Wanaka, NZ - Breweries

Today’s Quest: Day trip up to Wanaka.

We wanted to see a bit more of the South Island than just the Queenstown area, so we headed north toward Wanaka. We made a couple stops on the way. Turns out that round trip, it’s enough time to listen to the first 5 Pink Floyd albums. Good travel tunes!

Stop 1: Arrowtown
We stopped in hopes of a hot breakfast and flat white #5. Success! We stopped at the Unwind Cafe, and it was just as cute as the quaint village that held it. The food was absolutely delicious! Another place that we’d strongly recommend, especially for the pancakes.

Stop 2: Cromwell
It’s pretty much in the valley of the mountains. There were dozens of vineyards that we drove though in the area. There’s a lot of fruit in Cromwell, in general. But that’s it. It was a super quick stop.

Stop 3: Wanaka
Ryan really wanted to hit up some breweries while in the country. They’re harder to find than you’d think, but Wanaka has a couple.
The first one we stopped at was connected to a toy museum. Really, you have to walk through the toy museum to the back of the shop to find the beer. Then, as you’re enjoying a brew, you can look out to the back of the property where they have old cars. I think the name was Wanaka Beerworks, but I’ll have to double check that. Unique location, but they were good for a flight of beer. Bonus: there was a dog!
The second stop had better beer. Rhyme & Reason Brewing. We had another flight best beer around thus far. Location would have been great in the warm months. They’ve got a big garage door on the front that was opened up to let the sun in, but it was only 4C outside.

After the back to back brewery stops, we figured we should find some lunch. So, we headed into the actual town and found Spreight’s. It wasn’t very good. Oh well. We were right on Lake Wanaka, so we went to find #thatWanakaTree. It was a tree. Great scenery though!

Stop 4: Roaring Meg
On the drive back to Queenstown, we stopped off to check out Roaring Meg. The river runs through the mountains along side the highway. It’s hard to see from the road, so we stopped. It was rather unremarkable.

Queenstown, NZ - Coronet Peak

This is it! The #1 reason we planned a few days in the South Island: skiing.

We packed up our gear and headed out to the mountain around 8:30am to be there right when it opened at nine. It was actually most of the same route we took to the hot pools the night before. But, you turn off a bit early and head up into the mountain.

It was incredible (and terrifying) driving up though the cloud cover to the top of the Southern Alps  where Coronet Peak is actually located. There are several stops on the way up to take photos and admire the view.

There are three ski parks in the area that are essentially run by the same company, so the ski pass is good for all the parks. So, we started the day thinking we would ski Coronet Peak for a while, then hop over to The Remarkables and ski that park, too. It didn’t take us long to realize that two parks in one day certainly wasn’t going to happen. (We forgot how exhausting skiing is.)

Coronet Peaks was incredible! We kicked it off on the Meadow Express runs, figuring we should warm up a bit. It’s been a couple months since we skied. Them we moved onto the real deal and took the Coronet Express straight to the top! Our first true run was down M1, a “gentle” back and fourth down the mountain. We eventually made it over to the Greengates Express by taking M1 to Million Dollar and merging with Greengates to get to the bottom.

Map Here >> https://vicomap-cdn.resorts-interactive.com/map/1077

Fun Fact: The trail rating is dependent on the mountain itself. So, the difficulty of “black diamonds” don’t match across ski parks. That said, a black diamond run at Bittersweet back home, is pretty much a beginner hill at Coronet Peak.

So, that said, we stayed on the intermediate (blue) trails all day and were PLENTY challenged on those. We made it a solid five hours (with a couple snack breaks) before our legs couldn’t take it any more. At that point, we weren’t sure we could successfully make it down the slopes. Oh, and Ryan dropped a pole off the lift. That’s how we knew it was surely time to call it a day.

Top of the lift 

Trail to ski- most looked like you could fall right off the edge

Another trail- stay to the right of the fence

Action shot! 

Queenstown, NZ - Ferg & Onsen

Well, it’s another rainy day here in Auckland.

We for a solid night sleep, and were ready to start the day at about 5:00am. We grabbed some breakfast at the hotel, repacked our bags, hopped the bus and returned the the airport. Security was quicker than expected, now we have a solid 1.5 hours before we board.

So, the flight was a bit delayed, but that’s no big deal since we don’t have any place to be until 5:00 this evening. Ryan had a window seat, and it was a seemingly usual flight (we’ve done a few lately). About an hour in, we could look out and see that we’d reached the South Island. It was incredible- ocean, mountains, sunny skies. The closer we got to Queenstown, the more breathtaking the view.

Everywhere we turn, it’s amazing. The mountains are constantly in view. We can’t get over it. And, to add to that - our apartment for the weekend is beautiful, and to Doug’s surprise, actually has the advertised view. Already, we are so excited to have made the extra trip down here. 

We did a lot of reading and planning for this trip, and all blogs about Queenstown said the same thing: Go to Fergburger. Well, knowing Ryan’s love for burgers, it made our must-do list as well.

Well, we went to Fergburger! It’s insanely busy, noisy, crowded. The line was constantly out the door. But, it was so good and totally lived up to the hype. The service was fast, too! We were expecting to wait at least 30 minutes, knowing sometimes it takes much longer. But, we had burgers in 15 flat! It helps that our timing was pretty awesome, too. Still- sweet as.

Ryan is already planning a return trip before we leave Queenstown. I’m good with that.

Sign: “In Ferg We Trust”

Moving past the food now.. we walked around town for a bit. It’s right on the edge of the lake, so it’s absolutely beautiful. Winter Fest has just begun, so it seemed extra lively for a Thursday afternoon. We stumbled upon a few spots of live music while wandering through shops. We’re feeling a bit more acquainted with the town now. 

For the last noteworthy event of the evening- we headed a bit north of Queenstown to Onsen Hot Pools. These are basically hot tubs fed by the natural hot springs in the area.  We scheduled months ago for the sunset hour. So glad we did! We started with a view of the mountains, and ended with the vivid night sky. We only snapped one picture, but you get the idea. 

Oh, and fun part- the only way to cool the water was turning on a pipe that poured ice cold water for, the ceiling. Otherwise, it was very relaxing! 

Auckland, NZ - We made it!

Hello, New Zealand!

We arrived into AKL around 5:00am this morning. The flight was a piece of cake (only 12 from LAX), and customs were a breeze. We were out of the airport in no time. However, this did pose the problem (which we were well aware of), it was way too early to check into the hotel. But, we figured it couldn’t hurt to stop by - best case senecio, they’d be willing to hold our bags for us until the room was ready. 

Good news! The Holiday Inn we stayed at was very willing to hang onto our bags for a few hours. Perfect- after 24 hours lugging them around, we were thrilled to store them safely as we explored the area. 

Now, by this time, it was hardly 7:00am. So, we went to a cafe down the street to grab some drinks (smoothie/coffee). We’re back to Flat White territory. Ryan’s thrilled! And, then we headed out to explore the area. Despite the drizzle, the landscape and nature is beautiful!

We were able to get into the room earlier than expected, which was great news. We were both eager to shower after all the traveling. We relaxed for a bit before heading out to the Post Office for some food. Quality spot- both food and cider were delicious. The beer selection was decent, too.

NSW, AUS - Too Soon

It's time to head home, and we're not ready to go yet..

The days have flown by down here in Sydney. It's been the perfect combination of busy sight-seeing and relaxing scenic walks. But, there's so much we haven't done, so many places we have yet to explore. We knew it was going to be a short trip, but didn't anticipate this amount of reluctance to leave. We'll happily return someday - until then, one last dip in the ocean.

NSW, AUS - Pylon Tower

Since we didn't make any decision while shopping on Saturday, we ventured back out on Monday to find children's books and artwork.

It was harder than it should have been to find a bookstore. We found the right mall, but kept walking circles without finding any books. The lady working the information center was helpful once we found her, and she directed us to Dymocks.

Dymocks had just the section we were seeking: Australian Children's Books. There were three full shelves of popular and classic kid's book. We spent at least 40 minutes pouring through books with the simple goal of finding a couple "good ones" to bring home. As we searched, we defined "good ones" as books that felt Australian and had a well-written plot.

After much deliberation, we settled on three:

Satisfied with our purchase, we headed back to The Rocks with high hopes the art we liked hadn't been sold. Fortunately, it was buried right where we left it!

As previously decided, we chose a traditional Aboriginal dot painting. It has vibrant colored dots of red, orange and white, along with black symbols that look like arrows pointed at a black circle.

The map actually shows a watering hole with emu tracks leading to it. As the story goes, the members of the tribe would lure the emus to the watering hole using an Emu Caller. (It looks similar to a mini didgeridoo, but is played differently.) Then, while the emus were distracted and drinking water, others would steal the emu eggs from the nest. These eggs were an essential food source for the tribe.

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Our last stop was the Pylon Tower; it's a lookout point attached to the Harbor Bridge. We expected a pretty simple climb: a tower with a bunch of stairs and a look out on the top. It turned out to be pleasantly informative! Many of the tidbits our climb guide shared were explained in the Tower. There was a complete history displayed along with general facts about the bridge.

And, I was excited to find the name of Vincent Kelly - I remembered the story, but forgot the name.

A bloke called Kelly fell 150 feet (nearly 50 meteres) off the deck of the bridge into the water and survived with two broken ribs. When they got him out his boots were split right open and were up around his thighs. They gave him a gold watch. 

According to our guide's further detail on the event - Vincent was a decent diver. The day he fell it was because tripped over his toolbox. The toolbox hit the water first, breaking the surface tension. And, Kelly followed it down, falling into the water straight as a pencil due to his diving experience. 

Not only was he given a gold watch, he was also granted 11 days off work to recover. Then, it was right back to continue construction! 

NSW, AUS - Rugby

We started the day by hiking up the equivalent of 33 flights of stairs to attend mass at St. Cecelia's. This seemingly usual activity turned out to be one of the most unusual of the trip, being a Catholic mass..that's not exactly a good thing. 

When we first walked in, it had the feel of a first communion mass. The seating chart was posted on the doors, and there were young girls in fancy white dresses. My thought was, "Oh, how exciting!"; I don't know if that was a shared feeling. 

We were greeted by a warm and welcoming woman. But, as mass progressed, it became less and less like the environment we know back home. It seemed that any time a song played, it was general talking time. It was very irreverent and distracting. It was quite the experience. Ryan said he was glad he joined because he wouldn't have believed the behavior if he hadn't seen it himself. 

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And, for the big event: an NRL game! 

When setting up this one, we basically figured "When in Rome..." So, we grabbed tickets to a rugby game; it seemed to be popular around here. Little did we know, we would love it! 

We traveled down to Olympic Park which was very impressive. The whole area has been very well maintained since they hosted the Olympics back in 2000. We arrived relatively early and were able to admire the sight a bit before heading into the ANZ stadium. 

The match up was Parramatta Eels vs. St George Dragons. Before arrival, we hadn't really looked at the team colors or mascots on either side; but when we first entered the stadium, the Eels mascots were hanging about for photos. Of course, we had to grab one! 

As it turned out, Parramatta was awesome! They dominated the entire game. And, we loved it. 

Check out the game highlights!