New Zealand trip report (long)

So I and spending a couple weeks in New Zealand. Rented a car in Auckland and dropped off in Wellington on the north island. Then took ferry and picked up another car in picton and dropped off in Queenstown. I will try to limit the amount of pictures in this thread, I took 1000+ on the trip.

Arrived in Auckland from sfo and spent the first day just chillin at the zoo to take it easy and recover from the flight
Saw kiwis and red panda, the animal not the person



Next day drove to waitomo and did some short hikes first, a waterfalls and a natural bridge walk, the glow worms don’t show up in pictures, sorry





Next day drove to Matamata and went to Hobbiton, a must see for lord of the rings fans. Then later that evening did the Maori dinner and show





The next morning I went white water rafting on class V rapids, this was the highlight of my trip and was beyond amazing




Later that day went to geothermal area, very similar to Yellowstone



Then I drove from Rotorua to Wellington, went past mt doom



I then went on a lord of the rings tour through weta workshop and Lotr sights in the city




I then took the ferry over to Wellington and stayed the night in Nelson on the northern tip of the South Island. The South Island is much more naturally beautiful and is very mountainous




I then drove over to the Wild West coast and stayed the night in greymouth. The west coast is on of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, with the mountains on one side and the Tasman sea on the other





I then continued my drive down the west coast and over the Haast pass ending in Queenstown for the night. I took a hike to view glaciers, and another hike to the glacial fed blue pools.






I then spent a couple days in Queenstown, with a day trip to milford sound. Milford sound is incredible, kinda like Yosemite on water. Queenstown is a happening city with a downtown area of bars and restaurants closed off to traffic







I’m currently still in Queenstown and fly back to Auckland tomorrow. Will spend a couple days before flying back to the states. I cannot say enough about New Zealand, the natural beauty and experiences have been epic. I tried to keep this thread as concise as possible, and it is my first trip report on td, so I’m new to it. I do have tons of other pics if anyone wants to see some