Wine, wine and more wine! New Zealand, Day 12

Once again, we woke up and caught breakfast downstairs just before we checked out of the hotel. We had to catch a taxi to the train, which we had about an hour ride or so on. We were in route to Martinborough... The land of fine wines. We weren't quite sure where we had to get off and ended up missing our stop. A very kind man let us use his cell phone and it wasn't a problem contacting our guide to get picked up from there instead. Whooopsie. The area was gorgeous. There were fields and fields of green with sheep all over the place. There were vineyards after vineyards. I was in heaven. I wanted to visit every single one of them! Some were smaller than others, mostly all using different grapes with various techniques when picking. We arrived at our first vineyard of the day and started to taste test right away! It was only 10:30a.m! Haha. What a wake up call! We tried 4 white wines and 4 reds. We had sauvignon blanc, chardonnay,  pinot gris and a reisling for the whites. Then we had 2 pinot noirs aaaand... I don't remember what else, but they were delightful. The finest wines are made in the region. We went around to four different vineyards and sampled many, many kinds. We also had a free glass at lunch along with our cheeses and things! It was a really enjoyable, relaxing day. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned much more about wine than I knew before. What a complex process it is to make any sort of wine! Our guide taught us so much, I was really pleased with the whole winery tour. So much that I sent a whole case home to enjoy over the hot summer for Ryan and I to enjoy. We were then in route on the way back to Wellington after our long day of taste testing at least 20 different wines. Best day ever, so classy ;) Rotorua tomorrow. Trip is dwindling down...

New Zealand Day 11

I woke up around 9 today, enjoyed breakfast downstairs & waited downstairs for our guide to pick us up for the Lord of The Rings tour. He came around ten in his movie tour bus, all cheesy like. Karen & I hopped in and we were off to pick up another girl. It was just the three of us for the day, which was nice. We were shown around various sets for the making of the movie. Our guide would drive us around to different places with his lap top in hand. He played scenes that took place where ever we were and showed us pictures from the set. It was interesting, but I'm not the biggest fan of LOTR movies so I wasn't as into it as Karen and the other gal. Don't get me wrong, they're great movies... Just not a die hard fan. We traveled through different parks and quarries through out various rainforests and mountains. It was nothing short of beautiful all day. They would chat about the movie scene that happened and I would gaze off into my own little world, daydreaming. I was taken back when he told us the movie was filmed in 1999. It’s already been 12 years since the first one came out! That’s nuts! The tour lasted until 2:30. We stopped for lunch in the middle of the woods underneath beautiful multi-colored. He picked us up some subway and drinks. We sat and chatted at a picnic table discussing American culture/sports in comparison to New Zealand. Quite funny. We sound so dumb trying to understand the game of rugby. After lunch, he showed us a few more scenes and dropped us back off at our hotel around 2:30. We had nibbles at our lounge and went out for din!

New Zealand, Day 10

Today was so relaxing. We took our time doing everything. We slept in and really kicked back. It was nice to slow down our trip a bit considering we've constantly been on the go every single day. We woke up at a decent time and went downstairs for breakfast and to the store for a few necessities. The rest of our day was spent mostly in the hotel because it was quite rainy, but we didn't care too much. We looked into things we could do for the following days spent in Wellington. Karen was more into doing Lord of The Rings move tour right outside of town & I wanted to visit a winery. So, we did the move tour on Tuesday & winery the following day. It worked out perfectly! We planned everything accordingly compromised a bit for one another. We met a very nice, retired couple later that evening in the club lounge that helped us out a bit with where to dine. We ended up at a Malaysian restaurant they recommended. Delicious! Locals always know best :)

New Zealand, Day 9

Of course, the weather as we left Kaikoura was beautiful. We could finally see the mountains, we hadn't been able to the past couple days because of the awful weather. The combination of the bright turquoise water and natural green mountains was picturesque! We enjoyed the view for a little while before we were out of town and headed north to Picton to catch the ferry to the North Island. We stopped a few minutes away from a hostel at another seal colony where there were tons of baby deals spread all over the rocks! So cute! There were hundreds all over the place. We left the seal colony and drove all along the coastline for a while. I wish I had more time to appreciate how pretty Kaikoura really was in the sunlight, rather than in clouds and rain. I can't complain though, we've truly been blessed with wonderful weather thus far. After getting breakfast, we drove through Marlborough ( WINE COUNTRY) straight on through to Picton. I wanted to stop so badly! So many vineyards were passing left and right. Can't we just stop for a morning taste?! Nope. We kept driving through the wonderful mountains. We shortly arrived in Picton and boarded the ferry. The ferry was massive ,by the way. It was literally a cruise ship. It had 10 decks! I've never been on a boat so big before. The trip over to the North Island took about 3 1/2 hours. Not too bad, as there was many entertainment options available on board. We cruised all through luscious green mountains and bright blue water. What beautiful nature, I just can't get enough of it. We arrived in Wellington, a smaller type city and stayed at a nice hotel overlooking the city. We were getting sick of the hostels and decided to stay somewhere nicer for a few nights, so worth it! The had a gym and a spa, perfect. We ate at an Italian restaurant called Portofino's for dinner. I had a nice seafood dish & Karen, typical American, branched out and had spaghetti! Ciao.

New Zealand, Day 8

DOLPHIN SWIMMING!! Ahhh, what an experience this was! Extremely cold encounter with dolphins, but absolutely phenomenal it was! Karen and I got to sleep in a bit today so we woke up feeling completely rejuvenated. Once again, the weather we woke up to wasn't what we had pictured in mind for a day out on the boat, but we figured we'd be in the water anyway so it didn't particularly matter too much. After we ate at a little cafe with a very rude lady that took our order, we were on our way to Dolphin Encounter. We got all suited up in our wet suits, booties, flippers, mask, etc! Anything we could get our hands on honestly to withstand that 60 degree water temperature. Which, really, doesn't sound to bad... but it was awfully cold. A lot colder than I had anticipated! My first jump off the boat I was hyperventilating. I had to lay on my back to catch my breath! Anyway, once we got out onto the boat our guide said it would only be about ten minutes to get to where the dolphins were. Within minutes, we could see hundreds of dolphins swimming everywhere. We were all so excited! We lined up on the end of the boat so we could slide off when they sounded the horn indicating us that it was okay to go in. We jumped in... I've never swam in colder water before in my life. The excitement numbed it for a little bit, but I could barely breath. Quite scary actually. We could see our breath, that's how cold it was. My fingers were turning purple. The cold water seeped through my mask/hood and trickled all the way down my body. We hopped off & on the boat 4 times. We can't keep up with the dolphins so they continuously would keep dropping us where ever they were swimming. The dolphins we were swimming with were completely wild, they're called dusky dolphins. So pretty! They're about 5-6 feet in length. The dolphins were literally inches away from our faces, all around! It seemed as if they were going to swim into us, but they don't touch humans. They'll play with ya though! We were told you have to make a high pitch sound to attract them towards you. Quite entertaining for the viewers on board I imagine, haha. All these swimmers going around squealing for the dolphins attention must've been entertaining.  I called one close to me and started swimming in circles with it. The dolphin made eye contact with me and followed me all around. It was awesome to have an actual interaction with them. We did this a handful of times, on and off the boat. I got off the boat and poured hot water down my wetsuit. That was it for me, I skipped out on the fourth dive. I was so warm by now, there was no way I was about to get back in! Although it was seriously awesome, I was done with that water! I got changed and started taking pictures and videos of the dolphins on the boat. I've never seen so many before in my life! What a wonderful experience this was, once in a lifetime! I really had a great day at sea. Off for a run, Thai for dinner & laundry, finally! Living out of a bag for weeks is a bit aggravating.

Picture doesn't do much justice, but their are literally hundreds.

New Zealand, Day 7

Getting back to you all... Picking up from Day 7! (I'm currently on Day 11 so I'll do my best to remember)
April 15th... We got on the bus and headed for Kaikoura via Christchurch. We continued to bus along through out the mountains, rainforests, hills & dry/flat land. The terrain here is just mind blowing. We stopped for breakfast and lunch along the way of our journey. Karen almost had a heart attack at lunch, she ordered Fish & chips and basically wound up with a bag of salt. Not even eatable. As we drove into Kaikoura, our bus driver informed us that Kaikoura simply means, "Where the mountains meet the Sea". He was right about that. Even though the weather wasn't the best for us here, we thoroughly enjoyed. It was quite cloudy and rainy. There were huge waves crashing against the rocks, ACTUAL boulders this time. Before we were dropped off at our hotel, our driver took us to the seal colony. This was my first time seeing seals! They truly look like a fish out of water. They all looked dead, but as we got closer they wiggled around a bit. Nothing crazy, sort of weird.  They were spread amongst the rocks and grass. We headed to our hotel after a few pictures. I took a run around town then we went for Indian. I'm never ordering Indian food HOT ever again. I was crying, seriously. I used a whole thing of yogurt he brought me. This shit was waaay too hot for my liking. I mean, really... How is that enjoyable? My nose was running, I've had the whole pitcher of water by now and wouldn't be apposed to him bringing me more yogurt. My god! After we got through dinner, we headed back to our place right down the road and called it quits.

New Zealand, Day 6

We're off! I mean, early too. We checked out of Dunedin & went straight on through to Lake Tekapo. Of course we stopped along the way scoping all the mountains and scenery. It's nuts how we'll be in the rainforest for a few minutes then go through a tunnel and the land is flat & dry. Complete opposites. We started off the morning by climbing the world's steepest hill. A bit of an early wake up hike! It was nice. I've never seen such thing. I don't understand what possess people to live on this street either (Baldwin Street, google it if you don't believe me). After the hike, we hopped back onto the bus to go see

"boulders". What a let down that was. A boulder is & should be massive. We got off the bus, walked down a path to the beach to see these little rocks that were maybe 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. I shit you not. Alright guy, just because we're backpackers doesn't mean you have to amp it up for us to be let down. Haha, no worries. Karen & I went into a little cafe for brekky & coffee. It was an all day adventure making it to Lake Tekapo, but we arrived eventually around 4:30p.m. We've been putting alot of time in on this bus! We checked in, threw our things down & off we went to rent mountain bikes. I'm so happy we did too. We got to view the Lake from afar & traveled all amongst these windy roads, passing sheep & lambs along the way. The trail we took was a lot longer than we expected. We didn't mind though, we were having a blast. We stopped at two wooden benches on the way back to embrace the scenery. What a beautiful little place this town was. Very little. We made our way back to the Lodge two hours later with sore legs & scenic memories embedded in our heads. Of course it wouldn't be a night without Thai or Indian. We walked into town bundled in our warmest clothing & went to Tekapo Thai, the best Thai I've ever had. After stuffing our faces, we walked back along the road... not too well lit, but it's very safe here. We arrived back to our Lake Lodge & took showers & jumped in bed. Nothing too exciting today, just tons of scenery & a long bus ride followed by a delicious dinner!