New Zealand – Searching for Winter in June…continued

Part two of our travels we learned more, played with animals, chilled with the locals and took a day to check out the mountains closer, all while making each other laugh. Always looking for a giggle, I found the non-smoking sign on our room cynically humorous since I just quit. Like a reminder saying, you know you want another. Of course the sign at the petrol station was ironic for us, the newlyweds.

New Zealand 082 New Zealand 099

Since we were farther south than we had ever been, it was only appropriate to check out the International Antarctic Centre and learn about cute little blue penguins. The Antarctic Storm experience was a blast! Learning about Scott Base in the Antarctic and viewing the museum set up with figures of living creatures, base camp and Hagglund rides made for an exciting excursion.

New Zealand 104 New Zealand 107 New Zealand 109 New Zealand 119 New Zealand 122

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a huge animal lover, I heard about an open range zoo close to Christchurch, Orana Wildlife Park. Seeing these beauties up close and sometimes personal, like the giraffe droll bomb, was a day to treasure. We saw just how nasty, Asian small-clawed otters could be when hungry…oh, that is what hangry is. We had a few animals that sensed the paparazzi and gave me the talk to the butt pose. Even nature has a great sense of humor. This is a must stop if you are in the area. I’ve even donated toward the efforts since our visit.

New Zealand 123 New Zealand 124 New Zealand 128 New Zealand 136 New Zealand 139 New Zealand 142 New Zealand 148 New Zealand 151 New Zealand 153 New Zealand 154 New Zealand 155 New Zealand 157 New Zealand 168 New Zealand 170 New Zealand 174 New Zealand 176 New Zealand 178 New Zealand 181

During the trip we dined on lobster, duck, lamb, and discovered a little Thai restaurant, as it was on our list of things our loved ones wanted us to do. We decided to go grocery shopping for snacks, breakfast travel food and discovered new crazy energy drinks (it’s a weird thing we do, wherever we travel). After some fancy dinner dining, we found ultimate comfort in a local joint, Speight’s Brewery. On our, head toward the mountains, adventure we ran into a small place where I discovered Speight’s beer while chowing on lamb sausage pizza. The lovely lady feeding us told us to go to the brewery before we left. The husband was mostly cocktail indulging as the wine and beer thing is more my wheel house. Not saying I don’t love making or drinking a good cocktail! Ironic how this former anorexic become such a food lover.

New Zealand 183 New Zealand 186 New Zealand 188 New Zealand 189 New Zealand 194 New Zealand 196 New Zealand 197 New Zealand 201 New Zealand 203

Every day we walked a different direction in exploration of our area.  On the last morning we stumbled into the Christchurch Botanic Garden. In the cool of winter, I yearned to see it in early fall, when still lush from summers bounty. Guess that is the season I should schedule the next trip for.

New Zealand 207 New Zealand 208 New Zealand 209 New Zealand 211 New Zealand 212 New Zealand 222 New Zealand 223 New Zealand 224

Hope you enjoyed this brief trip, stumble, but a lady does not fall, vacation experience. Not to worry, I take pretty good notes now so our future adventures may include more embellished details.

Cheers!