Nick & I went for our first proper holiday together to New Zealand. We've both been working uber hard lately and we'd been saving a bit of cashola to take a holiday. It's my first holiday in about 4 years and Nick's first holiday since he started working, which is kind of insane, but we both love what we do, so it's not completely, totally and utterly insane.
We started off in Queenstown, where we stayed at the Novotel. We got an awesome 40% off on the standard room rate through one of those last minute reservation websites...annnnnnnnd when we arrived they told us we'd been upgraded to the premium room. WIN! The room was amazing and our room overlooked a little forest and stream. It was amazingly beautiful.
The smell reminded me so much of Belgrade and my childhood. The smell of winter, cold and burning wood. I don't know how to describe it, but it always reminds me so much of my childhood, and it always, always makes me happy. We had breakfast on our first day at Ferg Burger where the have the most hilariously awesome burger names and the biggest tastiest burgers both Nick & I have ever had.
To be honest, we didn't have anything much planned for our vacation, except to relax and unwind. We wanted to see as much as we could and I wanted to go Luge-ing at the top of the Gondola in Queenstown, which Nick didn't seem to be too excited about until we actually started going down hill. It's like uber-awesome go-carting.
We drove down to Te Anau & Milford Sound to see the Fiords. Our captain was hilarious and steered the ship/boat thing we were on with his feet whilst chilling with the crew. The drive down to the fiords was just as amazing as the fiords themselves. The scenery changed so incredibly much between Te Anau and the Milford Sound area, even though they are a mere 100km apart.
We stayed in Te Anau at the delightful Fiordland Hotel. I must admit that after staying at the gorgeous Novotel in Queenstown Nick & I were both a bit worried about staying at a small town hotel, but it was so clean and lovely that we really had nothing to worry about. The owners were really sweet and the whole check-in and check-out took maybe a minute, seriously!
From Te Anau we drove to Lake Wanaka where we stayed at the Oakridge Grand Mercure, which I think they need to be more specific when advertising. In my opinion, putting two single beds together to make a king size bed does not equal a king size bed. We also had one of the weirdest showers in which the shower curtain was hella short and didn't cover the entire showering area, so EVERYTHING in the bathroom got wet including the bathroom door which then got the carpet in the room wet. I also absolutely hate when people advertise something as being in Lake Wanaka (or in Canberra as our Canberra hotel did as well) and not actually being in that location. What's up with that?
One of my favourite things from the trip was The Cathedral Of The Blessed Sacrament. I really love the architecture of churches and this one, I have to say is one of my favourites. For some reason it reminds me of the 1950s/1960s and I almost expect an old-school Studebaker or something parked out the front.
The other was the Air Force Museum where Nick & I went on the Restoration Tour led by the absolutely remarkable and endlessly fascinating Ron Tait, who was a pilot in WWII and has been involved with the Royal New Zealand Air Force since 1940. It was awesome to see how much work goes on into rebuilding these amazing planes and the stories about how they flew and their history. Amazing day and an absolutely amazing trip.
