The Journey Ahead

So, on Monday I'm leaving for a 10-day trip to the South Island. I'm going to be essentially bussing from Auckland to the southern tip of New Zealand and then halfway back. Here's a map of New Zealand with my route colo(u)red in. Each different color is a different day of travel.

And here's a closer look at the South Island part of the map (click to enlarge).

I started thinking about the trip in May or June before I left home. Originally, it was one of those "wouldn't it be crazy if I could bus down to the bottom of the South Island?" travel ideas that are usually quickly dismissed. But, the more I looked into it, I realized that it was not only possible, but due to the well-developed bus and hostel network here, something I could actually afford to do.

I spent several nights in late July planning my route, and was able to snap up some really good bus fares. Here's the route I came up with, after a lot of tweaking:

Monday 30/8 (you write the day before the month when you write dates here): Auckland - Wellington (11 hours by bus)

Tuesday 31/8: Day off, explore Wellington

Wednesday 1/9: Ferry across the Cook Strait to Picton (3 hours), bus from Picton - Nelson (2.5 hours)

Thursday 2/9: Nelson - Fox Glacier (10 hours by bus)

Friday 3/9: Day off, climb Fox Glacier

Saturday 4/9: Fox Glacier - Franz Josef Glacier (40 minutes)

Sunday 5/9: Franz Josef - Queenstown (6.5 hours by bus)

Monday 6/9: Queenstown - Te Anau (2.5 hours by bus)

Tuesday 7/9: Te Anau - Gore - Invercargill (3 hours by bus)

Wednesday 8/9: Invercargill - Dunedin (3.5 hours by bus)

Thursday 9/9: Dunedin - Christchurch (6 hours by bus)

Friday 10/9: Christchurch - Auckland (1.5 hours by plane: Air New Zealand #510)

It's a lot of time spent in a bus, but I found from my previous travels that the bus time was one of my favorite parts. Driving for ten hours through New Zealand is definitely nothing like driving down I-95 for ten hours to DC. It should be a good mix between travel time and time spent exploring these towns. And I signed up with a company to walk on the terminal face of Fox Glacier, which is pretty awesome.

I'm going to be staying in various hostels every night, which are set up with bunk-bed dorm configurations. I tried to select some of the best reviewed hostels in each location. Some are larger facilities with close to 100 beds, others are much smaller and sleep 15-18 people. I've never stayed in a hostel before, so I honestly have no idea what to expect.

I'm not going to be taking my laptop, so I may not have any blog updates over the next ten days. I'll try to get on a computer and make a post or two if I have the chance. I'll definitely be sure to take lots of pictures, and I'm going to bring a notebook to make sure I don't forget anything I see.

In other travel news, thanks to a grant from the Wittman/Roth foundations and the generous support of Readers Like You, I'm going to be going to Sydney, Australia, on my birthday weekend from Thursday 23/9 to Sunday 26/9! I booked myself some interesting flights (including an early taste of the A380), and it should be an awesome weekend. I also just found out my finals schedule, and I have two one-week periods of time that I can travel around. Anyone have any suggestions of where I should go? I'm thinking Tasmania...

So, I'll be back in a week and a half! Leave your address in the comments section if you want a postcard from somewhere cool.