Christchurch

Christchurch Botanic Gardens

The botanic gardens were beautiful, but even they didn't escape damage from the earthquake. There were fences and yellow tape everywhere...even a year after the quake! They have had more than 1000 aftershocks since last year and many have been in the fives. The entire downtown was fenced off. We weren't even able to see the famous Christchurch church!

Hotels and restaurants were hard to come by because most were downtown where much of the damage occurred. We lucked out and got into some new Italian restaurant that was seriously amazing. I had a prosciutto, blue cheese and basil pizza. It was seriously to die for!! I have got to figure out how to recreate it!! Our hotel had cracks in the walls, large metal supports throughout and no working elevator. The hotel management assured us that engineers where constantly monitoring and we were safe. Still it was a bit unnerving and think we were all a little relieved once we checked out the next morning.

**A funny side note.....It seems we slept right through an impressive aftershock while we there. Hopefully, we aren't that deep of sleepers and it was just severe travel exhaustion that caused us to be completely ignorant of any shaking.

Fox Glacier - Day 8

Fox Glacier

It cleared up just enough for us to see the glacier. It was massive! I was dying to get a closer look, but you could only go on the glacier with a guide and there was a minimum age which of course our children didn't meet! We had a great time hiking up to it though!

ps. Glacial rivers are beautiful!

Arthur's Pass

This country has the most beautiful lupines! They are everywhere.

Day 7

This was a driving day. And, supposedly a spectacular one as well. Sadly it was POURING rain the entire day. This was our only attempt to view any of the waterfalls from Wanaka to Fox Glacier. We would have loved to have seen the abrupt change from dry mountains to rain forest, but apparently that's pretty rare. I suppose that's why it's called a rain forest! The coastline we could see was pretty impressive as well!

Baby Blake 4 days new!

Meet baby Blake. He is the newest addition to my sister's family. I think he is absolutely adorable. More on the other blog.

Arrowtown, Shotover Jetboat Ride and Queenstown - Day 6

Historic Arrowtown

We had so much fun in this cute little town. Todd took the day to go slay some serious trout with a guide and we just explored a bit. This town was like a mini Park City about 100 years ago. Same quaint little stores and mountains surrounding it. Of course, we stopped in at the sweets shop and got our sugar fill for the day. Katie and Joey's eyes were huge when they walked in. They really didn't know where to start. And sweet John just kept repeating, "treats, treats treats!"
Sometimes this town seemed so confusing just because it reminded me of so many little ghost towns my dad would take us to when we were little. And then you would see the double decker bus or phone booth and wonder where in the heck you were!

There was also a little walk along the river where you could pan for gold...we didn't find any. We had a fabulous lunch outside next to a picture perfect cottage complete with a black cat. And finally, we took a tour through the old Chinese mining village. Oh my, those people had a rough living standard. Hard to believe it wasn't too long ago it was being used!




Lucky us, we found this super homely sheep that John has been in love with for months. A little boy from our playgroup had one and John was always trying to steal it from him. I had been looking everywhere in our town and online for one and basically given up. And then, we walk into this random second hand store and there are 5 sitting on a chair. I about lost it I was so excited. My mom couldn't believe I was going to buy this forlorn sheep for my child. But really, he is so homely he's cute. Funny thing is, now she wishes she would have bought one. He really is cute, in his own little way.

Shotover River and Jetboat Ride

I could not believe the color of this river! The aqua blue again the rock with the trees was so beautiful! (This river would actually have been really cool to float in a raft. Some other time though...when the kids are less of a drowning risk.) We debated whether or not to do this because there were mixed reviews about risk and price. (Apparently, someone died in a crash in 2010.) I am so glad we did!!! It was awesome. Definitely one of the kids' and my favorites. Talk about an adrenaline rush. We were literally and inch from the rock walls going so so fast. In between laughing my head off at the kids' reaction I would utter a prayer for us to not crash and die and for my dad's heart to stay in sinus rhythm. It worked! We all survived and had a great time. So, so glad we did this. Joey was cracking me up. He had a white knuckle grip on the handle bars and then he would look up at me and say, "This is so fun mom, but kinda scary." The poor kid kept trying to convince himself it was fun for the first 1o minutes. And then, it was all we heard about for the rest of week!.


Queenstown

Loved this town too! I could have spent a lot more time here. Super touristy, but so many little nooks to explore. We just skimmed the surface. Our hotel was right down on the water and near all the shops. It was so fun to just walk to everything and the weather was beautiful.

Queenstown sunsets. WOW! And, that's no pollution folks. Just a raw all natural sunset.

Milford Sound-Day 5

Milford Sound

Breathtaking. One of my favorites in all of New Zealand. We took a boat ride or a cruise as Joey called it out to the end of the sound. It really was spectacular to see these huge mountains rising right out the water. The waterfalls were stunning and supposedly this was one of the driest years on record. I can't imagine what it would have looked like during a "normal" year.

The kids loved seeing the dolphins swim by and all the seals lounging on the rocks.

The drive to get here was impressive as well! Plus, it was made a little more exciting by the police officer who stopped us....lame!

It's For Sale.....again!

If you know anyone who would love a cute little house in an awesome neighborhood let us know. For more information see:

http://www.2059stratforddrive.blogspot.com/

MLS # 1082053

Te Anau - Day 4

The Kingston Flyer

We didn't really have a big planned on day 4. It was more of a let's see how we feel. It was such a fun day! We just stopped whenever we felt like it and there was never a rush to "get" anywhere. The kids loved it.

My dad loves trains, so when we saw this train and realized we were just in time it was a must! My parents took the kids without us and you would have thought they (the kids) had died and gone to heaven. Joey was over the moon about riding a real train. Another big bonus was it was only about a 40 minute train ride. So just enough to be fun for the kids and leave them wanting more. (Not like the 6 hour Durango train we did 5 years ago.)

After the train ride we had a little picnic by the lake and Todd did a little fishing and caught a nice sized trout.

Te Anau

Later in the day we arrived at Te Anau. What a beautiful little town nestled in the mountains next to an amazing lake. It is the gateway to the Fjiordlands. There were so many hikes to choose from in this area. We didn't even scratch the surface! After our big hike to Mount Cook the day before we decided on a mellow trail around a portion of the lake. It was absolutely beautiful. We were really hoping to spot a kiwi bird despite our daylight hour hiking, but no luck. That didn't stop Joey from inspecting every nook and cranny along the way. I swear, that kid is a never ending fount of entertainment.

Party in the Hotel room!

Our kids love hotels! They seriously check out every button, chair, bed, TV and bathroom in every room we stay in. It's like kids in a candy store. Speaking of candy, they are always so disappointed when they can't have anything from the giant mini bar staring them in the face. They think it's just part of the deal and someone knew they were coming and that they loved candy and treat drinks! Mean hotel people.

Thanks to an amazing deal on Priceline we scored this super swanky Hilton hotel room in Queenstown. The kids were so impressed...especially by the giant barn door that separated their area from ours. Todd and I were super stoked too! Despite its uber swankiness the sofa bed turned out to not be a bed, but rather the good ole fashioned sofa. Needless to say we had to improvise. It was probably there most favorite hotel room of the trip. We threw the couch cushions on the floor and made them some pretty cool beds. John was so disappointed he couldn't be a part of the party!

Oh, and holy smokes its hard to get your kids to sleep at a decent hour in a hotel room. Needless to say, by the end of our month long vacation we had it down to a fine art.

Mount Cook - Day 3

Mount Cook

Wow! What an amazing area. I couldn't get over how much this still reminded me of the states, but at the same time it was so crazy to think the beach was just a few hours away. The extremes of New Zealand really are amazing.

We took this really cool hike to get closer to Mount Cook. The kids were loving the swinging bridges, my mother not so much. I couldn't believe what a great hiker my dad was. I'm always a little worried about him because of his heart and I was especially nervous just because here we were in this foreign country in the middle of nowhere. But, he did amazing. It seems his last surgery really has made him like a new man. Sometimes I seriously forget he's 71. He still seems like such a spring chick to me!

The kids did pretty well too. Joe hiked the entire way up and then hitched a ride in the backpack on the way back. And, Katie was our little hiking machine. That girl is like a gazelle! John, did fine until he had to give up his spot in the backpack and be carried. He is definitely developing more of an opinion these days! We did have one minor episode that could have been so much worse, but apparently our prayers worked that day. Joey and Katie were checking out the sundial on top of a rock at a resting point. Todd and I were sitting just a few feet away giving John a snack and letting him stretch his legs. We knew Katie and Joey were playing on the rock, but what we didn't know was there was a 6 foot drop from the backside of the rock to the ground. The next thing we heard was a big thump and Katie screaming. We ran over and saw Joey laying in the grass with people fussing over him. He seemed fine other than being scared to death and having the wind knocked out of him. As I looked around I was absolutely amazed that he had not hit his head on a rock or any other part of his body. Our prayers for safety that morning most certainly were heard and kept our boy safe. We really were so thankful. Definitely not our most shining moment as parents.