New Zealand, Part 1: Volcanic Caldera | Mountain Pass

New Zealand! New Zealand. One of those places we all dream of going someday.

I like to mess around on Google Flights and plan vacations that I’ll probably never take. One evening in January I checked on flights to New Zealand and saw they were not as expensive as I would’ve thought. I turned to Molly and asked if she wanted to go to New Zealand in a month, she said of course, so I bought the tickets. A spontaneous trip to New Zealand, why not? Then we spent a hectic month planning, re-planning, buying clothes and gear, packing, and re-packing. And then it was time to go! To New Zealand!

Day 1: Christchurch to Little Akaloa

Molly’s Aunt Terry is a retired-ish geologist who has spent much of her career traveling annually to Antarctica. They would usually stage the trips out of New Zealand, so eventually she bought a house there. This was our first destination upon landing in Christchurch. It was a dark and rainy afternoon but we still made a few stops on the way.

Terry’s house is on a caldera of an extinct volcano. She has a great view out over a bay into the ocean.

Day 2: Little Akaloa to Arthur’s Pass

On the drive to Little Akaloa the previous day, we were fogged in once we started climbing onto the actual caldera. Luckily on trip back down and out, we had amazing views.

Once we left the caldera we were mostly driving through farm fields, but then when we hit the mountains, we spent the next couple hours just absolutely going crazy at the sights, even with all the rain/sleet/snow we encountered.