People ask us, "So how was it?"
The answer is, it was great. We saw just a wealth of beautiful countryside, added a bunch of new birds to our life-lists, took a lot of good pictures, and in general had a great time.
So what is New Zealand like? Silly question; it's a whole country. It has twice the land area of the state of California. Driving the whole thing north to south as we did, is like driving from San Francisco to Vancouver, BC: that distance and variety of climates.
But what it is like in general is, gorgeous. New Zealand has more "wow" scenery per kilometer than any other place we've explored (Well, the stretch of the Rockies from Montana up into the big parks in Canada comes close.) In spring, even the gentle rolling parts are just dazzling from all the intense green, and there is always a steep, snow-capped mountain on the horizon in some direction.
Well-Kept Land
New Zealand is very well kept. The farms are orderly with tidy fences and outbuildings. Cities and towns are clean and graffiti-free. Public facilities of all kinds are almost as perfectly maintained as in Japan. (We contrast this with another island "country," Hawaii, where you often see tumble-down shacks, rusted-out cars, and decaying buildings. None of that anywhere in NZ.)
Especially impressive are the access trails to outdoor sites. We walked public trails almost every day and never saw a trail in bad condition, rough, or washed-out. (Well, we did find a trail with lots of mud-puddles, but that was after 24 hours of heavy rain, and if we'd been wearing proper hiking shoes it wouldn't have been a problem.) Wherever a trail is steep, they've built stairs. Wherever the trail crosses a marsh, there's a boardwalk. Wherever there's a view, there's a platform with a railing. And every stair, platform or boardwalk that might be slippery is covered with wire mesh for a non-slip surface.
The Highways
The highways are as nicely kept-up and signed as the trails. Now remember, in this whole country there is at most 50 miles of limited-access freeway. All the other highways are two-lane, often curving and narrow. Comparable US highways that come to mind: California route 1 from Half Moon Bay south through Big Sur; CA highway 50 from Placerville over Echo Summit to South Lake Tahoe; Washington route 20 up the Skagit valley and over Washington Pass to Lake Chelan. That's kinda-sorta what the New Zealand driving experience is like.
Would we recommend a trip like ours to others? Maybe. If you aren't very athletic and you like to travel on your own, driving around New Zealand in a van is great. However, there was a slight frustration in that we couldn't really get close to and engage with all that beautiful scenery. That's owing to our age and general condition.
If you are younger than us and able to walk 20km (10-15mi) a day, then certainly the absolute best way to get "well stuck in" (as they say) to this country would be to walk some of the great hiking tracks. There are world-famous multi-day walks that are supported by backpacker sites and wilderness resorts. And those walks get deep into the really spectacular scenery that we could only see the tops and edges of.
If you are really young and fearless, every New Zealand town and city has youth hostels and cheap backpacker hotels. With its low crime rate and the average New Zealander's generally open and accepting outlook, this could well be the safest country in the world to just walk and hitch-hike with minimal cash.
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