Queenstown. And stuff.

Now Queenstown...that is someplace I could call home. I've never seen a city with such a remarkable backdrop. A lake that looks like glass and mountains that are so...I've typed nine different adjectives trying to describe it but I just can't do it justice. They're jagged and enormous and almost eerie. The morning was beautiful but rain was forcasted in the afternoon so we had to snap to it.  The gondola and luge ride were at the top of our list. I don't even have to tell you how awesome it was, the pictures do a fine job explaining.

but really, those mountains...

Okay, so like we all know about my extreme claustrophobia by now. I was totally fine in the gondola, but right before we got to the end it stopped and the tiny space and the constant swinging motion was not a good combination. And Kylie swears my body was plastered to the door as I had my entire head sticking out the 4 inch window, but I was just merely propping my face against the crack trying to get some fresh air. And Kylie swears everyone in line was staring at me and even though I disagree I still avoided eye contact with anyone as I shuffled my way out. Poor Kylie has come to expect that sort of behavior out of me by now. Next time she's riding with Dad.

I wish we could have spent more time exploring the city, but we wanted to get in the water before the rain clouds opened up. I can't tell you how homesick this made Jason for his boat. An empty lake with water as still as glass is a wakeboarder's holy grail.

sha la la la my oh my, look like the boy too shy, go on and kiss de girl...woah oh woah. If only that weren't his sister then this would be a dead ringer for that Little Mermaid scene. Except with a real canoe and not a blow up raft. And no Spongebob life jacket, but whatever, just humor me.

And once it started raining it didn't stop. This had us really nervous the next morning when we woke up because in order to get to our next destination we had to pass through Haast pass that is infamous for rock slides so they shut the entire road down when it rains too hard. And since that is the only way to get to the west coast from here then we would have to make the 5 hour drive back home and cross over from there. Needless to say, a lot of little prayers were being said that morning and as we forged on the rain cleared up.

We debated whether we should stop in Wanaka to visit this museum or just hurry on through before it started raining again. The skies looked clear enough so we decided to make the pit stop and I'm so glad we did.  It's the Puzzling World museum of optical illusions and it was so cool. This first room is built at an angle so it looks like you are crooked and everything else is straight, it is so bizarre, you feel almost motion sick in there and it's hard to walk straight.

They had this huge maze that Jayden was determined to conquer but we decided to not tempt fate any longer and leave before it started raining again. He is still a little bitter about that.

Leaving Lake Wanaka with blue skies and just enough grace to get us on the road to Haast pass before it started raining again. Tender mercy.

I was really excited to hike to these blue pools in Haast pass

So I was so bummed when we got there and all the rain had stirred them up into a big muddy river. It took the kids a while to forgive me for dragging them all that way in the rain to see a brown river.

But there was one upside to all the rain, it made for the most amazing waterfalls. There are a few that are there all the time, but there were so many others just pouring off the sides of these huge mountains wherever you looked. It made for the most spectacular drive.  We eventually made it through to our next campground where we hunkered down and played games in their lounge all evening long. Jason and Jayden deep in a checkers game, Kylie challenging me to Strategy, Maddox and Ryder dumping out every game they could find and the rain streaming down the windows. It was sort of unexpectedly perfect.

Arrowtown 

The landscape is so diverse here. We drove along rocky coastlines, through jungles and forests, across grassy plains and I swear one stretch of highway was headed straight for Beaver, Utah. But it never gets old when you come around a turn and make an audible gasp.  Lake Pukaki did just that. So blue that you can't tell where the water ends and the sky begins.  But what makes this lake special to me is that when we were deep in the trenches of this move and I was feeling discouraged all I needed to do was scroll through pictures of New Zealand on pinterest and I would find my motivation again. Of all the pictures this was my favorite. I just couldn't imagine that a lake that color could really exist. I remember sitting at our kitchen table filling out paperwork and just picturing us sitting there on that shore.  And we did it. We've come full circle and it was every bit as amazing as I thought it would be. It was so peaceful, as soon as you opened the car door you could feel a tangible sense of calmness. It was hard to leave.

The road to Queenstown was pretty easy on the eyes, though. We stopped and watched the bungee jumpers off the Kawarua bridge, the first ever commercial bungy jumping location in the world. I decided if I ever got the nerve to do it, this would be it. Baby steps.

Then came the charming little town of Arrowtown. Famous for its gold mining history, so quite naturally we bought some pans and panned for gold. Maddox thought every rock was a golden nugget and now half my purse is filled with rocks that I swore on my life I would save for him.

The gold panning turned to dam building after catching wind that some kids upstream were building a dam to the likes of the Hoover dam. My kids. Nature. Imagination. The sun. It doesn't get much better than this.

And then we strolled through the streets and were drawn to the candy shop like moths to a flame. And after touching every piece of candy and sampling every type of fudge they decided they would rather have ice cream. They totally love customers like us.

And the Young's can't take a trip to Arrowtown without visiting the remains of the Chinese miner's village. It's crazy how small some of the huts were that they lived in. Makes you realize just how spoiled we really are.

And then we walked along Arrow river where they filmed scenes from the Lord of the Rings. I guess it's the Ford of Bruinen, but that means nothing to me, I should really get caught up on the movies.

And then we drove to Queenstown, marveled at The Remarkables mountain range, ate at Burger King then embarked on the most beautiful 45 minute drive to Glenorchy where we were staying since everything closer to town was sold out. I seriously just sat there in awe and thought how grateful I was to be here and to experience this all in the flesh. The words to the hymn "How Great Thou Art" popped into my head and stayed there the rest of our trip.

I think it's easy to paint a picture of perfection, but for every road trip filled with story telling of younger years and joyous rounds of kappa haka songs, there are stretches of road where the kids think they're zombies and we wonder why we have to actually explain to them that eating eachother's hair is a bad thing. For every day laying on the beach there are rainy days where we're stuck inside reading 2005 editions of Women's Day magazines cover to cover. For every beautiful river side picnic there were 5 straight meals of PB&J and mosquitos trying to eat us alive.  And for every picturesque scene there are cabins so gross that you sleep with your head under the covers so that spiders wouldn't crawl in your mouth. Case in point, see below. I really missed the Marriotts, but it's all part of the adventure.

Lake Tekapo 

Every year we always say we're going to cut back on Christmas gifts for the kids. But then every year I find an art supply kit that Maddox would love, or a pair of shoes Kylie would die over, or a video game that went on sale and then we all know if you buy an extra present for one kid then you have to even the playing field and it all snowballs from there.  But this year we stuck to our guns and instead of mountains of toys that were bound to be forgotten or broken by the next week, we decided to spend the money creating lasting memories. We planned a 2 1/2 week tour of the south island and while every family vacation has a special place in my heart, this will always be my favorite. We saw the most amazing scenery and besides the occasional bars of reception on my phone as we passed through small towns, we were completely unplugged and disconnected from the world and completely plugged in and connected to our family. No distractions, just us, nature and a few rowdy games of Catch Phrase.  Our first stop was Lake Tekapo and besides the suitcases that kept falling on Jayden's head, the eye candy along the way made the trip pretty enjoyable.

Santa brought this blow up raft and since the water was freezing the kids loved being able to play in it without actually having to touch it. Here Ryder is waiting patiently for Jason to take him for a ride. And then he hated it.

Whittling the time away. whittle. whittle. whittle. It's just so fun to say.

I've come to term with the fact that I'm getting old, but I realize that while taking scenic drives is my cup o' tea it's not that thrilling for the kids. So they were so excited to take a break from strolling through wildflower meadows and spend the day enjoying some real fun at the tube park.

When the sun comes out the lake transforms into the most amazing color of blue, it's totally mesmerizing.

Something about this picture looks like they're standing in front of a pull down backdrop at the JC Penny potrait studio. It really is that picture perfect here.

The Church of the Good Shephard, it's the most photographed church in all of New Zealand. And for good reason. The view from the windows inside would make a day dreamer out of any devout member of the congregation. But it was swarming with tourists and I had to wait forever to find this small window of opportunity to snap a quick picture. Totally worth it. But the kids would disagree.

Don't mind that Jayden desperately needs to use the bathroom, this was the view from the Mt. John observation deck at the Mackenzie basin dark sky reserve. One of the best places in the world to see stars, so obviously I was devastated that it was cloudy both of the nights that we stayed. I even woke up several times throughout the night to peek out the window. What did I tell you, I'm old like that.

I loved playing games together and just hanging out in the evenings. It's funny, at home I think I can't survive without my alone time in the evenings and a chance for me to recharge, but I found that spending quality time with the family rejuvenated me more than watching delayed episodes of Modern Family alone on my laptop.  So our first two days were definitely off to a good start.