Since we decided to hit the trail by 9am, we were back up out of bed at 7am. Thanks to a sleep med from Laura and the antihistamines I brought, and ear plugs and a sleep mask, I slept incredibly hard. I didn't hear the snoring chorus in the hut but I'm told there was one. I met my first Kea on my way to the common room for coffee and breakfast. They're giant parrots with red under their wings. They're apparently very intelligent. They'll shred anything you leave out on the porch just in the hopes of finding food. Or maybe just as punishment because you didn't leave food. They also like to slide off the roofs for fun. I got pretty close to a pair of Kea and took pictures. No joke, they look ... read more

Getting to New Zealand itself was fairly uneventful. We had in-flight entertainment and the meals United provided were surprisingly good for once! Then we landed in Auckland and things got rough. We saw a currency exchange counter so we handed over our US dollars for New Zealand dollars. We thought we had plenty of time because United Airlines back in the States said our checked bags would be automatically forwarded to Queenstown. Yeah, they lied. Our baggage showed up on the carousel. So then we had to go through Customs. And then three different Biosecurity lines. By the time we were halfway through the second Biosecurity line, we only had 20min before our flight was boarding. One of our group Tony, was the sole person who got thrown into the slowest moving line. Apparently someone was ... read more

Who says you can't go on an awesome adventure 20min from your home? =D I've been hiking Mission Peak for years, and it's become very popular in recent years. Everyone wants that iconic picture with the pole on the Peak. I think more people climb on it than use it for its intended purpose- to peer through the eye holes at various landmarks. Anyway, we're going to New Zealand next week to backpack the Routeburn Track. The first day of which will be a 1500ft elevation ascent over 5.5miles. Mission Peak is a 5.5mile roundtrip hike with a 2000ft elevation change. So I used this trail the past couple months on a nearly weekly basis as practice for New Zealand. I figure if I can do that, Routeburn will be cake. Sometime in January when I ... read more

This morning started out stunningly beautiful as we were greeted with a colorful sunrise at breakfast. It was probably the most sun we'd seen since our trip started. Ok, it WAS the most sun. It set the theme for the day- calm, mostly dry, skies. Chris and I ate breakfast at The Pointe again. I had some kind of eggs with goat cheese on bread with potato, although way more artful than I described. Chris had a breakfast version of a pulled pork sandwich. We finished up our delicious food and then ran down to the beach just in front of the hotel to take a billion pictures of the sunrise. After that, we went back to our rooms to get dressed for the day's adventure. We didn't originally plan on this because we didn't think ... read more

Geo: 49.1311, -125.891The day started off at the stupid early hour of 4-something AM. The baby was sick with the flu, and instead of accompanying us on our trip as planned, she was staying with the grandparents last minute. Suddenly our family trip became a couples' weekend get-away! So, we didn't need to wake up quite as early. Chris and I are well practiced at getting up and moving when need be. We got to the airport for our 6:30am flight- absolutely no lines at check-in and security, which left us with plenty of time to get coffee and breakfast. I had a soup and sandwich. Then our flight was delayed by 20 minutes. It made me a little nervous considering we had a second flight to catch in SeaTac. I pulled out my book and ... read more