Pictures...

I've been trying to upload pictures but I don't think it's going to work. The internet connection is too slow. In the picture of us prior to Blackwater Rafting I am 2nd from the left. Alex and Kar are on either side of me. The sun is hitting me so it's hard to tell which is me. I'll keep trying in Sydney. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying WINTER!

I'll be back...

I'll try to post some pictures as soon as I have a chance. I don't have any more $1 or $2 coins for interent time but if the front desk can make change I'll try to after i finish this post. Anyway...On our 2nd and 3rd days in the Golden Bay Area we went to Cape Farewell and I hiked to Wharariki Beach and we also went to Abel Tasman National Park. Wharariki Beach is the most specatualr natural place I have ever seen. I don't think my pictures will do it any Justice because it was really about the whole experience. I'm pretty sure I know what's it's like to be in a hurricane now. The wind was sop strong I could barely move. I also had sand imbedded in every pore on my body. Abel Tasman was cool to, but I'm sun burnt, despite applying sunscreen about 8 times that day. There's no ozone above NZ so it happens quick!! None of it's too bad, I'm just slightly pink. We've had some great food the past few days, we pretty much just get sandwhiches becasue it's our cheapest option, but they don't fool around with thier sammies here! They've been huge and creative combinations.

Tomorrow we have a 4:30 am shuttle to the airport and then we're on our way to Sydney...Out of time, I'll be back soon!

Golden Bay

We made it to the Golden Bay area of the South Island yesterday. We took a ferry from Wellington (Which is a beautiful city) to Picton and then for about 5 hours. I never want to see another switchback for as long as I live! I did all the driving yesterday and I think we had about 2 hours worth of switchbacks. The lanes are very narrow here too...Anyway, we made it and went kayaking in the rain forest today. It was beautiful. Tomorrow we're going to do some hiking and friday we're possibly going to do some sea kayaking. Today's kayaking was up a river with the tide. The place we're staying at has kayaks so we strapped them on our tiny car and followed the tide up river and went the tide went back out we went with it. I was so amazed at the variety of plants that grow here. Our accommodation doesn't have internet access so we're in Collingwood right now.

None of the blackwater rafting was scary, safety was #1 priority and it's incredibly well planned and coordinated. I was even fine with the eel because I had on water socks and hideous white boots. The people here are incredibly nice! It was one of the first things I noticed.

Congratulations on your anniversary Jack and Kathy!!!

Black Water Rafting

I have to make this quick...Black water rafting was a lot of fun! We rappelled down into a cave about 120 feet. Part of it was a tight squeeze. Then we took a zip line deeper into the cave and had coffee/tea and rice cookies. We then had to hold inner tubes to our rumps and jump into the freezing cold water in a seated position. The landing hurt (the cliff was about 15' high). then we pulled ourselves along a rope down the cave and/or walked along the soft, sandy bottom. We didn't go too far and we turned off our headlamps and made a train (Feet to armpit) and one of our guides pulled us along in the dark so we could look at glow worms (Maggots with "shiny shit"). Then we returned our tubes and walked and slid in very narrow tunnels. We climbed two waterfalls and an eel came up to my foot in one pool. It was a lot fo fun and we met some really nice people, except for the only other American on the trip (9 ppl total). She was grumpy and rude. We bought the pictures of the trip so you'll all get to see them.

No pictures yet, there's no free wifi anywhere. The bar we went to couldn't get the wifi to work. We'll keep trying.

Sunscreen in January

I'm really just killing some time while the kids are still in bed. Kids = Kar and Alex...We went grocery shopping at Woolworth's last night, meat was too expensive to justify it yet. I bought pasta and pesto, it was okay but my pesto is definitely better. Maybe it's because I bough the cheapest stuff. We did buy gigantic ears of corn which were really good. I thin it's in season right now because there are stands every where. Otherwise, pretty much most of the fruit we saw was from the US. That was really disappointing! Maybe we'll have better luck elsewhere.

The scenery is nothing special yet. It's not as green as we had imagined. Alex thought it looks like the Napa Valley in CA.. I wouldn't know. Some parts kind of remind me of S. Minnesota- lots of rolling hills and corn fields. It's more hilly though and off in the distance there are some low mountains. We've heard the south Island is the one that is more scenic.

It's only 8:50 am here and it's already hot. A couple for people have reminded us that there is no ozone above NZ so wear sunscreen!...Tonight we're going to go out to a local bar that supposedly has free Internet for patrons. It's also highly recommended as bar. We'll try to post some pictures then.

My internet time is almost up...hopefully I'll have an exciting experience to tell you about tonight - Kar has a waterproof camera which is proving invaluable, it's great to be able to take pictures of our water experiences.

Spin Cycle...

We all made it to NZ safely without any problems. Wednesday - Friday were the longest few days I think I've ever experienced. Anyway, all of our flight went well, we made it through customs fine and slept hard last night in Auckland. I'm now in Otorohanga. We picked up a rental car this morning, freaked out about driving on the left and drove to Rotorua to go Zorbing. Zorbing was amazing. We have a video of us (All 3 in the same ball) but I don't have access to a USB port right now. You'll have to google "Zorbing" to see what I'm talking about if you're not familar. Anyway, we had three runs, they put water in the ball and it's pretty much what I would imagine a washing machine being like. The three of us went down twice together on teh straight track and once alone on the zig zag track. It's something I've wanted to do since I saw it on "The Real World" when I was in junior high. Tomorrow we're going black water rafting. It's like taking an innertube down an underground river system.

It's really hot and humid here. Thankfully our car has AC. Driving on teh left is very weird. Kaari has been doing all the driving and I've been riding shot-gun with the maps and google directions. Tonight we're hoping to BBQ something. We're going to go to the grocery store after I finish this to see what we can get.

Our hostel last night was the worst hostel I've ever stayed in. The room was tiny!!! The showers we also the push button kind so you'd only get water for 10-15 seconds at a time. It was fairly dirty and noisy as well. Tonight we have a little cottage type thing to ourselves. It's really hot in there right now so I'm hoping it cools off a lot at night.

Aukland was a nice city, the cross walk were new to us though. All directions get the walk signal at the same time so it's just a free for all. You can cross diagonlly. The city center seems really clean and they try to keep it up to date. We watched fireworks over the harbor and listened to a band.

We've found internet access to be pretty expensive. My blog post might be fairly spread out. I'll try to post something else after we raft tomorrow. I'll also try to post some pictures. Or, Alex will post pictures and you can see them on his blog (www.awgamble.net).

I'm Off...

I'm packed and ready to go. I leave the house in about 2 hours. I have to pick up James at school and then we're going to the airport. I feel better today, except I'm very tired. I think I only got 5 - 6 continuous hours of sleep last night. My roommates woke me up a couple times and just the excitement of it all made it hard to sleep.
I wanted to post a blog earlier this week but I've been fighting a cold so I've spent a lot of time in bed the past few days. On Sunday James and I went on a date, I won't write too much, but I can sum it up by saying, if you ever find Pesto Gouda, buy it! It's the best ever!
Well, my next blog post should be in a few days from now, from New Zealand. I'm assuming our hostel in Aukland will have internet.