New Zealand

Hi! Did you miss us?! We're back in the States now but let's have a little #TBT to New Zealand, the last country on our trip abroad. We spent about two weeks in NZ but easily could have spent a month exploring this beautiful country. By this point we were a bit anxious, tired and a little unprepared as it was nearing the end of winter (we were lugging around shorts and tank tops from humid SEA!), but we couldn't think of a better country to end our travels on.

In New Zealand...
...we had to get used to driving on the left side of the road
...we noticed there was a lot of bland food, especially in the South Island
...police don't carry guns
...Queenstown is like a hip Tahoe
...Christchurch is small city with not much going on
...Wellington is hipster-ish
...the coffee is not good!
...wifi is either non existent, we had to pay for it, or limited to 20 minutes usage.

Day 1 (8/29/17): Flight arrives in Queenstown. Cab ride was a ridiculous $18 to drive 3 minutes. Very chilly night; it's winter here! We walked to the closest restaurant and shared a pizza. Overnight at Marina Mantra hotel and passed out my 9pm. Woke up to beautiful lake views.

Day 2 (8/30/17): Pick up our JUCY rental at ~9am. Our white water rafting trip was cancelled so we just hung around Queenstown during the day, visited the Kawarau Bungee bridge but neither of us jumped! Later we picked up a few groceries to store in the van which was equipped with a small fridge, stove, pots & pans and dishes. Ate dinner at the famous Fergburger, but we both thought it was a bit overrated. Drove and camped overnight around Fiorland National Park.

Day 3 (8/31/17): Drove to Milford Sound and then back towards the direction of Queenstown to overnight at Lake Pukaki.

Day 4 (9/1/17): Stopped at Lake Tekapo. Drove to make our way towards Christchurch. Overnight in JUCY "Snooze" Hotel and did some long overdue laundry! Dinner at local Indian restaurant. Not much to do or see in Christchurch.

Day 5 (9/2/17): Drove from Christchurch en route to Picton. Randomly stopped at Maruia Hot Springs and felt fully refreshed after an hour in the pools. We spent the night in the van at a pullover spot; Hope Saddle Lookout. Terrible nights sleep...apparently the locals like to race cars in this area so it sounded like a NASCAR rally from 11pm-1am.

Day 6 (9/3/17): Hit the road around 9:45am. Drove to Picton to catch the Ferry to the North Island - Wellington. Very bumpy ferry ride; it was a good thing I took my motion sickness meds! Overnight in Wellington at Marina Car Park where we woke up to a note on the windshield saying we weren't allowed to park there and may incur a fine next time. Oops. Dinner at "The Chippery" where Kiel enjoyed his fish and chips.

Day 7 (9/4/17): Spent the day in Wellington. Hung out in the library to charge electronics. We went to My. Victoria lookout and booked a hotel to get a proper nights sleep and a shower!

Day 8 (9/5/17): All day driving...Tongariro National Park to Taupo. Dinner at a yummy Kebab place. Parked on the street for the night and drank some wine and whisky in the van!

Day 9 (9/6/17): Visitied Huka Falls, Craters of the Moon and the Wairakei Terraces. Around noon it poured rain so we hungout in the library (did some research for our upcoming ventures) and overnighted at the same spot on the street.

Day 10 (9/7/17): Morning coffee and phone charge at Victoria's Cafe and then hit the road for Rotorua. Stopped at Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Park and really enjoyed the walk. Tasty dinner at Rotorua's best (and probably only) restaurant called Huhu before camping out in a department store parking lot.

Day 11 (9/8/17): I was still sick/recovering from HandFootMouth Disease (yuck!) Went to see the awesome Waitamo Glowworm Caves (unfortunately no photos allowed here), and lunch back at Huhu. We hit the road around 12:30p, for Matama. Rainy night, camped out lakeside with four other vans.

Van Life Snacks

Day 12 (9/9/17): We stopped at two coffee shops in the morning (sometimes we felt like we overextended our stay and use of their bathrooms and wifi so we would coffee shop hop), before heading to tour the Hobbiton Movie Set. It was absolutely magical and darling and we loved it! We got rained on pretty hard for about 5 minutes, but sat fireside with a beer and some cider at the Dragon's Inn, the last location of the tour.

Decided to drive to Auckland a day early. We were tired of the van life, so decided to book a hotel room for the next three nights.

Day 13 (9/10/17): Wandered around Auckland...brunch, bookstore, window shopping downtown.

Day 14 (9/11/17): Our last full day in New Zealand! Breakfast at "Best Ugly Bagel". Drove to Wairepei to view the gannet colony. Dropped off our JUCY van and had dinner from Subway.

Day 15 (9/12/17): We just hung out in the hotel in the morning before our 24 hour travels ahead! Auckland --> Tahiti --> LA (California)--> JFK (New York)