We arrived in Auckland just to stay the night and catch a
flight early the next day. Kia Ora is the Maori (the indigenous people of
NZ) greeting! And although we didn't
visit with any Maori tribes (there really aren't any still existing because
they have all integrated into the social system as doctors, lawyers, business
people, etc.)we did learn the Haka because of the "world cup
champions" the All Blacks rugby team chant it before every game. Rugby is
"the sport" in New Zealand learned by all children at a very young age
(starting at the age of 5). One memorable moment was upon our first arriving into Nelson and being hungry, we stopped for the "right Kiwi thing to do" according to our driver/guide John, fish and chips. They were delicious and won't be soon forgotten. Kiwi's do many things well, and fish and chips are no exception.
We spent several days in Nelson on the south island. We
stayed at a beautiful b&b(picture a big English estate with acres of pure
beauty) where the grounds were full of fruit trees, olive trees, flower and
vegetable gardens, cows, sheep, and a big pond that had resident ducks and wild
ones. Chris and Bryce enjoyed feeding them every day. Here we were once again
spoiled by all. We stayed in the guest cottage that was truly extraordinary
(our hostess used to be a designer in England!) and filled with every amenity
possible. Drinks were served every night
with our hosts Bobbi and Peter and then dinner – the chefs here were
amazing!! They introduced us to hokey
pokey ice cream and we’re hooked! We also enjoyed dining with other guests from
around the world.
I love it here! 99% of the food is organic and grown or
raised locally! Most of the products we used at the b&b were also local! NZ
is basically a self-sustaining country with heating oil and gas being the
exception – just an amazing place!
We went on several
adventures - mountain biking, "quad biking" (we call it four
wheeling), soaring on a sky wire (the only one in the world) - its like zip
lining on a chair lift over a huge gorge (for almost 2 miles) going over 50
miles an hour - we had so much fun that we did it twice! We also saw one of the
oldest trees in the world here - it was huge and just over 2000 years old they
think. On another day we went for a boat ride in the ocean into the Abel Tasman
national park - we hiked into cleopatra falls and had lunch on a beautiful
secluded beach accessible only by boat - then we went kayaking and fishing –
Bryce and Chris both caught a big fish! Bryce thought it was awesome! Off to Queenstown .
Water taxi that got us into the Abel Tazman
Cleoatra Falls in the Abel Tazman National Park
Fish and Chips!
Annie!
Quadbiking adventure
The Skywire or also known as the Flying Fox
The ducks at Eden House
Our firends at Eden House - Peter, Bobby, and Annie
Mountian biking in Nelson
Hokey Pokey - vanilla ice cream, honeycomb, and carmelized sugar - and a whole lot of yummmmmm
Rainbow at Abel Tazman Bay
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