Kiwi life 🥝

I’m tucking into my final square of hokey pokey Whitaker’s (travel to nz just for that- trust me) and I’m feeling pretty impressed with everything we accomplished in 3 weeks- especially when living and sleeping in a Nissan tida!

Let’s start off in the South Island- the most beautiful place ever. Every drive you’re surrounded by mountains and snow melt rivers. Even on a cloudy day, the mist hangs low over the mountains making you feel like you really are on the lord of the rings set.

Our first stop was Lake Tekapo, possibly the most stunning place I’ve seen this trip, cast mountains huddled round a crystal clear but turquoise blue lake, with water straight from the glaciers (we never had to use a tap!). We camped just overlooking it and woke up for sunrise which was breathtaking. We then headed to wanaka and then queenstown, which was similar, but we didn’t tire of the views.

In Queenstown we decided to go buggying 7,000ft up the Mountain opposite the lord of the rings set and mountain owned by Peter Jackson which was absolutely terrifying for me (especially as I got hit by every tree and bush imaginable) but amazing for ted because he got to drive like a maniac 🙂 we went to book our skydiving for the next day but after a rainy day and it being cancelled, we moved onto Franz Josef glacier, ready to skydive there the next day.

The next day came and after blaring ‘black betty’, ‘highway to hell’ and ‘from now on’ (bizarre mix I know), we arrived at the drop zone. I met my instructor who scared me just enough to make me nervous, where I wasn’t before. Poor ted went remarkably quiet ever since his instructor told him this was his work experience, and before we could do anything else, we were harnessed up and in the plane.

Ted went first (not by choice!) and my heart dropped when the door opened and all we could see was cloud and air. He went, then I went a few people after. We free fell without parachute for 60 seconds from 16,500feet and then glided around for about 5 minutes until we had a speedy landing (I almost landed on ted!). It was quite possibly the coldest, scariest but most beautiful thing I have ever experienced.

The next day, we went to venture up to the north island. We took the car ferry and met my auntie in Wellington for a few days of time with her and my cousin. We went to the war museum with huge realistic figures of fallen soldiers and stories from the WW1 involvement of the kiwis. We also went to a lovely market and had some real food (instead of campsite eggs). We then went back to a bbq with Claire, nonny and her friend Kim and enjoyed the sun and some Bavarian.

The next day, I had my first wagamamas with Nons and ted, walked along the front and saw crazy people diving into the marina water and had cocktails in the gale force winds.

We then left the next day and headed up north to Napier, a cute little town with a nice boardwalk and a good stop over after a long journey. Carrying on up the coast, we reached rotorua where we stayed on a farm with some very inquisitive alpacas and a cute dog. Because of the sulphur in rotorua, it smelt like the whole town had been eating vindaloos and you could see clouds of it everywhere.

The next day, we went to the luge up a mountain which involved a cable cart and ski lifts up (two of my biggest fears) and rode down over jumps and hills which was really fun!

The next day was Christmas Eve, so we checked into our suite and went to the hot tub even though it was non stop raining. We then headed out for a pub dinner, where we soon realised that no one in New Zealand goes out on Christmas Eve and drinks like the brits do! Christmas Day rolled around and it involved FaceTiming family, opening cards, chilling in the hot tub and watching Christmas movies. I even cooked Christmas dinner!

The next few days of New Zealand were just spent cruising up north, watching the stars and sunsets and then eventually heading back down south for our flight to Hawaii.

New Zealand all in all was beautiful, especially the South Island. However, I think we need a little bit of a break from always being on the move- especially when sleeping in a car!