New Zealand is probably best known for creatures great and small, real and fictional: wizards, elves, hobbits, orcs, and sheep. A fascinating fact about New Zealand is that there are no indigenous mammals, only birds. All mammals, such as possums, dogs, squirrels, cows, deer, etc. were brought over by Europeans, sometimes successfully (sheep), sometimes not (possum). Because of this fragile and rare ecosystem, getting into New Zealand is like a post 9/11 security check, but instead of bombs, they are looking for invasive species. All dirty shoes are swabbed for microbes, food and perishables are strictly prohibited, and shipping containers carefully inspected. It is indeed a special place, and they are trying very hard to keep it that way.
Christchurch: City of Very Creative Ruins
Once cleared of all biohazards, our first stop on our itinerary was Christchurch, probably best known for the 2011 earthquake that destroyed most of the city. They are just starting to rebuild in Christchurch — there are hundreds of empty city blocks and construction cranes everywhere you look. Shipping containers are used as retaining walls, housing, storage sites, and shops. Fun fact: Christchurch has the world’s only Lululemon housed in a shipping container! All the available space has sprouted some very clever public art projects, with sculptures and play spaces filling in the gaps until new construction arrives. We did not spend a lot of time there, just enough to tour the city in the pouring rain and recover from our red-eye flight jet lag (lots of rain, no good photos).
TransAlpine Train
Our first clue that New Zealand was something special was our train trip across the South Island on a scenic Kiwirail trip. The TranzAlpine train starts on the East Coast in Christchurch and ends on the West Coast in Greymouth, a spectacular 4.5 hour trip across the island through gorgeous valleys and snow-capped mountains. The rail cars had huge windows and even an outside car, which was way too cold for this family from the tropics! We did really enjoy wearing jeans and sweaters again. A New Zealand summer is our winter!
Fox Glacier
After the train trip, we picked up our rental car. The entire family crossed their fingers and hoped that I would not hit a car again this year like I did last year in Australia. Even though they drive on the left in Singapore, we don’t have a car so there are not a lot of opportunities for practice. We drove — fortunately uneventfully — to our hotel near the Fox Glacier to prepare for our trip the next day.
The Fox Glacier was one of the highlights of the trips for several reasons. One, SNOW! These snow-starved Wisconsinites were thrilled to bundle up and run around in the snow, if even for just a few minutes. Singapore is week after week of hot, humid weather. Our poor Christmas tree, despite getting water with a daily dose of ICE, was so brown and crispy before we left it was sad. Cranking the air con and playing Christmas carols is just not the real thing. Having a little cold weather, and a peek at a white Christmas — if even just for 10 minutes — was a thrill.
Second, HELICOPTERS ARE COOL! The Fox Glacier is in between Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman, and flying up in a tiny helicopter was a genuine thrill. We had a beautiful clear day, with the mountain peaks coming in and out of the clouds interspersed with spectacular sunshine. From the helicopter, we saw waterfalls, dense forest, and from a distance some ice caves that Marc is dying to try hiking through (other people, without kids, could go on a several hour glacier hike, which is now on Marc’s bucket list!)
Millbrook Resort
After a harrowing drive through the mountains, with some pretty severe switchbacks — and car sickness — we arrived at our Christmas destination, Millbrook Resort. Millbrook is a golf resort in Arrowtown, about 20 minutes from Queenstown, with gorgeous mountain views all around. We stayed in a condo that was fully equipped with washer, dryer, and a fireplace! Oh, the thrill to sit by the fire on Christmas Eve! Sure it was New Zealand summer, and it didn’t get dark until 10:30 at night. We brought our stockings with us and hung them by the fire! Andie was a little nervous — surely Santa will find us, even if we are almost as far from the North Pole as you could possibly get outside of Antarctica. We spent the next four days enjoying Millbrook, exploring Queenstown, and waiting for the arrival of the Smith family.
Queenstown: Blue Water and Adventure
Queenstown is known as being the “Adventure Capital” of New Zealand. Just about anything you can think of, from bungy jumping to jet boating, skydiving to parasailing is available there. We spent four glorious, sunny, spectacular days enjoying this amazing city with Patrick, Nicole, Elliott (13) and Maddy (12).
We took a trip on a coal-fired steamboat across gorgeous, impossibly-blue Queenstown lake to a sheep farm. After all, what is New Zealand without sheep??? We enjoyed a lakeside barbecue lunch, learned all about sheep shearing, saw sheepdogs in action, and Andie was able to feed some lambs. We hoped the lambs were not destined for the barbecue — Kiwis love their lamb!
The next day was a true Queenstown day — parasailing in the morning, jet boating in the afternoon. Marc, Mia, Patrick, Elliott, and Maddy bravely went parasailing off of Coronet Peak in Arrowtown! With the help of a guide as co-pilot, they ran off a mountain peak and soared down, just a parachute, a guide, and a Go Pro.
In the afternoon we drove to Glenorchy, about 45 minutes from Arrowtown for a jet boat safari on the Dart River in Mt. Aspiring National Park. A jet boat is essentially a really big jet ski, which allows it to go in very shallow waters where most other boats could not, and it allowed us to visit remote areas of the park. Mt. Aspiring is home to a lot of the spectacular scenery from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies — snowy mountains, glacial streams, and waterfalls are everywhere. The water was so incredibly blue and clear, we could fill up our water bottle and drink straight from the river. The jet boats were fast, doing 360 spins and hairpin turns around rocks and branches.
We rounded out our stay in Queenstown with a New Zealand wine-soaked lamb barbeque, a Segway tour around Queenstown lake, some amazing restaurants and more New Zealand wine. We were all very sad to leave our new favorite Southern Hemisphere city.
Fiordland — Yes, They Even Have Fiords in New Zealand!
Seriously, could anything be more gorgeous than Queenstown? We drove 2.5 hours south to Te Anau to find out. Milford and Doubtful Sounds are remote, untouched areas of spectacular cliffs, sounds, waterfalls, and wildlife. Some of the most amazing hikes in the world are here — Patrick and Marc did a short day-long hike — and we started to call this part of New Zealand “the land of screen savers.” Every vista seemed more beautiful than the next.
From Te Anau we took a cruise and nature tour of Milford Sound, cruising out to the Tasman Sea, where we saw spectacular waterfalls, rainforest, and mountain vistas. A school of dolphins even followed our boat! Te Anau is also home to the best-known glow worm caves, where you enter the pitch black and small worms that glow in the dark make a cave seem like a starry night sky.
We spent New Year’s Eve in Te Anau, a small lakeside town that is the jumping-off point for tours of Fiordland. Our apartment overlooked the lake, and we were lucky enough to meet up with our Singapore neighbors, who were also staying at our apartment complex!
Windy Wellington
Our final stop on our South Island adventure was the New Zealand capital, Wellington. Unfortunately, our freakish spell of spectacular weather — we are a family known more for rainy camping than sunny vacations — finally came to an end. We learned exactly why there are so many outdoor clothing companies based in New Zealand. It’s because when in Wellington, Gore-Tex is your friend.
Despite the rain, we enjoyed a highlight for Marc — a tour of WETA Studios, where Peter Jackson made the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films. We saw where swords were made, much of the animation was produced, and props from several movies including — DORK ALERT — the actual sword of Aragorn. There were other very cool movie props too.
One of the best parts of Wellington is Te Papa, the fabulous national museum of New Zealand. The museum does an excellent job of explaining Maori culture and the history of New Zealand. We spent a rainy afternoon at Te Papa where we saw the world’s largest squid, experienced a simulated earthquake, named a new species of plant and learned about the natural history of these remote islands.
For all of us, New Zealand has been one of our favorite vacations while in Southeast Asia. Some combination of the spectacular weather, the great food and wine, and the amazing scenery combined to set the stage for a memorable trip. But being able to share the experience with our friends the Smiths, the Gauses and the Petersons made it even more special. Living so far away from family and friends back home, you really come to appreciate your friendships. This year Christmas was made special by the friends that feel like family.
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