Monday, February 21, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Up the Coast
So after 3 days of frantic unpacking and organizing we decided to take a few days, get out of the city and go do something that wasn't necessary. We opted for a drive up the coast towards Abel Tasman National Park (at the northern-most tip of the South Island).
What astounded me the most about the drive up wasn't necessarily the beautiful scenery (which was breath-taking, its a shame point and shoot cameras cant capture the sense of scale that is felt in person), but rather the variety of landscape. It makes you truly understand why NZ has such a large film industry.
You can visit different corners of the earth in as little as a 2 hour drive. The drive from Christchurch to Kaiteriteri (where we stayed) took a little over 5 hours and was only about 300km (takes a while due to the winding roads).
This first shot was taken just outside of CHCH where the Canterbury Plains begin to meet the southern alps. Vineyards and mountains meet and it can be quite beautiful.
On the other side sits rolling hills with tall grass and roads lined with Poplars. Almost looks like it could be rural Italy. After about one hour you find yourself among large grassy mountains with patches of thick pine and fur trees. 
Then suddenly you round a corner and you hit ocean and the town of Kaikoura.
With the ocean on both sides it makes this small fishing village a great little vacation spot. Between whale watching and seal colonies there is plenty to see and do. Sadly we only had enough time for lunch and then had to be off. Lunch was fantastic. We stopped at a seafood truck and ordered crawfish (which would be better described as Lobster given its massive size), abalone fritters, a variety of grilled fish, scallops and squid with fresh vegetables and rice. It was friggen awesome!
We continued north through the mountains.
To provide you with a sense of scale those little white dots on the mountain are sheep. While the texture may appear to look like a small rolling hill, these are massive grassy mountains that can only be described as steep! Very very steep. I tried going up one and made it about 10 feet before I slipped back down.
We finished off our drive through what can only be described as a highly treacherous windy mountain road and finally arrived in Kaiteriteri, our home away from home for the next 3 days. But more on that later.
What astounded me the most about the drive up wasn't necessarily the beautiful scenery (which was breath-taking, its a shame point and shoot cameras cant capture the sense of scale that is felt in person), but rather the variety of landscape. It makes you truly understand why NZ has such a large film industry.
You can visit different corners of the earth in as little as a 2 hour drive. The drive from Christchurch to Kaiteriteri (where we stayed) took a little over 5 hours and was only about 300km (takes a while due to the winding roads).This first shot was taken just outside of CHCH where the Canterbury Plains begin to meet the southern alps. Vineyards and mountains meet and it can be quite beautiful.
On the other side sits rolling hills with tall grass and roads lined with Poplars. Almost looks like it could be rural Italy. After about one hour you find yourself among large grassy mountains with patches of thick pine and fur trees. 
Then suddenly you round a corner and you hit ocean and the town of Kaikoura.
With the ocean on both sides it makes this small fishing village a great little vacation spot. Between whale watching and seal colonies there is plenty to see and do. Sadly we only had enough time for lunch and then had to be off. Lunch was fantastic. We stopped at a seafood truck and ordered crawfish (which would be better described as Lobster given its massive size), abalone fritters, a variety of grilled fish, scallops and squid with fresh vegetables and rice. It was friggen awesome!
We continued north through the mountains.
To provide you with a sense of scale those little white dots on the mountain are sheep. While the texture may appear to look like a small rolling hill, these are massive grassy mountains that can only be described as steep! Very very steep. I tried going up one and made it about 10 feet before I slipped back down.
We finished off our drive through what can only be described as a highly treacherous windy mountain road and finally arrived in Kaiteriteri, our home away from home for the next 3 days. But more on that later.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Abel Tasman Park
We got back a few days ago from Abel Tasman National Park. My mother-in-law Sue took us on a 4 days road trip and it was absolutely spectacular. I won't go into too much detail because Andrew really wanted to post a blog about our experience. I've uploaded some of my favourite photos from the trip onto facebook.
All I can say from simply driving for 5 hours in this country up the coast is that you absolutely must visit NZ in your lifetime. It was scenery I can't describe and my pictures do not do it any justice. You cannot understand the scale and density of the forested mountains from the photos I took. It was absolutely breathtaking. The ocean was crystal blue and had extremely good visibility.
I am still exhausted and we are not yet settled in although getting there. There is a lot of paper work to do and the kids are still recovering from being thrown way off their schedules and so much time in a plane/car/stroller. For those following the When will Logan Walk Trail...she has now begun pulling herself up and will take steps assisted. She is very close! Once things settle in a week or so I will have a lot more to write.
-Shary
All I can say from simply driving for 5 hours in this country up the coast is that you absolutely must visit NZ in your lifetime. It was scenery I can't describe and my pictures do not do it any justice. You cannot understand the scale and density of the forested mountains from the photos I took. It was absolutely breathtaking. The ocean was crystal blue and had extremely good visibility.
I am still exhausted and we are not yet settled in although getting there. There is a lot of paper work to do and the kids are still recovering from being thrown way off their schedules and so much time in a plane/car/stroller. For those following the When will Logan Walk Trail...she has now begun pulling herself up and will take steps assisted. She is very close! Once things settle in a week or so I will have a lot more to write.
-Shary
Friday, February 11, 2011
What colour are these eggs?
So exactly one year after we first created this blog and created our first blog post on February 6, we departed from Toronto to Christchurch. Logan at hour 22 in our travels
The view from the window of the plane...somewhere over the south island
So now we're here in NZ and absolutely exhausted. Carrying all our luggage and 2 children with us was tedious but it all went pretty smoothly. We're definately jet lagged and have been in a foggy haze the last few days, and I'm still in one as I write this but Andrew keeps yelling at me saying I have to get out of bed....so now some of our kiwi experiences so far...
For the most part Kiwi's are supa nice. A woman at the airport saw me changing Logan on the hard counter in the washroom and she gave me the sweater off her back to lay Logan on so she would be more comfortable. At the bike store, the employee called several competing bike stores to find what we were looking at, which I thought was really weird but awesome. The company we ordered our crib from (Mocka) came to personally (not couriered...personally) drop off the crib so we'd have it the first day and to welcome us to the country. Me and Andrew keep looking over at each other every time things like this happen (because they keep happening) and give each other a look and I keep shouting "what's wrong with these people?!" They are nice and friendly...how it's supposed to be I would think...pretty much the opposite of Toronto.
Weird things: I don't know what is up with this but I love chocolate milk, but lime flavoured milk? This seems to be normal, I see it in all the grocery stores and it's green milk and looks gross and sounds gross. Looking out your third story window and seeing nothing but treetops is also weird. There's just no high rises and it makes the city seem so much nicer and less cluttered. Andrew one morning decided to make us breakie: eggs and toast. Andrew put the eggs in front of me. I was like "um Andrew what colour are these eggs? They looks awfully yellow?", he responded with "they are fresh eggs shary"...amazing! They aren't even refrigerated at the grocery store they are so fresh. Oh and Mcdonalds eggs here are free range! Everything is just so backwards in a great way....well actually I'd say North America is backwards.
Cool things: Bare feet are everywhere: downtown, shopping malls etc. Right now I'm looking out the window and seeing flip flops that someone had taken off last night and just left there while they wandered around in bare feet. I'm sure he/she will collect them today but it seems quite normal to just leave your sandals somewhere and pick them up later.
Prices here are absolutely insane. I mean for some stuff prices are alright such as wood products. But for like everything else it's insane. I mean who pays $10 for a small bottle of Johnson's baby wash? Body butter from the body shop...$40!!!! We are definately going to be poor here but that's ok because it's beautiful.
Our apartment is great. It's a 2 bedroom and very spacious with a nice open kitchen and a huge shower.
It's still a little messy to say the least...
Palm trees everywhere yes!
We are now about to go on a 4 day road trip up to Abel Tasman National Park. It should be exciting and beautiful! Til next time...
-Shary
The view from the window of the plane...somewhere over the south island
So now we're here in NZ and absolutely exhausted. Carrying all our luggage and 2 children with us was tedious but it all went pretty smoothly. We're definately jet lagged and have been in a foggy haze the last few days, and I'm still in one as I write this but Andrew keeps yelling at me saying I have to get out of bed....so now some of our kiwi experiences so far...For the most part Kiwi's are supa nice. A woman at the airport saw me changing Logan on the hard counter in the washroom and she gave me the sweater off her back to lay Logan on so she would be more comfortable. At the bike store, the employee called several competing bike stores to find what we were looking at, which I thought was really weird but awesome. The company we ordered our crib from (Mocka) came to personally (not couriered...personally) drop off the crib so we'd have it the first day and to welcome us to the country. Me and Andrew keep looking over at each other every time things like this happen (because they keep happening) and give each other a look and I keep shouting "what's wrong with these people?!" They are nice and friendly...how it's supposed to be I would think...pretty much the opposite of Toronto.
Weird things: I don't know what is up with this but I love chocolate milk, but lime flavoured milk? This seems to be normal, I see it in all the grocery stores and it's green milk and looks gross and sounds gross. Looking out your third story window and seeing nothing but treetops is also weird. There's just no high rises and it makes the city seem so much nicer and less cluttered. Andrew one morning decided to make us breakie: eggs and toast. Andrew put the eggs in front of me. I was like "um Andrew what colour are these eggs? They looks awfully yellow?", he responded with "they are fresh eggs shary"...amazing! They aren't even refrigerated at the grocery store they are so fresh. Oh and Mcdonalds eggs here are free range! Everything is just so backwards in a great way....well actually I'd say North America is backwards.
Cool things: Bare feet are everywhere: downtown, shopping malls etc. Right now I'm looking out the window and seeing flip flops that someone had taken off last night and just left there while they wandered around in bare feet. I'm sure he/she will collect them today but it seems quite normal to just leave your sandals somewhere and pick them up later.
Prices here are absolutely insane. I mean for some stuff prices are alright such as wood products. But for like everything else it's insane. I mean who pays $10 for a small bottle of Johnson's baby wash? Body butter from the body shop...$40!!!! We are definately going to be poor here but that's ok because it's beautiful.
Our apartment is great. It's a 2 bedroom and very spacious with a nice open kitchen and a huge shower.
It's still a little messy to say the least...
Palm trees everywhere yes!
We are now about to go on a 4 day road trip up to Abel Tasman National Park. It should be exciting and beautiful! Til next time...
-Shary
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