Judith Goodyear
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North Island ▷ Bay of Plenty ▷ Galatea ▷
Whirinaki Track
3.5/5
Short walks through beautiful forest.
We had the huts all to ourselves! Lovely (but cold) swimming holes.
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North Island ▷ Auckland Region ▷ Albany ▷
Okura Bush Walkway
4.0/5
Lovely, easy walking.
Perfect for running because the track is very well maintained. Beautiful bush with historic cottage at a quiet beach at the 1/2 way point. Lovely walk just north of Auckland!
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North Island ▷ Wellington Region ▷ Wellington ▷
Bluebridge Cook Strait Ferry
3.5/5
Basic but pleasant.
Stairs up to higher balconies difficult to find (or marked as restricted). But worth doing. No hassle and process was easy, but ferry was 1/2 hour late into Picton, having been overtaken by the Interislander (which left an hour later!).
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South Island ▷ Mount Cook - MacKenzie ▷ Lake Tekapo ▷
Alpine Recreation
4.0/5
We managed to do some ski touring, despite the bad weather!
The guide was friendly and knowledgeable. The first and last days consisted mainly in walking to and from the hut - we weren't made aware that there isn't usually enough snow to go to ski touring on all three days.
Not quite sure about this comment: it would definitely not have been experienced in December 2015 because that is during our summer and we run ski touring trips only during our winter months, July-September. In our description of the itinerary for the Two Thumb Range ski touring on Day 1 we do say it is 3 hours hiking and/or skinning with a climb of 550m up to the hut and that there is time only for a short ski tour that afternoon. Obviously it depends how far down the snow is below the hut and that varies throughout the season and can change from week to week. If there is not skiable snow from the hut upwards we do not operate. When we operate there is definitely enough snow to do a half-day's touring on the first, a full day's touring on the second day and another half-day's touring on the last day, if it's only a 3-day trip. I tried to look up your client record, Judith, to see when you came, but could not find it in our database! If you could help me out there, that would be much appreciated.
Alpine Recreation
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South Island ▷ Marlborough ▷ Picton / Marlborough Sounds ▷
Archers Track
4.5/5
Easy walking, mostly flat, through a pretty beech forest - very blue water visible through the trees.
The bay at halfway is a beautiful place to stop for a swim, although we recommend sneaking around the corner for a more sheltered experience - a nice place for togs-free swimming!