New Zealand is just as amazing as they say it is

We are back from our short-but-awesome New Zealand vacation! We were fully aware that 8 days is an extremely short time to be in New Zealand, but 8 days is better than 0 days, don’t you think? We managed to pack in a lot of sightseeing and tourist activities in those 8 days and I can’t wait until the next time we can go. There are tons of pictures to clean up and post somewhere (excluding the super-secret, can’t-post-online Hobbit-holes) and many stories to tell.

In the meantime, here are some notes from our “holiday” abroad:

• There is no “coffee” in New Zealand (actually, if you find “filter coffee”, run away because it is bad). Everything is espresso-based, which I kind of love.
• There are cafes and pubs everywhere in Auckland. We actually saw a block with three cafes next to each other, all with plenty of people inside.
• Pubs pour half pints! As an Asian lightweight, I truly appreciate this.
• I can eat lamb every day and not get tired of it.
• Two days of eating huge hunks of (delicious) cheese is a bit much. I’m actually cheesed out.
• There are more sheep in New Zealand than in Scotland. Or it feels that way.
• Sheep do outnumber people 10 to 1.
• When you sit down to eat, you get a bottle or carafe of tap water. No more waiting for someone to fill up your water glass!
• Bread is not free. In fact, it can cost quite a bit, something I don’t really understand.
• Lots of cafes give you a piece of candy or fudge with your espresso drink. Why don’t they do that here?
• If you see lambs fry on the menu and it sounds good and comforting with a pile of mashed potatoes, gravy, and sautéed onions, don’t order it! You’ll take a bite, discover you’re eating liver, and be very sad. Very, very sad.
• Hokey pokey ice cream is absolutely wonderful. If we went into an ice cream shop and they didn’t have a hokey pokey flavor (flavour?), we didn’t get ice cream.

And last, but certainly not least: Even though you didn’t cry during the actual proposal, when you are telling people the story and you realize that it perfectly embodies the sweet man you are going to marry and then you start to tear up, you know he did a really good job and you couldn’t imagine it any other way.

Yes, people, we are getting married. Please bear with me; we’re starting to realize how little we know about wedding planning, wedding costs, and the fact that what we thought we wanted sounds boring and we want something a little bit more. We’re just not sure what that is yet.

Suffice to say, this was easily our best vacation ever.