Father's Day in Wellington/Mother's Day in Queenstown

A great quote:

We all (except Ellie who was in Taupo with friends for the weekend) travelled to Wellington before splitting up.  After dropping Nancy at the airport, Cris, Mimi, Ben & Julia stayed in Wellington for the weekend...

After breakfast, the kids & Cris headed to the harbour & found this great interactive art exhibit at the City Gallery and then crossed the street to Te Papa.

After Te Papa, we took the bus out to the Wellington Zoo...

The Emu personally guided us through the Australia exhibit

This giraffe was running around its enclosure!

Prickly Porcupine

silly monkeys

As my Mother's Day gift from my sweet family, I was able to visit my favourite town in New Zealand, Queenstown, one more time before we leave this country.

I flew out of the Wellington airport
(but not on an eagle, unfortunately…)

 Some amazing views from my flight:

The Southern Alps

Kaikoura

Waimakariri River

Lake Tekapo

Aoraki/Mt. Cook
New Zealand's highest mountain

I arrived in Queenstown to WINTER!

I spent most of my weekend hiking and running around this beautiful lake town.

View from the trail up Queenstown Hill

View from the top of Queenstown Hill

Sunrise on a lakeside trail run

My other favourite thing to do in Queenstown is eat!

The only place in NZ where you can
get warm, freshly made CookieTime cookies

The world famous Fergburger
Truly the best

Meanwhile, back in Wellington, the next morning was spent in the city shops...

The candy kitchen at Kirkalde & Stains

...then touring this sweet quad cycle along the waterfront...

Mimi is an awesome driver!

 Finally, a scenic drive around the Miramar peninsula & Lyall Bay before meeting Nancy at the airport.

the view of the South Island from Wellington's Island Bay

It was a great weekend enjoying the beauty that is New Zealand!

Auckland

As the inevitable conclusion to this incredible year in New Zealand draws near, we indulged in one more amazing weekend trip - this time to Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.

Saturday, June 7

We started our day in Auckland walking around the area near our hotel on the harbour: getting Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks - a taste of America we have missed this year.  We then found Myers Park and the statue of Moses where we had taken a picture of the kids the first day we arrived in New Zealand. They have all grown and matured a lot this year!

July 2013

June 2014

We continued to wander the downtown back towards the harbour and found the beautiful Albert Park.

Beautiful fall colours

A beautiful centrepiece at Albert Park

This park had the most amazing and unusual trees

The University clock tower

Auckland University is right next to Albert Park

We decided to take the ferry over to Devonport, a small seaside village across the harbour from Auckland for lunch.

Ferry Terminal

View of the CBD from the ferry to Devonport

Devonport beach with Auckland in the background

A beautiful day to spend some time in the park

A lovely day for watching the sailboats

Back in the city, we split into two groups.  Ben, Julia, and Nancy checked out the huge Maritime Museum and then enjoyed an afternoon snack.  Ellie, Mimi and Cris decided that was too mundane for them, so they jumped off the Auckland bridge instead.

Ben loves a good fluffy

Enjoying the Maritime Museum

Ready to climb the bridge & jump off it...

Its a bird. Its a plane. No that's our Mimi!

Ellie did the backwards bungy.

We met back up again to catch the train to this weekend's main event: the All Blacks rugby match!

Britomart station to catch the train to Eden Park
for the All Blacks vs England season opener

A national choir singing classical music
and towering flames...
Now that's some pre game entertainment

The famous Haka

New Zealand's newest rugby fans

A scrum

The winning try!

Enjoying an evening at Britomart above the trains

Sunday, June 8

We were up bright and early to hop on this shark shuttle to the aquarium (Julia was not keen).

Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium

This attraction was completely underground
and was the most amazing aquarium we've seen.

A King penguin

Julia LOVED the penguins!

Ben was most excited about the sting rays

We took the train to New Market for lunch and some time at the shops.

Enjoying the weather whilst waiting for
lunch at Lumsden Pub in New Market

Cris enjoyed walking through Parnell

Auckland's Trinity Cathedral

Beautiful Auckland at night

We finally enjoyed getting to explore New Zealand's largest city.  It was an truly epic weekend!