Journey to Queenstown

After 2 nights in Glacier country, we packed up and did our long drive to Queenstown. The drive was about 5.5 hours, but it was beautiful winding roads through mountains and lakes that stretched on forever.

Here is a shot from a side of the road stop:

One hour outside of Queenstown, we stopped in Wanaka to hit Puzzling World. This is a cute little house/tourist attraction that was fun for the kids:

The forced perspective room.:

In this room, the floor was pitched at a 40 degree angle but the ceilings and walls were built in concert with the floor...so balls rolled up hill and water flowed up as well. It completely throws you off! :

Outside and connected to the building is a large maze. Takes about an hour to go through. Yes, we did it. :

After Puzzling World, we drove the last hour into Queenstown. Here are some sights as we got closer to town. Looked more and more like "Middle Earth"!:

Up Next: Three nights in Queenstown!

Franz Josef Glacier Walk

What's that Whirring?

A helicopter!

I've neglected to take good photos of our 2 bedroom villa at Glen Fern Villas in Franz Josef. They were comfy and lovely and had a mountain backdrop. A very nice spot for 2 nights.

We woke up on a windy and threatening day. We weren't even sure our helicopter tour would be a go, but we checked in and found out the pilot still wanted to fly. Okay with us!

John and I sat in front with Jules, the pilot. Strapped in and off we went! I've always wanted to fly in a helicopter and it didn't disappoint. As a matter of fact, because of the windy day, it was quite the experience! Jules flew us up the massive Franz Josef glacier to the mountain tops above it. We followed the mountain ridge line over to the Fox glacier and flew down that. We were supposed to fly around Mt. Cook, which we had a clear and spectacular view of, but the buffeting winds and my immense fear kept us from trying. I simply was terrified! I was fine until the winds on top of the mountain line bumped us around a bit. Jules later said it was a bit too choppy even for his comfort. Yikes!

Here are some photos:

The Helicopter:

John and me in the front. He wasn't excited or anything.:

We landed on the Fox Glacier and piled out for some fun in the snow. Words can't describe the enormity of the glaciers or the colors you see. It's unforgettable.

Can you see the blue?

We were above the clouds:

On top of Fox Glacier landing area. Two other helicopters landed after us:

Again, this was an experience of a lifetime. Terrifying, beautiful, exhilarating. The photos and my words can't bring to life what we were able to live. We are lucky.

Up Next: Glacier walk

Trans Alpine Day across New Zealand

This was one of our bigger travel days. We boarded the TranzAlpine train in Christchurch, which ranks as one of the world's great rail journeys. It crosses the Southern Alps between Christchurch and Greymouth, winding through snow covered mountains and stunning blue rivers.

Boarding the train:

This was John's first official train ride. He was excited. This is the boy who loved Thomas the Tank Engine for many years. I booked this trip especially for him:

Here are our photos along the way. They are not in order. We went from the plains of Canterbury to the mountains and rain forest of the west coast. It was a four hour ride; I lost count after 7 tunnels:

A bridge we crossed:

More blue:

We arrived safely in Greymouth and picked up our rental van there. Then we began our drive south to Franz Josef. We made one stop on the way, a little place called Shantytown. It is an old gold mining town. The boys were able to pan for gold and we enjoyed ice cream and the recreated town/museum with artifacts from the gold mining days.

One of the real original buildings:

Some fun photo opportunities:

Our favorite:

And the most interesting to us... a windmill made in Freeport, Illinois! How odd that in a teeny tiny podunk, middle of nowhere New Zealand, there is a windmill from Illinois. So for my friend, Karla:

After the stop, we drove the 2 hours to Franz Josef.

Up Next: 2 nights in Franz Josef. What's that whirring?

One night in Christchurch, New Zealand...

We spent two nights in wonderful Kaikoura.

We woke up the day of departure and had a leisurely breakfast at a cafe. On our way out of town we did two more things:

--A stop at the beach:

The beach was made up of perfectly smooth dark rock, easy to walk barefoot on. The darkness of the rocks made them hold the heat from the sun so the breeze was cool and the beach warm and toasty. It was a perfect day! The boys enjoyed throwing rocks into the sea. And, yes, the color of the water is that turquoise:

--A stop at Lavendyll Lavender Farm (yes, he's taller than I am) :

Beautiful! The pictures don't do the colors justice!:

The farm was so maintained and gorgeous:

There were a million bees loving on the lavender, so many you could hear a loud hum. John was nervous to walk out there but conquered his fear:

Then we hopped in the car for the 2.5 hours drive back to Christchurch. We turned our car in and took a walk around the Cathedral square. Here is the Anglican cathedral:

It was built in 1864, completed in 1904, of Canterbury stone and native timber. It stands as a major landmark in Christchurch and is the focal of the square.

We also walked to the Arts Center, located in the old buildings that were the University of Canterbury:

There were neat little cafes here and the insides of the buildings were fun to see. There was also this free form sculpture hanging out:

Then we made our way to our hotel. Traveling with a family of 5 is tricky because you need to book two hotel rooms. I found a place where we could all pile into one room. It used to be the jail! It's called the Jailhouse Accommodation :

We made it to our rooms and were exhausted. I pulled down my sheet only to find this:

We quickly checked out of the hotel and into a Best Western for the night. I don't know if that was an official bed bug, but I knew we weren't sticking around to find out! Good thing I always check before we get settled! Traveling is always an adventure!

Up next: Choo choo!