For the past three months, Jason and I have been like impatient, little children filled with great excitement and anticipation for Christmas morning; except, our great anticipation was for a much different reason. Instead, we were going on the trip of a lifetime to New Zealand!
The idea started over dinner, New Years Day at our friends,
Ryan and Jill Mahan's place. We started throwing out exotic places we ought to visit while living on this side of the world. It didn't take long for us to reach a consensus that New Zealand would be our next vacation destination. New Zealand has so much to offer to its tourists: outdoor adventures, wineries, and spectacular views to name a few. Not to mention, the world-class game hunting was a deal sealer for Jason and Ryan (I was pretty excited about the prospects of hunting myself.) Thanks to
some plenty of accumulated frequent flyer miles, our thoughts of visiting a country with some of the world's most pristine landscapes and prime hunting would became a reality!
New Zealand is everything you envision and so much more! Not to mention, we couldn't have planned a better time of the year (fall season) to spend a week traveling the South Island. The temperatures were in the mid 60's for most of the week, the stags were in full rut (Jason will blog about our hunting adventures), and the fall foliage seemed to be peaking. As our trip played out, our experiences were vast and unforgettable: world trophy hunting; scenic vineyards; quaint towns of yester-year; postcard-worthy landscapes and seascapes; glaciers and boulders; breathtaking sunrises in the mountains; glimpses into the Kiwi (New Zealander) lifestyle and lingo--up close and personal; and even a meager 3.5 aftershock to finish up the trip. Needless to say, we fell in love with the nostalgia of New Zealand--the local bakeries and brews, citycenters, fuel "service" stations, sheep farms, and scenic highways had us believing we were living back in time. When the trip was all said and done, our only regret was that we had to leave and come back to Singapore. We hope to go back one day.
After combing through over 1,000 photos from the trip, I have narrowed a few down to share with you. Enjoy!
Christchurch
Arriving in Christchurch, it didn't take long to notice destruction left behind from the recent earthquakes. The damage was still very much present in Christchurch as the locals were very sensitive to the issue. National guard troops were standing guard against looters along many of the street corners in the citycenter. Unfortunately, frequent aftershocks continue to wreak havoc on the rebuilding process for the Kiwis, who are anxious to pick up the pieces and return to a sense of normalcy.
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Chain hotels as we know it the States are not the norm for lodging on the South Island. Instead, travelers have their pick of several "mom & pop", family-owned motels. Luckily my Lonely Planet New Zealand book had good suggestions for motel accommodations.
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| These scenes took me back to images of New Orleans after Katrina. Some people are still unaccounted for and many of the business remained closed two months after the last quake. |
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| A tree-lined street with colorful leaves in Ashburton |
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| Fall foliage in April just doesn't seem right, nevertheless, it was beautiful! |
Lake Tekapo
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| Church of the Good Shepard |
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| I won't even try to explain this... |
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| Mt. St. John |
Oamaru
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| We ate lunch at the building on the left and stopped in for a pastry in the bakery on the right. |
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| Moeraki Boulders |
Lake Pukaki
Mount Cook
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| As you can tell, the weather wasn't cooperating the day we drove up to Mt. Cook, the highest point in New Zealand. |
Alexandra/Cromwell
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Did you notice the cross and clock?
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| Shaky Bridge - Alexandra, NZ |
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So my husband proceeds to see if the bridge lives up to its name...
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| Kawarau River - Cromwell, NZ |
Central Otago Region Wineries
Wineries in this region, the most southerly in the world are predominantly known for their pinot noirs. We stopped at three very different wineries for some wine and cheese tasting and picked up a few bottles to bring back to Singapore.
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| Three Miners Winery is more of an upstart boutique winery. The owner graciously welcomed us to his winery and shared the history of his family's humble beginnings in the vineyard business. |
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| Gibbston Valley Winery |
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| Gibbston was more commercialized than the previous two, but their specialty cheeses and spreads were very good. |
Queenstown
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| Lake Wakatipu |
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| Edith Cavell Bridge crosses over the Shotover River at Aurthur's Point just outside of Queenstown |
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| Arrowtown Junction |
It can be said that the expat life has many perks and drawbacks. I guess one of the perks of living overseas is the opportunity to explore countries we may have otherwise only dreamed of visiting. For us, visiting New Zealand has always been on our bucket list, but, never would we have dreamed that the opportunity would present itself so soon. We feel so blessed to see some of the world's most beautiful places. Hopefully some of you are just as fortunate to visit one of the world's most picturesque countries one day as well!
A week mingling amongst the Kiwis will have you talking like one! Some of our favorite Kiwi lingo from the week included:
"mate" - friend
"eh" - don't you agree?
"good on ya, mate" - good job
"sweet as" (favorite) - fantastic, great
Cheers Mates!
