Our next stop on our journey was Waitomo to take the Black Abyss tour of the Ruakuri Cave (yup, that's me repelling into it in the picture above!). The drive to Waitomo from Auckland was very beautiful and quite green. We even took a small detour out to the coast to visit the black sand beaches near Raglan.
We really spent most of our time in Auckland outside of the city in the surrounding area and on the islands. This also meant that we took snacks with us everywhere we went since we didn't know what, if any, safe places to eat we would find.
Our first stop on our adventure was Auckland, the most populous city in the whole country, which is located on the north half of the North Island. I spent a bit over a week here back in 2005 so I had some familiarity with the layout of the city. Some of the highlights were our day trips to Devonport to explore the tunnels around North Head, hiking Rangitoto, and cruising around Waiheke Island in a convertible.
I'll admit, this isn't exactly a quality picture (nor will this be much of a quality post), but it was taken in a dimly lit confined tube.
Anyway, we flew Air New Zealand both ways and I was pleasantly surprised by their gluten free meal offerings over the 13 hour flight. I got to select the special meal option when we booked our tickets and they stated that customers with severe reactions may not want to partake as they couldn't guarantee that cross contamination may have occurred in the production of the meals, so we brought enough of our own food in case it looked suspicious.
And we're off! My hubby and I are headed out on our official month long honeymoon to New Zealand. I'm looking forward to all of the gluten free adventures we will have there and will make sure to document them all for a an awesome series of Gluten Free In New Zealand here on Gluten Free Travelette!
Speaking of my hubby, he pointed out to me today that I really ought to do a post on how I prepare for my travels. So I thought I would add to this post how I'm preparing for our 3 1/2 week trip to New Zealand.
Before I go anywhere, I do a whole lot of online research on Google and compile a list of gluten free friendly restaurants, cafes, and shops. I use search terms such as "Gluten Free in Auckland" or "Gluten Free Restaurants in Auckland" or "Gluten Free Friendly Restaurants in Auckland". I do this for every city we are planning to visit. I also search for organic grocery stores or co-ops, since they tend to have a selection of gluten free foods. Restaurants and cafes that cater to vegans or vegetarians also tend to be more understanding of other food intolerances.
When booking hotels, I try to stay at places that offer at least a in-room refrigerator. This way I can go stock up on non-dairy milks and other speciality products when I get there. A room with a microwave or kitchenette is even better!
This was one of my favorites growing up and on a whim one morning I decided to see if it could easily translate to a gluten free and cows milk free version and it worked delightfully well!
When I was out in Boise, Idaho late last year I picked up some Sun Flour Mills Chocolate Cake Mix since I had never seen or heard of the brand before and I love to try new products.
Before I get in to the rest of this post I have to write something about the amazing smoothy that is pictured above. It's called Chocolate Cherry and it's just about one of the best things I have ever tasted. It's a blend of bananas, cherries, raw cacao, and vanilla hemp milk and tasted so much like a chocolate milk shake that I wanted to jump up and down a whole lot.