New Zealand Part 2 (Dunedin and Te Anau)

Our stay in Dunedin was brief but we found a gem - the Cadbury Chocolate Factory!

The chocolate factory was conveniently located across from a supermarket so we stocked up our mini-bar fridge and headed across the street for some treats.

We treated ourselves to a "made in Dunedin" collection of goodies. Over the course of the trip we personally taste tested them as a family.

Results:  Buzz, Chocolate Fish and Pinky were all hits. Perky Nana, Peppy Chew and Caramel Chew were a bit of a bizarre combination of flavoured marshmallow covered chocolate. Finally, Pineapple lumps was a definite "no".  

And then we were back on the road again. Final destination for the day: Te Anau. 

It was a short drive so there was plenty of time to get in a visit to the nearby Te Anau Glow Worm Caves

This was one of those tours that needed a scenic boat tour to get to the next part of the tour. Luckily it was one of the rare warm and sunny days so hanging out on the boat deck really wasn't too much to ask. 

The tour took us to the limestone caves past whirlpools and waterfalls where 1000's of glow worms native to New Zealand make their home.  An underground riverboat took us through the caves to see the amazing lights of the glow worms.

No pictures allowed so I borrowed this one from the Te Anau tourist website.

It was dark and the worms glittered. Did I mention it was dark? So dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. And in a rowboat. Disorienting and all, it was a fun afternoon. 

The cruise wasn't quite as captivating on the way back so we took the opportunity to snap a couple of family selfies.

The next morning started off early, misty, foggy and vaguely Lord of the Rings-ish and it was time to get started on the 120 km scenic drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound to catch our river cruise. In the interest of getting on the road the kids stayed in their jammies and we figured that since we were travelling in our house we could always stop and make breakfast along the way.

We were told that the Milford Road is one of the more dangerous public roads in New Zealand, with higher than average injury crash rates. Still we decided to trust our savvy Canadian driving skills and save the extra $100 a person fee to take one of the many coach busses into the Sound.

Mirror lakes was first scenic/brekkie stop. Lakes so clear and still that the mountains are perfectly reflected in the water.

Once the little people were fed and dressed with continued on with our aforementioned "treacherous"  drive.

The drive took us around turns and corner and across a number of one way bridges until we arrived at the Homer Tunnel.

While waiting our turn to travel through the tunnel I googled why this was was such a tourist attraction. Turns out it's 1.2 km long is only a single lane and the tunnel walls are the same unlined granite from the original construction through the mountain. I concede, it was pretty cool.

We were advised that the best way to tour Milford Sound was to take a 2 hour cruise through the fiord. It was spectacular. Still waters, towering cliffs and waterfalls and seals were all part of the scenery.

It was amazing how grey and misty all my photos of the fiord out towards the sea were, but when I turned around I got these beautiful coloured shots of the cliffs and waterfalls.

                  

Of course who could resist the urge to take a few more selfies while hiding inside from the rain. 

Poor Tyler got the short stick - mom would much rather kiss him than duck face for the camera!

The cruise was great, but not really up to the kids expectations as far as excitement went so we took advantage of the many beautiful tracks on our way back down the mountain. 

We even got to meet one of these cute little guys. He's a Weka, he's flightless and super curious which is why we found him wandering around the carpark checking out the tourists!

Scott and I finished off the night with a well earned hour over looking the lake in one of the holiday parks spas for hire. For an entire hour I forgot that I had been sleeping on the back seat of a car for the last week!

Next up...Queenstown and some highflying adventure!

New Zealand Adventure Part 1 (Christchurch, Tekapo Lake, Mount Cook and Moeraki)

Easter Sunday we left bright and early for the airport. We were feeling pretty good as we were all packed the night before, our prepaid longterm parking had been updated and the airport was fairly smooth sailing all the way to the gate.  Air New Zealand yet again provided some first rate service and we landed in Christchurch ready to go at 3:00 in the afternoon with plenty of daylight left.

That's about where our luck ran out. 

Arriving at the airport, we discovered that as the motorhome we had booked was in for repairs, and our new home was going to instead look like this for the next 13 days.  It's a wee bit smaller than we had intended. 

The very helpful and ever so slightly skeezy salesman offered to come and exchange vehicles with us a few days into our journey, however when the time came we decided it just wasn't worth the hassle of transferring all of our belongings now that we were settled, and the thought of starting again and working out all the new start-up issues just seemed like too much work. So in the clown-camper we stayed.

Getting back to our arrival, we plugged in Stella (our notoriously bossy GPS) and drove away in search of a supermarket. Big roadblock...it was Easter Sunday. We managed to scrounge up a loaf of bread at a bakery, a jar of peanut butter and chicken noodle cup-a-soup at a corner store and tah-dah! Dinner is served!

I'm choosing to take it as a sign that my cooking has obviously been too good for to long, as after the kids accused us of sheltering them from cup-a-soup all their lives, they were pretty sure this was the best camping style meal they had ever seen. I reckon I'm going to have to up my game in the kitchen.

The next day we were up bright and early and on our way. It was a long day of driving, but we were rewarded with so many different landscape changes and amazing views.  

Leaving Christchurch there were endless rolling green hills of farmland and sheep.

As we turned inland towards Twizel, the landscape changed fairly quickly to include the mountains that we were headed for that night.

The best scenic stop along the way was Tekapo Lake. Actually it made for several stops. With a blue hue I've only ever seen at Lake Louise, this glacier fed lake amongst the mountains and the Tasman Glacier made was a great surprise as we came around the corner.

Our day ended on a chilly note at sunset in Mount Cook National Park with this view from our motorhome.

Before we continued on the next morning, we packed up and rugged up for a hike up towards Mount Cook for a view of the Tasman glacier terminus, New Zealands' longest glacier.

 Deep vallies flat and wide from the receding of glaciers are common here.

After the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, huge pieces of the glacier calved off of the terminus and so we were able to get a look at the few remaining icebergs. 

We continued on our way to Dunedin with a brief stop to see the prehistoric Moeraki Boulders. It was pouring rain when we pulled into the carpark, but by the time we had made our way down to the beach, the rain had cleared, the sun came out and we were treated to a rainbow!

If there was any indication that we were standing on an ocean coastline, the massive seaweed that was washed up on shore was a good clue. It was absolutely massive!

The boulders are both simple and pretty cool. Said to be 4 to 5.5 million years old they are formed out of mudstone and have eroded in the shape of large spherical boulders scattered along the beach.

The tide was just starting to come in so we were able to wade out and check them out a bit closer.

We continued on down the coast to Dunedin for the night where our holiday park had not only an indoor swimming pool, but a spa too! Woo Hoo! We'll take a break here to rejuvenate before continuing with another post of our wild adventures.

Blog updates to come...

Now that 3 out of 4 McEwens are back at school, I am working on blog updates telling you all about our 2 week adventure in New Zealand (which btw was amazing)

In the meantime we can say had a great holiday and we're happy to be home sleeping in our own beds (real beds, not the back of a motorhome), showering alone (for the most part) and cooking dinner without the company of strangers.

Details to follow :)