NZ Honeymoon: Farewell Spit+Pupu Springs

Today was the day that we met some sheep. Yup, you heard me right. Actually, we stumbled upon some sheep. Literally. 

 Hello Sheep.

 Sheep are everywhere in New Zealand. Wool is one of the #1 sources of income in the country and I believe it's also one of their #1 exported items as well. Blane loves animals and all these sheep were no exception. He had been wanting to "pet" one and it looked like this was going to be his lucky day.

 Sheep, "What are you doing in our territory you humans?"

 We didn't actually jump a fence to be with these furry fellows. You see, we were attempting to see the magnificent beaches of the Farewell Spit that we had heard so much about, and the trail lead us through this field that was filled with sheep. They were scared of us, but about midway through our walk, they started running...as in hundreds of sheep started running towards us. Um, yea. See that black dog in the pic above? It's a farm dog and we quickly realized that they were herding the sheep back to the barn. I wish we had gotten a video of that moment, but we were too frazzled to think that fast. I mean, have you ever had hundreds of sheep running towards you in a field? I didn't think so.

 After that little "fun" moment, we continued on to find Wharariki Beach, which was highly recommended by the owner of Adrift, Gordon. It was sunny that day but deceptively so, as it was soooo cold and windy! See how bundled Blane is?

 We were smart enough to bring an umbrella but were sad to find that it was broken when we tried to open it. Rain protection=fail.

 We rounded the bend and saw this. Hello deserted beach!

The sand was so pretty because the wind was strong and it formed these little mounds in certain areas. We were literally the only two people on the beach and it was kinda strange to be walking on fresh, non-touched sand, leaving our footprints like we were in some movie, haha.

 See? Nobody is here!

 All the foam collecting on the beach from the waves. It was pretty and peaceful here...would have been nice had it not been for the wind-it was seriously strong while we were there. We're talking "whip-your-hair" crazy.

 After Wharariki Beach, we decided to visit Pupu Springs, known to have the cleanest spring water in the world. Blane could not wait to touch that water!

 Walking to see the Springs. The trees and foliage were, once again, so green. New Zealand in general was so green! 

Can you see how clear the water was? I was skeptical, but once I saw the water I was surprised to see how clear it really was! 

 

We touched the oh-so clear water and then made our way back to our car. We experienced a lot of God's creation that day and we were tired and hungry as we headed back to Adrift.

Next up: some homemade dinner, New Zealand style!

Aim

NZ Honeymoon: Nelson+Golden Bay

Now that we had conquered the North Island we were ready for a new challenge: Hello South Island. 

We didn't know what to expect, but after a short domestic flight (Our plane had propellers people! Eek) we set foot on the South Island, in a city called Nelson.

We had already made arrangements to rent a car and the car guy was there with a sign for "Blair S." as we exited the aircraft. Blair. Haha. He obviously hadn't heard Blane right when he was giving him his details over the phone. I wish I had a pic of that sign! Trust me, it happened people.

What I thought was to be a short half hour drive to our destination turned into a two and a half hour trek over the mountains! I don't know if I read the address wrong or what, but when I asked the car rental guy where "Golden Bay" was he looked at me and said, "You've got at least a two hour drive that way!" It was 6pm and we were a little nervous because we definitely did not want to be driving at night on the mountain.

Dusk is a beautiful time of day and we were awed by many a vista as we drove up one side of the mountain and down the other. Poor Blane didn't get to enjoy the view so much because he was focused on all the twists and turns as well as staying on the left side of the road!

At 8pm, we finally made it to the town of Takaka, which was the nearest place to our destination according to our map. Our reservation instructed us to call the innkeepers if we were going to arrive later than 7pm so we promptly called them and they told us that we were close and then asked if we had eaten dinner yet. When we said no, the man instructed us to eat in town before coming and to take our time! They'd be up and waiting when we were done. They were so nice and we hadn't even met them yet :)

A short while later, with full stomachs, we made our way in the dark to our destination: Adrift in Golden Bay. We found this little gem online in one of our numerous New Zealand Google searches, and after reading some reviews, we took a chance and booked directly with them. They are a family-run business and you cannot book them via Expedia. It's owned and run by a charming older couple, Gordon and Bess, and it was ah-ma-zing!

 Here is our tub/shower. The cottages had recently been redone and they were all so tastefully finished. It felt like we were living in our own little piece of private paradise.

Our kitchen was filled with everything you'd need to cook a gourmet meal-even little silver canisters of espresso and loose leaf teas.

 But the best part was this view right outside our deck. Hello there water :)

 I could've gotten used to waking up to this every morning and I loved going to sleep every night to the sound of the waves breaking on the beach. Yes, it was that close. 

This place was magical. We knew instantly that our next four days here were going to be wonderful. How good? You'll just have to tune in tomorrow to find out more :)

Morning hamper, on the way!

Aim

P.S. My apologies on the lack of photos in this post. Blogger was acting up and all my uploaded pics did not transfer to the blog when I was writing it =/ I'll try and update it later!

NZ Honeymoon: Kauri Cliffs

The TOP thing on Blane's "NZ To-Do List" was to play golf at one of the top courses in the world: Cape Kidnappers. Unfortunately, we tried and tried and it was just too expensive and way too far for us to even attempt to visit. (insert Blane sad face here) The news gets better though, as there is another top golf course in New Zealand, and it was just three hours north of Auckland. Kauri Cliffs is also ranked as one of the top 100 courses in the world and is a sister course of Cape. Bingo! We had our course AND it was doable-just three hours north of Auckland in the Bay of Islands region. 

It rained and was overcast the day before when we were driving up to Paihia and the forecast for "Golf Day" weren't that promising either. So I did what any respectable person would do and I prayed that God would make the weather perfect because we only had one day to golf, and rain or shine, Blane was going to golf. I just wanted it to be a nice day for him. :) God totally answered my prayer (isn't it amazing that He cares about even the smallest things that we care about? :) and we woke up to an absolutely beautiful clear blue Golf Day! Praise the Lord!!!

 Why are all the hoity-toity (i.e. rich) places so far from civilization? We drove for an hour and a half way into the boonies of the Bay of Islands until we came to this little silver box. Phew! We were relieved that we went the right way. I mean, so obscure-sheesh! Who are they hiding from? 

We drove in and around the bend and then we saw this beautiful structure. Hello Kauri Cliffs Clubhouse. What a beaut! Sidenote: See what a beautiful day it was? God is so good :).

 This is my elated hubby standing right in front of the Clubhouse. Do you spy the ocean in the background?

Everything about this place was incredible: the view, the five different types of grass they use on their course, the golf pros, the carts (They came equipped with an ice chest complete with personalized "Kauri Cliffs" water bottles!), even the way they stacked their golf balls at each spot on their driving range! It was all so well thought our and executed to a tee. No pun intended, heehee. 

Here we are at the driving range. See all the neat little golf balls stacked in a pyramid?

Here's a more comprehensive shot. The entire time we were there Blane kept saying, "The view looks fake!" because it was so incredible.

 These are the clubs Blane rented for the day. My husband is really incredible at asking for, and getting, deals. Today, he asked if he could play at the "local" rate (vs. the visitor rate which is always higher). He also asked if they'd throw in his club, shoe and cart rental because, well, we were "on our honeymoon." I wouldn't have the gall to ask for even one of these but it didn't phase Blane. Not only did they give him everything that he asked for, but they also threw in some congratulatory bubbly for us to celebrate after we were done with the course. Blane was already excited but all of this put him over the top. He saved $270!!! And if you know my hubby, saving moolah is one of the keys to his heart for sure! ;)

 This was the view off one of the holes. There was a sign by a little path leading to "Pink Sand Beach." Of course we didn't have time to go down there to see if the sand was really pink because we had golfing to do! :)

He's so happy :). It made me happy too :).

Blane played 18 holes and I got to drive the golf cart! He scored an 80 which was pretty good considering how tough the course was (it's a par 72 for any of you golfers out there). The front nine were better for Blane than the back. I think he got tired and was a little distracted by all the vistas :).

Here's what I was doing for the majority of the day...except I was driving, not riding! Haha

Just a few more shots before I wrap up this post, I promise. Hey-it was hard paring down 771 pics into one little blog post! We took a lot of pics that day with all three of our cameras. :)

 I love this pic-it's B's "Tiger-Woods-shot-well-done" stance. He does this after every good shot :).

This was the meal waiting for us after we finished the round. I didn't swing one club but I was ready to sit down and eat and relax! What made everything even better was that the staff at Kauri was so nice and down to earth. Sometimes at places like these you encounter snooty people and it really puts a damper on the experience. Not so here...it was the exact opposite and it made the day all the more better. If we could have afforded to stay the night, we probably would have! But that was $1,500 that we didn't have to spend on ONE NIGHT at Kauri. Hah!

 All in all it was a fantastic day. I don't think it could've gone better! The excitement on Blane's face was worth coming up to the Bay of Islands alone. Trip accomplished!

 It was hard to say goodbye but eventually we said adieu to head back to our hotel in Paihia. We had one more evening there before we had to head back to Auckland to catch a plane to our next New Zealand destination: Nelson+Golden Bay.

South Island here we come!

Aim