3 Fokken Women and One Brave Man Take on the South Island

The second part of our family vacation was a 10-day trip to the South Island. It was such an amazing trip. I feel like we say this about everywhere we go, but we wish we would have gone so much earlier so we could have gone some places twice! We had great weather the whole time. Only had rain on the first and last day. I'll post by the place to make it easy to follow. Sorry it's so long and has so many photos!! Might want to read it in chunks :)

Abel Tasman National Park
We flew into Nelson and stopped at a city market that was surprisingly good. We found good produce, great crafts and amazing food trucks! Then it was off the Abel Tasman National Park. Here we had planned to do some kayaking, and a boat/hiking trip so we could get dropped off in this national park where there is no land access. Well, cyclone Lusi had another idea, so we had to scratch all those plans, but were able to at least do a boat cruise where we didn't get off the boat, but were able to see all the landscape and sea life. It was a great time.

Nelson Market

The wind was picking up!

Split Apple Rock

This is how mom enjoyed the boat ride at the end when it was really windy

They were excited about a kiwi fruit orchard behind our hotel! 

Blenhiem
Our drive here was through the worst of Cyclone Lusi, so I was white-knuckled the whole way. We stopped to get a break from the rain and pies for Mom and Gail to try. We took a detour through Picton and luckily were there while there was a little break in the rain. Once we arrived in Blenheim we got settled in to our accommodation and had a delicious home cooked meal for dinner. We stayed with my friend Sarah's parents again and knew what the expect :) The next day we took off for some wine tastings at some new wineries we hadn't been to yet. My favorite was Framingham or Highfield. We always have a great time with the Gardiner's.

Picton harbor

Framingham winery 

Gail testing grapes at Highfield

View from Highfield

Villa Maria winery

Cloudy Bay winery 

Going for a drive with Guy

Drive Arthurs Pass
We took the long way from Blenheim to Franz Joseph to be able to drive through Kaikoura and Arthur's Pass. Kaikoura is known as the whale capital of New Zealand and Arthur's Pass is the most dramatic of the passes through the Southern Alps. Of course Mom and Gail had to stop for coffee in Kaikoura. Our day was a bit foggy, but that added a bit of mystique to the drive.  Once we got over the pass, it cleared up and we could see everything. There were fields of this green plan that non could identify and this was the start if the speculation of what it was.

Kaikoura 

Mom trying to figure out the mystery plant

At the top of Arthur's Pass

Franz Joseph Glacier
After trying every way possible to find a way we could get on the ice without the helicopter trip (and $400 we didn't have...) we decided to settle for the free doc walk that gets you really close to the glacier. It was a easy but fun walk and was really cool to see the glacier from far away to see where it has been and how its still moving. We were very pleased with what we got for free!

Wanaka
The drive from Franz Joseph to Wanaka was so beautiful. We were spotting Mt. Aspiring and Cook through the clouds that always seem to huddle around majestic peaks like that. We stopped for a few walks along the way and of course, coffee. This time it wasn't strong enough so they had to doctor their purchased flat whites. Wanaka was AMAZING. I couldn't tell you why, but it was my favorite place on the trip. It just felt good. It wasn't built up too high for tourism, but has plenty to see and do. I could see myself owning a house there and going every summer for a few weeks if I was a millionaire. I loved it so much I felt like that was the place for me to finally get up the nerve to skydive! It was such a thrill and I can't wait to do it again!

View from our motel 

Just after landing...elated! 

Te Anau/Milford Sound
Te Anau was our base for our Milford Sound exploration. The place we stayed was a bit cramped, but it worked out just fine! We got up early to hit the road for Milford. We stopped at Mirror Lakes on our way to see the mountains reflected on the lake. We had secured the 10:30 Nature cruise which was a 2.5 hour trip through the sound. It was so amazing. I had already seen so many beautiful things in the South Island I wasn't sure Milford would be any different, but you got so close to the towering cliffs it was just stunning. No words can describe it. If you go to New Zealand, you MUST see this. It was just a great way to spend the morning/afternoon. Our guide gave us great information and even explained that Milford Sound isn't even a sound, but a fjord. On the way back we stopped for a few photo opps and a walk through a mossy forest.

Mirror Lakes

Mitre Peak, Milford Sound

Getting wet from the waterfall!

With Richard, our nature guide. The old ladies were chatting him up big time :)

Not a bad place to have a picnic. What you can't see are the thousands of sandflies. I enjoyed my picnic in the car.

Queenstown
We spent 2 nights in Queenstown to soak up the beauty and adventure. One of Will's friend's, Nathan, came and stayed with us so Will could have a friend to do adrenaline pumping things. They went Mountain Biking while the ladies went rafting. Sadly, we don't have pictures of Rafting because you obviously can't bring your own camera and they only charge $40 for a picture. We enjoyed Ferg Burgers and our clothes did too. Queenstown was great, but in my spoiled New Zealand mind, it was too crowded. I don't like being places where everyone else is and hate lines. I guess I better get ready for crowds when I move home...

Ferg Burger!

View from the top of the Gondola 

View from our room! 

Lake Tekapo
Our ride to Lake Tekapo was interesting. I had wanted to pick up a hitchhiker the whole trip (there are lots here and it's pretty safe), but we had a full load so couldn't really pick anyone up. Towards the end of our trip I said I really wanted to, so I would go sit in the back middle and the person could sit up front with Will. As we drive, we saw a young chap so we decided to pick 'em up! His name was Emmanuel from Germany and he had been traveling with a girl, but got kicked out of the car that morning because in his words "I was quite rude to her last night". I wonder what that means? Regardless of his trespasses, we gave him a ride back to Wanaka (only about 40 min out of the way) so he could get a bus to Christchurch to get back to Auckland. I am glad we did it. That was my souvenir :) On the way we drove past Lake Pukaki, which is the most teal lake I've seen outside of hot springs. Once we got to Tekapo we climbed Mt John to get some amazing views. I'm so proud of Mom and Gail for doing it. It was hard!

Lake Pukaki 

View from our abode

Top of Mt John

Windblown Grandmas 

Christchurch
On our last day we woke up to a great day in Tekapo, knowing rain was coming. On our drive through Canterbury we were able to see the storm come in, which was really cool. We got to downtown Christchurch just at a break in the rain so took our chances and walked as quickly as we could to see the Cathedral. Just as we got back to the re:start mall, it started pouring again. So we shopped our way around, then sprinted for the car. Our planned picnic ended up being eaten in the car. With a little extra time and nowhere to go in the rain, we gave in and drove to the airport early. We didn't take many pictures since it was raining. Despite the rain and wind, we had a really easy flight back to Auckland. We all went to bed right away!

We had such a great time seeing all the amazing things God has created and spending time with my mom and aunt. We are so blessed!!