Jon and I jetted off to another country again. I know, why can't we just stay put?! Nah, we can't. Wanderlust has hit us and we must EXPLORE THE WORLD!!
We went to New Zealand this time. We flew into Auckland on a direct flight from Hawaii (surprising, I know). Then took another flight down to the South Island to Christchurch where we started our adventure.
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| Off the plane, walking to the camper van rental spot |
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| Figuring it all out at a nearby cafe |
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| Sheep speckled hillsides |
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| Foggy and COLD |
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| Warming by the fire |
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| Jenga! by the fire |
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| A chef Jonny New Zealand dinner |
We got a camper van in Christchurch called the Spaceship. It is BRIGHT orange and calls a lot of attention to itself as a tourist's vehicle (given the "For traveler's adventures" logo ON the van). There wasn't a bathroom or sink, just two big storage boxes in the back, one with a pantry and fridge, and the other for our bags. Then a mattress laid on top of those to sleep on. SUPER basic and compact- and just perfect for us. New Zealand is a country built for camping. There are what they call Holiday Parks in every major, and most minor cities, as well as other super basic camp spots throughout the country as well. The Holiday Parks had fully equip kitchens and fully functioning bathrooms and showers. So we embarked. Explore the day away and then use local ingredients for home cooked Jonny meals (and you know they were all amazing), local wines, and slept in the van. Some spots had beautiful views, other were much more basic. The price for most were between 25 to 45 NZ dollars (which is cheaper in US dollars) a night. Sure beats a hotel for $150 plus!
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| Franz Josef Glacier hike |
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| "Thou shall not pass!!!" -Lord of the Rings reference |
The South Island of New Zealand is the most well known. The views on the South Island are what you see in the breath taking pictures and videos of New Zealand. It is further from the equator so it is much more cold, allowing for more rain, snow, and green beautiful hills. We were there during the switch between Winter to Spring. We were told they were having a pretty mild winter until the week we were there and it had gotten fairly bad! Well, just our luck! We were hoping to do so much more hiking and eating outdoors, and whatnot but it was just so chilly, we didn't get as many chances to. And when we did suck it up and go for the hike, our clothes were soaking wet for the next 4 days (because there was no way to dry them when it kept raining haha). Never the less, we pride ourselves on having fun and making the best of every situation while travelling.
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| There were 40 plus waterfalls flowing into the valley we were hiking through to the glacier |
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| I spy JON |
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| The weather wasn't really cooperating-- but it caused the 40+ waterfalls to stream down the mountains |
No matter the weather, you are in a different country and really should enjoy every moment you can. Or even if you aren't in another country but traveling and are on vacation. Realize that this moment is the moment you've saved up for and anticipated while at working dreaming of being somewhere else. Why would you let simple frustrations ruin your mood and day. It boggles my mind when I see that in Maui, a family so upset and annoyed about something so small. Come on, you've been waiting for these moments and you are literally throwing them away. Anyways, off of my soap box... so even though the weather didn't quite cooperate, we had an amazing time. We figured instead of hiking as much as we planned, we would do more wine tasting!
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| We stayed steps from the beach |
It was quite to kick to just drive and punch into the GPS (named TomTom, which we renamed GusGus- from Cinderella) the address of the closest Holiday Park and set up camp for the night. We met some really cool people in the common areas. A lot of people from the UK, a good amount of Australians of New Zealanders travelling by camper van or RV as well because it was their holiday the week we went as well, and then plenty of people from all over the world!
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| Lunch Break |
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| Devil's Punchbowl waterfall |
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| Cool bird called a Kea (Kay-uh) |
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| Keeping warm |
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| Our travel coffee maker |
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| Making breakfast from our pull out gas stove |
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| Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes of Punakaiki |
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| The rocks are shaped like pancakes stacked on top of each other |
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| A funny nick name for this blowhole! |
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| Found his walking stick |
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| Our snazzy wheels |
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| Trying my first hard cider at Mac's |
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| Got to get gelato while on vacation- a tradition |
New Zealand opened up our palate to new wines. The tricky thing about the US, and especially a little Hawaiian island 5 hours away, is the wines we get in the states are all of the streamline big corporate sold wines coming from wineries that have enough to ship way out to us. I never liked Sauvignon Blanc because all of the ones I tried just tasted like grapefruit, which I'm not a fan of. Little did I know, Sauv Blanc can have a totally different taste, light but fruity and of all different amazing fruits. Subtle or not. Now I really like this grape varietal all thanks to trying this wine at the local tiny vineyards in New Zealand!
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| We definitely bought some tomatoes here |
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| We stayed "in a van, down by the river!!!" |
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| I'm so spoiled. This is how we eat while camping out of a van.. |
The North Island doesn't have as much well known landscapes, but has great wine and beaches. The weather was better but still rainy so we didn't do much beaching... just more wine :) This is also where Hobbiton is- the movie set of The Shire where The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were filmed. That was an unforgettable experience.
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| Ferry to Wellington, up to the North Island |
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| Best Risotto of my life |
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| Drinks at an Open Mic Night |
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| We hopped around for drinks and food a lot that night in Wellington |
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| When its freezing and rainy out... we make due. BOWLING! |
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| And ZUMBA! |
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| Georgia the goat basking in the sun |
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| A baby bunny |
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| Honey tasting!! |
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| The BEST Holiday Camper Park that we stayed in!! Look at that view!! |
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| Cooking dinner, beach front |
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New Zealand Lamb Riblets, asparagus, potatoes, bread,
local Sauvignon Blanc, and a favorite movie (our van had a DVD player). What a date! |
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| Exploring |
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| Huka Falls |
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| Crater of the Moon- a geothermal zone |
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It looks like the fields are on fire but it's just heat rising from the ground
because of the "liquid hot magma" underneath |
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| Silly. Stinky Jonny |
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| Literal boiling mud pools! |
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| Had to get a cappuccino here! |
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| Trying to stay warm-- it worked! |
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| Morning after the big rain storm and it's so sunny! |
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| Too sunny for my eyes :) |
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| Ruakuri Cave and Waitomo Glowworm Cave |
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| I've never been in a cave like this before! It was so sick! |
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| Creepy! |
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| The Shire movie set was unbelievable |
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| Bilbo's house! |
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| And a brew at the Green Dragon afterwards :) |
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| Start of the 4 hour hike UP to the Pinnacles Hut where we stayed overnight |
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| And another 45 minutes to the top of the Pinnacles. Winds 40mph, icy wind, and no security |
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| Trying not the get blown off the mountain! |
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| Hoping the camera won't fall out of my hand! |
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Finally a rewarding sandwich and bottle of wine. All mine. Jon got none.
Just joke! |
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| We visited with other hikers, read, got tipsy, ate dinner, and played cards until way after everyone else had gone to bed :) |
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| Everyone packed light for their 4 hour hike up to the hut. The other hikers were sitting around eating canned beans and bread staring at Jon's beautifully prepared fully balanced dinner and bottle of wine that we shared... :) We suffered the completely uphill 4 hour hike with food and 2 bottles of wine packed away -- so we get to enjoy it all as a nice reward! |
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| And the return hike we went a different path down- the Billy Goat Trail |
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| YEAH we did it!! |
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| Hike to Cathedral Cove- scenery used in the Prince Caspian: Chronicles of Narnia movie |
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| The birds fought each other trying to get as close to our food as possible. SO funny |
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| Jon went for a dip |
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| And a run |
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| And a fake surf (that's a rock he's standing on, not a surf board hehe) |
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| Coolest, corkiest wine tasting we went to. Considering we only tasted one wine and the host decided we would rather try their 10 liqueurs instead |
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| Dinner in Coromandel |
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| YUM |
We finished off our camper van adventure in Auckland and took a ferry over to a little island called Waiheke, where our friend lived for awhile and highly recommended we check out. This was probably our favorite part of the trip. Waiheke island is a small island with the friendliest people, great weather, island vibe and feel (like Maui), and its COVERED with wineries!! Um, Heaven? The next blog has images from there.
So our New Zealand adventure was SO fun! We got to experience many things we've never done before and as always we grew closer together as husband and wife. If you haven't guessed, travelling is our thing. We are addicted... stay tuned to hear more about our next travelling adventures coming up here in a few months!!
To see my awesomely edited and fun pair music to the videos I took while travelling the North and South Island go to these YouTube links:
Russos Abroad- New Zealand, South Island
Russos Abroad- New Zealand, North Island
The Waiheke video is on that blog
We got a camper van in Christchurch called the Spaceship. It is BRIGHT orange and calls a lot of attention to itself as a tourist's vehicle (given the "For traveler's adventures" logo ON the van). There wasn't a bathroom or sink, just two big storage boxes in the back, one with a pantry and fridge, and the other for our bags. Then a mattress laid on top of those to sleep on. SUPER basic and compact- and just perfect for us. New Zealand is a country built for camping. There are what they call Holiday Parks in every major, and most minor cities, as well as other super basic camp spots throughout the country as well. The Holiday Parks had fully equip kitchens and fully functioning bathrooms and showers. So we embarked. Explore the day away and then use local ingredients for home cooked Jonny meals (and you know they were all amazing), local wines, and slept in the van. Some spots had beautiful views, other were much more basic. The price for most were between 25 to 45 NZ dollars (which is cheaper in US dollars) a night. Sure beats a hotel for $150 plus! 
No matter the weather, you are in a different country and really should enjoy every moment you can. Or even if you aren't in another country but traveling and are on vacation. Realize that this moment is the moment you've saved up for and anticipated while at working dreaming of being somewhere else. Why would you let simple frustrations ruin your mood and day. It boggles my mind when I see that in Maui, a family so upset and annoyed about something so small. Come on, you've been waiting for these moments and you are literally throwing them away. Anyways, off of my soap box... so even though the weather didn't quite cooperate, we had an amazing time. We figured instead of hiking as much as we planned, we would do more wine tasting!
It was quite to kick to just drive and punch into the GPS (named TomTom, which we renamed GusGus- from Cinderella) the address of the closest Holiday Park and set up camp for the night. We met some really cool people in the common areas. A lot of people from the UK, a good amount of Australians of New Zealanders travelling by camper van or RV as well because it was their holiday the week we went as well, and then plenty of people from all over the world!
New Zealand opened up our palate to new wines. The tricky thing about the US, and especially a little Hawaiian island 5 hours away, is the wines we get in the states are all of the streamline big corporate sold wines coming from wineries that have enough to ship way out to us. I never liked Sauvignon Blanc because all of the ones I tried just tasted like grapefruit, which I'm not a fan of. Little did I know, Sauv Blanc can have a totally different taste, light but fruity and of all different amazing fruits. Subtle or not. Now I really like this grape varietal all thanks to trying this wine at the local tiny vineyards in New Zealand!
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