Leaving New Zealand —Lauren

What a time we’ve had in New Zealand! Just a little over two weeks, and we’ve seen and done so much. More than any of us expected. Since I last posted, we’ve explored cities, witnessed the All Blacks keep their 35-year home game win streak alive, visited the art museum, and seen movie making processes at Weta Workshop.

Overall winners from New Zealand
Favorite towns:
•Wanaka—we loved the ski town vibe and the pretty lake.
•Queenstown—bigger but close to so many good places. Again mountains+ lake combo, and Driftaway was the best campsite.
•Kaikōura—this one surprised us. But being on the coast with such beautiful views made us want to spend more time there.

Best hikes:
•Sealy Tarns—one of our first hikes. So many steps but the views were absolutely stunning. We were proud of ourselves and would do it again (at least most of us would!)
•Lake Mattheson—so peaceful and all the reflective views of the lake and a nearby small pond. This one also had a lovely cafe and shop nearby in the middle of nowhere. It was the best way to spend a morning.
•Kaikoura—our walk along the coast had epic views of nearby peaks and closeups of seals and birds. Really lovely.

Best Food:
•We tried meat pies, which are kind of like a mini, two-crust quiche but filled with steak and cheese or chicken stew—super hot and tasty. We see why they are everywhere here.
•Lemon sodas—Lemmy was the best, but we had L&P (best name :), and several others. Some of them tasted like lemonade and others like sprite.
•Asian food—we’ve had bao bun “tacos”, Vietnamese food, Malaysian noodles, and many dumplings. Trying to space it out so we have room for lots of dal bhat in Nepal.
•Cookie: CookieTime

Best Lingo:
•Drew: “nar”
•Lois: “absolutely”
•Lauren: “lovely”

We are 2/3 of the way to Nepal now—layover in Guangzhao. Looks like the chiefs are winning!Læs mere