More pictures from New Zealand

Here are the photos for Christmas and the Glacier Hike (even more)! We hope to get more pictures up once we get to Sydney New Years Eve.

Franz Josef

We reached Franz yesterday afternoon and hiked to the base of the glacier. We got to explore the base of several small waterfalls and all sorts of rock formations. After dinner we explored the entire town, all 2 blocks of it, and had dinner at one of the 3 restaurants.

 

This morning we were off relatively early for our glacier heli-hike, which proved to be the definite highlight of the trip so far. They piled 6 of us into a helicopter and flew us up the valley to about halfway up the glacier to the landing zone. We could not have asked for better weather, sunny with a light breeze, for our 2 hour hike. Our guide led the way with a pickaxe charting our path and digging steps for our crampons, and led us up the glacier and through 2 ice tunnels. Altogether, it was a pretty stellar experience.

We just woke up from a 2-3 hour nap after the hike and went through a kiwi preservation exhibit. Though we’ve seen one in the wild so far, it was really cool to see 3 of them in their “natural environment” and learn more about them. Even better is that the café allows us 30 minutes of wifi access so we were more than happy to get a drink from them to catch up with the outside world.

Due to our limited bandwidth here, it doesn't look like we're going to get any pictures up from Christmas or the Glacier hike today. Hopefully our hotel in Queenstown will have internet for us and we'll be able to catch up with photos and communication.

Christmas in New Zealand

Our lake picnic

Christmas Day was our first day as a complete family, luggage and all. After our Christmas ‘brekkie’ we were off on a 4 hour, cross-country road trip to Punakaiki. It was about 2.5 hours through mountains and 1.5 hours along the coast, so we got to see the full array of NZ geography.

For lunch we stopped at a beautiful lake for a picnic that we had brought along. The view was breathtaking…until we flies attacked us and we had to finish our meal in the car looking out our windows. Just like we planned.

After we drove through Greymouth and reached the coast we decided to make a detour to a seal colony on the way. We had a chance to walk on the beach and hike to the colony overlook. Although most of the seals had migrated away already we got to see around 15 sunning themselves on the rocks and swimming in the surf.

Beach at Punakaiki

We finally got to Punakaiki for our Christmas dinner overlooking the beach sunset. It wasn’t our typical Christmas experience, but it was a fun way to spend it with family. The day further reiterated our realization this trip has given us: No matter how much we planned, this trip has been about figuring things out while we’ve been here.

Finally, Merry belated Christmas to you and yours from Down Under!

Wine tasting in Blenheim

More Photos from today!

This afternoon I went wine tasting with my mom and sister, guided by an extremely nice man named Jonathan. We got a chance to visit Cloudy Bay, Wither Hills and Gibson Bridge. The region is known for their Sauvignon Blanc's (not my favorite) because their environment leads to a much fruitier outcome than the average and often-bland varietal. Although the red wines (mostly Pinot Noirs) were not quite as good as California or Virginia (the pinnacle of enological achievement), the whites were surprisingly tasty and we even found a rosé that we all enjoyed.

Lunch at Wither Hills was awesome, 3 courses alongside a wine tasting. As our first real meal since we left LAX it was just about the best thing I have eaten in ages. Speaking of eating, we also stopped by a boutique chocolatier in the middle of nowhere and got some amazing Macadamia Toffee crunch. Since tomorrow is a road trip day (gotta love a nice Christmas Day cross-country road trip), our guide also helped us brave a local supermarket for a picnic of sandwiches, snacks and wine so we don't starve on the way with everything closed.

Well we're off now to a local pizzeria/beer garden owned by a German immigrant for dinner. My dad managed to make it here after being stuck in Sydney and barely squeezing into a flight on standby in Wellington, so we're finally one big happy family on target with our itinerary. It hasn't gone to plan per se, but it's been a great experience so far and I have no doubt it will continue to get better.

Finally here

'Almost There' was quite and overstatement. If only I had known what laid ahead of us before my last post I may not have been as optimistic.

Due to heavy fog, the Wellington (North Island) airport shut down for the day so our flight was stranded at Christchurch (South Island). Our ultimate destination was on the South island though, so we got lucky in a way. Although we were unable to find an aerial route to Blenheim, we managed to squeeze a car out of Avis to reach Blenheim tonight. Sure beats staying at an airport hotel overnight before a dawn flight like the rest of our flight was stuck with... The downside was a 4 hour road trip with a serious lack of space, bathroom facilities and observance of the "right side of the road" policy we enjoy in America. Between switchbacks and mile-to-kilometer conversions we were however able to see a part of NZ that few people have (as evidence by the 20 max cars we saw), some seals on the beach and a beautiful sunset - not all bad.

Well it has been almost exactly 40 hours since we left our home in Atlanta, but I can finally say that we have made it. Flight cancellations, luggage snafus and left-sided roads have proven unable to keep us from Blenheim. I would never have expected this series of twist and turns, but we have dysfunctionally been able to get ourselves to the hotel after all. As I sit here with a healthy glass of Sauvignon Blanc, for which we are going wine tasting tomorrow, I can finally declare: let the vacation begin.

It may not have been the 'good meal' to fill my belly that I'd hoped for, but Burger King never tasted so good and I will certainly be sleeping well.

Almost There

We've finally arrived in Sydney a mere 26 hours after leaving our doorstep in Atlanta. Alas we still have 2 more flights until our final destination that will last somewhere around 8 hours. It hasn't all been exhausting though. In LAX we met a Virgin Australia employee that told us all about his time at the airline, meeting Richard Branson (and visiting his personal island) and getting 2 tickets for a Virgin Galactic trip to space. To further earn our loyalty, the Virgin flight was as good as any 16 hour flight could be and our seats were great.

We're about to board a quick 4 hour flight to Wellington (NZ is further away than it looks) and then a puddle jumper to our final destination of Blenheim for a few days. Can't wait to lay down with a good meal in my belly and get a real night's sleep.