Northern Island and USA

We just lost last weeks photos! Our camera is missing, and we have spent the day looking for it and filing a police report. This means no pictures of us on the beach of Westport, of the beautiful sunset on the mile long beach of Motueka (we drove at least four extra hours for that beach!), of beautiful Nelson, of the shallow waters at the bay area close to Nelson (and San Fransisco!), our stay in Blenheim, the ferry ride from Picton on the Southern Island to Wellington on the Northern Island, of Rotorua with its geysers, and St Patricks day in Auckland....  And no Napa valley pictures either!

Sort of makes you regret that you did not do a little better on updating this blog and transferring pictures to the lap top.... Oh well. We have been moving around a lot, and even though you think that you have plenty of time with nothing to do, we seem to have our hands full.

We arrived in the US about three days ago. Driving through New Zealand, fruits and grapes have been ready for harvesting. In the US, the spring flowers are blooming. We crossed the date line, and the 17th of March included a day in Auckland, 14 hours on the plane, and a full day in the US, were we drove through San Fransisco and to the Napa Valley. We stayed at the southern border of the valley, and drove through the valley for some wine tasting and sightseeing. Napa valley is very picturesque with a lot of grand estates and vineyards. Emi was hunting for castles in the back seat.

Yesterday was our big factory day. First, we visited the Jelly Bean factory. We went on a free tour and spent big money in their candy store afterwards. We then drove to Silicon Valley to visit the Tesla factory! Anders booked the tour months ago, and has been excited ever since. Kids are not allowed, so Emi, Fam and Astrid spent an hour coloring Hello Kitties in Emis new activity book. I think that means that we all had a great day!  

Westland

From Franz Josef Glacier, we drove through Hokitika and the transport hub Greymouth. In Greymouth the road and the railway crosses about every 100 or so meter just to remind you that this is and old transport and regional hub. There are a lot of one way bridges all over the South Island, and south of Greymouth, there is actually a one way rail/road bridge, were the one lane is shared. Give way!

The road from Greymouth to Westport has one of the most beautiful views we have ever seen. Steep mountains on one hand and the Tasmanian sea on the other, with huge waves hammering onto beaches and rock formations.

We stopped at the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks situated at the south end of the Punakaiki national park, were you can walk through the rain forrest to see beautiful limestone formations.

We then drove to Westport and are spending the night in a cabin with (almost) sea view and a play ground.

Wanaka, Westland and Franz Josef Glacier

We drove back through Queenstown to Wanaka.

Queenstown

Fluffy!!

Wanaka was pretty!

There was another little girl at the hotel that Emi wanted to play with, so we started off rather late in the morning and drove through Mount Aspiring National Park to the west coast.

We slept in a cabin close to the Franz Josef Glacier. Fanz Josef Glazier is on the top of the Westland National Park further north on the west coast. We arrived around four, and went straight to the glacier. It took us a couple of hours to walk in, play a little, and then walk back again, so we had a long day!

Franz Josef Glacier

We have realized that driving around three hours means approximately five to six hours on the road. We typically drive off between 9 and 10 am. Then Fam need a fresh diaper and some fruit around 10.30 - 11 am.

We might have yet another stop to change a diaper. Fam would like some milk between the fruit meal and her next meal that would be around 1.30-2 pm. We all need some lunch at some point. And we definitely need to change some diapers then. Fam would like some milk again around 4 pm. And before that, both kids are generally tired of driving, so we have to increase the frequency of stops anyway.

But NZ is beautiful!

The bra fence close to Wanaka

Milford Sound

Milford Sound is a fiord on the southern west coast and in the northern part of Fiordland national park. It is a two hour drive from Te Anau. We spent two days in Te Anau and did a one day trip to Milford Sound.

As opposed to the Norwegian fjords, all the mountains are covered by forest, and the color of the fjord resembles Côte d'Azur. There is one road, and it ends in a tourist boat harbor. As true tourists, we had booked a fjord cruise online the day before. We saw seals and a lot of waterfalls.

Our new pose

Christchurch, Queenstown and Te Anau

New Zealand!

We arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand on February 27th. We spent one day in the city before driving to Queenstown.

Canterbury museum, Christchurch

It is about 500 km from Christchurch to Queenstown, and we did it in a day. It went amazingly well, and New Zealand is beautiful.

Lindis Pass

The guy teaching Anders to stand on his hands on the most Southern point in the world
that he believes he will ever visit.

I think the guy's name is Amit. He's from Israel, and he was hitchhiking.

Hello, the other side of the world!

We only spent the morning i Queenstown before moving on to Te Anau, but we will stop again on the way back.

Morning coffee and babychino

Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown

Outside the hotel in Te Anau