New Zealand Family Trip

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Trip start
June 22, 2024
New Zealand Family Trip Traveler
The journey there
June 22, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
So we packed our bags, loaded up the essentials in carry-on, had lunch and headed off to the airport at 1:30pm. Sat around for a while, then the board said go to international departures, where we had to go through security again. The we sat around a bit more.
Our flight departed at 6:50pm from the Gold Coast and we arrived at 11:40pm into Christchurch, half an hour early! Immigration and baggage was super quick, and we had a very short, like 50m walk to our overnight hotel, the Novatel Christchurch. We checked in at 11:55pm before our flight time was supposed to land.Read more
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New Zealand Family Trip Traveler
Christchurch to Lake Tekapo
June 23, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌫 4 °C
We woke up around 7am, headed out into grey drizzly weather back to the airport for some breaky, and grabbed the shuttle to the car hire.

We collected the Hybrid Rav4 and set course for the Pak and Save at Hornby. This place is like a mini Costco, so we stocked up on snacks for our road trip. As the kids would otherwise ask for snack stops often. Oscar's request was a bag of carrots.

Our journey for today was head to Darfield, then onto the 77 via Rakaia Gorge, through Geraldine, and onto Farlie.

Rakaia Gorge was pretty spectacular the place must be magic is fine weather, even in the constant drizzle, the water was still turquoise. We even doubled back to do the bridge twice to visit the lookouts either side.

We stopped off at a few lookouts enroute to admire the grey clouds and the plaquards showing how sunning it is in fine weather. We also visited the antique roadside stop that is Burke's Pass.

Arriving at Fairlie around 1:30 we headed for the famed bakery, and it delivered. Hubby had the pork belly and apple pie, I had the delightful smoked chicken and mushroom pie. It was so good that Dale traded her muffin and went and got one too. These were washed down with some hot chocolates.

We continued onto Lake Tekapo, arriving after 2pm. We headed to the lake front and visited the Church of the Good Shepherd, then walked out to the shore over all the rocks. The water was very clear. I'm sure it's stunning in the sunshine, we still had light rain and low cloud.

We checked into the Haka House Hotel right in town for the night, then ventured back out to visit the few shops in town. We ended up with roast chicken and bread rolls for dinner back at the hostel. The boys then played a few rounds of pool.Read more
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New Zealand Family Trip Traveler
Lake Tekapo to Te Anau
June 24, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C
We awoke after 7am and rustled up some breakfast before departing soon after 8am. As the weather was a bit better, we got a few more photos over the Lake before departing.

We drove into pea soup, low cloud for a lot of the journey. Occasionally we were rewarded with some lifted cloud and spots of a bit of sun, only to be thrust back into foggy cloudland again. We visited most lookouts and even photographed the grey nothingness.

We added some more fuel to the Hybrid at Cromwell and allowed the kids to play on the flying fox they saw in a park. We then arrived at Queenstown just after 1pm. We paid for parking along the park and walked down to the main part of Queenstown.

Fergburger was packed, so we ended up at the bakery across the road, then returned to have gelato at Ferg. After our meal, we wandered along through the town and the harbour.

At 3pm we departed and set course for Te Anau. We loved the drive along the lake after the airport, where we had little cloud and sunshine. Thus, it did not last as we headed further along.

We arrived at Te Anau at 5pm, we visited the lake that was glassy in the stillness. We then headed to town to find dinner, and settled on The Ranch for some steak. Then checked into the Motel for a couple of nights.Read more
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New Zealand Family Trip Traveler
Milford Sound
June 25, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
We woke up very early and left the motel at 7am. We stopped at the supermarket to grab breakfast and snacks for the day. The sun was not up, and we drove towards Milford sound in the dark.

The first part of our journey was by moonlight, and we encountered some fog. After Mirror lakes, the sun started to rise, and the fog had lifted, so we were able to enjoy the stunning vistas.

We stopped at many scenic spots and arrived at Deepwater free parking at about 9:30am. We then walked the 20 or so mins to the terminal and waited a few minutes for them to open at 10am. We purchased tickets for Pure Milford, which was set for an 11am departure.

Whilst waiting, we headed out to the chair along the spit and enjoyed the views and some breakfast snacks. At 11am, we boarded and stood on the top open deck at the front. We were very glad we had layered up. The kids, however, retreated to the lower decks for some hot chocolate. The parents toughed it out in the cold for the stunning views that the camera really doesn't capture fully.

The cruise was enjoyable, and the weather was finally on our side with no wind and blue skies. Finishing at 1pm, we set off for the car and headed back to Te Anau. This time, we stopped at most places heading back, now that we could see what was there.

Arriving back in Te Anau at 4pm, we filled up the car and decided to return to The Ranch for an early dinner at 5pm. Then we headed back to the motel to sort through all the photos.Read more
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New Zealand Family Trip Traveler
Wānaka
June 26, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
We departed Ta Anau around 9am, hitting up the supermarket for some breakfast. The cinnamon scroll scones were still warm and delightful. Luckily , we were only 5mins away from our accommodation when the son said he had left his watch behind. A quick detour saw the watch retrieved and us back on the road headed for Wanaka.

We revisited the lovely drive back towards Queenstown alongside the lake. We saw some skydivers land near the airport. After this, we headed to the Crown range at Arrow Junction. This road climbs very high and has spectacular views. We had a mostly blue sky day, only at times were we in cloud/fog.

A stop off at Cardrona Hotel for some pics, then the shopkeeper we got talking to told us Cardrona ski resort was blue sky, not that we could see it through the cloud. A decision was made to go check out Cardrona ski resort.

The road up there was certainly not for the faint of heart. Guard rails are not a thing here?? We drove up into the cloud where visibility was low, then continued up out of the cloud, up even higher, above some skiiers, to the car park. Again, there are no guardrails or stoppers. Just park on the edge of the cliff, she'll be right.

We only had a small walk around the ski base area, then jumped back in for the return journey down the mountain, still spectacular and hairy. This was followed by a quick stop off at Bradrona, a fence covered in bras.

In less than 25 minutes, we were at Wanaka. The first stop was that wanaka tree, not a special when it seemed to be low tide. We then went and checked in and ventured back out to give the car a much needed hose down at a local car wash. Instead of returning to the motel, we headed to the main part of Wanaka.

The kids saw a dinosaur playground and begged to go play there. We parked the car and let the kids play while we took so me lovely photos of the water. Here, a small boy told us about the eels. When we went and looked off the jetty there were around 15-20 eels about 1 meter long at the jetty. A local came and told us they used to be fed and now congregate there.

The sun was setting. Hubby wanted to photograph the tree again in the fading light, so we went there, only to be met with 2 bus loads of tourists who had no regard for the tree or other people taking photos. So we left and found somewhere to eat. The water bar had a nice brisket burger and hubby had the $1 wings.Read more
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New Zealand Family Trip Traveler
Mt Cook
June 27, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C
We left Wanaka at 8am, hitting up the supermarket for some breakfast pastries on our way out.

We drove through Highway 8 and Lindis Pass with some low cloudy skies. Arriving at Twizel an hour 45mins later. Here, we filled up with fuel and headed the 45mins to Mt Cook.

Our drive in had low cloud for the entirety, but the ground level was clear. We were able to see the lake and part way up the mountains. Their true majesty was hidden from us.

We parked at 11 am and visited the worst toilet I have ever encountered in my lifetime. Apparently, the water is shut off for winter, so other toilets are closed. Anyway a blind person who had too much curry must have visited the toilet. After this trauma, we set off on our way along the Hooker Valley track.

The kids were fine with the distance, and we fed them sugar to keep them going. As we hiked in, we could see glimpses of the mountains above as the cloud began to part. We hiked through, and by the time we had reached the second bridge, the clouds began to disapate. We reached the third bridge. Rock hopped a bit for some nice views and finally reached the lake with mostly clear skies about 1 and a half hours later.

The scenery is spectacular, being surrounded by these towering snowy mountains. We stopped at the end of the track and had some lunch, vegemite on corn thins at son's request. Once he saw people throwing rocks onto the mostly frozen over lake, he was very keen to do so as well.

So we headed down to the lake shore, rock and ice were thrown, loads more photos were taken. At about 1:30pm, we headed back towards the car, now marvelling at all the sights that were no longer covered by cloud. We kept saying we were sure there were awesome mountains above the cloud, now we were able to see how amazing they were.

We still kept stopping to take so many photos and arrived back at the car 4 hours after we set off. Our drive back towards Twizel was equally photogenic without the cloud cover. We kept looking back to see the spectacular views, stopping on the side of the road to photograph them even more.

At 4:30pm, we checked into our accommodation, then went into town to eat at the Ministry of Works, where the food was lovely.Read more
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New Zealand Family Trip Traveler
Christchurch
June 28, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
We had a lovely night in Gladstone cottage. A cottage on someone's front yard in Twizel. It was a slower morning as we had no immediate plans. We departed after 9am into a foggy drive north.

By the time we reached Lake Tekapo, the skies had cleared, showing all the mountains we missed on our rainy journey down. So we stopped in to take some more photos now that we could see the mountains around the lake.

We continued our journey reaching Fairlie around 11:50am. The line for the bakery was out the door and down the street. It moved fast, though I was disappointed they did not have the fabulous chicken and mushroom pie. I tried the mac and cheese pie instead, whilst it was nice, it didn't hold a bar to the chicken mushroom pie. Hubby stuck with the pork belly and apple pie.

Now that we were full, we continued on. Our next stop was at Rakaia Gorge. This time, we could see the mountains, so we went exploring a little, walked across the bridge, up higher across the road, and down to the shore.

Our next stop was Darfield as the kids saw a playground. So some play was had, then we headed for our final stop, Christchurch. Arriving around 4pm, we checked in and walked into the city centre. Here we found the marketplace food hall and each got something for dinner. A walk back to our motel had us there and settled in at 6:30pm.Read more
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New Zealand Family Trip Traveler
Christchurch
June 29, 2024 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
We had a slow morning with the kids watching Netflix while we packed up ready for the flight. It was about 9:30am when we left, and when we discovered that our sim cards stopped working, leaving us without data.

We headed to the botanical gardens for a place to park the car. Then we walked into town and looked at the murals and buildings. We headed to the Margaret Mahy family playground the kids had spotted the day before. It was a fabulous place, and the kids had fun.

At 11am, it was time for some sugar, so we went to the Rollickin dessert cafe. I had a warm chic chip cookie topped with salted caramel gelato, it was good! From here, it was a stroll back towards the car to head to the airport. We stopped back outside the motel to use the wi-fi for airport directions.

We returned the hire car and were at the airport just after 1pm. We checked in and cleared security by 2 pm, then relaxed while we waited for our flight.
Another flight from Air NZ was cancelled, so our jetstar flight was full.
Once back at the Gold Coast, we had a quick cleaning of our boots after declaring soil on them. Dinner was a quick stop at HJ's, and then we had our drive home. The end.Read more
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Trip end
June 29, 2024