Weekend in Melbourne

I've been so busy blogging about our trip to NZ that our every day lives got a bit put to the side.

This past weekend we had no commitments - no basketball, no activities, nothing, it almost never happens these days!

The kids wanted to check out the Jurassic World Exhibit at the Melbourne museum, so we made that Saturday's activity. We made our way into the city, found some lunch and a treat and headed over to the museum.

It was a bit pricey off the bat, $90 for the family and as such it lead to high expectations.

It starts off with a video in a room meant to feel like a ship as you're headed to the island of Jurassic World.

When you step through the doors onto the island you're greeted by this beauty:

The size of the animatronics totally catch you off guard. I mean you know that dinosaurs were huge, but when faced with one up close they're enormous!

As we made our way through the corridors we encountered many others. In the gentle giants "petting zoo" there was this little family.

From there you enter the genetics lab where the dinosaur DNA is extracted from mosquitoes frozen in amber. There were even incubating eggs and babies to check out.

Then it was time for the t-rex garden. The recording tells you that you'll be safe behind the barricades and that you're just in time for feeding time!

It was a lot of fun, it filled up an hour and a half as we took our time. And it included our entry into the museum for the day. There's always something interesting there to see.

After the biggest thunderstorm I've ever seen on Saturday night the weather was a bit spotty on Sunday so we headed to one of our favourite weekend hangouts - the South Melbourne Market.

I love this place, I can park nearby for free on weekends, it's all under cover if the weather is miserable, I can get all my fruits and veg, pick up a roast and steaks from the butchers and spend time walking through all the unique stalls before getting some of the best food I've found at a market.

That's a wrap. As quick as the weekend started it was over!

New Zealand Part 5 (Westport, Hanmer Springs and back to Christchurch)

Okay, I promise to wrap this trip up with this post. It didn't feel like we were gone for as long as it's taken me to get this written!

We left Franz Josef with a goal of making it all the way up to Westport before the end of the day.

The first stop was Hokitika. This town is the best place to buy jade on the west coast, so there was shopping to be done.

Maori spiritual leaders believe that certain pieces of greenstone have their own spirits, which chose their wearer, so carving or taking one for yourself is extremely bad luck as it would anger the spirit or guardian of the jade. Not wanting to take any chances and anger a spirit,  I didn't take one for myself, my husband got one for me :)

After shopping there was just enough time to find a pie for lunch and do some cartwheels on the beach.

Next stop - Hokitika Gorge. We drove for what felt like forever through countryside and farmland before the blue water popped into view.

There was an awesome swing bridge to cross, and even a little time to hang around.

And then we were on the road again. The west coast drive between Greymouth to Westport was supposed to be one of the best. It was definitely gorgeous and echoed the Great Ocean Road that we're much more familiar with.

 

As the day wore on we made it to the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. The rocks are compressed layered limestone rocks giving them a "pancaked" look. Our timing wasn't right, but we're told that at high tide there are huge blowholes in the centre of the rocks where the sea is pushed through.

Finally, at just sundown we made it to Wesport. I had my hopes set on a great sunset picture as our holiday park backed onto this amazing beach, but the clouds had other ideas. 

I was fascinated to find out that the black sands on the west coast of the south island get their black colour from the variety of minerals eroded from the surrounding gold mines in the Southern Alps. 

There are similar beaches on the north island but they get their colour from volcanic rock.

Our last day of driving took us across the island from Westport to Christchurch

Mountains, blah, blah, lakes, blah, blah, twisty roads, blah, blah, blah. Then an afternoon stop in Hanmer Springs. Absolute bliss! While Scott and I spent a couple of hours indulging in the thermal pools, the kids happily played in the heated waterpark.

We rolled into Christchurch just in time to make some dinner and snuggle in for on last night in New Zealand and more importantly one last in the clown camper.

We had a few hours to fill in before heading to the airport the next day so we took ourselves on a tour of Christchurch. 

It's a lovely colourful and fun city working hard to rebuild bigger and better after the 2011 earthquake. 

The Re:Start Mall was one of my favourite parts. It's made entirely of shipping containers turned into shops and stacked to make cafe terraces. It was meant to be a temporary solution but it was so successful that it was partially relocated and renewed it's lease to stay. It was super cute and contemporary, I wish I'd had more time to spend there.

Surprise!  We found one little reminder of home :) 

It was a great 13 days. It was cozy at times in the camper but we made it into an adventure. We're sad that we just didn't have enough time to visit the north island as well, but it definitely gives us a reason to come back!

New Zealand Part 4 (Haast and Glacier Country)

With just over half of our holiday over we left Queenstown and we were off adventuring up the west coast of the south island. Next stop, Haast for the night.

There were crazy twisty roads leading us through and around the mountains that put our stock of travel calm to the test but also gave us some amazing waterfall views. Many parts of the road along the way have a tendency to wash out regularly taking people and cars with them, and from the huge waterfalls and fallen rock we saw all along the edge of the road I can believe it.

From Haast it was just a short drive through the mountains to glacier country. The closer we got the bluer the water got.

First though we had to cross a crazy bridge over the Haast River. As it's only one lane wide and it's too long to see the other side, there are 3 stopping bays along the way.

Next came Bruce Bay where we initially stopped because it looked like another lovely beach to sink our toes into, and discovered a fun way to leave our mark. There are heaps of these soft smooth white rocks that wash up all over the beach and people write their names on them and leave them behind.

Hannah took up the task of finding the perfect rock, writing out McEwen Family Exchange 2016 and had us all sign it before adding it to the pile.

Next stop Glacier country. Fox Glacier is 13 km long and is one of the fasted retreating glaciers in New Zealand. This also makes it quite unpredictable. In 2009 two obviously very intelligent tourists walked past the barriers to get closer to the terminal face for a better picture. 100 tonnes of ice calved of the terminal face and buried them. Seems like an example of Darwinism at it best to me!

We walked up as close as the barriers would allow us. My pictures are taken from a safe and approved distance and they look just fine to me!

We continued on up the road to Franz Josef Glacier, our home for the next 2 nights.

We lucked into another sunny warm day, so after some local kiwi viewing (the bird not the people), it was 4 o'clock and happy hour!

We got a bit of a late start the next morning, but when we did emerge from the clown camper we were treated to 18 degrees and blue skies.

It was a much larger trek into Franz Josef Glacier, so we took advantage of a guided hike which also offered free admission to the glacier hot springs afterwards. Sold! 

We were worried the kids would be bored by a 4 hour hike, but yet again they surprised us and had an amazing time!

Tyler was absolutely mesmerised by our adorable 20-something guide and followed him everywhere. Literally everywhere. Couldn't have shook him off if he wanted to! Luckily the guy was great with kids and took him under his wing during the tour telling him funny stories, letting him climb trees and rocks and helping him find quartz amongst the other rocks.

We made our way up towards the 12 km long glacier learning about the different types of rocks, the landscape, how quickly the glacier changes some history of the area from our quirky and cute guide.

What else can I say, it was another wonderful blue sunny day in the mountains. It was awesome. But even more awesome? A couple of hours in the glacier hot springs. Best end to a day ever!