Hokitika, New Zealand

We started the morning traveling to Hokitika with the Garmin telling us to drive 20 Km the wrong way. Back through the windiest roads we've ever driven and then turning around and doing it again to go back the right way. Making it 3 times we had to drive that 20 km windy road! And 1 1/2 hours added on to our drive that was supposed to be our shortest of the trip! But we made it to Hokitika and it was a beautiful grey beach. Covered in driftwood.

 

We stopped for lunch and had the perfect little spot overlooking the beach for pizza.

 After lunch we drove up to Shantytown. Its made up like an old gold miners village. The kids got to pan for gold and ride on a train.

 Carter didn't want to get close enough to the engine to take a picture.

 Random fact of the day: did you know 1/1,000 sheep are born a black sheep.

Driving through NZ

 And so the exploring continues. To start our longest day of driving, we had to go up and over the first mountain. Only to continue the rest of the day winding in and around and through New Zealand. On our drive from Queenstown to Franz Josef we laughed at each little "town" that was mentioned in our travel book. You would think because it has a little write up, that there was somewhat of a little town there. But as we passed through each one with maybe a few buildings and not even a stop light, we realized just how rural New Zealand really is. Another new experience was the one way bridges! Depending on the sign you either just went and hoped no one else was coming, or you paused to make sure no one was on the bridge and then you go hoping no one comes. They had so many and we wondered, how much money does it really save to make it a one way bridge instead of just going ahead and adding a little more to make it two??? Any way, the sights were beautiful and really made the drives enjoyable!

We traveled 16,610 Kilometers/10,321 miles, 3- 6 1/2 hours a day

And this is how you do it with three kids...

They took a bunch of pics on their iPads as we drove and I'll upload those and do a post with their pics.

Creating Adrenalin Junkies in Queenstown!

Getting all our gear on and doubled/triple checked!!

 We are ready, I guess...

 And... its too late to change my mind! Yes my heart stopped for a second. Lets just say there were a million prayers said in about 2 seconds time!!I was seriously doubting my decision making ability.

 And there he goes!!!

We've created an adrenaline junkie!!

 And that's me off in the distance!

 Our other adventure was the jet boat ride! The kids loved it so much, Carter still asks every day when we can go ride on the jet boat again! We were dangerously close to slamming into rocks multiple times but some how we made it out without a scratch!!

We packed in a lot of adventure into Queenstown and it was a blast!!

Queenstown, New Zealand

After driving a few hours, through mountains more beautiful scenery, we arrived in Queenstown and went exploring. 

The lady was videoing our boys so I took a picture of her. Tyler didn't look really happy but didn't say anything to her.

 First up was the jet boat ride! This ended up being a favorite from the trip. Carter asks every day still to go ride on the boat again!!

The next fun adventure was riding the Luge down the mountain.

Our last adventure before leaving Queenstown was to ride the SS Earnslaw out to Walter Park farm to watch them sheer the sheep and enjoy a really yummy lunch!!

 The kids were playing on the playground and we took a minute to relax and soak in the beautiful view after a jam packed day!

 Ignore Tyler's weird looking hand, I must not have a steady hand for taking panoramic pictures.

Coffee and Hot Chocolate with a view

On our way from Mt. Cook, we drove up to the Astro's Cafe at the Observatory to see the views of Lake Tekapo.

These two, solving the world's problems over coffee and hot chocolate!

Hot pools, dinner and the second Lord of the Rings to cap off our second full day in New Zealand!!

Hiking in Mt. Cook

 Day two: Drive to Mt. Cook, hike, and explore. On the way we drove passed Lake Pukaki. We parked on the side of the road, walked up the hill to the picture perfect spot. Seriously, again pictures can't even capture the ridiculously beautiful color of these lakes! You can see why we had to stop and take some pictures.

 The rest are just random pictures from our hikes. We were beyond thankful to the Barhams for lending us their carrier. Yes we were pushing the weight limit but who says these things are only for babies!! Unfortunately we only had one. Thankfully Tyler's shoulders did the trick! This is how you hike with a 5, 4 and 2 year old...

Hooker Valley Hiking Trail

 

 

 Driving back to Tekapo, we see one more hike to the Tasman Glacier. It said 20 minute hike and we thought, why not. We are here and they did great on the last hike. Well this one was not the beginner hike the first one was! We got quite a few comments about how great a workout we were getting!!

But everyone we passed who was on their way down said it was worth the climb. So after a few stops to rest, we made it up and it was worth the climb!!

 We learned from reading the signs, the beautiful blue lakes were from the glaciers. Any green ones were rain water and the grey were glacier run off where the glacier "flour" (ground up rocks into a powder) hadn't settled out yet. Once it settles it becomes the amazing blue turquoise color.

One more snap shot of Lake Pukaki from my cell phone on the way back to Lake Tekapo.