New Zealand

We are back from New Zealand. Talk about trip of a lifetime. We spent so much time planning and anticipating and then it really happened. I think back on the memories we made and the experiences we had and it seems so surreal to me. Sometimes I can't believe we actually pulled it off. We went to New Zealand for almost 3 weeks: 4 adults, 2 babies in an RV and none of us hated each other by the end. We got to do everything we wanted to do and we didn't break the bank (this included some unforeseen expenses as well) and everything was amazing.

We landed. Got our RV, which wasn't the one we booked because ours was in the repair shop, yikes, grocery shopped and drove to the Cathedral Cove car park (parking lot) to freedom camp (awesome way to save money).

We woke up early for a trail run to Cathedral Cove before all the tourists and kayakers showed up.

We had to go early also because Hot Water Beach is only good at low tide which was 10 AM and you need to be there 1.5 hours early to get a good spot and dig yourself a hot tub in the sand. As you dig, hot water comes up through the sand, which is steaming, you let the surf mix in some cool sea water and you've got a hot tub. It was awesome and G's first time to the beach. He was a big fan.

Then we were off to Kaite (almost my name) falls and summited Mount Manganui.

We camped on the beach again and the little can't get enough.

Never send a vegan to dig for clams or oysters. You will go hungry.

New Zealand is an amazing country. And is right up our ally. Adventure capital of the world. Luckily for us, the couple we traveled with is very similar. And they had a little girl, so we could swap watching the littles and still do adventurous stuff. Like raft off a 21 FOOT WATERFALL! (The highest commercially rafted fall in the world)

PS: I did NOT fall out. Almost, but between my will and Derek grabbing my leg, I stayed in that boat.

It was the ultimate day trip. Only 50 min-1 hour on the water. Perfect for swapping out baby duty.

That night we went to an amazing Maori Cultural Experience at Tamaki Maori Village. Derek had the chance to learn the Haka and won in a stick game. We ate a Hangi, traditional meal cooked in the ground (they even made me a vegan one).

Next morning we drove to Waitomo and went on a 4 hour caving tour. We rappelled 100 m (aka over 300 FEET) into a huge cave with an underground river. It was awesome.

Here is a view of Waitomo from my run while we were on baby duty (hubby and I switched off running).

Then we drove and freedom camped near the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. An epic hike. Also where they filmed Mordor for these movies called The Lord of the Rings.

I have a picture on this rock of me 9 years ago.

Oh hello Mount N gauruhoe aka Mt. Doom. We opted to summit Mount Tongariro instead

Emerald Pools.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing was a long and WINDY day. The little guy was a champ. And then, our motor home broke down and we were stranded on the side of a windy, mountain road for 3 hours. And the mechanic who showed up told us we were stupid American drivers who didn't know how to drive mountains. And he took us 30 minutes in the wrong direction. Needless to say, we didn't spend much time in Wellington the next day because after 2 hours at the museum, we had to catch our ferry to the Southern island.

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We stayed on a cool farmstead. The littles loves feeding the goats, sheep, cows, rabbits, and chickens. We continued to have motor home problems so we stopped in Nelso to take it into the shop. Lucky for us there was a market where we purchased our green stone and had is blessed by this awesome guy.

Turns out there WAS something wrong with the motor home. A "electrical gremlin" (direct quote) was causing a valve to not shut and then the engine would basically not give power. Hence why we would be go 20 km (that is like 10 mph) up hills. It didn't happen every hill, just every once in a while. So we got to Kaiteriteri later than we wanted, but the beach was still a great way to have the sun set on our motor home problems.

We had to change up our schedule because we were going to trail run in Abel Tasman Natioinal Park the 1st day we got there, but we were behind schedule, so we had to fit ours and our friend's runs into one day and the 1st water taxi wasn't until 9:30. So Derek and I ran it in reverse meaning we HAD to be to the end by 11:30 or we'd miss our water taxi.

We started at 7:30, were making great time. Stopped and explored. It was a beautiful run.

Photo evidence of my best ever handstand.

Cleopatra's Pool. Yes, that is a natural water slide. Cold water was refreshing.

We underestimated our distance by 2 miles (18, not 16) and spent too long at Cleopatra's Pool. We were sprinting the last few miles and made our boat with 3 minutes to spare.

Then we relaxed on the beach. The little one wasn't too sure about the paddle board.

We camped on the beach. Found this beauty on my morning run.

We headed down the west coast.

We got our 3rd RV (and it worked great for the rest of the trip) and saw the Pancake Rocks/blow holes.

Saw some glaciers. Well, saw one, the other one has receded too much.

Next day was Mount Aspiring National Park. Lots of rain. Lots of waterfalls. Exploration.

Spent the night in Wanaka, awesome town. Early morning bouldering before hitting up the trail to Mt. Roy.

Summit of Mt. Roy

We split with our friends in Queenstown and we headed to Invercargill to see the lady I lived with during my study abroad. This was one of my absolute highlights. It was so wonderful to see her again and to have Derek and our son meet her. It was so sweet. I wanted to stay in those moments forever. Except for when the little one ate straight tartar sauce...that was gross.

We saw the REAL Hobbiton...it's in the animal conservatory in Queens Park in Invercargill...

And yes, that is a Wallaby in the same pen as turkeys, rabbits, chickens, and roosters...

Next day was Milford Sound (where we met back up with our friends.)

We drove to Queenstown and did nothing more exciting than this.

Then we flew to Auckland.

The view from Mount Managre, my last run in NZ (just outside of Auckland).

I do my best to respect the privacy of my son, so there aren't pictures of his face on public sites.

The trip was amazing. We are so blessed to be able to travel like we do. And you don't have to be rich to travel, we aren't. Read on for some great travel tips.

Some people ask, how do you afford to travel like you do?

Here is my answer. (If you don't want to know, just skip down to the pictures)

No, my husband does not make lots of money. He is a physical therapist, I work 2 days a week as a recreation therapist. We have a mortgage, student loans, and a child. (We all know how pricey those are...) Even when I was working full time, our income never exceeded 6 figures. And we don't care, because money DOES NOT = happiness. In fact to me, money = unhappiness. We had a year while my husband was in school and we were NOT living with my parents this year, we lived in Colorado, far away from family, and my income was $13,000. That's it. And we were happy. So happy. We lived life to the fullest then and continue to try to live beneath and definitely comfortably within our means to continue living life to the fullest. Sure times were and still can be hard, but the hard times make you appreciate the beauty of the good times and to find beauty in the hard times.

With that, I am going to tell you our secret to travel.

SAVE SAVE SAVE

SACRIFICE

BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET

SEARCH FOR KILLER DEALS

That's it.

1. SAVE SAVE SAVE: Any time we get extra money, baby sitting, birthday/Christmas gifts (sometimes), sell our old stuff, tax returns, etc. we put it in the vacation jar.

2. SACRIFICE: We rarely, like not even once a month, go out to eat. We always bring lunch to work. We eat all our leftovers and do not waste food. Wasted food = wasted money. And to me, it's ethically wrong. We don't go to movies, ever. Redbox = luxurious date night. We do a lot of free activities. We prioritize what we want to spend our money on and sometimes things (like our climbing passes) get cut from the list. We don't drink alcohol or coffee, so that's a big amount on cash we don't spend. All my clothes are hand-me-downs or gifts. Truly, I have probably bought myself 10 items of clothing without gift cards and rebates in my 7.5 years of marriage. All our son's clothes, hand-me-downs. We own ONE CAR. And have owned ONE CAR for over 5 years. Hard and inconvenient? Sometimes, but we make it work.

3. BUDGET: We have a strict budget. 5 categories. Food, dog, home repair (my husband could keep Home Depot in business), gas, and everything else. And we DO NOT go over budget. If we do, it gets applied to that category in next month's budget or taken from another category in the current month's budget if there is wiggle room. If there is extra money in the budget, it doesn't roll over to give more for the next month, it gets saved.

I will let you in on a little secret. I have a monthly food budget of $300. That's it. For 2 adults and a baby who eats as much as I do (sometimes). And we don't eat Top Raman and Tuna Fish. We eat really well (as you can see from my website). Sometimes, often, it's really close. Sometimes, I am way under. It just goes to say, when there is a will there is a way. I coupon. I shop deals. I buy close to expired food. I purchase things at 3-4 different stores, and I shop 2x a week to prevent over buying and allowing things to go bad.

4. SEARCH FOR A KILLER DEAL: this is my husband's forte. He subscribes to several travel sites. And now with the help of our good friend Emily @flightsfromhome we can find killer deals from SLC, not Denver or LA or NYC. Then we set a budget, we make a lot of our meals once we are there, and are realistic. Yes, it helps we like to do free things like hike and run. But when you are somewhere you know you will never go again, you gotta live it up.

So, if you have endured my tips on how to save for travel, you are rewarded with stunning pictures.

#travel