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Upstate/Eastern New York


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13 minutes ago, DeltaT13 said:

Yes it is, a small slice of the cost difference. A round of 4 beers at the bar was usually 60-70 dollars NZ. I did two weeks there in 2018 and hit all the big stops. Was a once in a lifetime trip and blew me away. Let me know if you have questions. 

I have so many questions. I'm planning to stop in auckland for 1 night do the sky tower bungee jump and some island off the coast 40 minute ferry. Then fly the next day to queenstown and set up shop there for awhile. Can I stay in Queenstown for the entire duration of the trip and just leave early with rental car? Or is there another town I should stay at a few days and get an Air bnb? What was your itinerary?

Maybe we can take it to DMS or if you have FB messenger?

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30 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

Just booked my flight to New Zealand, April 10-26! That country is expensive.

Congrats! Went a couple years ago during their winter. Really amazing place. I would recommend Mt. Cook National Park, Doubtful Sound cruise and Kayak, and a nice strenuous hike up Roys Peak!

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2 minutes ago, champy said:

Congrats! Went a couple years ago during their winter. Really amazing place. I would recommend Mt. Cook National Park, Doubtful Sound cruise and Kayak, and a nice strenuous hike up Roys Peak!

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Those pics....are incredible. I can't believe we have so many people that have traveled there. I've been researching for the last few months but it's tough to know what to hit. We will have about 12 days in the south island. Did you bring a drone?

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Made it back to Bville area.

It has surprised me this year how often there is much more snow here than in the city of Syracuse.

Talk about an Urban Heat Island.

Barely any snow there...as soon as we got by State Fair Blvd. on 690, the ground was covered. By the time we got here, there is still a solid 4 to 5 inch snowpack. Very, very waterlogged, but here!

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11 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

Champy you've been to so many places. I think every trip I've gone on you've been to already.

I got the travel bug early! Yeah, spent about 2 weeks on the south island. We rented a camper van and basically did a big loop. I did bring my Mavic Air drone, got some nice shots near Glenorchy where they filmed LOTR

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My entire album from NZ is here: 

South Island New Zealand - 2018

Check it out and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have!

 

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47 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

I can't believe how cheap the flights are to hawaii. From Buffalo to the islands its like $300-400. You couldn't even drive to Kansas for that cheap. I plan to go back and this time visit Kauai.

It's like $500-700 from YYZ. YYZ is absurdly expensive. A lot of people in Toronto drive down to Buffalo to fly out. 

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42 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

I have so many questions. I'm planning to stop in auckland for 1 night do the sky tower bungee jump and some island off the coast 40 minute ferry. Then fly the next day to queenstown and set up shop there for awhile. Can I stay in Queenstown for the entire duration of the trip and just leave early with rental car? Or is there another town I should stay at a few days and get an Air bnb? What was your itinerary?

Maybe we can take it to DMS or if you have FB messenger?

We can definitely take this DM or FB messenger.  I think we talked on there once before when we were going to meet up at Holiday Valley.  Anyway, a super express version of my trip

Day1 - Land in Auckland, hiked Mt Edna volcanic crater.  Ate meat pies, then drove to Piha Beach to swim in the Tasman Sea in giant waves!

Day2 - Drove to Waitomo Glow worm caves.  Rappelled into the caves blackwater rafted and spelunked a bit, saw a million glow worms.  Then drove to Lake Taupo that night and checked into our airbnb

Day3 - We were supposed to hike the Rongario Volcano but it was canceled because of bad weather.  This was actually a good thing as we needed a rest day.  We spent the day soaking in geothermal pools then did a night on the town and got pretty wrecked.

Day4 - Drove to Rotorua and toured the steam vents and National gardens, hopped a flight in the afternoon to Christchurch.  Once in christchurch, we checked into our hostel and went out to watch a big Rugby game that the whole country was watching

Day5 - Drove to Mt Cook and hiked the 6 mile (roundtrip) trail to the Glacier base where we drank single malt scotched cooled by glacier ice.  The views were INSANE, the hike was perfect.

Day6 - Drove to Lake Wanaka for the afternoon then continued down to Queenstown where we checked into our Air BNB and had a wild night on the town.  Queenstown has a great night life.

Day7- Drove to Milford sound and took a boat out to the Ocean and back.  The drive was insanely long for a one day round trip but the views were the most amazing places I've ever seen in my life.  This is the place they filmed Lord of Rings.  Amazing temperate rainforest with glacial topped mountains.  

Day8 - Bungee Jumped off the Kawarau bridge, then spent a day in town seeing the sites.  Queenstown is an awesome little city.  The remarkable mountains are fantastic.

Day9 - Flew back to Auckland and started the long trek home.. 

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6 minutes ago, Buffalo Bumble said:

All this talk to of New Zealand is so much more interesting than the current weather pattern. And you’ve got me thinking about planning a trip. Champy’s pics are incredible. 

Pretty much any direction you turn down there has a picture of a lifetime.  Its insane.  The scale of those mountains is had to imagine, but that little winding road will give you some reference.  

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41 minutes ago, champy said:

I got the travel bug early! Yeah, spent about 2 weeks on the south island. We rented a camper van and basically did a big loop. I did bring my Mavic Air drone, got some nice shots near Glenorchy where they filmed LOTR

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My entire album from NZ is here: 

South Island New Zealand - 2018

Check it out and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have!

 

These pictures are incredible. What camera did you use? I also have the Mavic Air and plan to bring it. I usually just bring my Iphone for pics.

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1 hour ago, BuffaloWeather said:

I can't believe how cheap the flights are to hawaii. From Buffalo to the islands its like $300-400. You couldn't even drive to Kansas for that cheap. I plan to go back and this time visit Kauai.

I'm flying back and forth to South Carolina for a Navy ceremony this week.  $430 R/T one person.  I flew to Amsterdam from JFK for $380 last September.  Horrid prices flying to smaller non hub domestic airports.  

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2 minutes ago, TugHillMatt said:

Is it snowing there right now" Looks like a good blob of precip. moving over your area. right now.

Nope, white rain. Far too warm at 34-35 degrees for anything to stick, even on grassy surfaces. Precip isn’t even coming down that hard, radar likely looks more impressive from the “bright banding” effect. This winter absolutely blows and so far this is easily 2nd worst right behind 11-12 in my lifetime. Honestly I’m ready for spring at this point which is sad being that it’s not even February but we can’t get a single thing to break our way this winter so it might as well be over and let us enjoy some nice weather because this 35-45 and rain stuff sucks big time.

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4 minutes ago, WesterlyWx said:

Nope, white rain. Far too warm at 34-35 degrees for anything to stick, even on grassy surfaces. Precip isn’t even coming down that hard, radar likely looks more impressive from the “bright banding” effect. This winter absolutely blows and so far this is easily 2nd worst right behind 11-12 in my lifetime. Honestly I’m ready for spring at this point which is sad being that it’s not even February but we can’t get a single thing to break our way this winter so it might as well be over and let us enjoy some nice weather because this 35-45 and rain stuff sucks big time.

Hey, I'm glad you got to vent. Won't hear any judgment from me. :)

It's been November for months. Just like last winter...and the winter before...

I'm sitting here at the end of January hoping for the temp just to drop near freezing so my extremely slushed snowpack will stop hurting.

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