THANK YOU!!!!

We wanted to end the blog by saying a special THANK YOU to each and every one of you who helped to contribute to this amazing, once in a lifetime honeymoon!!

Also THANK YOU to all of you who commented on our blog and followed us along the journey. We really loved reading everyone's comments each day and were so happy to share our adventure. We love you all!!! <3

Auckland to Denver

We have officially made it back to Denver! Our flights (Auckland - San Francisco, San Francisco - Denver) went well. Both actually arrived early and all of our luggage made it. You really can't beat that!!

We were fortunate enough to fly in first class on these, with a HUGE THANK YOU to Nancy (Monica's mom)!!! It definitely helped with the blues of leaving this amazing country and honeymoon behind. We felt like royalty. :)

Perks began by hanging out in the Auckland lounge before takeoff where they served delicious food and wine/beer:

We were one of the first to board the flight, where we sipped on champagne, decided our main course for dinner and enjoyed looking through things in our complimentary goodie bags (like fresh socks and sleep masks):

We then got comfy with blankets and pillows, drank complimentary drinks and enjoyed the yummy 4 course airplane food:

Cam with a Bloody Mary:

Smoked salmon and butternut squash salad appetizer:

Pork belly with potatoes and broccoli main entree:

Assorted cheese, grapes and port:

Ice cream sundae dessert:

We watched movies and fully laid down to fall asleep for a few hours. The flight itself took 12 hours, but when you're flying like this, time really does fly by (pun intended). Here is Monica who was relaxed, then sad to have the cabin lights turned on for breakfast:

When we landed, we had to go through customs and collect our luggage for the next flight. We flew first class again, and were one of the first ones on. Here we are enjoying a cup of coffee:

The view of the Rockies were pretty as we arrived to DIA:

We were fortunate enough to have Monica's brother, Joe, pick us up at the airport. A very special THANK YOU to him for not only getting us, but for also watching our house and cat while we were away for three weeks!!! We seriously are indebted and are so grateful for you!!

While we're sad to be done with the trip, it is nice to be home and to hang out with Orion, the cat. We missed him while we were away! 

Queenstown to Auckland

Today we woke up and did a little more walking around Queenstown before our flight back to Auckland. We also had to do some organizing of our luggage in order to figure out our weight limits. We just barely did...only because the kind woman at the New Zealand Air kiosk let our bags go overweight without charging us. We will need to do more organizing tomorrow before our long flight back to the States. We do not want to incur an expensive fee for anything being overweight!

Here are a couple photos from the 2 hour plane ride:

Special thank you to: Nancy and Joe for our flight!

Once we got back to Auckland, we checked into the same hotel we stayed at upon our initial arrival, then went into the city center to eat at the same place we had three weeks ago (it was that good!)

We ordered some of the same stuff, and also tried some new things on the menu. Here is a photo of pork belly bao buns that were amazing:

Special thank you to Sara for dinner!

When we were finished, Cameron got some vanilla ice cream next door (Monica was far too full to eat anything else) and we headed back to our hotel to fittingly finish watching the third Lord of the Rings. We can't believe our trip has nearly come to an end! :(

Special thank you to: Bill, Gloria, Kelley and Megan for our hotel stay!

Queenstown

We woke up in Te Anau, packed up, and headed to Queenstown (about a 2 hour drive). Queenstown is surrounded by New Zealand's third largest lake, Lake Wakatipu, and we hit the edges of it about an hour in. Cameron's satiation of fishing had not been quenched from the three days on the trip, so he requested stopping about 30 minutes from our final destination. Monica obliged. While he didn't catch anything, both of them enjoyed the view:

When we got to Queenstown, we checked into our AirBnB, a penthouse with a gorgeous view, then decided to walk the town. We ended at an Irish pub and Cameron made friends with a couple Irish men hanging out at the bar. They joined us at our table and we enjoyed great international conversation over drinks while the sun set:

After, we headed to dinner at a yummy Asian restaurant near the lake's edge:

We ended the evening walking around the lake, where people were feeding the many seagulls and ducks, while also enjoying beers and food:

Once we got back to our place, we admired the view, then continued to watch the third Lord of the Rings. Monica is hooked!

Special thank you to: Sue and Ian for our lovely AirBnB accommodation and to Max, Stelios, TJ and Sara for our delicious dinner!

Milford Sound Cruise

We were picked up by our bus to take us to Milford Sound this morning from our base in the little town of Te Anau, which was about a 2 hour drive. This was our most picturesque day of the trip, so we will let the photos speak for themselves. Our bus driver was very informative of the terrain we covered as we entered Fiordland National Park. First, we had a short break at Mirror Lakes:

We then stopped to fill our water bottle in one of the freshest rivers in the country where no water filter is necessary (ugh, we know…a plastic one that is ironically terrible for the environment and not worthy of this pristine water!) It was so delicious, cold and refreshing. If only the States, particularly Colorado, had kept our river systems clean! What a precious, unique, and unforgettable experience:

Here are more views taken while riding on the bus:

This glacier is rare to see in the park due to clouds. We were lucky to have a clear day!

We reached the base of the cruise on the Milford Sound. Here is a picture of our boat. We chose to take the smallest one possible in order to be able to cruise the area in a way that brought us closest to the mountain edges and to have the least amount of people on the boat as possible. The company was Mitre Peak:

Once we boarded, Cam enjoyed a cup of coffee:

We were both fortunate and unfortunate to have a beautiful summer day in the park. When it's rainy, apparently hundreds of waterfalls cascade off the mountains. When it's clear like it was today, many of them are dry and do not fall. It was a win-lose situation as we haven't had a lot of warm weather days in our three weeks here! Regardless, the scenery was gorgeous and we still enjoyed waterfalls and so much beauty:

We passed by some Fur Seals sun bathing on the rocks:

And witnessed another one of Monica's favorite things in the world, bottlenose dolphins! A sight that apparently only happens on average once a week. What a treat! There were at least 5 of them, putting on a show for our boat. We took a video, which the internet here is far too weak to upload, but this is one photo to document the experience:

We cruised out to Tasman Sea, then turned around. Here are more photos of our gorgeous scenery:

It was both of our first times in a fiord, and a day in a unique national park that we will surely never forget (not to mention be forever grateful for.) Talk about an amazing and unforgettable experience! 

When we returned to town, we enjoyed blue bird skies, shopped a bit, ate dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant on the strip, then watched the sun set behind the mountains from our amazing lakefront view in Te Anau:

Special thank you to: Susan and Marvin for our amazing Milford Sound cruise and to Gene and Meg for our delicious dinner in Te Anau!