we made it to New Zealand!!

Well- we've been putting off writing about New Zealand because we've been so busy taking in the scenery. It's one of those places where you don't want to put your camera down- by then again you just want to put your camera down and breath all the amazingness in. So we've been busy doing a lot of those 2 things, hiking, reading, smiling, talking, and wondering how there is a place this magical in earth. We were kind of worried that this place would be over hyped- everyone says its "unbelievable". Well- they were right. It is literally the most magestic (cheesy but the only way I can describe it) place we've ever seen. It's like wandering through an untouched, prehistoric, billion dollar movie sets everywhere we look- from glaciers to mountains to rivers to the ocean- it's truly amazing. But let's start from the beginning. We barely made it here.

We've been trying to be good and get to the airport somewhat early (early for me, on time for col)- and we had such a great flight from cairns to brisbane... Yummy snacks, lots of happiness to be leaving the bugs, reminiscing about AU and all the things we loved about it. Then we made it to our layover in brisbane have 3 hours to kill so we did a little workout in the corner, then headed to the bar for some beers and research time. We thought we could be boarding soon, but never heard an announcement. Long story short- i found myself poking my head into the guys bathroom to yell for Colin as all of a sudden they were closing the gates... Col couldn't have been in there for more than 1 minute as we decided to get into warm clothes for our flight- and that flight was now leaving without us. After a few strange looks from the guys leaving the bathroom, col and I ran to the gate and barely got on that flight - thank The Lord. That flight we almost missed turned out to be amazing as well- we were just in a back of the bus coach seat when we were served free drinks, a warm and yummy dinner, chocolate and hot tea, then ice cream for dessert- ummm... We love you Quantas. We got to Auckland, went to our crappy layover hotel- stole all the extra tea bags we could find then headed out for our quick flight to christchurch the next morning.

Christchurch- wow, such a quaint, lovely, sad and devastated town. It was so beautiful on the way in from the airport, everyone was so friendly and we drove along the beautiful river with sweeping trees to get to our b&b, The Pomeroys Inn @ The old Brewery. We got to our lovely Home for the night and were shown to our adorable room with a bed warmer, towel heaters, all the snacks coffee and tea you could want and we decided to explore the town for some food. We soon realized that this would be a short walk- we only turned one corner and saw the devastation- buildings that looked like they had just falling down yesterday all over the place, deserted offices, empty restaurants, signs asking for help- it was heart breaking. Everyone we met was so warm and lovely- but you could almost hear the sadness in their voice. We stumbled upon an ale house and met a lovely bartender who felt the same way about 'netball' as we did. its like girls basketball but even more boring to watch (sorry to all my lady bball players out there). we quickly turned on the rugby game and planned out how we could attend one on our way back. we dined on some yummy food, walked back to our place and showered up to meet our new favorite people nik and liz.

one of our best friends in SF, stem, was kind enough to introduce us to her cousins who live out here in christchurch. ive heard about these two for years now - nik & liz... living the dream, amazing couple, hilarious, loving, welcoming... pretty much killer peeps. well they lived up to their reputation and we had an awesome night with them. nik is from so cal, and came over to NZ to be with his lovely wife liz. they both have a heart of gold, and are inspiring in what they do. nik is busy helping re-build the city, literally with his own two hands - while liz has found a passion and opportunity in the market place to open up her own company called "dear ones" which is a wedding/event photo booth station. they like to work at the events together, and help people capture loving and hilarious memories. we laughed together a lot, or i guess they laughed at us a lot trying to pronounce all the towns we were visiting - and we talked about getting together again as soon as possible. can't wait for those guys to come to the states next - and i'd expect nothing less than awesomeness from people related to our stemmers. she's pretty killer herself.

col and i stayed a bit later, and i ended up with whiskey for an after dinner drink... hmmm - needless to say the next morning col was sweet enough to go grab our campervan while i showered up and slowly got our stuff together. then mr murphy came popping into the room all smiles, ready to show off our home for the next week. we rented our van from a company called juicy - best vans and prices - hideous looking vehichles... its a giant green and purple eyesore. but we loved it - every single thing about it. even the colors after a while. its like a mini van - but the whole back lays out flat for a bed, or can be set up as 2 benches and a table. it has a sink, all utensils, fridge, and stove burner in the back/trunk area, plus a DVD player and great stereo system. it was awesome. so we were off! well almost. we did spend the next 4 hours, and it was a solid 4 hours, outfitting our van like crazy. we got an inverter to plug things into, a couple dvd's, an aux cord for our iphones, tons of food, extra thermals socks and undies, a pair of hiking boots... and im sure much much more. we went full on magill style, and were going to make this the best trip ever. and then... we were off! in the pouring rain, wondering what we were getting ourselves into, happier than ever.

what we got ourselves into was the most beautiful drive either of us had ever seen - it was raining, then just eerily foggy, then sunny and clear, then raining - and so on and so on. we drove through arthurs pass, stopping along the way to see the million sheep, amazing rivers and lakes, and all kinds of giant mountains. the pics dont even do it justice - but they'll give you an idea. then after 3 hours of driving we found this awesome little park on the lake that we camped in for free (well it was really 6 bucks - but we didnt figure that one out till after we left). we made some yummy sandos and snuggled up in our van to read and chat after a long, unbelievable drive. we talked about how happy we were that we were doing this, sprayed eachother down with some bug spray (no scary bugs here like in cairns - but lots of sandflys), and fell asleep quite quickly.

the next morning we woke up to the sound of bell birds all over. now these things are crazy - can you youtube them? not sure - but you should try. they sound like amazing bells ringing from the forest of the hunger games. they were just lovely. we went for a run to swimmers beach - saw super scary funnel spiders and their webs, and ran very very quickly back to our little van. hopped in the bathroom where there was only toilets and sinks and washed our shaking cold bodies off with a little tub and rag - we were roughing it, and it was hilarious. we then headed into hokitika, and along the way saw the coast for the first time. it was then that we realized we had just drove "cross country". we looked at eachother, smiled, shook our heads in disbelief and said "wow, we're doing it"... and i think we started to realize, finally, that we really are living the dream.