New Zealand Day Three & Four

January 16th & 17th: Oamaru- Dunedin- Te Anau

We pretty much traced the coastal edge of the whole south island while driving and much of our scenery was either amazing snowy mountains or beautiful untouched beaches like the one below.  We had to stop and play in the sand and soak up the sun while Dylan slept in the campervan.  It was a brilliant day and a great way to start off our hours drive into Oamaru.

We hadn't quite figured out the campervan heating system, so the first two nights were interesting.  Dylan was too cold and had to sleep between us to keep heat in plus he was a little jet lagged.  On the third night Dirk finally reset the system and we had glorious heat!  It was going to be needed when we hit Milford Sound where is got down to 44 F (7 C).

We were pretty self contained in our little campervan.  We had heat, a stove, refrigerator, microwave, toilet, shower, and toaster.  We made hamburgers, hot dogs, lots and lots of sandwiches.  We even made breakfast Nanacos, yes Nan Tacos, Nanacos.  We couldn't find tortillas so we made do with Nan instead. 

Amazing blue water again!

New Zealand 2012

No one for miles!

Could have stayed here all day!  Should have camped here!

The faithful campervan, went 2500km total on the trip!

Goodbye little paradise

Baby Feeding stop!

Made it to Dunedin on the fourth day on our way to Te Anau.  It was a great town on the coast and I wish we had more time there.  We missed the famous penguin colonies in Oamaru as well.  They have the tiny blue penguins that come to shore at dusk which is at 9PM in NewZealand.  The sun sets at 10PM and Dylan was usually passed out well before so we decided that we must skip the penguins.  Next time...

Cute Town of Dunedin

Great Presbyterian Church in Dunedin

Made it to Te Anau, last stop before Milford Sound and it was absolutely beautiful.  I wonder how many times I will say that in these posts about New Zealand?  Te Anau had Lake Te Anau and the Te Anau Caves that you could see glow worms in.  We took our little glow worm with us to the caves but he stayed outside... if he were to cry he could have scared the glow worms??

Te Anau was a great little town, we had dinner by the lake each night from a local fish & chips stand.  I can honestly say, it was the best fish & chips I have ever had.  The campervan park was right next to the lake as well so we had some great morning shots of the lake.  We stayed two nights in Te Anau and really took in all this little town had to offer.

Lake Te Anau

Off to see the glow worm caves 

Our little glow worm on the boat

This was probably 8PM at night!  Crazy huh?

Pictures infront of the lake!

On our way to Milford Sound... SHEEP!

There definitely more sheep than people in New Zealand.

Maybe 30 to 1, Sheep to people... maybe more?

We saw a rainbow on our way out of Te Anau... must be a good sign!

On our way into the moutains!

The clouds took on a life of their own in the mountains.

New Zealand Day One and Two

January 14th & 15th, 2012

Christchurch--Timaru--Lake Tekapo

Our New Zealand adventure started out with a nine and a half hour night flight from Singapore to Christchurch.  The flight was a taste to what is to come when going back to the USA, neither Dirk nor I got a whole lot of sleep on the flight.  We sat in the baby row next to four other babies, one would be up crying while the other three were trying to sleep then take turns crying... Dylan actually slept pretty well in the bassinet, it was mom who had a hard time sleeping.

Getting into Christchurch was really easy and retrieving our moving house, a Maui campervan, was even easier.  We packed up and headed to the nearest grocery store and stocked up for the twelve day adventure ahead.  

Instead of staying in Christchurch like we should have and getting more rest, we headed for the open road.  First stop was Timaru, 3 hours down south.

I can't say we did too much there but take showers and go to bed early to catch up on sleep.  The next morning we woke up and headed for Caroline Bay with a picnic.

After packing up the moving house we headed towards Oamaru taking a small detour to Lake Tekapo. 

Caroline Bay

Cute little town of Timaru

Enjoying the beautiful blue water

Headed to Lake Tekapo

Stopping every two and a half hours to feed and change the baby.

The campervan came in handy for this little guys needs.

Wild Flowers & Mountains

Lake Tekapo

The Church of The Good Shepard  

Dylan enjoying the sights

Amazingly blue water for a lake.

Pretty much all the lakes and rivers were this color.

The Fullerton Hotel Singapore

January 7th, 2012: Celebrating our four year anniversary

Our anniversary is actually January 5th and naturally we both forgot on the day.  Jessica had to tell me the date for me to even know it was our anniversary, so I texted Dirk, and naturally he had forgotten too.  Dirk had John, Jessica's husband, take him to the mall after work to buy me a present.  I had been eyeing a fabulous ring at Swarovski, more costume jewelry than anything...  

Anyhow, Dirk had planned a great night at The Fullerton Hotel in Singapore with dinner at Otto Restaurant.  He booked the Straits Club level at the Fullerton which is their suite floor.  It had free flow cocktails and champagne for two hours before dinner plus a great breakfast in the morning.  The turn down service was a nice touch with ice and bottled water on each night stand.  Trust me, we both needed to rehydrate after cocktail hour and a bottle of wine at dinner plus the bottle of prosecco in the room.  It was a night of celebrating for sure!

We left Dylan at home with Jessa, our live in helper.  She loves that little boy like her own and I am finally trusting her more and more.  He was in great hands.

The Fullerton Hotel

All decorated for Chinese New Year

Gong Xi Fa Cai "Happy New Year"

The pre-dinner picture

Awesome bottle of Italian Prosecco I picked up at the Wine Fiesta

Otto Italian Restaurant 

The chef is supposedly famous and came out to all the tables.  We had a five course dinner with another great bottle of wine.  Wagyu Beef, Seafood Bisque, Pasta Bolognese, Pounded Beef Tenderloin... great dinner.

Had to get a picture in front of the orange tree, another Chinese New Year tradition

2012 and the Year of the Dragon are going to be the BEST yet!!

Happy New Year 2012

We headed back to Capella Sentosa for a quiet one with Justina & Chris.  For some reason going out on the town, staying up to see the sunrise, and chasing down taxis didn't really appeal to us this year.  

Capella had Macy Gray performing for $1000 a seat.... can you say 1990s?? We opted out on that too.  Instead we hung out, ate WAY to much, and saw three firework shows in the comfort of Holmes' new apartment. 

The firework shows weren't right infront of us but we got to see MGM studios, Siloso beach party Sentosa, and Marina Bay Sands.  Two things about Singapore... they like fireworks and it is so small that you can see three shows from one place.  So that fulfilled our excitement of NYE. 

The rest of the night we watched UHF... its a movie, have you seen it??  Me neither.  I have come to the enlightenment that you can still learn something new about someone you have lived with, and known for over ten years...  yes, that is right.  Dirk LOVES this movie, I MEAN, LOVES! He recited the whole movie for us, and that was entertainment in itself... I am still a little floored by it.

The Dunlap's sans Dylan

The appetizers

UHF 


"You are one lucky little boy because you just found the marble in the oatmeal.  Do you know what that means?  You get to drink from the fire hose" -- had to have some help with this from Dirk, obviously

Today kids, we are teaching poodles how to fly!!

Christmas on Sentosa Island

Christmas Brunch at Capella on Sentosa.  I love brunches and in Singapore they really know how to do them right... sushi, prawn, mussels, pasta, grilled chicken, pork, lamb... all so good!

And don't forget, the free flow alcohol :)

Merry Christmas!

Mr. Peacock made his presence

Justina & Chris

Daddy & Dylan