Highlights of our New Zealand trip thus far…

The Flights

Well we made it here! 3 plane rides & 24 hours later. I have to say the kids did awesome on the planes. I was so scared! As we were boarding our longest flight (13 hours) I felt as if I might cry in fear of what may come. And I had every right to be scared. The kids were acting pretty horrible during our layover. I could feel the stares of fellow passengers & am pretty sure they were talking about us in a different language. But to my delight, they did great when they were on the plane. The kids had a couch that they could sleep on & that was probably a life saver. I held Perry the whole time. She was the BEST baby ever! She really didn’t cry 1 time. How is that even possible? When it was night time, she slept in my arms for about 6 hours. The bad thing about that is that I was unable to move for 6 hours straight. I did not want to wake her up for any reason! I didn’t sleep the entire time. Even if I wanted to, it was impossible. My seat was so uncomfortable & I had zero space in front of me. They did serve 2 meals on the plane & they were rather tasty.

Our Apartment

Our digs are pretty nice. We’re on the 4^th floor.  It’s right on the harbor so you have a great view of all the boats. My favorite part is the ginormous balcony they have. It stretches the entire length of the unit. It will be great for eating outside & watching the sunrise/sunset. On the other hand, I have forgotten how much I hate apartment living. Luckily we’re on the end unit so we only have 1 neighbor to our side. But kids are loud & I’m so worried that they are going to tick off our neighbors next to us & below us. Davis has been pretty horrible since we got here & is constantly screaming for one reason or another.

Balcony View

Getting Settled

So things are a bit different over here. For one, you drive on the left side of the road. It is so weird feeling. And they have lots of round abouts which are pretty stressful when you’re not familiar with where you are going. You have to think too quickly. Also they have very few lights & no stop signs. Instead they have “Give Way” signs which mean to yield. I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack every time I get into the car! And I’ve discovered that I’m a pretty horrible map reader. I partly blame it on the roads here. They all change names.  Nothing runs North/South. I don’t know how anyone could ever give directions.

We also had to get groceries the first day we got here. We ended up going to 3 different places. The last one will be the one we return to. It had the best selection. I’ve noticed a few things about the foods. 1) they don’t have turkey. 2) they don’t have regular hot dogs. They have Sizzlers (which are gross by the way) They are uncooked, so you have to pan fry them. Totally defeats the purpose of an easy meal. 3) They don’t have plain old pepperoni or cheese pizza. Their “normal” pizza is Hawaiian. However we did get Dominos the other day & they had pepperoni there, so we were saved. Of course almost all of their brands are different. They don’t really have too many snacks that I think the kids will like. Oh and all of their prices are pretty much double what we pay in the states. That has really limited what we buy. I’m not making any recipes down here. It would cost way too much. We’ll probably eat lots of the same foods over & over.

The People

So far everyone we’ve met are pretty friendly. I love their accents. They call everyone “Love”.  They all seem pretty laid back. I’m also surprised to see there are a lot of Maori people here. I guess I shouldn’t be. We are in the south Pacific. Lane & I were wondering if the people are really friendlier here or if their accents just make it seem that way:)

What We’ve Done

Day 3 was the first time we’ve ventured out. We took a 2 hour road trip to Taupo. The scenery is absolutely beautiful. Everything is so green & hilly. Sheep are everywhere! We went to Orakei Korako Caves & Thermal Park. There we did a hike around the area and saw a cave and a bunch of geothermal springs. The hike was only about an hour & we were both pretty tired from carrying Davis & Perry. Not sure how we’ll be able to do longer hikes. 

 Cave

We also took a Huka Falls river cruise to see a waterfall. I have to say I was a little surprised at how boring the boat ride was. The only good part was of course the waterfall.

Yesterday we went to a lookout in town & snapped a few pictures. It was really pretty. 

We also went to check out Ocean Beach. I should have been more prepared, but I didn’t think we would actually be doing the whole “beach” thing. I thought we were just scoping it out for later, which we were. But you can’t expect to show kids the beach & not let them out of the car! So as a result, Davis & Elliot were both soaked head to toe & ended up riding home in diapers. That’s ok. They absolutely loved it! Can’t wait til we can go back & spend the whole day there.

 Views on the way to the beach.