New Zealand, Part 1

Well, we're back from Hawaii. The bags are unpacked. Fred has gone home. So, as I promised - a more detailed look into our fantastic honeymoon!

Ok, keep in mind I started writing this on our way back. Some things may sound a little outdated.

After 3 weeks, we are back. Sadly. :) We had so much fun on our honeymoon and even though we were gone for 3 weeks, it barely feels like we were gone for one. I wish we could have stayed longer… and going back to snowy/cold Juneau has been no easy task. I have been dreading the winter here, with it’s no sun, lots of snow, and gloomy days. Spending 3 weeks in perfect weather, while fantastic, just makes returning home all the harder. Normally after two weeks on vacation I get homesick and find myself ready to come home. That didn’t happen this time. Maybe it’s because we’ve been all over the place this year or because it took us three weeks to move to Juneau or maybe because Juneau doesn’t quite yet feel like home. In any regards, I take that to mean that if I’m not homesick after three weeks of travelling, then it’s because I’m having a pretty good time.

Our first two weeks on the South Island of New Zealand were absolutely fantastic. Two weeks there is not nearly enough. I don’t even feel like I saw half of the South Island, and that’s only half the country! We could’ve easily spent the entire three weeks there and I probably still would’ve felt the same. New Zealand is just gorgeous! And the people are so friendly! I loved it there. I won’t go into too many details, but I will give you the highlights – which in Jill’s writing terms, means it will probably be a lot. :)

It took four flights and a whopping 28 hours of travelling for us to arrive in Nelson, NZ – right on the north central tip of NZ. I know this may be hard to believe, but it was a lot easier than I expected; probably because I expected it to last forever! NZ Air is voted as one of the top airlines to fly with and I can definitely agree with that.

After spending one night there to catch up on sleep we then headed NW up to Kaiteriteri and Abel Tasman N.P. You can only see the park by boat or by hiking. We did both. We took a boat up the coast of the park, where they dropped us off and we hiked our way back. We got to see a seal colony along the way and some penguins swimming in the water. It was a beautiful day and we had a great hike. From there we headed further NW to visit The Spit. The Spit is a very thin stretch of sand dunes. Thin because it’s surrounded by water on both sides of it. What makes this place interesting is that it is a natural bird sanctuary. We got to see Spoonbill birds, herons, jellyfish, and Black Swans that we didn’t even know existed, along with some other birds. Where we stayed here we had the best lamb either of us have ever eaten.

From there we drove back through Nelson, to head NE to the Marlborough Sounds area. We stumbled upon a hidden B&B that offered us a very heavily discounted rate to get our own apt. on the cliffs of the sound because we just showed up last minute. We were also welcome to join them for dinner, so of course we said Yes! Our stay in Marlborough Sounds was definitely one of the highlights of this trip. We did part of the Marlborough Track hike to see this:

This is a screen shot taken from the photo book that I made, in order to properly share the beauty. Remember - I think you can click on an image and it will enlarge in a new tab.

A wraparound view of the sounds. It was breathtaking. One of my favorite spots. We sat there for hours just looking around. Our hosts were fantastic and we decided to stay a 2nd night because we were having so much fun with them. They had a beautiful home and even though we had our own apartment, they welcomed us to join them whenever we wanted. Our first home cooked meal from them was Whitebait, a very expensive local fish, so small and not much flavor to them on their own… so I don’t really understand the high price for them, but they cooked them nicely for us. Followed by Hoaki – another local fish, which was great. Our 2nd day there we were invited to join Terry on his boat to collect fish for dinner. A free boat ride in the Marlborough Sounds? Sounds awesome to us! So he tells us to hop on his tractor to ride down to the water – I thought we were going to die. The roads in the sounds are steep with very sharp curves and here we are hanging on, essentially, with our own balance. Once in the water, in a very small boat, we got splashed with freezing waves, but motored right next to some penguins! Our first mission was mussels. Look at the size of the mussels up here:

HUGE! This picture was taken at a restaurant, but is necessary to see how large and how green they are. Apparently in NZ they don’t even eat the black shelled ones. Anyways, has anyone ever watched the show “Coastwatch”? It’s a show based on the NZ shores because some people collect too many fish and the police catch them. I’ve only caught the show a couple times and don’t actually know what they are trying to catch. But our experience getting the mussels almost made us feel like we would be appearing on that show. Terri took us to a mussel farm in the water where he told us that individuals were welcome to collect a bucket of them every so often. Yet, once he was filling the bucket he kept looking all around – as if preparing himself for a “Coastwatch” police officer. It took us awhile to get a whole bucket full and my mind started freaking out – foreigners stealing mussels?

We got our bucket safely and then moved on to collect his fishing net. He caught a few Flounders and a Monk Fish. All three items, were then later prepared for our dinner. Once we got back home, utterly freezing, we were guided by Jackie to have a glass of wine or beer and head into the hot tub to warm up. The hot tub’s locale had a gorgeous view of the sounds and was equipped with a TV to also entertain us. The way we were treated there was like Heaven. Despite it being slightly over our budget, frugal Eric was enjoying every minute of it. For dinner that night we were served a thai-coconut mussel soup, pan-fried flounder and monkfish. Breakfasts were just as delicious. All homemade and all fantastic.

Wanting to stay a third night, but figuring we should move on we packed up and drove to Pounakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks.
I think you can see why they are called that. You’re supposed to visit these at High Tide because the water swells up into holes and creates a geyser-like effect with water.

We didn’t stay here too long, as that was the main attraction. Then finally, we headed toward the West Coast to Franz Josef’s Glacier. This was our next highlight, as tomorrow we were going to be hiking the Glacier. I really didn’t expect it to be as cool as it actually was, and I Highly recommend everyone do this once in your life. We had our first bad weather day but the hike continued on. Fortunately, the company we booked the trip with provided you with all sorts of water-resistant clothing and extra warmth layers. It was grey, gloomy, and pouring down rain. Despite the bad weather, we still enjoyed every minute of it. We did a half/day hike, or about 4 hours, with about 2 hours on the actual glacier. First, you have to climb up. Then, you have to climb up some more. Then, you put your cramp-ons on to walk safely on the glacier. Then, you get to the ice caves with the beautiful blue ice shining inside. These were tight little spaces that even I had a hard time getting through, let along Eric. But that was the coolest part. The ice caves were such a blast.

Despite the cold, the rain, and all the ice surrounding you I didn’t even notice I was cold until the bus ride back home. I was also exhausted. They carve steps in some areas on the ice to make it easier to climb up, but the steps are about as high as my knees – I could not properly use my thighs to walk anything but a straight-line for three days afterwards. But as soon as I got off the ice, I was ready to do it all again. It was such a blast. The next morning we woke up to this:

In that valley is the glacier. What a difference, huh?

Next, was Wanaka - my favorite town throughout the whole trip. The drive from Franz Josef to Wanaka is a must do for everyone. Within 20 miles we saw about 15 waterfalls – not measley little ones but large, raging ones! You could hike 5 minutes off the road to stand right in front of some of them. Then the closer you get to Wanaka you see beautiful snow-capped mountains all around you, with a lake and town in the center. There was not a bad view anywhere in that town. We stumbled across another great B&B there that gave us a stellar deal – better than their local campsite and free breakfast because we were on our honeymoon. Here’s one of my favorite shots of the town:

Wanaka had a similar trail to the one in Marlborough Sounds, where you could take a short hike to get a beautiful 360˙ view of the town. We had perfect weather here and the views continued to amaze us.

Later that day we headed to PuzzleWorld – a house of mind games, mazes, and puzzles. And the best part? Most of it is free! We spent hours there until our heads hurt. They have probably close to 40 board game-like puzzles that you just sit at their tables trying to figure out. If you get stumped, an employee will help teach you the trick.

Next post will cover our visit to Fjordland. I loved this area - another memorable part of the trip. And I have so many amazing photos from here, that I thought best to save for the next post. :)