In September, The Hartwig/Bliss families headed to the South Island for a 2 weeks road trip. The purpose of the trip initially was to celebrate Mum's 70th with the extended family in Queenstown but we decided to make the most of it and see as much as possible in the time we had.  With most flights to Christchurch arriving late at night, we decided to stay at the Novotel at Christchurch Airport. It was so convenient , about a 20m walk from the Airport. We would highly recommend you stay here if you ever find yourself in the situation of a late arrival or early departure in Christchurch. The next morning we easily walked back to the terminal to organise our hire car which we had booked through Europcar. As there was 6 of us travelling we needed something quite large and I had booked a Kia Carnival. We were so lucky we got a brand new Kia Carnival.  It was beautiful to drive and so comfortable and there was heaps of room for all our luggage!

Our first destination was Hamner Springs. The purpose was to just have a couple of days to relax as it is small sleepy little town with very little to do but it is so picturesque and I had fond memories of my visit here in 2009 that I wanted to bring the family here to show them.  It is a beautiful, slightly windy drive from Christchurch that took about 1.5hrs but was so pretty with the stunning landscape changing regularly. It felt like we were in the Scottish Highlands at times.  Upon arrival into Hamner we quickly got settled and headed to the Hamner Springs Thermal Pools. We spent all afternoon here, meandering our way between the different pools.  It was so relaxing until we came across the waterslides which kept my 10 year old son entertained for hours! We got a 2 day pass which I highly recommend doing as we headed back again the next morning for a few hours.  By now, we were well & truly in holiday mode and I can't recommend enough how perfect heading to Hamner was to begin our 2 week road trip!

From Hamner we headed back through Christchurch and met up with my old London roommate Sharon who is the most passionate Christchurcher I know. She gave us a fabulous walking tour of Christchurch city and gave us a great insight into the city since the earthquakes.  There has been so much rebuilding and it is still continuing to this day. We had a fabulous few hours but we decided next time we would spent a day or two here as there is so much more to be seen.  It is really a beautiful city with Hagley Park & the Botanical Gardens a real highlight for me.  We then continued onto the stunning village of Akoroa for another 2 nights of more relaxing and to to take in the stunning views. Akoroa would have to be one of my favourite places purely based on how picturesque it is!  There are loads of hikes or tramps as the Kiwis like to say in this area and we decided to do a fairly easy walk to the Onawe Peninsula. It was a pretty easy hour long walk and we got so lucky with the weather, the day was spectacular and the views were as always breathtaking. We were able to get some fresh salmon from the trawler and it simply melted in our mouths! 

After Akoroa we were headed south to meet the rest of the family in Queenstown. We had two short days of travelling to get there , we broke the trip in Lake Tekapo . We stayed at the Mantra Lake Tekapo in a 3 bedroom apartment, it was super spacious and very conveniently located to the Lake and town amenities.  We decided to go for a short drive to the Mt. John Observatory which overlooks the township and the alps. It was well worth the $8 National Park entry fee. We spent quite some time here walking around and soaking up the spectacular views. With the snow capped mountains in the backdrop, need I say it , was stunning!

The next day we headed to Queenstown where we were reunited with our extended family for the next 7 days. With my sisters and their families living in NSW we haven't had the opportunity to see each other as much as usual over the past few years so it was really lovely to reconnect and spent time together in such a beautiful location. We purchased a 3 day lift pass and spent 3 days skiing at both Coronet Peak & the Remarkables.  The Remarkables was our favourite ski field even though it was a bit more a journey from Queenstown, we felt it was worth it though. The runs were better and so was the snow.  So much fun was had here and plenty of lifetime memories and busters created for sure.  A family tradition we have is when we are all together my parents babysit the grandkids and us "kids" and partners go out for a nice dinner. Upon recommendation we pre-booked well in advance, "Blue Kanu". Wow!  From the street, it didn't look anything fancy but once you walked in, there was definitely a WOW factor.  The cuisine was a mix of Asia + Pacific cuisine, that they like to call it Polynasia!  We decided to do the set menu & I can tell you it did not disappoint. The food was sensational and the service was the best I have had. The restaurant was booked out and it had such an amazing vibe. We would definitely go back here next time we visit Queenstown.

After Queenstown, we said good bye to the extended family and headed off on our own for our final 2 nights to tick of Milford Sound. We drove a further 2 hours south to the lovely town ship of Te Anau . The day we arrived we had booked in to do the Glow Worm caves which was a great few hours. We got catamaran across the lake to explore the glow worm caves. It was heaps of fun and again we got lucky with the weather. It usually rains or is overcast in this past of NZ but the sun was shining and it was glorious!  The next day we did the slow drive down to Milford Sound, it was about 1.5 hours each way . We reached Milford Sound and headed off on our cruise to explore the Sound.  Yet again, we totally got lucky with the weather. It was a crystal clear day, in fact I would go as far as saying it was just magical.  We all loved it and said it was definitely a highlight of our trip.

Thank you NZ for turning on the weather for us. We loved it. While it was still cold, it was pleasant and we had such a great time. What we kept saying was how close to NZ is to our home in Australia but how very different it is.  We will definitely be back to explore more of this beautiful country.