Married At First Sight Australia bride Mishel Meshes has taken to social media to rave about Queenstown, New Zealand, despite it providing the backdrop for the couple’s first fight.
Newlyweds Steve Burley, 52, and Mishel Meshes, 48, were sent to Queenstown for their honeymoon, and on Tuesday night’s episode of the reality TV series we saw the couple getting to know one another as they tackled the Queenstown luge, hit the Cardrona ski fields, sampled the region’s wine and enjoyed a picnic on the shores of Lake Wakatipu.
But the mood quickly deteriorated when Steve pulled Mishel up about “whinging” all day, following a trying day on the ski slopes where beginner skier Mishel spent most of her time on her bottom – and a lot of time complaining. (See the video above.)
“I was a bit surprised… because you’d spoken to me previously about how you’re into extreme sports and that, but I just felt today was a lot of negativity,” Steve began.
“You were whinging about this, you were whinging about that… You were whinging about your shoes… you were too hot… you were too cold… Yeah, we fell over a few times. Who cares.”
The 48-year-old teacher bit back, complaining that it had taken them an hour and half to travel to the slopes and an hour to get kitted up, and then she hadn’t even enjoyed skiing.
But Steve insisted that she’d done nothing but whinge and she eventually realised she’d been oblivious to how she had come across and apologised to Steve.
And fortunately for New Zealand tourism the argument seemed to have no bearing on the MAFS bride’s enthusiasm for Queenstown.
Mishel has taken to Instagram to sing Queenstown’s praises.
She captioned an image of the pair in the popular tourist destination: “Queenstown New Zealand… Exciting Adventure Capital!!! Bring on the thrills!”
“Wineries and more wine… there are so many beautiful wineries in Queenstown,” she went on to gush in this Instagram post:
She also shared an image of Steve on the luge as well as one of the couple picnicking on the shores of Lake Wakatipu.
It’s not the first time New Zealand scenery has provided a stunning backdrop for MAFS footage.
In the show’s 2019 series golden couple Cam and Jules honeymooned in the Bay of Islands.
They even unofficially renewed their vows on the wharf at Russell because “we didn’t remember a thing from our wedding day… it was all such a blur,” Jules told Woman’s Day.
Jules also revealed a few months after visiting New Zealand that it was during their honeymoon in New Zealand that she experienced her first taste of online bullying.
A friend of Jules’ had sent her a newspaper article featuring paparazzi photos of their wedding while the couple were on their honeymoon.
Their initial elation of seeing photos of their wedding soon subsided, however, when they began to read the comments.
“Our wedding a few days before had been papped and the wedding and our identities had been leaked,” Jules explained.
“Of course the first few minutes was exciting! We hadn’t seen photos from our day and the article was actually really nicely written and whoever the pap was had passed on what he saw. Maybe love at first sight!”
Golden MAFS couple Jules and Cameron Merchant, who have since remarried, honeymooned in the Bay of Islands in the 2019 series.
But “stepping into the unknown and something so foreign,” they made what Jules described as a rookie mistake and started reading the comments.
“What a way to put a damper on our honeymoon,” she wrote on Instagram. “Before anyone had heard me or had any insight on my character, who I am, I was judged for my body and the way I looked. It hurt.”
In true Taylor Swift fashion, the couple decided, on Cam’s insistence, to “shake it off.”
One of the endearing things Jules discovered about her new husband on that honeymoon was what she calls his “obsession” with Taylor Swift. So they donned clay masks and danced around the room to TayTay’s feel-good hit.
