June 30th

The Hapuku Lodge is truly a honeymooner's paradise, and walking the grounds refreshes one's spirit as the Kaikoura mountains which are snow covered appear close by to the West and the roaring Pacific Ocean to the East. I am still on the South Island, two hours drive north of Christchurch. Because of the rain yesterday and the rough seas today, my whale watch cruise is cancelled. (http://www.whalewatch.co.nz/) I met with Lisa from PR and she told me that 95% of all boat trips see whales, as the harbor is a "bachelor pad" for Sperm Whales and there are 6 local residents due to the great amount of plankton available here. If you don't see a whale there is an 80% refund! Although I was disappointed in not going out on the boat, I managed to secure a seat on a seven seater plane to view the whales from above. The twenty five minute flight was successful as I spotted two large sperm whales. I must admit it (http://www.wingsoverwhales.co.nz/) I did feel a little sick as the two 20 something pilots really went for it, going quite close to the sea!
After the flight I hopped in my rental car and headed north to view a seal nursery above Kaikoura on State Hwy 1. I asked a highway worker if I could park on the side and although he called me a "Goddamn Yank" in a friendly sort of way, guided me to the spot with hundreds of baby seals and a few mamas. It was fantastic, and they were very curious of me as well. The seals are overabundant in Kaikoura, with no real predators, as they are protected from humans.
The next part of my adventure entailed driving to Glenstrae Farms for a 4 WD bike tour (http://www.4wheeladventures.co.nz/) . I told Sam back in Tourism New Zealand that this did not sound like something I would like. Again, he encouraged me to "have a go" and am I glad I did. Learning the quad bike was easy and I felt like a New Zealand farmer as we traversed the amazing farmland which is a total of 1600 acres right on the ocean! The land was dotted with sheep and black Angus cows. The sheep ran when they heard us coming, the cows just stared us as if to say, "go ahead and try to make me move!" The tour included going up and down some fairly steep hills and along beautiful cliffs and ended up by the hut for afternoon tea. By the end, I was cruising at up to speeds of 40 km! I was proud of myself and wished my nephew Johnny could have been here, but he will have to wait until he is 16 years old.

Kaikoura

June 29th was a travel day, as I left Queenstown and flew to Christchurch in the morning. Getting on the plane was so easy as of yet, there is no security lines to go through when you fly domestically. I arrived in Christchurch and rented a car with a GPS ( seriously directionally challenged!) and headed out for Kaikoura. The road was wet and slippery as I drove in the rain on the left side of the road for the first time since I lived in Australia which was 20 years ago! The hard part was every time I went to signal I turned the windshield wipers on! and vice a versa! I just kept repeating the mantra "Keep Left".  The drivers in New Zealand really go fast and on a single lane highway with cars coming at me from the right side, I was a bit intimidated. I was told it is an offence to hold people up, so you need to signal and pull over if you don't go the speed limit of 100 km on the highway. As I drove, I passed many wineries it reminded me of Sonoma Valley. When I got close to Kaikoura, the road went alongside of the Pacific ocean and the waves and rocks were spectacular!  

My Maori tour (www.maoritours.co.nz) was cancelled due to the weather but I met with proprietors Maurice and Heather for coffee and they took me out to a Maori pa site which is a fortress and told me about the history of Maurice's tribe (named after Maurice Chevalier!) and 

the customs of the Maori family which totally reminded me of my Italian culture. It is really unbelievable how similiar we all are.

I drove to my tree house at Hapuku Lodge (www.hapukulodge.com) and was blown away by the setting amidst snow covered mountains ( it is winter here) lush bush vegetation, an olive grove and the turquoise ocean. This place is truly paradise! My room is an open plan layout with king size bed, jacuzzi tub and sitting room with fireplace. Last night I awoke in the middle of the night and went out on my deck overlooking the Pacific and was astounded by the amount of stars in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Day 2 in Queenstown

The morning started with a beautiful breakfast at Brown's Boutique Hotel (http://www.brownshotel.co.nz/) with hosts Gillian and Donald. There hospitality truly makes me feel like I am staying with my New Zealand relatives.

Great day fording rivers and checking out the film locations of Lord of The Rings and The Waterhorse with Gunthar from Wilderness Safaris (http://www.wilderness-safaris.co.nz/) and Hazel from Destination Queenstown. The winding drive along Lake Wakatipi with views of majestic snow covered mountains was unbelievably scenic. The description of the safari including fording rivers, and that we did as Gunthar thought that would be quicker than waiting for hundreds of sheep to get out of the way!


My hosts, Sarah Keenan and Carly Mulqueen of Tourism New Zealand thought I needed a little extra adrenaline rush today, so they advised that we all go over to take a ride on The Shotover Jet, which is a speed boat that does crazy thinks in less than 1 foot of water. We all screamed as the boat shot through the Shotover River Canyon, coming very close to rock faces and turning 360 degrees just for the fun of it!

The Queenstown Winterfest www.winterfestival.co.nz was starting the day I arrived and their are many activities happening in the town. For our evening entertainment, we watched a cabaret singer telling The Marlene Dietrich Story through the songs of Edith Piaf and Cole Porter. It was a relaxing end to a thrilling day.

June 28th

The ride from JFK to LA was a breeze, and thanks to Johnnyjet and Air New Zealand I was able to rest in the Koru lounge before the 12 hour flight to Auckland. The lounge had a shower, drinks and fresh snacks but more importantly, it was a very relaxing place to rest. Matt from Air New Zealand escorted me to the gate and told me I was upgraded to the top deck in business class! Wow, my seat actually turned into a completely flat bed, complete with duvet and linen pillow. I slept for 7 hours and really enjoyed "my nook". The service was incredible and I couldn't believe how delicious the clear yellow pea soup with fresh vegetables and sourdough bread was before I went off to lala land. In the morning I enjoyed looking out the small window looking at the different constellations in the Southern Hemisphere. I was actually sad when I had to leave!

Clearing customs in Auckland went smoothly and I walked the brisk ten minute walk to domestic instead of taking the shuttle. Then I checked my bag, had a bowl of Asian noodles with Air New Zealand flight attendant Kiersten Cathalls and waited until the flight to Queenstown. The flight was a little over an hour and I slept. Flying over the land of "The Lord of The Rings" was really trippy. The scenery was like nothing I had ever seen. The snow capped mountains looked like the hills of Tahiti and were a dark green at the bottom. A silver turquoise river intertwined.

I am staying at a lovely hotel called Brown's Boutique Hotel and the owners could not be nicer. My room overlooks the Remarkables Mountains. I walked down to the Sofitel and had a lavish spa treatment and steam bath. Carly and Sarah from Pure New Zealand met me for the opening night of the Queenstown Winterfest. Imagine I leave summer in the US and arrive just for the beginning of winter in New Zealand. The rock bands and fireworks were a royal welcome! More about the festival tonight.

JFK TO LAX TO NEW ZEALAND!

Look who I ran into today at JFK?! My family (including Johnny Jet!). They were arriving from Erie, PA on jetBlue so they came by the American terminal (8) to say goodbye.

This picture is of me and my siblings, Frankie, Carol and Johnnyjet in Switzerland.

The long plane ride

Looking forward to New Zealand and wondering about the ride there.