After that rocky start to our trip, the rest was fairly smooth sailing. We traveled with Stray Journeys which was our first tour. We did the Haast tour because it was the one that fit best with our schedule. It was an amazing experience. We met people from all over the world: fellow Americans, an American living in Singapore, another American living in Australia, Australians, Italians, Germans, an Amsterdammer, and a French Guianese via Paris. Our guide was a Kiwi, of course!
Here's a brief breakdown of our trip (using the Google Keep entry I made on the trip with a few additions) along with a few of my favorite photos from each day:
Day 1 - Thursday, 12/31
- Made it on our scheduled bus from Christchurch airport; driver Ruru; bus Gollum
- Pies for lunch in Springfield - Not your typical American pie. These were like hand held potpies. We had one with venison and one with pork and apples. Delicious!
- Castle Hill/Kura Tāwhiti Conservation Area - This was a great stop to get up and walk around after being on airplanes and a bus for so many hours!
- Sand flies (gnats that bite) - We were introduced to sand flies and the quick sunburn time (less than 10 minutes) while spending about 30 minutes outside at Castle Hill.
- Lake Pearson
- Arthur's Pass National Park (16% grade)
- Tour bus crash closes road - We were so glad we actually made it to our bus when this happened or we would have been stranded in Hokitika waiting for our bus!
- Ice cream and short walk to a waterfall in Arthur's Pass while waiting for the road to open
- One-way bridges - There are LOTS of one-way bridges in New Zealand and most of the ones we were on did not have stoplights.
- Hokitika - Super cute town. We just stopped at the ATM as we were running late.
- Rainforest Retreat - Great place to stay but had a super hot shower that you couldn't adjust. Ouch (especially on sunburn)!
- Early bedtime since we were awakened on the plane at 3am NZ time - Nope, I didn't make it to midnight on New Year's Eve. :'(
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| John with our Stray Journeys bus during our pie stop in Springfield. |
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| Castle Hill/Kura Tāwhiti Conservation Area |
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| Our group at Lake Pearson (Photo cred: Ruru) |
Day 2 - Friday, 1/1
- Breakfast buffet included - Best included breakfast of the trip!
- Tea at WildKiwi - And 50MB free Wifi with the tea.
- Glacier Guides Ice Explorer and Glacier Hot Pools - The Ice Explorer excursion was awesome! It was my first time in a helicopter and I loved it. Then, we hiked on a glacier. (Side note: The Kiwis and Australians pronounce glacier "glay seer" instead of "glay sure." It took me awhile to figure out what they were talking about!) John and I saw the Columbia Ice Fields in Alberta last August. There you could walk on the glacier but it was nowhere near as involved at this was. Such an amazing experience!
- World's busiest airport without air traffic control - Helicopters taking super short flights so they're in and out so quickly!
- Dinner at King Tiger with Suzie, Linda, Shiona, Amy, Danielle, and Suzanne
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| In the helicopter on the way to the glacier! |
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| John posing with our guide's ax. |
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| Franz Josef Glacier |
Day 3 - Saturday, 1/2
- Breakfast buffet at Rainforest
- Fox Glacier - We just got to catch a glimpse of Fox Glacier from the road on our way to Makarora.
- Dolphins in Bruce Bay
- Hike through swamp near Maori camp
- Pleasant Flat to view Mt Hooker
- Thunder Creek Falls
- Blue Pools - The Blue Pools were so cold! Our driver and a couple of our busmates jumped off the bridge here.
- Makarora Tourist Centre accommodations - We stayed in a super cute A frame here!
- Makarora Bush Nature Walk/Shrimpton Track to the creek
- Buffet dinner and dessert at Makarora
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| Fox Glacier |
Day 4 - Sunday, 1/3
- Cereal, yogurt, fruit, and toast breakfast
- Lake Wanaka
- Lake Hawea
- Mt Iron Loop Track in Wanaka - This was a way tougher hike than I was expecting but totally worth it!
- Puzzling World
- So many forget-me-nots along the highway from Wanaka to Queenstown Crown Range) - At least, I think that's what Ruru said they were. Absolutely gorgeous!
- Kawarau Bungy Centre - Two of our busmates, Amy and Danielle, bungy jumped here. It was our biggest regret that we didn't bungy here too (my mother-in-law had strictly forbidden it). We're definitely doing it the next time we're in New Zealand though!
- Queenstown (Reavers Lodge) - Queenstown was my favorite! Reavers Lodge was on top of a pretty steep hill which made you think twice about coming and going too many times in a day. Our room was small but nice. Best shower of the trip!
- Pizza dinner at Vinyl Underground celebrating Carmen, Shiona, and Amy's birthdays - Can you believe there were three birthdays on the same day?!? Crazy!
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| Lake Hawea |
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| On top of Mount Iron (with Kishan in the background) |
Day 5 - Monday 1/4
- Cereal and toast breakfast; do your own dishes
- Walking tour of Queenstown; Cookie Time on the way
- Lunch at Caribe Latin Kitchen - Delicious!
- Shopping - I did not pack enough warm clothes for this trip. I found a nice warm zip up sweatshirt at Kathmandu and John found some quick drying towels...all for a great deal!
- Joe's Garage/Starbucks - New Zealand has amazing chai lattes. I don't know what they do different from here but every one I had was great. John likes fancy coffee so we had to go to Starbucks for his white chocolate mocha.
- Gondola and luge - This was so much fun. A bunch of us from the tour went together and raced each other down the luge. So much laughter! I can't wait for John to edit the GoPro video of this so we can share it with everyone.
- Dinner at Póg Mahones, Cookie Time for dessert - We love our Cookie Time!
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| Lake Wakatipu |
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| Up at the luge track |
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| The luge track and Lake Wakatipu |
Day 6 - Tuesday 1/5
- Canyoning in Queenstown - This was the second time we did canyoning. The first time we did it with Laura and my mom in Costa Rica. This time it was a lot different. The water was freezing cold so we were wearing wetsuits. (Oh, and we carried our wetsuits while we hiked for a good 45 minutes up to where the canyoning started.) We did all of the clipping of carabiners ourselves. The canyon was much steeper and narrower than in Costa Rica. It was tough but it was a fantastic experience. We also met a fellow/current Badger.
- Laundry - Like I said, we didn't bring enough warm clothes so we had to wash them so we could wear them all again. :-)
- Dinner at Winnie's Gourmet Pizza Bar, Cookie Time for dessert - The pizza bread starter was amazing, the pizzas were delicious, and I had an excellent strawberry lime cider. There are so many different, delicious hard ciders in New Zealand!
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| John on the first abseil (rappel) |
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| Best action shot ever! (Photo cred: Canyoning New Zealand) |
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| We did it! (Photo cred: Canyoning New Zealand) |
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| Absolutely beautiful day in Queenstown! |
Day 7 - Wednesday 1/6
- Cereal and toast breakfast at Reavers; do your own dishes
- New bus Karen - Gollum had some break alarm issues while we went through Arthur's Pass and down into Queenstown so we got a new bus for the remainder of the trip.
- Change of plans: Overnight boat on Milford Sound instead of Doubtful Sound - Ruru had really talked up Doubtful Sound as being better than Milford Sound so we were all quite disappointed that we had to be rebooked on the Milford Sound cruise. However, we made the best of it!
- Lunch in Te Anau
- Cascade Creek walk
- Hollyford Valley
- Homer Tunnel - 1.2 kilometer (0.75 mile) tunnel through the mountain. Of course, it's one-way (with a stoplight).
- Milford Wanderer - Our boat for the night. We met a couple from Wisconsin who picked us out because of John's Badger shirt. We also met a family from near Madison. Small world!
- Milford Track walk - We walked the last mile or so of the famous Milford Track, including Sand Fly Point which was well-named.
- Delicious dinner on the boat
- Monopoly New Zealand Edition with Caitlyn, Kishan and Jonathan
- Too cloudy for good stargazing
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| From our walk to The Chasm |
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| On our boat, the Milford Wanderer |
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| We walked the last mile or so of the famous Milford Track |
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| Sand Fly Point |
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| We got a good laugh out of this one because we got stuck in Arthurs Pass! |
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| A beautiful sunset in Milford Sound |
Day 8 - Thursday 1/7
- Breakfast on the boat
- Breakfast cruise to see seals, waterfalls, Mitre Peak; only location with a glacier, rainforest, and fjord
- Lunch in Te Anau again
- Mrs. Jones' Fruit Stall
- Naseby - The super small town we stayed in for the night. Almost felt like home to me!
- Stayed at the Royal Hotel - Small but comfortable. Most of us had to share two bathrooms and showers but at least there were separate stalls!
- Curling at Maniototo Curling International - John and I curled with Amy and Shiona. So funny!
Day 9 - Friday 1/8
- Simple breakfast at the hotel
- Biked the Otago Rail Trail from Ranfurly to Hyde (33 km) - This was hard on the butt but definitely worth it!
- Cheese scone in Hyde - I met another woman wearing a Moov here. It's too bad I didn't realize mine wasn't working in NZ until after we got home...
- Gold mine
- Moeraki Boulders and cafe for lunch - The Moeraki Boulders were so unique.
- Geraldine for groceries
- Himalayan tahr - NZ is the only place these animals can be hunted as they're protected in the Himalayas.
- Big tree - After a long day on the bus we were willing to walk to just about anything. This walk led to a big tree. Ha!
- Cooked dinner at the house at Rangitata Rafts - There was another little hiccup with accommodations here as we ended up sharing the main lodge with a bunch of students from the University of Missouri. Our group had to split up so John and I and two sisters stayed in the main lodge and everyone else stayed in a house a little ways away. It wasn't ideal but it worked. And, the stars were amazing on our walk back to the lodge!
- Shared showers in the main lodge but it worked out - I was pretty terrified of having to shower with a bunch of college girls...but no one showered when I did. Again, the shower was super hot so I was extra quick.
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| John with a cracked open Moeraki Boulder |
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| John with the Big Tree |
Day 10 - Saturday 1/9
- 6:30am departure to Christchurch
- Left luggage at airport - After saying goodbye to all of our new friends we paid to leave our big bags at the airport overnight. Some of our busmates were also staying in Christchurch for a day or so, some were flying from Christchurch that day, and others were continuing with the bus back to Auckland.
- Walked to Antarctic Centre (saw Grazia and Pietro) and then took free shuttle to City Centre - This worked out really well for us. We heard that the Antarctic Centre had a free shuttle to downtown but we wanted to spend Sunday there, not Saturday. So we asked if we could buy tickets for Sunday and still take the shuttle and they said yes!
- Walked to Re:Start container mall, ate at The Smiths with Amy, Shiona, Danielle, and Amy's friend (Suzanne and Jennifer also there) - Amazing how you can find people you know everywhere. Ha! ;-)
- Rode the tram - We were kind of tired so paying $20 each to ride the tram was a nice break. Plus, it showed us more of the city so we knew where else we should visit!
- 1200 buildings demolished after February 2011 earthquakes; 70% of City Centre - I did not remember hearing about the Christchurch earthquakes at all. So much devastation.
- New Regent Street - Super cute area.
- Kayaked on the Avon River
- Canterbury Museum - We saw the Mona Lisa here as part of an exhibit called Da Vinci Mechanics.
- Rode the tram back near Re:Start for dinner at Base Woodfired Pizza
- Bus interchange for transport to Dyers House in Cashmere
- Dyers House is absolutely beautiful! Hosts Angela and Barry - We had intended to have a day in Christchurch before we started our tour so we decided to splurge and stay at a bed and breakfast outside of the city at the end of the tour. Originally, we were planning to rent a car and explore the coast this day. But, it all worked out just fine!
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| Our last group photo (Photo cred: Ruru) |
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| Re:START Container Mall in Christchurch |
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| Kayaking on the Avon River |
Day 11 - Sunday 1/10
- Delicious breakfast at Dyers House with a couple from Australia
- Barry gave us a ride to City Centre to catch the Penguin Express - The Penguin Express took us back to the Antarctic Centre.
- Antarctic Centre - We learned a lot at the Antarctic Centre. The highlights: riding a Hagglund vehicle and meeting Little Blue penguins. We also drank our first L&P.
- Back to the airport to fly home - We left Christchurch after 7pm local time on January 10th. We arrive in LA in the afternoon on January 10th and arrived back in Chicago shortly after midnight. So strange!
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| John with the Hagglund vehicle |
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| Penguin tracks and footprints back to the airport |
I was a little hesitant about the tour as we were getting ready to leave. But, it was one of the best vacations we've ever taken. John and I did almost everything together...but we didn't do a lot of things alone. We met really amazing people who, in this age of social media, we'll actually be able to keep in touch with. Who knows, we might even see them again some day...or visit them in their home countries/states!
New Zealand itself is spectacular. The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful. There's so much to do. The people are wonderful. We were only on the South Island and didn't do nearly all there is to do. John and I both definitely want to go back someday.
If you can't get enough, here's the link to all our photos!
Oh, and, we saw two of the best flight safety videos I've ever seen: Virgin America and Air New Zealand.
