A dear friend of ours made a list of ’65 Flo-like things to do in NZ’ for Flo’s first birthday in Wellington. Now is the time to check how we did, I guess. 🙂
1. Ski in Queenstown. *check*
2. See a Coromandel beach in the sunshine. Go swimming.
Finally saw a Coromandel beach in sunshine, even if it wasn’t Hahei. Also Flo claims he was swimming in Hahei in the rain.
3. Make your own little hot pool at Hot Water Beach.
This is a fail.
4. Ride from Bluff to Picton (South Island). *check*
5. Ride from Wellington to Cape Reinga (North Island). *check*
6. Visit the southernmost point in mainland NZ (in the Caitlins). *check*
7. See an albatross in Dunedin.
Nah, we missed out on this one. Spend four days in Dunedin and didn’t get around going out on the Peninsula. Might not have helped that I have done this already in the past.
8. Try every single NZ beer in The Brühaus.
Yeah, nah. Don’t think he’s even close.
9. Watch a yellow-eyed penguin (hoihoi) waddling to sea. *check*
10. Eat food cooked in a hangi.
This is a question of technicality now. We have never had a hangi in NZ BUT we had several hangis on Rarotonga. One of them as part of an Island night.
11. Visit Glenorchy and walk on the wharf. Bonus point for jumping in. It’s cold!
Been to Glenorchy. Haven’t jumped in. *brrrrrr*
12. Eat the following seafood: butterfish, mako (shark), crayfish, whitbait fritters, paua fritters, kina.
I honestly don’t know. I’m always glad when Flo doesn’t eat fish.
13. Pan for gold in Arrowtown (or Greymouth).
Missed the opportunity. Been to Arrowtown, didn’t pan for gold.
14. Visit every single farmers market in Greater Wellington.
Somehow, I don’t think we can claim this one.
15. Take the ferry to Somes Island. Look at the quarantine station. Read every sign.
Epic fail. It was on our doorstep but nah.
16. Walk the Fell Engine Railway track from Wellington to Wairarapa then visit the Fell Museum in Featherston.
Never quite had our eyes on this one.
17. Ride all the way round the South Coast on the bike without dropping it in gravel.
No. Not for lack of trying though. Red rocks still defeat us.
18. Walk up Mount Vic 10 times.
Yup. I think even I might have gotten around to this by now.
19. Read every single informative sign in one national park.
*nods* Uh huh.
20. Go kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park.
No Abel Tasman for Flo. 🙁 This is a fail as we will not be able to go to the South Island again.
21. Visit Lake Tikitapu and Lake Rotokakahi in Rotorua.
Don’t think so.
22. Collect one of every type of paperclip in Whitcoulls. *check*
23. Visit the Edmund Hilary Centre at Mount Cook. *check*
24. Do a wine trail, e.g. Martinborough or Marlborough.
Never got around to it.
25. Sit with Nina and watch the sunset over Cape Reinga. See the place where two oceans meet.
Saw both oceans meet but left shortly before the sunset to set up camp.
26. Walk on the grass at the meeting house at Waitangi. *check*
27. Attend a powhiri or other marae function.
Hasn’t happened. 🙁
28. See or hear a kiwi in the wild. *check*
29. Build a fire on the beach and roast marshmellows. *check*
I will check this as Flo hates marshmallows.
30. Go whitewater rafting on any NZ river. At least Grade 2. Bonus point for Skippers Canyon on account of the road to get there.
We weren’t rafting so far.
31. Swim in the hot waterfall at Kerosene Creek, Rotorua.
Also, not.
32. Visit Steward Island, which most Kiwis haven’t done.
Guess we are like most Kiwis.
33. Spend a day at the Auckland War Museum. *check*
34. Do a beer trail in Nelson.
Only not because we always hit Nelson on the bike and Flo had to drive.
35. Climb on the tanks at the War Museum in Waiouru.
Well, we went there but for moral reasons Flo refused to ‘play’ with tanks.
36. Walk the 230+ steps to the lighthouse at Cape Palliser.
We didn’t get around to this as it was out of our way on the last trip.
37. Fall asleep to the sound of a morepork (owl) at night. *check*
38. At least lick some pavlova so you can say you tried it. *check*
39. Walk on the beach at Mangawhai, Northland. *check*
40. Go inside the hidden blowhole in the Coromandel.
We probably didn’t do enough of the Coromandel. In sunshine.
41. Decide on a favourite coffee shop in Wellington. *check*
42. Do the Tongariro Crossing.
When we tried to plan it and had a look at it, it was winter already. And it just doesn’t seem like much fun in winter.
43. Ride to Milford Sound, and take a cruise to the outer Sounds. Bonus if you drink out of the waterfall there. *check* But no bonus points.
44. Ride the Cardrona Road ( not in winter). *check*
45. Cross the South Island using each of the three alps crossings – Arthur’s Pass, Haast Pass and Lewis Pass.
Two out of three. Is that a check?
46. See glow worms at Waitomo from the boats. *check*
47. Try the following: NZ organic avocado oil and olive oil. *check*
48. Camp in the bush in the middle of nowhere. *check*
49. Hang out in Backbenchers with Blaise and get into an argument with at least one politician there.
Unfortunately, this did not happen. I kinda would have liked to see it.
50. Visit Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers before they melt. *check*
51. Do the tour of Parliament.
Woah, no, not even while living in walking distance to Parliament.
52. See the Prime Minister at the Hobbit premiere. *check*
53. Take the ferry through the Marlborough Sounds. *check*
54. Develop a mild Kiwi accent in your English, so that all your friends back home think you sound weird. 😉 *check*
That was the first things Lina and Michael said to us when we were back in Germany for Christmas in 2013.
55. Beer-tasting at the Monteiths in Greymouth.
It broke Flo’s heart both times we were there that he couldn’t do it.
56. Stop at the salmon farm near Twizel and feed the fish.
Nope.
57. Visit Tolaga Bay on the East Coast. *check*
58. Watch the water fill up the basin and fall 28m when the dam is opened at Lake Aratiatia. *check*
59. Hang out on the beach on a clear day at Kaikoura.
Ah, only hit Kaikoura in the evening and it wasn’t a clear day either.
60. See the intense turquoise of Lake Tekapo. *check*
61. Take the steamer to the other side of Lake Wakatipu. *check*
62. Go rock-climbing anywhere in NZ.
I even brought my climbing shoes and we never went. :S
63. Swim at Appletree bay, Anchorage or Fisherman’s Island in Abel Tasman.
No Abel Tasman Park for Flo.
64. Own a piece of: paua, greenstone / pounamu, grey-wacke
One out of three.
65. Ride to Makara. Climb the clifftops to see the South Island and shout into the wind. *check*
