On December 11th we started our journey to New Zealand - a vacation we have planned for almost a year. We flew direct from Singapore to Christchurch, ~9 1/2 hours flying time. The flight there was an overnight flight, so we arrived very tired, but overall the kids did great on the trip. Upon arriving in Christchurch we picked up our camper van, loaded up with some groceries, and checked into a camp site. We stayed one night in Christchurch in a camper park, then headed out for a big drive the next day to Punakaiki on the West Coast.
Our Kea campervan (Matt did a fantastic job driving this massive vehicle, stick shift, on the left side of the road):
We cooked most meals inside the camper, except when we got to Lake Wanaka and I fell in love with the local cafe's and then we ate our lunches out, but still cooked dinner in...
The kid's seats:
Jack wanted to be the driver and spent every spare moment in the driver seat. Within seconds of releasing him from his car seat he was in the driver's seat pretending to drive.
We had bad weather in Punakaiki, cold rain and wind. The kids loved playing on the beach though. This beach was a one minute walk from our campgrounds:
The pancake rocks were cool to see, although my pictures didn't turn out so great because the mist made it hard to see the coast line:
Next we drove to Franz Josef. We stayed in a nice campgrounds, the town had a ski-town feel to it. Lots of backpackers and youngsters on holiday (summer in NZ).
We took a helicopter ride to the top of the glacier. This was probably the highlight of our trip. Very cool. The kids absolutely loved the helicopter.
Picture of the Franz Josef glacier from the helicopter:
From Franz Josef we drove to Queenstown. The drive was filled with beautiful scenery -- lakes, mountains, fields, etc. I am so bummed I didn't take more pictures while we were driving...but it turns out that driving with three small kids kept me too busy to keep my camera on the ready! I have lots of bruises to show for my many trips taking the kids to the bathroom during the drive and because the drive was so hilly I must have picked up spilled milk, coloring books, games, crayons, snacks, dolls, and blankets a million times. Between all of that, though, we saw some seriously amazing stuff. Some of the most beautiful places on earth.
In Queenstown we stayed in a hotel for two nights. It was a needed break from the camper to get our laundry clean and relax a bit. We had a really nice spot with a beautiful view. View from our hotel room on the balcony:
We drove to a very small town called Glenorchy for a day to let the kids ride a horse. They loved it, of course, and talked about it for a week. The horse farm:
Ainsley riding "Toby"
Kara riding "Toby"
Jack riding "Toby"
On our drive back to Queenstown we stopped at this beautiful lake, Lake Wakatipu. The water is crystal clear and freezing cold. The kids loved it and Jack loved playing in the rocks.
Next we were off to Lake Wanaka. We ended up staying here for four days because Jack came down with a cold and we wanted to make sure he was getting good naps (rather than nodding off in his car seat) and to give the kids a break from long days in the campervan. Turns out that two year olds don't like to be strapped down for several hours driving across a foreign country. From their perspective they had no idea we were in New Zealand...they just kept asking if we could go swimming or to another playground! Lake Wanaka was a good spot with a beautiful lake, a nice town with really great cafe's (I sampled every eggs benedict in town!) and lots of room for the kids to play.
Some friends of ours from Singapore were in New Zealand during the same time and we arranged to meet up with them in Wanaka. We spent two nights lined up at the campsite together. It was nice to see good friends during the holidays so far from home:
From there we drove to the East coast to the town of Oamaru. This town is famous for its penguin colonies. This shot is looking town on the town of Oamaru:
We don't have pictures of the very cool penguin exhibit because they don't allow cameras. Over a hundred penguins swim out to see each morning and then return to their "home" at nightfall. It was a really cool thing to see in their natural habitat. The kids liked it, but they were not as impressed as Matt and I were. I think they prefer to see penguins in the zoo because they are up close!
Our last night we spent in the town of Christchurch. We visited the city center, took a trolley ride, and ate pizza. I snapped this cute picture of the girls on the trolley. They are so cute together:
From Christchurch we flew directly back to Singapore. The flight back was a daytime flight, so it was a bit harder to entertain the kids for almost ten hours. The iPad and iPhone apps saved us. We landed back in Singapore on December 23rd, just in time to have Christmas eve and Christmas at home. We brought two huge suitcases of dirty laundry back with us only to find our washing machine broken. Haha!
The NZ trip was a huge success. There were a few things we didn't end up seeing because the kids needed a break from driving and rushing around, but we saw the majority of everything we intended to see. The south island is beautiful. Everything we had heard was true and I found myself in awe of how amazing some of the scenery was. The kids enjoyed being together as a family for two weeks and doing special things like the helicopter, the horse riding, and swimming in the lakes. We wanted to do this trip from Singapore because the flight is shorter and cheaper than from Texas. It is a trip we will remember forever :-)
Posts
