I love everything about winter, so it's probably no surprise that I love getting out on the slopes. I've been going since I was a child, so when I met my husband and learned he had never been before, I was hoping he'd love it. Fortunately for me, while he did not enjoy his first two attempts at snowboarding, he ended up loving skiing just as much as I do -- probably more! To the point that for his birthday this year, he wanted a ski trip. So after spending a few days debating when and where, we scheduled a trip to Park City at the end of January. 

It seems as though there's a broad consensus that January is considered the worst month of the year -- many people are returning to work and packing up their holiday decor, and the weather isn't always pleasant. That's one reason why I always try to plan something for January, to look forward to in the New Year (one of the best parts of having an NYE wedding is first having your honeymoon in January and then booking trips for your anniversaries!). This year, one of my college girlfriends scheduled her wedding for January in Mexico, so my husband and I decided to take the week off and fly down a few days before the wedding to make the most of it .

Auckland is in the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) of New Zealand, and not only is it charming in its own right, there are so many amazing day trips you can take in pretty much every direction. Auckland was our final stop on our honeymoon, but I could have happily sent my whole honeymoon here. Warning... I thought Queenstown would remain my most photo-heavy post, but Auckland tops it because of all of my Hobbiton photos! :-) So sorry in advance for a photo-heavy post! 

Queenstown is, hands down, one of the most incredible places I have ever been in my life. My husband semi-seriously asks me on a weekly basis if we can move there. This is by far my heaviest photo post so far, and I had to force myself not to include even more photos. I couldn't believe how stunning it was! 

Sydney was the third and final destination of our honeymoon in Australia. I wasn't expecting to love the city so much, but Sydney ended up being my favorite part of our time in Australia! 

Just one of the things Australia is famous for is the Great Barrier Reef, so we knew we couldn't miss an opportunity to see it! We considered this the "beach" portion of our honeymoon, as it was the warmest location and our resort was across the street from the beach.  We flew from Melbourne to Cairns, and it was a very easy trip (about 3.5 hours). It was the second of our three stops in Australia, and it was so relaxing that when it was time to leave, we almost considered canceling our next portion (in Sydney) and staying! 

When my then-fiancé and I were trying to decide upon a honeymoon destination, we knew our honeymoon would likely be the longest vacation we'd ever take, so we wanted to take advantage of that when it came to travel time. That's why we chose Australia and New Zealand, since a day of travel both ways wouldn't cut too  much into it. And it helped that our honeymoon was in January, which is summer in the Southern Hemisphere! So we booked our first flight to  Melbourne, the capital of the Australian state of Victoria and a foodie city with lots of street art and options for several easy nearby day trips.