Archive for December, 2006
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
Overdue Update
It’s been over one month now since we really posted anything. I suppose that’s a good sign meaning we’ve finally unplugged and are really soaking up our new nature-y lifestyle instead of plunking ourselves down in front of a computer each day. But mostly we’ve just been busy; really busy soaking in the amazing scenery [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Photos,South Island,Thoughts by Angela
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
November 14: Lake Tekapo
This is going to sound mad cheesy, but “Blue” by Leann Rimes is playing on the iTunes shuffle and I’m trying to write about Lake Tekapo. If you’ve seen the lake, you’ll know what I’m talking about. When the glaciers rolled through this region, the ground-up rocks left a fine sediment that remains suspended in [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Photos,South Island by urs
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
November 13: Akaroa
Maps sometimes lie. And sometimes we just read them wrong. I always thought Christchurch was on a big peninsula, but it’s not. The peninsula we always saw on the map was really Akaroa, a giant shell of a volcano that’s now been partly filled-in by the sea. The main attraction is driving around the massive [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Photos,South Island by urs
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
November 10: Christchurch
Christchurch is the biggest city in the South Island at 340,000 people. Being so used to the uninhabited camps and empty roads, it’s always a bit of a shock to land back in the urban environment. Nonetheless, Christchurch really eases you back into the concrete frame of mind with its many immense gardens and parks. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Photos,South Island by urs
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
November 7: Kaikoura
Kaikoura rests on a peninsula jutting out into the Pacific, so we walked around over and through it. We like walking around over and through things lately. It’s our new hobby. Along the shore, there are albatrosses and a colony of seals. But not today. No big birds and the seal colony looks more like [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Photos,South Island by urs
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
November 5: Maruia Valley
Thought a small blip on the map, the Maruia River gave us a glimpse into two very different ways to experience nature. On the road out of Nelson Lakes, a rest stop at Maruia Falls looked like a decent enough place to get out of the van and stretch the legs. There we met four [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Photos,South Island by urs
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
November 4: Nelson Lakes
South of Nelson there are two large lakes tucked away in the north end of the Alps. The Nelson Lakes have a campground run by the NZ Department of Conservation (or the “Department of Contraception” according to graffiti on the condom dispenser in the men’s room). Since it’s a DOC camp, there’s no TV lounge, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Photos,South Island by urs
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
November 2: Nelson, the jewel of the north of the south
Nelson is a city whose heart beats art. Every other block houses a glass-blowing studio, a sculpture gallery, a painters’ collective, or a very friendly woman named Akiko teaching Japanese calligraphy in her gallery of heirloom kimonos. It’s hard to say whether the nearly year-round sunshine caused the locals to express themselves artistically, or that [...]
No Comments » - Posted in South Island by urs
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
November 1: South Island Entrance Exam
Second day in the South Island, second day of sunshine. We thought it was a winter wonderland down here, but it’s churning out the best weather of the trip. Thanks to Angela’s get-up-and-go, we got up and went to the Marlborough Sounds where lies the Queen Victoria Track: a grueling, several-day hike along forested mountains [...]
No Comments » - Posted in South Island by urs
Monday, December 4th, 2006
Out of a perfectly good pod…
Hey everyone, just writing to let you know that in a few hours, I’m going to jump out of a small pod suspended over a valley with only a long rope attached to my feet. It’s the Nevis Bungy Jump, and at 134 meters (about 400 feet), it’s the tallest in New Zealand. On a more [...]
