It’s hard to believe another year in New Zealand has come and gone! 2015 was another awesome year filled with many new experiences, new friends and exciting challenges along the way. As we reflect on the year that passed we wanted to share with you some of our favourite moments from 2015!
Becoming a part of Team Super Tramp
2015 kicked off with a two-week roadtrip around New Zealand with YouTuber Devin Super Tramp and his crew Parker, Carter and Dakota from Team Super Tramp, Chris from Cinechopper and Louis from Fun for Louis!! It was a jam-packed two weeks filming 12 videos in 14 days taking us from sandboarding in Northland all the way to Milford Sound in Fiordland.
It was a dream come true to not only meet Devin and his team but to be able to be the local Producers of the videos, organizing all the logistics with operators and sponsors to make the trip happen! The exposure from that opportunity also helped us reach a new audience and increase our followers across our social media channels, bonus š
Learning the Ropes
In February we enrolled in the New Zealand Alpine Club‘s Summer Rock course that teachesĀ top rope climbing, abseiling, and starting to lead climb on rock. We were novice indoor gym climbers back in Canada, but hadn’t really climbed since we moved to New Zealand, and with the recent exposure to backcountry tramping and mountaineering, we were keen to learn some rope skills for future adventures.
During the course we had 6 nights at Fergs and three weekends outdoors –Ā bouldering at Baring Head in Wellington and two lead climbing weekends at Kinloch in Taupo and Froggat in Wharapapa South. Not only did we learn some really useful and fun skills, but we gained 10 AWESOME new friends who were just as keen to climb, tramp and hang out together š We have missed having a close group of friends as we hadn’t really made many strong connections since we arrived (as we’re usually off on our own every weekend!) so it was great to have a cool group of folks which also made it easier to keep it up with plenty of peer pressure to head to the gym or Pukerua Bay each week!
VenturingĀ outside New Zealand
In March we finally ventured over the ‘ditch’ to Australia, but decided to head to the more temperate (and more New Zealandish) area – Tasmania. We spent 10 days roadtriping across the small island, focusing on as much tramping as we could! We climbed the famous Cradle Mountain, kayaked Tasman Peninsula, walked the gorgeous beach at Wine Glass Bay, and explored the Walls of Jerusalem National Park.Ā Ā One of my favourite parts though was experiencing Tasmania’s unique wildlife, meeting the ‘feroious’ Tasmanian Devil, the curious Forrester Kangaroos and the lovable Wombats!
We met Jordan’s family in Indonesia in April for a whirl-wind week trip that took us from Mt Rinjani in Lombok, the temples and rice fields in Bali to the Ijen blue flame volcano in Java! It was our first time in Southeast Asia, and while it was significantly different than what we were used to in New Zealand, it opened us up to new experiences and was even more special to have Jordan’s family there with us.
MountaineeringĀ
In 2014, we had our first mountaineering experience late in the season, so this year we were keen to get up in theĀ mountains as soon as possible. The season kicked off in early June with one of our best weekends in New Zealand at Mueller Hut in Mt Cook National Park and spent severalĀ weekends up on Mt Ruapehu. We enrolled in two more weekend NZAC mountaineering courses that introduced us to building snow anchors and pitching up steep sections with ropes which helped us finally conquer our first Grade 2 climb on Girdlestone.
To further our mountaineering skills even more and get an introductionĀ toĀ glacier travel, we spent a week in November at Mt Cook National Park taking the NZAC’s High Alpine Skills Course. It was an incredible week learning glacier travel, crevasse extraction and tackling our toughest Grade 2 climb yet up Mt Walter (2,905m). Jordan and I feel really comfortable now with our skills and this course has opened up the Southern Alps (and hopefully Canada) for us to explore (we ended up spending 3 days up at Centennial Hut in Westland National Park over Christmas!)
Glowworms in Motion
One of the greatest surprises of 2015 was the success of our glowworm timelapse video. It started as a labour of love involving over 60 hours of sleeping in caves and ended up our most popular video yet (~85,000 views and counting) with Jordan even snagging the coveted New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year prize in October for the time-lapse category! So proud of him to receive such a huge recognition and it was very well deserved for the dedication, passion and creativity that he put into making that video.
Exploring more of New Zealand
There really is an endless list of things to do in New Zealand. In 2015 we were able to knock off a few more of those items with a number of trips around the North and South Island. The New Year kicked off in Northland, we made SEVEN trips to the South Island including two winter weekends in Queenstown where we finally got to try the Naseby Ice Luge and were a part of an Instameet in Kaikoura where we swam with dolphins! We finished off the year with an 18 day roadtrip where we literally circumnavigated the entire South Island (from Picton to Curio Bay Southland!) taking in some of our favourite hikes to date (more details to come in future blogs!)
Outlook for 2016
I’m really excited for 2016 and the opportunities it will bring! This will be a year of change and new opportunities for us (more to come on that) and I look forward to tackling it with my partner in crime!
What was your biggest highlight of 2015? What are you most excited about in 2016?
What an epic year, guys! You certainly got up to some awesome stuff. Tasmania looks amazing, would love to visit there sometime. Looking forward to reading about more of your future adventures! š
Wow….what fun adventures and experiences!!
Hope to see you in 2016!!
Xo
Big hugs,
Sylvia and Michael
Look forward to seeing you soon too!
Tres excited for you 2016 adventures. Hope they rival those of 2015. Wishing you both a very happy New Year!
Thanks Rajivi same to you!
What a fantastic year you guy’s have had. I have been following your journey’s on snap chat too! I had noticed that you’ve been gearing towards to mountaineering stuff.
We came over in September but been too poor to do anything until now. Here’s a few places that we found that aren’t on your travel map that I think are worthy of checking out!
(I haven’t been to the south island yet… š ) I think as you will tell … I really like jumping in the water!
– Nice swimming/river spot at GPS -41.116049, 175.049477 (Upper hutt on the river). Found this yesterday on the way back from Castle Point.
– Hot and Cold Spring next to Wai-O-Tapu -38.355825, 176.364200. Hidden hot spring that meets with a cold stream. Really awesome.
– Hamurana springs at the north side of the lake in Rotorua.
– Okere falls. This is an awesome spot where you can jump in from the bridge or the tree and then you get whisked downstream!
– Blue Lake. Really nice lake for swimming. (near Rotorua).
– Bullit Point on Lake Taupo. Awesome diving cliff (but not had chance to do it yet).
– Percy Falls. Waterfall with a 20 min walk near Petone (nice local spot!).
– Red Rocks. Go to Owhiro Bay and walk and you will see some red rocks and seals!
– Cape Palliser. See lots and lots of seals and walk up 252 steps to the lighthouse for a great view. Also free camping right next to the see in.
– Did you ever check Riversdale out – seems to be a surfing village which is cool.
Look forward to seeing what you bring this year. š
Me personally – I’m looking forward to buying a few wet suits and getting into the sea more. (Fancy going halfs on a jetski? ha.). And checking out the south island. Using your blog as a travel guide!
Thanks for sending over the suggestions Matt! Will add those to our ever growing list š
Jenna