New Zealand- Part 1

Traveling and Christchurch Fun

After our fun summer trip to Kosovo with the Foresters, we decided that we would go visit them in their new home over Christmas break. Although we'd be gone for Christmas, we weighed our options and decided that this would be a trip of a lifetime. Of course our family was a little sad that we wouldn't be home for Christmas, but they were kind enough to host Christmas gatherings before we left so we could have some of our traditions.

Thursday, December 20:

Our journey began early Thursday morning. Trey drove us to the airport. It started raining on us so our bags got a little wet, but nothing was broken or destroyed so that was a blessing. Our first leg was Atlanta to LA. We had a beautiful flight out there over the Rockies. After landing in LA, we lugged all our baggage down the road to the international terminal. We each had two big suitcases (two of them were the Foresters) and two carry-ons. After our haul down the street we got in a line to check in only to find out that we had to wait in line until Air New Zealand opened because we were so early! We did have quite a bit of a layover but once we got checked in and went through security, we decided to leave that wing to go over to the international foodcourt area. It was quite a nice 5-10 minute walk as we wandered about the airport area to eat and shop so we wouldn't have to sit forever. I was a little intimidated by the security people at LAX the second time around. They didn't understand why I had already gone through once and then wanted to come back again. Our plane to Auckland was about 12-16 hours depending on which way we were going. We actually flew over a cyclone (really a hurricane) but Jeremy didn't tell me about it because he knew I'd get nervous.

Saturday, December 22nd:

We landed on Saturday around lunch so we skipped the 21st in the calendar. Evan and Morgan picked us up at the airport and kept us going because they knew we would crash if we stopped. Our first stop was their house to drop off our stuff. Then we headed out to Restart mall for some lunch at Fritz's Wieners and got a basic tour of Christchurch. Much of the city was destroyed after an earthquake an earthquake in 2011. Many of the streets are blocked off as they try to rebuild and restore the city. After looking at the earthquake destruction we kayaked down the Avon River and walked around Hagley Park. There was a botanical garden inside the park so we walked around that.

 That evening we drove around to look at some more of the earthquake damage on our way to Godlyhead where we did a little hiking. The trail had a sign that said it was closed until November, but it didn't look like it was open. Since it was a month after it was supposed to be open, we went anyway. There were some spots where landslides destroyed parts of the path. The trail was on private property, so we actually ran into the owners fixing part of the path. They looked at us like we were crazy because the path was a little tough to navigate, but we were fine. Along our walk we had water on our left and rolling hills with sheep on our right. 

We then finished the night off with some fish and chips from a local restaurant. 

Sunday, December 23: 

We got up early and headed to their church. Rusty, their pastor, is from Alabama which is quite interesting. His family moved to New Zealand when his oldest child was one and they've been there now for a few years. We sang, heard testimonies, sang, prayed, and had a sermon. The people were genuinely kind and interested in getting to know us. I have never felt welcomed like that before. It was truly a blessing and I didn't feel awkward at all. I definitely struggled through the sermon though but I was glad for the variety of things in the service because it kept me awake. We stayed for a tea and crumpet time after church. It was during this time we got to know some of the members of the church. Afterwards we headed to the mall to eat lunch in the food court, where I ate at Pita Pit, and then went on a little hike to see more of the beauty of Christchurch. We hiked up to the port hills. Later, Jeremy and I went to the history museum while Evan and Morgan got some things done. 

That night, we ate dinner with Fiona, Morgan's host mom from when she did her student teaching. She is very kind. We talked with her daughter and boyfriend for much of the evening as we laughed and told stories.

Monday, December 24th:

We took our first day trip to Mount Sunday, where they filmed the Edoras scenes in The Lord of the Rings movie. It was an eventful ride there as we got used to driving on the left side of the road. We took the scenic route there and even got to drive on a gravel road for a long time. Our plan was to picnic at the top of Mount Sunday and we stuck to the plan but we were starving by the time we got to the top!

You can see Morgan loves driving!

I love riding as much as she loves driving.

We traveled down a gravel road for miles and miles. This wasn't an ordinary gravel road though. These pieces of gravel were HUGE!!!

I was constantly in awe of the clear water in NZ.

This bridge was fun to walk on, but Morgan decided to run across it. We saw something fall out of her bookbag as she crossed. It could only be one thing since we just did a little video... Yes, the video camera fell into the cold, fast moving water.

Although Evan looked in the area where he saw it drop...

...and Morgan walked all down the bank looking, no camera was found.

We made it to Mount Sunday and were ready for the hike to the top for a picnic.

The kiwi way: eating a kiwi with a kiwi spoon

Don't worry, I didn't fall to my death off the mountain.

  

They're everywhere!!!

                                               

Jeremy drove on the way home. We saw this beautiful water and had to stop.

Since it was Christmas Eve, we got back to Christchurch and headed to a local event where they did Christmas carols in a park. It got a little cool by the end of the evening and we were a little chilly. I enjoyed singing along with the choir, but there were definitely some songs I didn't know. 

One of my favorite parts of the carols was the huge tree. It was "controlled" by people calling Santa. However, we saw the man controlling it on a tablet and asked him if we could have a turn. He was from the phone company who sponsored the tree and was kind enough to let us change the patterns on the tree. 

Telephone booth to call Santa

You could lay under the tree on bean bags and look up at the lights. It is on my top 10 Christmas time fun things I've done in my life!

I could have looked up at the lights for hours. 

 

As we were talking to the man who was controlling the lights we saw Fiona's daughter and her boyfriend! 

Tuesday, December 25th:
We stayed around Christchurch for Christmas. We made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then opened some presents. Evan and Morgan skyped their family so we did a little packing for our West Coast trip. We left around lunchtime to go to an "Orphan's Lunch" with some of their friends from church who are transplanted in New Zealand away from their family.

Basket of goodies

They got me a cute picture frame!

They got Jeremy a t-shirt!

We stayed at home again for dinner and cooked up a yummy meal.


Wednesday, December 26th:
We started our west coast road trip.

We went through Porter's Pass and stopped at Castle Hill. Castle Hill was full of HUGE rocks.

First stop: Castle Hill

Notice how small I am in comparison to these rocks!

Then we headed through Arthur's Pass and ate at the Arthur's Pass Cafe for lunch while Evan and Morgan ate a sandwich. I hadn't ever tried a minced pie so I tried one. It had chicken with cranberries on it. It was okay but I don't know if I would eat one again. After lunch, we hiked up a trail called Devil's Punchbowl to a beautiful waterfall. This hike wasn't too long but there were lots of stairs on the trail which didn't make the hike that bad coming down. There was a little house called Jack's Hut that we stopped at next. We peered in the windows and then prepared ourselves for another hike.

kea bird- I had to chase after it so we could see the beautiful feathers!

Devil's Punchbowl hike to the waterfall

We had time for another hike before we had to be on our way. This time we hiked around Bealey Valley. It was always interesting the different terrains we would see on our hikes. The view from this hike was one of my favorite sites in my life. The clouds separated and we saw the beauty of the mountain. Evan and Morgan rested on some rocks while we took in the beauty. After this hike, we got back in the car and drove all the way to our home for the evening, which was in Greymouth. We had a two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. We made poppy seed chicken for dinner and had a picnic on the picnic tables outside because it was so pretty. They also had a playground with a zip-line that we enjoyed quite a bit before and after dinner.

We didn't let our food settle too much because we had to get back in the car to go to Punakaiki and we wanted to make it there before sunset. Punakaiki was one of the places I was looking forward to. Actually, it was the only thing I was adamant that we see! They were rocks that were shaped like pancakes. The South Island of New Zealand is carved by glaciers where the North Island is mostly created from volcanos. The entire day was cloudy so I was actually pretty sad because I didn't know if we would have a pretty sunset or not. One of my favorite things in the whole world is a pretty sunset so I was praying pretty hard that we would get to see something pretty. 

Do you see any faces or animals?

We were getting ready to leave because we didn't think we were going to see a good sunset and I said, "No, I think it's going to be good. I'm going to walk back over here and see it." It ended up being pretty and I'm glad we stayed.