the Kuglers go Kiwi: South Island

It's true what they say - time flies when you're having fun! I can't believe the weeks of planning, research, and video chats with my parents and the Brittosh for this amazing trip are over. Adventures were had, hundreds of pictures taken, and multiple laughs shared during our 12 days together. It was quite the amazing family vacation that only could have been improved if ALL of us would have been present (missed ya kid!). 😘

So! Where did we go? What did we see? What food did we eat? Don't worry. All these questions and more will be answered in this two part blog. Yes, you saw that right. TWO parts! (Cue the cheering!) Since we packed a lot of stuff into 12 days, there's too much to share for one blog. This first post will be about the first couple of days we spent together on the North Island but MAINLY about the 4 days we spent on the South Island. I can confidently say the South Island was a favorite among us all...it's just so beautiful down there! The second post will include details, pictures, and stories from the remaining days spent on the North Island before my family flew back to MN.

So sit back, grab a snack, and get comfortable. I'm going to TRY and limit the number of pictures I share on here...it's going to be difficult since I alone took over 1,000 pictures on this trip (not to mention the pics from the rest of the family)! I don't even want to know how many I will have taken after my year here is over...yikes!

THURSDAY, JUNE 14TH
The family landed early in the morning but I wasn't able to meet up with them until the afternoon. After a thorough round of hugs 🙂, we were able to spend a couple hours chatting and eating lunch before I had to go back to work. We also got together for dinner at a Thai restaurant later that evening...yum! 

They're here!! 💜

FRIDAY, JUNE 15TH
Last day of work for me!! Again, we were all able to get together for lunch and dinner. I introduced the family to Friday Fish Night - a delicious success!

This is only part of our meal...there was another package of fish on the counter! 😀

SATURDAY, JUNE 16TH
Today was our first day of adventuring in New Zealand! After breakfast, we began the drive to Piha (located on the West Coast of the North Island). Piha is a well-known surfing beach and also famous for its black sand. By now, the family was a little more used to driving on the left side of the road...but they still had their moments of, "Watch out!" outbursts. Dad was my navigator so we didn't get lost too often. 😉 It was a little overcast, but pretty clear by the time we got to Piha. The final half of the drive was on a narrow, curvy road that didn't quite sit well with all of us. However, the twists and turns were definitely worth it once we caught our first couple of glimpses of the shore! We spent a couple of hours there exploring the beach and Lion Rock.

Twinning!

Lion Rock...but I consistently wanted to call it Tiger Rock.

The water was quite chilly - but you can't go to the beach without sticking your feet in the ocean! We all climbed at least partway up Lion Rock and the views from above were wonderful. There was a gate blocking the way to the very top, however some people ignored this and created their own path to the summit. We were not so daring!

Tig...I mean Lion Rock. 😉

View on the way up the Rock.

Mom stopped partway up, but the four of us continued all the way to the gate.

Back on the beach, we took the classic sand writing picture and Britt and I had fun doing cartwheels and handstands. After walking a little ways on the shore, we headed back to the car and the inevitable twisting journey to Browns Bay. The night before, we had watched a video of this guy sticking hotdogs in people's pockets while walking around stores. So Britt decided she wanted to do this...but with sticks instead! The unlucky target? Mom of course!🤣

Cartwheeling in NZ!

"Hotdogging" mom!

Back in Browns Bay, we freshened up and then went to La Pasta for dinner. It was busy, but we were able to sit upstairs and eat. The food was delicious and tasted great after a day at the beach. After, we stopped at Countdown for last minute groceries. Brittney decided she wanted to try driving so she went around the parking lot and a roundabout as practice. She did great...and it was dark and raining to boot! The rest of the evening we spent packing for our morning flight to the South Island.

SUNDAY, JUNE 17TH - Happy Father's Day!

We grabbed a shuttle to the airport and made it in plenty of time for our flight. Dad and Brittney had window seats on the plane, so they had the best view of the South Island mountains as we flew into Queenstown. There was definitely more snow this time around than in March! You have to remember that its winter here in New Zealand, which was evident by the decorations in the airport.😃

Flying over the South Island. 

Once we got our luggage and the rental car sorted out, we went to find our vehicle. After a bit of wandering, we found our beautiful blue RAV4 and loaded up to head into town. This was the week of the Winter Festival in Queenstown, so the city was busier than normal. We stopped for a quick lunch of pies and sandwiches and enjoyed the view before continuing on our drive to Te Anau (a bit more than a 2 hour drive southwest of Queenstown).

We were quite far south on the South Island!

Simply gorgeous.

Road Trip!

The drive went quickly and soon we were at our airbnb house in Te Anau. This place was the one Britt and I were really looking forward to because it had a hot tub! Once we got inside (delayed due to lock issues), we unpacked and then went grocery shopping before eating out for Father's Day. Dad's choice? Pizza! Interesting fact...Father's Day in New Zealand isn't actually until September (which means our card was a re-purposed birthday card🤣)! 

 View from the balcony at our airbnb.

Father's Day dinner.

We had dessert back at our house and even had the chance to Skype Jared. Josh, Britt, and I took advantage of the hot tub before heading to bed. The cool, rainy weather made it even more enjoyable...what a great ending to a busy day!

Oh hey kid!

MONDAY, JUNE 18TH

Did we ever have an epic day planned. And it started at 7:45 A.M. when we got picked up for our tour to Milford Sound. Our driver arrived and it turned out we were the only 5 to book for the day, so we ended up having our own private tour. Pretty great! After a quick coffee run, the drive began. Thankfully, dad is quite the chatterer so he and Jonathan, our guide, got along well. Jon was very knowledgeable about a wide variety of things and kept up an interesting commentary during our whole tour. Our first picture stop was at Eglinton Valley and our second was at Mirror Lakes. We were the first tour van to arrive which meant we got amazing pictures without having to worry about a crowd of people. The reflection of the Earl Mountains was beautiful and couldn't be captured by a photo - although we tried!

Just the beginning of a day of magnificent photos opportunities.

What a backdrop Eglinton Valley provided us.

Mirror Lakes

SIL!

We stopped at another area a little bit further down the road to get a different perspective of the Mirror Lakes. Before we left, we skipped a few rocks across the lake (Josh's idea).

Our next major stop was at the Marian Cascade (a waterfall draining from a glacier-fed lake). My dad absolutely loved this stop because at one point, we were able to see the waterfall, trees, and mountains in the background - the perfect view. On the way to the falls, Jon (our guide) told us about the area's flora and fauna. He even found glowworms for us to see! All too soon, we were heading back to the van to continue on to Milford Sound.

 View while walking across a small swing bridge.

Marian Cascade - dad's favorite view (although this picture doesn't do the mountains justice - we had difficulty capturing the complete photo due to the sunlight).

A little bit of music for your ears.

Our morning tea stop was at Gunn's Camp (click HERE for some historical info on this area). There was a small gift shop that Britt and I took advantage of before sitting down to our date scones, chocolate, tea, and coffee. I wasn't too keen on the date scone until I tried it - YUM! 😊 Our time at Gunn's Camp was relaxing and informative since Jon had a lot of knowledge about the area. We even learned an interesting fact about the table we were sitting around...😉 The time got away from us and we hurried off to make it to our cruise on time. 

Leaving the Kugler name in NZ.

Jon had one more stop for us before getting to the Homer Tunnel. We were able to go to an area where he knew Whio (Blue) Ducks were located. This species of duck is only found in New Zealand and are not too common to see. However, we were lucky enough to observe this duck and capture a few pictures! (Here's some more INFO on these ducks, if you're interested.)

Not the best picture, but there he is! 

Homer Tunnel. We had to wait until the light turned green before going through (one way tunnel). While we were stopped, we were able to get out and enjoy the snowy views. Yes, we were able to touch snow on this trip!

Jon described going through the tunnel as an "ant effect" where once we came through the other side, it felt like everything was magnified in size. It was a pretty accurate description and really hard to capture in pictures. Our final stop before going to our cruise was to see some Kea birds (South Island parrots). They were adorable and cheeky - often going under people's vehicles and poking their heads in open car doors!

We arrived at Milford Sound right on time and boarded our boat pretty much as soon as we got our tickets. It was chilly on board, so our winter jackets were a necessity. We sat outside to have the best view and we were off! The mountains, waterfalls, seals, water, and basically everything was completely incredible and beautiful. The pictures I'll include won't do the views justice, but they'll suffice! Since Jon had told us so much about Milford Sound on our drive there, we knew pretty much everything our tour guide on the boat was saying. For example, Milford Sound should technically be called Milford Fjord because it was formed by a glacier, not a river. The more you know!

 Our view heading into the Sound.

Looking back at where we started.

If you look closely, you can see a seal! (Hint: left of the bird and down a little)

At one point, the captain went really close to this waterfall and filled up glasses with fresh glacial water - delicious and cold!

 All too soon we came to our furthest point of the cruise before heading back. This is a view out to the Tasman Sea. There were a few waves at this point!

View from the back of the boat, facing the opposite way of the Tasman Sea.

Here's a second chance if you didn't spot the seal earlier... :D

 Dad, Josh, Britt, and I stood at the bow of the boat (in raincoats) while the captain brought it close to this waterfall. We got a "glacial facial," as the captain so elegantly put it. 😆

All smiles! :)

To give you a bit of perspective, take a look at the boat on the bottom right compared to the mountains beside it.

Our 2 hour cruise flew by and as you can see from the pictures, our view wasn't too shabby. 😏 We met back up with Jon and started the journey back to Te Anau. Unfortunately, he had a bit of a back-in with a bus and scraped our van a little - not bad at all, and everyone was fine. Before going through the tunnel again, Jon brought us to The Chasm. This place was formed by the Cleddeau River being forced through a narrow valley on its way down from the Darran Mountains. Again, this area was incredible!

View on our way to The Chasm.

 Really hard to capture this sight in a picture, but just trust me that it was crazy cool to see!

Family selfie time.

When we got back to the parking lot, we saw a Kea walking around. We stopped at a different spot, once we went back through Homer Tunnel, in order to see more Keas and take better pictures of them. 

 See? They would have gone in the vehicle had there not been people still sitting inside!

This bird's getting a lot of attention...

After looking at Keas, I had to take my classic tourist pose picture. Such a great view!

The next part of our drive back was pretty much through trees with mountains visible in the distance - the same view on the way to Milford Sound. At this point, I was a bit sleepy...so I dozed for a little bit! Worth it. 

 Our final stop before being dropped off at our airbnb.

If you're a LOTR fan, apparently this was the area used for the aerial shot of the Dead Marshes scene ("There are dead things...dead faces in the water!").

Back in Te Anau, us kids went grocery shopping and made a taco dinner. We had to use lamb meat instead of beef since there wasn't much left in the store - it was alright but had a bit of a strong flavor. :) After dinner, we all relaxed in the hot tub at some point and enjoyed our last night in Te Anau. 

This was our Te Anau home...pretty cool huh?

TUESDAY, JUNE 19TH

Today was pretty much a driving day...and quite an adventurous one at that! We left our amazing Te Anau home and drove back to Queenstown. Brittney drove part of the way before I took over - we survived (kidding Britt...you did great!). As usual, the views were fantastic so we had to stop a couple times on the way back to enjoy the brisk air and capture pictures.

 The sun was peeking through the clouds so beautifully here!

"Look at this glorious view!" dad says. Haha actually he was mimicking poses we saw a group of people do before they left!

Basically took this picture for the clouds sitting on the mountains.

A quick stop in Queenstown for petrol and then we continued north to Glenorchy where scenes from Lord of the Rings (LOTR) were filmed (let's be honest...where wasn't LOTR filmed in NZ?). Our first stop was at the Twelve Mile Delta campsite. Based on our detective skills, we were pretty sure we found the spot - ESPECIALLY when we saw a LOTR tour vehicle in the parking lot! We walked a little along Bob's Cove Track to stretch our legs. Then, back in the RAV4 to Glenorchy.

The filming location in the movie. The scene where Sam and Gollum talk about potatoes and then when Sam, Frodo, and Gollum watch the fight between Faramir’s rangers and the giant Oliphaunts, took place around here.

Basically, the location faced this way ^^^...

...but from the opposite side of the river. This is the general area...so close enough!

Like most roads in New Zealand, the road to Glenorchy was full of twists and turns - we pulled over a couple of times to let the locals drive by (I hate being tailed) and to grab more pictures!

Before going into Glenorchy, we went on a search for another LOTR filming location. We didn't quite find it, but got close since we saw the same LOTR tour vehicle drive by us! We'll just say we saw were they filmed Isengard. 😉 Glenorchy was a very small town that was quite quiet due to the off season. By this time, we were hungry so we grabbed a couple of appetizers to hold us over until we got to Wanaka. While in Glenorchy, a local told us the Mission Impossible 6 movie was filmed near Glenorchy and in other parts of New Zealand...pretty cool! The drive back to Queenstown was uneventful and we only stopped there to fill up on petrol. It was pretty much dark by the time we got on the road through the mountains to Wanaka. I forgot from my previous trip to Wanaka that the road there is pretty curvy and starts off with a few switchbacks...oops! As I was driving, the rest of the family was basically dead silent. 🤣 This made me more nervous to drive, but thankfully we made it to Wanaka with no mishaps. Our airbnb for the next two nights was a very nice apartment - we loved it! Since it was late, we ordered takeaway from a local burger joint and ate at our place. Turns out the burgers and fries we ordered were HUGE portions, which means it was delicious and filling.

I could only eat half of this.

Here's an awkward video tour of our place...enjoy!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20TH

Today was a Wanaka day! We woke up to the mountains and then decided to go hike a small one (Mt. Iron). The weather was perfect - sunny and cool enough to only need a light jacket. While the hike was easy, in the sense that the trail was well formed, it was still up a mountain so it was a good workout.

Our morning view from our airbnb.

Our trail - it mostly looked like this all the way up.

Partway up Mt. Iron, looking over Lake Wanaka.

We did take a few picture/catch our breath stops, but eventually reached the top! There were some information plaques about the area and the opportunity to enjoy the panoramic view of Wanaka, the lakes, valleys, and surrounding peaks. After spending quite a bit of time at the top, we continued down the eastern side to find our way back to our vehicle.

Family photo. ♡

Panoramic video of the view from Mt. Iron.

 On our way down, we found a geocache!

We were at the top of this!

After our morning hike, we thought we deserved some gelato...so we went to Black Peak Gelato. We all got delicious flavors and enjoyed our treat as we walked around the town. A quick stop at the Salvation Army Family Store, and we headed back for a quick lunch at our apartment. 

Britt, Josh, dad and I went to Rippon Vineyard for a free wine tasting while mom stayed back and relaxed. The vineyard had a beautiful view overlooking Lake Wanaka. We joined another guy (from England) for the wine tasting and tried 5 different types of wine. The tasting was quite fun and it turned out the guy serving us the wine was from New Jersey! Once we had looked around a bit outside, we went back to pick up mom in order to visit That Wanaka Tree.

 Doors into the tasting room.

The beautiful view.

#ThatWanakaTree

With the sun setting earlier, we hurried off to look at the eels in the lake (I still think they're gross) and then explore the playground and dinosaur slide. When I had last been in Wanaka, there was a sign mentioning how it was going to be painted. However, the slide was still white so I'm not sure when its makeover will happen. 

Because who says slides are just for kids?

How beautiful is this sunset? Photo credit goes to Brittney!

Since there's not much we could do in the dark, we went to Cinema Paradiso and enjoyed sitting on comfy couches and seats while watching Ocean's 8 (wouldn't recommend seeing).  Partway through, we shared freshly baked cookies that were still warm. After the movie, we picked up real ramen and ate back at our place - a delicious final dinner in Wanaka.

Our first "real ramen" experience - yum!

The next morning, we packed up early and began the exhilarating drive back to Queenstown. There was even frost on the car windows!  About halfway in on our drive to Queenstown, I noticed the petrol was getting quite low and just kept going down. 😱 The last half of the journey was a little stressful - especially when we hit traffic delays going to the airport. I'm happy to say we made it back to the airport (pretty much on empty) and to our flight on time though! On the way back, mom and dad were able to sit together and Josh, Britt, and I were next to each other.

Always fun to fly with views like this!

Back in Auckland, we had to pick up our new rental car and go back to my place in Browns Bay to pack more clothes and food for the rest of our trip on the North Island. The car was dark brown and basically brand new (no pressure, right?). While smaller than our RAV4, it was still nice and perfect for what we needed. 

Whew - you made it to the end of our South Island adventures! We had a fantastic time and enjoyed every day. Honestly, we could have easily spent a week or more there, but we made the most of the few days we did have! The temperatures were much cooler on the South Island, which was obvious by the snow you saw and the frost we had on our car windows that last morning in Wanaka. The day we flew out of Queenstown was the first day of the Queenstown Winter Festival. While it would have been great to experience the festivities, it was nice avoiding the busyness and crowds of people in the city for the celebration. 😊 The South Island is a magically beautiful place you definitely must visit if you ever come to New Zealand.

End of Part 1 of "the Kuglers go Kiwi." I'll be working on Part 2, which will hopefully be completed in the next couple of weeks!