Hello from New Zealand! I’ve been here about two weeks now and I’m just starting to catch up on my blog posts. It was a bumpy start, but I’m starting to get into a routine now. When I landed in New Zealand two weeks I opened my email to a message saying that the 17-day tour that I had booked was canceled. My options were to reschedule or get a refund. Considering I had just flown halfway around the world and was staying for 2 months I wasn’t going to turn around and leave. So I had to figure out last minute what to do. This had never happened to me before.

After several phone calls and emails, I was re-booked on the subsequent tour that started 9 days later. As a result, I had to rearrange my whole New Zealand schedule. So I hopped right back on a plane and flew to the south island to do some hiking that I had initially planned to do later in the month. It was expensive to book things so last minute, but what could I do? I wasn’t about to miss my opportunity to see this part of the world while I’m here.

So why did I go south you might wonder? (New Zealand is made up of a north island and a south island by the way.) The number one thing I wanted to do while here was the hike to the top of Roys Peak. I saw a picture online several years ago of the view from the summit which inspired me to plan a trip to New Zealand in the first place. So I flew down to Queenstown, rented a car (drove on the opposite side of the road and the opposite side of the car for the first time… that’s a story for another day lol), and did the hike.

I will say it did not disappoint and the views were even better than I imagined!! It was 10 miles roundtrip, took 6.5 hours, and had an elevation gain of 4,200 feet. Definitely one of the hardest hikes I’ve ever done, but so worth it. Just check out the views below 🙂