Homeward Bound

We are off the big bird from New Zealand to LAX. Luke slept maybe an hour and I think I got about ten minutes of sleep! So frustrating! I'm so overly tired but excited to get home especially now that we are just in CA and not in NZ anymore. The beginning of our long flight out of Auckland started off on the wrong foot. Our individual movie screens were the only two on the 747 that didn't work properly. I was okay with that but Luke was beyond mad. In the middle of the night when he was sleeping, of course I got it to work at that point. I was able to watch "This Is It" the Michael Jackson tribute and also Juno. I didn't think I'd like the tribute but it was actually really good.
We should be home by 9pm and we can't wait to see everyone and we miss Rocky a ton. I know Jo and Jer have been beyond good to him and I bet he won't want to leave them and his new dog friend Toby. JoAnna let him snuggle with her in bed overnight...I'm not quite the dog snuggler. He's gonna have withdrawal problems from all the good table food, snuggling, and Toby.
Thursday morning I'm back to work. Right now my body aches and I can't imagine working 12 hours but I'm gonna try my best! We shall see.
That's it for now...just watching my husband catch some zzzz's and wishing I could sleep in an airport. Booo. Guess I'll just have to people watch, shop, and maybe grab a brewske.
We love New Zealand!!! If anybody is looking for a unique vacation spot...try it out, we promise you'll love it!

Our Final Day in Auckland

So we have ended our trip here in Auckland. We had flown into the port here but haven't seen the city until now. I like it more than I expected, it is a large city but is more enjoyable with more shops, gardens, cafe's compared to Wellington.
We hung out at Starbucks a couple hours lastnight so Luke could update some work files while I finished my fourth book since beginning our travels. I vowed back in college that once I graduated I'd never read another book because I had so much reading then. Well, I think I've stuck to mainly magazines until now...my vow lasted 5.5 years!
Today we are going to one of the gardens and enjoy some time outside in 20 degrees Celsius before we get to MN and get 20 degrees Fahrenheit. We also have the huge feat to organize all of our luggage and try to minimize our carry on bags due to all the heightened security. We are expecting long lines and waiting at the airport and a pat-down or two. Looking forward to seeing family and friends and Rocky!! See you all real soon.

Horsin Around With Squid n Kiss

While in Tauranga, we are staying at the Sebel Trinity Wharf and it is built on a harbour over the ocean. It's gorgeous with a really nice view over the waters. We even get free breakfast here which is really handy and not too common for hotels to do without charging an arm and a leg. Our day started off with a late breakfast and then we hit the streets to do some souvenir searching. We found some fun stuff. I think all we have left to do is pick up some wine to bring home. We had to check the airport traveling rules first before we wasted our time and money. Before we knew it, it was 3pm and we were on our way to Mateku to go horseback riding along the ocean.

Luke has never been horseback riding (although he probably has when he was little at a fair of some sort). I've been on some of our neighbors horses and have also ridden on previous vacations but it had been awhile. My horse was Kiss and Luke's horse was Squid. We went out with a couple guides and road across some farmland and then went down to the ocean to ride oceanside. It was a ton of fun. Luke's horse got kicked by another horse because Squid thought he could lead the group of horses but he was too new of a horse to the group to be leading. Another horse let him know it, so he had to stay away from the aggressive horse the rest of the ride. I was really hoping we would be able to horseback ride while in NZ and I'm stoked we got it in.
Looks like we may hit the beach for a real little bit tomorrow and then we are off to Auckland which is where we will end up flying out of. It was over 80 degrees today-it's going to be a little bit of an adjustment for us coming home to all the snow in MN that we keep hearing about!!

Beach Bummin

Yesterday we headed over the bridge to Mount Maunganui to spend some time at the beach. It was about 80 degrees and sunny. Whatever temp it has been here we have always felt like it is a bit hotter than what it's measured at. We had to "google" why that would be and it's not because we are closer to the sun by the equator but because the sun is more direct in comparison to the poles. This explains why I'm pretty burnt. Luke was good about covering every square inch of his body with the sunscreen...me, not so much. It was pretty evident when we came inside that I rubbed it on my feet (so i look like im wearing socks even when im not), I put a dot on the back of my leg on a freckle, and my upper body n face. Well, it's hard to sit down today. The spot between the ass and back of the thighs-red as a lobster. That should feel wonderful when we go horse-back riding later today! We saw some people who rented the one-seated kayaks so we were thinkin about doing that today or tomorrow if we head back down there.

For dinner, Luke made reservations and didn't tell me where we were going. He said we'd be walking so I assumed it was the hotel restaurant. Nope! It was the Naked Grape, a place I pointed out that looked cool when we drove by. We've been in  the habit of getting "breads and spreads" before a lot of our meals. So darn good but we should probably stop that once we get home. We like to carbo-load before our busy marathon days here! The daytime was really busy with people on the stretch down by the water in both Tauranga and Maunganui but once it hit around 6pm, it was a lot more quiet. They call December 26 "boxing day" and I think some businesses stay closed. We aren't sure what that means.

Today, we are just relaxing and haven't decided what we feel like doing. We'll definitely have to get some shopping in and then later on we are going to ride horses in Maketu, a short drive from here.
I think this will be a good length for us to be here. I know there are other things we would be interested in doing and I know once we leave we'll want to be back here. But, we miss Rocky, we miss our bed, I miss my clothes closet, I miss family and friends, and we've spent a lot of money on what we want to do when we want to do it. So, soon enough it will be back to working hard so we can keep playing hard. Life is good!

Our First Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. in Tauranga, New Zealand

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends! It's been pretty crazy having 80 degree weather and sand between our toes on Christmas. However, there are still plenty of Christmas trees, santa hats, and "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" even plays overhead in our hotels. What better way to spend our first Christmas as Mr and Mrs Thunberg than in the amazing country of New Zealand?!

Our morning started off by heading to the world famous Polynesian Spa in Rotorua. We donned our swimsuits and soaked for 45 minutes in four different outdoor mineral pools overlooking Lake Rotorua. Beautiful. Since we were in Rotorua, we thought we should have a spa treatment that we aren't able to get in Minneapolis. We both had a Rotorua Mud Wrap and massage. Due to how thin the earth's crust  is there are numerous mud pools in this city and both their geothermal springs and the mud are shown to have positive effects on the body. They smeared mud all over the entire body and wrapped us up for a good 20 minutes. We then got to shower and end with a massage. It was so nice!! They even gave us these huge green fluffy robes to wear around....very comfortable but still not sure how I felt about my husband in it. He thinks I'm weird but a man just shouldn't wear a fluffy green robe.....let's try black.
We had a short drive of about an hour and spent the afternoon and night in Tauranga, a definite beach city. Tauranga is next to Mount Maunganui which is built on a narrow peninsula and we plan on heading up the mountain, or part of it, tomorrow. The trek is supposed to be something "not to be missed" so it should be fun. We went down and hung out on the beach this evening for awhile and the beach is unbelievable and stretches far beyond what the eye can see. It's a busy town for all the Kiwi's on their holiday so it's nice that they have so much manicured beach space. Lots of fun pubs and cafes, awesome shops, tons of adventerous activities outside, and the beach plus 80 degree weather = my type of trip! Just when I love one city, I come upon the next and love that city just as much. I'm pretty sure I could see us retiring here...like at age 30. Better go buy ourselves a lottery scratch-off ticket.
Despite the awesome time we've been having we do miss our family, friends, and Rocky. We are thinking of you all during Christmas-time and wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Safe travels on the roads and stay warm!!!
p.s. a couple of you guys have mentioned that the site doesn't let you comment. it is just cuz you don't have a google account. don't worry about it....just glad i have friends who care to read my chatter:) love you guys.

Christmas In A Cave

The last 24 hours have been nothing short of amazing. Lastnight we went to a Maori Culture show. There are a handful available but we were recommended to attend the Mitai Show. They picked us up and shuttled us to the site and there were people from 21 different countries in attendance. The leader was able to speak in all but one of the languages-quite impressive.

A tribal dance, song, cooking of our food in the ground, and meal were all part of the night. The explained the significance of all of their tattooing on their bodies and how their culture differs today compared to their ancestors. It was a really entertaining show and gave a great insight to their culture. We had to laugh because we were sitting at a table with a Swedish couple who joked around that Americans always volunteer in shows like this. Well, in the next half hour they proved themselves right...one Iowan and two Californians volunteered to be their tribes Chief. They took a guy in his 50's named Long Shadow. He was from the Apache region in CA and it was cool to hear him speak his language to the Maori tribesmen.

Today we had our Haggas Honking Holes Cave adventure. Haggas is the last name of the guy who spotted the cave and laid claim to it. Honking Holes is from him reading a Dr Seuss book to his kids. So, Haggas Honking Holes it was called. We got up really early and had about a two hour drive to Waitomo Caves. I was pretty nervous as it said that this was the adventure out of their five options that you needed to be the most fit for. Oh Great!! Rambo grade 8/10. Once i met the other people - 7 others besides Luke and I - I wan't as nervous. I was always athletic but the key word for me was "was". We donned our wetsuits, hardhats with lights and off to abseil and crawl on our bellies in the mud. It was a four hour adventure and was incredible. We abseiled/repelled down one dry rock wall that was quite long and then two that had waterfalls going down them. I was the first to go on the last waterfall one and the guide turned off his light on me and screamed and i didn't realize i was already sitting at the bottom and i kept screaming. I was just sitting under a waterfall in the dark screaming but I thought i was still moving. Hilarious. Luke was pretty lucky that they asked him to assist quite a bit. He helped people with safety harnesses and would often go either first or last so he could help. At one point though, I waited for a good five minutes and finally said "where did you leave my husband!?" There was one guide and 8 of us sitting there and no Luke and no second guide. Everyone was then wondering also where the heck he was. Well, later i find out that since he helped out so much the second guide told him not to tell anyone but he'd let him rock climb up a certain wall that we weren't really supposed to. Besides a nasty rope burn on my hand from holding on the first time for my dear life, we both came out having a ton of un and it was an experience like no other. We didn't purchase the pics they took but I am sorta regretting that as we couldn't have our own cameras. We may be able to go on their website and purchase them though. What a blast. I'd highly recommend this trip hands down. Merry Christmas to our Friends and Family. We'll see you all soon.

Rotorua-The City Of The Perpetual Fart

We made it to Rotorua yesterday after some time in the car. On our way we broke up our drive stopping at some small towns to browse around and also at Lake Taupo, a beautiful lake that is a resort town. There were lots of families there now that all the kids are off of school.
Last night we settled in to a really pretty hotel called "Princes Gate Hotel". It's has a victorian look to it and is decorated really nice for the holidays. We went to an Irish Pub lastnight and caroused around town.
This morning we were off to go Zorbing. Luke and I both crawled into a gigantic rubber ball which was filled with water and were sent rolling down a large hill. What a blast!! It's the only place that the Zorb is available so we had to do it!

Rotorua is also known for it's thermal activity, healing mineral waters, and surrounding lakes, rivers and springs. We went to Wai-o-taupo Park after Zorbing and saw amazing craters, mud pools, geysers, etc. It was quite a large area filled with disturbances in the earth's crust and it was pretty impressive to see all the things that we all learn back in 4th grade science class in regards to the earth and what it is made of. The earth's surface is very, very thin in this region so all of these have developed over many, many years. The sulfur that comes through makes the whole town smell like sulfur/rotten egg. It's all part of the experience. I smelled it rolling over in my sleep at night even!! How unique of a city. It's rather annoying to hear people/tourists say "ugh, it wreaks"---ummm, i'm pretty sure you decided to come here to rotorua and heard that it smells like that for a reason.

Marlborough Wines and the Ferry to Wellington

Today we left the South Island from Picton and rode a huge ferry to Wellington in the North Island. Before we checked our luggage on the boat we saw a ton of wineries all in one area and thought we'd hit those up. That area (the north section of the South Island) is considered the "Marlborough Region" and is known to grow the best grapes for wine. We had to make sure that was true so we tested some and bought a bottle. We remain fans of white wines over the reds. They gave us a list of the ones we tried that are sold in the States so we can buy some when we get home rather than shipping.

We returned our rental car because we picked up a fresh one once we reached the North Island. Many people just drive their cars onto the ferry and take the vehicle with them.Checking into the ferry terminal was very easy and quick. The boat ride was about 3 hours and very spacious which was better than I expected. It was a pretty bumpy ride in parts and a poor little boy next to me had to get sick all over himself. Poor kiddo. If I could do it all over again I would hire a cabin for $40/person and sleep the whole time. We thought of it an hour into the ride and then didn't bother.
We got to our hotel in Wellington late afternoon and we were starving. We are staying at the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor just for one night. We went down to the hotel restaurant and both got the buffet and pretty much stuffed ourselves until we could hardly move. So much good grub and such hungry bellies. We were down on the street level of our hotel and there are a lot of shops but it is definitely the hustle and bustle of the city. People walking fast, waiting to get on and off buses, and if you stop to browse at anything you may get run over. There are some different things we could go see within a real short walk but neither of us are feeling the gumption or need to see much of the city. It's very artsy fartsy here and there are lots of galleries, sculptures, museums, etc. Not up my alley whatsoever. We may do a bit of shopping and just walk around city center but then we plan on heading out of Wellington tomorrow morning. It just seems a lot different from most of the other areas we have been to in New Zealand so we are happy it's just a one-nighter. We are going to try to visit a farm tomorrow of a friend of Mark, my hairstylist guy. Her name is Hazel and she lived in the U.S. up until 20 years ago and she was a professor. She visited New Zealand and loved it and decided to stay that many years ago. So, if that works out that would be neat. We are really looking forward to our journey to Rotorua and the fun that's in store for us there. Cheers!

Our Last Day On The South Island

Today we spent saying goodbye to the South Island of New Zealand. In the morning we will be getting up and heading to Picton which is where we will drop off our car and hop on the ferry for a three hour ferry ride to the North Island. We didn't have any huge plans for today but Garrith, our kayak guide from yesterday, suggested checking out the Golden Bay area which was just a little further north. We went to Takaka which wasn't too far away but took some time to get to due to all the hairpin turns on the roads. We did some shopping, got ourselves a souvenir, and had lunch and then kept driving north. We went up to Pupu Springs which is the clearest freshwater springs with the exception of one other in Antarctica. It was rather impressive how clear it really was.

As we kept driving to see what we could find we saw a sign for a beach. Being sunburned from two days ago and still a bit soar, we lathered on our SPF 30 real thick and went out for about an hour. It was a fun day of doing whatever we came upon. When we arrived back to the Lodge where we are staying, Luke went down to the General Store and bought us some wine to have with dinner for our 6 month anniversary today! We made our own dinner in the kitchen here and toasted to a wonderful 6 months of marriage and many, many, many more:) Planning on heading to the pub in town for our lastnight here. Monteith's, Tui's, Speights anyone?! Goodbye South Island...We LOVE LOVE LOVE you.

Abel Tasman National Park-Marahau

Yesterday we decided to take a hike throught the National Park to Apple Tree Bay. It took us a little over  an hour and we found a secluded spot on the beach. The beach stretches for miles here and it was so nice -that it wasn't crowded. It got to be about 77-80 degrees and we spent a few hours at the beach and then decided we better pack up and go so we didn't get a sunburn. Well, we both got pretty sunburned on our legs so it's a bit uncomfortable today!
Today we got up and met at Kaiteriteri at  for our kayaking excursion. This was one adventure I was in charge of booking about 6 weeks ago. When we got up to the "Wilson's Kayak" booth they didn't have any such booking number but were kind enough to check with their neighbor booth and they had the booking number--except we were supposed to be back at Marahau station and not in Kaiteriteri! So, the kayak booth we were supposed to be at was literally right next door to the Lodge in Marahau we are staying at! For luck we took the water taxi and caught up with our group at Tonga Island. Our guide's name was Garrith and it was pretty ironic but he lived in MN for a few months about a year ago. It was pretty neat to be able to talk about common things from home with our tour guide! We also originally thought our tour was a half day but then realized we were signed up for the full-day tour. We kayaked for a couple hours, had lunch with the group, and then hiked a different area of the Park. We had a nice and small group with just two other couples-one from Holland and one from England. We had quite a full day and had dinner at one of the two cafe's here in town called the Park Cafe. We may head back later to check out if they have music playing being it's Saturday night here.

Tomorrow we are considering going to Golden Bay which would be about an hour's drive. It's supposed to be another nice day as far as the weather goes. So far we've loved Queenstown and Marahau the best. It's been such a great time!

Random thoughts....

I thought I'd write about just some random thoughts/observations that we've noticed in the time we've been here so far....
    *The toilets DO NOT flush the other direction!  I was disappointed in finding this out, but it seems that all toilets just have a huge blast of water and flush pretty much straight down.
    *Everyone here is very very polite.  New Zealanders ( "Kiwis" ) are all laid back and very friendly.
    *The roads are incredibly windy here due to having to pass through a lot of mountains.  It feels a lot like driving on a go-cart track....and going 50-60mph.....with the steering wheel on the right side of the car.....driving on the other side of the road.....and sometimes even having to drive through sheep and their shepherd coming down the road!  It's quite fun, but also a lot of work and concentration.
    *There does not seem to be any squirrels or gophers or other rodent type animals here.  Awesome!
    *It's very beautiful here.  You find yourself saying "That's very pretty" at least once a day.
    *Prices (after taking into consideration the good conversion rate) seem to be pretty much equal to prices back home.  Except for gas which seems ridiculously expensive.
    *There are sheep everywhere!
    *There are a number of one way bridges on the highways-which are pretty scary until you get used to using them
    *"No worries" and "cheers" are very common phrases here.  They take the place of "Not a problem" and "thanks"
    *Like the States, they call soccer soccer, not football like the rest of the world.  However they are now changing this and going to officially call it football.
    *The food here is quite good.  Rach and I have been very lucky in that everything we have eaten has been delish.  I think a lot of it has to do with it being fresh food and organic.  They are very green here and everything is very fresh. 
    *This is definitely the place that offers the perfect combination of adventure and relaxation!

That's all I've got for now.  Maybe I'll post some more random observations again later on.  Cheers!

Marahau Beach and Kayaking

We arrived to Marahau around 5pm lastnight. When we pulled in, we saw a bunch of sailboats on sand and the water receded by an enormous amount. Our initial thoughts were, "oh real nice, we will have to walk a mile to get to sandy beach cuz this place has had a drought!" We then checked in and were told that the high-tide and low-tide times in this area are some of the most extreme. We just happened to show up right at the peak low-tide time. So, today we are going to head out to the beaches and hike or water taxi into the National Park.

This is a small town with three main restaurants/pubs and it's easy to tell all the locals know one another. The husband/wife owners of the Lodge we are staying at are so helpful and friendly and we feel really grateful that Sandy our travel agent helped find us such great accomodations. It's supposed to be a sunshiny and clear day so we are pretty excited. Tomorrow we have a kayaking excursion planned as well. We are here for four nights and it should be a lot of fun.
P.S. We miss our dog Rocky. And our Family/Friends too!!

Hanmer Springs

We set off yesterday with our destination being Marahau/Abel Tasman National Park area on the north coast of the south island. We decided to spend part of our day in Hanmer Springs which was on our way. We spent some time relaxing at their geothermal springs resort. This place had about ten different types of stone springs with different types of waters. Beautiful and relaxing to say the least! We had a good lunch in Hanmer Springs and then hit the road to head to Marahau. Pictures to be posted later.

Akaroa

Today we headed out to a coastal town called Akaroa which was about an hour outside of Christchurch. The drives are all very enjoyable, never knowing what will be around the next corner. About half-way into our drive we had to come to a stop on the road we were on and then had to proceed about 5mph as we spotted some sheep on the road. As we turned a curve they just kept coming and coming as a farmer with his two sheepdogs was herding at least 200 of his sheep and they were all over the road. Everything is very laid back in this country and it was no big deal that all these sheep were all over the road. Pretty cool to see. And the farmer had a great big smile on his face and it was evident how much he loved his way of life.

We did some shopping around Akaroa and had a good lunch and then got ready for our "Swimming with the Dolphins" excursion. Ten of us all donned wet suits, were given snorkels and goggles, and we loaded the boat. The Hector Dolphins also known as NZ Dolphins and they are the smallest and rarest dolphin. We had two great guides taking us out on the boat and we all spotted a number of dolphins in their pods or groups. We didn't have has much luck with them as some days that they go out but our guide said by their behavior there were likely Killer Whales in the area. Oh great! Although the weather was beautiful and sunny and we had wet suits, it started getting chilly and they brought along hot chocolates for us. We were out on the ocean for two hours and had a great time. Akaroa was a super cute little town with a ton of charm. Arriving back at Christchurch after 6pm we headed out to find a place for dinner. We then spent some time in the hotel hot tub and sauna which was nice and relaxing. Tomorrow we are heading north again. Still lovin this place and still having a great time!!

Christchurch, NZ

So it's been over a week since we have been in NZ and maybe we are finally getting on a more normal sleep schedule. We actually slept later than 0630 today which was nice for a change. It had been in the mid-50's this morning and a little breezy but quickly warmed up to the mid-60's and it has been a pretty comfortable day weather-wise here.

Christchurch is known as "The Garden City" for it's parks and gardens. We went up to Hagley Park today and walked around a rather large park area with the Avon River running through it. It's a short walk from City Center where we are staying and is very peaceful. There are gondola's going up and down the river and a huge rose garden that we were able to walk around. The Christchurch Hospital is also on the edge of the Garden's with a Nurse's Memorial

Chapel on site which of course I had to go and check out. I think I need to show my manager the photos and see if she can slip that into St Paul Childrens Hospital's building plans. What a great place to escape for a bit when a rough day on the job is getting you down.

It has been so nice outside that we took our camera and the books we've been reading and went and laid down by the river for awhile. We are thinkin we will grab dinner now and maybe catch a gondola ride down the river. Christchurch is definitely very "city" and I am super excited for tomorrow when we will go out to Akaroa which is an hour drive from here. It's a little town on the coast and we have some fun plans for tomorrow. There are definitely some cool aspects to this city but we both favor the quaint smaller towns and the character that comes with them.

On The Road Again.....Lake Tekapo and Onward to Christchurch

Last night was our last night at Mount Cook, we decided to drive a bit out of the mountains to a nearby lake. We drove until we saw sun and went and sat down by the water.

This morning we loaded up our car and hit the road, destination being Christchurch. On the way to Christchurch is a town called Lake Tekapo. It was a good place to take a driving break and walk around the lake area. The lakes here are amazingly blue/green and are absolutely gorgeous. They also have a wildflower called Lupins that are purple and pink and are seen everywhere. On the shore of Lake Tekapo is a cute old stone church that would fit about 30 people in it. The window at the front of this tiny church looks right out to the lake...so pretty. On our drive, we also saw a million sheep and got a pretty close peep at a tiny lil lamb-how adorable is he?

We arrived in Christchurch early afternoon and checked into The Heritage...our hotel. It is right in Cathedral Square and is a gorgeous hotel. Right across from us is the Christchurch Cathedral and we are thinking about going over for a church service in the next couple days. The cathedral, along with many areas of the city, are decorated for Christmas so even without snow, it's getting us a little more in the spirit. We bought a Christmas tree ornament today that says NewZealand on it so we can remember it for being our first married Christmas in NZ.
We walked about the city checking it out on foot this eve. It's different from the other places we've been in that it has much more of a city-feel to it with an English vibe. We saw a giant, life-size game of chess going on in the town square which was neat to see, and then also did some shopping. I can't stop looking at baby stuff. NO, not for us but for  my Sis n Eric's Baby Iverson. I wish I knew the gender cuz it would make life easier for me (although i dreamt it was a girl.) Actually, maybe it's good we don't know what it is, else I would have spent way too much money on him/her already. Can't wait to meet the babe! Another thing in life to be thankful for.....

Mount Cook

We left Queenstown and had about a 4-hour scenic drive to Mount Cook. Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in NZ and it is where Sir Edmund Hillary trained for his climb of Mt Everest. 
The weather in Mount Cook can vary greatly due to the mountains. When we arrived yesterday it was drizzly on one side and sunny and warm on the other side.
We've been told that it is a pretty rainy area so I guess it wasn't a huge surprise when we awoke to showers. We figured we'd buy some ponchos from the gift store and head out to check out Hooker's Valley and Lake. We still are unsure of where it got it's name. I can guarantee no hooker would be getting rich out here as it's basically one little village in the mountains. We went on this hike and had a great time. We got soaked, crossed two large swing bridges over the rushing river waters, and enjoyed some hot coffees on our return. The rest of the few people we saw on our trek had rain gear on and we probably looked pretty crazy in our jeans, sweatshirts, ponchos, and tennis shoes. Once we were wet we figured it didn't matter so we went on our way and had some great views and a lot of fun. In the Mount Cook area, 40% of the land is covered by glaciers. With those and the mountains it makes for some pretty scenery. Another good day with my hubby! Heading to Christchurch and Akaroa region tomorrow morning. This region is on the eastern border of the south island and we plan on a 4.5 hour drive. Now that I've taken the wheel, we'll probably get there a little faster;)  (This is Luke now, HELP! she's a speed demon!)

3, 2, 1--BUNGY!!!!

Today was awesome. It's our last full day in Queenstown and we could not leave without doing the bungy jumping off of the Kawarau Bridge. This bridge was where the first bungy jump took place by A.J Hackett in 1988. We had planned on doing a tandem bungy jump but due to the higher water level of the river below us, it wasn't safe to do.
Earlier this morning, we had signed up to do our jumps at 3pm. We drove to Arrowtown (a town just outside of Queenstown) to have lunch and check out this little town that is famous for the Gold Rush in 1862. Arrowtown is a 5 minute drive from the bridge so we hung around town and went for a walk down by the river and then headed over to the bungy area two hours early to just watch some jumps. Luke was so excited and didn't seem to ever really get nervous. As for me, I could feel my heart pounding, palms sweating, and butterflies in my stomach for the next two hours. I decided I couldn't handle just sitting and watching this since i was so dang nervous. So, we saw a little winery just down the road and decided to go do a wine tasting. And besides tasting some delicious wines, why not take the edge off of the anxiety a little bit?
While at the winery, we met a great couple who were in town from Michigan. They were an older couple and had been traveling for 10 weeks thru Australia and NZ. They even came over to watch us do our bungy jumping and they both cheered for us and video taped us.
So we got weighed in-had a ticket with our weight on and they wrote our weight on our hand in red marker (real nice). This is how they adjust their rope for each person.
I was first and I remembered that the first time i bungy jumped in WI I was a little scaredy cat and stood for 5 min before i went. My goal was to not do that. So the nice guy gave me a good pep talk and he counted down and off the bridge i went. Then I was able to watch Luke and he did an awesome swan dive off the bridge and they dunked him in the river up to his belly button!! We could hear on the video the guy say "that'll give him a good lil shock." It was an absolute blast and we are soooo glad we did it. And, we survived to talk about it. We will download pictures of our jumps later from the companies website. 43 meter jump...

We just got back from going out for dinner at a pub down the street. This time we had to try Tui's beer, the second beer recommended by one of my friend's. Had some good grub and now we are gonna plot out our journey to Mt Cook which we will be heading to tomorrow morning after we get up. It should be about a 3-4 hour drive for us.

Oh Let the Sun Shine In!

  After a couple cloudy, drizzly days, today was much better!  Blue skies, sun shining, and just the slightest breeze.  And I think the temp was about 75 degrees.  So....pretty much the same weather as it sounds like everyone is having back home!  Ha! 

  The Mrs. and I got up this morning and got ready for our Mildford Sound tour.  We were supposed to go yesterday, but it was rescheduled do to the weather.  This actually worked out in our favor as today was perfect.  The tour consisted of a 40 minute flight through the mountains out to Milford Sound, where we then hopped on board a ship and took a one hour forty minute cruise out to the Tasman Sea and back.  Then another 40 minute flight home. 

Now, it wasn't just any flight.  This was on a teeny weeny 9 seat dual-propelled little plane!  Neither of us have ever been on anything close to this small of a plane, but luckily the ride was fairly smooth.  The views during the two flights were AMAZING!  Green forests, winding rivers, crystal clear lakes, and snow capped mountains.  It was awesome.  We took tons of pictures so hopefully some of them turned out all right.  The cruise was nice too, but it was quite crowded with anxious tourists.  We did get to see a lot of beautiful waterfalls that were coming down the mountain side right into the fjord.  Also, the boat pulled up right next to a little seal colony.  They were laying out on the rocks soaking up the sun!  All in all, this was a very worthwhile tour and it's so cool we got to do this. 

  After we got back to Queenstown, we putzed around town a bit then decided to go for a hike.  We decided to head a direction we hadn't been yet and that took us to Queenstown Hill.  The hill is more like a small mountain and it was considered to be sacred by the original tribes in this area.  There's a nice walking path that takes about 1.5 hours round trip.  Again, absolutley gorgeous views of the city and surrounding area.  There was also a huge pine tree with such massive, evenly spaced out pine cones that the branches looked like big octupus arms!  Oh, and Mom (Cathy), we got a picture just for you....as we walked around a corner going up the hill, there was a few "Rock Stacks".  On the way back down I decided to make my own little stack.  Our own piece of art will forever be in Queenstown....or until some punk kid knocks it over! 

  In the early evening we went and sat down by the lake, as did a lot of people.  I walked around in the water for a bit, but man was it cold.  No way were we going to go swimming in there!  It's too bad too because I don't think there's a cleaner lake around.  The jet boat driver yesterday told us that they say the water is 97% pure and 3% fish.  Found some pretty cool rocks in the water too.  They seem to have specks of gold in them.....and since this town was started by a big gold rush, who knows right?  I'm thinking we should pack as many as we can to bring home and see if we strike it rich.

  Well, now we are just chillin' in the hotel room and winding down.  It stays light here till about 10 o'clock.

 

Shotover Jet Boating

As mentioned in our earlier post, it has been raining and drizzling throughout the day. Rain sure brings a lot of the activities in Queenstown to a halt...the streets have been much quieter today. The parasailing and shotover jet were still up and running today.We decided to do the Shotover this afternoon as we figured we were already wet from the drizzle so why not give it a try.
The Shotover boat has an engine that doesn't hang in the water like a normal boat but operates by pulling air into a small hole in the floor of the boat and shooting it out. This allows it to be able to operate in only a foot of water if need be. We went on an hour long boat ride on Lake Wakatipu and both Kawarau and Shotover Rivers with our driver getting inches from cliffs and trees and whipping a bunch of shitties. It was a ton of fun and we also got to see more of Queenstown's beautiful landscapes. Between water flying in at us from the ride and the rain, we ended up pretty wet despite the parka they gave everyone to wear. After our adrenalin fix we were able to go into a fish-viewing area under the waters of the lake and see the fish up close.

Rain, Rain Go Away

It's late morning here and it's a rainy day in Queenstown. We had a trip to Milford Sound planned today but it is cancelled because they aren't flying any planes today. The trip entailed us flying on a little 9-seater heli and going out to the fjords and cruising up to the Tasman Sea on a large vessel. The forecast for tomorrow we hear doesn't include rain so we are going tomorrow now at 10am. We have 3.5 more days here so we should be okay as  far as getting this into our schedule.
Yesterday was a day of shopping. I expected the style to be very hiker-like in NZ but Queenstown is a more trendy city and the shopping is really good. Prices are very comparable to our prices at home and with a good exchange rate, that makes it even better. We found a store called "Just Jeans"--it was calling my name.
Last night we had a dinner reservation at a restaurant called Gantley's-named after the original guy who built the place in the 1860's during the gold-rush. They sent a taxi to pick us up thank goodness. That was a good thing because the the roads are so confusing...it'd be down to one lane and traffic going one direction would just pull over and let the traffic from the other direction go through. Definetely not something you'd know unless you lived here or have been visiting for awhile. Gantley's was the best food either of us have ever eaten in our lives. It was spendy but we are contemplating going back on Friday. I had a rack of lamb and Luke had Angus beef. Sorry to Dad but it was better than Gongoll Beef. Well, Im sure it was the way it was cooked and all the sauces/spices used:) If they woulda had a "super-size me" option we woulda been all over that.

Well, we are off to grab lunch and try Tui's beer and Speight's beer suggested by two of my friend's who lived here for awhile back in college. We may also try the Shotover Jet Boat ride this afternoon.