Day Fifty Two

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Aunt Suzy! I love that we are that exctiting to you! How is Colorado? Jack and I would love to make it out there someday, to ski, visit, maybe live... I found out just over a week ago about you becoming a grandma! What is Erin or Scott's email address? Congratulations!

Gonzalo is down in the south island at his new job! We drove him out to Hamilton, took him to a Thai restaurant, and sent him on his way to Blenheim. He is a really nice guy, and now Jack and I have a place to stay if we ever go to Montana or Chile.

After dinner, we had time to kill and we were walking around town talking about who knows what. Once it was close to departure time for his bus, we headed back to van. We rounded a corner and were immediately struck by what sounded like a flock of 20 girls talking loud, fast, and high pitched. Half kidding, I said "they must be Americans". Well they were, and there were only 5 of them making all the noise, but once you are out of the States you can spot an American a mile away, it seems. They seemed lost, so I asked if they needed help. They were looking for some bar that we had never heard of, but we got to talking and laughing because we were all excited that we were from the same country, and that we could talk to each other at an obnoxious volume and no one seemed to notice. When Jack and I told them we just got married, we heard the famous and perfectly syncronized "OH MY GOODDDDD!!!!" that you don't get over here in NZ. I kind of missed it.

We left them, took two more steps, and ran into a man asking us if we were from Canada. It's everyone's first guess, and Jack and I aren't offended like they expect us to be. Close enough, eh? By the time we had finished with this man, we had to run back to the van to get Gonzalo to the station. Now, Jack and I knew how to get to Hamilton, but we really didn't know where Gonzalo needed to be. Finally realizing this, we swung into a gas station and I jumped out to ask a guy where the station was. He was a younger guy, in his twenties, and the first thing he said back was, "only an American girl would walk up to a stranger to ask for directions." He told us to follow him, so we were set. Once we pulled into the station, the guy turned his car around to bid us farewell, but Gonzalo about jumped out of his seat and yelled, "I meant bus station! Not railway station!" Jack appologized and asked the guy if he would mind showing us where the bus station was. Our stranger laughed and said, "Ahh, beautiful, beautiful people... follow me". We made it to the right station about 2 or 3 minutes before his bus was scheduled to leave.

So, it all worked out. We will see him in just under 4 weeks, and hopefully tour the south island with him.

Yesterday was our day off, so we finally took a look at Martha's Mine (the giant hole 3 blocks north east of the Burrowing Bullie). It's about 250 meters deep and they are still mining for gold to this day. We went for a drive out to who knows where, found a waterfall, and headed back through the Karangahake gorge to do some hiking. We went on a few different trails, up the mountain and along the Ohinemuri River. This is all connected to "The Windows" hike we did through the old mines. It was a nice sunny day and absolutely perfect for getting outside for a while.

Steff from Auckland is planning on visiting us on the last Wednesday of the month since we don't work that day and she has a week's vacation. After that, it's skiing at Mt. Ruapehu, a road trip to Wellington, exploring the south island for a week, spending a few days north of Auckland on 90 Mile Beach and Cape Reinga, and then it's over. But NOT YET!!!

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Comments

[Connie]

Loved the vandalism picture :) M

[A.J.]

dont you look?
Hey jack, dont you look before you put your hand places? Guess not. I want to see pictures. I sent you guys an email wiht pictures of us using the kayak, thans again for that. DOnt get lost trying to find the train, i meen but statiom. Just kidding. Talk to you later