Looking for a photo log instead? Dec 27th: After finally enduring our last flight leg of the day, we catch the shuttle into town and check in at ...
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Looking for a photo log instead? Dec 27th: After finally enduring our last flight leg of the day, we catch the shuttle into town and check in at Backpacker's Downtown Lodge (what a dump). That's what we get for booking a hostel online. Ah well...the Internet and breakfast are free and the whole point of a vacation is to avoid spending time in the room anyway, right? We begin exploring the town, drawn inexorably toward the harbor. The views across Lake Wakatipu are spectacular...but the wind blowing in off the water is chilly. Luckily, we packed for cooler weather. Dinner is at Wai Restaurant a...
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A couple of key points up front: the train service we used back in 2004 to travel from Auckland to Tongariro (National Park Village) has since been ...
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A couple of key points up front: the train service we used back in 2004 to travel from Auckland to Tongariro (National Park Village) has since been discontinued. While the day rides are still available, the night run we took both there and back has been discontinued. Also, our planned tramp along Tongariro Crossing got rained out - so we spent the day wandering around the very small village of National Park, wandering twice back to Eivens to drown our sorrows in wine. Almost enough to make up for the rain! Well, not quite. 4 Jan 2004: The flight from Sydney is longer than we expected - but cer...
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