Traveling with the Stanfords 2025

We are currently in Hammer Springs, an area north of Christchurch, in the mountains. We are going to enjoy the hot thermal springs this morning to warm our cold muscles up. (It's been a bit nippy here.) We spent several days at Mount Cook, which turned out to be fabulous, since the weather cleared, and we had beautiful views of Mount Cook and Mount Sefton. A few days ago we drove to Edoras, the site of the Hall of Rohen, from Lord of the Rings. It was quite a journey up a rough gravel road.  Yesterday while driving around we found a local country fair. We stopped for a few hours and had a pleasant time watching some horse jumping, and other stock shows. It all reminded me of my childhood in England. Tomorrow will be our day to swim with the Dolphins, we are keeping our fingers crossed for good weather. Then down to Christchurch for two days, before we leave. Christchurch should be a beautiful city with extraordinary gardens.  Dolphins & Christchurch

What a great week. John's back is on the mend, thank goodness. We spent three days in the Fiordland National Park. Which was very cool. We drove up a spectacular road to Milford sound and took a cruise early the following morning. Sara even did a mini hike, and saw with horror where the Routeburn track was going in the distance! An interesting fact about Milford sound, it rains 182 days a year, and it is not unusual to have the British annual rainfall in 3 days. We were very lucky to hit it between rain storms.  Then we returned to the Queenstown area for three nights. We drove up into an area where we were surrounded by snow capped mountains. We camped two nights on the side of a deserted gravel road, prime photography. Sara managed to arrange a horse ride, called the Ride of the Rings. It took us to numerous Lord of the Rings locations used in the first movie. Breathtaking views were everywhere.  Then back to Queenstown, where on the spur of the moment we sailed on NZL 14,...

We are currently in Queenstown, which is the adventure capital of NZ. The town is lovely, kind of a cross between Aspen, CO, Chamonix France and Lacarno Switzerland. There are mountains on both sides with para gliders flying off the top, and a big lake with lots of sailing. We have been on the west coast, which is very spectacular, tropical rain forests, with a few glaciers, very unusual.  We were supposed to start a four day hike tomorrow, but unfortunately John's back is in a bad way. We decided it would be smarter to cancel than risk a helicopter rescue in the middle of the wilderness. We are both disappointed, but I am sure will find plenty of other fun things to do.  This part of the country is just gorgeous. We are heading to the Milford Sound area, which should be spectacular also. Only two weeks to go, the time is flying by. Here are the latest set of photos: Milford Sound and Queenstown Photos

As we drove down the North Island we stopped to visit some of Sara's cousin's, in various locations. We had a lovely time chatting and meeting everyone. We had planned to swim with the dolphins, but unfortunately the weather was not cooperative, the winds were 30-40 knots, so it had to be canceled. I'm hoping we have time to schedule the trip at a different location on the South Island.  Sara purchased a Lord of the Rings location book, so we drove to the top of Mount Doom. It was bleak and cloud covered, and very cold. We've been driving through many of the other areas used in the film, and they are very spectacular. If we stopped at every site our trip our would take as long as the film did to make! A few days ago we also stopped at some Geo thermal areas similar to Yellowstone. We even stopped for a dip in some hot mineral baths. Friday we crossed the Cooke Strait on the ferry to the South Island. Luckily they were not fully booked because Sara made the reservation...