After the shire, Danny and I blazed south in the white stallion that we dubbed “the mullet”. Mel who we met on the tour of the shire who is form Germany and living in Australia, introduced us to here friend Kevin. He’s from England and has been living in New Zealand for a while, but was getting ready to leave for a short trip to Indonesia and then to Australia. So he needed to sell his car and we needed one, win/win. So after seeing it and driving it and thinking about it, I bought it from him the day after him and Mel did the Tongariro Crossing with us. Not sure exactly what it is, but I usually go with carvan or just van - you can tell me what it’s called! It’s odd and quirky, but it’s also pretty darn ideal for the situation and it’s quite cozy in the back, plus it saves money when you don’t have to pay for a place to stay. Danny and I’s drive south was fast and furious like Vin Diesel, but it wasn’t without great stops along the way for great views and loads of hikes up some of the countless mountains here. We had already been to the Shire and fiery Mt. Doom. We had great coastal vistas from the top of Mt Manganui near Tauranga. Driving down the motorway, we saw a sign for a U.S. Marine Corps memorial, so of course, we had to stop and check it out. It was commemorating the Marines who were stationed there during WWII fighting in the Pacific! We stayed with some very nice folks along the way too. We spent a few nights at a place we found through AirBnB on the southwest edge of beautiful Lake Taupo with a couple, Tara and Nico. After taking the ferry from Wellington across Cook Straight to Picton, we had the pleasure of staying with Bruce and Jane; Danny’s good friend in the Marine Corps, Ryan, connected us with his Aunt and Uncle in Blenheim. We stayed in their amazing house on their vineyard in New Zealand wine country and we were treated to some wonderful food and wine from the area. While in Blenheim we did a long hike starting from the nearby coast that seemed to keep tracking up and up inland through the pines but had great views of the coast. Our ride further south took us over Arthur's Pass where we saw the would's only alpine parrot, the Kea. Then there was Mt. Roy in Wanaka with amazing views of the lake and the rustic mountains jutting up from it in every direction we turned. Along the way we made stops at several beautiful clear blue lakes and one night we tried to catch some dinner (no success). We made it to Queenstown where we met up with the only person I knew coming into the country. Megan welcomed us to the Aspen-like town and showed us around. We had time to do some cliff jumping into the pristine Lake Wakatipu and more hiking around the smaller near by Moke Lake. The next day, we attempted to throw Danny off the famous Kawarau Rivier bridge (attached to a rope of course), but the bungee jumps were backed up, so we grabbed some famous Ferg Burger instead before Danny had to catch his flight to fly back to reality. I’m sure he’ll be back to see the rest of New Zealand one day.