A Beautiful Day at Brick Bay

I never imagined that we would spend our 17^th wedding anniversary in New Zealand, but we did!  That might make this year a hard one to top.  Luckily, the weather was fine (that means great here), and so we drove about an hour north of Auckland to Matakana and had a picnic at Snells Beach. Well, all of us except Sedona who was napping in the car after a Kiwi sleepover.

Our destination was Brick Bay Winery and Sculpture Garden, www.brickbay.co.nz. Richard and Christine Didsbury “fell in love with Brick Bay Farm in 1986 and although it had been heavily grazed, it possessed fine stands of native bush, wonderful contours and stunning sea vistas.”  They took on an ambitious plan for landscaping the area to contain lakes, plantings, and a vineyard.  They also engaged with local artists who had difficulty showcasing their works of sculpture in the outdoors.  The combination is a stunning result with a 2 kilometer walking trail to view the sculptures and a glass house to taste Brick Bay wine and other treats.

Even Sedona perked up as we started down the path, and she and Luke both enjoyed taking photographs of all the magnificent sculptures.  A few favorites included Aphasia, Mahoe, and The Choice.  We also enjoyed some audio additions to the sculpture, a kauri grove, and beautiful flowers and birds.  The simple trail map kept us on course and also gave some interesting background on the sculptures, artists, and prices (ranging from $1,200 to $110,000 in case you are interested!).

The walk took about an hour and after that we settled into the Glass House for wine tasting and a platter including gourmet cheeses, venison salami, merlot jelly, olives and prosciutto wrapped figs.  They also offer kids’ platters with cheese and crackers, carrots, raisins and a cookie.  Kevin and I settled on the Pinot Gris, although the reds were very good as well.  The server was proud to share that their wines had just been chosen for the wine list at The Sugar Club, Peter Gordon’s restaurant in the Skytower.

We stopped briefly at Morris and James Pottery, a lovely spot which we had visited before and then came home for a quick rest.  Kevin and I had dinner reservations at Ostro, Josh Emmett’s restaurant in Seafarers right on the Auckland Harbour.  We watched Josh as a celebrity judge on Master Chef New Zealand this year, so it was fun to sample his menu.  After a glass of bubbly, we had a wonderful dinner and dessert.  It will make a great memory to add to many from our time here!

Queenstown (by Kevin)

Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series based on our recent trip to the South Island. 

The adventure capital of New Zealand is Queenstown, located in the Central Otago region of the South Island and nestled between Lake Wakatipu and the Southern Alps.  Queenstown’s proximity to lakes and mountains make it an ideal destination for those seeking a wide range of adventure tourism activities including skiing, snowboarding, jet boating, white water rafting, bungy jumping, sky diving, paragliding, parasailing, quad biking, abseiling, and canyoning, just to name a few!

We spent two days in Queenstown on our recent trip and had a great time taking in the alpine resort town and enjoying the crisp autumn mornings and colorful fall foliage.  It has a bustling central business district with lots of good restaurants and shopping and as the main base for New Zealand’s ski industry, it’s crowded year round.

Our family decided to have a go at two different adrenaline activities while we were in Queenstown: jet boating and bungy jumping.  There are a number of jet boating operations in the area, but Ashlyn had received a personal recommendation to go with Skippers Canyon Jet Boating.  The person who recommended this company pointed out that their actual jet boat ride was great, but that they give you a “scenic” drive through the canyon on the way to and from the boat that was better than the other companies.  It turns out that the word “scenic” was a bit of an understatement.  The 45-minute drive winds up and down a very steep and windy gravel road (with no guard rails) that seemed to be about 3 inches wider than the (top-heavy) passenger shuttle bus that we were in.  The scenery, to be fair, was absolutely gorgeous and the driver was very knowledgeable and friendly, but we were convinced at several points that our vehicle might plummet over the ridiculously steep and high cliffs that separated us from the valley floor.  In the end, we made it safely to the boats and it truly was a great ride (despite the white knuckles).

Skippers Canyon from our drive in

The jet boating itself was phenomenal.  We sped through the shallow water (only 6 inches in some places) at the bottom of the canyon reaching speeds up to 55mph while making hairpin turns to follow the braids of the river.  The drivers seemed to take great pleasure in brushing right up against the cliff edges and doing 360-degree spins.  The whole ride lasted about 30 minutes and it was worth every second.  Luke and Sedona really enjoyed it too – especially the spins.

On our second day in Queenstown, I crossed a major item off of my bucket list by bungy jumping from the Kawarau Bridge, which is where A.J. Hackett opened the first commercial bungy jumping business back in 1988.  The bridge, which was originally built in 1880, is considered the birthplace of bungy and it stands 43 meters above the Kawarau River.  It was replaced with the current structure in 1963 and it is now on the national registry of historic places.  The bridge itself is beautiful, especially in the fall with the changing colors, and it is part of a popular hiking trail in the region so lots of folks walk across it even if they don’t decide to jump over the side, like me.

The Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge

We arrived pretty early that day, before the business was actually open (I was excited, what can I say) and after we filled out all of the appropriate paperwork, Luke decided that he wanted to try out the Zipline.   The Zipline drops about 130 meters along the side of the river and reaches speeds up to 37 mph.  One of the best parts about the experience is that you get to choose your “pose” during the ride.  Luke picked the upside down and backwards option and he really had a blast zooming down for the ~8-second ride. 

After Luke finished, I headed out to the bridge for my jump.  The jump itself was amazing.  It was scary on the one hand and exhilarating on the other, which is the point of most adrenaline sports, I guess.  I could describe the jump in more detail, but here’s a video.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever bungy jump again, but no matter what I’m glad that I had the chance to do it once in my life, and I can’t imagine a better place to do it.

The Cadbury Factory (by Sedona)

Editor's note: This is the third in a four-part series based on our recent trip to the South Island. 

Our second stop on the South Island Trip was Dunedin. Located on the Southeast coast of the South Island, it’s a cute city settled by the Scottish in 1848, and it bears a likeness (so I’m told) to many cities in Scotland.  Since it was rainy, we avoided the outdoor activities and did some indoor ones, including a tour of the Cadbury chocolate factory. It was pretty cool, and not just because we got lots of free chocolate (including Jaffas, Pinkys, and Crispellos).

The first part was a tour through the actual factory, where we saw the entire process of making chocolate, truffles, and marshmallow eggs. Unfortunately, the Cadbury Crème Eggs are made in England, so we didn’t get to see those.

Then, we went to a huge silo where they poured a LIQUID TON of melted chocolate through the building while we watched. The next stop was a tasting room, where we watched a short video while eating cups of warm melted chocolate. Then it was back to the museum building and the shop to stock up on candy bars for the remainder of the trip.

All in all, it was a pretty cool experience. Cadbury might even be tied with Hershey’s for the best chocolate…

Re-Start Christchurch (by Ashlyn)

Editor's note: This is the second in a four-part series based on our recent trip to the South Island. 

Our guide book, “The Rough Guide to New Zealand,” has become like a travel bible to us.  The front lists “29 things not to miss” and interestingly, more than half of them (17 to be exact) can be found on the South Island.  No. 1 is the Milford Sound, which Luke wrote about in the last blog.  I’ll take No. 16, Re-Start Christchurch.

We started and ended our trip to the South Island in Christchurch.  Our new friends, Catherine and David Boyer hosted us in a lovely B&B on their Oxford farm (about 45 minutes west of the city).  I met Catherine through some development connections with Educate Plus, and she and David helped to set our two-week trip off on the right note.  That included a wonderful NZ lamb dinner (with the requisite local sauvignon blanc and pinot noir), L&P for the kids, and hot cross buns for the road, just in time for Easter! 

They also shared their story of leaving behind a home in Maine and successful careers (law for David and veterinary medicine for Catherine) to take up farming with their three small children over ten years ago.  David has written a book “Four Legs Good,” which I hope he will publish so I can share their story with you.  They gave us a great sense of rural life near Christchurch, and I knew a lot more about the joys and challenges of farming as I gazed at sheep, cattle and deer along the roadways.

We looped back to Christchurch for the final evening of our trip.  We found a great spot for dinner called Pomeroy’s Old Brewery Inn with Kiwi craft beers and live music.  The next morning we headed out to see the city, starting at Quake City, an exhibition on the devastating earthquakes from 2010 and 2011.  All four of us were visibly moved, especially by the video stories of several survivors.  We also felt a strong sense of resilience from the citizens of Christchurch and the generosity of so many people across the world who reached out for support.  Luke and Sedona did enjoy the re-building section of the exhibit where they got to use Legos to bring to life new architectural visions for the downtown area.

We spent much of the rest of the day wandering around the “Re-Start Christchurch” area, looking at still obvious earthquake damage, creative use of shipping containers for temporary stores in Cashel Mall, new construction and many, many cranes.  Of course, seeing the Christchurch cathedral (an iconic symbol of the city) was quite sad, but the “cardboard” cathedral down the road offers a nice substitute with a generous heaping of hope.

We also enjoyed Hagley Park, the river Avon, the Canterbury Museum, and a quick glance at the Crusaders rugby stadium.  I hope that on our next visit to Christchurch we will see even more recovery in this fine city.

An example of a container store on Cashel Mall