The Long Journey Home

December 30, 2014

We woke up and took things a bit easy as our flight out isn't until 1:00 p.m.  We went in to Christchurch for breakfast at Vic's Cafe.  We had wanted to go when we were here over Christmas, but it was closed.  We had a nice relaxing breakfast, but I must say it did not compare to the one we had at Vudu Cafe in Queenstown.

Walking in the nearby neighborhood we walked past this alley in full bloom.  It was so beautiful that we stopped to take pictures.  We were wondering if they just naturally grew here, or were looked after by someone.  Then these two men walked down the alley and saw us taking pictures and told us that they worked really hard to get them to look like this.  So nice!

Then it was off to the airport to return the rental car.  First we ended up at the Hertz Corporate offices because the SatNav in the car brought us there instead of the rental return place... Who programs these things anyway???  

We had a nice flight to Fiji.  When we got there we found out that another flight was leaving for L.A. in an hour and a half, so we tried to get on that flight.  The lady looked up the flight, and said there were seats, but also said the flight had closed 5 minutes earlier, so she couldn't put us on it.  I asked if there was a supervisor she could call to see, because we were at a really small airport and there was still an hour and a half before the flight left.  She did not want to help us, and I almost cried...

Oh well, I am sure there must be some reason for it, so we had a long 5 hour layover there without the ability to leave the airport, BUMMER! We were all bored to tears and really antsy to get on our flight to L.A.  I must have walked the entire boarding area ten times.  Finally got on our flight and were up in the air, YAY!  Unfortunately we had forgotten to pack the Tylenol PM, so David and I didn't sleep at all!

We got through customs really easily at LAX and headed to our next terminal two terminals away so that we could check in.  We had planned on renting a car and going to the beach because we had a 7 hour layover, but unfortunately it was pouring down rain!  It never rains in southern California!

I was so tired that everything seemed funny to me.  We were standing in line waiting to check in and Danika was holding her Kiwi (the puppet she bought in Te Anau).  I borrowed it from her so that I could pretend it was watching people.  It has a head that swivels around.  I have really good peripheral vision, so I could look straight ahead and see people from the side walking by.  So I moved the birds head along with them so it looked like the bird was following them watching them go by.  It freaked quite a few people out and kept me very entertained!  Danika, of course, was embarrassed and kept trying to get me to stop, but I was having too much fun!  Besides, it kept a lot of people who were waiting in line entertained as well.

With all of this time to hang out at the airport, we decided to go exploring the underground passages that link the terminals so that you can go from one to another without having to clear security again. We were in terminal five, and the food there was atrocious.  So we explored terminals six and seven. We found a Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in terminal seven, so we decided to have dinner there.  It was actually quite good!

When we got back to our gate, it was almost time to board, so I headed to the restroom.  To my surprise, as I was walking, someone called my name.  I turned around to see none other than Vince Skahill, from my college days. He was there with his wife, Donna (also a friend from college) and they were returning from Mexico and headed back to San Diego.   I was shocked!  I always love to run into people I know at airports, and I usually look around just in case, but rarely does it happen. Of course it is going to happen when I have already been traveling for 30 hours with little sleep! However, I have to say it was a blessing. Our flight was delayed, and so was Vince and Donna's flight.  Our gates were right next to each other, and it was so nice to spend time catching up.  The time just flew by!

Before we knew it we were on our flight to Salt Lake City.  However, with our flight delay, we missed our connection to Missoula... Ughh!  Our bags were checked and we didn't have changes of clothes because we figured we would be home...  at least we had our toothbrushes in our backpacks! We arrived in Salt Lake at 11:00 pm and were given rooms at a nearby Doubletree.  The kids loved it because they gave us three rooms, one for David and I, and one for each of the kids, so they got their own hotel room along with fresh warm out-of-the-oven cookies.  Unfortunately there were no open flights directly to Missoula the next day, so we had to get up at 5 a.m. to catch a flight to Minneapolis, then catch a flight to Missoula.  

Everything went really smoothly and I was so happy to land in Missoula and be HOME after 45 hours of travel with very little sleep.  There really is no place like home!

Back to Christchurch

December 29, 2014

We woke up at 6:00 a.m. this morning so that we could get an early start on our long drive back up to Christchurch.  We figured if we left early, we could stop for breakfast in Queenstown.  Quickly snapped a picture of Danika and her Kiwi out on the balcony.  She bought it as a souvenir and it's a puppet, complete with turning head.  She loves the little guy!

We left by 6:20 a.m. and I started driving. It was really difficult because I was headed directly into the rising sun and kept going in and out of it so I would get blinded and I could not see a thing!  It really slowed down my driving for the first 30 kilometers.  After that, the sun had risen enough so that it wasn't right on the horizon, and also we had turned northward, so it wasn't directly in front of me, so it was smoother sailing.  

We arrived in Queenstown just around 8:20 a.m. and went to the Vudu Cafe for breakfast.  David had read about it in the Lonely Planet.  It was fabulous!  We started with hot chocolate!

The kids and I had these fabulous pancakes with blueberries and roasted sunflower seeds and a raspberry sauce.

David had poached eggs.  Everything was fabulous.

We walked around Queenstown for a bit and we all agreed that we would love to come back.  It is definitely my favorite place so far on the South Island.  There were parasailors above the hills.

There is a lovely little harbor with a nice sandy beach too...

We ended up leaving Queenstown and heading to Lake Tepako around 10:00 a.m. The entire drive was so beautiful with lupins all along the road.

On our way, we passed the beautiful Lake Pukaki with snow-covered Mt. Cook in the background.  It was breathtaking.  And yes, that is the actual color of the lake.

We arrived at Lake Tepako around 1:00 p.m., just in time for lunch, so we parked by the lake and made our sandwiches.  David doesn't like peanut butter, and we had run out of ham, so I made him a raspberry jam and banana sandwich.  It sounds disgusting, but he LOVED it!  On one of our walks he said (a little too loudly)  "Thanks for the BJ, it was awesome!"  (meaning the Banana Jam sandwich)  I about killed him!

Back on the road for another three hours, and I was so done with being in the car!  We finally arrived at our place in Christchurch, next door to where we stayed last time we were in Christchurch, and checked in at 4:30 p.m.  We specifically booked a place with a pool because we knew the kids would be cooped up in the car all day and a swim would do them good.  I thought I would swim too, but it was really windy, and I was just freezing.  

After the kids got some exercise, we headed off to dinner.  Can't believe it is our last night in New Zealand, but I must say, I am ready to be home.  Not really looking forward to tomorrow and the long 36 hours of travel to get there though!

Driving and Hiking the Milford Sound Road

December 28, 2014

We woke up to a beautiful sunshine-filled morning.  It was a great start to the day, just looking out at the lake with the sun on the mountains.

David and I had a cup of coffee together before the kids woke up.  We had bought scones and clotted cream at the store last night, so we had scones with jam and clotted cream, YUM! It was also so nice to sit at the breakfast bar in the living room and have this view of the lake.

Then it was off to our day of hikes along the drive to Milford Sound here in Fjordland.  It was very much like being in Montana.

We stopped at Mirror Lakes to snap some view pics.

I really liked the fact that they had this sign upside down so that it reads properly in the reflection.

The drive was beautiful, especially with all of the lupins blooming along the road.  We stopped in this place and took pictures because the flowers were so pretty.  

Our longest hike was the Key Summit hike.  It was supposed to be a 3 hour round trip hike up to the summit and back.  We decided to pack a lunch and have lunch at the top.  We figured we should be able to make it by 12:30 or 1:00 p.m.

It was a lot of uphill and the kids weren't too happy about it, but it was well worth it.

When we reached the top, we found this out of the way rock and had the best place up there for our luncheon spot.  The views were incredible!  I felt completely energized after spending time up there.  

The kids wanted to hang out for a bit, so David and I went for a walk about the summit...

Came back and hung out at our lunch spot for a bit.

We finished the nature walk at the summit before heading back down.

The views on the way back down were fabulous as well.

The round trip only took us 2 1/2 hours and that was with a long rest for lunch.  We kept driving towards Milford Sound and took a seldom used road to Hollyford where there was an early settler's museum.  It was 8 kilometers down a dirt road and definitely not worth it.  However, there was a lovely hike at the beginning of the turnoff for Hollyford and it started with this swinging bridge that the kids really had a good time shaking around.  

We also stopped at the Chasm and did the short hike there, but the lighting wasn't great for pictures, so we didn't take any.  I think the hike was worth it though, just to see how the water has carved out the rocks.

Our last stop was Milford Sound itself.  We did a bit of a walk around and watched the cruise boats come and go.

It was really windy, so we were pretty happy that we didn't have to kayak in that. It was nice to go out to the end of the jetty and sit and relax.

We went into the ferry building for a look around.

After a full day of hiking everyone was really tired, so we headed back to Te Anau.

It was cooler tonight than last night, in fact it was too cold for me to sit out on the balcony.  Jason and I had wanted to rent one of those sit down bikes and tour around, but we were freezing.  However, still a lovely night and a great place to stay.