Day 10: The Long Haul

Everyone acted like we were crazy for trying to drive from Akaroa to Queenstown but we made great time. We got on the road and not to far in we saw a grocery store and stopped for supplies. We marched on to a small town Geraldine were we looked around and bought a nice print of a local artist's painting of a Tui (NZ bird) sitting on part of a Maori war canoe. Chris had said earlier that day that he missed the sound of the Tui in the morning.Then we went my Lake Tekapo which is turquoise, more turquoise than even the Caribbean. It has to do with some sediment from a glacier. We stopped and had a picnic lunch of tuna and cheese from Barry's Bay Cheese Farm. Not far from Lake Tekapo is Lake Pukaki which is an even brighter turquoise. I can't wait for everyone to see the pictures. I could live there and just look out the window all day. Chris and I got out of the car to walk down and touch the water and some ocean birds (smaller than sea gulls) got rilled up and started swooping down at us. One came within 5 inches of Chris's head! We had to move down the beach a little. From Lake Pukaki is the vantage point to Mount Cook, unfortunately it was cloudy and you could only see the foot of the mountains. We chose not to make the trek down the road to the main vantage point because we would have only seen more clouds.
We got into Queenstown about 6 o'clock. We stopped at the bridge were the first commercial Bungee jump site happened in 1987. I think Chris may try it tomorrow. I don't like to be upside down.
Our motel is not a place I would normally stay but it is an efficiency with a little kitchen and has an awesome view of the lake here. We got our bearings around town last night before going to Freiya's Indian Restaurant and going to bed.

Day 9: Akaroa and Barry's Bay

Anna, Chris, Jen and Auntie Sandra
Well, we made it. We had a non-eventful flight and met Chris's Auntie Sandra at the airport. Sandra and her daughter Anna took us to tea - which is coffee and pastries.
We drove from Christchurch to Barry's Bay and checked in at Halfmoon Cottage. It is a backpackers hostel and super cute however, there are no keys for the doors. Your room is just unlocked all the time which doesn't matter since the windows are at group level and there are no screens. We still like it.

We drove in Akaroa and got tickets for a Scenic Cruise of the Bay which offered dolphin viewing. It was so awesome.We saw Hector's Dolphins! They played with the boat and tried to race us.We also saw New Zealand Fur Seals which are the Fat Boogas of the Sea. The first one we saw cleaned his nose, scratched his butt and then put his fat belly up in the air - those are the 3 requirements to being a fat Boogas.We also saw Blue Penguins which are the smallest penguin in the world and sometimes called Fairy Penguins.

I hope to blog again soon. Sorry this is so short, we only had $2 coin for the computer slot.

South Island Adventure

Tomorrow Chris and I depart on our South Island Adventure. I don't know if I will be blogging all week and if I can there still may not be pictures. I know there are places to use the internet but we may not want to stop the adventure to blog. So, I am going to leave everyone with a list of links detailing our daily activities. At least you can log on and check out the official website to where we are each day.


Tuesday, Dec 11th:
We are staying in an area outside of Christchurch called Akaroa. We are staying in place called Halfmoon Cottage which is next door to Barry's Bay Cheese. Guess who is going to eat too much cheese?

Wednesday, Dec 12th:
We will make our way south to Queenstown via Mount Cook. We are just going to do a gentle walk and view the Mountain from The Hermitage.

We are spending a total of 4 nights in Queenstown at the Colonial Village Motel. The room has a kitchenette so we can save money by having snacks and breakfast. There is the most to do in Queenstown but since there are a lot of tourists everything is pricey.

Thursday, Dec 13th:
We made Thursday our free day since we will have done a lot of driving the day before. Our plan is to do a walk around town being sure to include the Kiwi & Birdlife Park (I have to see a Kiwi) and the Skyline Gondola. At the top of the ride there is a traditional Kiwi Haka which is a Maori dance. I also want to do the Central Otago Wine Experience; we are actually not touring the topmost part of the South Island which is where the majority of NZ wine comes from.

Friday, Dec 14th:
This is the big day! We are riding in the Shotover Jet. If you have ever watched a travel special on New Zealand you have seen these boats in action. When the day is over we will head to Arrowtown to have a pint at a bar called The Blue Door which is recommended by a friend.

Saturday, Dec 15th:
We head out on a 12 hour round trip to Milford Sound. There are several tour operators who take buses from Queenstown and then give boat tours of the sounds. We skipped the standard issue bus tours and opted for the "party" bus aka The BBQ bus.

Sunday, Dec 16th:
We leave Queenstown and head to Franz Josef. On the way we will pass through Wanaka and go to Puzzling World. If the weather is nice we will pass by the Cardrona Bra Fence. If I had brought a cheap bra, I would leave one. Once in Franz Josef we are staying at Glow Worm Cottages which has free nightly vegetable soup!

Monday, Dec 17th:
We head back across the island to Christchurch via Arthur's Pass and Methven.
We are staying the night at Colombo in the City.

Tuesday, Dec 18th:
Our return flight isn't until the evening so we are free to explore Christchurch. Things on our list include the botanic gardens, Nga Hau e Wha (the largest Maori village), The International Antartic Centre, the Arts Centre, and shopping at Untouched World.

Then we will be back in Auckland. If I am not able to post pictures until then I will flood you with them the next day.

Day 8: About Town

I actually posted about day 6 on day 7, so that is why it skips a day.
Today Chris and I went out and about by ourselves. He took me around the University of Auckland which is where he went. I learned that in Universities here you only take classes related to your major. So Chris was in engineering and had to take math but not English or History. It sounds good in theory but he can't quote Shakespeare like I can.
We went around the area shopping. We went up a big hill where you can see all of Auckland. We also went back to an art shop I had been in earlier in the week with Chris's mom and bought a nice print. It is a painting of Auckland done in a sort of bright fanciful way. Pretty modern.
Chris also bought me a nice t-shirt and I bought a hat to wear out in the sun.
We went to lunch at the Blue Cat Cafe (couldn't resist) and I had a toasted panini with chicken, apricots and cream cheese.
I actually got a bad migraine so we came home about 3:00 and I had a nice nap. I think my mom has been worried if I didn't get a migraine all month that I really might move here. It's safe mom, I still have headaches upside down. -The humidity was 99%, that's the cause of it.
Speaking of, we walked by a fountain today and where the water drains to pump back the top some leaves were circling. Water really does go down the drain the other way!

PS My mom's good friend and my painted furniture diva mentor, Barbara, is in the hospital in Owensboro. Will all my praying friends please say one for her? Thanks!

Day 6: Maybe I didn't blog maybe it didn't happen

I am just kidding. Yesterday was whirlwind day. The weather was sunny and mid-70s.
Chris's parents had all their friends over for breakfast to see us before Hope left to go back to London. We had pancakes, sausage, fruit, coffee. I was all pretty normal breakfast wise.
After everyone left and we cleaned up I dashed out with Hope and Daphne to pick up some last minute things. We all saw Hope off at the airport. Chris's parents like to go in the airport and wait until you need to go to the gate. So we all went in and had a coffee. I actually had a water because I am all coffee and pastried out.
Then Chris and I went over to his best friends house. Justin and Julia and their two children Joshua (4) and Emma (2). Joshua had never met Uncle Chris but didn't have a nap yesterday because he was "too excited to sleep". He ran and hugged Chris and showed us all the toys we had ever sent. Emma was precious and I think Chris may want a girl first. Also, their cat Herbie was in Chris's lap all night. Everyone laughed because (stop reading Snoopy) Chris used to shoot the water hose at cats and would always pick Herbie up when he tried to sit on Chris's lap and pass him like he was toxic. Now Chris is a cat person. Yay!
We ordered Pizza from a delivery place called Hell. All the regular pizzas were named after the 7 deadly sins. The kids had a large greed. We had two gourmet pizzas called trouble and purgatory. The delivery guys drive hurshes. Check out their website.

Today we are going to a beach up North with Chris's parents. A relaxing day.
Here are some pics from breakfast. I will post some of the kids later.

Day 5: Shopping and How I am going to become a billionaire

Update: Here is a picture of the "pav". I personally have never liked meringue on a pie so I thought I wouldn't like it. It tasted like marshmallow sugar heaven!
Weather: Chilly and 66 degrees F.

Today we went off to the shopping mall. It was very similar except there is a coffee and pastry shop or counter around every corner. You could have a latte and a fruit tart every 20 yards. If you want just plain coffee you order a flat black; if you want cream you order a flat white. I felt like some older people must feel when they go in Starbucks. I ordered a coffee and she asked what kind and I said, "Um, just plain coffee." and the waitress was all, "You mean a flat white." I said, "No just coffee with cream." "Yes, that's a flat white." "Okay, whatever, just hot and with caffeine."
Chris's mom has made a pavlova for dinner which is like a big meringue baked and then with whipped cream and fruit on it. It's a very Kiwiana food.
I think I will only detail and food we eat that is different from now on. I did buy a candy bar today that has nuts, marshmallow, fruit bits, caramel and almost anything else you might put in a candy bar. It is in my bring home bag. I am getting caught up on my present buying. I still haven't decided who is getting the sheep.

I did notice today at the mall a man with no shoes on. Chris said it is common for the beach goer crowd to go without shoes. I thought you all were just kidding when you asked if they wore shoes here! And they don't!

I know everyone is waiting to find out how I am going to become a billionaire. At the mall we went into the bookstore and I could not find the wedding books. I asked the cashier and she had to look it up in the computer. They had one guest book in the stationary section and one wedding gift book like with love quotes and ONLY 1 WEDDING MAGAZINE. So that's it. I am moving to New Zealand to make weddings the billion dollar industry like it is in the US. I am going to be the Martha Stewart of New Zealand weddings. I think I could start by opening a small wedding book store and consulting on budgets and checklist and then ramp up into full on planning. I would only have to import all the books from the US. The magazine I bought says "New Zealand's #1 Wedding Magazine" all I have to do is print a leaflet in Microsoft Publisher and I have already launched New Zealand's #2 Wedding Magazine.

Pics from the SkyTower are in

This is from the observation deck. Chris is showing me where we were earlier in the day.
That's the Auckland Harbour Bridge behind us.

Here we are at dinner. The restaurant rotates around so you see the whole city about 2 times while you eat. We were there at the perfect time to see sunset.

I had requests for a picture of Chris's family.
Richard, Daphne, Hope and Chris