We spent our next 3 nights in Arrowtown (next to Queenstown) at a little bed and breakfast called Willowby Downs. It was fun to stay there because we got to talk to the owners a lot and learn more about day to day New Zealand (and watch lots of cricket and rugby on TV). They always had a grandchild or two around as well that were thrilled to play with our children and listen to their American accents. One of them was named Niamh (pronounced Neev). She was 11 and Vivi was especially fond of her. When Niamh's cousin Harry came over to play and asked Vivi what her name was, she said "It's Vivien, and I play with Niamh, not boys."
They had two alpacas and a couple sheep on the property. We took Vivi out to get an up-close look at the sheep since mostly we'd just been driving past them. She thought they sounded angry when they baa'd.
At this point of the trip, Vivi was so tired that she'd started falling asleep in the car around 5 on our way to dinner and therefore wanted to go to bed a little later at night.
We stuck Rafe in the walk-in closet in our room so he could go to bed at a good baby time and we could still have the lights on in our room. Poor little Harry Potter boy.
On Tuesday we decided to drive to the head of Lake Wakatipu and hang out in Glenorchy. On the way we passed by a campground/picnic area called Twelve Mile Delta. It had a beautiful view of the lake and surrounding mountains from the beach.
It kind of made us laugh though, because this is where they filmed the scene in Lord of the Rings where Sam and Frodo see the Oliphants.
They just don't show you the gorgeous blue lake in the background . . .
It never ceased to be a stunning drive the whole way there.
We ate lunch at a cafe in Glenorchy, ogling the 360 degree views of incredible mountains. Also our cute babies.
Then we drove up to Paradise. We stopped in Lothlorien on the way and let Drew pretend to be an elf for a little while. I told him to walk like Legolas and then he started doing what looked like prancercise. We had a good chortle.
Drew actually would look quite a bit like an elf if we got him a nice blond wig and some pointy ears, I think. His eyes are dreamy enough :)
Paradise was aptly named. My panorama didn't turn out very well, so you'll have to take my word for it that it looked like the picture below all the way around us. They film lots of movies here, because the mountains are even more unbelievably beautiful than any CGI ones you could create!
We decided to go for one last hike. We did a very small portion of the 32 km Routeburn track.
The whole thing was shaded, so by the time we got to this waterfall, we were cold and sweaty enough to feel we merited turning back.
Vertical panoramas! I really like my iPhone camera . . .
Vivi and her favorite Daddy in their puff-puffs.
A sample of all the cool mosses growing on everything.
We kept seeing these little birds called Riflemans hopping all over the ground. They were like a little puff of green feathers, and we wanted more than anything to squeeze them. They were too fast for me to even take a picture of them though, so I had to take a picture of the "Birds You May See" sign at the trailhead when we returned.
On Wednesday we took a coach to Milford Sound. It was a 3 hour drive. We stopped often to get out and take pictures. Our first scenic stop was at Lake Te Anau, the 3rd largest lake in New Zealand. Vivien did her best squat protest when I requested a smile.
Here is the other side of the wall. It seems so impenetrable!
Here was our view from the other side. Just look at that lovely, glacial U!
We were told that the best time to go to Milford Sound is when it's raining on the way out and then sunny on the way back. After about 20 minutes of rain, all the lakes on top of the mountains fill up and the resultant waterfalls are supposedly stunning. We made do with the more permanent waterfalls.
A nice lady from Missouri who was there to visit her daughter who is going to college in New Zealand took our picture.
This is Mitre Peak from the side.
And this was a cool mountain that looked like the lions at the front of fancy buildings.
We managed to find some Asians onboard to fawn over our blondies.
We stopped again at the mirror lakes.
And took cool pictures until some ducks decided to show off for us and rippled our mirror.
The drive was like looking at the night sky when it's so clear you can see more stars than you ever imagined were there. We just drove through canyon after canyon after canyon and the walls were so steep and the mountains so tall, it felt like the rest of the world could have exploded and we were so far away from everything we wouldn't have known.
The characteristic U shape was so apparent everywhere we looked, it made it easy to imagine the glaciers crushing through on their way to the ocean.
And Vivi threw rocks in the water.
We followed the valleys until we got to a particularly foreboding wall, at the foot of which was the entrance to a tunnel that seemed laughably small compared with the scale of everything else. The tunnel was 1.2 km long and took 20 years to build due to avalanches and a delay during WWII (it was built by New Zealand's version of the CCC). It's a one lane tunnel operated by stoplights at either entrance.
When we got to the end of the valley, we were greeted by Mitre Peak and our cruise boat waiting to take us out on the water.
There were a couple seals sun bathing.
And I'd like to say the rock they chose to sleep on is pretty gneiss.
We got to the Tasman Sea and then turned around to come back.
Our guide called this section The Palisades. It was cool because you could totally see the different stages of erosion slanting off to the left as glacier after glacier carved out the valley.
More waterfalls.
Breathtaking Milford Sound! I'm glad we went, and I'm grateful Drew took the reigns wrangling our rather overwrought children so I could actually enjoy the day. On our way back to Queenstown we watched "The World's Fastest Indian," starring Anthony Hopkins. It's about a New Zealand man who makes his way to the Bonneville Salt Flats to try to break the land-speed world record with the motorcycle he built. Fun for us to see Utah in New Zealand!
On Thursday we woke up, packed, said goodbye to our host, then went to explore Queenstown.
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| Shotover River on the way to Queenstown |
We wandered among the shops for awhile and were sorely tempted to buy a sheepskin rug on more than one occasion.
Then we remembered that we don't like to shop, so we got ourselves one last meat pie and drove down to Lake Wakatipu to skip rocks instead.
They were PERFECT skipping rocks. (I threw a good Devil's Throat Dad--you would've been proud)
They were also good for rock sandwiches.
Vivi made one for everyone.
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| Queenstown is on the hillside on the left |
Then it was time to go! We turned in our rental car without incident and got to the airport, expecting the usual airport rush. It was such a small airport though that they didn't even have us go through security until our plane was ready to board, so we had lots of time to kill. I bought "Hairy MaClary from Donaldson's Dairy" at the gift shop. Liahona said it's an iconic New Zealand children's book, and the characters were on all the diapers we bought there, so it felt appropriate! We did not buy any Icebreaker clothes, as I'd feel uncomfortable wearing a $300 wool sweater anywhere near my children.
I will miss walking outside to get on the plane when we're back in the states. It feels so adventurous.
Drew took this picture from the window. I think it's the most amazing window shot ever! Thank you New Zealand, for being gorgeous.
We flew to Auckland and stayed in a hotel close to the airport. Mark and Liahona brought us KFC so they could see us again before we left. We were sad to say goodbye. We got up early the next morning and boarded our flight to Tokyo. There was room on the plane again, so Drew and I each got our own row and the kids just switched back and forth between us the whole day. Vivien watched more Scooby Doo in one flight than I have ever seen in my life and Drew and I got to catch up on all the movies we've missed since we've been in Japan (Monuments Men, Life of Pi, Saving Mr. Banks, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Book Thief--lots of tears!). Our flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka was less fun. It was bedtime for the kids and they were too wired to sleep, so they basically cried for 2 hours and everything the sweet stewardesses brought out to tempt them just made them cry harder. Everyone was pretty dazed when we got to Fukuoka.
Miraculously we made the 3 hour drive home without falling asleep (thank you Harry Potter), and thus ended the most amazing trip the four of us have taken yet (and this mind-numbingly long series of blog posts)!
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