Blogs from Paparoa National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Today we started by traveling by bus to Reefton, the location of start of the New Zealand gold rush, which effectively populated New Zealand and especially the western shore. We had lunch and moved on to our trip down the coast to the Paparoa National Park which offers unbelievable ocean vistas and includes a small selection of West Coast Fur Seals. I must say I was unimpressed by the Reefton stop. It is similar to what can be seen in the US in Dahlonega, Georgia. But, our trip to the Paparoa National Park was really unbelievable. We went on a long walk along the coast in the National Park and it included stunning views of the ocean that at least for me, brought Lord of the Rings to mind. It was just beautiful. Too much for ... read more

Two days in Paparoa and one of them was really sunny! On the sunny day we hiked up to the top of Mount Ryal. From the top we had a superb view of the Southern Alps, including Mt. Cook, which is New Zealand's highest peak. The lady at the desk seemed to think the hike was boring and "in the bush" the whole time, but the trees were amazing and we got to climb along a knife thin tree line for a while that would have spelled doom to anyone that fell. We also checked out the pancake rocks and blowhole, which wasn't erupting despite being there for high tide. Boooo. The next day we forded a river and made our way to the Fox River Cave, which had sweet stalagmites and stalactites along with some ... read more