December 8 – 22, 2018
Jonathan and I got engaged in April of 2018. In lieu of having a wedding, we decided we wanted to go a on big trip and get married while we were there. Jonathan threw out the idea of going to New Zealand and after googling it I was all in on the idea. So fast forward to December and I was traveling from Miss to Mrs!
On Saturday, December 8th we started our journey. We flew from Nashville to Los Angeles to Auckland. After 24 hours of travel, we landed in Queenstown, New Zealand on Monday, December 10th. We lost a whole day due to the time change.
Fresh off the plane, we were picked up at the airport by a car service and taken to the QT Queenstown where we checked into a room with an amazing lake view. We could also see where we were planning to getting married from our balcony. We loved this hotel and the staff was so friendly.
Our first adventure (with also no sleep from the travel) was the Shotover Jet Boat ride in the Shotover Canyons. What a trilling experience to go up 60 mph in water as shallow as 10cm and doing 360-degree spins. It will definitely wake you up no matter how tired you are from traveling!
After that fun adventure, we went to Fergburger (one of our many trips to one of the Fergs) and ate some delicious deer burgers before heading back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep.
Because of the time change, we were both wide awake super early the next morning which meant we were able to see an amazing sunrise.
On Tuesday, after eating a quick breakfast, we went on a Nomad Safari Glenorchy Lord of the Rings tour. On the tour, we saw filming locations for the Lord of the Rings trilogy (which we both watched for the first time before our trip). Our tour guide Julia was fantastic and knowledgeable. We saw the filming locations for the Battle of the Wargs (that we could also see from our hotel balcony), Refugees of Rohan, Isengard, the Ithilien Camp, Lothlorien & Fanghorn Forest, the Battle of Amon Hen and many more locations that were used in The Hobbit, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian all while seeing stunning views of the New Zealand Southern Alps.
After returning to Queenstown, we had lunch at Halo-Forbidden Bite before meeting with our wedding planner Steph from Simply Perfect Weddings for the first time. She took us to the court house to get our marriage license and also gave us some great driving tips since this would be our first time driving on the left side of the road.
We went to Patagonia for coffee and had a delicious polynesian dinner at the Blue Kanu. Then we went to Mrs. Ferg for ice cream.
Wednesday, December 12th – Our Wedding Day!
We had a relaxed day starting with breakfast at Bespoke Kitchen. Rosie and Sara from Pure Hair Studio came to our hotel room to do my make-up and hair while Jonathan went to Fergbaker to pick us up some lunch.
Due to the chance of rain that day and the chance of not being able to fly to our chosen destination our wedding time was moved up several hours. Steph called our hotel room and let us know to be ready and she was one her way. She picked us up and we drove to Over the Top Helicopters where we met our celebrant Philippa Thomas, our photographer Warren Williams (Williams Photography) and our pilot Ryan. We piled in the helicopter and off we went to Cecil Peak to say I Do!
For our wedding dinner we went to Musketts & Moonshine and had a wonderful meal of beef cheek croquettes, southland lamp rump and hereford rump steak.
On Thursday, we had a full day hike with Private Discovery Tours. Charles, the tour company owner, was a great guide on our hike on the Routeburn Valley Track Walk. There were amazing views and a lot of uphill hiking!
At the end of the day we were definitely exhausted and decided to go back to Fergburger to try the beef burgers before going back to Patagonia for ice cream.
On Friday, before leaving Queenstown and setting out on our roadtrip adventure through New Zealand, we went to Fergbaker for breakfast. Yes there are a lot of Fergs in Queenstown and we recommend going to them all! We picked up our rental car and Jonathan had his first attempt at driving on the left side of the road. Within a tenth of a mile of the car rental place, he almost ran my side of the car into a parked moving truck… after that scary experience he was good!
So on we went to the AJ Hackett Bungy at the Kawarau River Bridge, home of the world’s first bungy operation. Jonathan jumped off the orginal 43 meter (141 foot) bridge and touched the river below! Even if you are afraid of heights like me it’s worth a stop just to watch people of all ages take the leap. Click here to see the video of the jump on Instagram @somanyplacessolittletimeblog
After that cool experience, we drove the Haast Pass to Wanaka and saw so many great views along the way. In Wanaka, we had a venison pepperoni pizza for lunch at Francesca’s Italian Kitchen. Before leaving Wanaka, we had to find the Wanaka Tree (the Lone Tree of Wanaka), New Zealand’s most famous and photographed tree.
On the way to the west coast along the Hasst Highway we stopped at Thunder Creek Falls (in Mt Aspiring National Park). The waterfall height is 96 meters (~315 feet).
We also made a stop to see the Tasman Sea which was so cold.
From there we drove to the glacier town of Franz Josef where we stayed at the Westwood Lodge. The lodge had two cute labradoodles that helped pick up the room trash daily. The lodge also had a great breakfast each morning.
For dinner we had pad thai and local brews at SnakeBite Brewery
Saturday was one of the most memorable days on our trip (not counting our wedding day of course) and one of the coolest things either of us had ever done. We went on a heli-hike with Franz Josef Glacier Guides. We put on some warm clothes and boarded a helicopter and flew to the glacier. The helicopter actually lands on the ice of the glacier! We then put on our crampons that allowed us to easily walk on the ice. With our hiking poles in hand, we headed up the glacier with our guide. With an ax, he cut a path for us. Due to the ice constantly shifting and melting, the path has to be created on each hike. The weather was in the 60s (fahrenheit) and it was a comfortable hike on the ice. Thankfully the weather was great and the helicopter was able to come back and get us on time. We were told that hikes get cancelled regularly due to weather and not being able to fly. Also, if the helicopter is unable to return to the glacier to pick up the hikers, you just have to wait it out for the weather to improve. All in all this was an absolutely amazing experience and we would highly recommend it!
For lunch we went to Full of Beans. We then drove to Lake Matheson and went to see Fox Glacier before returning to Full of Beans for dessert which was also our dinner.
On Sunday, we drove up the coast to Punakaiki. We stopped in Hokitka for lunch, but I only remember it being bar food and nothing spectacular.
In Punakaiki we checked into the Hydrangea Cottages where our cottage had an great view of the sea.
We walked the Truman Track to the Tasman Sea and spent a little time on the beach before heading to see the Pancake Rocks and the Blowholes at Dolomite Point. Unfortunately, the tide was not right for the blowholes.
In Punakaiki there were not a lot of choices for dinner so we opted for The Tavern which was terrible (oh well, I can live with one bad meal on the trip), but I did ride a horse reindeer, ha! Breakfast the next morning at the Pancake Rocks Cafe was a win where we had pancakes of course.
After pancakes at the pancake rocks, we were off to the town of Marahau. Upon arrival, we went to The Fat Tui, a foodtruck, for burgers.
Then we checked into the Abel Tasman Ocean View Chalets where we had a two-part chalet with a bedroom area and a living room area joined by a patio with an ocean view.
We had fish and chips for dinner at Hooked on the Marahau.
On Tuesday, we spent the day in Abel Tasman National Park with Abel Tasman Sailing Adventures. We began the day kayaking in the ocean and saw seals along the way. Once we arrived in Watering Cove, we took a 30 minute hike over a hill to Anchorage Bay where we had lunch before boarding a catamaran to sail to Kaiterieri where we driven back to Marahau.
We returned to Hooked on the Marahau for a fantastic steak dinner.
On Wednesday, our guide Blair from Lattitude Guiding picked us up at the chalet and took us to the Motueka River to fly fish. First, he taught us how to cast in a horse pasture before going into the river. Jonathan was able to catch one fish before the rain moved in and ended our fishing.
Before taking us back to the chalet, Blair took us to one of his favorite lunch spots, Ginger Dynamite, where we tried his favorite meat pies.
That afternoon we drove into Nelson to do a little shopping and had dinner at Urban which was recommended to us by Blair. We also got to experience driving in a multi-lane roundabout going clockwise… that was interesting!
On Thurday, we were up early to drive back to Nelson to fly to Auckland. It was the smallest airport either of us had ever been in. We waited in the small terminal for hours since our flight was continuously delayed. Finally, we walked out onto the tarmac and boarded our plane to Auckland. We were also excited that we were in row 1 for the first time in our lives and as it turns out we loaded/unloaded from the back of the plane; therefore, row 1 was the equivalent to the back row.
After arriving in Auckland hours after we were supposed to, we checked into our hotel at M Social. We also had dinner at the hotel restaurant Beast & Butterflies.
Our last full day in New Zealand was spent on Waiheke Island with Ananda Tours and our guide Niki. After taking the ferry from Auckland to Waiheke Island, Niki picked us up and took us to EcoZip Adventures on Trig Hill where we did three 200m(~656ft) zip-lines with incredible views. We then took a guided hike through the native bush back to the base where Niki picked us up to go to our first winery.
Our first winery stop was at Peacock Sky Vineyard where we did a wine and food pairing with four of their wines. Also, the brownies here were amazing and we brought home a bottle of Pinot Gris.
Our next stop was at Obsidian Vineyard (the 2017 winemaker of the year in NZ) where we tried three of their wines with cheese and crackers.
The third stop on our tour was a Tantalus Winery & Alibi Brewery. I tried three of their wines and one cider while Jonathan tried a flight of beer. We also brought home a bottle of the cider. The ciders in NZ were some of the best I’ve had.
Last stop on the winery tour was Stonyridge Vineyard where tried three wines. We also had lunch at this beautiful vineyard.
Niki drove back to the ferry and stopped along the way for pictures. We also saw a New Zealand Christmas tree.
After a day of drinking way too much wine, we had dinner at Amaro and ice cream at Melt.
Amaro had so many beautiful dried flowers hanging from the ceiling
On Saturday, we walked down the pier along the waterfront before we left for the airport for another long flight to Los Angeles before returning home to Nashville.
We had a fantastic trip full of great memories! New Zealand is an absolutely amazing country with so much to see and do! Also, the hospitality was outstanding and everyone we met was so friendly.
The people who made our dream trip a reality:
- Beth (Journeys Imagined) and Steph (Simply Perfect Weddings NZ) who both planned a fairy tale wedding & honeymoon for the two of us.
- Philippa who was an awesome wedding celebrant and made our wedding ceremony perfect.
- The extremely talented Warren Williams who photographed our wedding and gave us some stunning wedding pictures that we will forever cherish.
It was a great adventure to start off our marriage and hopefully the first of many more adventures to come in our lives together!
So Many Places So Little Time 