New Zealand

Last Thursday we went to Queenstown, NZ!  New Zealand is just perfect... our trip, however, was not!  Although, a few different things didnt go according to plan, we still had a great time!

A few things to remember when travelling abroad...

1.  Remember your passport
2.  You can't change the weather
3.  When all else fails, just go with it (preferably with a drink in hand!)

Yeah so we started off the trip forgetting the very important rule #1!!  AHHH  So we get all the way to the airport before Brian mentioned it (it NEVER even crossed my mind!) We didnt have time to go back and get them so had to reschedule our flights.  Queenstown is quite small and only a few flights come in each day so we got a flight into Christchurch (a mere 6 hours drive away which would have been lovely except we arrived in the evening so the whole drive was at night)  Why oh why did New Zealand have to be its own country!!!  JK Kiwis! :)  Luckily Brian is able to get us into the Qantas Lounge with all his flight miles and we sat and drank and ate and drank some more until our very late flight finally departed.  One very exciting part of our flight being delayed is that I got to see that my best friend had her baby girl!  And I even got to see a sweet picture of her before we had to get on the plane with our phones off for the next 4 days!  Hooray!  Auntie Erin loves baby Lexi! :)

We got into Christchurch around 8pm and got straight in our car and drove for the next 6 and a half hours to Queenstown.  We were completely wiped and when we got to our hotel at 1:30am I saw the most beautiful sight in NZ thus far: a big comfy bed!

Now when we woke up I saw a much more amazing sight, the view from our window!  It was absolutely gorgeous!!!

Unfortunately, soon after seeing this, we got a call informing us that the helicopter ride we had booked for Milford Sound and a glacier was cancelled due to high wind.  OH NO!  I was really excited about the trip so was a bit disappointed to hear that we also could not drive there because an avalanche had closed the road!  We will see you one day Milford Sound... we will see you....

We decided to instead take a drive to see some of the scenery!  It was spectacular!  Queenstown is the best little town with tons to do.  A 45 minute drive led us to another cute town named Glenorchy.  Here are a few pictures from our drive....

We then ate a delicious lunch of hearty soups/stews with quite the view :)

We then went back to Queenstown to catch a boat ride!  We were going to tour the lake which Queenstown is on, Lake Wakatipu.  The steam boat has been used on the lake for 100 years (same as Titanic) and Brian was excited to take the cruise :)  Here are some pictures....

Brians video of the steam engine in action!

Oh and the evening was not even finished!  We then had reservations at a restaurant wayyyyy up high over Queenstown.  We decided it was best to go early to be able to check out the view and hopefully the sunset!  To get the there we had to take a gondola ride!

Dinner was amazing!  So basically the day did not go as originally planned but it was so great and we had the best time.  New Zealand is so beautiful!  We only had one day left on our very short trip and we decided to ski!

In the morning we got up, found a ski rental shop, walked to the bus station where we bought lift tickets and up we went to the mountain!  The only slopes open that day were a range called The Remarkables!  We had a great first few hours of skiing!  After lunch it became a blizzard outside but we continued on for a few hours before it was getting a bit too dangerous for my taste... at one point Brian and I both accidentally got off the trail, looked around and all we could see was white, it was like blind skiing! YIKES!  That day/ night they got 18 cms of snow (the best of the season... too bad we didnt get to stay and ski the next few days, it would have been perfect!)

our view on the way up

brian trying to recover his dropped pole from under the lifts

After the day of skiing we only had a night out on the town before we had to leave the next morning!  This trip was waaay too short!  There are so many things to do and we only brushed the surface... We have definitely made the decision-- we ARE going back! Hopefully this summer (Dec-Feb) when its all bright and sunny and gorgeous-(er)!  :)  Here are a few pictures I took of Queenstown....

All the the mountains around us were covered in snow the next morning!  So much for an early spring time!

Really, New Zealand is just as beautiful as I imagined it, or maybe even more!  I am so excited to make a trip back.


We are leaving for an area near Perth tomorrow called Margaret River.  They have lots of wineries and beautiful beaches!  We are really looking forward to it!  After hibernating all winter we are back in the travelling groove!

Be back soon with our Margaret River trip :)