Distant Family part 1

One of the main reasons to travel all this way was to catch up with distant uncles & cousins down under. After the Smiths in Sydney, we're visiting the Macauleys in Melbourne



Thomas, Maddy and Piper were all so much fun to hang out with, and loved playing with Archie. We also went to the fair

Archie is starting to look more and more like his Gdad

Melbourne

Changing from rural New Zealand back to the busyness of a big city has meant little time for blogging again!

Walking around Melbourne, it's impossible to miss all the sports grounds around. Last weekend was also one of the biggest sporting weekends here...

Formula 1 was in town...

Lewis was running along the river

Jenson was zipping round the track

Pete was loving seeing two Lotus teams on the grid

Archie didn't really appreciate just how impressively loud F1 cars are

But out here, F1 is a sideshow compared to the opening weekend of AFL - Aussie Rules

Pete didn't take this photo, but loved how similar it is to Ultimate... with more fighting :o)

We saw the Melbourne Demons vs the Sydney Swans - it was a draw, which is really rare.. but what really impressed was the stadium - the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground)

After England retained the Ashes here in December, it seems that the Aussies have abandoned cricket and are playing a game they can't loose to the Poms at instead...

the last days in New Zealand

From Queenstown we took the trip northward towards Christchurch and  and our flight onwards. Our last few days in New Zealand were filled with

More Beautiful scenary

Archie Learning to sit up unaided by Lake Tekapo......

.....and his attempt at standing!!

A 5.1 afterschock whilst we were in Akaroa. Our first experience of an earthquake, Pete and I kept blaming eachother for shaking the camper van.


and on our last night...dinner with some very lovely friends.

Caked with expert skills by Esi

Archie Stealing some cuddle time with Jonty's auntie Esi

...and his Bebe

Back in Christchurch and scars both in the streets and on the minds of the people are very evident. We pray that Christchurch will have the courage to rebuild a stronger safer city for it's community.

Well as we reflect on our time in NewZealand it has definitely met our expectations with regards to the scenery and the hospitality. We do hope to return here some day and travel a bit on the more superior North Island (eh Craig!)

To middle earth we go

So after our time in Wanaka it would take a lot to live up to the sights and sounds of the sounds so off we went southward to Queens town and beyond. We ended up in a small little town called Glenorchy which any of you lord of the rings buffs out there would recognise as one of the major areas used for all those isengard and mountain shots in the movies. It wasn't long on our journey there that we got to see why the movie makers chose this as their suitable location.

We ended up staying right on the lake at the cross of Kinloch and Paradise a definite getting away from it all experience.

We took this opportunity to give Archie his first taste of solids (some baby rice), he gobbled it all up, but hasn't been too fussed since, but we'll keep trying.

So the next day being St Patricks day where better to spend it but party town of the south Queenstown
It wasn't long till all the leprechauns came out of the woodwork ( suspiciously there was lots of dressing up and celebrating of St Patricks day going on but very few irish accents to be heard!! 

Archie made friends with the locals.

Pete spent the day on the water river surfing. No pictures of the activity just picture little helmets speeding along this river and you'll get the picture.

onward we go Christchurch bound!!

A Day to remember

We've been blessed with incredible weather throughout our trip - especially here in NZ where's the trees are starting to turn, and everyone seems to be gearing up for the ski season...

So as with the weather forecasts changing to rain & towns becoming more Scottish, we knew we had to make the most of the good days.
Milford Sound is 7 hours drive each way, and we were told it's an incredible journey.
...Or you can fly there in 40 minutes and see this:

Archie loved the bumps in a single prop 6-seater plane, Jen not so much, but the views made up for it. Especially flying down the sound itself.


To help recover from the flight you're straight onto a cruise around Milford Sound. What amazed me is how stunning the Sound was from the water.

The whole day was made all the better for meeting Irish Honeymooners, and some incredibly well traveled Californians. Their advice for where to go next? - The Galapagos Islands...

Wannaka

Wannaka is apparently the chilled out alternative to Queenstown. We liked it!

There is Puzzling World - Jenny Heaven!

There's a 3d maze

Pete and Archie crowing from the end :o)

The walking's not too shabby either

All too much like hard work for some!

To the Lakes

We quickly got bored of being eaten by flies on the west coast beaches, so headed inland towards the mountains - on the way there were:

Waterfalls

Glaciers named for Austrian Princes

Blue pools of haast

into the wild wild west

So where did we get to, oh yeah we'd just entered the West coast of NZ. We were lucky (or unlucky depending on your tastes) to stumble across a great NZ cultural experience, the Hokitika wild food festival! This festival not only celebrates wild foods such as

worms in red bull

kina (spiky fish)

Archie loved this stand

and of course

honey ice cream covered in pollen

Foods we didn't partake in.....

wood grubs (fresh from the log)

scorpions

Crickets

can you guess what they are yet?

mmm mountain oysters

but also everyone who attends feels it is necessary to dress up for the occasion

A gaggle of geishas

Archie wasn't too sure about the whole thing

but all was well at the end of the day on the beach (well, until the sand flies ruined the moment)

...No wonder these West Coasters are crazy