My Farewell to Aotearoa

A run-down of my last couple weeks in New Zealand (Aotearoa):

Get ready for a long one! Hopefully I’ll get in more pictures than words!

On the way out of Dunedin, we had to make one last stop at the brewery... to get some water!

Speight's Brewery public spring water tap

After our time showing my family around in Dunedin, we spent the majority of our NZ adventure with Debbie, Wayne, Anna, and Ruth- our family/friends from Wellington.  We drove up SH1, stopping at Moeraki Boulders and on to Oamaru where we had lunch with some of Wayne’s family.  Then we were off to Cromwell/Pisa Moorings and to Queenstown!

Siblings on a boulder in Moeraki

The sea wall catapulting waves at lunch

A frosty morning on Wayne's family's land

Good morning, Alexandra!

A snow-covered sheep station in Tarras

High country winter sheep farming (and rescuing) at its finest!
The snow trapped a gang of sheep high up in the mountain
so the farmers had to go find them and get them home.

AJ Hackett- the first bridge bungy!
Also over a river  (Kawarau River) used in Lord of the Rings!

The bungy jumpers!  Erik, Courtney, Wayne, & Ruth

In Queenstown, we rode the gondola and went luging at the top!  We ate Fergburger, watched races in the park for the Winter Festival (This included a “drag” race), and shopped at the Saturday market!

Erik, Courtney, and I went skiing at Cardrona.  We had beautiful weather!  It was so nice to ski with so few people on the slopes!

A view of Queenstown from the top of the gondola

Erik, Me, and Courtney skiing at Cardrona!

Erik, Courtney, Mom and I went to Milford Sound!  It was beautiful, as expected, and we had perfect weather!  I loved getting to see the Sound in the sunshine after my first visit was in the rain!

A scenic stop on the way to Milford

Milford Sound.  I can't get over how stunning it is.

The Baker kids in Milford Sound!!

We flew up to Wellington to stay with friends and family for a few days.

Twelve of us took a walk on the ridge above Wellington City.  It was beautiful!  It was such a clear day that we could see the South Island! 

This is New Zealand.
See the most distant line of hills in the background?
THAT'S THE SOUTH ISLAND!!
Foreground is in Wellington, in the North Island.

Just a beautiful day for a hike!

On 1 July, Dad arrived!  We went to Weta Workshop and went to Rivendell in Kaitoke Regional Park! We had a lovely roast dinner back at home and celebrated all being together (and celebrated DJ’s 21^st birthday)!

We visited Gandalf at Weta Cave

Took a hike through a rain forest!

And hung out in Rivendell with our NZ family!
(Standing on the Mossy Knoll where Legolas did his photo shoot for the films!)

We went to the top of Mt. Victoria where we could see 360 degree views of Wellington and were almost blown away by the wind (even though the wind was only rated at 5 out of 10 on Wellington’s wind scale!

Trust falls with the wind

Above Wellington City!

 The Americans took a tour of the Beehive and the Parliament building.  We also spent a few hours in Te Papa, the national museum, and shopping in Wellington.

The Beehive. NZ Parliament.

After a lovely time in Wellington, we drove our “mini van” up the east coast to Napier, a beach town where we had a wonderful ocean view motel room and spent a nice morning on the esplanade and riding bikes through a nature preserve… AND eating cupcakes made in honour of the Fourth of July by an American baker in town!

A reflection on our bike ride through the nature preserve. 

Napier Harbour

Free red velvet 4th of July Cupcakes! Celebrating from 8000 miles away!

Next stop: Esk Valley Vineyard for a quick wine tasting, then off to Lake Taupo, Huka Falls, and Rotorua!

Vineyards and ocean.  Welcome to Hawke's Bay and Esk Valley Winery!

Huka Falls on the Waikato River
Can you tell how ice blue the water is!?

In Rotorua, we visited the Buried Village which was a tourist village that was covered by a volcanic eruption in 1886.  This eruption also destroyed what New Zealand considered the 8^th wonder of the world: the pink and white terraces

We also visited the Rotorua museum which used to be a bath house where people came to be healed by the mineral & thermal water that is naturally found in Rotorua.  Thermal and mineral pools are still very popular in Rotorua.  Our motel even had a mineral pool that we got to relax in one evening!  It was great to go to Rotorua because it is where my New Zealand experience really started and I got to show some of it to my family!  We even walked around the same park with thermal pools that I walked around with a new friend back in February.

A Pukeko in Rotorua

Wairere Falls at the Buried Village

Our mini van in front of the old bath house/ museum

A thermal pool in Kuirau Park in Rotorua
(the rocks in the water on the right are the edge of the pool, under the water!)

When in New Zealand… You have to see some Lord of the Rings sites, right!?  So, off we went to Hobbiton!  It was really neat to see the Shire and to learn about how things were used in the movie! 

Samwise Gamgee's hobbit hole

Welcome to the Shire.  Please note Bag End at the top of the hill.

After experiencing a bit of a hobbits’ life, we were off to Auckland!  The first and the last place I went during my New Zealand semester.  Auckland was an adventure.  We spent some time at Devonport, an island/peninsula of Auckland, and we went to Bethels beach on the west coast!  At Devonport, we hiked up (another) Mount Victoria and saw the bunkers in the volcano.  Bethels beach was beautiful!  It has black sand and really neat caves! We spent a few hours there, running around with the little boys we were visiting with and searching for shells on the shore.  What a beautiful day!  We finished the day off with a traditional New Zealand meal: lamb roast, roasted vegetables, and pavlova!  Yum!

Courtney atop Mt.Victoria in Devonport, Auckland

Oh hi, Auckland!

Bethels Beach: black sand, sea mist, and... 

Caves!

It’s too bad that we also got the news of the San Francisco plane crash that night, which meant that our flight (that was supposed to be Sunday at 10pm) was moved to the next day at 7am.  The adventure continued.  We spent the night in a “sweet as” hotel (with lots of cool automatic gadgets like an automated window shade in the bathroom wall) and were on our journey before the sun rose on Monday morning.

Needless to say, there were heaps of delays in San Francisco.  I ended up spending 15 hours in the San Francisco airport, sleeplessly awaiting a flight to take me home to Chicago.  The rest of my family got flights out at various times throughout the day.  It was the longest day of my life (literally… it was 40 hours of Monday).

The important thing is that we are all home safe and we have incredible memories of the past 1-week, 3-weeks, or 5-months!  We have so much to be thankful for.  And thank you to ALL of you who provided such wonderful hospitality to my family and I throughout our times in New Zealand!  We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Bittersweet Week-ending

Wednesday, I had lunch with my friends Zahra and Keanan, and my flat had a lovely potluck dinner in attempt to clean out our fridge and pantry.  We all ate way too much but still had plenty of leftovers.  Luckily, a neighbor took in our extras!

Keanan, Zahra, and I after lunch!

My flat was told we had until 10am Thursday to get moved out of our flat.  Low and behold, the cleaning crew rolled in at 9:30am, causing the level of stress to skyrocket as we were not fully packed or picked up.  That being said, I left my flat in a rush, hugging flat mates goodbye, talking of a 2015 Mexico reunion.  It was a bittersweet morning of goodbyes, but looking forward to the coming two weeks.

I spent the next 36 hours at Zahra’s house, stopping by the beach to watch waves spew foam all across the esplanade and watching Revenge marathon-style. 

Zahra and I watching the waves crashing in

With the storm, my family was delayed by almost 3 hours.  I was so anxious waiting for them to arrive!  It was the BEST feeling when they finally arrived at the hotel and I got to hug everyone!  I am so happy to have them here so they can experience this beautiful country with me!  (I can’t wait for Dad to get here next week too!)

Saturday, I gave my family a tour around Dunedin.  It was rushed and rainy, but I think we hit most of the best places!  We even squeezed in a bit of a rugby game at the stadium! We topped the day off with dinner in town with our friends from Wellington and some of their friends & family in town, then I showed my family how to do a classic Tim Tam Slam back at the hotel!

Erik and I before our Speights Tour!

Beer Tasting at the end of our tour 

The infamous clock tower at my school, Otago Uni!

My family is at Otago!!! Welcome to winter!

The next two weeks, we will head to Queenstown, Wellington, and make our way up through the North Island to Auckland!  I am loving experiencing New Zealand with my family!!  

I will update with more pictures when I can!

A Stormy Adventure

Final exams are over!  I finished my junior (3^rd) year of university!  It is now time to relax and enjoy my last few weeks in New Zealand.

Last week, New Zealand experienced the worst storm in years.  There has been widespread flooding, excessive snowfall, and incredibly strong winds.  The prediction of this storm caused a good deal of anxiety among the international students who were meant to be traveling home this past week. (Everyone made it to their destinations, only with minor delays).

On 15 June, three friends and I drove about 5 hours up the east coast of the South Island to Hamner Springs where we relaxed in the natural hot spring pools.  It was a perfect way to start off the weekend post final exams.

Beginning our adventure in our car, Seahawk. 

One of many braided rivers, soon to be flooded.

There's a heart in one of these hills! Gorgeous

On the beach at Moeraki

Sunday, we drove about another hour north to Kaikoura.  We had great plans to swim with dusky dolphins!  Unfortunately, the rain and the cold kept people away, so the tour was cancelled.  It was a bummer, but we spent the day shopping, eating, and getting coffee in the downtown area. 

The cafe we had coffee at! 

Then… We drove 20 minutes outside of the town and walked a few minutes into the forest along a river.  Soon, we spotted a couple seals hanging out behind the trees.  Just a bit further: baby seal heaven.  There were hundreds of baby seals swimming and playing around a waterfall.  I think there was a big excited smile glued on the face of every single person around the waterfall.  The baby seals were SO adorable!  It definitely made up for not being able to swim with dolphins.

The waterfall all the seals were swimming in!

 We leisurely made our way to Christchurch where we spent Sunday night in a holiday park.  And… I finally fixed my craving for Mexican food and margaritas at a restaurant called the Flying Burrito Brothers! We also saw After Earth at the cinema.  A rainy day turned into a wonderful and memorable day!

Monday… we left our accommodation on schedule to arrive back in Dunedin by 4 pm.  About 3 hours into the drive, we started driving through puddles on the highway.  The puddles became deeper and deeper as we continued south toward home.  About an hour away from Dunedin, the highway was closed because the rivers were flowing over the roads and bridges.  We went back to the nearest town to check other road closures and weigh our options.  After getting some refreshments, doing some research, and making some phone calls, it was determined that we could no longer make it back to Dunedin. 

The rivers flowing over the road 

A flooded river

Luckily, we found an adorable little motel for the night.  New Zealand motels are not the typical American motels.  Motels in America have a not-so-good reputation.  Our motel was once an old Victorian-style house with a large guesthouse and had a little black cat we named Buckets.  We stayed in a cozy part of the guest house with a kitchen, a TV, 6 beds, and… UNLIMITED INTERNET!  Woo! It was perfect.  We cooked dinner, rented a movie, and notified necessary people of our stranded state.  It really turned out to be a great night and we were able to make it back to Dunedin in the morning- without an extra day’s charge on the rental car! 

Our cozy motel!

Overall, it turned to be a great weekend trip, despite the setbacks.  Life really is a wonderful adventure!

Dunedin greeted us with a gorgeous rainbow upon our return!