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Loving New Zealand

Looking down over Queenstown, New Zealand

Every cliché you’ve heard about New Zealand is true.  There really are more sheep than people, the hills really are that green, and the water really is that clear.  New Zealanders are warm and friendly, epitomized by our hosts Pauline, Danella and Jo.

All the stresses of delayed flights and airport checks fell away with Pauline’s first embrace. I’ve been ensconced in a warm cocoon ever since.

Here’s what we’ve been up to since my last post Three Days in Dunedin.

Pauline organized a thrilling ride on a four-seater motor bike known as the trike. There are only seven of them in the world. Our charming guide Andrew met us at the city center known as the Octagon and graciously put up with all our picture-taking.  We maneuvered through town, then along the harbour and into the hills for a breathtaking view.  I should mention that we were also part of the view, as tourists waved and stared at this fascinating trike. I now have an inkling of what it must be like to be famous. Complete strangers smiled and waved and took pictures of us along the way.  What fun!

Experience Dunedin: The Trike
Experience Dunedin Andrew
Trike ride through downtown Dunedin
Pauline and Andrew overlooking the Otago Harbour
Motorbike Mama (snort)
Born to ride
Sheep grazing above the Dunedin harbour
Blogging Babes on the trike
With Pauline, trying out my selfie stick
Heading back to Dunedin
If you’re ever in Dunedin

We were on the road for nearly an hour, wind in our hair, smiles on our faces, laughing much of the way. Experience Dunedin just celebrated their first anniversary. You can see some closeup shots of the trike on their Facebook page.

Back on terra firma, we stopped for lunch. While the others stayed on for drinks, Pauline organized a visit to her chiropractor to help with my gathering pain, the result of too many hours sitting on the long-haul flight. Did I mention the warm cocoon?

We rounded out the day with a walking tour of the University of Otago (Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo). Danella has worked at this beautiful university for a decade.

Danella at University of Otago

Danella the trooper, still recovering from a broken leg

I inadvertently set my camera to manual, so many of my photos turned out dark and grainy. Here are a few to give you a flavor of the place.

University of Otago

Clock Tower University of Otago

University of Otago
Beautiful architecture
A peaceful campus setting

If you want to see how a real photographer does it, please check out Laurie’s post University of Otago.

The following morning we were off to Wanaka (rhymes with Monica). We caravanned in two cars for the five-hour journey with several stops for lunch and photographs along the way. Steven is a CB radio enthusiast so he rigged the two cars with radios. We were in regular communication between cars, alerting each other for stops and other practical matters. There may also have been some singing in the round, just to keep things interesting.

As if!  It’s all interesting and wonderful. I’m like a mum with a new baby, constantly gushing at the wonder of it all.

I’ll share details of Wanaka and Queenstown in a future post.

Above Queenstown

You can catch up on the start of our journey by reading Three Days in Dunedin, followed by The Drive to Wanaka.

Blogging Babes in New Zealand

Pauline: The Contented Crafter

Laurie: Life on the Bike and Other Fab Things

KPB: Boomdeeadda

58 thoughts on “Loving New Zealand”

  1. Looks like you went up the funicular! We couldn’t bring ourselves to, being a bit odd about heights. Another good thing about NZ…..great coffee.

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    • Jane, though I’m not a coffee drinker myself, everyone else on the trip agrees with you. I can smell coffee all day long, but I never acquired a taste for it. I do love herbal tea, though, and the wines were excellent as well. The Queenstown Gondola is not for the feint of heart, but the views are out of this world.

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  2. The Trike sums up the Blogging Babes in New Zealand! Adventure, up for anything, great company and enjoying every moment of life! I especially love the photo of you and Pauline ~ such joy. I am looking forward to the next adventure. xxx

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  3. I hate to say how perfect you look behind the bars of that trike. As natural as Laurie. I am glad Pauline got you to a good chiropractor. They are invaluable. I am still looking for one here. You can’t have fun when you can’t walk. I’ve been putting pot cream on my heal. Doc was no help at all. I’m in love with NZ now. I so hope my daughter can find a way to move there. Or at the very least, visit for a while. You have all made it so enticing.

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    • Marlene, I’m a complete fake, really. I would never operate a bike under my own power, but it was a thrill being a passenger on this one, speeding up the hill, living on the edge a little, but happy to be wearing a seatbelt. Ha!

      Pauline’s chiro was so nice, too. I’m sorry you haven’t found a good one up your way. Have you looked at Yelp reviews? Sometimes they can really help. I hope the pot cream is helping with your foot pain.

      I hope you make it to New Zealand as well. The flight is long, but once you’re there, it’s all worth it. I’m in love with New Zealand and hope to go back.

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      • Turns out I don’t like the pot cream all that well and I need to figure out what is the cause not cover up the discomfort. New shoes didn’t do it. Chiropractors are just too expensive now and the back has settled down nicely. Back to walking a great deal which will help. I’ve done long flights and don’t mind them. One day, one day. Maybe 😉 I’m sure it feels good to be home again as well. Hope all survived well with you away. Hugs, M

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    • I went back to look at the photo, and I see what you mean. It’s such a serene, and beautiful place. Yes, memories to last a lifetime. We’re back home now but I feel like I’ve left one foot in New Zealand. It’s not a place you want to let go.

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  10. The only trouble with the Trike is that I’d want to be in the driving seat myself…. What a great photo of you all enjoying yourselves on it. I hope your back is much improved and that you’re still all having a whale of a time together 🙂

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  12. Taking a moment to read a mass of posts by all you lovely friends and seeing our memorable moments flash by. Seems like forever since I arrived and we were zooming around in that motorbike. Time seems to have slowed down for me, like slow motion maybe. I love all the photo’s you’ve shared, it’s almost impossible to take any bad photo’s here. The scenery has been more than I could have dreamed. What a beautiful place and beautiful warm family, these Kings. Delightful, funny and so dear. xo Enjoy the rest of your travels, Love K xo

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    • I agree with you 100% on the scenery. New Zealand is picture-perfect, and so are all the women we know. Are we lucky or what?!

      Whenever I travel a great distance and then cram in a lifetime of activities, time distorts. In some ways it felt like I temporarily moved there, if that makes sense.

      Love you.

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      • We are surely blessed. The activities were on overdrive for sure. I guess I mentioned that perhaps I tried to cramb in a bit too much. But a ‘once-in-lifetime’ opportunity was hard to schedule :/ I’d really love to see more of New Zealand some time. Love you too xo

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        • You crammed in a lot for sure. I don’t know if I could have managed a full month away. You were brave to do that. You have even longer to travel than I do, so I understand wanted to get as much in as you can on a trip so far away. I would love to see more of New Zealand as well, and also hope our friends might make it out here one day. xo

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  17. Why are there only seven of these “trikes” in the world?! It seems to me like a fun and efficient way to get around — especially with scenery like that! Sorry to read about that unplanned visit to the chiropractor, but I hope everything got sorted and that you had a comfortable trip home. I so very much look forward to reading more about your adventures, dear Alys!

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    • I wondered that myself. Perhaps they prototyped them first, before investing in manufacturing more. I’m going to investigate this further. Thanks for your curiosity. I may have missed your posts as I’m way behind, but look forward to catching up over the next week or so. xo

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      • … or maybe production got interrupted by a world war? Or everyone got distracted by the invention of Instagram? There are so many reasons why a product doesn’t thrive sometimes; I’ll be very curious to hear the reason in this case if you’re able to suss it out! xx

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        • I’ve poked around a bit, but I’m not pinning down the exact source just yet. I did find a correction though: there are only 4 or 5 in all of *New Zealand*. It’s a custom-made trike, valued at $130,000 so not for everyone. They use a V-8 engine. If your interested, I found this site, but again, the trikes sold here aren’t four seaters. These would be a hit here in the bay area with our warm, year-round weather. I’m so glad though to have had this experience in NZ.http://bosshoss.com/trikes/

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    • Kris, after visiting New Zealand, I want everyone I know to experience it, too. I also can’t get over what wonderful camaraderie we all had. Everything just flowed. It’s a terrific group of friends. We spent so much time laughing, singing, joking…great fun.

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