Ter Ter and Berto come to New Zealand

They finally made it, mom and dad were here in NZ for 2 weeks with us in January!  We had such a wonderful time showing them around this little island we call home.  It was so fun to see their reaction to all the cultural differences, lingo and scenery.  When we came here last February to visit with our friends Marla and Justin, mom heard all about the magnificent "flat whites" and "meat pies" they have here so she got off the plane determined to try all the things we had raved about the year before.  Here we are at the Sheffield Pie shop for a piece of hot heaven in your mouth:)  Mom loved it, but for dad the jury was still out, he didn't get the best flavor meat pie.

 

First major stop along the way was castle rock.  Its set up along the hillside where all these boulders just decided to hang out, not sure how they got there, but they are amazing to look at.  You can hike along here or even go rock climbing up these if you dare.  (Thomas and I will prob come back and do some of that soon).
Next stop was Pancake rocks.  Along the coast on your way up to Greymouth you will see them, cliff edges that look like big piles of pancakes stacked as high as they can go.  The waves rosh in and out and have carved caves deep underneath the edge of the island, so between these pancake rocks you have big blow holes where the water shoots up through the air at high tide.  Truly amazing.

As we made out way back down the coast mom decided she needed to touch every body of water that surrounded NZ- most important was the Tasman Sea.  As our trip went on, we didn't have the best weather (there was major road flooding to be exact), but we had the best time just enjoying hanging out together.

Lupins covered the field on the way to Milford Sound, we just had to stop off for a little photo shoot.

Thomas came back to join us at the end of the South Island adventure road trip, he had to work while I played tour guide.  Above you'll see us at the Moreaki Boulders....again rocks that formed out of no where, it's a trend here in NZ.

Can you tell we had fun!

And We're Back...

Well this post is WAY overdue... We have had quite a few busy busy weeks lately.  Thomas and I have been traveling all around the South Island visiting with friends for the holidays..

Christmas morning with the Eastons

Christmas afternoon on the beach.  A once in a lifetime story.

 ... then my mom and dad later in January for my birthday!  What an amazing gift that was to have them here for two whole weeks!  The first week I took off to show them around the island, a whirl wind trip covering only a few thousand kilometers.

Starting at Castle Rocks, huge boulders on the side of the hills sitting like sleeping giants.  So amazing!

One of the hundreds of waterfalls we stopped to see along the way.  Thanks to mom we knew how many we passed as she would point them all out along the way:)  (love you ter ter)

Lupins in full bloom coming in and out of Milford Sound.  We only scratched the surface of the breathtaking scenery here.  Everywhere you turn there is something new to see and explore.  It's so new here that I think it keeps our minds and curiosity peaked at all times.  So much to take in. I guess you all will just have to come visit to see more!