NZ- City Life

After seeing our whales, we made our way further South toward Christchurch. Having skipped Nelson, we knew that we could slow down a bit and spend two nights in Christchurch before having to fly out. Beerman had fond memories of the city from his previous visit, and I'd always heard nice things. So, of course, we pulled into the Local Top 10 Campground so C-man would have his fill of kid-friendly activities. He was thrilled.

In the morning, we woke up, and made our way into town. We purchased the combo ticket for several attractions, and this was the first one. It was a slow, leisurely glide down the Avon River.

Afterward, we headed down the street to the Botanical Garden, where we had an even slower caterpillar ride (their version of a people mover) through the gardens. The driver/guide was so calm and serene, we joked she could be a part of the Shweddy Balls skit. Beerman was smart enough to pack us a picnic lunch, and we ate it while on the ride.

When done with this, we moved on to our third attraction, the tram.

We got off at New Regent Street and decided to make our way to a large kids' playground, Margaret Mahy. Even though it was a school day, it was packed with children. We've noticed there is a lot of recess and play time here for children - something I really admired. And C-man was thrilled to find a zipline and a boy who was willing to race him on the one next to him.

After the park, we walked a few blocks, passing a whole lot of empty nothingness, to see the cardboard church. This is the church that replaced the cathedral temporarily until it could be rebuit post-earthquake.

This one.

It seems that it, too, is doomed to be torn down. After years of trying to figure out how to rebuild it, they've decided it has to come down. Just like 80% of the city, which has all needed to come down or has been taken down in an effort to re-start the entire city from scratch. There really wasn't much to see in Christchurch as a result, and we learned that the sheer volume of construction prohibits tour buses from even coming right now.

Our one bright spot was when we boarded the tram with the wizard. Apparently he's a local legend, and we couldn't pass up the opportunity for a photo.

As a tourist, for the next year or so, I'd say you can skip Christchurch. There isn't anything to really see. But it was a good, slow way to spend the day at a trip's end.

NZ- Life at Sea

In the morning, we woke up, played a little on the jump pillow, said goodbye to a cute praying mantis we found in our RV, and booked our whale watching tour.

While it took longer than the available whale flights, and risked sea sickness, we decided being closer to the action would be better. After about a 30 minute ride along beautiful coastline, we stopped for the Captain to check for whales. They communicate with the planes, but also put a listening device into the water to listen for the whale's clicks. We moved a couple of times to get closer. As we did so, we got to see birds, specifically the albatross, which checked off another to-do from C-man's list.

When the Captain could no longer hear the sonar clicks, he declared the whale was coming up.

About 5 minutes later, there Taiki was. An impressive sperm whale, breaching to digest his food for almost 10 minutes.

And then they announced he was about to go down. With a flip and a whip, his tail flipped into the air, and down he went for another 45 minutes. We learned so much about the sperm whale, that it made the whole adventure all that much more impressive.

After seeing Taiki, we moved on to see seals. It was cool, but after having seen the seal pups playing the night before, I was impatient to move on to the Dusky Dolphins. Eventually, we did. And boy, was it worth it.

With about 800 in a pod, they were everywhere - leaping and jumping and swimming and fishing.

I was in love.

Eventually, we had to move on. So we said our goodbyes to the dolphins, and made our way back along even more beautiful coastline.

Finally, our trip was over, and we headed out to lunch. Beerman had the crayfish - the one last very New Zealand food he hadn't eaten yet.

Afterward, we look at some local shops. And then found a geocache as we made our way back to our RV.

Kaiakoura was definitely a memorable and beautiful place for us to stop, and I'm really thankful we made the time.

NZ - A Drinking We Will Go

In the morning, we woke up, had our breakfast, and visited with Eddie the Eel.

He and his three eel friends live in the river along the campground, and C-man was thrilled. Seeing a river eel was on his checklist of to-do's on this vacation, and having a friendly 'pet' one was the best. Having a million ducks show up to hang out didn't hurt either.

After saying goodbye, we moved along to wine country. For years, I've said I'd get myself to wine country in New Zealand until I couldn't drink any more. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day - such a contrast from the West coast. And the people were happy and friendly again. We started at Nautilus, my all-time favorite wine. And it was glorious.

I purchased a pinot gris, since we get the Sauvignon Blanc here. But we drank our way through the flight, enjoying ourselves immensely. C-man even got a bar of basil chocolate.

Then we moved across the street to visit Wairu River Winery. It was beautiful, but the wine wasn't for me.

And then on to see Whitehaven

And then we got hungry, so went back to Giesen, which had advertised famous small plates.

After we had a few tastes, we moved to the courtyard and ordered a cheese platter. It was beautiful. And the best part is C-man learned he really likes different varieties of brie. It was heaven.

After having our fill, we moved on to Cloudy Bay. It was the first tasting we had to pay for, but was still only NZ$10 per person - virtually nothing in comparison to the American wineries.

It was completely worth it, though, because the backyard was beautiful. And they let us get our taste and go out on the patio to sit or swing, and then return for the next varietal.

C-man was really getting into the experience, learning to sniff the different flavors. He was actually pretty good at it. At one point, he even asked me if this was heaven. I assured him it was.

Even the sheep agreed.

After Cloudy Bay, we moved on to lunch at Allen Scott Winery.

From there, I declared I'd had my fill of wine, and it was time to move on with happy hearts. This time, we moved South toward Kaiakoura. As we got into the area, I read about the seals at Ohau Falls. The mothers take their pups there to play while they go back out and fish. It only happens this time of year, so we thought we'd try our luck. And oh, were we lucky.

Completely pleased with ourselves, we made our way into a local campground. We chose a Top 10 Campground, a family-friendly one. While we'd passed others, they hadn't been in the right location. And oh, was C-man delighted when we registered and he realized what fun things were there just for him.

It was a great, great day.

NZ - Across the Country Again

We woke up in the morning, and despite the crummy weather, decided to head back to the blow holes. High tide was 11 a.m., and we were told that it would be a big miss to leave without seeing it. We made it around 10 a.m. - a little early, but still good to hear the enormous booms of crashing waves followed by a huge spray of water above our heads. Everyone cheered for the good ones. It was like a little celebration of water. I loved it.

Having seen no penguins, and being tired of the rain, we decided to move East. There was a point in the middle of the trek across the country that we had to decide whether to keep going to Blenheim (wine country) or head North to Nelson. While Nelson would be amazing, it would mean more driving. So with resignation, we stayed moving Eastward.

After a while, we were tired of driving. So we got out and had some lunch. We noticed Buller Gorge Swing Bridge on the map nearby, and decided to check it out. And we were not disappointed. There was a really cool swing bridge over the Buller River.

On the other side, we followed the pathways around to see some cool fauna and mining equipment. There was even a really old, giant tree. But the highlight was the way across the river. There would be no swing bridge again for us. It was zip line or bust. And away we went.

After this, we happily got back in our car and continued our way East, ultimately ending up in a campground in Spring Creek, just North of Blenheim. (Hello, wine country.) We walked up the road to a cute little pub - Junction Hotel and Bar, where we ordered our meals. We got accused of being Aucklanders when Beerman tried ordering non-mainstream beers. It was a funny experience we enjoyed thoroughly. I still can't believe I didn't document the food. Darn.

NZ - Up, up, and to the rain

We woke up in Fox Glacier and booked a helicopter ride up to the glacier right away. The clouds and rain were coming, and we knew it would be our best chance. Being the only booking that day so far, the car arrived within 15 minutes and whisked us away to the helicopter.

The glacier itself was immense and beautiful.

It was incredibly humbling to see how far it had receded in just the past 5 years. Something to take home and think about, for sure.

We tried to see some other things in the area, but the driving rain and wind made our decision for us, and we got back in the RV and headed further up the coast. We stopped at an old bridge in Whataroa for lunch. The guide books told us to be stunned by the amazing blues. It was okay. I think the cold and rain and sand flies, as well as the contrast to the lake area of Wanaka and Pukaki, unfortunately made me less than amazed.

But then we pressed forward, along the Tasman Sea, passing Hokitika and Greymouth.

Finally, we stopped at Punakaiki for the night. It was our last chance to see any penguins, if it was to happen at all. Unfortunately, we didn't see any. It is out of season, and they only come in to shore after dark and leave before dawn. We tried, but unfortunately, this wasn't in the cards for us. We did, however, get a chance to check out the blow holes at the Pancake Rocks. It was low tide, so while beautiful, it was less than what we were told to expect.

We camped for the night nearby, and endured the most driving and loud rain and wind we'd experienced so far. Between that, and the fact that the people we'd been encountering were less than helpful, I'd started to think this wasn't the place for us to stay long.

There and Back Again

In what was the longest Tuesday of my life (literally and figuratively), we made it home at about 1 a.m. this morning. The good news was that every single flight we had was on time. The bad news is we now have to adjust to this new time. But as Beerman said yesterday (was that really only yesterday?) as we started the long slog back home - Not a soul is going to feel sorry for us. And that's okay, because we had a pretty nice time of it the past 16 days.

I will go back and document the bits of it. Because while it may be tedious for you, dear reader, I want to record everything while it's still fresh. But today, I give you the Gold-Silver-Bronze of my version of our trip. Because while the entire trip was a pretty fantastic adventure, some were more fantastical than others. So here goes...

BRONZE
New Zealand wine country was something I'd talked about getting to for at least 15 years now. And it did not disappoint. It was completely beautiful, the people in this area were lovely, and even the sheep were serene. We had lots of laughs and a really good time in this area.

SILVER
The snorkeling in Fiji was pretty tremendous. Not only was the water warm, seeing the fish and floating around was incredible. Now the raging sunburns that equatorial sun gave us regardless as to the amount of sunscreen we slathered on was not so nice, and we continue to molt to this day. .But the snorkeling was nothing short of amazing, and I'm incredibly grateful Beerman discovered the Gipsea as a way to see Fiji.

GOLD
The overall experience in Kaiakoura was amazing. Discovering the seal pups playing in the waterfall, C-man's excitement over seeing an albatross (on his checklist of to-dos), Taiki the sperm whale breaching, seeing hundreds of dolphins swimming and jumping, and even the campground we stayed at were all fantastic. It was an unforgettable highlight of it all.

Be Right Back

Sorry I've been mostly MIA on this trip. When there is a signal for internet, it's been dodgy. And they charge you by the minute here. (What happened to free internet for everyone, Mark Zuckerberg?!) Anyhow, we've made our way from Christchurch to Wanaka to Queenstown to Wanaka to Fox Glacier to Punakaia to Blenheim to Kaiakoura and back to Christchurch. We've had loads of amazing and incredible adventures in between. From jet boats to glaciers to vineyards to go karts. We always each pick our Gold-Silver-Bronze moments of a trip, and C-man can't even decide what they are, there are so many. So to say it's been grand is an understatement.

I promise to catch up on the details once we're back. And unfortunately, that's coming soon. We're packing bags up tonight, because tomorrow, we make the long slog home to Milwaukee via Fiji, LA, and Phoenix.

Cheers!