In Kiwi land!

Almost a year later, I am back in New Zealand! This time, though, it's with the parents instead of Holly and the South Island instead of the North. So it's a brand new adventure! I met Mom & Dad at the Christchurch airport. They had a nice 24 hours of travel: going to LA, Brisbane, and then finally Christchurch.  From Sydney it's a quick 3 hours - a travel time that I consider to be pretty much nothing these days!   

The Christchurch airport is pretty tiny. There was one cafe and by sitting there, I had a view of the whole place! I landed a couple hours before mom & dad but I was pretty sure they wouldn't slip by me.  

You might think that New Zealanders would sound the same as Australians (and they do sound pretty similar), but they do their vowels a bit differently. The best way I can describe it is at the airport when they made announcements over the loudspeaker, the word "checkin counter" sounds like "chicken counter." And I think if I heard them saying "chicken," it would actually sound like "chuckin." Just your NZ trivia for today! We have an ambitious and exciting trip laid out! Our plan is to drive up north and explore wine country and the beaches, and then drive down to catch the cross-country train back to Christchurch. Our last third of the trip is in mountain country, staying in the Mount Cook area.
 

 Two weeks of adventure coming up!