Queenstown Bound

We're going to do some backtracking here for documentation purposes. Let's take you back to Friday Dec 19th.

Friday was my last day of work before Christmas holidays. Whilst I was working away, Lowell, Julie Anne, and Erin hiked Rangitoto, visited Northhead, and did a little caving. Oh, and they bought fish ‘n chips… with REAL Ketchup (none of this Tomato Sauce ridiculousness)!

Hiking Rangitoto...


Caving...


Northhead...

Fish, Chips, 'n KETCHUP!

After their adventures, they picked me up from work and we went CHRISTMAS TREE SHOPPING (this was a continued attempt to make +25 C feel like Christmas).
Before setting up the tree, we walked into Kumeu (our little town), picked up take-away Thai food, then had a SCRUMPTIOUS little picnic in a nearby vineyard (those Thais sure know their food!).

None too shabby hey?

Erin worked the Vineyard paths like a runway. This girl is TOO GOOD for CNTM.

These pictures have sound effects: “OOOOoooOOOOOooooOOOOO!” (we were very impressed with the teeny tiny little grapes).

After setting up the tree, Julie Anne did a little Santa role-playing as she stashed presents from HOME under the tree. EEEE, PRESENTS!!

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to catch our 7:10am flight to Christchurch (South Island).

Julie Anne and I get a real kick out of having the same name (first AND last). I tended to make it complicated when it really wasn’t (i.e., I’d bring it up when there was no need), so I caused quite a bit of confusion throughout most of our journey. But how fun is this? The only thing that differs is the “Miss” and the “Mrs”.

It was surprisingly cold when we landed in Christchurch that day. Wet and COLD.

From there, we rented a car, grabbed some compulsory McCafe coffee & brekky, then continued the 7 hour journey to Queenstown. I'm pretty sure Erin's life will never be the same now that she has experienced the beauty that is McCafe.

Along the way, we stopped for some completely necessary photo ops.

Isn’t this beautiful? That Erin sure is a knock-out.

We also felt obligated to take pictures with the giant fruit.

Before following the sounds of our grumbling stomachs, we checked into our quaint little hostel.

We slept in a little room with four bunks. It was perfect for us (and allowed for many bonding experiences!)

Before long we could no longer ingnore the rumbling of our stomachs, so we jetted to what was apparently the most expensive Mexican restaurant on earth. It was like 20 bucks for a small bowl of beans. Anyhoo, Erin ate most of this mammoth quesadilla. We accidentally left her "doggy bag" in the car, and it smelled like a baby’s (soiled) diaper the next morning. No worries though, after rolling down the windows and cranking the air conditioning for a few minutes, the car smelled like a fresh meadow.

Queenstown is very Banff/Jasper/Canmore-esque. Beautiful! See the resemblance? (plus, everything is ridiculously expensive).

By the next morning, the sun was big, bright, and BALMY. Perfect weather to begin our extreme sports adventures. But you're just going to have to wait a little longer to see all the intense craziness that we experienced in Queenstown- the extreme sports capital of the WORLD!!

Ho Ho Ho and a Merry Kiwi Christmas!

(We spent Christmas afternoon on the beach... jealous much?!?!!)

After a delightful Christmas day service, we snacked and OPENED PRESENTS! Lowell and I weren't initially expecting any gifts whatsoever, but Julie Anne & Erin lugged several gifts for us from home. Because we had all the gifts, we just HAD to put up a tree! So... last week we invested a TOTAL of $16 NZ, and put together this little masterpiece.

Julie Anne, Erin and I are ready to open presents. BRING 'EM ON!

Lowell was pretty excited too- he lost all control over his oral muscles and could no longer hold yogurt in his mouth. (The drooling had nothing to do with the fact that I lassoed his neck and unexpectedly yanked his face towards me so we could pose for a picture).

Lowell (being the oldest of the 4 of us) and Erin (the baby) played rock paper scissors to determine whether we'd open gifts oldest to youngest, or youngest to oldest. Erin won.

Her Mom gave her a singing card and Erin sang & danced in her chair like only Erin can do.

Next was Julie Anne. She makes that gift look gooooood.

Our sister & brother-in-law, Lori and Dave, sent us these adorable life-sized, huggable versions of their daughters (Carmen and Charlotte). It felt so good to hug those kiddies again!

They are now wall hangings on our previously bare wall. If Dave and Janelle (the parents of our other 2 nieces) wouldn't mind sending similar versions of their children, our home decor would be complete!

One of Lowell's favourite things about the Christmas season is eggnog, but these Kiwis have not yet hopped aboard that little Christmas tradition. My parents sent Lowell Eggnog Coffee and this made Lowell happy. Very happy indeed.

After opening presents, we went to the BEACH! In our SANTA HATS! (Apparently this was unusual as we were the only ones even remotely Christmassy and we received PLENTY of stares).

And let the graceful action shots begin!

At the beginning of the trip, Erin felt as though her picture smiles were fake and forced. I offered her the wise advice to laugh while the picture was being taken to help make the smile more natural. Since then, we have all forced ourselves into random bouts of laughter for each picture we have taken (in public or not). Throughout the past week, Erin's smile has improved, but mine has become increasingly more awkward and unnatural. Go figure.

I needed to change into my one piece suit because the 2-piece didn't feel like staying on. (The Santa hats drew enough attention to the group, there was no need for me to be cruising around in the nude). Lowell and Julie Anne were kind enough to fashion a temporary change room for me.

It was a great opportunity to try out our new skimboard!

(Basic definition of the skimboarding that we did: "Unlike surfing, skimboarding begins on the beach, with the skimboarder running and dropping their board onto the thin wash of previous waves.")

Next on the agenda was Christmas din din with Lance, Natalie, and Nat's parents (who are, by the way, quite possibly the most fun and entertaining people we've ever met). They made a point of informing us that this was NOT a traditional Kiwi Christmas dinner. They had rented a little tiny cabin at the beach, and the matchbox-sized fridge limited the extravagance. HOWEVER, it was still DELICIOUS and the evening included some traditional Kiwi things... such as the popper game!

We formed a circle and each held the end of a popper. On the count of 3, we all pulled and whoever ended up with the bigger end of the popper got to keep the prize(s) inside.

Most of the poppers came with paper crowns and really cheesy jokes such as "What do you call an angry kangaroo?........... hopping mad!" hee hee:)

Nat's Momma is unveiling the food! MMmmmmmm...

We thought that the fact that we had Christmas dinner on the DECK was very noteworthy.

Another tradition included was PAVOLVA. This is a Kiwi Christmas dessert, and Lowelly likey!

After our delightful Christmas dinner, we walked to the end of the beach and back. How very refreshing.

More conversation and laughs were to be had back at the cabin, then it was time to head home to bed. We were POOPED!

When we got home, some of us noticed that our skin was a little more red than is natural. Even though it was quite overcast throughout the day, Lowell and Erin still managed to burn themselves to a crisp. New Zealand UV is ridiculously intense because of that little thing called a HOLE in the ozone layer. It's a 7-minute burn time here... even when it's cloudy apparently. Lowell and Erin sort of learned that little lesson the hard way. Erin looks like she's still wearing her little bikini. OUCH!

Bet none of you Canadians will burn yourselves to a crisp on Christmas day!! MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM US TEMPORARY LITTLE KIWIS TO YOU!