New Zealand 2019

3 weeks in a camper van as a little family of 3. Read more

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New Zealand 2019
Rhyme and Reason
February 9, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Rhyme and Reason was a cool little brewery outside of town. They let people bring their own food, they have nice beer and the doors are open to let in a breeze (and birds to Florence's delight). Florence almost succeeded in taking down their brewery a few times by chasing birds into tight spaces in the brewhouse so we ended up using kegs to stop her from accessing certain areas. The beers were pretty good but the music was way too loud for my old people ears.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Wanaka Lakeside
February 9, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
After our dinner we went down to Wanaka Beach - including the famed Dinosaur playground and their sweet little main st of shops. It was sunset and there was a breeze and it was just a delightful place to spend time. There were tons of birds and stones on the beach so Florence was happy and she started getting more and more interested in walking in the water. She also got bit by a duck when she tried to feed it a stone. She was not fazed.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Wanaka Playground
February 9, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
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New Zealand 2019
Black Peak Gelato
February 9, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 17 °C
We came here on the recommendation of Gillian and were not disappointed. The gelato was great - I tried HokeyPokey which is a very NZ flavour. So yummy though, basically honeycomb in ice cream with chocolate.
We sat outside and listened to a street musician play the clarinet and didgeridoo. Florence loved it.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Pisa conservation area
February 10, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C
We mostly stopped here because the van was feeling ROUGH. This beautiful drive from Wanaka to Queenstown on Crown Range Road really put it through its paces and we did about 30km/h for most of the trip. We pulled over out of necessity but were STUNNED at the beautiful view. Turns out Crown Range Road is the highest sealed road in NZ and has great lookouts. There was the option of doing a longer hike from here but we just wandered around the trails close to the parking and then found Florence's first geocache.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Arrowtown
February 10, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
This is a sweet little mining town with a great museum apparently. It would probably be possible to spend a couple of hours here but Florence was overtired and cranky so we gave up. We did buy some fruit at a fruit stall on the main street and Florence devoured the cherries - pits and all.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Vudu Cafe
February 10, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
We stopped here on our way through Queenstown towards Glenorchy to touch base with Gwen. She is second in command at this bakery and gifted us the most amazing desserts for our picnic lunch and more coffee to keep us going.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Road to Glenorchy
February 10, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
This drive is said to be the most beautiful in NZ and it lived up to its name. Beautiful views of mountains, snow, trees and water.
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New Zealand 2019
Glenorchy
February 10, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
Glenorchy had recently been flooded, the road we drove was closed just last week. It was really interesting to see complete natural beauty and the remnants of a devastating storm. We had a little picnic near the water and skatepark and then carried in our drive. Florence and Jason had a great time running up and down the track.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Dart River
February 10, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
At Sam's recommendation we drove further along the Dart River. Our plan was to sleep at Lake Sylvan but the road was closed due to flooding and apparently the campsite was full of sandflies anyway. Our motivation to explore Dart River anyway was because there are areas you can drive onto the riverbed and see how clear the water is. We found one area and got out and explored. The water was cloudy and then would get filtered through rocky areas and be beautiful and clear. The mud was almost shiny it had such fine pieces of rock in it. It was an area unlike any other.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park
February 10, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
After the return drive from Glenorchy we settled in our holiday park. This was a really neat space in that it was at the base of the gondola and just above the CBD by about a 3 minute walk , so super centrally located. It would be perfect if you really wanted to explore Queenstown but we weren't that interested. Fun fact, Gwen slept here in a tent when she moved to town.

This park was massive and overfilled, there was no privacy and no space around campsites. The showers were great with consistent temperature and strong pressure but that was about the best part for us.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Canyon Brewing
February 10, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
We met Gwen for dinner at Canyon Brewing. Beers and food were all great but it was really the company that made the night. Gwen was so delightful to chat with and laugh with and made us feel right at home. 2 hours passed before we knew it!
Florence enjoyed herself smashing her fries into her water glass and hiding cards all around our table.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Queenstown Gardens
February 10, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
We should have gone straight back to the holiday park after dinner but we wanted to see the gardens. Florence was overtired and overstimulated and it ended up just being a fight about whether she could swim in the duck pond or not (no).
We gave up after a tiny walk, booked it down to Patagonia to buy chocolates and then went back to the park and put her to bed. Jason and I relaxed drinking local beers and eating chocolate and looking at the stars.
Queenstown waterfront was very bizarre, just groups of people sitting around and openly getting drunk and partying.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Davies Park
February 11, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
Today's mission was to make it from Queenstown to Dunedin - a 4-5ish hour drive. We decided we would sleep in and then take all day to get across the island, so that we could explore and rest as needed.
While Jason packed up the van I ran down to The Bakery of Queenstown and picked up sausage rolls and pies for the day, along with coffee. We drove out of the CBD and found this huge park, Davies Park that includes a golf course and arena, to sit and have our breakfast picnic. It was right beside the airport so Florence and Jason were excited to watch planes for our hour or so stop.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Cargo Brewing
February 11, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
We intended to go to the Cargo Brewing pop up pub at Arthur's Point last night but didn't make it, so we were very happy when we saw this sign on our drive. We pulled in and encountered a huge and lovely green space with tons of games and toys for kids of all ages. We spent a really lovely hour or so playing in the sun and trying their beers.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Roaring Meg Lookout
February 11, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
We stopped here but only Jason got out. It looked really nice and apparently the signs discussed the burnt looking trees. They are all invasive species and this area of NZ is known for green bushy hills. So NZ has killed all the trees with the hopes of returning it to it's original glory.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Jones family fruit stand
February 11, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
Apparently a NZ institution we stopped here to pick more fruit for our little girl. She was in heaven with more cherries and apples.
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New Zealand 2019
Random spot for lunch
February 11, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
We were all getting restless again and we saw some people seated at the base of this bridge so we pulled over too. It was a lovely little shady space near the water. It was evident the water level was higher than usual, especially when we saw cows on a little island munching away.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Portebello Tourist Park
February 11, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
After a quick grocery shop in Dunedin proper we headed out to our camping site on the Otago Peninsula. It was a long drive out, with Google taking us along High Cliff Road a.k.a panic attack central for Jasmine. Jason really enjoyed the drive and it was neat because we were driving through clouds.

The holiday park itself was fine, nothing special and nothing really for kids to do, but it was close to the Albatross centre so that is why we chose it. There were lots of families with toddlers here including one NZ/Swiss family I had the opportunity to chat with and we shared tips of things to do, as well as commiserated over how much harder this trip was with toddlers than expected. Florence had her first real tumble that required a bandaid and she survived it like a champ!Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Royal Albatross Centre
February 11, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
We took a family walk out to the lookout before my penguin tour. We were really lucky and saw gulls, shags (on the rocks) and albatrosses(albatri?). Many albatross birds flew over our heads. Even from far away you can see they are just giant.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Blue Penguin Colony
February 11, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
A gift from Jason, an evening viewing of the penguins coming home for the night. Apparently these little penguins hunt all day on their own in the ocean and then regroup in the bay and come in in rafts (10+). Generally this colony sees between 80-100 blue penguins come in during this 75 minute viewing.

Something happened this day and the penguins came in one or two at a time, and only 34 in the whole time we were watching. The guides suggested something may have scared the penguins so they were all separated, or a predator got them.

A lot of people complained because there weren't enough penguins, seemingly unbothered by the fact that they may have been killed or injured during the day.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Seal Point
February 12, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
We woke up to a cool and grey day and pulled off here even though we expected we wouldn't be able to see anything. It was more of a, "well we are already here, might as well try" decision. One of our better decisions.
The path to the lookout walked right through farm fields with sheep beside us. From the lookout we could see seals on the beach so we ventured down. It was a "less maintained" trail that definitely put us through our paces - but worth it. We had the chance to see tons of sea lions and Jason and Florence befriended the conservation officer (from Hamilton Ontario). The sea lions seemed to be in pairs, one big with one small but we have no idea of the significance of that observation.
Also Florence fell in the ocean, but she is fine.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
Starfish Cafe and Bar
February 12, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
After our short detour turned 2 hour long hike to sea lions we were starving. We headed towards the St. clair Esplanade and found this great restaurant. They had local craft beer on tap but we both went with coffee.Read more
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New Zealand 2019
St. Clair Esplanade
February 12, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
We hadn't sunscreened and someone was EXHAUSTED post hike so we just looked around the esplanade quickly and started our drive.
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New Zealand 2019
Omaru village
February 12, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
We came here for one specific shop (Whiskey) but I adored the scenery and shops and everything about it. They had tons of book stores and as the steam punk capital of NZ everything on the streets was unique and intricate. Our quick visit convinced us to come back again.Read more
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