Kiwi times

Just departing Picton on the three-and-1/2-hour ferry trip from the South Island of New Zealand to the North Island after a busy first few days in the country.

The view from the upper deck of the ferry.

We (Jason, plus his friends, Brian and Michelle) have covered a lot of ground since they arrived in Sydney on Sunday morning!

Their flight from Los Angeles was a bit delayed (thankfully), putting them at my place around 8:30 on Sunday morning. After dropping their bags, the four of us headed up to Surry Hills to grab coffees to stave off jet lag. We stopped into Paramount Coffee, located in the art deco former Paramount Pictures Australia headquarters.

From Surry Hills, we walked north through the city, via Hyde Park, to Circular Quay. The weather was fantastic, and offered the opportunity for everyone to snap a few photos of the bridge and Opera House from the Cahill Walk, above Circular Quay Station.

Looking up George Street in the Rocks towards the Harbour Bridge.

From Circular Quay, we caught a train down to Town Hall to meet up with Sarit, before all heading down to Central for brunch in Chippendale. One of Jason's friends from many years ago in Boston, who I happened to have stayed with the first night I arrived in Sydney back in 2012, joined us at Something for Jess, where we enjoyed a leisurely meal.

Once brunch was done, we headed back over to my place before the visitors went to settle into their accommodations and clean up for the evening.

Around 4:00, we regrouped near Central Station and caught a bus, which were replacing trains on the Illiwara line due to weekend track works, down to Sutherland for dinner. My Aussie family was nice enough to invite all five of us down for the evening. The trip was uneventful (though took longer than the train would have), and we had an enjoyable evening around the dinner table. The highlight was desert; Janene had made not only a pavlova, but a Tim Tam cheesecake—we all left very happy, and very full.

Dessert.

Monday, I went to work while the visitors explored the city. In the evening, we met up in Newtown for a unique dinner experience Jason had booked on Airbnb. We went to the home of a well known Sydney-based Vietnamese chef for a family dinner. The five of us, a couple from New Zealand, and several generations of the family enjoyed amazing home-cooked food while we all got to know each other. We even learned how to roll our own rice paper rolls.

One of the rice paper rolls I made.

We tried to make it an early evening, as we knew we had to wake up quite early to head to the airport for our NZ trip. I went back home and quickly packed before heading over to the other side of Central to stay with the US crew at their Airbnb so we could all leave together in the morning.

On Tuesday morning, we headed to the airport around 6:15 for our 7:50 flight to Christchurch. I was excited for the flight as it was my first time on an A380 (the double-decker plane). The trip on Emirates was an easy three-and-1/2 hours, including a good breakfast and time to watch The Greatest Showman. The flight also provided great views of Sydney upon takeoff and the snow-capped mountains of NZ as we prepared for landing.

The Sydney CBD after takeoff.

Mountains on the South Island on our way to Christchurch.

We arrived a bit late in Christchurch, and after a quick lunch by the airport we hit the road for a five-hour drive north to Mapua. Unfortunately, that didn't leave us any time to check out Christchurch, so I'll have to do that on another trip!

The drive took us through a range of landscapes and up through some mountain passes where there was a bit of snow on the edges of the road. Overall, it was a beautiful trip (with the last few hours made in the dark) and I will post photos from my nice camera on Facebook.

A view from our drive from Christchurch to Mapua.

Mapua is a tiny town on the waterfront, and given that winter is low season, our selections were pretty limited for dinner. We stopped into one of the only places open in the town, a second-floor pub just down the street from our Airbnb. Fortunately, the place had great food and local beer, and we enjoyed our evening before heading home and getting to bed quite early before what promised to be a day full of adventure.

Wednesday morning, we were out the door by 7:30 to head to the grocery and pick up provisions for a day of hiking in Abel Tasman National Park. After grabbing supplies for sandwiches and some breakfast, we got in the car and headed north about half an hour to Kaiteriteri where we caught a water taxi up the coast into the National Park.

We gathered (with a few others) on a frozen beach (literally, the sand was crunch with frost) and boarded the boat via a small gangway that extended down to the sand from the bow. The trip took took us past some beautiful beaches, including Anchorage, where we would be picked up at the end of the day, before dropping us at Medlands Beach.

The four of us were joined by a Kiwi (the demonym for people from New Zealand) woman on a solo holiday. She got more than she bargained for as she joined us on a five-hour hike covering nearly 10 miles of mountains, valleys, forest, and beaches. We had an amazing time, stopping midway at Torrent Bay for lunch on a dock overlooking the crystal clear water. We ended up taking 100s of photos, though most of those were on my nice camera. Again, check back on Facebook in a few weeks for those.

The dock of the bay, where the five of us enjoyed lunch.

Once the boat picked us up from the beach at Anchorage around 3:30, we got to swing by Adele Island to see some seals sunning themselves on the rocks in the afternoon sun and hear the hundreds of birds which live on the island. We made it back to the beach at Kaiteriteri before sunset, and drove back to Mapua for dinner, catching sunset at the town's wharf.

After looking at dining options, we decided to go back to Sprig & Fern where we had dinner on Tuesday, and called it another early evening.

This morning we woke up and headed back down to the wharf for breakfast and coffee before packing up for the drive to Picton, by way of Nelson (the large town in the area). We stopped for a bit in Nelson, visiting Tahunanui Beach along the way.

The rest of the drive was very scenic, including more mountains, beach views, and tidal flats.

Views from the drive today.

Now, the sun has just set and we are approaching Wellington, which goes to show how long it can take to write a blog post (with spotty ferry internet and plenty of distractions). Once we are off the ship, we will drop our bags and head to dinner.

More adventures await on the North Island!