Impressive.
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New Zealand has huge, and quite extraordinary, geothermal fields, all more or less in the Rotorua area, though there are hot springs all over the country, some commercialized (and wonderful to laze around in) and some just natural in hidden away places in the countryside. Also many volcanoes. Don’t know if any are active of not. NZ is right on a fault line of two major plates.
Alison
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Once again, breathtaking photos! I’ve never seen anything like this in real life 😮 I just watched a drama series called Top of the Lake which was filmed in New Zealand and had some absolutely stunning views in it, just like these. The series really gave me a travel fever to go and see New Zealand! The place must have so much to offer for a biologist like me, too 🙂
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Thanks Saana. The whole place is quite spectacular. All of the Lord of the Rings films were made in NZ so if you’ve seen them you’ve seen a little of NZ scenery. The photo taken from Mt Ruapehu shows the volcano that was used as Mordor in the films.
Alison
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And I always thought we live in the most beautiful part of the world – Canada’s west coast – but now I am not so sure. In fact, I am inclined to think I might be wrong. You have me tempted! Beautiful images. Thank you!
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Thanks Helga. I do agree there’s not much to beat the west coast, or the Okanagan, or the Kootenays or Banff or most of the country really . Canada’s a very beautiful place and I know I could travel across Canada and make the same kind of post.
I think with NZ we were so surprised and delighted because there’s so much beauty and variety in such a small place. It’s definitely worth visiting.
Alison
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What’s not to like? One glorious shot follows another 🙂 🙂
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Thanks Jo. It was one glorious scene after another. NZ was amazing!
Alison
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Just breathtaking landscapes and seascapes. AND shots of Wanaka where our chums live. They keep asking us to visit. I think you’ve inspired me to get going. 🙂
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Thanks so much Tish. Oh you must get going! New Zealand is breathtaking!
Alison
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Fabulous photos Alison – seriously. Every single one looks like a postcard. We spent a few weeks in NZ, but unfortunately, I spent a couple of those weeks recovering from Dengue Fever. Needless to say, I didn’t get out much. But, we did take the train from Wellington to Auckland which gave us 12 great hours of sightseeing. ~James
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Thanks so much James, I’m glad you like them. It’s such a beautiful place. Sorry to hear you were so ill in NZ, but at least your saw something on your train journey. We love trains and had thought about that train ride, but instead opted to rent a car for the whole time.
Alison
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Such fantastically breathtaking pictures!! Each and every one of them. ❤ What a memorable drive it must have been with all these views. And I love gorgeous pictures that are titled "somewhere in…" because they serve to show how lovely the entire terrain was; that no matter where you looked, you were (probably) drinking in the views, feeling happy, blessed, and overwhelmed with nature's majesty. 🙂
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Thank you so much Ami. I’m glad you enjoyed the photos. And yes you are right, it was indeed a memorable drive. There was no probably about it – we were drinking in the views, feeling happy, blessed and in complete wonder at the endless beauty of nature. The word Wow! was exclaimed many times!
Alison
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Jeesh, your shots just keep getting better and better. I really like the style you’ve created for yourself. If you put different photographers in a line-up, we could pick you out of the line. Like a Andy Warhol or Van Gogh. My photos seem to range from the freakishly garish to the dull…no one style there (but I guess that’s who I am, really…continually moving on). I’ve been tied up, just got to your post. And this is one of the finest collections I’ve seen. I think WP should have people suggest posts for the Freshly Pressed gig. What if they just happen to miss a post like this?
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Wow, thank you so much. I love that you can see a style, though it’s not something I go for consciously. It’s just the way I see things I guess. I’m so loaded with photos of beautiful NZ. Almost every post I do about it will have more of the stunning landscape.
Apparently there is a way to recommend posts for Freshly Pressed, but I don’t know how. I would think you could ask about it in the forums. Thanks for the great compliment.
Alison
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Yeah, you definitely have a style. Recognizable. Creep. I really haven’t spent time in forums, can hardly keep up with email and replies. But seems like a possibility should exist. Too many blogs, easy to miss. I’ve seen photo blogs Pressed that stand still while yours are running circles around them.
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Wow!!! Each photo is more and more beautiful!
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Thanks Mo. It’s an incredibly beautiful country with amazing variety in such a small space.
Alison
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New Zealand is my absolute favourite country in the world! It has everything – perfect weather, wonderful people, beaches, enchanting rain forests, mountains, lakes, streams and miles of rolling green hills dotted with sheep. Every 15 minutes of driving the scenery changes from rolling hills to mountains, to beaches to rain forest and back again. The perfect country.
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We loved New Zealand, and like you, were endlessly delighted by the ever changing scenery. It’s a pretty special place that’s for sure.
Alison
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Dear Alison and Don..
My favorite couple enthusiasts are here and the pictures are doing the talking!!! Who takes most of them?? Cause it seems like you guys had a heavy competition of who’s- gonna- capture- them- best!!! Every single pic is so much beautiful and awesome than the previous one!! Hats off guys!
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Thank you so much Anup. I take all of them unless I’ve actually mentioned it is Don’s photo, so in this post they’re all from me. In the post about The Giant’s Garden four or the photos are Don’s, the rest are mine. Thank you for your lovely compliment!
Alison
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oh my gosh, these pictures are amazing! I want to go to New Zealand and hike!
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Thanks so much. New Zealand is amazing! I highly recommend it. We had a fabulous time there.
Alison
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Alison, I keep looking at these photos and am totally speachless. My friend is from New Zealand and he tells all these stories about growing up amidst this beauty, and I had hard time picturing it until I saw your photos. Thank you so much for sharing. I am hoping to get to see it live one day. Hope all is well with you,
Love
Kristina
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Thanks Kristina,all is well with us. It’s my pleasure to share the endless beauty of NZ. It’s definitely one of the most beautiful places we’ve been to and we loved our time there. I hope you get there!
Alison
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