After our rained out stay in Te Anau, Our next destination was to be Mount Cook. We headed off early in the morning and stopped at a little cute town called Arrowtown. Devon was thrilled as there was a small brewpub there. It was nice for all of us because it was situated in a corner of the town with outdoor seating so the kids could make a noisy mess, then run around to get their energy out. Devon talked to the brewer the whole time so he was in his element. I was able to sit down for about 2 whole seconds while stuffing my face with meat pies and french fries. YUM, and then indigestion.
It was a beautiful day so we spent some time exploring the town.
 |
| I saw a bunch of these signs for 'Cow & Gate Milk' What is a Gate? |
 |
| Isla and her fifth ice cream cone of the trip. We are all on a family diet now |
 |
| SCENIC! |
After Arrowtown, we pushed on to our final destination of our trip and the last night in the camper. Yippee! I think we were all itching to be in a non-moving living area by then!
 |
| Whenever we saw a beach, Devon would pull over so he could take Isla down to play in the water |
 |
| Towards Mount Cook |
 |
| 'hiking' in the mountains |
We arrived in Mount Cook in the evening around 5, but instead of parking and settling in for the night, we decided to explore. We drove about 10 minutes further toward the mountains to the National Park. Just to make things more exciting and adventurous, we thought it would be fun to take the stroller off roading.
 |
| Another picture of me taking a picture of Devon while yelling at him. 'GET DOWN!!!' |
 |
| If you can tell, there are a whole bunch of stone steps we had to maneuver the stroller down |
It doesn't look intimidating here, but wow, this footbridge was scary! Imagine all your adventure movies, Indiana Jones, Goonies, Lord of the Rings. The wind was blowing SO hard, and get this.. of course there was fast moving white rapids down below. Devon took Isla about halfway across before they both freaked out and came back.
 |
| Then it was my turn. I was BRAVE |
 |
| Finally the clouds cleared and we could see Mount Cook |
 |
| Isla is really good at driving on the left! |
Dinner that night was Lamb Chops. The Lamb there was delicious, we couldn't get enough of it! I told Devon to pose, and he gave me this. So flattering!
It was a fun and adventurous last evening on the road. Just as I got the hang of setting up and taking down all the beds, it was time for us to head back to Christchurch. Ahhh, cannot wait for my hotel room!!
We arrived in Christchurch around 3pm, returned the van (good riddance!) and got a ride to our hotel downtown. We all got cleaned up, did a load of laundry and then headed out to explore the town. No pictures were taken that night. We ventured to a not so attractive part of town, it was a little creepy and sort of depressing actually. You could really see evidence of the recent earthquake, buildings down, boarded up windows and lots and lots of graffiti. The looting and crime must have gone up exponentially after that earthquake, as it does whenever disaster like that hits. We got a very wrong impression of Christchurch and I was really feeling down that we were spending Christmas here.
The next day (Christmas) proved a lot different! It was a gorgeous day, there were TONS of people out and about. And we stayed in the more attractive part of town. The Avon river flows through the city so we decided to hang out there, feed the ducks and have our Christmas lunch at the park. Lunch was sushi takeaway by the river. It was very nice considering what we had to work with!
 |
| Feeding the ducks |
 |
| We tried to take a gondola ride down the river but they were booked up for the day |
 |
| Eating Sushi |
 |
| Merry Christmas! |
 |
| I need a leash for this kid! |
 |
| Playing in the fountain |
 |
| Strolling through the park |
 |
| Bagpiper! |
 |
Fountains and water are pretty much Isla's most favorite thing in the whole world |
 |
| Look at that smile! |
 |
| Swinging on the bike rack |
Our last evening in Christchurch was spent finding a nice stuffed Sheep for Isla. There was not a lack of sheep in NZ, but Isla still loved pointing them out whenever we saw some grazing in the fields or mountains. We had to get her a souvenir before we left. They are now inseparable!
 |
| Mommy and daughter |
 |
| Christ Church and Christmas tree |
 |
| Our hotel! |
We had a really nice Christmas day in Christchurch. We even checked out a Christmas Eve service of carols at the gorgeous church right across from our hotel. Isla loved the music, it really made it feel like Christmas. We packed up that night to get ready for our 3am wake up call and our 4am departure to the airport. My alarm did not wake me up like I had planned.. Devon and I awoke with a start to the hotel room shaking and a loud rumble sound. My heart was racing as I realized I was experiencing my very first earthquake. Turns out December 26th was a very memorable day for Christchurch NZ. They had about 13 earthquakes (after shocks) that day, the biggest being at 10:30am. It was big enough to break windows and loosen brick sidewalks. I'm VERY thankful we missed that one!
So that my friends is our family trip around the south Island of NZ. We are happy to have survived being in such close quarters for 10 days. Made lots of (great?) memories that we will talk about for years to come. Hopefully we can visit again some day when the kids are older and they are a bit more self sufficient. As Devon put it, "we're not on vacation, we're just living our same life but in NZ". True that!
Now on to living life in Sydney until March! Living it and loving it!
Love and miss you all,
Mary
