Although it seems a wee bit backwards to be sweating it out on Christmas day, I am ecstatic to be sharing this time of year with my New Zealand family, on the farm, and that Luke and I get to work on our Christmas suntans while participating in the family BBQ and clinking our refreshing glasses of home-brew beer. xoxo |
Luke and I are excited to be experiencing our first holiday season in the Southern Hemisphere. Our holiday attire: shorts, bikinis, sunblock and of course a beer in hand! Summer has fully arrived and although each day hasn't been incredibly sunny in the Mount, it is still very warm at all hours of the day. We have moved into a new apartment which we absolutely love. We can see an amazing view of the Mount from our bedroom, we have a wonderfully large deck that gets sunshine all day long, our flatmates do nothing but laugh with us and we could not be happier. As we moved in, we realized that one of our flatmates is a Christmas fanatic and as she unpacked and placed her many red, white, gold and green trinkets around, we knew our beautiful new home would be a nice place to spend the holiday season.
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With my sister in from Canada and a month of adventures ahead of us, Luke, Jenn and I loaded up our little Camry and headed out to explore the South Island. We began with a very rough idea of where we were headed, a tent, sleeping bags and Jenn's massive suitcase in the trunk, grabbed a few maps and set out exploring. Photo Diary & Highlights Thus Far... North Island to South Island Ferry from Wellington to Picton Throughout Jenn's journey, she has come across many interesting ways that her life has been/could be threatened in New Zealand. She has begun to compile a list, cleverly named: "Ways to die in New Zealand". Among the first few are: being attacked and run over by a baby bull 3rd degree sunburns from the hole in the ozone layer falling off a cliff while trying to walk uphill like a sheep Camping in Nelson Jenn has learned that her idea of camping and our idea of camping are just a wee bit different... her main issue, not having protection from the bugs that attack her every night. Her current bug bite count is far too high to share. Way #4 to die in New Zealand: excessive bug bites, perhaps contaminating her with Malaria Caving in Takaka It was here that Jenn learned that there are Moa (extinct NZ bird) bones found deep beneath the ground floor in dark caves. These Moa's were believed to fall into large holes in the ground, tumbling to their death in the deep, dark caves. Once out of the cave, the many "sink holes" were pointed out to us across the land, each one with the threat of death by falling into it and disappearing forever. Way #5 to die in New Zealand: Death by falling into a sink hole Beaching in Kaiteriteri Way #6 to die in New Zealand: deciding to be brave and do a bungy jump, only to have the rope break and end up in a pit of crocodiles. Tramping in Abel Tasman National Park Way #7 to die in New Zealand: Attempting to do a 3hour50minute hike along the Abel Tasman National Park with no food, no water, sunset fast approaching and wearing only flipflops Swing Bridging in Buller Gorge Way #8 & #9 to die in New Zealand: falling into the river when the swing bridge collapses getting stuck in the ruptured fault line ... to be continued
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