I wanted to title this “The Trip of a Lifetime” but since I’m desperately hoping I’ll get the chance to return again, I stuck with “Bucketlist Trip” as that truly is what this trip was. Ever since I was young, I’ve wanted to go to New Zealand. It isn’t for any specific reason that I can remember but it was on my bucketlist.
Sometime during October 2018 my dad told me that himself and my mom were going to New Zealand by themselves and not taking us girls. He obviously wasn’t expecting me to burst into tears at that statement or else he would not have sprung it on me while I was driving down the road. Long story short, at Christmas that same year my parents gifted us going on the trip to New Zealand with them. Of course, I promptly burst into tears again – even though I was happy crying this time. Then October 1, 2019 we finally set out on our long-awaited trip; destination: New Zealand!!!
We put our alarms on for 4am but I’m pretty sure we were all wide awake before then, eager to get on the plane and go; however, it soon became obvious it was so early as I got in trouble going through security. I had brought my school pencil kit along to do homework (as if) on the plane and forgotten I kept my scissors in the bag… My family only spent the next three days laughing at me. Thankfully, flying out of a small city has its perks and I was able to run and put my scissors in the car and get through security again – this time without raising any red flags.When we arrived in Vancouver (where we had a 12hr layover) my Grandad and Grandma picked us up from the airport! They let us nap and then we ate, before heading out to visit my Grampa, who was staying at my Uncle’s for the week.
We spent our extra time in the airport before our flight took off wearing off some energy and making other people laugh.
This was our first overnight flight and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The food was amazing too – especially supper. I wasn’t a huge fan of the breakfasts, but then I’m not a breakfast person to begin with, unlike my mom who thought the breakfasts were amazing… We stayed up late and watched movies, sometimes together with the sync screen feature. We also used the group chat between seats to chat about nonessential stuff, which caused Dad to get annoyed as it kept interrupting his movie so he left the chat. Given that he flew to New Zealand as a boy several times, I think he wasn’t running on quite as much adrenaline as the rest of us.When we got to New Zealand, it was very strange watching my dad driving on the wrong side of the road! It was also super cold! It probably had something to do with the fact I had just travelled for 40 hours with minimal sleep and also the fact Wellington is a coastal city, making the cold a “wet cold”. My Great Aunt Olive had the solution; however, with a “hottie”. I always knew them as hot water bottles but my Aunty Olive asking me if I was taking my hottie to bed with me, pushed me over the edge every time. So here’s a photo of me and my hottie from New Zealand. 😛After napping for a couple of hours, enough so we could function but short so that we would get over our jetlag as fast as possible, our family headed out exploring. I want to start out by saying that New Zealand is absolutely stunning! I had never seen foliage like what we saw down there, and it never ceased to amaze me how beautiful it was. We found a small peninsula, which was slightly sketchy because access to it was controlled by the tide, but it turned out to be quite safe…At that moment I felt on top of the world but I couldn’t help but think – am I not on the bottom of the world? This genius thought process followed my jetlagged self to bed as I tried to reason out that today was tomorrow and I was in my past at home and as you can tell I really should have just gone to sleep instead of opening my mouth. Sadly, I did, and my family still hasn’t let me forget my slurred, sleep-deprived arguing skills. The next day we headed out to explore Zealandia, an area dedicated to preserving natural New Zealand as it was before humans introduced other animals and predators. We even got to see a Kaka parrot and a Weta beetle (which are like huge nasty grasshoppers – in my personal opinion).Here is some of the foliage which covered the land. It seemed almost like a rainforest in some places, and then in other places, it reminded me of the forests in BC.We had lunch at the cafe where I discovered Kumura chips. They are like a sweet potato french fry but even better. My Aunty Olive (left) and Aunty Lois (right) were such fun to have along and added so much to our time in NZ.We took a trip down the Wellington Cable Car, allowing us to explore some of downtown Wellington and then toured the museum back at the top of Mt. Victoria. It was great fun flying down the hill in the trolley, as well as embarrassing as my mom stopped the car because she was leaning on the stop button accidentally. The cable car pictured is an original one, but they have now made them safer and you have to sit inside the car.Just your typical tourist…Our rental minivan was interesting, to say the least. It made us laugh a lot, but I have also never struggled so hard to close a sliding door in my life. At least once a day, oftentimes more, the door would lock open – leaving me to shove on it with everything I had or else forcing my Dad to come and slowly slam it shut. The bright side to the van; however, was the fact that the seat laid all the way back, and the lever was right beside me, meaning I could secretly yank on the lever and Lanaya and I would fly backwards. I most often did this when she was least expecting it, like flying around a tight corner when you had the most momentum.In New Zealand, I got to meet a lot of my Dad’s cousins from his mom’s side, as well as several of his aunts and uncles! We went to Uncle John and Aunty Sonia’s for supper. For dessert, it featured a pavlova that my mom is still jealous of, as she can’t get hers to rise so high. A couple of my dad’s cousins were also there, Paul and Fiona. Lanaya left the house saying she wanted to be just like Fiona when she was older as she really enjoyed her fun personality. Cassia and Paul discussed hunting and the bucks she’s shot, while I just enjoyed meeting some awesome family.This is another of my dad’s cousins, Mark with his daughter Marnie! It was super cool to meet them both, especially Marnie as she is close-ish to my age.
The famous TimTam Slams… Well, I’m not too sure how famous they are but as we were researching things to do in NZ, Cassia stumbled across this. You buy TimTams, cut diagonal corners off and then dunk them in your hot coffee until they are melted and about to fall apart, which is when you slam the whole biscuit into your mouth so as not to have a melted chocolate biscuit dirtying your hands. They were quite good, although trying not to laugh with your mouth stuffed full of biscuit was difficult at times.
For all of the Lord of the Rings fans out there, yes, we did visit Weta Cave (the place where they film their movies). We were cheap; however, and just walked around the gift shop as none of us have read the books or watched the movies. Please don’t hate me for not enjoying that stuff…After that we headed over to Te Papa (NZ’s national museum) to explore the culture and history. We took a break and went in search of fish and chips, which involved getting quite soaked as it began to pour on our walk. Mt Vic’s Chippery made some great food, though, so it was definitely worth it.Family selfie at the museum… One of the coolest exhibits at Te Papa was on earthquakes. It was fascinating to read all of the science behind why they occur as well as read the personal testimonies of some of the horrific ones that they have experienced. We even got to experience the simulation of one, which was slightly eerie. The next day, Sunday, we were at the Miramar Gospel Hall. We met some really fun people and it was cool to visit with them and compare stories.On Monday, we said goodbye to Wellington and headed up the coast to Raumati.This is my Great Aunty Noleen and her husband Allan who we also got to meet while in Wellington.We stopped for flat whites on our way out of Wellington with the aunties. Wellington is apparently the birthplace of the flat white, and they tasted amazing!At the beach house in Raumati! It was right along the coast and so beautiful. The aunties had come the week before and set things up and it was so kind of them to let us stay for a couple of days! They also left the hotties for us…????
Week 1 in New Zealand was super busy, meeting people and recovering from our jet lag. It was a great start to our trip and I can’t wait to share the following weeks with you, as well!
Enjoyed your excitement and your first week in New Zealand with you. Looking forward to more! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences especially rowing in YVR. Love Grampa and Grandma
Love your stories! It was in wellington that i first met your parents doing a seedsower drop with gospel meetings at night…of course, that was before any of you gals were thought of…haha
Love this Raquenna. And every time I think of your auntie asking you about “your hottie” I giggle!!! So funny!!
Hehe it truly was the funniest thing!!!
Enjoyed your excitement and your first week in New Zealand with you. Looking forward to more! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences especially rowing in YVR. Love Grampa and Grandma
Glad you enjoyed the rowing…????
One special family so happy you had a good time. Memories made.❤️
Thanks Auntie Ann! It was a great time!
And I can’t wait to read them. Real sorry we missed meeting you. Do you make your Dad hot buttered toast?
My dad just told me the story – there truly is nothing like hot buttered toast! Hopefully I can drag my parents back to NZ and I’ll meet you then!
Love your stories! It was in wellington that i first met your parents doing a seedsower drop with gospel meetings at night…of course, that was before any of you gals were thought of…haha
As I was going through photos to post I scrolled way back and found the photos of my dad with you and John Middleton – so cool!