JackLindsay

Mountain biking one last time in Rotorua didn't work out due to storms, so we headed up to climb Mount Maunganui. We had thought we would spend the entire day there and head to Tauranga for the night, but sometime early in the afternoon we found ourselves back in Waihi at the back door to the Burrowing Bullie. Christoffel and Alison are opening the bar on Friday, so we thought we could lend a hand or two. We are working through all the last-minute fiascos, trying to make the deadline. It hasn't slowed down, and there is still a lot to do before 5:00pm tomorrow. We are making it fun, though! I made them cheese curds at Jack's request (go Wisconsin) and taught them how to make a Cosmopolitan Martini and different garnishes for cocktails, so ... read more

Taupo Bungy is 47 meters, or 153 feet.... read more

We docked in Wellington. We drove for 5 hours. We slept in Taupo. And first thing this morning, we jumped off of a 135 foot ledge. The rain was pouring, but we were checked out of the motel at 9:00am, anyway. We walked up to the bungy check-in, thinking we would be turned away due to weather. They said we could jump, so we signed our lives away and got us set up. I didn't weigh enough, so the guy at the desk told me to run and throw on a bunch of clothes and that should do the trick. That put me at about a half a kilo below the weight requirement, and he pretty much gave us a wink and pointed us in the direction of the plank. Sitting there waiting while they strap ... read more

It's all coming to an end and it's weird. We are both reluctant to keep heading north, but that flight is getting close. We fly out of Auckland the night of the 17th, then we fly out of Los Angeles the night of the 17th, then we arrive at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport the night of the 17th. I go back to work on the 20th, but I think I was scheduled for less shifts than usual to finish out August, just to make it easier. Jack starts work that Sunday, then I start classes on Wednesday. Jack goes back to Augsburg the week after. He has just been asked by the boss to do full time! He is really excited about it and I know his boss has high hopes for Jack. We want to ... read more

Hey, Dad! Happy birthday, again! Yesterday, we wound up leaving Wanaka and driving up to Twizel. Nice little town. As usual, the people are sweet and the scenery is beautiful. We got here pretty late last night and got right back in the van first thing this morning. We drove out to the Mount Cook National Park to hike some of the trails out there. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in NZ, and we got to hike pretty close to its base. The sky was perfectly blue and sunny. We hiked through boulder fields, across rivers, through the sandy flats, up to the lake in front of the Tasman Glacier, all the while eating fresh snow and gaining altitude. It would have been perfect for pictures ... read more

Holy cow. We have covered a lot of ground. We are so bummed that we haven't been able to post pictures for you all. In the past week, all of the internet cafes have either been too slow to load an image or they won't let you open files to post them on the website. Oh well, you will see them soon enough! We spent a night at a backpackers in Hokitika, then got up early to drive down to Fox Glacier. We booked a guide and were all suited up by noon. Our group was pretty small, only 7 people plus our guide, and we hiked up the side of the valley for about an hour. The probability that we would all die in a landslide or from rock fall was high, but the tours ... read more

We survived the ferry from Wellington to Picton. The water was calm, thank goodness. Sometimes that waterway gets up to 8 meter swells, so we were lucky! We spent the night in Blenheim with Gonzalo at the backpackers in town. There were people from all over the world. It was so much fun and brought me back right back to the good old days in South America. We ate Thai food with Gonzalo, again, and ran around town with a bunch of people from Brazil and Israel. Good times. This morning we drove from Blenheim through the mountains, through to Greymouth and finally settled down here in Hokitika. We are leaving early in the morning to find the glaciers and hike them, then we are off to Wanaka for some more skiing. Again, we can't post ... read more

Hey! We are in Wellington! After hiking around the waterfalls in the Tongariro National Park yesterday, we met some more Germans and had a good night watching movies while the storm raged outside. We left this morning and drove south through the rain, and have spent the last five hours walking around downtown Wellington. It is great to be here. It is the most beautiful city we have seen in NZ. The buildings are more historical and architecturally interesting than Auckland or Waihi or anywhere else we have been. Our ferry leaves early tomorrow morning and then we will finally be in the south island! We are meeting up with our friend Gonzalo in Blenheim, and then making our way down to Queenstown. We are in a backpackers tonight, and plan to stay in cheap accommodation ... read more