Ok, here is a throwback. We went to New Zealand and Australia with David’s parents in 2011, a year after we got married. I love that trip so though it is really late, I’m going to make a quick post about it. When I think of New Zealnd I think of green, peaceful, nice people, and quiet. We spent most of our time in rural areas which seemed to make up a majority of the country. We stayed in a house Kathy rented from a nice family, this was before Airbnb.
Some of the best memories I have from that trip were the mornings. Our host would bring us fresh bread, butter, jam, oats, and cream for our coffee and tea. We would wake up around dawn. The morning view was lush vegetation, the sun peeping through the early mist, fresh dew coating everything. We would quietly sit outside bundled in warm clothes while we listened to the birds. Mornings on vacations are some of my favorite times. I love the stillness and beauty of the day before it starts.
We had about a week in New Zealand before our trip to Australia and these are a few of my favorite things that we did during that time.
- Cave tubing with Black Water Rafting. The cave was pitch black with our headlamps turned off. We’d look up and around the caves to see glow worms shining blue like the milky way; it was beautiful. This was an amazing experience, and my favorite of our time in New Zealand.
- Hydro Zorbing in Rotorua. They fill an inflated ball with jaccuzi temp water, you jump in, then they push you down a hill while you slosh around inside it. I would definitely do this again, it was great fun.
- Luging and the buffet at the top. Luging was so much fun. I felt like we were playing real life mario kart. I wish there were one of these close to where we live now. After the luging we went to their buffet for dinner. We had no expectations which was perfect because we were blown away by how good the food was. We all still swear that the bread pudding is the best bread pudding we have ever had.
We made a lot of good memories on our trip to New Zealand, and I hope we get to go back one day. For now I will look fondly at our pictures and appreciate the good times we had. ♦
