Early mornings ponderings

I went for a run this morning before everyone else was up and on the go in my house. I love to exercise early in the am best. And even though Ive always known this, and I know I will feel so great and be so proud of myself for the rest of the day, I still find it sooo hard to get up out of bed when the alarm goes off.

I love exercising in the morning because I don't have to think about it the rest of the day and its done and over with, its also nice and quiet at that time in the morning and I can actually hear myself think. But, I realized this morning as I ran along the beach (oh yeah, I'm gonna miss that in a couple of months)that its also because their is a sort of camaraderie between perfect strangers when you are up and out doors at that hour. Its like you have something in common immediately, in the fact that you both enjoy those secret moments of the morning before the rest of the day rush begins. If I were to go jogging at any other point in the day I wouldn't have one person say "hi" to me. Its like people who like to get up and exercise early in the morning haven't lost their "friendlier" characteristics yet. The spell, however, seems to be broken by 9am :)
IF you haven't made the effort to make it out at this special time of the day yet, you should try it!!!

South Island 2nd half

Mother's day was a fun day for us even on the road. I didn't quite get breakfast in bed, mostly because our bed was the table in the kitchen of our camper van :), but I did get a lovely card that Elle picked out, chocolates, a day off of cooking and dishes :), and a lovely brunch at a great cafe. We then headed to Lake Matheson for a hike because I had wanted to get a few pic's of the mountains reflecting in the lake there. Thankfully we were there on a day where there wasn't much wind so the lake was like a mirror and provided me with amazing shots!! So much of the beauty of NZ (especially the south island) is surreal to see. I kept saying to Darryl..."Its like out of a movie...like Lord of the Rings or something, lol". Of course the south island is where most of the movie was filmed and you can see why.
The drive and experience of Milford Sound was probably one of our favorites. Milford Sound is a little place that is 4hrs from Queenstown and at least two hours from any other town. You literally only go there to take the boat tour of the fjords. There is nothing else there. One restaurant, one motor park and an information centre. That's it. We wondered if it was really worth our time and effort but we took the advice of others and guide books and did the trip. The drive itself was so rewarding with the most amazing windy roads in through the mountains glacial rivers and waterfalls, a 1.5km tunnel through a mountain, and even sightings of the famous mountain parrot the KEA. We once again managed to arrive at our campsite in time for a beautiful sunset over the mountains which I enjoyed photographing. The boat tour was spectacular with the towering cliffs and mountains, waterfalls and seal colonies. It was definitely a 'must see'.

Next we headed back to Queenstown for a second time hoping that our visit this time around would provide us with the feeling that everyone else has towards this resort town nestled in the mountains. Our first time around the weather put a damper on things. Its amazing the difference weather can make to an experience. It was a beautiful evening when we arrived and we found a great play park with the most amazing view of the lake and mountains and town. After letting the girls play and get their sillies out for awhile we headed in search of a restaurant for our first dinner out on the town. We found Winnies. AMAZING gourmet pizza and atmosphere. The perfect touch to an amazing day.
You could have no better view out your window for meals than we had in this camper. It was so neat to park somewhere at night and wake up to the most amazing scenery. Here in Queenstown we enjoyed yet again a sunrise breakfast on a lake, looking onto the pink hued mountains. I am telling you, this is God's country here. We headed back to the play park again and for a walk through the gardens and a little shopping and found a great little cafe/chocolatier that left me craving their hot chocolate as soon as I finished mine. They also had free Internet so that was a bonus!
From Queenstown we began our journey back towards Christchurch where we were to get our flight back to Auckland.
A visit along the way to Tekapo was disappointing because the weather didn't cooperate and the reason to visit is to get pic's of the beautiful lake there. So we moved on again towards Christchurch. Parking again on another great beach, Sumner beach. This is Christchurches 'surf' beach but unfortunately for D there was no surfing to be had on this beautiful calm day. Instead we spent the day discovering the caves, markets, play parks, cafes and shops of Christchurch.
Our last camper park experience was the best one which was a nice way to end the trip. We were parked right next to a play park with a trampoline and bouncy pillow so the kids were able to go play while D and I were preparing things in the camper. They also had an indoor pool, private spa pool which we were able to take advantage of as a family, and free movies showing in the evening. This was probably the most fun day for the girls.

So, the expectations of the South island were met, the two weeks in an RV with the girls were a success (depending on what night you asked :)
I can't actually say what my favorite part of the trip was because I enjoyed so much of it. I actually loved the scenic drives, I loved the many stops at the look-outs for pic's, the amazing cafes and play parks, I loved the quality time as a family and just absorbing the full magnitude of seeing God in all his creation.

South Island Trip so far...

New Zealand is divided into two islands, the north and the south. We have been living on the north island in Auckland which is the biggest city. Up until now we have enjoyed exploring all that the north has to offer especially its beaches for their summer months because the north island is more of a sub tropical climate. But as the weather has cooled in the fall season we wanted to explore the beautiful sights that t the south island has to offer. Since we arrived here everyone has been telling us that we HAVE to go see the south island so here we are.
We flew to Christchurch, which is the biggest city in the south island and rented an RV (b/c that’s the thing to do here) and mapped out a plan to see the sights. Christchurch is a beautiful city, especially now in the fall because it has the fall colors in the foliage. The novelty of being in a camper van was enough to keep the kids happy 
As we left Christ church we had a long drive ahead of us to our next destination so we took advantage of being self-sufficent and found a beautiful stop next to a beach where we stayed over night, only 30ft from the crashing waves..
In the morning Darryl sought out a place to surf with a famous right hand break while the girls and I did crafts that Tracy had prepared for us . We continued on driving in the afternoon to Able Tasman which is a national park and known for its isolated beaches and protected water. Our site at the motor camp here had a spectacular view of the snow capped mountains and glassy bay. The water there is so clean and clear its pretty spectacular. One of the things that draws people here is that it offers an amazing costal hike through thick rainforest and along golden sandy beaches. With the kids we had to find an alternative way to enjoy this beautiful park so we took a boat ride for the day that went up and down the coastline of the park which offered us all the spectacular sights that the park boasts, including views of the seal coloies, plus you could get on and off for the amount of hiking best suited to you. We got off and did a little 30 minute hike for the experience and were rewarded with a beautiful afternoon on one of the golden beaches exploring the caves and sea life.
(Side note: As I’m wrting this Darry has been lured by the ‘rollers’ he see’s on our drive and we are stoping for a spontaneous surf session, lol)

:Next on the agenda was the pancake rocks and glaciers but.again, because it was quite a drive from where we were, we found yet another amazing beach side lot to bunker down for the night. We were fortunate enough to arrive just at sunset and I was able to capture some amazing pictures of the stacked cliffs along the coast with the final pink hues of the sun. We also managed to collect some beautiful quartz rocks that help make up the pebbley beaches on the west coast. In the morning we made a short detour to stop and see the panake rocks. This was well worth the stop as it was one of the most amazing sights we had seen so far. Their were rows and rows of towering sea stacks, surge pools, and blow holes. Franz Josef is probably the most popular glacier and was only a short hike which was good for the kids. Unfortunately it was raining and a low snow line so it wasn’t the greatest weather for it but we managed anyway. The girls enjoyed it and were excited about seeing snow.
There is nothing boring about road trips around NZ. You can hardly nap or read as a passenger because the scenery is so amazing with its rolling hills and snow capped mountains, windy narrow roads, crazy signeage, sheep and cattle, crazy one-lane bridges and beautiful views of the ocean.

Please excuse spelling mistakes etc. as the internet we have been getting is horrible so I have to work fast :)

South Island

We are doing well on our adventure in the RV on the south island. So far we've seen Christchurch, Pancake rocks, glaicer's , able tasman beaces eal colonies....I am writing quick before my internet runs out. I will do a better post soon. Happy mother's day to our mother's and all my mommie friends, MUAH!!!

This and That

Not much to write about the last few day's. The sun came back so that's been nice. Still wearing shorts or Capri's occasionally but their are a few leaves on the ground in parts of the city. Darryl leaves on a guy's surf weekend tomorrow. They are all flying down to a place referred to as "The Nakki", Taranakki. Flights are cheap around the island so thankfully it was actually cheaper for him to fly there than drive. It supposedly has a great swell there and he is super pumped to get some use out of his new board. He get's back on sunday night and we leave for our two week south island trip on monday morning. We are flying to Christchurch and then RV-ing it around. I don't think we completely thought that through...2 kids in an RV for two weeks. It get' dark at 6:30pm too so I guess it'll be early nights for us all and even earlier mornings :) The scenery in the south island is AMAZING
(especially now with the fall colours) so I will have some great pic's to post over the next couple of weeks. Glad to hear that Canada has thawed out and you are all enjoying a few hot day's. I'm looking forward to enjoying summer again :)

No money, no sun...no fun

So even here in NZ some day's can be a little on the boring side. Yes, yes, I know, shocking. The weather here the last couple of day's has been a little on the colder, cloudy and windy side and it gets dark now by 6:30m. Gone are our long evenings on the beach. I'm not complaining, there isn't snow at least but it definitely rules out some of the fun times we've been having. This weekend D and I had planned to go do this amazing 8hr hike (without the girls) on the top of this mountain tongario but the weather was looking too bad, gale force winds at about 10,000 ft and rain is not my idea of fun, so we had to cancel it.
Now we have a free weekend with bad weather and we are trying to save money for some of the other trips and activities we have planned.
Out comes the list of free indoor things to do in NZ.

Weekend in Rotorua

We had a wonderful 4 days in a place called Rotorua this weekend. It is the most active geo-thermic area in NZ. The ground is bubbling and steaming everywhere you look. We went to a couple of parks that were 'hot spots' and the girls loved seeing and learning about the volcanic activity and bubbling mud. They also had great play parks for the kids. (Us too if you've seen my facebook pic's :)

We also went Lugeing at the top of this mountain. So fun. I'd never done it before but it was a great view and so neat to be able to take the kids.
After lugeing, since it was D's birthday, he and I celebrated by heading out to the Polynesian spa to take in the hot springs and then on to a traditional Maori feast. The Maori's are the native Polynesians to NZ and they have a traditional dinner they prepare called a Hangi. They prepare your food in the ground with lava rocks, wood and sack cloth. Very neat process and very tasty food. It included lamb, fish, kumera, stuffing, veggies and more. It was buffet style and D definitely got his money's worth, lol. The other neat thing about the dinner was that they pick you up in a bus to bring you out to their model village where they have it set up to look like a traditional Maori village and share with you how their ancestors lived and then preformed some traditional Maori singing and dancing. All in all it was really neat experience.
The other really neat thing we did was go to this geo-thermic park called Wai-o-Tapu. It has the largest area of surface thermal activity. It is also the most colorful. The pallet of color's is so amazing. Again, I've added a lot if the pic's of this to my facebook as their would be too many to add on here. Its too bad the girls won't remember a lot of what they are learning but at least the pic's and stories of them being there will hopefully intrigue them enough to have an interest later in life :)
So here is yet another reason for you all to come visit NZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!