Days 8-13: The Final Week

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We had numerous days where there was no internet so we fell behind in our blog!

To recap what we did the last week…

On Tuesday we were up and out early to head to Milford Sound. We had booked a 2:00pm kayak adventure and it was going to take about 4+ hours to get there. On our way out of Queenstown we stopped at the Ferbakery to get breakfast and the NZ specialty meat pies for dinner.

We arrived in Milford Sound around 11:00 and we checked into the Milford Sound Lodge and made it to our campsite. We decided to drive a little further and check out the “town”. We quickly realized that there wasn’t anything there as the road deadended at a parking lot.

We returned to our campsite to eat some lunch and then drove the short distance to Rosco’s Kayak. It did not take us long to experience the dreaded sand flies, and we were quickly doing our own version of the “Milford Shake” as our guide would later call it. We were really lucky that the weather was nice as it had rained the previous week and they had canceled most of the trips out. We met our guide Mali and got outfitted for our journey. We each had to put on stripped thermal layers, a spray skirt and a PFT(personal floatation device). We looked outstanding! Once we were all outfitted we boarded a boat and were taken on a 30 minute boat ride to the mouth of the sound. The views were stunning, the mountains reach the water and there were waterfalls everywhere. At the end of our ride we reached the sea and we quickly saw how choppy the Tasman Sea was and were driven back to smoother water to board our kayaks.

We loaded our double kayaks and paddled over to check out the waterfall while we waited for the other couple and our guide to load their kayaks. After everyone was situated we started our venture. We quickly realized that the other two with us were not the “experts” that the trip required and we slowed our pace down and enjoyed a nice slow paddle the rest of the way.

Almost immediately we came across a bunch of seals on a rock. We were able to get really close to them, some were basking on a rock and others were playing in the water.

We rounded a bend and up ahead saw a huge waterfall, Sterling Falls. Our guide told us that it was taller than Niagara Falls. As we got closer she told us we could paddle closer to feel the spray of the falls. We had to paddle hard, the wind was crazy and the kayak got pushed around a lot, it was fun to experience the power of the falls. The rest of the way we enjoyed the sights and relaxed.

When we returned to our campsite we enjoyed the meat pies for dinner, we then played some cards and called it a night. It was way too buggy to be outside. We looked at the forecast and realized there wasn't much else to do in a rainy day in Milford so we decided we would cancel our second night and make the drive to Dunedin in the morning.

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On Wednesday, We were up and out early again as we made our way across the South Island to the east coast. The roads were flat which was good for our brakes. We got to Dunedin mid afternoon and enjoyed a late lunch in the center of town. After lunch we checked in at the Dunedin Holiday Park. We wandered down to the beach, Anthony quickly took back his decision to go swimming as the water was really cold!

We decided to check out Speight’s Brewery and enjoyed a tour with our hilarious guide. At the end Andy enjoyed the open bar taste testing, and we were all entertained as the guide tried to understand the dynamic of our group with Anthony’s fiancé back at home.

After the tour we drove back to our site and made some dinner, played some cards and went to bed.

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Thursday morning we took a tour of the Cadbury factory before making the drive to Oamaru. The tour was less impressive than Hershey but we got to try lots of chocolate, which at 9:30am made for an interesting breakfast.

Before leaving Dunedin we checked out Otago Peninsula, the weather wasn't great so the views were not breathtaking, but it was still nice!

Brit drove the four hour ride to Oamaru, we parked our van at a holiday park right on the water and took a walk around the town. We first stopped at a cool little playground where we had our try at a mouse type wheel. 

We then walked around the older portion of town checking out the small artsy shops. We ended our walk at a restaurant and had a late lunch/early dinner of Pizza. 

We eventually walked back pass our van to the end of the road at the Blue Penguin Colony. On the way we passed a strange segregated bird bridge, the bridge had hundreds of birds, it freaked Brit out and we quickly continued on our way. 

Our main reason for stopping at this small town was to see the Penguins! We saw a really cool penguin crossing sign, not many places in the world you would see that!

At 7:30pm we entered the colony and made our way to our premium seats. We waited there for about an hour, looking at two sleeping seals that were lying close to the regular seating section and admiring the view. The moon was full and the seas were rough as the large waves kept storming the wall. Around 8:30 we saw our first group of about 30 penguins come ashore, waddle up the hill and enter the colony just in front of us. It was awesome! In the course of the next hour or so we watched 60 more penguins come ashore. As the crowd was thinning out, and the evening was coming to an end we watched in amazement as one of the seals decided to climb the short fence and enter the regular seating section about 50 yards away from us. We weren't sure whether to be horrified or entertained as all the people scattered and the seal climbed the stands, but in the end the seal settled happily on the top row of the stands and no people were harmed! As the night ended and we walked back out of the colony we came across a lone penguin who was a bit lost, we were not able to take pictures throughout the “show” as it would scare the penguins but we were able to get a shot of the lone penguin!

We walked back to the campsite around 9:30pm, and on our walk we saw a group of about 20 penguins hiding in the bushes, attempting to cross the road. We waited patiently for a bit in hopes of being able to see them cross, but unfortunately these penguins never crossed.

When we got back to the van we all packed and organized for our final night in the van. We can't believe the trip is almost over!

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Friday morning(March 25th) we had a good breakfast in Oamaru before hitting the road around 10am for our drive to Christchurch. We got to Christchurch around 1, had some lunch at a burger joint, retuned our van and were at the airport in plenty of time for our 4:45pm flight.

Our flights were smooth, but long. We flew 3 hours to Sydney where we had to get off the plane, go through security and then re board again. 9 hours later we arrived in Bangkok and were given the choice of getting off (we were told we would have to go through security again), or staying put and we decided to stay on the plane. 7 hours after that we arrived in Dubai, at 6:15am on Saturday, March 26th. After 20 hours of travel Brit was the most well rested as she had slept for almost 15 hours over the course of the flights. Andy was in pretty good shape as well, Kendra and Anthony were tired but ready to take on our 24 hour delay in Dubai.

We walked down stairs to get off the plane and had about a 15 minute bus ride just to get to the terminal. We were a bit concerned about going through customs in Dubai as we had read about how strict it was in regards to bringing stuff into the country. Andy was the only one chosen to get his bags screened and he got through smoothly. We had arranged for a car to pick us up, and we found the driver easily and rode comfortably to the Park Hyatt. Kendra had points from her credit card and we had rooms at a really nice hotel, it ended up being way fancier than any hotel we had ever stayed at! If we didn't have just 24 hours in Dubai we would have loved to relax and enjoy the luxuries and our great balcony views! One of the rooms was ready and we were able to check in at 8am, we took quick showers and were in a cab heading into the city shortly after 9:00am.

Our first stop in the city was the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world), and the Dubai Mall. We walked through the mall first and enjoyed a delicious breakfast while admiring the gigantic aquarium! After the meal we continued our walk through the mall. Aside from the aquarium and a few other things that we saw later, it was just a mall with all the normal stores. We exited the mall at the base of the Burj Khalifa and we marveled at the enormity of the building. It was massive, and the height of it was so impressive. There was a pool at the base, we took some pictures and walked around looking for the entrance to go to the top. It was nice to finally see the sun but boy was it hot! We walked almost all the way around the building before we figured out that the entrance to go to the top was in the mall. We returned to the mall, and quickly changed our mind when we realized it was going to cost us each about $140 to go to the top! We decided that wasn't worth it, and so we continued on exploring the mall. This mall also had huge waterfalls and a skating rink!

After, we took another cab to the Burj al Arab, the fancy, funky shaped hotel. When we got there we realized we couldn't get that close to check it out, and we realized our next intended stop at the Atlantis was going to be the same so we took a cab to the Mall of the Emirates instead to check out the indoor ski mountain! We enjoyed an ice cream while we checked out the hill, and we were back at our hotel around 1:30 for a little downtime before our 3:30pm pick up for our Desert Safari.

We checked into our second room, Brit and Kendra quickly discovered the fantastic skyline view that they had from the room! Andy, Anthony, and Kendra enjoyed some time by the pool and Brit explored the grounds of the hotel before returning to the room for a short nap. A nap that would be cut short when she was woken up when two birds entered the room and stole grapes from the bowl of fruit that the hotel provided! Brit then sat on the deck and took in the view.

At 3:45pm our driver showed up in a Land Cruiser and drove us out of the city. It was neat to see signs for Oman, just 100km away, and we wondered how close we would get to another country! The landscape quickly changed as we drove out of the city, we were officially in the desert! It was funny to be listening to Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift on the radio as we drove through an area that couldn't have looked more different than anywhere we have traveled in the U.S.! About 45 minutes into our ride our driver pulled over at a store where a bunch of other desert safari cars had pulled over, and the locals tried to sell us stuff as we used the bathroom. We got back in the car and were on our way again for about 10 more minutes before pulling off the road in the middle of nowhere.

Our driver got out of the car as we drove onto the sand and took air out of all the tires. He reminded us all to buckle and then we were off! We rode for about 15 minutes through the desert as we slid up and down mounds of sand. It was thrilling to say the least, as we all did our best to not get car sick! Our driver stopped at the top of a large hill and we were able to take some pictures before continuing on our ride. 

Once we were across the section of desert we got back on a road and drove for another 10 minutes before turning off and once again driving into the desert. After a few minutes we got to a camp and were told that we were at table 25 and that our driver would meet us there in a few hours at the end of the dinner and show. After checking out the tables and the inside of the camp we got in line for our camel ride.

The four of us were able to ride at the same time. Our favorite camel’s name was Champagne.  They have a startling way of getting up and sitting back down, but otherwise it was a smooth ride. Following our short adventure, we were entertained by Anthony and Kendra trying to snowboard down a dune.  Although mildly successful, it was not easy.  A barbecue dinner and entertainment took up the remainder of the evening, as we watched numerous dancers including a belly dancer.  We sat on pillows while we ate at a table close to the ground. As the night finished, we waited for our driver to bring us home. An hour later we returned to our rooms and our first real beds in a very long time. Needless to say we fell asleep quickly.

view of the Dubai Skyline from our Hotel Room.

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Sunday Morning, March 27th, we woke early, packed, and grabbed a taxi to the airport.  Dubai airport is huge and was very busy at 6:15am. Despite the number of people, the experience was very efficient and we moved quickly through immigration and security. We had some breakfast after going through security while we awaited our 13 hour flight.  The flight was smooth, but felt very long. We were all dreading the return to reality and the fact that all of us had to return to work on Monday morning. We arrived at Logan at 2pm (on Sunday), safe and sound after another exciting adventure!

Eggs on every flight!