I recently read the book The Blessing of a B Minus by
Wendy Mogel. It is a wonderful guide in raising teenage children. The book has
given me a completely different outlook and will hopefully help me survive the
teenage years. Throughout the book,
Mogel offers a different viewpoint when looking at teenage behaviors such as
talking back, breaking rules, or perhaps not quite making the grade. She has
the reader look at these behaviors as normal steps into adulthood. You may be wondering, “Why in the world is
she bringing this book up in a blog about New Zealand?” Well, when Ellis
broke his arm, I was in the process of reading her book. I wondered what Ellis
and I could learn from the experience and how we could look at it as a blessing. Here is what I came up with: Ellis
may put a little more thought into what he climbs; children will get hurt, but
they will survive; Just because I live in another country doesn’t mean we won’t
have great doctors to take care of us;
I have great friends all over the world; AND our trip to New Zealand had
to be postponed to a more appealing time of year for me. Originally our trip was planned in September, over the children's school holiday. Because it is the end of winter there, the weather can be quite cold, rainy/icy. I would much rather experience the warmer conditions that we had in November. The kids were excited to miss a little school, too. The Blessing of a
Broken Arm.
I heard that New Zealand was beautiful, but I really had no
idea! We landed on Saturday literally in the mountains. Luckily, the pilot came
over the intercom to say that we would be close to the mountains and that was
perfectly normal. My children laughed at my fear as we went in for our landing.
Queenstown (and I think New Zealand as a whole) is known for it’s thrill
seeking adventure. That landing was about all the thrill seeking that I needed!
View from the plane
Queenstown
The view from our room as we sipped on Toffee Nut Latte and listened to Christmas music
I could not capture a good picture of the water in Queenstown. It was as blue as the waters of the Caribbean. BEAUTIFUL! This picture shows a trout swimming along the shoreline.
We spent our first full day touring Queenstown. We rode the
Skyline Gondola before having some fun on the luge. The Gondola ride provided
beautiful views, but brought on a bit of fear in Hannah Grace and me. Once at
the top of the mountain, I was basically brought to my knees with the fear of
falling off. Eventually, I was able to get my senses about me and enjoy the
beauty. This particular day was the only day that we had rain. I can only
imagine what it must be like on a clear, blue sky day!
View from the Gondola
My knees were a bit wobbly for this picture
The joke behind this picture: Tony and I started the track at the same time. He managed to get off his luge and get out the camera before I even made it down to the finish line.
Speed demons!
I'll just take my time. By the end of the ride, my arms ached from pulling so hard on the brakes!
After riding the gondola, you had to catch another lift to the luge ride. EEK!
There I go...just kidding!
On Monday, at the request of Hannah Grace, we went horseback
riding. I was a little nervous because I knew Ellis could not afford to fall off
the horse and hurt his arm. He was a pro, though! The scenery was incredible!
At one point, I became a bit teary eyed taking in the beauty of New Zealand and
wondering how I could be so lucky to be experiencing such a fabulous trip. Just
as the tears welled up in my eyes, George (my horse) decided to steer away from
the group in his own direction. Did I mention that I have zero experience with
horses? The guides were saying, squeeze your left leg and pull the right reign.
Meanwhile, I am trying to figure out my left and right. I got a good laugh,
dried up my tears, and joined back in line with the group.
A little time in the Hot Springs Pool after the ride.
On Tuesday, we fit in a zipline trip before heading over to Te
Anau for a tour of the glow worm caves. Hannah Grace loved the zip line and
wants to bungee jump off the bridge when we go back to New Zealand. It looks
like that was our first and last trip to New Zealand. J
The sun didn't allow for a great picture. I hope you can see the excitement on Ellis's face.
This is the gentle ride back to the starting point. My kind of ride!
Again, not a great picture because of the sun. Hannah Grace is on the left...UPSIDE DOWN AND BACKWARDS! I am on the right...about to wet my pants!
The sight in the glow worm caves was magnificent! I did not
expect such spectacular waterfalls inside the cave! We walked through the carved
out limestone to an area that housed a small john boat. There we boarded the
boat with about eight others. Up until this point, the caves were illuminated
with lights and people were chatting amongst each other. At this point the cave
turned into complete darkness and we were asked to be silent. As you looked up
at the ceiling of the cave, the glow worms were shining bright. It resembled a
night sky lit up by stars. It was beautiful! At one point, Tony and I did get
the giggles as we heard a noise that sounded like a possum. It is so hard to
control your laughter when you are supposed to be silent! We later determined
it must have been someone’s shoe squeaking on the floor of the boat. After a
while, the darkness became a bit creepy and I was certain that bright doors
were going to open and we were going to shoot down a large waterfall. Have I
had too many trips to Disney?
Waterfalls inside the caves
Te Anau
We stayed the night in Te Anau before heading to Milford
Sounds. Just the drive to Milford Sounds was breath taking! Again, we were
lucky with the weather. It rains most days there (approximately 250 days of
rain a year/ collecting 7-8 meters of rain). We were lucky enough to have blue
skies and relatively warm weather. The
pictures don’t even begin to adequately share the beauty, but you can get an
idea. I decided to help drive on the ride back to Queenstown. Honestly, my arms
were tired from grabbing the door, my seatbelt, and anything else I could get
my hands on as we rounded the curves of the mountain. I thought driving might
help my anxiety. At one point, when I was approaching a bend, a sign read “85”
with arrows. In other words, slow down
to 85 KM as you round the corner. I laughed out loud, “I’m supposed to SLOW
DOWN to 85?!” I think I was going 70. Oh well, it was easier to take in the
views at my pace!
Mirror Lakes: One of the beautiful stops on the way to Milford Sounds
Pictures from the boat:
Hmmm...could have been a great Christmas card!
Our trip came to an end too quickly. I loved every moment
spent with my family laughing and taking in all the sights and adventure. I
know it is a long way from the states, but I highly recommend you add a trip to
New Zealand to your bucket list!
