New Zealand!

So much to tell! We spent a week in New Zealand (pronounced Nu Zuhland if you're a local) and this post is a long one because I want to tell you all about it!

Our plane to Christchurch was delayed by around 90 minutes, which meant we landed much later than planned. We got our hire car just as the sun was setting and then embarked on an epic, epic drive to Queenstown in the dark. It was intense. That drive led me to believe no one lives in New Zealand - all we could see was a narrow strip of grass (or snow!) on the shoulders of the road and empty blackness beyond. Driving through the mountain passes was especially scary - the temperature would drop, an eerie chill filled the car, and the radio would turn to static as we wound through the twisty highway. You can guess how continually I prayed during that 6 hour journey!

We pulled into our hotel in Queenstown at around 11pm, a bit shaky but very relieved. We hadn't stopped for dinner and apart from a muesli bar we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. We went straight down to the hotel bar after dumping our bags - Dane had hot chips and I had (average) tacos, then went to bed very exhausted!

The next morning I really enjoyed a large, hot breakfast!

Corn fritters with poached eggs, bacon and spinach at Post Office Cafe

We walked around Queenstown, then drove over to Arrowtown, which has lots of history in gold panning and now has knick-knack shops and heaps of cafes. I bought a packet of sour coke bottles and one of choc-coated honeycomb. They gave us a free sample of peanut butter chocolate fudge.

on the chairlift

The next day, we hit the ski slopes! This was my very first time skiing, and I was pretty nervous about it. I took a beginners class where they taught you how to stop. Very valuable knowledge!

That afternoon I went up on the chairlift and tried some of the easy slopes. I wasn't very good at it but I still had a lot of fun. My stack rate was about one every two goes. Dane went adventuring on the more advanced slopes. One time, I met him at the bottom of the mountain and his forehead was muddy. He must have stacked it pretty hard that time :)

We spent the next few days recovering. Our legs and knees were pretty shot. In Queenstown, there's a cable car that takes you to the top of Bob's Peak, where we had mulled wine and hot chocolate.

View from the cable car

One of our trip highlights was going on a 4-wheel-drive Lord of the Rings tour! Yes, I am a bit of a LOTR nerd and it was so exhilarating to recognise the places where the movie scenes were filmed. Our first stop was the garden in Ithilien where Frodo and Sam see Oliphants. Our tour guide had an iPad so we could watch the movie clip right on the spot it was filmed. Next, we saw the breathtaking lake where the Pillars of the Kings was filmed. It was absolutely freezing and windy on this lookout!

"The great river"

Our guide had a very dry, understated humour. When we got to the rocky, muddy riverbed that Isengard was CG-d onto, he stopped the car saying, "This is a really lovely place for lunch! And it's such a mild day." So we stood around munching on sandwiches and shivering. Can you imagine having a picnic lunch on the grounds at Isengard? He also told us that the road ended a little way ahead, even though we hadn't seen a road for kilometres!

My favourite location was a beech forest near Glenorchy, where they filmed the departure of Boromir. It just sings of Middle Earth. We wanted to stand there all day and drink it in.

Middle Earth!

While driving around the countryside we saw some places that looked like they could be straight out of Hobbiton!

Bag End could be in this photo somewhere!

Our drive back up to Christchurch was much better than our way down. We drove through national parkland and saw large, solitary birds of prey wheeling overhead. There were "Strong Wind" warning signs along the highway - Dane decided he would adopt that as his American Indian name (giggle).

One of the most memorable nights of our adventure (and probably my life) was the night we stopped at Mount Cook. It had drizzled through the afternoon, but as soon as we reached our little stand-alone cabin, it started hailing! Watching the news report that night, we found out the roads out of Queenstown had shut behind us because of a landslide. We were so, so thankful to God that we got through early. The weather report had severe gale warnings for the night. On top of all that, Dane started feeling a bit off-colour, was shaky and hot, and had me very worried.

We went to sleep early. It was probably one of the scariest nights of my life. Our little cabin shook with loud BOOMing noises at every gust of wind, and we could hear rain and hail and snow pelting down outside all night long. I was convinced that in the morning we would find the roads a metre deep in snow.

Our fears were unfounded! In the morning the storm had blown itself out and there was only a fine powder of snow on the road, like icing sugar. We went over to the main homestead for a buffet breakfast. They have an enormous fireplace and keep a jar of marshmallows and skewers on the mantlepiece for you to help yourself.

Fireplace with DIY marshmallow skewers

After that, it was go, go, go to Christchurch. You will remember that a few years ago, Christchurch was ruined by earthquakes. It was very sobering to drive into the city and see how bad the damage still is. On every street, buildings are being held up with scaffolding, windows are taped over or boarded up, there are empty blocks covered in rubble - it is amazing how complete the destruction still is.

After walking past so many cracked, desolate buildings we eventually stumbled upon a lively mall with food stalls, cafes, shops, and banks all made out of shipping containers! It was very cool to find such an oasis in the middle of a very grim city.

And of course I won't leave off this post without a run-down of my favourite meals! Here they are:

• Sudado De Pescado (Peruvian fish stew) at Fishbone 
  

•  Share plate of ribs, chicken wings, prawns and salt + pepper squid at English-inspired pub, 1876
  

•  Banana split at Patagonia Chocolates 
  
   
• Pork belly and scallop salad at Pier19 (the lovely folk at Pier19 also comped our drinks as a sweetener to get us into the restaurant)
  

  

  This photo doesn't do it justice - it was my favourite meal in NZ!