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Published: June 25th 2008
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Dennis tossing a freshly made snowball...
...RIGHT AT ME AND OUR EXPENSIVE CAMERA. Just joking, he only hit my leg :) Hello you much warmer Canadians! It's been a chilly couple of days here in New Zealand. First we arrived in Mount Cook with a light dusting of snow on the ground, nothing we couldn't handle... then... duh-dun-dunnnnnnnnn!
The next morning, we woke up to.... 3 inches of that white stuff that we THOUGHT we had left behind in Canada! It had been raining when we went to sleep, pouring in fact, which quickly turned to a blizzard that continued throughout the day. It was snowing so much the day we left, we could barely see the mountains across the way for much of it! Our Serengetti (as Dennis called the valley floor) turned into a tundra overnight! It cleared up for about half an hour where we got some great shots of Mount Cook as we made our way up to the Hermitage Lodge again, and you should of seen the looks on the Japanese people's faces when they walked outside. It's so fun to see the magic in people's eyes when they see snow like that for the first time. Especially in the mountains. I think lots of people thought we were nuts, because when it wasn't blowing wind,
Mount Cook in all its glory!
Did you know... that the first woman to climb it was in 1910 and did it in a skirt with leggings underneath??? it was quite warm. SO we just had a hoodie on walking around with a toque. Everyone else was burrowed up and cursing about the cold! And our hostel, my goodness, that fireplace room was cooking! Dennis and I had to de-layer because it was like a sauna in there! They were all still burrowed.
We went to the Hermitage again to finish our alpine experience. We went to a 3D Mount Cook video which had some great aerial views in 3D and also watched a planeterium show. It's the southern-most planeterium in the world, and it showed all sorts of the constellations visible from Mount Cook. Then it branched out into the solar system, then the galaxy, then beyond, which made us feel about "this big".... sooo tiny. We then headed back to catch our bus, and within thirty minutes of driving, we were out of snow. Crazy country!
Bus ride, boring. Kim felt like crap most of it because this bus driver had the swervy hands, make no mistake, I did not mean scurvy. He just swayed gently side to side even on straight stretches making my wife feel pukey pukey 😞. But soon enough we
Lake Tekapo
Pronounced "take-a-poo"... seriously.... not "te-cap-o" like we were saying it... arrived in Christchurch and made it to our amazing hostel. Super nice place. We have our own bathroom in our room this time and central heating. Yeah!!!!!!
We went to supper at this place around the corner called Memphis Belle and it had amazing pizza. It was super cool and the guy was awesome! He talked and told us all about stuff and he was super friendly and fun. We may go back there tomorrow for supper! And they had ginger beer!!! Yummy! For those of you who don't know, that is basically root beer except it is brewed like beer! SOOOOOOO good! Deano you would love it!
Today, we woke up and wandered our way down to cathedral square. Kim got a coffee to wake her up and then we played a giant game of chess in the town square. Super cool. People were watching us and the pressure was on. It was wierd playing chess in life size and at super speed! No chance for error and super aggressive. Apparently I was too aggressive as Kim won.
We then made our way into the cathedral and looked around before climbing the 134 steps up the
Planning my checkmate
Should I move my queen? Or my knight??? tower for a beautiful view of the square and town. We then booked a wildlife/harbour cruise for tomorrow so we can go see some dolphins and penguins in Akaroa. We are hoping to go swimming with them in Australia. We walked around the town and shopped a bit. We walked by the Avon river (not like Stratford upon Avon, its pronounced A-ven) and the ducks thought we were going to feed them so they followed us around. We had no food though, and let me tell you, these ducks were quite fat enough. Kim promptly feel through some rocks and grass and got her foot soaked in the river... I don't quite understand how I did that, and then I grabbed a pillar for balance and landed my hand in bird poop. Sigh... it was poop-tastic, which is nothing like Dennis' "spantastic".
So we cleaned up and then continued on our merry way. We got a slurpee! And then headed here. Dinner is next, we are contemplating either "Cooking with Gas" or "Seargant Peppers", either way it will involve Lamb. Tomorrow Harbour Cruise, then the next day off to Australia!!!!!!!!
Love you and miss you all, keep the
Christchurch Cathedral
With our finger puppets... yes... we got more. A lamb, a kea, and a KIWI! comments coming, its great to hear from all of you.
Cheers!!!
Kim and Dennis
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Mom at Work
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Schools out for summer!!!
Great to hear from you, ok snow in June sounds like Crater Lake in Oregon, remember Kim. Great hearing from you two, looking forward to Australian adventures next. Hope you see some dolphins Kim. Love Mom