New Zealand: Last Great Paradise

As the rain poured, and the mountains gushed from every crevasse, our tale was just beginning. It is said that rain on your wedding day is considered good luck, so maybe it's true for travel excursions as well. Typically, we view rain and clouds as the bane of a good day, but on this day the hills came to life.

Milford Sound, New Zealand and Fiordland National Park receives over 21 feet of rainfall every year. The moisture off the Tasman Sea collides with the high peaks of the Southern Alps. Low clouds and heavy mist collect to form majestic waterfalls that plummet hundreds of feet to the sound below or simply vanish off the cliff face, joining passing clouds as vapor.

Talk about your introductions! This trip had the makings of a great Hollywood classic, oh wait - Lord of the Rings. Much of the tale was filmed throughout New Zealand because of the dramatic landscapes and pristine collection of national parks.

The tour aboard the Clipper Odyssey was not to retrace the epic journey of Froto to Mordor, but to give folks a glimpse of a world unlike their own - a journey. Isn't that why we travel in the first place? As the story goes, New Zealand did not disappoint.

Over the next 13 days we sailed to various ports of call including Doubtful Sound, Dusky Sound, Stewart Island, Ulva Island, Dunedin, Christchurch, Marlboro Sound, Picton, Wellington, Bay of Plenty and Rotorua, Bay of Islands and Keri Keri, and Auckland. I could write about each of these wonderful stops individually, but that would spoil the adventure.

Each excursion was preceded by a lecture on history, international relations, climate change, or the local flavor of each respective location. Experts on the subject matter were from MIT, Emory, and the Regional Council of Otago. Needless-to-say, the quality of information presented was only rivaled by the dramatic natural wonders by which we were surrounded.

Just like any tale, it's the unknown or unexpected that sets the story apart. The same principal applies to my journey aboard the Clipper Odyssey. The most spectacular part of the trip was the return from Stewart Island in the zodiac. Behind the boat was a flock of birds, including the Royal Albatross (the largest, and rarest of the all albatross species), feeding as the sun was setting. It was unexpected and exciting.

Through traveling I have found that expecting the unexpected is how nature shows its unique form. Tourism is great, but planned events have a synthetic, artificial feel. Just as the albatross shows itself in the fading rays of daylight, so do people when left to explore. I can't say enough about the crew and fellow passengers aboard the ship. They provided a unique element of education, experience, tales of lives lived, and hospitality. Cheers!