New Zealand 2013

Howdy!
I am only writing this blog because it hurts my hands less than manually writing in my journal. PLUS, I am uber bored at work and this seems like the best solution.

South Island, NZ
Feb. 8: Christchurch

• Earthquake damage was crazy to see up close! Other than that, you only need one day in Christchurch.

Feb. 9: Picked up Steve & Kristen B. from the airport and off in our RV we went to Kaikoura!

• Spent first night in RV at Top Ten Holiday Park after watching the sunset at Kaikoura's highest lookout point and sharing beers with some Scottish/Kiwi folk.

Feb. 10: Whale watching!

• We saw sperm whales, a million dolphins and seals and beautiful weather through it all!
• Off we drove to Fox and had more amazing food/wine/beers and rode concrete ostriches.

These next few days were hazy because I pretty much took three naps a day and didn't care where we were or what we did, as long as I had food within reach. Think it went something like Fox/Franz Josef (where we hiked into a crevasse full of glaciers and drank pure, perfect glacier water) and then Haast (nothing to add cause I don't remember! But it is along the Tasman Sea which is the most perfect teal!) There was a Lake Wanaka moment in there that gave credit to my phone screen saver and will forever be in my memory as gorgeous. We also played a lot of Catch Phrase and SB is terrible at it. #fact.

We barely passed cars! There are only a million people on the whole South Island! Kiwi's are definitely the nicest people on Earth and NZ is definitely the most beautiful, untouched landscape I will ever see.

Feb. 13th:

• Another brewery and kayaking on the choppiest waters ever! The poor B.'s were struggling! My arms have NEVER been that tired! Had some ice cream and a nap. Great day topped off by a great night of winning an indoor cornhole tournament! Go Ohio! OH! And the greatest pizza I have ever, ever had was at Winnie's. GO to there. Now.

Feb 14th:

• Valentine's Day in Queenstown! Lunch at FergBurger's. Overrated, won't say more than that but it was definitely a tourist trap. We walked around the harbour and drank a LOT of martini's and ate at a lovely place called Ivy & Lola's. I "borrowed" a plate from there and plan on naming my child (if it's a girl) Lola.

Feb. 15th:

• B.'s went in a puddle jumper plane over the Milford Sound and I stayed safely on the ground in the RV driving to Glenorchy. It was amazeballs. Enough said. It was the most perfect day I have ever had with Kris and I will never, ever, ever, ever, never forget it.
• After sneaking into a rugby game (teenagers started it, we followed) we ate at The Bathhouse. Go to there also. Kris rated it as a "top ten meal of his life". I agree. Then we proceeded to play pool for hours and drink way too much and have a lot of laughs and SB ended up in a cowboy hat and I hugged a bear. A real bear. Word.

Feb. 16th:

• You ever pulled over on the side of a road because the beauty was so great? Yeah. Us too. We stayed on the side of the road by Lake Pukaki and stared at Mt. Cook during sunset, roasted hot dogs, potatoes and ate a bag of shredded cheese. As if you can't top that, we laid on our backs for hours star gazing. Not a cloud, skyscraper or light in the way. Just a gazillion trillion stars and possibly saw a meteor shower that attacked Russia. BUT I am gonna keep my wishes and say they were shooting stars.

High points:
-Banging on the WRONG camper in a failed attempt at scaring the boys, and proceeding to run amok with dishes in our hands and peeing our pants under a tree. A tree that was UNDER A LAMP POST.
-Kris and I lying on a peninsula in Glenorchy all alone except for one duck.
-Biting into a freshly picked farm peach and feeling the juice run down my chin. Glad I bought two.
-Making my own NZ sweatshirt!
-ALL beers in NZ. Oh man...I love beers.

Low points:
-Qantas airline sucks
-Sand fly bites that I have all over my feet and they kept me up all night scratching and now have scared! Awesome.

I want to retire here and raise sheep, maybe a few cattle and a lot of dogs. Only if my family comes, but it's that amazing.