New Zealand - take 1

A long long time ago, in a land far, far away...

No, seriously. Originally when I started this blog, I had every intention of actually keeping up with it on a regular basis. If I had to grade myself on handling the project as  it was intended, then that grade would be a big fat F! Does not bode well for me going back to school and making good grades, does it?

I thought it was time to get some of those wonderful New Zealand photos posted. On July 7th, our little family boarded 2 separate planes and headed off on our New Zealand adventure. It was a long day of travel. It did not have to be, but instead of taking a late night, direct flight from Brisbane to Christchurch and end the day with an hour and a half drive to our resort, mama came up with a brilliant idea of ALL DAY travel. Seriously, you would think I was a beginner at this. Our little family left the house about 7:30 AM to catch our 9:30AM flight out of Brisbane to Auckland (3 hours). We then sat in the Auckland airport for a few hours, so we could wait on our next flight to Christchurch (2 hours). Only so we could arrive in Christchurch in the dark. Then load 2 kids, 4 bags of luggage, 4 carry on's, 2 adults and a partridge in a pear tree...just kidding...Into a lovely Toyota 4x4 and drive in the rain to get to our beautiful accommodations. The place we stayed really was like a little piece of heaven on earth.

When we woke up in the morning...this was our view off our balcony.

When we woke up our first morning there, James and Ashtyn took off back to the airport to pick up dad and Belinda from the Christchurch Airport. Kenyon and I took a walk around the resort and discovered horses, the golf course, the mountains, the workout room and the BEST chocolate chip muffins we had ever had! YUMMY! Oh...and the coffee was pretty good too. The coffee ended up being important as it never seemed to warm up above 3 degrees celsius, which is about 37 degrees fahrenheit. I throughly enjoyed the cold. It was a nice change from the very mild winter that Brisbane has. On July 9th, all the fun really began...

The hunters on their first morning out. Once again, it was about 2-3 degrees with some gale force winds. You went running out the door and the wind pushed you back inside. I would say the hunting trip was a HUGE success and enjoyed and cherished by all. I have decided my next post will have all the photos of the animals...I figured that way I can keep all 7 of my followers interested and hopefully coming back for more.

In case you doubted the outside temperature.

One day while the hunters were ridding New Zealand of an animal or two, the girls and I headed off to the river. The girls loved playing with the rocks and throwing them in the river. I don't know...future discuss thrower maybe?!

Posing while on our gorge walk.

The beautiful Rakaia River.

The girls made friends with some four legged animals. Of course it always helps when you can bribe the horses with some apples.

Pete and Repeat. Before this trip I never realized how similar in dress my dad and my husband are. It was actually kind of cute :) James and dad are standing in the clubhouse of the resort, not long after James had picked dad and Belinda up from the airport.

One of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. That would be Grandma BeBe and Kenyon rolling down the hill onto one of the golf green's. Honestly could not tell you what hole they were on, but I can tell you they were the only one's playing that hole.

Remember when I said that the temperature stayed about 3 degrees? In that temperature we decided what better time than to take a jet boat ride on the Rakaia River. That cute little oompa loompa in front is Ashtyn. The jet boat ride was awesome! Funny, now I don't even remember how cold it was. Jetting around the river was great and fast! Sometimes you felt like they were going to throw you up on the river bank. Good time was had by all. Kenyon had a huge grin on her face the whole time. I am pretty sure Ashtyn was smiling. She was so bundled up, all we could see was her eyes.

We stopped halfway and took a group picture.

One day, all the hunters took a break from hunting and we headed into Christchurch for a day at the Antarctic Exhibit. We learned about penguins, experienced the snow room (snow actually fell as it would during an Arctic snow storm), and got to read about and see the equipment used on expeditions to the Arctic.

My cute little family waiting for the 4D movie. Yea...all smiles now, however that was not the case after the movie got started. The seats moved, you got sprayed in the face with water, wind blew through your hair, bubbles fell from the ceiling (snow), and at one point in time a really mean looking seal appeared to be coming at you. Needless to say Ashtyn wanted OUT. Even now, if we are going to the movies, she will ask you if water is going to spray you in the face and will the seats move.

We did manage to make her happy again by learning some penguin facts.

Kenyon and her little penguin buddy. For the first and only time ever, Ashtyn pretty much fell asleep during every car trip she took while we were in New Zealand. 

Just a few pictures of the scenery to end this update with. This was sunrise coming over the mountains on day one of the hunt. I took it after the hunters had left. New Zealand was a beautiful place.

This pretty much sums up the scenery we were lucky to see on most of our drives in between towns.

I promise to have another post or 2 with more New Zealand photos and stories. Stay tuned for animals and stories of our ski adventures. I feel so far behind...New Zealand, Cairns, The Reef, Hamilton Island...we have been lucky and blessed to see and do so much this year. I would like to say that I will be better with updates, but I don't want to make any promises that I wouldn't be able to keep :) So how about I promise within the next 7 days to have another post about New Zealand. Hope I can earn an A on that assignment! :)