FIJI

I remember looking through a wedding magazine years ago and seeing an advertisement for Fiji. I thought to myself, I will go there one day. :)

Fiji is actually only a short 2-hour flight from New Zealand, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go there. What better way to unwind from our adventures in NZ than with a relaxing stay in a tropical paradise!?

We stayed at the beautiful Savasi Island Resort. This peaceful, private resort is surrounded by a natural coral cay on one side and a lagoon on the other. You can literally snorkel right outside your door.

The small resort has only eight villas, each completely private with its own unique space and style. We stayed in the charming Boat House. The villa sits right on the water and has its own private pool.

Our days were filled with sunshine, relaxation, private beaches, stunning sunsets, and private dining with outstanding gourmet food. A truly tropical paradise!

 

"Ma" (the staff leader) was a wonderful host. She and rest of the staff made sure we were well taken care of. They treated us like family and made us feel at home. The moment we were greeted by "Ma" and her wonderful staff, we knew we were going to have an outstanding vacation.

Joe had the opportunity to go sport fishing one morning - and came home with a big Marlin! He gave it to the chef, who cooked it up and served it for dinner. The whole experience was pretty incredible.

You can see all of our FIJI pictures on shutterfly here.

You can also view our New Zealand albums on shutterfly: North Island and South Island.

Goodbye paradise, we'll be back again.

NZ Day 16: Kaikoura

Our last day in New Zealand was by far the best day of the entire trip (for me)! This was the day I got to swim with wild dolphins off the coast of New Zealand! Swimming with dolphins has always been #1 on my "bucket list." I always thought I'd end up doing it in a contained environment like Sea World... never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have the opportunity to swim with hundreds of dolphins in their natural environment.

We took a tour through Dolphin Encouter. This 3.5 hour tour takes you out by boat to spot pods of dusky dolphins. Once the pods are found, the boat anchors and you're able to get in the water and swim with the wild dolphins in the open water.

The dusky dolphins are residents of the coastal waters off the coast of Kaikoura all year round. The dolphins are incredibly interactive and playful. You can swim so close to them that you can literally reach out and touch them, although they're so fast that they'll never let you do that!

There were three major negatives to this experience for me: 1) I got awfully seasick, 2) the water was freezing, and 3) I had to do it alone because children were not allowed on the boat (so Joe and I had to take separate tours). But it was the experience of a lifetime, and I'm so glad I took the risk and jumped in the water! Anyone who knows me understands that sharks are my #1 fear... so this was probably the most terrifying yet thrilling thing I've ever done in my life!!!

Well... that wraps up our New Zealand vacation. We truly had an incredible trip, and I'm so glad we took the time to explore both islands. It was certainly an adventure. :)  New Zealand had everything we expected and more - quaint towns, stunning scenery, outdoor activities, friendly people, cozy cafes, and delicious seafood.

After a jam-packed two and half weeks in New Zealand, we decided to get some R&R time in Fiji before heading back home to Japan... stay tuned.

NZ Day 15: Kaikoura

Kaikoura is a small coastal village about 2 hours north of Christchurch. A large mountain range sets the backdrop of this small town and extends all the way into the Pacific Ocean. The views here were stunning.

The main attraction for this small town is marine life viewing. Many come to see whales, dolphins, seals, and birds... us included. It's really the only thing to do here besides sit back and soak up the views and sea breezes on your own private beach.

There's a peninsula walkway nearby that is home to seal colony. Here you can watch them in their natural habitat. This was of course a must-do on our list! We saw several seals, some out in the open and others hiding in bushes and under trees. You could get as close as you dared - although it's recommended that you stay a good 30-feet away.

Kaikoura was a really peaceful coastal village and a great place to end our trip. Elodie loved it here too. In my next and final NZ post, I'll tell you about our adventure swimming with dolphins in the open water.

NZ Day 13 & 14: Jackson's Retreat & Arthur's Pass

Do you see the pink highlighted route above? That's the drive we were about to embark on. So we literally had to drive from the glaciers on the west coast, through the mountains, to a city called Kaikoura on New Zealand's south island upper east coast. Google maps estimates this drive to only take about 6.5 hours, but we knew that driving through the mountains would take a lot longer than that. So we planned this drive in 2 days. Another consideration we had to think about was that there's not a whole lot of lodging in between those two places. So we stopped just west of Arthur's Pass and stayed at Jackson's Retreat.

Ok, so there's a reason why there's only one or two places for lodging along the way... because there is seriously nothing there. No local towns, no local restaurants, no local anything. Just mountains, and valleys, and rivers. We had planned on eating at the restaurant located next door to Jackson's Retreat, but unfortunately when we got there it was closed (forever). Soooo, we had to drive quite a long ways in the middle of no where just to find some place to eat. I don't even remember where we ended up going to be honest... some seafood restaurant on a lake down country roads that were wayyyyy out of our way. One of the main reasons for getting a campervan was to have food with us at all times, but we totally failed on preparing meals for this leg of the trip - whoops!

There wasn't a whole lot to do at Jackson's Retreat. We went on a short hike to see a waterfall, and that's about it. It rained most of the time anyway. But we did see a pretty rainbow.

So the next morning we had a serious case of cabin fever and were ready to get back on the road and to our next destination! We were excited to see what the famous Arthur's Pass was all about.

Arthur's Pass is supposed to be one of the best roads in New Zealand. It's actually a tourist attraction listed in the Lonley Planet guidebook as one of the top must-drive-roads. People are drawn to it for it's snow-capped mountains, picturesque valleys, rivers, etc.

We were expecting some out of this world scenery! Sadly, we were sort of disappointed. Once we were on the other side, Joe and I looked at each other and said, "that's it?" I mean, sure - yes it was really pretty! But considering everything we had already seen and done, it just didn't blow us away.

If this would have been the beginning of our trip, I think we would have been really impressed. But because were were on our final leg of the trip and had already seen some spectacular sites, it was just okay. I probably sound like a spoiled brat saying that! Sorry! If we were going to do it all over again we'd either skip this route all together, or we would have done all the driving in one day.

I'm sad to tell you that we only have one destination in New Zealand left to write about! But we're going out with a bang, and I can't wait to share with you what's up next... my favorite part of our NZ trip: Kaikoura!

NZ Day 12: Franz Josef Glacier

We loved the hike at Fox Glacier, so that made us even more excited to see what Franz Josef Glacier had to offer. The Lonley Planet guidebook that we were using said, "Franz Joseph is the superior ice experience and visually more impressive." So we had high hopes for this glacier, and were hoping the weather would cooperate so that we could go on a helicopter tour!

LUCKILY, it was a fantastic day, and we had the opportunity of a lifetime to see these magnificent glaciers from the sky! We even landed on top of Franz Josef and were able to walk around. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!

 

Because we had such an awesome experience on the helicopter tour, we felt it was really unnecessary to do the hike to the glacier terminal face for Franz Josef. So we took the rest of the day "off" and relaxed.

This helicopter tour was Joe's favorite part of our New Zealand adventure!

NZ Day 11: Fox Glacier

Day 11 was all about exploring Fox Glacier! Fox Glacier is an 8-mile long glacier located in Westland National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.

We had a reservation to do a helicopter tour, but due to poor weather conditions it was cancelled. The guy at the desk basically said that if you can see clouds up there, don't count on the choppers flying.

So we decided to do the Fox Glacier valley walk. This short 1-hour hike takes you to a close view point of the terminal face. This glacier is actually considered the most accessible glacier in the world. Fox Glacier (as well as the nearby Franz Josef Glacier) are unique because they end amongst the temperate rainforest. Interested in knowing how these glaciers work? Find out here.

The start of our hike.

Getting closer...

 

Here!

NZ Day 10: Wanaka

Day 10 ended up being a travel day. We drove from Queenstown up the west coast to Fox Glacier. Google maps estimates this drive to take 4.5 hours. Knowing how mountainous the South Island is, we estimated it would take about 6. It ended up taking us over 8 hours! Luckily, there was beautiful scenery the entire way.

We left Queenstown in the morning and planned on stopping in the quaint town of Wanaka for brunch on our way.

Wanaka is known as a smaller Queenstown. It's a tourist resort town with beautiful lake and mountain views - but less commercialized than Queenstown. Want outdoors adventure? This is the place to go! It would be the perfect spot to set up camp and take on some of the many adventures there - biking, hiking, climbing, fishing, kayaking, or skiing in the winter. I would have loved to spend more time in this beautiful little town.

After brunch we hopped back in our campervan and traveled the rest of the day until we finally made it to our Holiday Park at Fox Glacier.

Beautiful view on our long drive.

A very scenic and absolutely stunning drive, but we were all very happy to get out of the campervan.

NZ Day 9: Arrowtown

Arrowtown was "Born of Gold" in the 1860's and it looks like it hasn't really changed since then. Nestled below the beautiful mountains that surround Arrow River, Arrowtown is a historic gold mining town located just 20-minutes from Queenstown. Quaint, charming and historic are words I'd use to describe this little town. Actually, I wouldn't really call it a town - it's just one street!

Honesty though, I think we would have enjoyed it more if we were wanting to just sit back and relax - enjoy a cup of coffee and people watch. But we were on a mission to see and do as much as possible, so unfortunately, this town didn't excited us all that much.

We ate at the local Arrowtown bakery, known for their famous pies (which were really good!). Then we walked through some shops and down the historic tree-lined street.

It really was a cute, historic little town. But I guess we were just expecting something a little bit more.

NZ Day 8: Queenstown

Day 8 was pretty much entirely dedicated to me checking off something from my bucket list: bungee jumping (sky diving is next!). Unfortunately Emily was pregnant at the time and could not participate.  Shotover Canyon Swing is the world's highest cliff jump and it did not dissapoint.

Apparently there are over 70 different ways to jump off this cliff! I decided to do two different jumps.  They encourage you to simply jump on your own free will for the first time.  I'll tell you that anyone can say they want to do something like this but until you are hovering over the edge it is all talk.  For a picture they held me by my harness and let me dangle over the edge.  Despite knowing I wasn't going anywhere it was quite nerve racking.

The first jump I jumped sideways off the stand and literally did a giant cliff swing, it was pretty awesome!  After jumping on my own the first time I decided to be a little more daring on the second and suspended myself upside down until they pulled the pin without me knowing.  The adrenaline was flowing and suspense was ridiculous in this jump they called "gimp boy goes to hollywood".

Check out the video of my second jump below:

NZ Day 7: Queenstown

We've been so fortunate to be able to travel the world a bit, and every place we've been we've said, "Wow, this is great!" but this is the first time we've said, "WOW, we could LIVE here!"

Queenstown is absolutely charming. It has a small town feel with numerous cafes, bakeries, and local shops. But not only is this town charming, it's also surrounded by beautiful scenery and it's known as the adventure capital of the world. Here you can do activities such as: skiing, snowboarding, jet boating, whitewater rafting, canyoning, river surfing, bungee jumping, mountain biking, sky diving, etc.

The Queenstown brochure pretty much sums it up, "From the snowy mountain peaks to giant Lake Wakatipu and the cosmopolitan town center, Queenstown will stay in your memory forever."

NZ Day 6: Milford Sound

After a long day 5, we had another drive before we could embark on our Milford Sound Cruise.  It was over a 2 hour drive which set the stage for the cruise and our highlight of Day 6.

On the drive to Milford Sound from Te Anau

We took a two hour boat cruise with Mitre Peak to experience Milford Sound the best way possible.  Milford Sound is a fjord which is a long, narrow inlet with steep cliffs formed from glacial erosion.  Knowing how it was created puts an emphasis on how truly magnificent and incredible Milford Sound is.  It is considered the crown jewel of New Zealand and arguably one of the most beautiful, must see places on the planet.  We would have to agree and our pictures back it up.  It was such a tranquil cruise and well worth the visit.

Looking on to the cruise terminal.

One of many waterfalls along the cruise.

Pretty girls!

Stop looking at us!

Absolutely, positively stunning!

Incredible beauty!

The Schreurs @ Milford Sound