After Christchurch, we drove through the mountains on our way to Nelson, in the top of the South Island. We stayed at perhaps the nicest hostel on Earth. Not having loads of hostel experience (I've stayed at maybe 1 or 2 my whole life), I still think my description is accurate. It was on the 2nd floor in a 1800s mansion perched on top of a hill, with awesome facilities, comfy beds, and a fully equipped kitchen.
Our main activity from Nelson was visiting the golden beaches of Kaiteriteri about an hour's drive.
Next was the 3.5 hour ferry ride from Picton to Wellington, crossing the Mildford sound from the South to the North Island. It was beautiful the whole way.
After relatively easy driving and not huge traffic in Christchurch, it was a shock to the system to be dumped from the ferry into the middle of Wellington rush hour traffic! Thankfully, we navigated our way right to our hotel and parked it for the rest of our time in Wellington.
I have to say, I LOVED Wellington. I've been told it has atrocious weather, but the weather gods shined down on us for pretty much the entire trip. Wellington is the capital of NZ and has probably the most vibrant arts and culture scene in NZ, and you can tell this just by walking around. There are art sculptures, fountains, funky shops and cafes everywhere. We took a walking tour and the guide told us Wellington has the most coffee shops per capita (in the world? Can't remember). I'd believe it though. Any little cubby hole big enough to fit a espresso machine, pretty much had one!! It's a very walkable city, and pretty livable I'd say. We took tours of the parliament buildings, visited the botanical gardens, and toured the Te Papa, an incredible New Zealand/Moari culture museum.
Next we were on the road to Napier/Hawke's Bay, which is on the very Northern end of the NZ wine region (which is huge). I unwittingly chose Napier for our wine tasting (on bikes) experience, not realizing it specializes in reds, which I prefer. If we had visited further south, it would have been mostly whites, so that was a lucky move. I did learn something about my wine palatte... I'm not a syrah fan. Now I know. But we tasted lots of yummy wines, even a white I liked!
We also visited the beach in Napier and discovered how different they are from the last golden beaches... these were black. I think they're the first black beaches I've ever seen!
The trip began to pick up the pace after Napier. The rest of the trip was mainly one day visits in each city.
We sped through Taupo and only got a glimpse of the huge Lake Taupo and stopped briefly to see the beautiful Huka Falls.
In Rotorua we met most of the family for a Maori cultural dinner, including Maori entertainment and a chance to make a fool of yourself on stage! This was mom's first meeting of the in-laws, so it was really nice.
The next day, mom also got to experience the odoriferous splendor of Rotorua. Because NZ has so much volcanic activities and Rotorua in particular contains so much geothermal activity and nearby sulfur deposits, all you can smell is the sulfur... all the time. I had been there before, but never spent the night. Waking up to sulfur smell was an interesting experience... ha! We visited a Maori thermal park (Te Puia), where there's both a weaving school and carving school to preserve the traditions of the Maori people.
After that, we drove to Tauranga and had dinner with my niece, which was nice. The next morning, I forced mom to climb Mount Maunganui, which is a must do activity. The view is completely worth it. Plus, this is the area of NZ where Theo used to live, work, and climb the Mount on a regular basis, so I was kinda part of the Theo tour :)
After the Mount we drove to Judith and Martin's farm, so mom got to see where Theo and I got married. Judith made us a lovely lunch and gave mom the full farm tour. An added bonus was getting to see the local swinging bridge. Very cool.
We spent the night with another sister-in-law nearby and visited her farm as well. We had a lovely dinner with them and relaxing evening sharing photos and stories.
We couldn't have had more opposite experiences than driving from the farm to Auckland, back to the city. Again, we miraculously made it to our hotel alive. We were in the heart of the city with a wonderful city view. The next day we got to have lunch with another niece, this one a student pastry chef. We got to eat at the fancy restaurant where she works :) It was yum, of course!
Our only driving mishap took place in Auckland. On the way to the airport, we got lost. But considering the miles and miles we had driven up to this point, it was bound to happen. But in the end, we made it to our flights safely and on time.
Of course there are many more stories to tell and many more photos. If you want to see more, check out my facebook page. And in the next blog, I promise to tell you more about my new home in Brisbane! yay!
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