Category: Honeymoon

Chewing through the kms

The crossing from the north to south islands was stunning…

Like proper life-affirming slightly-teary stunning.

So far our visit to the South Island has been mainly spent in the van as we burn through the huge distances here. I don’t know why, but I always thought NZ was about the size of the UK, but as it turns out it is actually pretty massive. We allocated 3 days of driving to get down to the south, and even that will be pushing it. Still, the roads are good and the scenery is lovely (all my pics are on the camera, but hopefully Donny will post some).

Today the weather is fairly awful so we are just zooming down the west coast, and will soon be in the Southern Alps. Exciting!

Honeymoon

More about the North Island

Post author By donny
Post date November 15, 2012
No Comments on More about the North Island

The north island has been lovely, although the weather has been slightly chilly. In fact, chilly enough to prevent us from doing the Tongariro Alpine Trail hike, which would have been the highlight of the north island. Instead we had to fill the time with a hike through a still active volcanic valley. What a chore.

The scenery is amazing. We started off with tree fern forests (we call them dinosaur trees because they look like the belong in that era), but shortly outside of Rotorua we were surrounded by lakes and mountains. And then the scenery turned to desert landscapes. And this morning, we were greeted by ocean views. The only other place I have ever been that had such varied landscapes is in my native California.

So far on this trip, I have driven on the left in the first time in my life, and seen active volcanic terrain (steam literally comes out of the ground!). I have also managed to deal with a chemical toilet, and sleep inside a van. And most importantly, Chris and I are continuing to learn and understand each other a little better each day–what better outcome from a honeymoon?

Next, on your more rugged terrain of the south island.

Tags New Zealand

Honeymoon

North Island Larks

Hi all. Currently on the inter-island ferry heading from the North to the South Island.

We’ve had two nights in the campervan now and so far so good. We’ve figured out how to refill the water and empty the chemical loo. But more importantly we’ve managed to cook a few decent meals

We’ve christened the van Aphasia (for no better reason that its a good comedy drag name) but haven’t got any photos of it to show you, or indeed any photos of our North Island sight-seeing on the phone, but here’s a shot of our view we woke up to on the first morning.

So our time on the North Island time was spent wandering through forests of tree ferns and poking around geothermal impressiveness. Now we are off to mountains, Middle Earth landscapes and a huge amount of driving to get down to the southern end of the South Island in time for a cruise on Doubtful Sound on Monday.

Honeymoon

Yum yum chilli and pepper crabs

Post author By donny
Post date November 11, 2012
No Comments on Yum yum chilli and pepper crabs

So leg one of our journey is now over and I can officially say that I have not slept a wink so far in Singapore. We are 8 hours ahead of GMT so I imagine I will crash a bit later on the plane. Who knew time travel would be so difficult?

I thought I would add some pics of some of the food we had with Robbie at a seafront seafood place. I can’t describe how good chili crab is. The crab itself is succulent and sweet, but the chili sauce is what it is all about–literally finger licking good and the thing to do is dip these small fried buns called mantou. The pepper crab is another favorite–it leaves your mouth nicely tingly. Again, indescribably delicious and worth the trip to Singapore just to taste these dishes.

So leg one is complete, as the last pic shows. 12 hours flown so far. We are heading back to the airport in a few minutes for the remaining 9 hours before our destination: New Zealand!

Tags Honeymoon, Singapore

Honeymoon

14 Hours in Singapore

After a pleasant (if somewhat bumpy) flight from London we arrived in Singapore and met out lovely friend Robbie for chili crabs…

And coconuts at the hawkers market.

That’s all our favourite things from Singapore in one evening! All we needed to do was see some ludicrous buildings and our stopover would be complete.

Up at 6 tomorrow for the next flight to Auckland. Ugh.

Honeymoon

We’re off on Honeymoon!

Rather excitingly, Donny and I are currently at Heathrow waiting for a flight to Singapore, and after 14 hours hanging out there we will head off for another really long flight to our final destination – New Zealand!

It’s such a long way, and such a long flight, but we are so looking forward to a couple of weeks of pootling around New Zealand in a campervan, doing a few hikes, seeing some serious nature and generally getting away from it all – about as far away from it all as it is possible to get!

The plan is to update the blog with a few photos and stories when we get a moment and a wifi signal. Here’s our first photo of us looking fresh faced and optimistic before a 13 hour flight… (ugh)