Let the fun begin...

A word of sorts before I begin...we are really struggling to post pictures from the iPad, they come up as empty squares...for this I blame the Apple corporation.

The Family Richards have been incredible hosts - they have opened up their home to us, shown us around, joined us for dinner, and just hung out with us to share stories about their travels and life in NZ.   We have been very lucky to have been connected with them.   

Some insights about NZ, and particularly the South Island/Queenstown/Te Anau before I get into the last few days

-  there truly are a staggering amount of sheep, we are starting to count them in the 100's at a time

- eating at restaurants is super killer on the  budget

- groceries are not that much more expensive than home, but gas is double

- driving on the left hand side isn't hard when no one is on the road; however, I continue to go to the wrong side of the car when getting in and I regularly turn on the windshield when trying to put on my turn signal

- there is no garbage anywhere on the roads, especially no Timmies cups

-  the people are super easy to get along with, even though we don't understand them from time to time

- parts of the country remind me of a half a dozen other places Kerri and I have been, from Thailand to Ireland to Greece to BC

- so far, it appears to be super safe - I just left the grocery store in a real busy tourist town and saw two people leave their very expensive bikes with all their gear unlocked outside

- banana chili pizza isn't that bad, despite what you might think

Now to the last few days...on Sunday, after Kerri nailed her first run of our trip,  we left for a small town outside of Queenstown called Arrowtown.  This town was originally settled toward the end of the 1800's by people  looking for gold and in particular people from China - for the contributions of their hard work, their is a small settlement to recognize their accomplishments.  After eavesdropping on a lesson about how to pan for gold, we headed down the river to try our luck.   We don't know for sure, but we do have a few flecks of gold or gold luck minerals to show for our hard work.   To celebrate this possible retirement finding, we hit the town for a wee bit of ice cream.  

On the return trip to Queenstown, we stopped at Shotover Jets, one of the best known tourist attractions in the world (according to CNN that is), for a scouting mission.  This was on my definite to-do list activities while on this trip, and with blazing blue skies above, we decided, why wait, let's do it now.   This activity involves getting into a jet boat, and ripping down a canyon river at about 85km/h, narrowly avoiding canyon walls and pulling the occasional 360.  This was a truly a thrill of a lifetime and the boys and Kerri loved it.  Braden inquired about seasons's passes and said he would pay $3000 for a year's pass.  This might be a little excessive, but you get the point.  If you want, pull it up on YouTube, you'll understand.   Later that night, we went for a walk along the lake, but not before we met Richards neighbors, twin five year old boys doing bunny hops over sticks in the driveway.  These kids were unreal - I found out shortly after that they have 5 million hits on YouTube for their videos (check out samjaketheo riddles).  

We left for Te Anau the next day, a small town outside Fiordland National Park which was our departure point for Milford Sound.  Another stunning drive along Lake Wakitipu (spelling???) brought us to this charming little town.   We checked into our slightly dated, but sufficient, accommodations before heading down to the water for a swim, some mini golf and a Popsicle.  We've been blessed with good weather almost daily, with temperatures between 20 and 25, with plenty of sunshine.  A far cry from the motherland, where we hear temperatures have hit -25 and colder.   

Today our trip to Milford Sound was breathtaking.  From lakes, to mountain plains, to canyons, to waterfalls, to switchback roads,  this drive had it all.  As a rule, Milford Sound has rain 300 days a year, and gets upwards of 24 feet of rain.   If you come on one of these rainy days, you are witness to waterfalls everywhere as there is nothing to hold the rain because the mountains are steep cliffs reaching for the sky.  Also, you are more likely to come across dolphins in the rain.  However, today was not one of those days.   Again, the sky was blue and the weather was perfect.  We were able to get beautiful shots of Mitre Peak, some of the permanent waterfalls and two of the seal colonies.  Our captain was awesome as well, and told us this passage is home to numerous shark species, including great whites.  Once we got back, we took a short walk along the water and came across a family of kea birds, or as one New Zealander called them, swamp chickens.   On the ride home, we had a spontaneous game of frisbee in the open plains to break up the trip and eventually made it back to Te Anau in time for a late dinner.  Tomorrow, we'll head back to Queenstown for a couple of days before going to the East coast where we hope to witness the blue penguins coming in from a hard day's work.   

Till then...