New Zealand - January 31 to February 5

So....we get to the airport around midnight and go to the Tahiti Nui office where they explained to us that even though American Airlines booked us on the 2:10 flight to Sydney, they only have us on a standby flight from Sydney to Wellington, NZ which meant there was a good chance we would get stranded in Sydney. Thank God the Tahiti Nui people realized how stupid this was (we were giving up a 5* with free meals) and they confirmed us all the way through. If we weren't in a "whatever" mode we might of had an issue with good old American Airlines. We got some sleep (very little) on the flight and arrived in Sydney all set for our 10 hour layover. We were starting to enjoy hanging out in airports! Boarded our flight to Wellington just in time for a major storm that was passing over Sydney. With torential downpours and lightening strikes on the tarmac and after hanging out in the plane for three hours they informed us that Wellington airport has a curfew of 1:30 am and we would not make it. So, now they diverted us to Aukland where they put us up in a hotel and fed us breakfast. The problem was that by the time they bussed us from the airport to the hotel, we only had one hour of sleep. But, back up in the morning and back to the airport for the flight to Wellington. We finally got here, a day and one half late, and caught a cab with a very talkative driver who got us to the ferry in barely enough time.

Good thing we made it cause there is a major rugby tournament going on now in Wellington and not a hotel room to be found. New Zealand All Blacks are favorites but the Americans tied Scotland in the first round which is supposedly an upset. These people are really into their rugby.



The ferry crossing took 3 hours and it was extremely windy. Tom made it without blowing his cookies and even had a Steights beer, good old New Zealand ale.
Arrived in Picton Harbor, picked up the 1997 Nissen Salon (right hand drive) and we drove to Kaikoura for the night. Tom did great driving but he kept putting on the windshield wipers instead of the blinker and only once or twice drove on the wrong side of the road.
Kaikoura is a real backpacking town, 20 something year olds and us...Had some dinner and crashed cause we hadn't gotten any real sleep in several days. In the morning we went to the seal colony outside of town but only saw a few seals in the distance. Kind of a dreary day. Not much else in Kaikoura so we went on our way because we needed to make up time from our adventure in Tahiti. The coastline heading south was very nice and scenic. We had a long drive through Canterbury so we stopped at a winery for a tasting.

Cantebury is low rolling, dried out hills. Really not that nice but different. The scenery got spectacular again when we hit Lake Tapeko. The blueness of the lake was amazing with the Southern Alps as the backdrop.


Spent the night there, watched the All Blacks (the New Zealand rugby team) win the Seven's championship (not quite as exciting as if the Giants were to win the Superbowl)..
The next day we walked around the lake taking some pictures in the morning and then finally got a chance to post our first blog. Hope you liked the pictures. Then we left for Mt. Aoraki/Mt. Cook and on the way we drove past beautiful Lake Pakaki. When we got to Mt. Cook we set up tent for the night (2 nights).





Pat had said if it was raining we would never camp, but here we were the first night with gusting winds and downpours. Also, right outside our tent in the middle of the night the Rangers were shining spotlights and chasing some guy. We never even looked just tried to go back to sleep when the excitement was over. It was all good!


The next morning it was still raining so we went and hung out at the lodge working on sorting pictures and relaxing and reading until the Superbowl. Can you believe it, not only was the game on (Monday at 12:30) but we had our own private spot to watch it, conveniently right next to the bar. GO GIANTS! We startled everyone else in the bar everytime we yelled and cheered. Especially, when the scored the final touchdown that won it. Can you believe the Giants won the Superbowl....and we got to sit in New Zealand watching it on Superbowl Monday! To celebrate we went and did laundry (Jaye) and then had a great dinner.
The next morning, after "the Giants won the Superbowl" we woke from our tent to find patches of blue. By the time we finished breakfast, we got our first glimpses of the glaciers and one of the mountains around Mt. Cook. It was awe inspiring but the best was yet to come. We started the Hooker Valley Glacier hike which was supposed to be a total hike of four hours. They had no idea of how many pictures Tom would take. According to everything we heard, it it unusual to get a clear crisp day where you can see the top of Mt. Cook. The day we had was ridiculous. After several river crossings and swing bridges (which were cool) we made it to the end of the valley and the base of Mt. Cook. At one point, it was like standing in a picture postcard. What a great and beautiful day.