Mum, Dad and Si arrive in NZ

Si, Mum and Dad all arrived in NZ on Friday afternoon, unfortunately I was at work so James went to the airport at 2pm to pick them up, as Sal had the afternoon off she got the bus up to Auckland and was at our house to greet them when they got back. After getting them cups of tea and eating the lovely carrot cake Em had helped me bake the previous night, James took them into Mt Eden to show Si around and take them for some drinks. I managed to get away at 4pm and went to join them in Liquid Molten. At around 6pm we headed back to our house where Si joined us. As it was our mission to keep them awake I managed to delay dinner till later before they headed off to bed.
Saturday morning we were woken up early (curse our visitors jet-lag!) We decided to split up for the day with the boys heading off on a Waiheke wine tour and Me, Sal and Mum heading off for some wedding dress shopping (one of the only opportunities I'll get with both Sal and Mum) We met up with the boys again in the afternoon before heading to Mulberry in Mt Eden for a lovely dinner.
Sunday morning (another early wake up!) we headed into the centre of Auckland and up sky tower for an amazing brunch, also a good chance to show Si Auckland, we then headed back home to back for our week in South Island as well as taking them up Mt Eden for a lovely view of the city. That evening we boarded our flight for Christchurch. We arrived in the city, and after a hunt around found a small curry house for some food before turning in for the night.
Monday morning we headed in to Christchurch for a quick wander round the city, breakfast and a look around the arts centre. After breakfast we headed out over Arthur's pass. After several stops along the way to climb on rocks, take lots of photos and wander into hokitika (not for getting Si's brief dip in lake mapourika) We made it to Franz Josef at 7.30pm. We checked into our motel, had a dinner of fish and chips in a local pub the headed round to the hot springs. Beautiful spa pools located in beautiful rainforest settings in the middle of Franz Josef. We then went back to the pub for another beer before turning in for the night.
Tuesday morning was spent up on the Franz Josef glacier, and surprise surprise, it was raining (with only 50 dry days a year how could we expect anything different!) A great morning! Because it was raining so heavily we decided to miss Lake Matherson and head straight over to Wanaka. The sun came out as we were heading over to Wanaka and we arrived to much nicer weather. After checking in to our motel we headed straight out to a nice bar with massive outdoor fire where we spent the whole evening only interrupted by going to the Italian restaurant next door for dinner.
Wednesday morning we got up at a reasonable hour and headed up the mountain to Treble Cone ski field. We started the day going up and down the main side of the mountain before having some lunch and heading over to my favourite side of the mountain - the saddle basin. Great fun skiing with Si, trying to pick up some tips on how to improve my skiing style, had a couple of spectacular falls while trying to follow Si down the mountain (he's a little faster than me!) After a great day up the mountain we went down into Wanaka for a beer (Si and I had another sneaky pint while we left Mum and Dad to get food from the supermarket) before driving over to Queenstown. That evening Si had his first Fergburger, and there was no going back! That evening we spent the night having some beers in Queenstown.
Thursday we spent the day around Queenstown, we started our day by heading over to the Canyon swing office and booking our swings - terrifying and exhilarating experience - a tandem 'Gimp boy goes to hollywood' followed by the 'Chair of Death'. That evening we went for a lovely meal having a feast in the Botswana Butchery, we ended the evening with some cocktails out of tea pots and a gin and tonic in the Dux de Lux bar.
Friday started off as a bit of a disappointment when our flight to Milford Sound was cancelled, but luckily we found out just in time to book on to a rafting trip down the Kawarau river. Mum and Dad had a great day swearing that in future they'll tackle some more challenging rapids. That afternoon we headed to Arrowtown to check out a few LOTR location spots and have some coffee and cake before flying back to Auckland.
After arriving in Auckland airport at 6pm we picked up the hire car and set straight off on a 5 hour car journey down to National Park. We arrived at 11pm shortly before Sal, Si and James and had a few beers before heading to bed.
Saturday morning we woke up to beautiful sunshine with clear skies so we headed up the mountain. Unfortunately most of North Island also knew the weather was going to be amazing and so they all joined us up the mountain! We had a great day skiing, with 2 spectacular head first falls by Mum, followed by a pretty good fall by Dad (which I missed) and so we decided to call it a day. We spent the rest of the evening in the pub having some food and plenty of beers. After discussion that evening we decided to head up to Rotorua on Sunday to show Si the mud pools and geysers.
Sunday morning we headed up to Rotorua to Kerosene creek, Te Puia geysers and Zorbing, Mum, Dad and Si then headed back to Hamilton with Sal and Si whilst James and I headed back to Suckland. A great week!