A Sakura Story: New Zealand

New Zealand - Queenstown

Queenstown was by far the most vibrant city we visited while in the South Island. Although it is a small resort town there is so much to do and see with plenty of trendy bars, yuppie cafes and cute boutiques. After camping and cooking out of the campervan most evenings it was great to take a break and try a few of the trendy restaurants in town. The seafood was incredible.

Seafood Platter dinner at Fintz Bistro - oysters, mussels, clams, grilled fish - everything was top-notch.

Beautiful Lake Wakitipu with the Remarkables in the background.

Shot-over River - we declined to ride the Jet boats there after hearing one too many stories of passenger fatalities - we chose the safe route and went paragliding instead.

I am fairly certain (Kingsley can confirm) that I ate my body weight in Green Mussels during our two weeks in New Zealand. They are so delicious I just couldnt get enough of them. These particular ones were steamed in a masala curry broth which was a fantastic blend of flavors. One of my top 10 favorite meals of all time has to be steamed mussels with a glass of New Zealand Sav Blanc.

Our cozy tent and campervan at the Shot-over Top 10 Holiday Park.

During our journey throughout New Zealand, we developed a special nickname for the bed inside our camper: "The Plank". If I had one major complaint about two weeks in our campervan it would be that the bed was not very comfortable. I had baseball sized bruises on both of my hips from sleeping on The Plank. Its not that there was no mattress, its just that it was shockingly thin thus providing almost no padding. In hindsight, those inflatable camping mattress pads would have been a lifesaver!

Finally,after hearing me complain about the bed enough, for our last night in Queenstown, Kingsley set up the tent that came with our campervan. We spent the night under the stars and had our best night of sleep of the entire trip!

A short clip of Kingsley putting up the tent while I "supervised".

An important note to make sure you have a great experience at the Holiday Parks. Make sure your campsite is VERY near the bathrooms and kitchen. We learned this trick early on and it made life so much easier.