Hikes and Bikes

Hello everyone!

We are back home in SNOWY Canada, but I couldn’t officially leave “vacation mode” without giving you a final post about our last three ports in New Zealand (which were all incredible, no surprise there).

Wellington

The capital of New Zealand is a beautiful, bustling city with a lovely coastline.  The city of Wellington sits on a peninsula of the North Island and although there was lots to do in the town itself, the three of us decided it would be a great day to ride bicycles.  We looked up two bike rental places before we left the ship and after realizing one was not really a bike rental store, but one of those places where four people ride pedal a little cart (see picture), we went to the best rated bike rental place according to google in the city.  Unfortunately, a lot of other people had the same idea and most of the bikes were already reserved.  They were also almost all “e-bikes” which seems to be a popular thing in New Zealand.  It seems very few people ride actual bikes anymore with no assistance from electrical power.  Anyway, Dad got the last bike there and then came with Spencer and I to a bike store that was kind enough to rent us road bikes for the day.

The weather was great, we had our bikes, and we were off!  After a short ride through downtown (which is always terrifying to me, even more so when everyone is driving on the left hand side of the road…), we were on a designated bike path along the coast line.  The view was spectacular and I thought “I’d better enjoy this while it lasts”.  Luckily for us, the view was stunning ALL DAY LONG.  We had a few little hiccups (like riding through a construction zone while workers yelled at me to get off the worksite) and trying to avoid people walking on the path.  One thing I’ve learned is, it doesn’t matter if you’re in a country where people are supposed to walk on the left or right…everyone just walks in the middle.  Needless to say, it was a bit stressful avoiding all the other cyclists, pedestrians, and tour groups, but once we got a few kilometres into the ride, things settled down and we had the road to ourselves.

While we were riding, I couldn’t really take pictures (tried to do that on a cycling trip in Norway and ended up bleeding on the side of the road with a broken chain and my dad 5 kms ahead of me…thank goodness for kind Norwegians).  Anyway, didn’t want to risk an injury so my phone was in my backpack and I only took pictures on breaks.  This allowed me to really enjoy the experience and take everything in.  There really is nothing quite like feeling the ocean breeze as you ride 20 km/hour (UNASSISTED by power) through new and uncharted territory.  I enjoyed the sound of silence (other than Spencer consistently shouting, “THIS IS INCREDIBLE!” over and over and OVER again.  I think he really needs to ride his bike.)  Despite trying to be “in the moment”, you know I grabbed a few pics when we took breaks and Dad was able to take some pictures of us riding.

Break time selfie!

Every time Dad takes a good photo...

...it's followed by one like this.

I wish I could have a vacation house in Wellington!

Always important to check the map as often as possible..

I took this as Dad passed and he continued on riding.  It took Spencer and I 10 minutes to notice that he was gone and, as a result, several kilomteres ahead of us.

We ended up riding about 40 km that day, all the way to end of the peninsula.  We were feeling pretty good about ourselves, even when a group (I’m sorry, more like a PACK) of road cyclists would come up behind us and then zoom by.  They were moving fast and they wanted us to know it.  There were actually quite a few groups.  Come to think of it, maybe it was just the same group lapping us multiple times.  Nevertheless, the conditions remained perfect the whole time - no hills, very little wind, and perfect scenery.  We reached the end and appreciated the view for a few minutes, just like we would if we were on a bike trip.  Spencer said, “Well, if this what every day is like on a bike trip, I definitely want to do one.”  I assured him that every day is NOT this great on a bike trip and directed him to my three other blogs written about those excruciating, ahem, I mean exciting, times.  Either way, we enjoyed ourselves immensely and we were so glad we rode our bikes in that port.

So many great views along the way, but this was one of them!

Napier

Napier was a little surprise gem of a city.  We didn’t have much time there, so Spencer and I decided to spend the day walking around the city, drinking coffee, wine, and eating.  When we arrived, I noticed that there were really cool art deco style buildings…everywhere.  I felt like I was in Disneyland! The city is recognized as having the largest collection of art deco buildings outside of Miami.  It was absolutely charming to see not only the buildings from the era, but everything else, including shops, cars, and fashion!  There were literally people walking around with hats from the 1930s! And YES! I bought TWO of them!  

Look at these cars, and these women's outfits! I love it!

This is what so many stores were like!  Right back to the 1930s!

We had an incredible lunch at, you guessed it, another ADORABLE cafe/restaurant.  Then, after such an exhausting day of drinking and eating, we laid on the beach for 30 min and had a nap in the sun.  It was wonderful.

Lunch time!

Self timer at its finest

Taraunga

Our final stop in New Zealand was Taraunga.  We’d heard about a hike and the hot springs, so we set off in the morning hoping the view would be worth the workout.  And boy, it WAS!  There was not only a great view at the top of the mountain, but every time we turned a corner on the path, it seemed to reveal another stunning view.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a beach so long in my life!
On the way up, we saw some interesting characters, like two boxers fighting near the top of the mountain.  They also brought their speakers with them so we could all enjoy their rap music at the peak.  Awesome.

Can you spot the boxers?

Close up

Halfway up! Look at that coastline!

Taking it all in...

After we made it to the top, the view got even better!

Did you even do a hike if there's no jumping picture?  I will say, with Dad as the photographer, this took many tries.

The best picture Dad took on our entire trip

After the hike, Dad went to the famous salt water hot springs.  Both Spencer and I were so hot from the hike, the LAST thing we wanted to do was get into hot water.  So Dad went his way, and Spencer and I ate lunch at a cafe overlooking the ocean.  We also got coffee…and gelato.  We wanted to go out in style!  Another wonderful day.

Love New Zealand's coffee!

Gelato dreams

Dad was very impressed to see bike repair stands around the city with tools included!

Meanwhile on the ship, we spent our last few days going to happy hour with our friends from the wine tour, Dad and Spencer ate as much as they possibly could at each meal, and we said heartfelt goodbyes to all of our favourite crew members.

Our happy hour friends!

The happiest man at happy hour

Chris, our cruise director (who worked with me on a previous ship when he was a dancer!)

My dad would be disappointed if I didn't include some of the (many) pictures he and Spencer took in the dining room of their food, so here you go:

Behind the Scenes

We left the ship in Auckland and it was a very long journey home.  We did New Zealand to Australia to the USA to Canada so…customs in 4 countries within 36 hours.  Lots of lineups, a lost bag, and security checks.  Quick story: in one airport, the lady said she had to search my carry on bag.  What was the suspicious item, you ask?  My jewellery.  Not so much a particular item, but the fact that I had SO MUCH of it.  She basically thought I was taking it to sell it somewhere.  So when she took out my massive freezer ziploc bag full of jewellery and said “Is there a reason you have SO much jewellery?”, I just said “Well I’ve been cruising for 40 days” like that was completely reasonable and normal.  She put it away and said it was fine but I was laughing to myself thinking “I really am my mother’s daughter…” (most of the jewellery was also hers hahaahah) 

Final Reflections

This trip has absolutely been the trip of a lifetime.  Three comrades, taking on the high seas together.  I wasn’t sure how this would go - my husband, father and I, all in one room for 40 days straight.  Spencer had never cruised before and I wasn’t exactly letting him “dip his toes” in the experience.  It was a sink or swim situation.  I am so excited (and relieved) that he loved every minute of it (truly! Ask him yourself! I’ve converted him!  Where to, next, honey???).
Spencer and I started saving for this trip a few months ago and I really hoped it would be worth it.  I can honestly say the money we spent to go on the cruise and the money we spent during the vacation could not have been invested more wisely.  Not only did we get to see so many amazing places, but we were able to spend time with one another.  It is truly a gift to share new experiences with the ones you love.  On our trip we faced challenges, celebrated triumphs, and enjoyed long conversations without any time limit or distractions.  I’m very happy that I got to do that with my husband, of course, but it was also special to have that time with my dad.  As we each get older, our relationship changes and grows in different ways.  I am thankful he enjoys spending time with me.  I’m also VERY thankful Spencer and Dad are BFFs (though ganged up on me a little tooooo much sometimes).  If I could offer any words of wisdom after this experience, it would be to encourage anyone reading this to carve out time in their life for the ones they love, and do something NEW with those people.  (It doesn’t have to be a 40 day cruise FYI...though I highly recommend it).  We get so caught up in the routine of life that sometimes something as simple as trying a new restaurant, going on a hike somewhere new, or taking a class with someone can provide incredible value to a relationship.  Travel takes that idea and multiples it by 1000x because everything you do each day is somehow an adventure.  Travel forces you to learn about other people and it makes you stop and appreciate the world around you (and the life you get to go home to).  Now, I’m not an expert on marriage or familial relationships, but I sure am happy that I was able to go on this adventure with my husband and my father. It was fun, interesting and, well, yes, a bit strange to the average person.  That’s how I like it!

Dad seems thrilled to be taking yet another photo

Thanks for reading along everyone! Until the next adventure…

Annika

Peaks, Valleys, and Vineyards

Greetings to you all from the most BEAUTIFUL country in the world! WOW! This place is MAJESTIC.  It has exceeded my expectations (and I have high expectations).  I hope these pictures can give you a little taste of what we’ve been seeing here (and maybe inspire you to take a trip here yourself some day)!

Dunedin

Dunedin was a cute little town that we didn’t do much in, other than appreciate it for the quaint little town it was. Instead of a town square, they have a town “octagon” full of shops, restaurants, and the cutest little coffee shops!  Each store we passed I kept saying “it’s so cute! it’s so cute!”.  

First, we dropped Dad off at the bike store where he was planning on renting a bike.  It was all set up and Dad was about to pay when we left.  We spent the whole day without him and then found out when he got back on the ship that he didn’t actually end up renting it because they were closing their shop too early for him to get any real riding done.  Anyway, he had his own day of sightseeing and we had ours.

There wasn’t a ton to see (though Dad may disagree).  We spent 5 minutes at the railway station and he spent about an hour.

The Railway Station

Apparently there was an art show going on there and he actually took the time to go see it.  He went on about how much we missed (eye roll) but took pictures of the art exhibits and, well…I’ll let you decide if you think we missed anything.

The first art exhibit...the kids were bonus feature

Incredible, isn't it?

Spencer and I basically spent the day walking around town, drinking coffee, shopping, eating lunch at an outdoor bar and then going back to the same coffee shop (because it was so cute and the coffee was so good)!

My favourite coffee shop ever!

Not much to take pictures of in Dunedin, so here is our food...Some fried palenta with tomato chutney!

The most amazing buffalo wings I've had!

Our day captured in one picture: shopping and coffee

A view from the bus on the way back to our ship.  New Zealand reminds me so much of Norway!

Just to give you guys an idea of how big our ship is compared to the Royal Carribean Ovation of the Seas...TINY!

Akaroa

This port was awesome because Spencer rand I finally got to do some hiking which we were looking forward to doing.  Dad, as usual, rented a bike.  We saw the weather forecast included rain in the afternoon, so we decided a morning hike would be a better choice for us.  We got Dad set up with the (terrible) bike he paid $60 for at the tourist information.  The lady was quite unhelpful and basically gave him a broken bike.   Long story short, after pumping up the tires, he went off, we said goodbye.  Then, he noticed his steering (or something else, I can’t remember) wasn’t working, so he had to turn back around.  The lady told him to just use a different bike, so he got a new one and had to pump the tires in THAT one and, well, it just was quite a hassle but he got to do some riding for the day.  It was very steep terrain (very glad I did not go on this ride with him) and eventually, the rain was coming down like crazy (including sleet and then some hail) so it was an adventurous (and cold) day for him.

That feeling when it's raining and I DON'T have to get on a bicycle..

Off he goes!

Spencer and I started on our hike on “Purple Peak Trail”.  Again, the lady at tourism information was not very helpful so we were kind of following the path and hoping it would lead us to a cool lookout.  We were not disappointed!  The entire hike, we kept turning around to take photos because it was like every corner we turned, there was another incredible view!  We didn’t see many people on the trail (it was a pretty difficult climb so I’m not sure it was a great option for passengers aged 70+) so we had the place to ourselves!  

About 20 minutes into the hike - already seeing some beautiful scenery!

A view of the ship!

About halfway up!

Artsy shot because we're cool like that

As we were hiking, we could definitely see how “Lord of the Rings” was filmed here.  I have never been really into the series, but I’ve seen “The Hobbit” and bits and pieces of the LOTR triology.  Spencer explained the premise of the movies to me as we walked through, what looked like, “Middle Earth”.  

One of the fun highlights of our hike was seeing lots of sheep!  Some people on the ship paid over $100 to go to a “sheep show” (no idea what that means), but we got to watch them graze around for free so that was pretty cool.

When we reached the top, we were in awe.  We sat down and took in the view for a good 30 min.  After hiking for about 2 hours, it was worth it!  The sun was shining and it was the perfect temperature.  Unfortunately, by the time we asked someone to take our photo, the clouds had rolled in and the view was completely gone!  Thankfully, we waited around for another 30 minutes, the clouds cleared, and we were able to snap a few good pics!

We made it!

We somewhat succeeded at a jumping photo...

Our best pose yet

As we walked down the mountain, it started to get a bit cooler.  It took us a decent amount of time to get down because it was SO STEEP.  For some reason, it’s almost harder going downhill when it’s really steep rather than uphill.  Spencer was basically running/jogging because he couldn’t stop himself.  It was both funny and terrifying to watch him as he ran/tumbled/hopped down the hill.  Another lovely surprise on this hike was all the flowers in people’s gardens!  The streets smelled AMAZING and we had to keep stopping to literally smell the roses.  I thought of my Grandma so much - she was really the only person I knew who had a garden when I was growing up, so all the beautiful smells produced waves of nostalgia and brought back memories as we walked down the streets.

On the way down!

This looks like it wasn't candid, but it legitimately was.  Spence loves the roses!

Smelled so good!

One of the many houses with such beautiful gardens!

We didn’t have rain until we got down to the bottom of the mountain and into town.  But then, it REALLY rained.  We ran for cover, ran into Dad (which is always a relief because it means he not stranded on the side of the road in a ditch somewhere) and then got on the tender back to the ship. 

He chose this.  Nobody made him do this.

We had to stand in line outside in the pouring rain for about 15 minutes waiting for the tender so we. were. cold.  We figured, what better way to warm up than go to the hot tub?? After spending about 20 minutes in the hot tub, the sun came out an the view was spectacular.  We had some champagne and took in the beautiful view.  Since the ship was anchored, we would spin around slowly, getting a 360 degree view right from the hot tub.  It was fabulous!  We even dried off by laying in the sun!  It’s crazy to me that you can experience four seasons in one day here!

View before sail away once the sun came out again

Always happy in the hot tub

The only one brave enough to wear a bathing suit when it had previously been hailing..but look at that view!

Picton

Ahh…the port that we’ve all (ahem, Spencer’s) been waiting for!  The wine tasting port!  Spencer and I booked a wine tour a few weeks ago when we found out Picton was in the heart of New Zealand’s wine country.  We got in a van with 8 other cruise ship passengers (we didn’t book the tour through the ship because it was way cheaper to do it ourselves, but obviously other passengers had the same idea)!  When we first showed up, the other guests thought we were crew members because we were so young.  We took it as a compliment and hit it off immediately with a pair of sisters, Lori and Sheri.  Sheri was celebrating her 50th birthday on the cruise and they were ready to have a good time!  The two of them were absolutely hilarious, especially Lori, the older one.  We had many laughs throughout the day and by the end of four wineries, all of us were feeling pretty good!!  

Beautiful vineyards!

Our first stop!

Our first tasting

In the zone

We had no fun AT ALL...

Lori even convinced Spencer to smuggle a bottle of wine onboard (they let you bring wine onboard, but charge an $18 corkage fee).  He literally stuck it down his pants!  Lori stuffed a bottle down her sweater, put a scarf over it and said it wouldn’t be a problem.  She had a lot of confidence, so we let her go first and figured, if she got caught, we would abandon the mission right then and there.  But she went through without a hitch, and then Spencer followed suit!  It was pretty funny to see his smile from ear to ear as soon as he walked through the metal detector without it going off.  

Our new friends!

My dad, of course, was FOR SURE judging us for breaking the rules (and for alcohol, no less!!), but then I reminded him that he smuggled on a BICYCLE in a canvas bag multiple times so…we all get enjoyment out of different things, and we are all willing to do different things to get what we want onboard.  (Side note: Dad wanted to be clear, they never asked him "Is that a bicycle in your bag?" so technically he wasn't lying.  I would also like to point out that they also never said to Spencer, "Is that a bottle of wine in your pants?" so...guess we are both in the same boat.  Literally.)

ANYWAY, the whole day was a success.  The vineyards were beautiful, the wine was fabulous, and it was fun getting to hang out with some other passengers.  We now meet at every day for happy hour - so fun.

We only have three ports left on this cruise and we can't believe it.  I know we’ve been here for almost 40 days, but the time really has flown by.

As always, I’ll keep you posted!

A