As we prepare to leave this beautiful country, I thought it would be a nice idea to write down our most memorable moments, favourite bits, worst bits etc. I hope it will also be a good reminder to each of us when we’re back in the humdrum of “normal” life.

Sylvie:

New Zealand is an amazing country, when you look out your window you can almost always see mountains but at my home in England you can’t. Everywhere we went we did different things I can’t believe we fitted them all in!

A few of my favourite bits were the mud baths they were so relaxing (and Elijah even went into the cold plunge), seeing the whales flip their tails up and dive was the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life and being at the front of the helicopter when we rode to the glacier is something I’ll never forget.

My top 10 things are:

1) helicopter ride 2) whale watching 3) mud baths 4) glacier hiking 5) hobbiton 6) glowworms 7) weta workshop 8) Māori village 9) zip lining 10) luge

It has been very cold here, so I am looking forward to some warmer weather in Fiji. But, I have loved it here in New Zealand so much I think I could live here. I want a thermal hot spa in my back garden though!

Elijah:

I think it was really cool to go to New Zealand. We saw lots of cool things. I think the Kiwis were my favourite part. I have always wanted to see the Kiwi because it’s the national bird. I enjoyed the way it bobbed up and down when it walked. I also liked the fact that its nostrils are at the end of its long nose/beak and it snorts like a pig when it is looking for food.

Going on a helicopter ride to the glacier was amazing. The fact that it takes off straight upwards is so cool and the view I got from the front seat was the best. Dad and I were also really lucky to go watch one of the FIFA Women’s World Cup games in Wellington – Sweden 🇸🇪 5 Italy 🇮🇹 0 very interesting!

The zip line in Queenstown was fun and enjoyable. The view of the mountains was so good. The whole thing was over too quickly but the zipping down was fast which I liked. The Elijah-flaming-cannon-ball was my favourite move!

My top 10 things are:

1) kiwis 2) fox glacier 3) football 4) hobbiton 5) hot pools 6) glowworms 7) whale watching 8) zip line 9) gondola 10) luge

I’m sad that I have to leave New Zealand. Everything has flown by really fast but we do get to go to warmer countries next. The cold wasn’t too bad but you could definitely feel it in the morning and evenings in South Island!

Kate:

I’m not quite sure how to articulate how I feel about New Zealand, I’ve been pondering it for a few days and can’t seem to grasp the right words. I guess it’s because it’s been so much more than I expected? And maybe because it’s somewhere I’ve dreamed of visiting for so long and that dream has become a reality. There’s so much of this beautiful land that we haven’t had time to explore, but I’m so grateful for the incredible experiences we have had and all the things we’ve managed to cram into the last couple of weeks!

It doesn’t escape me that, for me, starting this leg of our adventure by seeing some very dear, precious friends for the first time in so many years definitely meant I hit the ground running in terms of wonderful experiences. Being able to fall back into conversation as if we’d seen each other a week ago, even though our lives and families are so different now, was so special.

One of my big takeaways is the warmth and the natural, relaxed ease of the local people. Everywhere we went we were met with smiles and cheery faces. No question went unanswered, and we found our way around without any trouble. Definitely a perk of travelling here.

If I have to pick a negative, it would only be the cost. New Zealand isn’t cheap to explore, and sometimes comparing prices to the UK made me feel a bit stressed. Food wise, paying £4 for a cucumber or £5 for a small tub of tomatoes just felt crazy to me, especially when we were trying to eat out less to save some pennies. The cost of activities were on par with what we’d expect to pay at home though, and we did budget with all of this in mind so we always knew this was going to be the most costly leg of the travels.

I can’t quite believe all the fabulous things we’ve done in this country – not sure I could rate them as I’d need a joint three (at least) in my top spot!! From glaciers, to fjords and waterfalls, to mountains and oceans – New Zealand certainly does nature well. I was blown away by the vastness and space I felt in some areas, and then the intense sense of connection to the land and its ancestors in others.

As cheesy as it sounds, I will be leaving Aotearoa with a profound sense of gratitude – for the land, the people, the culture. I’m grateful too for my three sidekicks – for being the best contributors on this adventure, for their resilience and perseverance, for fuelling my sense of joy everyday and for agreeing with me that it’s better to explore this beautiful world than have a new upstairs bathroom fitted!

Martin:

I was always mindful that visiting New Zealand during its winter might have seen ourselves stuck on mountain roads, miss cancelled tours and quite possibly left us miserable walking about in the windy rain. Thankfully it was quite the opposite! We’ve been travelling in glorious sunshine for the most part with a few rainy days that were the exception. We certainly had storms and unpleasant weather threatening, for example travelling over the mountain pass. In hindsight nothing was impassable and I’ve enjoyed the blue sky, fresh, cold days as we’ve moved about.

There are simply too many awesome experiences to list out and I’d risk repeating the blog! However if I was forced to, the highlight has to be Fox Glacier, both because I’d never ridden in a helicopter or walked on a glacier before that day. It was immensely fun traversing the icy terrain, learning about the place and drinking from the clear glacial streams. Even the loud, booming rock slides seemed cool.

I do have a newfound fear and sense of foreboding for air travel! Several days stuck in Frankfurt does that to you. I now enter all airports with a knot in my stomach. 😳

I leave New Zealand knowing there’s so much more I’d like to do here, a year of travelling wouldn’t cover everything, but knowing we’ve managed to fit in a variety of incredible experiences we’ll forever remember. This was all made possible and shared with my three companions – without them it would’ve been a lesser experience.

A large contributing factor to my love of New Zealand has been the lovely people we met and interacted with. The New Zealand culture is kind and gentle and everyone seems very chilled and willing to help. I’ve had two separate and unexpected experiences of New Zealander’s stop to ask me where I’m from, shake my hand and wish me a good day.

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Thank you New Zealand; we’ve loved adventuring across your land and meeting your people. Hopefully we’ll be back one day!

Hi guys, just some more of my videos that I would like to show you. Let me know if you have questions, I will be happy to answer them. Ok bye! From Sylvie

Wow! What a place for thrill-seekers, adventurers and everyone in-between. We only had one full day here, but feel we could stay a week and still not do it all! The only snag is that it isn’t cheap… we’ll definitely be leaving tomorrow with fuller hearts but lighter pockets!!

Our first port of call this morning was The Kiwi Park – a wildlife conservation centre that opened in 1986 and whose mission it is to protect and restore native wildlife and their habitats.

We saw the elusive Kiwi again, which was a treat, as well as many other birds and reptiles.

All our tummies were grumbling by this point so we headed into town to the infamous Fergburger, thinking we might be lucky and find a shorter queue than the ones we’d seen on Thursday afternoon. No such luck with the queues but it didn’t take too long to get our order in… then to see if all the hype was worth it.

We can confirm that it lived up to it’s name and then some – the most delicious burgers we’ve ever had, scrummy fries and thick creamy milkshakes. It’s a yes from the Coyles!

Next on the list was the Gondola and then the Luge at Skyline Queenstown – such fun experiences!

The Gondola provides incredible views of Queenstown and the surrounding mountains.

We decided to head straight to the luge as soon as we got to the top, so we kitted ourselves with helmets and clambered on the chairlift!

The queues looked quite long when we arrived but they moved quickly and soon we were zooming down the track!

First timers have a longer queue as you have to have a quick demo on using the carts, and then you’re sent off to try the slower track first. There are two options available after the first corner – left is the faster track, right is the slower track. Kate didn’t listen properly so told everyone to go down the left hand track first. Cue Sylvie bombing it down the fast track without using her breaks!! She nailed it! Elijah got separated and ended up going down the slower track alone, but still loved it and couldn’t wait to go again.

Up we went on the chairlifts again for our second go, brimming with confidence.

This time we all agreed to have a go on the slower route and see if we could stick together a bit more. Martin felt competitive and challenged the kids to race him… this did not end well unfortunately!! Somehow he overtook Elijah on a fast corner, causing Elijah to slow down and then along came Sylvie taking the corner at full speed … bang! Cue one cut finger, a bruised neck, a ripped coat and a sore arm! Thankfully Kate was behind them both, so managed to get them back on the track and heading down the hill.

With bodies bruised and confidence slightly dampened, a bit of encouragement was needed before our third go! (That and a plaster, a drink and a cookie!)

Somehow Kate ended up on the chairlift alone for the last go, but it did mean she could get a quick snap of the others…

With our three luge runs done, we headed around the outside of the restaurant to take in more of the views, before hunting down the Zipline starting point.

The kids had been debating all morning on their chosen activity – something they were going to spend their savings on and their last activity here in NZ. This flip-flopped from Indoor Skydiving (Sylvie’s choice) to Time Tripper (Elijah’s choice), but in the end they chose to do Ziplining together. Martin went with them as they were too young to do the course they wanted to do on their own.

Kate took herself off for a cheeky G&T at the Stratosfare bar, at the top of the Gondola.

The zip line verdict?? Brilliant! Chilly, grinning faces all round.

Phew! What a lot of fun to pack in to our last adventure day in New Zealand. We are back in Auckland for one night next week, but won’t have time to fit in anything other than repacking bags and prepping for the next leg of our trip. And talking of packing bags… that’s what we need to do tonight before our flight tomorrow morning, so it’s goodbye for now from us.

Up we got (some more willingly than others!) at 5:30am this morning to catch our 6:40am coach tour to Milford Sound (Piopiotahi) – a place Rudyard Kipling referred to as the eighth wonder of the world!

We had originally planned to drive ourselves to Te Anau and stay there for easier access to Milford Sound, but after we made our NZ trip slightly shorter to fit in a diversion to Fiji, we chose to take a day tour instead and stay in Queenstown longer. Martin has done all the driving this trip, so this gave him a nice break too!

Once the coach had picked up all the passengers, we headed south with a beautiful pink-orange sunrise view of Queenstown and the mountains all around us. We stopped at several viewpoints/lookouts along the way, with brilliant information from our friendly bus driver Roland.

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Next stop was Mirror Lake…

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… and then Monkey Creek, where we saw wild Kea for the first time.

The highway we were on is the only way to get to Milford by road, and takes you through Homer Tunnel – a 1.2km long solid rock tunnel through the mountain – the building of which started in 1935 and was completed in 1953.

It was another hour on the road until we reached our boat, but then we were off! A buffet lunch and a hot cuppa later and we were ready to face the rather blustery, damp conditions outside…

During the ice age, a giant glacier made its way to the sea, carving out a spectacular sheer-sided valley. When the glacier melted, the sea flooded the valley and Milford Sound was formed.

Milford Sound is actually incorrectly named – it should be Milford Fjord (A sound is formed by a river, but a fjord is formed by a glacier).

What an incredible place and how lucky are we to have witnessed it! Just a casual 4.5 hour coach journey back to Queenstown and we’ll be ready for snoozeville.

After we left our motel room in Haast this morning, we knew we had a 3 hour journey to Queenstown ahead of us. What we didn’t realise was how many stops we’d make just to take in the views and have some fun.

Lake Wanaka:

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Lake Hawea:

As we got further south, it got colder and more snowy – this just made the landscape even more magical!

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We had had the option to go a different route, circumnavigating the mountains, but we’d chosen Crown Range road for the views – and Crown Range Summit was our reward!

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And last, but not least, Gerald the Snowman!

We’ve now arrived at our Queenstown accommodation, done a little food shop and had a well-deserved chill afternoon – doing some much-needed clothes washing and having a proper cup of tea sitting on an actual couch! It’s the simple things 😊

Early start tomorrow as we’re heading off on a coach tour to Milford Sound – 8pm bedtime for all tonight!

Spoiler alert: this post contains a ridiculously large number of photos, and we’re not apologising for it!

Another beautiful drive through the mountains today, and we were so lucky with the weather (again). Our target was Fox Glacier, but along the way we stopped at Franz Josef Glacier too.

Franz Josef Glacier: this is a 12 kilometre-long glacier, 20km north of Fox Glacier. We stopped here only briefly, but it was still impressive. The old walking track has been washed away since the Waiho river changed it’s course, so you can’t walk as far as you used to be able to.

Fox Glacier: 13km long and known by local Māori as Te Moeka o Tuawe (‘The bed of Tuawe’). According to the traditional stories, Hine Hukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover Tuawe to climb with her. Tuawe was a less experienced climber than Hine Hukatere but loved to climb with her, until an avalanche swept him from the peaks to his death. Hine Hukatere was broken-hearted and her many, many tears flowed down the mountain. Rangi the Sky Father took pity on her and froze them to form the glacier now known as Franz Josef; the glacier now known as Fox marks Tuawe’s resting place.

We booked a heli-hike for today, a massive treat and such an exciting point in our adventure.

The helicopter ride on its own was a once-in-lifetime experience, but then we spent 3 hours on the ice and I’m not sure we know how to describe how incredible it was!

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We could have stayed up there for hours but, as we know, time flies when you’re having fun! It was soon time to head back to the ice-helipad and zoom off back down to regular land.

What a phenomenal thing to do, we are feeling very lucky and immensely grateful – for the sunny skies and low winds, and to experience such a wonder of the natural world.

Not much to report after that – we drove further south to Haast, found a nice pub for supper, and got to bed! Off to Queenstown tomorrow.

This morning we left the whales behind and went road-tripping west. Having done lots of research on which mountain pass road to choose and what the winter weather was doing, we decided on Lewis Pass – the closest option and, according to all sources, open to drivers.

At first we were greeted with these incredible views…

… but we hit our first snag of the day when we turned down the road towards Lewis Pass to find a massive neon sign indicating that the road was, in fact, closed Monday to Wednesday. It’s Tuesday. We think it might be for maintenance work but that’s a guess as nothing else was on the sign.

Never mind, we thought, we’ll just head a bit further south and take Arthur’s Pass instead. This we did, and all was going well until we hit the rain. Then our views looked more like this…

We stopped at one “viewing spot” but only Martin was brave enough to head out of the car…

Nevertheless, we kept going and made it to Hokitika right on time (2pm) to check in at our backpackers.

Here comes the next snag… our backpackers doesn’t exist. In fact, it permanently closed YEARS AGO. This is a backpackers that is still available to book on “Booking.com” – one that we made a booking with months ago, paid for, and received confirmation emails for etc.

Kate to the kids: “don’t worry kids, this is all part of the adventure”

Kate’s inner monologue: “beeeeeeep”

Thankfully, it’s winter season and so there were other places available to book for the night. Once we’d found somewhere and got our bearings we headed to The National Kiwi Centre to hopefully catch a glimpse of this national icon (our first since we arrived).

We also all enjoyed a bit of “crawly catching”, where you can catch and release crayfish.

We did see two beautiful kiwis being fed while we were there, but you aren’t allowed to take photos because it might disturb them.

After all the aquatic and animal fun, we headed out in the rain again to see what there was to see in the town. We found a glass blowing shop where you could watch men making different glass ornaments, and then had a scrummy Thai meal for dinner. Back to the motel for us and an early night before we go glacier hunting tomorrow!

Wow. We loved it here; snow-capped mountains made a perfect backdrop to bright blue seas and gorgeous sunshine. Add to that a warm backpackers lodge and some real whale sightings and that sums up Kaikoura for us!

A bit of a lie in today as we’d had two super early mornings on the trot, but by 10am we were down on the beach ready for our boat trip.

Kaikoura is famous for its abundant sea life, but especially the Sperm Whales as they can be found here all year round. This is partly because of the deep canyon just off the coast.

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The Kaikoura canyon is a submarine canyon and a bio-diversity hotspot due to the upwelling currents from the deep ocean providing feeding grounds for many seabirds and marine mammals.

We can’t quite describe how extraordinary these massive creatures were – it felt surreal watching them from so close, and with everyone on board the boat silently admiring them with us, it was so special.

No better way to regather ourselves after such an adventure than to spend time by the ocean. The parents got to sit quietly and take it all in, while the children kept themselves busy playing games.

And after all that we decided it was high time for lunch/supper at 3pm in the afternoon… and it couldn’t have been anything else other than fresh crayfish, calamari and cod!

We rounded off the day with an ice cream and a walk along the beach as the sun was setting behind the mountains.

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