New Zealand never left us
This post was originally made an hour before the devasting earthquake hit Christchurch. Our hearts go out to all the people of New Zealand 🙁
The new slogan for Tourism New Zealand is “New Zealand Never Leaves You“. For both Cathy and I, that is certainly a true statement. In 2008 we spent a month on the North Island touring in a little campervan, and on Day 7 got married on the beach at Cathedral Cove. There is so much of the world we want to see yet, but we absolutely fell in love with New Zealand and need to return in the not-too-distant future – perhaps for our 5th anniversary in 2013. I haven’t really given up the idea of moving there some day, at least half-time. I can’t imagine leaving the Yukon permanently and yet I feel the same about New Zealand as I did when I first came to the Yukon 26 years ago.
We often get asked what we would change the next time we visit. The answer is simple – see more of less. Our initial itinerary included both the North and South Islands, but when it became clear that that was far too ambitious, we cut out the South Island. While we saw most of the North Island, the next time we’ll focus on the regions that we truly connected with – Coromandel, the Bay of Islands and Northland, the furthest northeast and north of the North Island (see maps here).
With all the amazing places we saw, there’s one that appears regularly in my dreams. The Lonely Planet guidebook accurately describes Pakiri Beach as “a secret paradise with a beautiful 9km white-sand beach, sand dunes and surf”. While it wasn’t the best beach we visited – Maitai Bay gets that position on the list – Pakiri has that certain intangble something that just worked its magic on me in particular.
Have you been to a place that never left you? Where do your dreams take you?
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