That's right, another checkpoint cleared as Angela and I are back from New Zealand (and finally back on sleeping schedule). And yes, there ARE a ton of sheep, hence the title. It was weird enough never living July 2nd, 2009 (departed LAX 7/1 and arrived in Sydney 7/3), but everything was evened out by the end of the month as we lived August 1st twice (departed NZ at 1pm 8/1 and arrived LAX1pm 8/1). With all this time travel I wonder whether I was riding an Airbus or the Starship Enterprise. I'll look into that.
Anyways, after DOMINATING the north island NZ, we took our little campervan on a 3 hour ferry accross the Pacific on Cook Straight landing on the northern south island at Picton, just a tiny commuter town. I secretly enjoyed laughing a bit at Ang as she struggled with the motion sickness of the boat, but after taking a Dremamine she was out like a light.
Offloading the boat in the afternoon we kept driving down the east coast and landed in a small town Kaikoura, just to spend the night. Another day of driving got us to Christchurch where we decided to explore a bit. We walked the city, main tourist sites, central square, art gallery, scenic gondola ride, etc. Christchurch doesn't boast the same number of adventure rush activities as the rest of NZ, but instead has some colonial vibe and peaceful atmosphere to it, especially for being a thriving city. I took Ang to see "The Hangover", now one of my favorite movies. Also near Christchurch, just south after our next drive was Omaru with Maraki boulders, perfectly spherical boulders that lie in the coastal sands, and a blue penguin colony. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures from this because any bright lights (camera flashes) can hurt the little guys. And little they were, smallest in the world actually at only 10 inches high. At dusk we watched them arrive in 10-12 group pods, check to make sure they have everyone, and waddle into their hillside bunkers. There were 3 groups in all and we were able to see a few up close, approx 5 feet.
After Omaru, schedule time limited us from going further south, bummer :(. So we packed up and drove to Queenstown, official "adventure capital of NZ". Days before we had booked a nice, luxurious, overpriced hotel room to get out of the van for a while. It was centrally located so we spent most of the time walking around and checking out the local shops, food, etc. One of the days we booked the ski bus and snowboard gear. Until we reached the lodge of Cardrona resort, there never seemed like there was going to be enough snow to board. It snowed for a few hours while I mastered the bunny slopes, taking out 2 or 3 kids at a time as I hurled down the hill, mostly on my butt. Overall it was great, except at the end where it was a race against time to make it down to the parking lot before the return bus left. We accidentally to a detour route way too late and nearly missed the bus.
On our way out of Queenstown, Angela miraculously talked me into a horse ride that went through many of the film sites for Lord of the Rings. Another early morning on the horse put me on the back of a cranky horse that felt like it needed to bite or eat anything. The views were amazing however because we explored places where no vehicles could go. Once getting back we headed north and found ourselves needing to hurry for our flight back to the states.
Besides more miraculous views on the way up, the last major highlight was a helicopter ride we took on a whim near small town, Fox glacier. Prices were really cheap ($120/ person for 30 min) and took you up over the "southern Alps" including largest NZ peak Mt. Cook, glaciers, and other spectacular scenery. They even landed us on the glacier where we walked around for 10 minutes and snapped some photos. Very fun! One of my favorites overall actually.
We made it to Auckland 2 days before our flight and stayed in a very homely hostel outside the city. The ride over was akward time wise because we stayed awake the entire time until landing at which it felt like bedtime for us.... weird.
Now I'm just getting off a week break in Klamath of golf, visiting parents, sleeping, prepping for the last adventure: 25 days on the Pacific Crest Trail with my uncle steve. Then its pretty much over... summer of 09.
One side thing I wanted to mention was a scary incident a few days ago. Waking up with Ang one morning to thunderstorms outside came to no surprise until there was an eerie silence, followed by a deafening crack of thunder which sounded more like a hundred canons set off outside the room. We were instantly standing, shaking, and scared to death wondering just how close that lightning strike was. Later in the day, still talking about the creepy morning, we noticed a 30 foot split that ran vertically through our neighbor, Mr. Baker's redwood tree just on the other side of a fence (40 feet from our room). Bark and other shards of wood, including limbs were blown in all directions, and most notably, the split went all the way through to the other side. Its been 3 nights since this all happened and I'm still not sleeping like I should be. Freaky stuff, and just in time for the PCT too.
Thanks again for reading, I'll check back in 25 days!
Paul
