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| Within a few hours of arriving in New Zealand, we had already found a statue honoring sheep |
Our visit to New Zealand was horribly timed. Part of it was our fault; the weather at the beginning of winter is unlikely to be great anywhere, save the tropics. But based on our research, we weren't anticipating the South Island would be as cold and snowy as it was. Unfortunately for us, our visit corresponded with an usually strong and early winter storm system.
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| Trying to stay warm in Queenstown |
We made the best of our time in Queenstown by hanging out in coffee shops, drinking good coffee and eating good food, playing games, watching movies and trying to hunt down free wifi. I can see where Queenstown and the surrounding area is lovely. Unfortunately, with temperatures hovering around zero degrees Celsius, we weren't able to experience much of the beauty.
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| Queenstown from the harbor |
After a few days of freezing in Queenstown, we were looking forward to warmer weather in Auckland on the North Island. Unfortunately, the precipitation in Queenstown followed us to Auckland. Much of our time there was rainy, so we tried to make the best of it by trying new restaurants and getting out when we could.
We savored delicious Turkish and Malaysian food. We choked down some awful Japanese food and ate a decent Italian meal, too. And of course we drank our fair share of coffee. To entertain ourselves, we caught a bizarre play--"The Pitchfork Disney"--at Theatre Q in downtown Auckland.
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| Ginger bar from one of our coffee breaks. Ginger is a very popular flavor in New Zealand and Australia. |
The day after we arrived in Auckland, we took a harbor ferry over to Devonport, a quaint town on the harbor. We spent a couple of our walking around town and hiking up Mount Victoria for a great view of Auckland and the harbor.
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| Departing for Devonport |
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| Z on the ferry to Devonport |
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| Auckland from the boat |
The next day, we took another hike to Mount Eden, a few kilometers inland from the harbor. We picked up coffee and breakfast at a cute cafe before walking through town to catch a spectacular view from the top of Mount Eden.
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| Cool bird we met on our Mount Eden hike |
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| From the top of Mount Eden |
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| One of our last sights before departing for Sydney |
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