Just Call Us Kiwis!

I think it’s about time I write a little about our trip to New Zealand! Readers may get a little bored, but it will be good for me to have all this written down somewhere. I may have already said something about this but, Husbandy and I wanted to go on a big trip after his graduation. We were originally planning on going to the Czech Republic, but after looking into it we realized flights were incredibly expensive! I started to keep my eyes open for good deals, and finally saw one to New Zealand on livingsocial. We did a little research on where we would be going and staying and decided the deal couldn’t be beat! The deal (flights, hotels, and a few excursions) was about $200 more expensive than just the flights to the Czech Republic.

May 22 - 24

As I said before, May was a really busy month for us, but we were ready to go on May 22^nd. Luckily, our flight to LA didn’t leave until 3:30 so we had the morning to do final packing and locking up our new house. My mom was gracious enough to take us to the airport so we didn’t have to pay for parking, we are incredibly thankful for this.

The flight to LA was great, nothing to special. When we got there we had a 5 hour layover! What to do, what to do. We first found a place to eat. Trying to find a restaurant with reasonable prices in an airport is impossible! I think we paid $30 for two burgers and fries…maybe a drink. Uhh. We then staked out a spot by some plugs and began watching Lord of the Rings. I had never seen the movies *insert gasps* and since I was going to NZ, I figured I should.

Our flight to Auckland, NZ left at 9:45PM. Our airplane was huge! It was one of those with 3 seats, aisle, 4 seats, aisle, 3 seats. We were lucky (nope) enough to get the inside set of seats. I love sitting by the window so I have somewhere to lean, but this time I was either leaning on Husbandy or random girl to my left (we later found out she and her husband had bought the same deal as we did and spent the next week with them, kinda - they liked doing things by themselves). Even though I wasn’t loving our seat situation, I did love the movie/tv/game selection! Husbandy and I first watch Mission Impossible, then I watched The Vow and he watched The Hangover. We also tried to sleep and I played PacMan and Tetris. 

After the 12 hour flight we were finally in NZ! Our first stop, customs. Oh customs. During the flight we filled out the form saying where we were going, how long we would be in NZ, why we were there…. One thing we forgot to put was where we would be staying (really the form made it sound like if you were a resident, put your address, so we didn’t fill in the blank). This was a problem. To escalate the problem Husbandy handed his form the customs lady first. Now, before the trip Husbandy was super busy with graduating, so he really didn’t read up on details of the trip. So, when he was asked where we were staying he had no idea and looked at me. I told him and the lady and she asked us to write it on the form. Things we very confusing, Husbandy was not on his A-game, and I’m sure we looked suspicious. We eventually got through the line, but we were directed to go right while EVERYONE else went left. Huh, odd. We quickly found out we had been chosen for a “random compliance check.” Riiiiight. Either way, there we sat for a good 50 minutes while EVERYTHING was taken out of EVERY bag we had. We were also wiped down for drugs. While sitting there I noticed my feet were incredible swollen. It was freaky. I had no idea why, so I was really hoping they would go back down. Anyways, nothing was found (shocker) so we went on our way to wait for our next flight to Queenstown.

While waiting, we met another couple from DC (Danielle and Rich - not the same couple we sat next to in the plane - who had also purchased the livingsocial deal. We started talking and realized this trip just got better!  Soon we were on our way to Queenstown. My first perceptions of NZ were this: people are nice, especially the flight crew, they have fun accents, and I really need a shower!

Due to the time change, we had actually skipped a day. So weird to think about, even more weird when I think I lived a day twice on the way back. Anyway, once in Queenstown, we checked into the Copthorne Lakefront Hotel and were upgraded to a lake front view. OMG it was beautiful, gorgeous! We were loving it already. 

Views from our room!

We immediately made plans to meet D&R later and went to our room. First thing to do…take a shower! Oh wow, it felt so good. At this point it had been about 30 hours since I had last seen a shower.

Soon we met up with D&R and walked down to the Queenstown Gardens and continued on to Lake Wakatipu then over to downtown Queenstown. It rained for a little bit, which made things even more chilly than they already were, but really nothing could stop us at that point. We were in NZ! We got several suggestions for where to eat, but ended up at Brazz. The service there was great! We even met someone from Mesquite. For dinner we had local beers, I got the South Island Blue Cod and Husbandy had ribs. I know that having ribs in NZ might sound weird, but several people had told us there were great, so he just had to compare to Texas Ribs. All the meat in NZ comes from grass fed animals, so it tasted great! Husbandy did have an issue with the BBQ sauce; it had a sort of Asian flare which wasn’t acceptable to his Texan taste buds. J It was at that dinner where we also found out just how expensive NZ is! Our dinner was 85 NZD! Eeek, the plans for our meals quickly changed. After dinner we walked around a bit more then headed to bed. This was also when we discovered the HUGE hill we got to walk up every time we wanted to go back to the hotel. What a joy.

Our first hours in NZ we perfect! We met friends, saw amazing scenery, and ate wonderful food.

May 25

Husbandy and I woke up a little after 7am to be ready for 8:00 breakfast. Our livingsocial deal allowed both of us to eat breakfast every morning while only having to pay for one of us. Granted the breakfast was priced a little high at the hotel, but we figured we’d pay just as much for both of us somewhere in town.

After breakfast we walked across Queenstown to a gondola ride up the side of a mountain. Once there Husbandy and I realized we didn’t have our voucher number! I figured they could look us up by name, buuut no such luck. D&R went on up to look around while Husbandy and I trucked across town to the hotel. It ended up being about 30 minutes round trip – not tooo bad.

While on top of the mountain we took some great pics of Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu, and the Remarkables. We also rode a luge. Husbandy and Rich did the luge twice, so they could do the advanced course, but I didn’t think it was worth it. J

Once back down the mountain we spent time seeing more of the town and bought some souvenirs. We also found gelato and stopped immediately. While we were getting up from eating, Husbandy banged his head on a metal fence which left a pretty big gash in his head and a gave him a headache, so we went back to the hotel for some medicine and rest. I wanted to fight out jet-lag, but Husbandy was out. Around 3:40 I ended up falling asleep too, it was about 10:40pm in Dallas after all.

At 6:00 we met up with D&R for dinner. We walked into town to eat at Furgburger, which was recommended to us earlier in the day when the word “converter” was mistaken for the word “burger.” We were sure glad it was too, cause the burger was gigantic and tasty. After dinner and a stop at a minibar for some drinks, we headed to bed. It was only 8:30, but with the sun going down around 5:45-6:00 and the jet- lag we were ready for sleep.

YUM

May 26

Again we woke up for an 8:00 breakfast at the hotel. Today was the day we were most excited about because we were off to the Nevis Swing! We got to the check in point early, which ended up being nice because they had free Internet. Our hotel advertised free Internet, but what they meant to say was free Internet for 20 minutes or so many megabytes, whiiiich ended up being about 5 minutes of Internet a day.

Anyway, after a 45 min bus ride out to the site, we were harnessed and ready to go! We first watched people bungy, which was nerve racking, but looked so fun! They all made it look so easy! We were actually  tempted to go, but decided we couldn’t spend the money. Soon after we were hooked together in the “honeymoon position” and swinging over the Nevis canyon! So. Much. Fun. I really wanted to go again! So glad we ended up buying the video and pictures of us swinging so we could watch it over and over and show friends and family. :)

Here we go!

Once back in Queenstown we ate a quick fish and chips at PJs then headed back to the hotel for a 1:30 pick up for a LOTR tour. Yup. We are those people. But seriously, it’s pretty cool getting to know behind the scenes info, seeing where scenes were shot, and how the directors manipulated things to make the movie work. For the tour we rode around in a car with 4 other people. It was pretty cool, one lady was from Canada, and  two from France. I’m not sure where the other girl was from. We weaved our way through mountains stopping every now and then for juicy info and pics. We also saw where scenes from The Hobit, Willow, Vertical Limit, America’s Next Top Model, Narnia, Wolverine, and several commercials were shot. NZ is very popular with directors because it has everything from mountains, to lakes, to forests right by each other. 

Not sure why we weren't cast for Frodo and Sam

Scenes from the tour

On the way back there was zero stopping, but just as much weaving in and around the mountain. My stomach was NOT ok with this. For some reason I was just fine with the swing earlier in the day, but while on the tour, most of the car ride back to Queenstown I was focused on not getting sick. Our tour guide, Adrienne, was super fun so it was hard not to talk with him, but it was important not to break concentration. When we were almost back in town he asked Husbandy and I if we wanted to be dropped off in town or at the hotel. I was very thankful when Husbandy said the hotel. There was no walking for me at that time. I later found out Husbandy’s stomach also started to feel weird, but his defense was to talk to keep his mind off it. I literally could not stand without feeling nauseous,so we went straight to our room. Husbandy ended up falling asleep and I watched some TV. Later we got up and ordered more fish and chips (Husbandy had another craving) from the hotel restaurant. The rest of the night was spent relaxing around the hotel. We even watched a little rugby, which is HUGE in NZ. The All Blacks, the national team, had just won the rugby world cup, so rugby was everywhere!

I'd really like to finish up Queenstown, but I think this is getting long. So...stayed tuned for our last day in Queenstown and Auckland!