Advertisement
Published: April 26th 2009
On the Ice
Although in the beginning the boys complained that Heidi made them wear too many clothes, in the end they were happy. Easter break at the law school allowed us to take a family trip to the New Zealand South Island. It started with a beautiful 3 hour ferry trip across the Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton where we picked up a rental car. We then drove to Nelson where we stayed in an old English cottage with wooden beam and brick construction. The place looked four hundred years old, but it was actually built 6 years ago out of recycled materials.
From Nelson we drove down the spectacular West Coast, which may have knocked the drive around the Big Island of Hawaii off the list as my favorite drive in the world. Around every corner the scenery changes. It's a combination of Big Sur, the English Peak District, and the Rockies.
The highlight of the trip, and perhaps the entire six months, was our hike up the Fox Glacier. I was incredibly proud of Heidi and the boys as they strapped on their crampons and took on the four hour hike. It was pretty damn exhausting, but so beautiful that no one complained.
Queenstown is my favorite place in the South Island. Fall has set
Always Prepared
It's a good thing I thought to pack an ice pick in and the trees were bright colors like in New England. It is incredibly picturesque and peaceful, although it was also the scariest place on the trip where the Brooks boys watched in horror as Heidi "Daredevil" Cruise bungy jumped off of the world's oldest commercial bungy jump spot at Kawarau Bridge. For twenty years she has claimed that bungy jumping wouldn't scare her and she proved it. Lots of people stood on the bridge looking down for a few minutes while the crowd pressured them into jumping. Heidi just walked to the edge and jumped.
Continuing her adventurous streak, Heidi and Zack went luging while Alec and I went to the Kiwi Reserve. The two things Alec likes most in the world are skipping rocks and seeing animals. I've done more of both on this trip than in my entire life.
On our last night in Queenstown we got to meet up with our adventurous friend Lacy from San Diego who took a last minute trip to NZ. Alec and I also went to see, "The Boat That Rocked." Don't be put off by the fact that it's the same guy who directed "Love Actually." Had I
Up We Go
In California you don't get a lot of experience walking on ice... known that I wouldn't have given it a chance. If you love Wes Anderson films you'll love it.
After Queenstown we went to Dunedin. We were disappointed with the tour of the Cadbury Factory--which we were all looking forward to--because they were renovating the plant and didn't let us on the factory floor. Instead, they showed some tired old video about making chocolate that looked like it was made in 1965.
On the other hand, the Dunedin Penguin Reserve was awesome. In order not to disturb the penguins the visitors wander through a maze of trenches and watch the penguins through viewing holes. We had the most amazing guide--an older woman who was so excitedly chasing after the penguins you would have thought they were the first ones she had ever seen. I asked her how long she had worked there and she said, "Eight years."
In Christchurch Kathleen and Amelia Cruise joined our adventure. We rented a really funky renovated factory apartment in Christchurch with 30 foot celings and an old-school service elevator. It's a great town, although to be honest it had the first real cable television we've had in four months so the boys
and I got lazy and watched alot of t.v. Of course, we went to the Christchurch Zoo where Alec and Zack fed the lions from inside a caged truck in the lion reserve. Alec also got to feed Giraffes...Zack was unimpressed after his time with the unsupervised giraffes in Ho Chi Mihn (See Vietnam entries).
Back to Wellington for rugby...more on NZ sports in the next entry...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.151s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 12; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0623s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
paul
non-member comment
Can anyone come join the fun.. Where will you be in June when school lets out.. Great Pictures of NZ.