New Zealand: Inspiration for Lord of the Rings

I'll save you the time of reading this whole post. New Zealand is one of the most spectacular countries you can ever see and should be high on everyone's list of countries to visit. Period. That's it, if you want more details read on.

New Zealand is just incredible. It has rolling lush green valleys that sheep, horses and cattle graze on and these fields lead up to tall green forested hills in the north and dark, barren towering mountains south. The ocean is always nearby and where it meets land, the views are just incredible. You name the scenery you want to see, New Zealand has it. There's a reason why Peter Jackson chose to film Lord of the Rings here...

The total population of New Zealand is only 4 million. That's right, less than the population of the Greater Toronto Area. It's no wonder the country has a peaceful, laid back feel to it that's immediately noticeable from the moment you step off the plane.

The country is divided into a North and South Island. The North Island contains the biggest city, Auckland, as well as the capital, Wellington. The South Island is less populated and has all the beautiful mountains and Fjords that we've all seen in movies. Unfortunately, I was only able to see the North Island with only a brief one-day trip to the South.

Auckland has a population of 1 million and is considered the business center for Auckland. It's a nice city with several volcanic hills spread out over the city. There are also several explorable islands that are only a ferry ride away.

Wellington is the capital, and as such, has many of the government buildings. It's also considered the cultural center and has the spectacular Te Papa Museum. The harbourfront is just amazing and you could walk around the boardwalk for hours without reaching the end. Only 15 minutes out of the downtown core the city disappears and you'd think you were in unexplored terrain.

I spent 1 week in Auckland, 1 week in Wellington and 1 day on the South Island. Here are some highlights from my trip:

Highlights of New Zealand:

- Hanging out with my cousin Dan in Auckland
- Eating the best, biggest, most filling mussels I've ever had in Auckland
- Renting scooters on nearby Waiheke Island and falling off (got a few scrapes and bruises)
- Renting a Mazda Miata Convertible on Waiheke Island
- Watching a Budweiser Commercial being filmed in Wellington
- Seeing Comet McNaught light up the sky on the South Island
- Renting a sea kayak and going to a remote seal colony
- Having coffee at the Chocolate Fish Cafe, where the cast of Lord of the Rings regularly hung out
- Sleeping in a youth hostel for the first time
- Driving the Queen Charlotte Drive, the most spectacular road I've ever driven on, even more so than The Great Ocean Road in Melbourne

Next time I come back, and yes, I will one day come back, I will spend more time in the South Island...

Melbourne: The Green City

4 weeks into my 6 week trip and I haven't given a real update on my thoughts other than some small blurbs on my photo blog which can be found here

Melbourne:

I started the trip with 2 weeks in Melbourne for holiday. Melbourne is one of the best cities that I have ever spent time in. I knew it was a great city to live in before and this trip just reconfirmed that it's so easy to fall in love with Melbourne. It's green, it has the ocean, it's multi-cultural, it's temperate, traffic isn't bad, people are friendly and there are tons of things to see and do. Also, the transit system is lightyears ahead of Toronto, even though Melbourne's population is only 3.7M, about half that of Toronto!

That pretty much explains the city itself. As for my time there, it was great. Firstly, it was real nice to spend time with my mom. It had been 4 years since I last saw her so it was a good reunion and we had a chance to spend ample time with each other. She worked most days for several hours and I would drop her off and afterwards, I was free to roam the city and explore.

All in all, it was a wonderful 2 weeks and I was sad to leave but also curious to see how the other cities I was going to visit would stack up in comparison to Melbourne....Stay tuned and I'll tell you about my next part of the trip: Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand.

Highlights of Melbourne:

- Seeing my mom
- Seeing cousins/relatives and their cute kids!
- Great Ocean Drive trip (12 Apostles!)
- Day trip to Phillip Island (Koalas!)
- Petting and feeding Kangaroos in Ballarat
- Making $500 at the Crown Casino!
- Walking around southbank, the main harbourfront of Melbourne
- Learning to drive on the left
- Photographing the city!
- Eating the biggest shrimps I have ever seen
- Eating some of the best chinese food I've ever had
- Doing a hook-turn (like making a left-turn in Canada from the right-most lane)