The next day we drove our rental car to Mt Cook for a helicopter ride and glacier walk. This was the big splurge of the trip and we were all stoked! Kathryn and I loved our glacier hike in Iceland and were ready for another. Unfortunately, we had a long drive to get there. It wasn’t as scenic as our other drives until we got close to the mountains. Once there though, there was an incredible lake at the base of the range that was an unreal shade of blue.

We arrived at the airport, checked in for our hike, and waited around. While waiting we met Casey, a local kiwi whose husband worked for the helicopter company and had gifted her the tour for her birthday. She was incredibly sweet and fun and we hung out with her the entire time. We ended up on the last chopper up to the glacier so it was the trio of us, Casey, and our guide. It was a quick ride but so so amazing. Justin was the only one of us who had been on a copter, and we loved every second!

Once we got dropped off on the glacier, we attached our crampons and started our hike. The glacier was beautiful! We also had nearly perfect weather. We ended up not needing our jackets or gloves. The glacier had a couple amazing caves that we explored, a few streams that we drank out of, and awesome views from every angle! At one pint Casey and I saw a cave over a ridge and pointed it out to our guide, next thing we know, we are hiking to it and our guide made a path down to it! We got some great photos.

The 2 hours of the hike went by super fast and we were boarding the helicopter back. Casey ended up knowing the pilot and since it was just our group and the guides, he gave us an impromptu extended flight over the mountain. It was incredible. The guides were saying that what we experienced never happens and we were so lucky. We felt it!

When we got back to the airport, we said a heartfelt goodbye to Casey who had been so fun to spend the day with. Then we got back on the road for our long drive back. We dropped the rental car back at the airport and Kathryn and I took a walk along Queenstown lake back. It was a beautiful day and the lake was stunning!

For our last night in Queenstown we decided to check out Fergburger, the crazy bust burger place in town that always has a line out the door and everyone says is the best. We were not disappointed! We only waited 20 minutes in line, got a table right outside, and devoured our giant burgers! Mmm…

After dinner, we found a great cocktail bar with a fireplace and enjoyed our last night! It was a wonderful way to wrap up our trip.

We had one final adventure planned for the next morning and were excited/ terrified for it.

The next day we had our only all-day formal tour to Milford Sound. We started very early at. 7:30am and almost left without Justin as he was grabbing coffee. Fortunately, it all worked out and our tour guide, Rob, picked is up in a van and we were on our way. Rob was a super entertaining guide. He was a little snarky, but informative and we liked him instantly. We were pretty thrilled we found a small 15 person tour instead of the big coach bus of 30+ people too. The drive to Milford was 3 hours so we made a couple stops at a cafe, waterfall, and lookout points. It was nice to breakup the drive. There were pretty things to see along the way too!

Around noon we stopped in a valley along a creek for lunch. It was a picturesque area, but swarmed by mosquito-like flies. We explored a bit, but then went inside to get away from the bugs.

Rob made us a delicious BBQ lunch with chicken, beef, and sausage. We had our fill, and then headed to Milford. As we arrived at the port, it was pretty cloudy, but we were excited for our boat ride through the sound. We ran on the boat to the front top area next to the captain to have the best views. We also made friend it’s a couple American girls on our tour who sat with us. The boat ride was great, but chilly and cloudy at first. The sound is surrounded by green mountains and cliffs that are just beautiful. The captain even took the boat under a waterfall where on brave kid tried to stay on the bow and got soaked. It was pretty entertaining.

About half way through the ride, the sun came out! The fjord in sunlight was truly breathtaking. The water glistened, the green mountains framed the water perfectly, and the sun warmed everything up! It was a dream! We took so so many photos. Also got to see a few seals and dolphins!

After the boat ride we had our long drive back. Fortunately, Rob entertained us with a New Zealand movie called Hunt For The Wilderpeople which was hilarious. Sam Neil from Jurassic Park is in it along with the kid from Deadpool 2. We laughed a lot. The drive went by fast and we went to dinner at BlueKanu, a Polynesian fusion place that was amazing. On the walk to dinner we saw some ducks along the water, a woman walked by and in a noble-sounding accent said “hi duck, I just ate you and you were delicious”. It made us laugh. We ordered a bunch of plates to share with the best being duck nachos (we decided this is what the woman was taking about) and ceviche. It was delicious and we went to bed afterwards.

The next day we had an early morning flight to meet back up with Justin for more adventures in Queenstown. Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of NZ and is situated among rolling mountains on lake Wakatipu – we were stoked! After uneventful flights we got to our amazing studio AirBnB. To say the views from our AirBnB were nice is a gross understatement – they were unreal! We did everything looking out the window while we were there.

Justin arrived and we immediately decided to go exploring. The weather had been odd all day with sun, clouds, and bursts of rain randomly, so we packed for everything. We walked along the lake into town and were delighted at how pretty the waterfront and downtown area was. Lots of fun shops, outdoor seating, and gorgeous views. Queenstown is super hilly. While walking you constantly walk up and down hills. We got quite the glute workout every day! headed toward the Queenstown Skyline gondola to get a birds-eye view of town. We made our way up and got some great outdoor photos before the clouds blew in and rain started.

We hid inside the gift shop for a bit and then made our way to the Luge. This was a track built into the side of the hill that you can race seated-scooters down. Kathryn and Justin were all for it, while I was a bit skeptical. They were right! It was super fun to fly down the track – reminded me of go-cart tracks back in the day.

Afterwards it started raining again so we headed back to town to find somewhere warm to hide out. We ended up at Muskets and Moonshine, a great little cocktail bar with a fantastic fireplace and good tunes. We lounged on the couch in front of it, had a drink, and relaxed. The drinks were great! Kathryn got a caramel cocktail that come with slivers of butterscotch candy that was delightful. Afterwards we headed back to our AirBnBs for some relaxation and showering. We ended up having a low key Thai dinner and a couple more drinks at M and M before calling it an early night.

We woke quite early the next morning to head out and explore Queen Victoria Road that runs along the coast. We grabbed more delicious breakfast pastries and headed out. The road ended up being crazy windy. Like, super narrow terrified someone was going to hit us head in windy. Fortunately we were awake and out before anyone else, so we were good. Queen Victoria Road is a coastal road running along the Fjords with beautiful viewpoints throughout. We were not disappointed! It was quiet, beautiful, and completely picturesque!

Then it was time for what we came to this region for – WINE. Marlborough is primarily known for award winning Sauvignon Blanc, but we learned they also do good Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Bubbles (champagne). Our tour guide, Keith, picked us up in a small van with 8 of us total and it was a great group. We had a couple guys from Canada on their gap year (so jealous), a woman from NYC and her Kiwi aunt, and a couple from the UK. Tasting rooms are called ‘Cellar Doors’ in NZ and we would be visiting and tasting at 4 different ones. Our first stop was Fromm Vineyard, an organic wine boutique cellar door with a great outdoor seating area and good wines. We were the only people there and got to know our tour group a bit more. The guys from Canada were traveling around and sleeping in a camper van, so their stories were pretty fun. The woman from NYC grew up in Chicago, so we bonded instantly. Her aunt was also super fun and taught us a lot about NZ.

Next up was Allen Scott, which was very commercial and crowded. This was the wine I had the fit before at dinner so Was looking forward to it. We did our tasting standing with a lot of other people, so felt a bit rushed. The wines were still quite good! The we went to Hunter which was my favorite because we got to sit in a garden in the sun and got to try a bunch of wines. The woman pouring our wine was super friendly. Kathryn and I decided we want that job in our retirement – pour wine for people in this beautiful place. Would be a good life.

The last stop was Saint Clair another more commercial spot, but with beautiful grounds. The wines were decent too. We did quite the photo shoot before heading home!

We decided to make it an early night and had a simple dinner along the harbor. We ordered a meat plate, seafood chowder, and Puia which was the catch of the day to try something new. The chowder was super tasty. What we didn’t know was that Puia is Abalone, as in a large snail. It wasn’t my favorite, but came with a good lemon risotto, so lesson learned. Then we went back to our hotel and drank the Rock Ferry bottle of wine on the porch. It was a wonderful relaxing evening! Picton is the kind of quiet, beautiful seaside town I would want to retire to. Everything was so calming and beautiful.

I am going to be so good at retirement!

Sadly, our sleep at Adventure Lodge wasn’t that greatest. The first night it rained all night and we heard every drop on our tin roof. It also didn’t bode well for our Tongariro Crossing hike the next day. Tongariro is a national park with a volcano and mountains that is known as one of the best hikes in the world. We got up at 6am and were told the weather was too bad to go up. We were pretty bummed.. but decided to get breakfast and see if the weather cleared off.

Breakfast was fantastic. All the cafes and bakeries here have incredible savory scones. I had a cheesy, herb, and bacon scone that was so so good. Also had some eggs as NZ is known for great eggs.. they were scrumptious. It got sunny while we were at breakfast so we decide to try the trek. We were even treated to a rainbow!

We got to the starting point and could see clouds covering the volcano so Kathryn and I decided to do the ‘easier trek’ to a waterfall. Justin wanted to to try the main path, so we split. We decided to hike for 3 hours and meet back at the car. All the paths are marked with estimated times and the easy path said ‘2.5 hrs return’ so we were off. The weather on our hike went through every stage – we had warm sun, clouds, rain, and cold. We packed layers and needed all of them! The path was also not that easy.. there were many areas where water had carved the path into trenches that were a bit tough the maneuver. I didn’t bring hiking shoes, only tennis shoes, since I didn’t check a bag from the states, so struggled a bit on the path. We also realized quite quickly that the path was going to take longer than we thought. It ended up taking us 5 hrs instead of 3 even though we kept a rather quick pace.. we texted Justin to let him know and kept on going! The spectacular views were worth it! The waterfall was nice, but the best parts were the views of the snow capped mountain and volcano. We took a lot of photos.

The hike back was pretty rough. It was the same route as the way out so we had seen the views and were trying to make up time. At that point, my old-lady-ankles were pretty sore and my knee was starting to ache.. Kathryn too. We also ran out of water.. it was a rough one, but we made it! Justin was waiting for us when we got back as he hadn’t gotten our texts. I felt horrible. He had been an hour late so had only waited an hour for us, but still.. we all piled in the car and stopped at a bar on the way home for a drink, snack, and unwind. It was nice to sit and decompress.

After showering and resting in the room, we went to a Roast Feast at the Station Restaurant in town. It was a surprisingly nice place and the meal was wonderful. Justin really liked the corn chowder, while I dove into the pork roast and we all left sufficiently full. Then we went home and crashed.

We woke up quite early to make our way to Waitomo for our glowworm cave experience the next morning. We all had been waking up naturally before 6am, which means we are often up before any of the town (before coffee shops!). So, we got on the road for the 2 hr drive. It was a pretty view. We went through multiple Scenic Reserves (lush forests covered in ferns of all sizes) that we wanted to stop at, but we didn’t have time. All along the roads here there are tons of pastures with sheep and cows. On our first day Justin and I joked about playing ‘Hey Cow’ which my college friends taught me. It’s a complicated game where you yell out your window at a herd of cows and count how many look up (very mature stuff).. we might have played a bit as we were driving.

We made it in time to Glowing Adventures for our tour. Our guide, Ash, greeted us and got us decked out in our uniform for the hike. They provided all clothing – striped leggings and undershirts, canvas shorts, a fleece pullover, and wellies. We looked amazing! Our group was fairly small – just the three of us and 4 German travelers about our age. It was a good group!

We started by hiking a bit through a forest along a stream until we got to the cave. Every forest here is so beautiful. Despite the drought, everything is so so green with large ferns and moss covering everything. It rivals Scotland for sure.

Ash entertained us during the trek by educating us about NZ slang, including the phrase ‘sweet as’ (not to be confused with sweet ass). It’s a common response if someone asks you how you rday is and you want to say ‘good’. We now say it all the time..

As we started into the cave, Ash assured us there were no large critters.. but within 5 minutes there was a big Wolf Spider on a wall. Kathryn, one of the German girls, and I didn’t take that well.. fortunately he didn’t move and no more spiders came along.

The cave hike was really caving! We were crawling over and under large rocks the whole time. At times we had to squeeze really low or in between rocks. We had only our headlights to light the way through the pitch black. At one point we even turned off our lights and it was crazy dark and quiet.. gave me a bit of a chill! We also hiked through a creek that was deep enough that water got in the wellies and we walked the whole time with water suctioning in our boots. But, boy were we treated to amazing rock formations including stalagmites and stalactites, a large jellyfish-looking rock, and actively developing formations due to dripping water. It was so cool! Reminded me of an adventure from The Magic Schoolbus!

The hike culminated in an amazing experience with glowworms! They are actually maggots (but it doesn’t have the same ring) that perch on the cave ceiling, stretch silk down to catch food, and light up to attract it. They are so freakin neat! We got to a big opening in the cave, shut off our lights, and looked up. There were hundreds! It reminded me of my ceiling in middle school with the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. Such a neat experience. We got a couple good shots too even with the darkness.

The tour wrapped up with coffee and biscuits on the office porch and then we were back on the road.

We found a waterfall hike along the road to our next hotel and were not disappointed! Not sure what it is about waterfalls, but I never get sick of them! This one had a great hike through more forest and a pretty amazing look out. We took lots of photos.

After the waterfall, we were quite hungry so were on a mission to find food. We were in the middle of nowhere though, so it took a while. We ended up in Taumarunui, a small town where it didn’t seem like anything was open.. but we found one cafe and were so happy we did! We ended up at Zar’Z Cafe where we were greeted by the sweetest local girl who referred to us as ‘my lovelies’ no fewer than 30 times. It was delightful! She recommended their burgers so that’s what we went with. Mine came out with a burger pattie, egg, sliced beet, bacon, mayo, tomato, lettuce, and cheese. It was huge and delicious and quite an experience!

Then we made our way to the Adventure Lodge, our home for the next 2 days. This is the one time all 3 of us stayed in one room. It was cramped, it worked! We lounged for a bit and then went right to bed as we had a big 8hr hike planned for the next day.

After a much needed night’s sleep, we got up early to hit the road for the road trip part of our adventure! First though, we picked up our rental car at the airport. New Zealand drives on the left side of the road (like the UK), so driving takes more focus. So, being the control freak I am, I drove. Fortunately we got a nice SUV so the 3 of us all had space. Phone Google Maps work great here too, so getting around is easy!

Our first road trip stop was Hobbiton! Yes, you read that right, Hobbiton. Lord of the Rings was shot in New Zealand and the town of the hobbits is still intact! We arrived, got our tickets, and then had a nice elevensies meal at the cafe. The only way to see Hobbiton is on a guided tour, so we hopped a bus and began. The tour guide was super sweet, friendly, and informative. For example, we learned that Peter Jackson flew in black-faced sheep instead of using local sheep because they looked better. Also, trees had fake leaves and fruit added to look better. The gardens of the place are truly STUNNING! Everything is green, lush, and covered with bees. They kept to themselves though.. We had such a great time walking around. The nerds in all of us came out and we absolutely embraced every moment!

Then it was time for our Maori dinner (pronounced mow-ree). The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. We learned that NZ is one country that handled relations with the indigenous folks well throughout the years and now this dinner was a celebration of their culture and history. This was a bit of a big tourist activity, but we were up for it. Our bus driver was silly, but did teach us the greeting ‘Kia Ora’ meaning ‘Greetings, good health’. When we arrived at the beautiful lush grounds we were treated to a wonderful display of Maori greetings – the Hakka! Complete with battle dance and amazing faces!

After the intro, we went through a few activities learning about dancing, sports, and the culture of the Maori. Then they showed us how they roast their meat and vegetables via Hangi (underground cooking using rocks). So cool. We ultimately got to eat that underground cooked food, but there were a few more shows we saw first. Oh, and Justin got to learn to dance!

Next up road tripping, caves, and glowworms!

I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since I last posted on this blog… but I am so thrilled to get to go on another long trip! 2 years ago, I accepted a position at work on a super intense project with one condition, I could take a month-long vacation when it was successful. Well, here I am – nearly 4 weeks ahead of me in New Zealand and Australia with my go-to travel buddy Kathryn and a new friend Justin. Bring on the adventure!

Our trip over was fairly uneventful except it was 24 hours of travel that launched us into the future. In that, I mean it took a 6 hr flight, 4 hour layover, and another 13 hour flight to land in Auckland and we are now 19 hours ahead of home in Chicago.. so basically time travel. 🤓

After a quick trip through customs and shuttle ride to our hotel, we arrived in downtown Auckland’s Central Business District at the SkyCity Grand hotel. Kathryn and I splurged on this first hotel because we knew we wouldn’t sleep much on the flight and would want as much comfort as possible that first night. However, we arrived around 10am and our room wasn’t ready. So, the three of us walked down to the harbor and hopped the first ferry to Devonport, a small island with views of the city. We were not disappointed! After a walk along the coast where we got to see some beautiful homes and enjoy the warm weather, we did a mini-hike up Mt Victoria and were treated to quite the view!

Afterwards, we were able to get into our hotel room, lounge around in robes for a bit, and shower all the travel dirt off. It was glorious! We stopped at a harbor side bar with a deck over the water for a few drinks and then made our way to Cullprit for dinner. Cullprit was amazing! A small, foodie, dim sum place with super creative small plates and incredible flavor combos. After dinner I was pretty exhausted – the long flights and day of exploring catching up with me – but agreed to a final drink at The Ding Dong Lounge (mostly because we had to see what this place was)… well, no surprise, we accidentally found a rock bar with live music! We were 3 of 7 people in the bar, so we made friends with the band, Justin became their drummer, and it became an all request night! Ended up staying for a couple drinks and had a really good time.

Not bad for our first day in New Zealand!

Due to technical difficulties, I had to switch sites for my travel blog. Hopefully this works better! Cheers!