New Zealand...You Just Can't Stop Yourself from Stopping!

Ready or not, here we come!

 New Zealand...was months ago! I have been home for over three months and being home has felt good.  Don't get me wrong, there are definitely days I find myself feeling a bit of wanderlust and wish I were packing my bags for another destination, especially when I see posts from friends who are traveling the world...lucky friends.  These dreams are usually cut short by a calendar ding reminding me of an upcoming appointment... for the doctor, the dentist, something I signed up for or if it is a good day, a tee time...you know, real life.  The golf game has improved with regular play days, the body, teeth and obligations are all being tended to and life keeps marching on.  We have visited 3 of our 4 kids and will be visiting the fourth in May, so we really haven't been "home" the whole time.  All this to say, New Zealand has floated through my consciousness many, many times since I last posted.  It has become a thing "I need to do" dangling in front of me nagging me to get it done.  Not completely sure why I have been so hesitant to write this final chapter of the epic, now "months ago" trip, but I have an idea.

 I never thought I would get here (this post or to NZ) in so many ways.  New Zealand seemed so far away and committing to an over 14-hour flight to get somewhere seemed daunting not to mention expensive!  With the time and money needed to get there I felt like we would have to commit to a month long stay in order to justify the trip.  Adding it onto our trip to Japan just made sense.  We are all about taking advantage and doing things while we are able!  So glad we did!  Still, I feel like unless you are coming from Australia, New Zealand is very remote!  In hindsight, or maybe looking forward, we might as well have committed to the 14-hour flight from the states because the trip from Tokyo was a lot longer.  But then we wouldn't have gone to Singapore or taken that circuitous route to Auckland! At least there were fewer time zones involved!  

New Zealand was the icing on the cake of that epic trip!  It was literally a beautiful breath of fresh air!  After two and a half weeks in densely populated areas, landing in Auckland felt so familiar.  Maybe it was being surrounded by people speaking English, but maybe it was the Colonial influence.  As we traveled, I kept finding myself relating it to familiar places.  The sincere hospitality and willingness to engage and help reminded me of Canadians.  People were willing to chat, take a minute and just chat.  I found this endearing unless it was with the person in line in front of me which made me stop myself and reign in my hurried American self.... or my spouse...whichever got irritated first.   I related it to several National Parks we have visited, the vistas, the mountains, the lakes, the vast empty countryside was familiar and yet new.  We never knew what was going to be around the next steep hill or curve in the road.  We were constantly awed.

 Auckland was our starting and ending point, however we only spent one night at the front of the trip and one night (at an airport hotel) at the end of our trip there.  We enjoyed our arrival day stretching our legs while exploring the main center.  I always wondered what Christmas in the southern hemisphere felt like and seeing the gigantic Christmas tree in one of the squares surrounded by summer tourists was like Christmas in July!  We saw the last remnants of Christmas as we arrived on January 3rd.  We watched massive cruise ships come and go from the harbor.  We also ate one of the very best meals of the entire trip here...and that is saying something!  We slept well that night and flew to Queenstown on the South Island to continue our trip.

Merry Christmas, cruise ship and summer visitors!

I did witness someone bungee jumping from the tower!

A short flight to Queenstown and our New Zealand adventure was in full gear.  We rented a car, which turned out to be the size of a small tank.  It was huge!  Driving in New Zealand, left side driving on two lane roads up and down rolling and sometimes steep hills was interesting...especially in the tank!  It turns out it wasn't such a bad thing to have since the other vehicle chosen by many travelers appeared to be the camper van.  A huge percentage of people rent camper vans and that is how they see New Zealand.  Maybe 40 years ago...nah.  You can camp almost anywhere in NZ.  Campgrounds are not necessary, just pull over and you are home for the night.  Visiting in the summer allowed us to see the country in vacation mode.  It was kind of nice.  Our first stop was in Wanaka, north of Queenstown about 90 minutes.  The drive went through one mountain pass...which was the tank's first challenge, and it performed well.  The town was lovely.  Definitely a vacation spot.  The lake was across from our accommodation.  By this point in our trip, we were thankful for a homier spot, with much needed laundry facilities in a quiet place.  We did our chores, walked around the town, bought some food items to carry along the road with us and went to dinner.  We shared a dinner table with a nice couple who was traveling NZ for a month. Lucky ducks!  After dinner we walked along the lake to see That Wanaka Tree.  Apparently, the most photographed tree in the world?!

With great expectations we left the airport in Queenstown,
and headed north to Wanaka.

Lake Wanaka!

That Wanaka Tree, special because of where it is growing!

Summertime!

Our next stop was Twizel, because it is near Mount Cook, Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo, some of the most scenic and spectacular locations in New Zealand!  The drive was only about 2 hours...unless you stop for every possible scenic overlook, several fields of blooming lupins, a short hike through the Clay Cliffs, and eat lunch at a Salmon farm.  Then the drive takes a bit longer.  Isn't this what we are here to do? Yes!  That is NZ in a nutshell, you just can't stop yourself from stopping along the way.  The country is just beautiful!  We stopped and checked into our accommodation, took a short rest and got back on the road to see the Church of the Good Shepherd on Lake Tekapo.  You know how sometimes you see things on the internet and then when you see them in person, they just aren't as spectacular as you imagined?  This was not one of those places!  This was a drive that made me fall in love with NZ.  I honestly never knew water could be so breathtakingly beautiful.  Not one but two glacial turquoise lakes.

An interesting aside...earlier in the day as we left Wanaka, we saw a woman hitchhiking along the road and did not pick her up.  We felt a little bad about it but continued on our way.  When we left our place in Twizel, we came across another woman hitching and TJ pulled over.  She was headed to the same town as we were.  Turns out she was walking the length, south to north, of the South Island.  She said occasionally she hitched when the only route was along main roads.  She was from Ottawa! We had a lovely chat and heard about her journey so far.  Glad we stopped!

We lucked out and it was lupin season!

With all the people stopping along the road to take pics in the flowers, reminded
me of people in Texas and the bluebonnet fields.

Climbing through the clay cliffs.

 

Mount Cook in the distance! 
How can you keep your eyes on the road when 
this is out the window!?

Church of the Good Shepherd

Some beautiful water!!!

Our next day we headed to Mount Cook and to hike the Hooker Valley track.  Again, the drive was lovely, but a bit cloudy in the morning.  We got our provisions and headed out to hike.  We were so prepared...until we came to the second rope bridge and found that the rest of the trail was closed due to construction.  I was so ready...but we only got to do 1/3 of the trail.  Still, it was a nice hike.  As the day went on the skies cleared and the drive home was again, stunning.

Twizel was a small town.  We tried to branch out and eat at a different restaurant that night.  We did branch out...  Across the street from our place every evening a group of food trucks and tents set up and sell food to all of the hikers and campers.  We decided to give them our business that night.  We enjoyed a delicious pizza!  Summer in NZ means hiking, camping and being outdoors.  Definitely a place for the nature loving adventurous people.  I'm glad they cater to those of us who enjoy sleeping indoors too!

Heading down!

It is just so vast and beautiful!

Fine dining right across the street!
We bought a delicious pizza from the guys under the black tent!

Reluctantly, we left Twizel and headed south to Cromwell.  I was sure nothing would ever compare to this place.  I could have sat on the side of one of those lakes all day and marveled at the beauty.  We decided to visit Cromwell because I read that it was a relatively new NZ wine region.  Since we were not going to make it to the Marlborough area we visited the Central Otago region instead.  Cromwell felt like a newer city.  We did a couple of tastings, ate a good lunch on the water along one of the "old town" streets.  After lunch we did a tasting at another winery in town, chatted with the lovely host who recommended, in her opinion, one of the loveliest wineries in the area.  After our visit, we totally agree!  The wine was very secondary on that visit.  It was all about the gardens and the view!  I never knew lavender could grow to be a bush taller than me!  

Not only was it lupin season but the lavender was in full bloom!

Cromwell was a cloudy, quaint, tasty overnight stop on our way to Milford Sound.  Every time we met people all along our way they were all curious as to where we were going and what we planned to see.  We always mentioned Milford Sound and got nods.  A few times, once I checked the weather and saw that rain was in the forecast for our visit, I mentioned my disappointment in the possibility of rain.  Universally, everyone said, "Oh no, you want it to rain, it makes the waterfalls."  I found it hard to believe that I would go anywhere, especially in a boat and want it to rain!  The drive from Cromwell to Milford Sound was epic!  The lakes on the South Island, and likely the North Island, are simply spectacular!  Especially when the sky is blue.  We had to be efficient on our drive because we were meeting our boat for our overnight fjord cruise and it had a time schedule.  We did get to make a few stops for spectacular views though.

I loved the clouds hanging on the mountains!
Another beautiful lake!

Heading into the mountains to Milford Sound.

 We made it to the coast in time to catch our boat, home for the night.  The sun was still out, I had my fingers crossed.  Our room/cabin was tiny and the bathroom was even smaller!  I guess I am still not a boat person.  We had been instructed to bring a very small bag with just necessities.  So backpack it was.  My toiletry kit was my extra carry-on, I just "needed" it all.  TJ of course could have packed everything in a paper bag.  We got a good laugh out of the packing!  Off we went to see the fjords, mountain and waterfalls.  It really was a lovely night.  TJ went on the kayaking excursion and I went on a little boat ride tour.  We both had the option of jumping into the sound from the boat, guess who said "yes" and who passed!  All in all the evening was a lot of fun and we tucked ourselves in for the night and around 3 a.m. the wind howled, the rain slammed into our window and my hopes of a beautiful morning were dashed.  The morning was windy and wet!  BUT there were hundreds of waterfalls!  Just as all of our "friends" had said, the water just poured over the edges of those mountains into the sound.  It really was something to behold.  We got wet and windblown but it was worth it.  Of course, as we headed away from the port once we docked, the sky got brighter and brighter the farther away from the sound we got.  We were both very glad we did the cruise.

Kayaking in Milford Sound

I took the easy route!

Our home for the night awaits.

A rare view of a fjord, a rain forest and a glacier all in one shot!

A little perspective.

Why not?!

It was a lovely evening!  I can't believe we got to sleep here.

Morning has broken!

There was SO much water!

The last stop on the New Zealand driving tour was Te Anau which is about 2 hours from the port and the nearest town.  We spent a couple of nights there just absorbing everything we had seen and done!  We had a lovely house, with laundry and a short walk from the water and the main streets in town.  It felt like a nice place to live...in the summer.  I bet it gets pretty cold in the winter!  We just enjoyed taking walks, shopping a bit, resting and doing just a bit more touring.  The last day was a drive up to Queenstown to fly back to Auckland and then home.  I guess if you look at it we spent almost three days getting home!  Like I said, " New Zealand is far away!".

This is why I enjoyed our last stop so much.  Sitting
outside, water in front of us, mountains in the distance
and some of the nicest people ever doing much of the same thing.

Walking back from dinner, two happy people!

As we drove back to Queenstown, I soaked in every curve
in the road and savored every breathtaking view.
This is not real life, but I wish it was!

There have been trips we have taken that at the end, I am very ready to go home.  Not because they were not good trips, but because I felt like we came, we saw and we did and it was time to go.  There have only been a few trips that I was near tears when they ended.  This was one of them.  My heart was very heavy leaving this island.  I have a few ideas why.  The first is this was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  It was remote, sparsely populated, hospitable, rugged, natural, inviting, and it made me feel so happy and alive.  We were not touring temples, shrines, castles, museums or any of the things we explore in many destinations.  We were just exploring the outdoors.  Yes, many of the places looked the same, but the same amazing, beautiful views never got old!  I think another reason my heart was heavy was because I really wonder if I will ever see this again.  It is so far away and if I am honest, there are still many places we have not seen yet.  Was this it?  I wanted to hug this place and say thank you for feasting my eyes and my soul.  I will always and forever be in awe of the beauty we were blessed to see on this trip.  I am sure my photos have not even scratched the surface or portrayed the massiveness of this country.  It was simply amazing!