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Lake Tekapo = TERRIFIC!

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Ellen

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(This is part of a trip report to NZ/AU where I used 125,000 AA miles and $131 to fly business class on Qantas to NZ and back with Hawaiian Airlines, with a stop in Honolulu.)

After flying Air New Zealand from Wellington to Christchurch, we picked up our hot pink rental car (more on that in a later post) and headed to Lake Tekapo, about a three hour drive. Here are some photos, taken that evening and the next morning.

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An old rock church sits right on the edge of the lake, surrounded by lupines!

Our wonderful three bedroom alpine “cottage” in Lake Tekapo…

To save time and money, we would stock up at a grocery store, buy breakfast and snack foods, and eat out about once a day.

Although I didn’t get a photo, we even had a laundry room, and TWO bathrooms!

Driving the next day to Queenstown, there were LOTS of photo stops!

Lupines + sheep dotting a green field = pure bliss…

Lake Pukaki…

The Kawarau River approaching Queenstown…

Guess you can tell I love lupines after reading this post?! Next up the Dart River Cruise…

Wellington, NZ!

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Ellen

(This is part of a trip report to NZ/AU using 125,000 AA miles and $131 to fly business class on Qantas to NZ, returning on Hawaiian Airlines, with a stop in Honolulu).

Wellington is a port city, the southernmost city in the North Island, and was named, “The Coolest Little Capital in the World,” by Lonely Planet…I agree!

Our biggest day of driving, we left Rotorua early, with some stops along the way, the first being beautiful Lake Taupo, just south of Rotorua.

My friend had read about Scullys, a family owned business selling skin care items for over 20 years and we stopped at their store, where the owner’s daughter was working!

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Wonderful products (I bought lavender) and you can order online!

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When we arrived at Wellington, we immediately went to Mt. Victoria, with a fabulous view of Oriental Bay. The first picture of this post is a walk along the wharf down below.

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Near our hotel, we took the cable car up to a lookout and the botanical gardens. In 2012, the cable car celebrated 110 years of service to the city!

Small world…this man was from the USA and had done the Skywalk jump off the Auckland Skytower, which I wrote about in my first post on this trip.

The view from the lookout, the last stop on the cable cars.

And next to it was the botanical garden…

Our day ended with a walk along the wharf…

We ate lunch at the fantastic Logan Brown restaurant, which is an old bank building…

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The food was delicious, as well as beautifully presented and plated.

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NZ is quite proud of the “Lord of the Rings” (check out the safety video for Air New Zealand), as you can see by these huge creatures hanging from the ceiling in the airport!

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These pictures don’t really show how gigantic they were!

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Next up, the South Island….

Driving in green NZ to Rotorua!

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Ellen

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(This is part of a trip report to NZ/AU using 125,000 AA miles flying business class on Qantas to NZ and returning on Hawaiian Airlines, with a stop in Honolulu.)

One of the outstanding things about beautiful New Zealand is that it’s so green, green, GREEN! And after the sheep show we saw (previous post) it was special to see sheep dotting those green fields. We never got tired of the views. We drove to Rotorua, which is in the central part of the North Island, and if you ever want to visit NZ, take notes because Rotorua is a must see! Our first stop was Wai-O-Tapu, a “thermal wonderland” as it’s called. This is the Lady Knox Geyser…

This is a mud hole, basically boiling mud!

We were fortunate to have outstandingly beautiful weather! There were “innumerable colors of every tint and hue in pools, lakes, craters, steam vents, and mineral terraces,” as written in the brochure and here’s some photos to prove it’s true!

Next came a relaxing afternoon at Waikite Valley thermal pool, a facility with ten pools, filled with hot mineral water from Te Manaroa Spring, as seen below. It’s much bigger than it looks.

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This is along the walk to the spring…

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The pools were VERY relaxing, with virtually NO people!

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They fill the pools with fresh water from the spring daily and there is no sulphur smell at all…

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This was my favorite pool…

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And that evening, we ate at Eat Street, a pedestrian only area with a variety of restaurants, and of course, NZ ice cream (which rivals Italian gelato)!

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Next up, Wellington…

Sheep & NZ culture…

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Ellen

(This is part two of a trip report to NZ/AU. I used 125,000 AA miles and $131 to fly business class on Qantas and return on Hawaiian Air, with a stop in Honolulu, using AA miles from my Citi cards. See the previous post for more info.)

One day we drove north of Auckland to visit a working farm and see a sheep show. We stopped along the way at an Icebreaker outlet store. If you don’t know about the Icebreaker brand of clothes, they are made from 100% NZ merino wool (from merino sheep, which live high in the mountains) and they do NOT itch. I have summer and winter shirts, and they are great for traveling! I’m wearing one in these photos. My favorite place to buy them is Sierra Trading Post where they are always on discount; and I am not affiliated with any of these companies in any way!

The sheep show was much more interesting than I thought it would be. Here’s the border collie in action as he herded the sheep by staring at them. He did not bark, just ran around and occasionally stopped and stared. I have no idea how it all works!

Because I asked lots of questions, I was chosen to “sort” the sheep, after selecting another person from the audience.

Each sheep was marked with a color and we sorted by opening and closing gates…we were so careful about it all and only missed one or two. THEN we were told it didn’t really matter how they were sorted!

Sheep shearers are in great demand in countries all over the world and they can shear a sheep in seconds! They work 8-9 hours a day and make over $100,000 NZD per year.

This lamb had never been shorn before and did not make a sound the entire time. If a lamb is cut through the shearing process (but good shearers don’t do that) they secrete lanolin which helps it to heal within hours. We bottle fed lambs at the end of the show, as you can see from the first photo!

The New Zealand culture is quite interesting also…the country was discovered by the Polynesians between 1200 and 1300 AD, called “Maori” people. Maori descendents make up about 15% of the population these days. And people refer to New Zealanders as “Kiwis.”

We went to the Tamaki Maori Village after we arrived in Rotorua the first evening. It was like entering another world, with deep forests and painted people…

We visited different parts of the “village” and then went to a show about their culture.

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A traditional Maori greeting!

Next up, Rotorua and hot springs…