I told you New Zealand was magical

Our time in New Zealand is almost over. Well, Matt’s already gone ahead of me, actually. He left on Thursday for Australia to meet up with his parents while I stayed behind to finish out our housesit and pick up our hosts from the airport. I leave to join him tomorrow. And you know what? No one/nothing died! Well…with the exception of some delicious turkeys.

Wild game recipes

We are still on the alpaca farm here in Hawkes Bay and will be until the end of June. As I mentioned in my last post, there is a lot of free time even with our farm responsibilities, so Matt has been working extra and I’ve been focusing on some cooking projects. I finally made a meal with the wild turkey that Matt shot last week! 

A day in the life of an alpaqueros

*Hey all. I had some problems with our email delivery so I’m re-posting this*

Life on a farm is not as different as I thought it’d be.

See, Matt is so handy and outdoorsy and I’m such a city kid who’d never seen a live chicken until she was in her late 20s, that I pictured something akin to ‘Green Acres’: Matt’s out swinging an axe and chopping firewood, and I’m getting chased around by a hen that I managed to offend.

South Island stop #3: Abel Tasman

We ended our tour of the South Island of New Zealand with a drive up the west coast to Takaka, near Abel Tasman National Park. The western coast is entirely different than the rest of the island, as all of the rain gets dumped there before it crosses the Southern Alps. The climate is more wet and warm; the area has a lot more palm trees and fewer conifer trees. We had hoped to see Franz Josef, a famous glacier that is quickly receding, but the day was so rainy and miserable that we had to stay indoors on our brief stop there.

South Island stop #2: Queenstown

So everyone that I talked to about Queenstown, where we stayed for the last 6 days, said that it was interesting and had a lot to do but was very tourist-y. I’d agree. But when you arrive you understand why. It’s surrounded by beautiful mountains on all sides, borders a sparkling blue lake, and is said to have one of the prettiest airport approaches in the world. The town reminded me a lot of Breckenridge in its classy, touristy, snow bunny vibe.

South Island stop #1: Mt Cook

On Saturday we packed up all our stuff in Christchurch, picked up our housesit family from the airport, watched a really sweet reunion with them and their happy dogs, and got our road trip podcasts and peanut butter cookies ready for a drive to our first stay in Twizel. It’s a small sleepy town of about 1200 people, but a great jumping off point into our first area: the Mackenzie District, with its beautiful lakes, Church of the Good Shepherd and iconic Mt Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand.

How to temporarily settle into daily life

..because it can be harder than it sounds! So, we are still in Christchurch, New Zealand but will be moving along this weekend when the family we are housesitting for returns. It’s pretty wild because we’ve been here in this city for 5 weeks, with four of those weeks in this house, so we’ve begun to develop routines, learn how to get around, and make friends…just in time to leave.

New Zealand: where everything is magical

Hi all! We have been so happily busy here that I have a lot to say, but that also means I have tons of pictures and videos to share of this beautiful country. I am glad we have back in Kansas City such an amazing community, two supportive families and a wonderful church, otherwise you might be in danger of losing me to New Zealand.

Welcome to the Land of the Long White Cloud

Good afternoon from Christchurch, New Zealand! We have been here on the southern island for five days and are enjoying every minute of it. As of today, we are 18 hours ahead of Kansas City time but on Sunday we’ll fall back an hour since it’s daylight savings time. Yes, we fall back because they just entered autumn here! It seems that Matt and I missed out on spring entirely this year which is a bit of a bummer, but the weather here is gorgeous so I can’t complain. It’s been averaging 70F during the day and 55F at night, with low humidity and not much rain. Perfect hiking weather, sitting outside with a book or leaving your window open for a breeze.