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!
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| 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!
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| Siblings on a boulder in Moeraki |
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| The sea wall catapulting waves at lunch |
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| A frosty morning on Wayne's family's land |
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| Good morning, Alexandra! |
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| A snow-covered sheep station in Tarras |
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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. |
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AJ Hackett- the first bridge bungy!
Also over a river (Kawarau River) used in Lord of the Rings! |
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| 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!
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| A view of Queenstown from the top of the gondola |
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| 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!
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| A scenic stop on the way to Milford |
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| Milford Sound. I can't get over how stunning it is. |
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| 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!
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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. |
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| 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 21st birthday)!
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| We visited Gandalf at Weta Cave |
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| Took a hike through a rain forest! |
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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!
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| Trust falls with the wind |
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| A reflection on our bike ride through the nature preserve. |
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| Napier Harbour |
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| 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!
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| Vineyards and ocean. Welcome to Hawke's Bay and Esk Valley Winery! |
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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 8th 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.
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| A Pukeko in Rotorua |
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| Wairere Falls at the Buried Village |
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| Our mini van in front of the old bath house/ museum |
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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!
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| Samwise Gamgee's hobbit hole |
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| 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!
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| Courtney atop Mt.Victoria in Devonport, Auckland |
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| Oh hi, Auckland! |
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| Bethels Beach: black sand, sea mist, and... |
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| 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.
