Trip to NZ

Well I sat down to organise the photos from NZ from a few hundred into a manageable bunch for this blog. On first attempt I narrowed it down to 53! After visions of "slide nights" flooded my mind I thought I would spare you somewhat and worked it down to 26. So here goes.

We arrived in Christchurch NZ on Sunday the 27th September. The next morning we took our fabulously spacious 12 seater van on the road to Queenstown. Passing by some of the most spectacular scenery we had ever seen (this probably accounts for about 100 of our photos!) we stopped at Ashburton so I could get my fiber (as in wool) fix, passed by beautiful Lake Tekapo, and saw more snow covered mountains than we had in our lives! It took us about 6 hours with stops but the journey was wonderful and the kids were so excited to see so many different sights.

The next two days we decided to explore Queenstown and it's amazing surroundings. We went to The Remarkables and Coronet Peak where we all did some snow skiing (including little M!). We were blessed with fresh snow falls at night and comfortable weather by day so we all had a great time and could have stayed there all week!

Our good friends the Douglas family arrived the next day and we set off together on our journey to Milford Sound. Ally and Rob had a van for their family as well so we had 12 kids playing musical chairs between the two vans! It was a lot of fun. We saw absolutely beautiful sights along the way and spotted many "Lord of the Rings" locations as well. Here is Adam and the boys recreating the "hiding from the Ringwraiths scene"!

After spending the night at Milford Lodge we took a cruise around Milford Sound and Mitre Peak. It was high overcast and cold but everything we had hoped for. We saw penguins and seals, the most amazing waterfalls and the kids had an exciting ride on the swell of the Tasman Sea. In the afternoon we all went on some beautiful bush walks.

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Following this wonderful experience we journeyed back to Queenstown again. After spending the night at one of Rob's family's holiday houses we awoke the next day and decided to take a ride on the Skyline gondola and experience the glorious views over the town and Lake Wakatipu. It was the most spectacular view I have ever seen! Here we all went for a few rides on the Luge and Adam went paragliding(!) In the afternoon a relative of Rob's had his jet boat out on the lake and he kindly offered to take us all for a ride. It was a lot of fun!

That afternoon we travelled across to the coast near Dunedin to Rob's family's farm. We were warmly welcomed and fed by Rob's parents and slept in the "Stonehouse" built long ago from hand cut limestone. Later that night we sat around the cosy fireplace with Ally and Rob and a warm Milo, reminiscing on the weeks events while the kids slept peacefully. The next morning we all ventured out to explore the family property and its 4 or so holiday houses and the kids were able to do some sheep herding (we saw some lambs that had just been born!), stone skipping in the river and target shooting. (The boys loved it - especially the big ones!)

After a great day at the Douglas' and a trip to the Moeraki Boulders we headed for Christchurch and our flight home early the next morning.

This was truly one of the most memorable holiday's we have ever had with the kids. They were wonderful ages to enjoy it and were very enthusiastic about everything that we did. We really enjoyed the spontaneity of our activities and will never forget the absolutely glorious scenery (or the Perky Nana's hey J & M!)
Thank you Douglas family for sharing your holiday with us, it was great!!