New Zealand 2017

Thursday February 23

We left Logan at 4:30pm so that we could go visit Blake and Kjersti at the U of U hospital before taking off. We met Katie and her friends at the airport so they could take our car and Sophie. Our flight was delayed by about 40 minutes because of the air traffic in LA so we had a very tight layover. Luckily we were seated in first class and our gate was right next to the one we were taking off out of! We left LA at 11:30pm and started the longest travel period ever. 

Friday February 24

This date did not exist for us. We spent our entire day in the air, alternating between watching movies and sleeping and stretching. The time change from the Utah to New Zealand is unreal haha 20 hours difference to be exact. 

Saturday February 25

This date also did not exist for us. We were supposed to land in Auckland at about 3:30pm but our layover in Sydney was much longer than it should have been. We weren't able to land in Sydney because a plane had ruined the runway so we circled Sydney for a while and ended up going to Brisbane for refueling. We eventually ended up in Sydney but we missed our connecting flight and had to wait in Sydney for 4 hours until the next flight out. We didn't arrive in Auckland until 12:30am on February 26. We weren't able to pick up our rental car because they were closed so we canceled that and had to take a taxi about 30 km away to our AirBnB. Our taxi driver was Indian and did not know how to use his card reader so when we arrived, he couldn't swipe it. Eventually he swiped it and I accidentally clicked the wrong PIN number and so it declined but he said it went through. We even questioned him and he said it went through. It clearly said declined on the receipt but he was adamant so we let it go and got out. Our AirBnB was so quaint and had the coolest shower! It had blue lighting. We were so exhausted so we passed out. 

Sunday February 26

We woke up at 9 and walked upstairs for breakfast. Our host told us that the taxi driver had come back and said the card didn't go through so he wanted payment from us. She said she would get us the message and sent him off of her property. He wanted her to come wake us up and she refused because of how late we had gotten in. She was awesome! We told her how we were unable to get our car rental so she offered to drive us to pick up the campervan. On the drive to get the campervan, I called the taxi driver and this girl was our middle man. Everything I would say, she would repeat it to him in their language, and then tell me what he said. It was incredibly sketchy. She wanted us to put the money into her personal account. She said they couldn't take my card info over the phone and they didn't have a website for me to go to. The fees that would incur if we tried to direct deposit into her account were huge so our host told us that we just shouldn't do it because of how sketchy they were being. We felt bad but we tried to fix it the night before! Anyway, on the drive I played some random games with their little girl, Oriana, and we got on very well! She loved me. Then we picked up our campervan and said our goodbyes. We headed straight for Cathedral Cove. It was 2.5 hours from where we were. Driving on the left side of the road is a blast! We caught on very quickly. We were lucky enough to drive right up the the car park for Cathedral Cove and find a spot immediately. Others weren't so lucky. They had to walk quite a ways ha we started the hour hike in and were amazed at how beautiful and green everything was! Even the drive to Cathedral Cove was unreal. New Zealand is beyond gorgeous. Once we got to Cathedral Cove, we walked around and took pictures and then set ourselves up on the beach and laid out for a bit. Once we were hot, we went out and swam to the rock that people were jumping off of. It wasn't high at all (about 5-8 meters is all) but we wanted to do it. The waves made it hard to get on the rock and it tore my hands up a bit but we made it and only jumped off once and headed back to shore haha it just felt so good to be warm! The snow back in Utah was just depressing to think about. We chilled for a bit on the beach and Jeff saw a topless woman and actually took a picture of her unknowingly haha then we decided to make our way back to the van because we had another 3.5 hour drive ahead of us. Jeff drove this time and got the hang of it real quick. We stopped for food at a grocery store and bought some tortellini to cook at the campground. Once we got to the campground, we plugged our van in, ate, and then headed to bed. 

Monday February 27

We had to wake up fairly early because we had booked a tour of the Waitomo Glowworm Cave. Luckily the campground was only 2 minutes away from it :) so we paid for the night and then headed to the cave. When we got there, we were actually a few minutes late (because I am compulsively late always no matter what) so we went on the 9:45 tour instead of the 9:30 one. The cave is run by the descendants of the Maori tribe who owned the land before the cave was discovered. In 2004, the cave flooded and so it had to be shut down for a couple of weeks while the water drained. The Waitomo River runs through the cave and holds eels that are a meter long and weigh about 20 kilos. Gross. Haha it was interesting learning about the cave but I was seriously amazed when we boarded the boat and went into complete darkness and saw the thousands of glowworms everywhere. They weren't what I imagined at all but it was amazing to see! I felt like I was in space. Just the ends of their tails glow and the women's lights are brighter than the males. They eat mosquitoes and other bugs and after they go into a cocoon, they emerge as flies without stomachs or mouths so they only live for about four days after. During those four days, they have to reproduce. The boat was a very peaceful experience. Everyone was absolutely silent and we were just about to float along looking at the glowworms. After the boat ride, the tour ended and we went to the gift shop and bought way too much stuff. We got jade rings and a necklace because New Zealand is known for their production and mining of jade. It is a beautiful gem. We also bought the fake pictures they made of us in front of a bunch of fake screens because why not? Ha then we waited in line for our tour of the next cave, Raukuri Cave. This cave was pretty much just another cave but my favorite part was we got to see the glowworms up close and we saw how they catch their food in these strings of mucus hanging from the ceiling. But other than that, we just learned about stalagmites and stalactites. After that tour, we went into town and had to buy new sunglasses because I lost mine at Cathedral Cove and Jeff forgot his at home. Once we found the winners, we ate at the local cafe. I ordered French toast but it wasn't typical French toast. It was covered in meat and bananas and their were eggs cooked around the bread. It was super good!! Jeff got Ginger Coke and it was actually pretty good (better than original Coke in my opinion). After eating, we headed to the Potaruru Blue Springs. The hike was only 800 meters but we walked along the river and the water was the clearest water I have ever seen. It was beautiful!! Once we got to the Blue Springs, we were only able to look at it. They had banned swimming in the area because it was ruining the natural environment so that was unfortunate but it was still beautiful to look at and it was the perfect stop on our way to Hobbiton. One weird thing about being at the Blue Spring was I used the toilet and they had a bin of sawdust clippings and you had to sprinkle them over your business once you were finished. That's different... anyway, then we hiked back and headed to Hobbiton. We got there early so we went and looked around the gift shop. We ended up buying shirts so we looked like bigger fans than we actually are (don't get me wrong, I love the movies but we are definitely not die hard fans). We actually ended up being the only ones that had any form of Lord of the Rings attire on besides the two men that were fully dressed like an elf and a dwarf. Anyway, even though we were early, we were still the last ones on the bus. Guys, being late is a chronic problem. SOS on how to fix it. We drove about 1.5 km to the entrance and they split our group into two groups. We were with Sarah. She was extremely knowledgeable and super funny! We learned that they didn't plan on keeping Hobbiton as an attraction for people but the owners of the land (the Alexanders) showed some of their friends the remains of the set and word spread so they approached Peter Jackson with the idea to keep it. So he came back in and created 44 hobbit holes for the re-filming of the Hobbit, all varying in sizes to make different people look taller or shorter depending on what they were playing in the movie, and once they were done filming, they left it exactly as it was. Hobbiton was amazing. It was crazy green and peaceful. Each hobbit hole had its own unique theme and it was so fun walking around them all. We were able to see all of the Shire in the light, ending that part of our tour at Bag End where Frodo and Bilbo lived. Then we headed towards the Green Dragon and had some ginger beer while looking at the Shire from across the pond. Once it started getting darker, we entered the banquet meal. It was awesome!! There were all kinds of meats, sauces, vegetables, and rolls covering the tables. We ate our weight in food. Once we were done with the dinner portion, the two guys that were decked out in costumes started singing different songs from the hobbits and we had a blast pounding our fists on the table in tune to the song. Then they brought dessert out. Brown sugar cooked apples, tarts, ice cream, chocolate cake, poached pears, and tons of other desserts. Super tasty. After we ate, we went back out to the Shire and we had lanterns. It was so awesome to see the Shire lit up at night! We walked around the hobbit holes and then gathered on the party lawn (where they watch the dragon firework in the first movie) and we danced to more hobbit songs. It was a blast! Once the tour ended, we had to drive 5.5 hours to the Bay of Islands. We didn't get on the road until 10:45pm so it was a very long night. I took the first shift and only made it about an hour before I couldn't keep my eyes open so Jeff took over and I fell asleep in the back. He made it the rest of the way! We got to the Bay of Islands campground at 4am. We saw the ENTIRE Milky Way. Seriously the sky was incredible! I was in shock at how many stars we could see!! After taking in the beauty of the sky, we passed out. 

Tuesday February 28

We had to be up at 7am because we had to be at the pier in Paihia by 7:45 for our dolphin encounter. Surprise surprise but we were the last ones there again even though we stayed only 2 minutes away. We took off pretty quick and had to go to another pier across the bay and pick up some other passengers but then we were off! It was pretty chilly but once we were out there for a while, it definitely warmed up. We drove past so many islands, it was beautiful. I have no other words to describe New Zealand besides beautiful. We made our way to another bay and started searching for a pod of dolphins. Jeff and I went out and sat on the front of the boat with our GoPros anxiously searching for any sign of movement in the water. I saw the dolphins first! I told one of the guides and we made our way over to them. On the way, a wave completely soaked us. It was hilarious. And chilly. We got to the dolphins but they kept on swimming further and further away from us so we just followed them! Eventually they slowed down and even turned around to see what we were doing. It was SO AWESOMELY INSANE how close they were to us!!! They were jumping clear out of the water directly in front of us, swimming under the front of the boat, we even saw a baby! It was so cool! We followed them around for ages! Then the captain decided we would go find another pod because there are regulations that say that we can't swim with a pod of dolphins if there is a baby present. And everyone on the boat really wanted to swim with dolphins! So we continued the search. We saw another pod a little ways away but they also had a baby with them. We saw fur seals as well! We ended up not being able to swim with dolphins but it was okay because it was so much fun seeing that many dolphins that close up and just being on the boat in the sun was fun! I actually put sunscreen on (Jeff is good for me in that way, I always got fried until I met him). It was a fun tour :) we were done around noon so we headed to another souvenir shop and got my family some stuff for watching Sophie. Then we drove 3.5 hours to Cape Reinga. We drove in shifts again while the other took a nap in the back so I drove about an hour and 45 minutes and then Jeff did the rest! Cape Reinga was gorgeous as well. The most northern point of New Zealand. There was a lighthouse and tons of beautiful beaches below us! After hiking a little ways out, we turned around and headed to the sand dunes for sand boarding. The address on the sand board rentals website took us to this way dumpy town and then the next address took us to the general area but still not quite what we were looking for. We were running out of daylight though so we settled for exploring the Te Paki Giant Sand Dunes and not sandboarding. It was crazy how big these dunes were and how they were surrounded by greenery. It was pretty cool! After exploring for a while, we started our 6.5 hour drive to Auckland. I drove the whole way since Jeff had done the last night drive while I slept ha we tried finding food along the way but everything was closed so we ended up at McDonalds for the fourth time this trip haha we finally made it to our campground near Auckland at 1am and this campground was terribly set up so we ended up just camping in the parking lot ha 

Wednesday March 1

We had to get up at 6:15am because of how much we had to do before our flight at 8:45am. We had to gather all of our crap, clean the campervan out, and check our luggage. We were supposed to take the campervan through a car wash before turning it in but we ran out of time. Whoops. A taxi met us at the campervan rental place and we made it to the airport an hour before our flight. Checking our luggage was a nightmare! Jetstar is terribly set up. I missed Delta so much. Too bad they don't have flights to the South Island. We were able to get our bag checked and made it to our gate by 8:10am before they had even started boarding. I didn't use any form of ID at all to get on that plane. Very lax security haha it was great! The flight was only a little over an hour and the sights out the window were awesome! We flew over the Abel Tasman National Park, the glaciers, and the Milford Sound! Once we landed, we got the rental car (a cute little red Accent) and headed to our first Bungy jump! The first one was the Kawarau Bridge Bungy. It was the first Bungy jump in the world! It's 43 meters high. It was a blast! I wasn't able to touch the water but Jeff went about halfway in haha after we jumped, we bought our pictures, and headed to the next jump. The next one we had to drive into Queenstown and take the Skyline Gondola up the mountainside. Parking was an absolute nightmare. We circled around and around searching for people leaving but it didn't work so we had to park in a car park and pay and then walk a ways to get there. We stopped at The London and got pizza to go. While we waited for it to cook we played pool. The pizza was actually super good!! We ate it on our walk to the Skyline Gondola ha when we arrived, we went to go buy our tickets and we ended up getting two rides on the luge as well because of the deal they had. We would've lost money if we didn't do it! Haha so we rode to the top and the sights were incredible. Queenstown is an adorable city with amazing scenery. Once we got to the top we tried to check in to the Bungy jump but we were early so we went and did the luge first. We had to do the beginner track first which was pretty simple and then we could do the advanced track! It was fun. Not something I would do again but it was good! After we luged, we headed back to the Bungy jump. On this Bungy jump, you were able to do something creative rather than just the typical swan dive. Jeff wanted to do a gainer but was nervous so we both ended up doing backflips. I was super nervous about the backflip. The heights don't really scare me anymore, I get anxious but the wait always kills me haha it was a blast doing the backflip!! It was so cool! We got the pictures because the GoPro pictures just didn't do it justice. On our way back to the Gondola, we bought passion fruit ice cream and sat in the lookout area. So pretty. And beautiful weather! Once we were back down the mountain, we walked around downtown and looked around souvenir shops. We got some pretty awesome shirts ha we are suckers for dumb souvenirs. We were super parched so we bought orange Fanta and coke (these are our travel go-to drinks haha) and headed to the car. We had a 5.5 hour drive ahead of us to our AirBnB, the Teapot Cottage. It was a long drive! I only made it about an hour into the drive before I fell asleep. Jeff told me I missed out because the drive was beautiful! Luckily I got to see it on the way back. So we got to the Teapot Cottage around 11pm and looked at our Bungy pictures and then passed out. 

Thursday March 2

The Teapot Cottage was the most interesting place we have ever stayed. It was 50s themed and they had dress ups that went along with the theme as well ha it was fun looking around at everything. We had to get on the road pretty quickly because we had a tour scheduled at 8:30am but we were able to look around a bit. Once I got service, we called the helicopter tour agency to confirm our tour and they said we would be delayed until 10:15am because of the cloud coverage so we drove to the little town where the tour was and we ate breakfast at The Landing. I got French toast again ha I love that stuff. Then our tour was right next door so we headed over after breakfast. We checked in and everything but didn't actually get on the helicopter until 11:15am. We had this cute little family with us on our tour. Jeff and I got to sit up front with the pilot! It was an incredible view the whole way up! We flew over the Franz Josef Glacier and landed on the top. We were able to look around and take pictures for a little bit and then we flew back down. The tour took a total of maybe 30 minutes haha it went way too quickly. But we got some good footage haha after we were done, we chilled in the car for a bit looking at all of the pictures we had taken thus far and then we headed to our next AirBnB in Te Anua. It was 6.5 hours away. I drove this time. Jeff was right, the drive was beautiful! On the drive, we stopped at the Blue Pools of Haast Pass and I had to PEE. We started the 15 minute hike but I couldn't hold it anymore so I went off of the path and looked back the way we had come to make sure I was blocked and I pulled down my pants and started going. I hadn't, however, looked at where the path went so the people walking back to the car park had a full shot of everything down there. I didn't realize this until I was mid-pee and I saw them staring at me. SO AWKWARD. But I was still going! AND there was another group coming up behind them! So I sat down and leaned against the tree behind me and made it look like I was just pondering life. I look over and Jeff and he's just shaking his head looking away from me haha finally they walked past and I could stand up and get out of there. So embarrassing. The Blue Pools weren't too far away so it was a very quick hike. They were INCREDIBLY blue! It was so pretty! They were absolutely freezing though. We just walked in a little ways and it was almost unbearable. There were people jumping off of the bridge into it! Good thing we weren't in our swimsuits because we would have felt obligated to jump too haha (it's a pride issue). We just laid out in the sun though and it felt so good. Jeff got bored so he skipped some rocks and then we left. We stopped at the next gas station to fill up and we got these hokey sticks (ice cream on a stick) and they were super good. Ice cream with a caramel layer and a chocolate layer and these crunchy chewy things on the outside (great description I know) but it was really good. We also stopped at Lake Wanaka. It's really hard not to stop every 3 meters for pictures. New Zealand is beautiful everywhere. As we were driving, we were jamming out to my dance playlist. We had to stop again for me to pee (small bladder problems) but we were enjoying the drive. We were about 80 km from Te Anua when I got pulled over :( I was going 129 kmh when the limit was 100. He told us how many people die on that stretch because of their speed so he gave me a ticket for $230 party pooper. We'd already given New Zealand all of our money and then that happens. Anyway, we finally at the Te Anua Homestay at 9pm where Junko was waiting for us :) she's originally from Tokyo and moved the New Zealand for her husband, Neil. They live on a farm with goats and cows. She took us on a tour of her farm and we got to pet all of the animals. The goats LOVED chewing on my shorts (Oreo loved it the most) and the calves loved shoving Jeff with their heads hahaha we were going to milk the goats but Junko said they were scared of the dark. Which was so unfortunate because I really wanted to do that ha Junko was super nice and very hospitable. We had to leave early the next morning so she packed us lunches to take with us! She was the best. After our tour of the farm, we went into town to eat. We ended up eating at La Dolce Vita. They said they were closed but they took us in and fed us anyway! We were starving so we were very grateful. It was super expensive! The thing about New Zealand is the food is exactly like the food in the states. So don't travel to New Zealand for the food. Ha go for the adventure :) after we ate, we headed back and went to bed. 

Friday March 3

We had to leave Te Anua by 6:30am in order to get to the Milford Sound by 8:30am. Jeff drove because I'm not a morning person. I passed out. Surprise surprise. Ha Jeff woke me up right before we went through the tunnel because it was too pretty to miss. Once we got there, we parked and had a five minute walk to the visitor center. We checked in to Southern Discoveries for our cruise & kayak tour and then after 10 minutes, we boarded the boat. Right when we got on, they fed us breakfast! Just classic stuff like cereal, toast, fruit, and eggs. I made Jeff try Vegemite. We both hate it haha after we ate, we went out to the deck because the Milford Sound is UNREAL. It was raining pretty heavily and it was creating waterfalls everywhere!! All over the giant mountain walls were waterfalls. It looked like a gathering of veins. It was amazing! We cruised down the channel for a while just taking in the sights. The captain spoke to us as we drove and told us fun facts about Milford Sound. He seriously had the most soothing voice. It was very monotone but very peaceful. A great documentary voice. The kind that could put you to sleep but not because of boredom, because you would feel peaceful ha I had to record his voice. We learned that the Milford Sound isn't actually a sound. It's a fiord. A sound is a valley created from a river and a fiord is a valley created from a glacier. While we were cruising we saw PENGUINS. PENGUINS!!!! How freaking cool is that?! I had no expectations to see those so I freaked out. They were swimming :) we also saw fur seals. But whatever. We saw PENGUINS! Towards the end of the cruise, they dropped us off in Harrison Cove for our kayaking portion. They gave us waterproof pants to wear along with our rain jackets and then we got in the kayaks and started the tour. Our tour guide was kind of not great. He was like, I'm not going to bore you with facts so if you have questions come ask. So then I thought well maybe we'll get to explore and stuff! Nope. We had to follow him everywhere. It was still fun though luckily! We saw this huge starfish and we saw another penguin swimming! It was SO COOL. We also heard the penguins screaming in the trees! And you cannot beat the views. It was breathtaking. After the kayaking portion of the tour, they took us in their underwater conservatory. The entire building was floating on the water with a giant portion of it underwater. It was cool to see how to fish live and what types of animals live down there. The day before we were there they saw a 6 meter long shark! We learned about black coral and how it's actually white and they call it black because their waste solidifies around them and creates new stems. Super gross. But kinda cool I guess. Haha we saw a snake star which looked like a squid mixed with a starfish. After that portion of the tour, we boarded a boat and went back to the visitor center. Once we were back at the car, we drove to a cool lookout and ate our packed lunches from Junko! It rained the entire time we were there but honestly I think it made it much cooler! They get anywhere from 6-9 meters of rain a year! Crazy! Anyway, we had another 4 hour drive ahead of us back to Queenstown so we headed out and stopped in Te Anua for a quick drink and break and then hit the road again. We stayed in another AirBnB in Queenstown and we got there around 6:30pm. The couple had traveled to New Zealand from Spain and loved it so much they moved there! Smart couple. We're tempted to do the same! Ha it was kind of weird staying in a room in their house though. We shared the bathroom with them and another couple from Australia. Luckily we were in for the night because we just wanted to chill. We ate the rest of our packed lunches and looked over all of the pictures and then went to bed! 

Saturday March 4

We had to be at The Station for our third and final Bungy jump by 8:10am. We got lucky with parking but got lost trying to find the check in desk. We finally found it and they took us on a 40 minute bus ride to the Nevis Bungy. When we got there, the wind was blowing super hard so they wouldn't let us go out. We sat there all morning waiting for the wind to die down but it never did. We just sat on our phones and talked to the people around us. We actually met this couple that is famous in Hong Kong! They were filming a reality show while they were there but they weren't allowed to tell us what it was because it hasn't aired yet. The man was the SMALLEST man I've ever seen. He weighed 43 kg (it was written on his hand for the Bungy jump). So small!! And the girl had these weird heel/sneaker shoes on. Typical Asians.... hahaha we waited around until 1pm and then we gave up and got our money back and headed back to The Station. We were so sad! We couldn't complete the Trilogy!! Dumb wind. Once we got back, we went and got McDonalds and then headed to the airport to catch our flight. We had to check both suitcases because they weighed so much. Whoops.... haha on the flight there was this 10 year old girl throwing temper tantrum after temper tantrum. She was such a baby!! So obnoxious. We flew over Mount Cook on the way to Auckland. That was cool! Once we landed we went to find Enterprise to get our car rental but they weren't anywhere! So we asked another car rental place and they said we have to call Enterprise and they'll come get us. So we called and had to wait for like 45 minutes for them to come get us but eventually they did and once we got our car we went to our AirBnB. We were staying with this couple, he was from New Zealand and she was from India. After we dropped our stuff off and relaxed for a bit, we went to dinner at Szimpla. It's a gastro pub. I got a chicken burger and Jeff got a beef burger and the chicken burger was SO GOOD. It had mango relish and aioli on it and man it was great. After dinner we went back to the Airbnb and talked to the couple we were staying with for a minute and then showered, packed our bags up, and went to bed. 

Sunday March 5

We set an alarm for 5:30am and I was the closest to it so when it went off I immediately turned it off and fell back asleep. Jeff tried to turn it off but I beat him to it and he fell back asleep as well. I woke up in a panic and checked the phone and it was 6:30am and our flight left at 8am so we had to RUSH. We hurried and got dressed, drove to the park & ride (the after hours drop off spot for Enterprise), couldn't find it, decided to go to the actual Enterprise (they had opened at this point), but we drove past the park & ride on the way there so we parked quickly, and hopped on the international travel bus. We found Virgin Australia easily and got our bags checked. In security a new line opened up right as we got there so we were able to get through security quickly. We reached our gate before they had even started boarding. Miracles are real people. It was a very long flight home and I didn't sleep at all. The people next to me (I was in the aisle seat) kept getting up to go to the bathroom!! I was going to kill them! They just kept downing the drinks! So I was awake the whole time. We got to Salt Lake at 1:30pm and Kelly and Brian were there with our car and Sophie :) we went to Cafe Rio with them and then headed to Logan. I slept very well that night haha went to bed at 8pm and woke up at like 10am ha but I never dealt with jet lag, which was super nice. Definitely a trip I'll never forget!