Sunday Around the World

Ok, things get even BIGGER now.  We said g'bye to Wanaka and headed up to Mt. Cook.  Michael had this circled with "HIKING" on the map when he did his initial research, so I knew I was in for it.  Before getting there, we found the perfect spot on the side of the road to cook a delish pre-hike dinner with a view of what we would conquer the next day.  Our process for finding the right spot: Michael drives and focuses on keeping on the wrong side of the road and I yell out "NO SIGN OR FENCE!  PULL OVER!" W e drove the next morning to the base of Mt cook which is a monster of a beast standing at 12k ft high.  We decided that might be a bit much, so instead we decided on the 4K foot climb. In the guidebook it said our hike was "an unpaved track that will give you beautiful views. And there are some stairs". What it didn't really say is, you will climb up 1k feet by all stairs and then enjoy a scramble that will take it all out of you for 2 hou...

On our evening in Wanaka we decided to use our "2nd day", the last few hours of light, to jump out to the west coast and see if it really resembles the west coast of CA.  2 hour drive starting at 8pm? SUUUURE!   We weaved through Haast Pass, just endless giants of mountains and finally arrived to the coast.  I had a vision of camping on a bluff that resembled something I don't get to camp on at home.  Overlooking the ocean and giant rocks, it would be amazing.  But, as true with all of this, what we envisioned wasn't really all it cracked up to be.  We couldn't find the perfect spot because in between us and the water were walls of shrubs and trees.  How can you have a beautiful coast and hide it??  Who planned this? The beach was lovely, yes.  And it does make me feel so so lucky to know that we have a truly magical coast waiting for us at home.  Back down, we hit another long hike along the Blue Pools.  The Haast Pass is a gorgeo...

From Milford we took our time and weaved down toward Wanaka, a town we were told is worth a stop.  It was so beyond worth it.  Wanaka is very much like Tahoe, CA where it sits on a lake that is surrounded by gorgeous mountains.  Since it was XMas we knew most things would be closed.  no problem for us, it was time for a deserved day by the lake.  The weather gods have LOVED us since Fiji, so the sun was ready to play. The best restaurants are actually just sitting right next to the van.  Barefoot makes it all taste better (thanks, Bourdain)  A note about Freedom Camping: It can lead to so many fun, exciting, nerve wracking situations.  For example, our night outside of Wanaka it was getting a bit late and we just weren't ready to commit to any of the normal rest stops or Holiday parks.  We want the PERFECT spot.  So we pulled off on a tiny road that turned out to be nothing, but a van was nestled into the trees and its driv...

Milford Sound is literally out of a Hobbit's dream.  Or my dream.  Same thing.  We drove with jaws dropped the entire way screaming "waterfall! Double waterfall! Quad 'fall!"  It is unreal that these mountains popped out from the ground thousands of years ago just to show off to camping tourists from around the world.  They are really doing a great job. We found out when arriving at the Sound that its pretty difficult to really get into the Fiords, which we originally were excited to explore.  That's the crazy thing about this place, SO much of it is untapped because there is just no way to get to it.  We hopped on a boat to get a little closer, the only real way they let you.  And by closer, I really mean CLOSE.  They put us right under one of the largest waterfalls in the Sound.  It was my first shower, so I appreciated it. Then it was time to get into it.  We jumped on one of the many hiking trails around the Sou...

Waking up in our new Mighty home was one of my favorite mornings ever.  We took a great mini hike and then Michael did Michael and jumped in the freezing but super fresh lake. My favorite part about this picture is Michael sitting half naked and the local guys in full head to toe wet suits swimming next to him.  And there is our beautiful Mighty van standing proud. From there we were off.  First goal was to get to Lake Tenau.  We had heard this was a must-do stop off and a great jumping off point to get into Milford Sound.  The BIG stuff.  The drive changed quickly to show off what kind of nature we were about to get into. Lake Tenau was a cute little village where we did our first VERY exciting food shopping trip to fill up our Mighty van.  Amazing how the mundane things at home turn into adventures when you are traveling.  Our plan was to be self sufficient, so if we needed to be out in nature for a few days we didn't need to depen...

We are in New Zealand!! I am beyond...so so excited to be here and dig into this part of our trip.  This is really a dream trip, a place I have always wanted to travel and see what this magical land is all about.  We are starting in Auckland just for a quick 1.5 day run around.  Michael and I have a great little airbnb near Ponsenby road which is their Boho District.  What we both already feel is a sense of total comfort.  Auckland really feels like a mix of our beloved Pac North West.  There is a little SF mixed with Portland, Seattle and then even LA gets in there.  The topography feels so familiar because of the aggressive hills and views of this gorge city sitting in the middle of a bright blue bay. It is amazing to come all the way across the world to just feel like you are hanging out at home.  I have never felt more comfortable in a city, it's awesome :) We said g'bye to the warm weather of Fiji but stepped into a sunny LA feel. ...

Just a little update: our bags came in just as the sun decided to come hang out too! BAGS!! We finally got to put the umbrellas down and dig into some hiking and kite flying.  One of the best parts about hiking around these parts (as mentioned previously) there are no scary animals or large bugs waiting to pounce on me.  I mean...this is all according to locals so you feel like there has to be truth to the "no scary stuff" theory.  I still watched carefully as we jumped puddles, totally convinced there was a 17ft croc hanging, ready to silence the local's theory.  Thankfully, the scariest thing we saw on the hike were some oversized pile of cow poop. What a difference a sunny few hours makes! Fiji was a great kickoff to this trip, but we are already itching to get to New Zealand for part 2 of our trip.  Auckland is next and I have heard there are a ton of similarities between Northern CA and the Kiwi homeland.  But first, we wrap...