Talofa!
We had a great 6 days in New Zealand for our little vacation before flying home on March 5th. Here's a little rundown.
Thursday night: We arrived in Auckland at around 6:30 PM and had to pick up luggage to go through customs before we could check in to our next flight to Christchurch. One of Bruce's bags was missing and after trying to track that down and then going to the domestic flight terminal, we didn't make the connecting flight! Fortunately there was another flight going to Christchurch that night at 9:15 so we were able to get on that one. We arrived in Christchurch at around 10:30 pm and picked up our rental car, then drove to the hotel in downtown Christchurch. By the time we got checked in and settled, it was close to midnight!
Friday AM we got up and went on a little run in at the nearby Hagley Park. It was beautiful! The town is really clean and the temperatures were in the 60's! A big change from Samoa! After our run, we got breakfast, checked our big suitcases for storage at the hotel until next week when we'd get back there the night before our flight home. We got out on the road at around 11:00 AM and started our drive to our next destination. Christchurch is the city of renewal where urban innovation meets heritage. It is known as "The Garden City" because of all of its lush green spaces. Christchurch blends modern architecture with some of New Zealand's oldest buildings, featuring inviting gardens and scenic parks that welcome all who seek to explore its charm. As we drove out of town, and into the countryside, we were overwhelmed with the beauty of the farmlands all around us. I thought about how my Dad would have enjoyed this drive checking out all the farms and the crops that were growing and sheep and cattle that were grazing. We took one wrong road that led us onto a dirt road with a huge puddle/river so we turned around and corrected ourselves, haha. We ascended up into the mountains of the southern alps and arrived at Lake Tekapo at around 3:00pm. The lake was a very large turquoise highland lake situated in rolling hills with the majestic southern alps in the distance. There is an old rock church situated right next to the lake. We walked on a path going around one side and then roamed in the little town for a little while. We had dinner at a restaurant there. We had a nice view of the lake from our hotel room and I got a beautiful picture of the sunset. The next morning, we went on a run/walk/hike in the other direction from the way we went the afternoon before and we discovered a number of mountain biking trails on that side. WE had breakfast when we got back and got ready to hit the road again. We drove about an hour and a half to Mount Cook National Park and stopped for a few pictures along the way of Mount Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand.One third of the mountain is covered by the Tasman Glacier. We parked at the visitor center and went on an 8 mile hike called the Hooker Valley Track. It took us up to Hooker Lake where we had an amazing view of Mount Cook and the Southern Alps. We crossed several suspension bridges over gorges along the way and they were pretty amazing! After that, we drove on to Queenstown. It was a mountainous drive through a pass and into another farming area. We saw several vineyards as we got closer to Queenstown, some fenced in deer herds, and lots more sheep and cattle. We stopped in one town that had a fruit stand and bought some dried fruit and fresh peaches. Queenstown is situated along another large lake called Lake Wakatipu. It has kind of a Park City vibe to it. Its main economic base is tourism and there are lots of things to do there. There's adventure activities like mountain biking, zip lining, bungee jumping, a sky swing, and jet boating rides. We didn't engage in any of those. We checked into our accommodation, walked around town a little bit, grabbed dinner, and then went to bed. We had an early start the next morning to catch a bus tour to Milford Sound, "The Eighth Wonder of the World". We had to catch our tour bus ride at 6:50 in the morning. It was a huge bus and there were only 12 of us on it besides the driver/tour guide. So we were able to spread out and everyone had a window seat! The drive to Milford sound was about a 3 hour journey. It took us through grassy flats, dense rainforest and towering mountains with glacial lakes and herb fields. We got some amazing pictures! When we got to the dock at Milford Sound, we boarded the boat for the cruise around the Sound. We saw spectacular waterfalls. the famous Mitre Peak, and some seals sunbathing on a big rock. Once we were out to the open water of the Tasman sea, we turned around and went back along the opposite side of the sound that we went out on. Our lunch was included in the cruise, so we ate that as the boat was working its way back to the dock. On our way back to Queenstown, the bus driver told us about a famous burger place called Ferberger's, so we decided that's where we'd go for dinner when we got back to town. It was a long day, but worth it for the scenery and cruise! And Ferberger's had some amazing burgers and fries!
On Monday, we took time to go on a run around to the other side of the lake and back. The other side opposite where we were staying is newer and has some high end shops and things. I saw a LV store, but it was too early in the morning to shop there. Good thing, haha! After our run, we got ready to go and left for another long drive to our next night's accommodation to Franz Josef glacier. We traveled along the west coast passing by Lakes Wanaka and Hawea (both huge lakes) and saw lots more waterfalls as we drove over Haast Pass and into Westland National Park. We stopped off at Thunder Creek Falls, Bruce Bay, and did a little 3-mile loop track around Lake Matheson. On a clear day, you can see New Zealand's two highest peaks (Mount Cook and Mount Tasman) reflected off the lake. It was too cloudy to see them when we were there. We drove on and arrived in Franz Josef village at about 5:00 pm, checked into our hotel, then walked around the little village and found a place to eat dinner. On Tuesday morning, we walked and ran up to the Franz Josef Glacier viewing spot, but it was a cloudy, rainy morning so we were not able to see the glacier. Apparently, it's quite a unique glacier because it stretches 12 kilometers in length, starting in the Southern Alps and terminating just 19 kilometers from the Tasman Sea at only 200 meters above sea level. After we got back to our hotel, we ate a nice breakfast and then got ready to drive to our next stop, Greymouth. It was about a 90 minute drive, some of which was right along the coast. Once we arrived there, we parked the rental car at the train station rental car return and checked in for the TransAlpine train to Christchurch. It was running late, so we had time to kill. We bought t-shirts at the souvenir shop and just hung out across the street from the station on a bike/walking trail called the West Coast Wilderness trail It went right along where a river goes into the ocean and was built after the town had suffered terrible flooding several times so they built up a big berm to keep the water from flooding the town and put a bike path along the top of it.. We finally boarded the Train after a two hour wait and we were on our way back to Christchurch. The Trans Alpine Train Journey is rated as one of the top six scenic train journeys in the world. It took us deep into the heartland of the South Island, a coast to coast journey through some of the world's most extreme and beautiful scenery. It wound its way over massive viaducts and through spectacular gorges and river valleys, tracking slowly across the country's greatest mountain range, the Southern Alps. It stopped in the heart of the Southern Alps at Arthur's Pass, the highest pass over the Southern Alps, before descending to the Canterbury Plains and on to Christchurch. We saw beautiful valleys and ravines, roaring waterfalls and snow-capped alpine peaks. The fact that we were able to get through this pass via train was due to some extreme engineering involving viaducts, tunnels, bridges, rock shelters, and waterfalls redirected onto shutes to allow you to cross the park. The train ride was a little slower than we had expected, but the scenery did not disappoint! We arrived in Christchurch around 8:30 and by the time we retrieved our luggage and took our shuttle to the hotel, it was past 9:00. We grabbed dinner at the hotel restaurant before they closed at 10:00. The next morning, we went on another run through the park and ate continental breakfast, then packed up everything to prepare to catch our flight from Christchurch to Auckland. The shuttle driver that took us to the airport was very helpful. He helped us haul in all of our luggage, took Bruce to the lost luggage to retrieve the bag that had been mistakenly taken by another passenger on our way to New Zealand, and showed us where to go to check in. We tried to give him a tip, but he refused! That's one thing that is refreshing about New Zealand, workers don't expect to be tipped for services that are just part of doing a good job at your job! This time, when we got to Auckland, the transfer to our next flight went smoothly and the plane was on time. I didn't sleep on the flight, I just can't get comfortable enough in those seats to fall asleep! Bruce slept for a few hours. We arrived in San Francisco where we went through customs without a problem and found our way to the gate for our last flight to SLC! Our plane arrived on time and we were welcomed by 18 of the most amazing people ever--our FAMILY!!! They had made cute posters and it was exciting to see them all there! Scottie and Ridge looked the most changed, they went from babies to toddlers. Whitli had driven our car so we had plenty of room for all the luggage. We all drove our vehicles to crown burger in downtown SLC for lunch before we headed home. We were welcomed at home with a big Welcome Home banner and balloons on our fence as we turned into the driveway to our house. It was so good to be HOME! Hopefully we returned with honor. It truly was an honor to serve the Lord as a senior couple. I hope we touched some lives while we were in Samoa and helped to move God's work forward on the 3 small pacific islands in the Samoa Apia Mission!
