Hines Family Adventure

The blog has been neglected over the last two weeks because the Hines family made the long journey over here. The family got to experience quite a bit in two weeks seeing Rotorua, Queenstown, Milford Sound and the Glaciers in New Zealand, as well as Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia. Some of the sites we saw in New Zealand:

Great colours at Wai-o-tapu

Family loved the Maori performance at Te Puia

Heather loved the sun and scenic surroundings in Queenstown

Mystical surroundings at Milford Sound where the mountains and water meet



Moss takes over the forest in Fiordland National Park

Waterfalls are a constant part of the landscape in Fiordland National Park

Heather was proud of herself after completing a steep hike overlooking Haast Pass



From the glaciers and surrounding rainforest



That’s it for now. I will post more pictures from our trip to Australia later. Off tomorrow for more adventures with college friend Matt Reinaker. Dana, Matt and I will be starting our Milford Track hike later this week.

Tongariro Crossing

Hines 1 Mt. Doom 1. We evened up the score against Mt. Doom (the one in Lord of the Rings). Shortly after we arrived in New Zealand, we went snowboarding amidst the foggy, rainy weather and we left the mountain feeling defeated. This time around, we conquered these volcanos by completing the Tongariro Crossing. It’s known as the best one day hike in New Zealand. The hike took us up into the clouds that seem to always hang around the top of the volcanoes. At the peak elevation of 2,000 meters, we were completely encompassed by clouds. The landscape varied from the impressive stature of the volcanic cones and craters to mineral alpine lakes and lush forest.