Hello again from New Zealand! After our short stop in Queenstown, we continued the tour!

Mt. Cook National Park
Our next major stop was Mt. Cook. While we came across Mt. Cook while planning the trip, we ultimately decided to stop here based on a reco from one of my co-workers (George J gave AWESOME recos all throughout Australia/NZ!!). It was a fantastic reco as we loved our time here!

Mt. Cook is the highest peak of the range of mountains known as “The Southern Alps.” The peaks are very striking, plus the mountains are 40% covered with glaciers. These glaciers create streams and beautiful turquoise lakes that almost look fake. The drive into the park was along one of the lakes so we had lots of photo opportunities!

We enjoyed a 3 hour hike through the mountains to two more glacier lakes. At the end of the trail you could actually see the glaciers, which is neat since each year the glaciers are receding.

We were also very happy that we found another great place to stay (brand new apartment like rooms that just opened 6 mths ago) at the base of the mountain. It’s great to have places like this to stay near national parks!

We imagine that this is Freddy the Falcon and Frieda coming to check up on us!

Lake Tekapo
My co-worker had also mentioned Lake Tekapo, and this was another great reco! This lake also has the turquoiseo blue waters set at the foothills of the mountains. There is a chapel and collie dog statue located at the edge of the lake that are frequently photgraphed so we got a few shots ourselves. 🙂

There is an observatory located above the lake which provides fantastic star-gazing and views of the lake. This is known as one of the clearest places in the world to see stars, but it was very cloudy so that didn’t work out. However, we could still go up to the top of the observatory for some great views of the lake and some warm hot chocolate!

The other great part of our stay here was Lake Tekapo Lodge where we stayed. It was fantastic!! The lodge overlooked the water, the owners had just renovated the rooms, and there was local New Zealand art throughout the lodge. It was a bit chilly outside so the lodge was a perfect spot for seeing the lake and relaxing. The best part was that the owners had been chefs and made a wonderful dinner for us! We had local merino lamb, fresh salmon, and a lemon tart that were outstanding!

Here are some shots from the awesome lodge!

Christchurch
We finished off our time on the South Island with a quick visit to Christschurch. The city was hit by a massive earthquake about 3 years ago that leveled much of the downtown. We were amazed at the level of destruction and surprised to see how much of the city is still destroyed and under construction. In fact several hundred buildings were closed just this past week after finding structural integrity issues.

We also enjoyed a quick stop at the city’s botanical garden which was filled with springtime blooms such as cherry blossoms and rhododendrons.

Auckland
We finished up our tour of New Zealand with a quick stopover in Auckland. As you’re probably not surprised… we used our time to try out a restaurant! We found a ratings system similar to Michelin that uses chefs hats instead of stars. We hit up one of the top-rated restaurants in the city and had several wonderful dishes including lamb, salmon, scallops, and duck. It was delicious!

We also stopped by a trendy cafe that serves only cookies, milk, milkshakes, and tea/coffee. Think Sprinkles Cupcakes for cookies. 🙂 The warm chocolate peanut butter cookie with a gooey filling was amazing!

Other Random Thoughts…
I can’t end our New Zealand posts without telling you about the heated beds. While I’ve generally found buildings to be kept a bit chilly in NZ, three of the places we stayed had awesome bed warmers. They aren’t blankets like we used to see in the US but instead are like a full mattress cover with heat. This just might go on my purchase list when I get home!

Two other random things we noticed is that all of the electrical outlets in both New Zealand and Australia have switches. We learned our lesson the hard way when we didn’t flip the outlet switch on overnight when trying to charge electronics. After about 3 weeks of seeing these switches, we aren’t sure why they are really that useful!

After a great time in New Zealand, we’re now off for the warmth and sunshine of Tahiti and Bora Bora!

Greetings from Kiwi Land!!

We’ll start with a quick test. Which team just won America’s Cup? Any idea? Do you know what America’s Cup is?

We had no idea, but Kiwis love America’s Cup (it’s sailing/yachting for those not aware). Here’s a quote we saw in NY Times that sums it up: “The Cup is a niche attraction in the United States but it is a major event in New Zealand and has been drawing television audiences well over 1 million in a nation of 4.4 million”

At nearly every place we have stayed and at lots of restaurants people have been asking us about Team Oracle (which is Team USA). We had to read up to find out what was happening! The race has been the longest in history and has stretched out over 17 races. The intensity feels like an OSU vs. Michigan game spread out over 2 weeks! Team New Zealand orchestrated one of the biggest chokes in the history of sports by losing a best of 17 tournament when it was once up 8 points to 1!!!!

Trip Reshuffle!
Our trip to New Zealand started off with a substantial trip reshuffle. Apparently New Zealand had been pummeled with one of the worst storms of the last 25 years just before we arrived, and two Canadian tourists were killed when their van was swept off a mountain pass in a mudslide.

This resulted in the pass being shut down for +10 days. The scary part was that we were set to go over that same mountain pass after visiting glaciers on the west coast of the island. While disappointing to not see the glaciers, we were very grateful to not have been hurt or massively delayed with the road shut down.

In about 1.5 hours in the airport, we made a quick decision to cancel our glacier portion of the trip. With the help of Trip Advisor and several websites, we quickly changed our hotel, remapped out the next two days, and set off for the Southeast Coast of New Zealand. It turned out to be a fun change, and we had a great time!

Moeraki Boulders
Our first stop was to look at the Moeraki Boulders as we headed down the coast. These are unusual, large boulders that are spherical shaped. There are all over a beach and look quite strange!

Dunedin Area
Our next stop was in Dunedin, a neat Scottish heritage town spread over hills and a valley that overlooks a harbor and peninsula. We were fortunate to get the last apartment at a beautiful complex overlooking the city (whew! we much prefer having things planned out vs. last second shuffles!). It’s a college town with several Scottish buildings, beautiful views, and the world’s steepest street! Here are a few pics:

Green Pastures & Lambs
On our drives across New Zealand we saw lots of the green pastures and sheep that are signatures of the country. Since it is spring here, we also got to see lots of new lambs. My grandfather and aunt always had sheep which I loved to hold as a child. Seeing lambs running around the fields brought back lots of wonderful memories!

Nugget Point
We finished off our shuffled plans with a visit to Nugget Point. This point is on the Catlins Coast and is near the southern tip of New Zealand. The real treat of stopping here was that we saw the rare migrating albatross birds. There are only 25K of the Shy Albatross in the the world and are considered “Near Threatened” status. We happened to be at Nugget Point during their migration so we saw lots of them. These albatross weigh about 9 lbs and have up to an 8 foot wing span so they are huge. It was a great unexpected surprise!

Milford Sound & Fiordlands
From Nugget Point we headed to Milford Sound in Fiordlands National Park. Milford Sound is one of the best known destinations in New Zealand, and we happened to hit a fantastic weather day! It rains 2 out of every 3 days and is known as one of the wettest places in the world.

The week before we arrived there had been terrible weather – and the road to Milford Sound was actually shut down due to over 20 avalanches. In fact about 15 tourists were stuck at the sound for 5 days (see link for some interesting aerial photos)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9154681/Milford-cut-off-by-massive-slip

We were fortunate that road had reopened and the weather was sunny and warm for early Spring. We expected about 40-45 degrees with rain. The trip and the views were fantastic!

This is where Kiwis jump in the lake before the Michigan game

One of the 20 avalanches a week before our visit. Wow!!

And another…

We even got to see seals and the 2nd rarest penguin… although they were tricky to capture in pictures!

We also stayed in a great B&B near the park entrance. It’s often hard to find places that are nice near parks, but this B&B was great! Here is the view from our room:

We finished off our day by driving to Queenstown and eating at a gourmet burger shop. Ryan had a huge lamb burger!

We’re now off to explore more of New Zealand!