The Korean Palace in Autumn

While in Korea our small group explored Deoksugung Palace, the smallest of the royal palaces. The buildings were the traditional red with green beams and intricate details, and the palace grounds were landscaped with trees and ponds into a beautiful green space in the heart of seoul. We took so many pictures with the autumn colors that are impossible to find in Okinawa. When we started to feel chilly despite our coats and hats we popped into one of the many Starbucks all over the city for a warm drink. It was interesting walking out of the gate of a fifteenth century Korean palace into a modern American staple.

Korea had shisas everywhere like Okinawa, but theirs looked more like a dragon-dog and derpy too!

The Sunday Snapshot

An afternoon tea at Miche-Miche with my girlfriends!

The Thanksgiving Celebration in Seoul

Over the Thanksgiving holiday Matt and I traveled to Seoul, South Korea with our tower neighbors. While I had visited Matt in Seoul previously with no advance planning, we had planned this holiday trip in advance with three nights at the Dragon Hill Lodge and discount plane tickets on Peach airlines so that we spent less money and less time traveling to different hotels. It was truly a group effort to arrange activities that would fit all of our different interests, but in the end we all got to see the sights and eat the food around the very cool city of Seoul.

I had found the discount tickets for the low cost carrier Peach Airlines, and everyone was able to select a round-trip seat for less than $200. However, we learned a few things flying on the cheapest airline we could find. We had to take a bus from the airy domestic terminal at the Naha airport to an unfinished terminal surrounded by warehouses that housed the lower cost airlines. Matt and I only had carry-on bags, but security weighed them to make sure nobody went over 10 kilograms. We had to stop and move some items from Matt's backpack to mine in order to fit that requirement. We were then ushered to a waiting area with no food options and one drink vending machine. Fortunately we had already packed snacks since we knew the airline did not even offer free water to passengers. The plane was delayed about an hour, and when we finally boarded we had to exit the building and walk up the stairs on the tarmac. It was worth the time delayed and lack of luxury to us in order to save money for our next vacation, but anyone flying Peach airlines in the future should be prepared to wait in a bare terminal.

The next day David had arranged for an early morning bus tour to visit the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone around the border between North and South Korea). The bus driver gave us the history of the Korean War as we traveled North, and it was fascinating to hear about the war from a South Korean's point of view. I don't believe the Korean War was covered in very much detail in high school history class, so I really did learn a good bit about the causes of the war. We listened to the tour guide as he led us through a museum, looked through high-powered binoculars into North Korea, and toured a train station that was completed to connect the two countries before North Korea refused to allow the trains to run.

The high point of the tour is when we were given the opportunity to walk through the third tunnel that was built for North Korean soldiers to invade South Korea. North Korea has denied that they built it (of course), and had coated the walls with coal to make it look like a mining tunnel (although coal is not found in that area). We were given hard hats and walked down a steep, long slope to get to the tunnel that is 240 feet below ground. We thought the hard hats were just a silly precaution for tourists, but the long walk down the tunnel was punctuated by the sound of my taller companions repeatedly hitting their heads on rocks and knocking their helmets askew. Apparently I am the proper size for a North Korean soldier as I barely had to crane my neck at all. The long walk back to the surface was even more painful than the walk down, and as a result I had to take aspirin for my sore legs the remainder of the trip.

The low point of the tour was the last stop where, instead of allowing us to end the tour and buy lunch, we were ushered to a ginseng center. We were guided through a museum that assured us that ginseng prevents cancer and into a closed room where people in suits attempted to sell us various ginseng products. It was very mafia-like and unrelated to the DMZ and I was HUNGRY. I was happy when we were allowed back onto the bus and dropped off near the hotel to find food.

Later that evening we ate at a fancy Italian restaurant at the top of the North Seoul Tower. We had a take a very crowded cable car to get to the top, and Matt and I tried our best to shelter our most claustrophobic companion. Personal space has a different meaning in Korea, but the restaurant was nearly empty and had the most amazing view of the entire city at night!

During our trip we also ate Mexican food as well as traditional Korean food, toured castles and Christmas lights in front of department stores, and shopped at an underground shopping mall. My favorite part had to be the weather. We took off from sunny weather in the 80's in Okinawa and landed in snow flurries. We got to see snow and falling leaves and Christmas lights while wearing coats. It was a wonderful trip made more wonderful by sharing with friends (who you will get to see in my next post about our Seoul vacation)!

The Sunday Snapshot

Christmas pedicures with my friends!

The Stunning Sound

I saved the best for last. The last post about our New Zealand road trip has all of our photos from Milford Sound, the highlight of our vacation. We booked seats on a two hour cruise that left mid-day. We had about a two drive from Te Anau to reach the port, but the scenery was spectacular. There were lakes and streams and waterfalls streaking down the steep mountains. The most impressive civil engineering I had ever seen was the Homer tunnel that runs three-quarters of a mile through solid rock. It was begun during the Great Depression, and it is still the only way to reach Milford Sound from the rest of New Zealand. The cruise had a cabin with windows, but we spent most of our time on the open air deck as we ate our picnic lunch and snapped so many photos of the snowy peaks and waterfalls. There was a brisk wind, but it was worth braving it to be just a little bit closer to the panoramic views. 

We simply had to stop to take photos while driving through the mountains.

Finally on our boat to tour the sound. 

At some points the captain steered directly under the falls. I took shelter in the cabin to avoid getting wet!

Seals napping in the sun. 

The best weather and the best views during our entire vacation. 

The New Zealand Castle

While staying in Dunedin Matt and I visited Larnach Castle, advertised as New Zealand's only castle. The home was built by William Larnach in the 1870s and is really more of a mansion, but the details and history are still very impressive. Larnach named his home "The Camp" and used the symbol of the Scottish wildcat throughout. I approve of his mascot (and Tilly would too)!

The entryway floor from the second story. 

We roamed the gardens framed by tall hedges and met some resident ducks in their picturesque pool before heading inside for a self-guided tour. There were multiple stories connected by a swirling, hanging staircase. Each room had interesting details and ceilings of carved wood or plaster molded into intricate designs. My favorite room was the relatively plain room in the lower level that held all of the Larnach family history. Their history read like a tragic novel. William Larnach built the house with his beloved first wife, Eliza. After she died twenty-one years and six children later, he married her sister, Mary, and put the house in her name as his businesses failed and his debts grew. Mary died five years later, and William had to do some legal trickery to get the house back in his name. He then married the much younger Constance. She began an affair with William's oldest son, and it is believed the affair is what prompted William Larnach to suicide. What drama! The house had personal items on display such as Constance's white bridal gown and William's spyglass. I always appreciate the reminder that even those living in a castle with beautiful gowns were not necessarily happy. Wealth cannot buy happiness, after all. 

The tour began in the history room on the lowest level and ended at a steep, stone staircase that led outside to the turret. I appreciated the beautiful ocean views of the Otago peninsula while Matt admired the strategic advantage of building a house on a hill surrounded on multiple sides with water. He explained the difficulty of attempting to surprise the Larnach family since they could see ships from so far away. While this castle might not have ever been under attack, they did choose a perfectly beautiful spot to build. We only spent a few hours at Larnach castle, but I think it was an amazing combination of museum for Matt and castle (with cats!) for me. 

The view from the turret.

The Sunday Snapshot

Peacock Fountain in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. It reminded me so much of Savannah, GA!

The Argument for Driving through New Zealand

Our little car taking us through the mountains towards Milford Sound. 

While researching our trip to New Zealand I read multiple blogs that gave conflicting opinions on the best mode of transportation. Some advised renting a car or van and driving yourself, but others suggested taking hop-on hop-off tour buses that traveled through all the towns we visited. Here are five reasons I would encourage others to drive themselves through this beautiful country. 

1. The rental company made the process easy for us. 

We rented an economy car from Ace, and they provided a shuttle from the airport to the rental agency the day we arrived and another shuttle from the rental agency to the train station the day before we left. We saved money by not having to take any taxis until after we returned the car. With our U.S. driving license we did not have to fill out any extra paperwork. They just reminded us to stay on the left side of the road, and off we went!

Golden fields and blue ocean on the Eastern coast. 

2. The driving was not stressful. 

Full disclosure: Matt did all of the driving, so I cannot comment from personal experience. I should say Matt did not consider the driving stressful. Driving in Okinawa is full of swerving around cars parked in the street and trying to get through a million stop lights, but New Zealand is mostly empty two-lane roads surrounded by sheep and amazing scenery. The handy GPS never led us astray, and we played an audiobook to entertain the both of us while Matt drove. (Packing for Mars by Mary Roach - highly recommended!)

The only time I was nervous was on the drive to Milford Sound. We had to travel THROUGH a mountain in a dark, damp tunnel for ten minutes, and afterwards we were going back and forth down a mountain range. The drive seemed dangerous to me, but I trusted Matt in our tiny car more than I would a bus driver in a gigantic vehicle. 

We also did not have a problem obeying New Zealand traffic laws, since we are used to driving on the left side of the road, except for ONE TIME. We did get pulled over once, and the police officer wrote us a ticket instead of a warning. We were on a straight country road with no cars or buildings in sight. The speed limit was 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph) and our car was clocked at 112 kph (70 mph). Not even a warning for tourists?!? I call speed trap. Still, the police officer was friendly and the small ticket did not add any additional stress to our trip. 

Overlooking Lake Wakatipu

3. The freedom in our schedule. 

Some tour buses only leave once a day from certain towns. We would have to rush to make the one bus! Instead, we slept as long as we wanted, grabbed breakfast (or brunch, depending on the time of day), and started on the road whenever we felt like it. 

We could also visit wherever we wanted, even smaller attractions that might be more difficult to schedule with a bus. For example, we stopped at the Moeraki Boulders during sunset. It was not peak time since the tide was in and the cafe was closed, but that was when we passed the sign to turn-off. We were the only two on the beach!

4. We stopped whenever we wanted or needed to take a break. 

Matt was a wonderfully patient travel companion and stopped whenever I needed a bathroom break. There are lots of public bathrooms along the scenic roads in NZ, and most of them are outside. Some were very clean and well-stocked, but others did not flush and had no soap. Beggars can't be choosers in the middle of nowhere (especially when I really had to go), so I am glad the option was available. I am also glad I wasn't stuck on a bus that would not stop for potty breaks as often as I would like!

5. The photos without other people!

Whenever we saw a tour bus stop at a famous sight, forty to fifty people got off and started clicking immediately. Conversely, in our little car we stopped along the road to take photos whenever we wanted and had no other people in the way of the amazing views. 

The unobstructed views of the Otago Peninsula. Worth the drive!

The New Zealand Overview

After unpacking and sorting through the hundreds of photos we snapped, I am thrilled to review our longest and most expensive trip to date - New Zealand! It was the most beautiful place on Earth I have witnessed, and if I do not leave Japan again until we move I will still be content with my experiences in the Pacific. I want to share our itinerary and details for any other lucky travelers  trying to make the hard decisions about what to see and do in New Zealand.

Matt and I flew from Okinawa to Tokyo on Jetstar (the cheapest airline I could find for the two hour trip), but flew Air New Zealand the ten hours from Tokyo to Auckland as well as the short jump from Auckland in the North Island to Christchurch in the South Island. I have only flown United on long trips, but Air New Zealand was a completely different experience. In a good way! Air New Zealand offers a sky couch option in economy class. I simply paid for the third seat in the row I selected for Matt and myself, and the whole thing converts into a bench. The armrests fold up and the footrests fold out even with the seat. Matt was able to sit cross-legged leaning against the window while I could curl up and only take up two seats. Being able to lie down on a flight was huge! The food was also the best I've had while flying, and you could request drinks and snacks for free at any time. Moving from Jetstar where they charge you even for a glass of water to this luxury made me feel like a million bucks.

We splurged on the airfare, so we saved on our accommodations. We stayed in hostels which have a bad reputation in America but were a clean, affordable alternative in New Zealand. I booked private, ensuite rooms so we had a private bathroom and locking door, like a hotel, but we could use the public kitchen and laundry unique to hostels that cater to younger (and poorer) travelers.

Our favorite room in Te Anau was just a converted shed, but it was private and cozy. We stayed three nights!

Day 1: We landed in Christchurch around noon and realized the difficulty of life without cell phones. In order to call our rental car company to send a shuttle we had to find an atm in order to withdraw New Zealand dollars, make change since the pay phone only accepted coins, and figure out how to dial a foreign number.  Ace rentals sent a shuttle, we picked up our economy car, and drove to our first hostel. We stayed on the top floor of YMCA Christchurch in a room overlooking the botanical gardens right across the street.

Day 2: We drove the longest leg of our trip to Dunedin, a town founded by Scottish settlers with distinctly European architecture. We checked into Kiwi's Nest Backpackers, a converted 100-year-old house with a wood-burning water heater named Gentle Ben. 

Day 3: Matt climbed Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world, while I slept in. New Zealand has a four hour time difference from Japan that made it very difficult to rise and shine in the morning. After brunch we explored Larnach Castle and the Dunedin Railway Station.

Day 4: We ate too much chocolate on a behind-the-scenes tour of Cadbury World that included a chocolate waterfall and all-you-can-eat liquid chocolate. We then set out in the rain to our next stop. We checked into Te Anau Lakefront Backpackers, which, as its name suggests, was right on Lake Te Anau. 

Day 5: The perfect, sunny day for a Milford Sound cruise! It had rained the day before so all of the waterfalls were magnificent. We did not even make it to the sound before we stopped along the roadside to take pictures. 

Day 6: We cruised across Lake Te Anau on our way to see glowworm caves. There was no whispering allowed once we entered the pitch-black caves, but as the guide maneuvered the tiny boat we saw blinking blue lights on the cave ceiling that looked just like stars! 

Day 7: I toured a farm and finally got to pet one of the lambs I had seen scampering around the many sheep pastures in the country.  We also got to meet some adorable alpacas, but I was not so thrilled to meet pigs and goats. I don't think I am a country girl at heart. We finished the day driving into Queenstown and staying at YHA Queenstown Central. 

Day 8: We spent a leisurely morning on the lakefront in Queenstown eating brunch and shopping for souvenirs. We enjoyed a late lunch and coffee in the nearby town of Wanaka that had beautiful views of snow-capped mountains over a blue lake. That night we stayed at YHA Franz Josef.

Day 9: Matt hiked to the Franz Josef glacier while I took myself to breakfast. We had the rest of the day to drive to Greymouth, and we made several stops when signs pointed to nearby attractions. My favorite photo stop was Fantail Falls that emptied into a turquoise pool!

Inside Dunedin Railway Station

Day 10: We took the Tranz-Alpine Railway from Greymouth to Christchurch. It cut through the mountains with some spectacular views. We slept in Christchurch a few hours before our early flight the next day. Farewell, New Zealand!