Buy a Car and Drive Across New Zealand

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This is New Zealand: a country where 200 kilometers will reveal such a varying degree of Nature that you may pass through a rust-colored desert where the only moisture in the vicinity is the sweat on your brow, while on the other side of the mountain you cut through vegetation so think that if you didn't know better, you'd mistake the forest for a wall. In New Zealand you will find volcanoes with crystal clear sulphuric lakes resting in the craters near the top just as frequently as you will find million year old glaciers advancing and retreating in a dance that's been playing out longer than Man has been in existence. The ebb and flow of the glaciers over millions of years contrasts with the ebb and flow of violent crashing waves from the Tasman Sea sculpting the shores not far from the mountains harboring these glaciers. Less than 20 km from these waves lie the placid stillness of a glacial lake surrounded by the kind of moss-overgrown, and fern-inhabited forest that imagination create as homes for fairies and elves. In between towering cliffs and rock that reach to the skies only to be dusted with powdered white snow you will find a valley as flat as a checkers board with black and white cows instead of black and white checkered spaces.

Sparsely speckled about this country are townships no bigger than your thumbnail. You don't know if the next 70 km/hr sign will proceed a turn around a sharper mountain bend or signal the entrance into a town. I'd bet a dollar on mountain bend every time and come out ahead no matter where in New Zealand we were. No sooner do you figure out that you're in a town than you realize you've just passed the town. Most of them are that small and if it weren't for the temporary reduced speed limit and the welcoming sign greeting you upon entrance, you might mistake the town for just another farm with a couple extra buildings.

All the major highways throughout New Zealand are one-lane going in each direction. Ninety-percent seem recently paved and the other ten percent are currently being sealed. One-lane bridges are almost as common as roadkill, and not surprisingly you rarely have to stop at these one-lane bridges to let oncoming traffic pass because other cars on the road are that rare. Each bridge is clearly marked who has right-of-way, so just in case there happens to be any cars within eye-sight, there is no wondering who gets to cross first. Also, along the highways there are ingenious passing lanes created at all the points along the road which may require the passing of a slower vehicle and every single driver respects and uses these passing lanes without consequence. Slower drivers always stay to their side allowing faster drivers to get on their ways. Even up steep mountainsides where an extra lane would be difficult in include, there are little extra pull-off bays where trucks or camper vans can pause in their slow haul up a mountain to let the sedans and motorcycles continue uninterrupted.

Driving along these two-lane highways through the countryside along lakes and up mountains into the numerous national parks and reserves will easily afford beautiful scenery at almost every turn. New Zealand has recognized this and has included in their highway system not only well-placed rest areas but also perfectly positioned scenic pull-offs which are regularly used by the plethora of travelers from abroad and locals alike. They are safely off the road and always offer the breath-taking view that a driver is dangerously trying to appreciate while driving 100 km/hr around the bends hugging this scenery. Sometimes you will find them near the top of a mountain, sometimes along a shore of a crystal blue lake, or the coastal sea, and even sometimes on a hill simply over-looking someone's farm that just happens to be so beautiful that people will stop just to admire. Yes, there are rest areas and scenic pull-offs all along the New Zealand highways and it's fun to pull off and take a photo occasionally. However, if you were to do this even at every third or fourth, you would get nowhere in the country. And, no, that's not to say that there are too many of these pull-offs; there are simply that many views worth stopping to savor for an extra couple minutes.

You should notice that there are no pictures of cityscapes, tall buildings, or impressive creations of Man among the photos included here. No, in New Zealand, you come for the landscapes, sky-scraping mountains, and impressive creations of Mother Nature.

ps: I haven't even included photos of Fiordland National Park, Milford Sound, or Mount Cook - arguably the most scenic areas of New Zealand...

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Photos

Moonlight over Taupo
I slept at a scenic rest stop and was able to sneak this photo of the moon rising over Lake Taupo.

Just a Lake
One of the many lakes that I passed by while driving among mountains.

Rope Swing
Just before a waterfall actually.

Cape Reinga
at the Northern tip of the North Island.

Giant Sand Dunes
alongside 90-mile beach on the North Island.

Huka Falls
feeding into Huka Falls on the North Island.

A virtual desert
I crossed this while on the Tongariro Crossing in Tongariro National Park.

Volcanic Crags
Also along the Tongariro Crossing.

Greenscape
My first photo in NZL.