Yesterday, we said good-bye to our new friends from our Active New Zealand tour. We had a great time hiking, camping, kayaking, and biking around N.Z. We started in Christchurch, which we loved. Then we met our group and traveled south into the Southern Alps. It was beautiful, but rainy for the first few days.







On the 3rd day, we took a scenic flight into a secluded area called Siberia Valley. We stayed one night there (Patrick and I were the only ones that opted to tent it and it was the best choice). The scenic flight was absolutely amazing. We flew over a valley and saw pristinely white glaciers.









Once we arrived in Siberia, we hiked to Lake Crucibal, an elavated glacial lake. It too was amazing and the hike was full of beautiful waterfalls and freezing cold river passings. (Oh, and by the way, we were able to just dip our water bottle into the rivers and drink the fresh glacial waters. It was the best tasting water, ever!) We had a great dinner and then did TimTam Slams for dessert. TimTams are chocolate cookies and when you suck hot chocolate through them, they melt in your mouth. They were seriously delicious. We're trying to figure out how to ship a box of TimTams back to the states.
The next morning, we hiked to our jet boat which zig zagged its way back to town. Then we drove to Queenstown and had time to hang out in the town. We did a hike up Ben Lomand and took a gondola ride back down. It was beautiful. (I feel like I'm running out of suitable adjectives to descibe the things I've seen and done on this trip.)

After 2 days, we left Queenstown and traveled towards Milford Sound. We did an amazing bike ride through a valley (who's name I can't remember). Patrick had the perfect way of describing the scenery of the ride..."This is the type of scenery you see on brochures for churches. This is what makes people believe in something greater than themselves." It was so incredible! Then drove through to Milford Sound, where we were surrounded by even more awe inspiring glacial mountains and valleys. We had a great night of laughter and talking with our group.

The next morning we kayaked Milford Sound. And although it was raining, it was fantastic. The mountains came alive with waterfalls. We also saw penguins.

In the end, I'm overwhelmed by how much I've experienced and still have to experience. I can't believe how lucky we are.

So last time we posted, we were in the North Island of New Zealand. We biked around Auckland (at all times we were either going up or down a hill). Then we rented our camper van and traveled to The Bay of Island, Rotorua, Huka falls, Taupo, Waitomo Caves, and Coramandel Penisula. It was all interesting and new and fun.

Patrick's favorite part was the Coramandel Penisula and I really liked Huka Falls and Taupo. We saw glowworms while caving in Waitomo and I of course tipped my tube, so I fell up to my head in freezing cold water. Patrick did a fabulous job of driving on the left side of the rode while shifting with his left hand because the steering wheel was on the right of the car. I, on the other hand, hit a curb and stalled twice with in the first km.

Another notable adventure...we took a guided kayak trip around Cathedral Cove in Coramandel and an Orka whale (Shamu) swan around our group checking us out and we got a great view. It was humbling and amazing all at the same time.

We can hardly believe it has been just over a week since we left NYC. We have seen so much and met great people already. As you can see from Patrick's post, Fiji was paradise and the north island of New Zealand is proving to have some amazing landscapes, as well. We have been promised that the south island is even better. Stay tuned for pictures of New Zealand, we are off to see the Huka Falls outside Taupo, New Zealand now.

Fiji

Boat ride out to our resort in the Yasawa Island chain.














View from our resort.

1 of 75 sunset pictures we took during our time in Fiji.

Claudia with her almost winning hermit crab, 2nd

place was good enough for $20 off our bar tab!

2 of 75 taken at our resort in Nadi, Fiji.

Sunny Beginnings

Patrick set up our own "Corona Commercial" photo shoot.

Pre Packing Joys...2 pants and 2 shirts????

We somehow figured out how to pack only the necessities of life into 2 backpacks.

What do you mean I can't bring 6 pairs of shoes? No blow dryer?

While taking our last subway ride from Brooklyn to company housing in Manhattan, wrapped in our backpacks, we were quickly humbled with the realization that fellow New Yorkers now viewed us as "tourists". I guess we better get used to it!

Patrick hard at work with our trip spreadsheet. I'd be lost without his spreadsheets. and so would he.