on the rocks between Doubtfull sound and the Tasman Sea:
And in the waters of the Sound:
Meredith and I had an opportunity on each of our Sound cruises to go kayaking. On Milford, I didn’t take my camera, as it was raining, and it just figures, because we saw Fiordland Crested penguins! It was just lovely though, being down on the water, looking up at the towering mountain walls on all sides, watching water pour down in falls all over the place! I did bring the camera out when we kayaked on Doubtfull Sound, though. It was even better than Milford! For one thing, we stayed out a lot longer, and the scenery was even more fantastic. We even had the chance to go under the waterfalls there.
Linda, I thought about you the whole time!
Scene from the Milford Sound Road, just past the Homan Tunnel, heading back to Te Anau.
Marion Creek, swollen with rain and rushing in a thunderous torrent.
Milford Sound. It had about a million waterfalls flowing down the mountains’ faces this morning. Just breathtaking.
We hiked Fox Glacier on Thursday. We boarded a bus in town and drove out to the park/area, and hiked out to the terminal face. Then the real work began: an hour and a half climb up 500 "steps" (more like steps for a giant, straight up the mountain face!) and down again to the glacier itself. It was beautiful and challenging, and we hadn’t even gotten on the glacier yet! Our guide was Pesang from Nepal, and he has lived in NZ for two years. His English was really good and he had a great sense of humor. The other people in our group were from Ireland and NZ.
This is Lake Matheson in Fox Glacier. It reflects Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman. We hiked out here twice to see these beautiful reflections. In the above shot, it was early morning, and the sky was perfectly clear. We headed out earlyso we’d be in time for our hike on the glacier. The next picture was taken the night before just before sunset, with some clouds obscuring the mountain peaks. Still gorgeous, though.
These were taken on the hike to the lake:
The color on the above shot is off, but this is a very typical scene in New zealand. Cows, cows, and more cows. Only surpassed, of course, by the sheep!
Hello.
Feeling out of sorts today and missing Chad and home. I think I’m just overtired and overwhelmed with travel. I feel very far away from my life, and that’s a hard adjustment. We are taking it easy this evening in Arrowtown, near Queenstown. Our b&b has a tv/dvd player so we are going to watch WIllow and hang out. Maybe that will help! We haven’t been able to hook up the laptop to the internet, so still no pictures for you. Rest assured that I will be posting many many photos in the weeks to come! The drive here from Fox Glacier was unbelievable, like driving through three different climate/eco zones. Beautiful everywhere.
Cheers!
I’ve only got seven minutes left to post this, so if I make some typos, bear with me.
In Fox Glacier tonight–we did the hike today–WOW!!! SO beautiful on the glacier, like an iceworld. I never imagined all the colors in the ice, the textures, the sounds, the smells, even. My feet are killing me, and it was a very long day, but boy, it was worth it! I can’t do pictures today, because I’m at a hotel computer, but hopefully soon we’ll be able to get online with Meredith’s laptop. We drove here from Christchurch yesterday via Arthur’s PAss. If you can, look that drive up online–it was awesome! Mountains, mountains everywhere, snow-capped and otherwise. ANd then we got to the coast, and we saw the ocean!!! BIG waves, beautiful sand, a friendly dog running around the beach with an enormous stick for us to throw for him.
I miss Chad and my family & friends, but this trip is so amazing. Everyday has been a new adventure, and everything has been fun, worthwhile, and wonderful. Food has been lovely, MEredith has been fun to hang with, and it’s just so gorgeous here! I’ve already taken around 600 photos. PRobably more than that counting today’s glacier hike.
Love you all!!
Great day here in NZ. We loved our winery tour! Our tour guide was an older gentleman named Jim who was quite adorable and endearing–didn’t talk too much, and when he did, it was very informative. Also on our tour was a British couple named Andrew and PIPPA. I’ve seen that name in books I’ve read, but now I have met someone really and truly named PIPPA. We went to four wineries and had around 6 tastings at each. By the last one, I was feeling slightly unhinged, so I spent the time taking photos and leaving the wine tasting to the others. It was a beautiful drive, too. Vineyard then sheep pasture, sheep pasture, sheep pasture, then vineyard, etc etc, etc. Green hills emerging from the mist. Rain. Lovely, all of it.
Imagine this going vertically. I haven’t had a chance to explore the photo editing software on Meredith’s laptop.
Well, I made it! It was such a long journey–I was struck again by the immense size of the planet–even going 500mph, it took the plane over twelve hours to fly here from LA. It’s beautiful here, spring blossoms everywhere, jonny-jump-ups and pansies. And a bit chilly and drizzly, which really suits Christchurch. Meredith and I wandered around a bit yesterday, checking out the botanic gardens and drinking tea at every opportunity. I had to force myself to stay up until 8PM, which was rather painful, and then we both woke up at 2AM, wide awake and hungry, and we talked the rest of the night. Fun times! We really like the bacon here, too.
Some photos, unedited and straight out of the camera:
This afternoon we are going on a tour of some wineries in the Canterbury region. It’s a cold, raw day, so maybe some wine will warm us up! Also a great opportunity to see some of the area around Christchurch.
Chad created a fantasy football league for us again this year. Luke & Hannah, Billy & Julie, Joe & Sarabeth, and Chad & me. So far, I have a winning record of 2 and 0. It’s funny, because before fantasy football, I really never paid attention to the games. I watched them with our friends because of the social aspect–it was fun to hang out and eat Doritos. But since having my own fantasy team, I am all business. Well, as Business as I can get about football. Case in point: my team is called the Pinky Totebags. I’m not going to explain why; that is just its name. The four of us wives try to get into it as much as possible, because it makes our husbands so happy, and it’s always more fun to invest in something than not to.
Last weekend, Sarabeth and Julie and I decided that we needed to make our teams really official. So we made t-shirts:
Mine is the pink one that says, Pinky Totebags. (Duh)
Julie’s is the blue one, because she is Little Billy’s mom, and seeing her pregnant tummy in this t-shirt is probably one of the most adorable things I’ve seen all year.
Hannah’s is red. It’s supposed to read the "Gary Indiana Armpits," but she didn’t want a t-shirt that said "armpits" for some odd reason. We made this for her, as she couldn’t make it that night, and we were sorely tempted to buy fake fur and sew it under the arms. She is grateful we didn’t, but Luke is still talking about how funny it would have been. . .
Sarabeth’s is the green shirt. It’s hard to see it in this photo, but it says "Newly Wed Hottie." Joe picked her team name for her.
Who knew that iron-ons could be so fun? We were out of control.
Scary picture of me. We wore our shirts at our weekly Monday Night Football party at Billy & Julie’s. The boys are all jealous of our shirts. Should we make them some too??
(Hopefully I’m in New Zealand as you’re reading this. If I’m not, then something has gone horribly wrong, but we’ll hope not. This is set to post at 2:12 PM EST on 9/23. That means that right now, it is the 24th at 7 AM. Isn’t that weird?)
I am in the air, hopefully, on the way to New Zealand! I have set up my Typepad blogs to post on certain dates while I’m gone, though. So even if I can’t blog from the other side of the world, there will still be something new on both of my blogs.
This is a page I made last fall, and I found it while I was looking through old photos. I had some shots printed as 6x9s, which is the same exact image aspect ratio as a 4×6, just bigger and better. It packs a real punch on a page like this, especially if you are married to a superhero and are taking his picture.
Close up of journaling:
Today is Bilbo and Frodo’s birthday! I actually don’t get to have a 22 September this year. I get to have a 21st, spent in the US, and then a 23rd, landing in New Zealand. But the 22nd? Lost somewhere over the Pacific Ocean crossing the International Date Line. Travel is so strange, sometimes. It expands time–days become weeks, weeks become months. Will it feel like I’ve been gone a year by the time I get home in two and a half weeks? Maybe. I went to Washington DC once, for a two day visit. By the time I got home, a month had passed. Proof that time really is relative. I hope that time does expand on this trip–I hope I am there for a Looooonngg time. It’s too far to go to have it last a mere 2.5 weeks. And I want that time with Meredith.
I have no idea where the physical me is right now. I mean, I am here, at home, typing this out and scheduling it to post on the 22nd. But as you are reading it, I am in limbo. Not really anywhere, caught between here and there in a bubble in space, probably completely sick of all the books I’ve brought and bored with the movie. If I’ve remembered my crossword puzzle book, I am also convinced of my utter ignorance and stupidity by this point. 🙂
I am going to do my best to update this site from the road–Meredith will have her laptop, so as long as we can find us some internet access, the blog will live! It will live anyway–I’ve got some entries cooking and scheduled to post while I’m gone. I am prone to home-sickness, no matter how much fun I’m having, so please leave me comments. I won’t feel so far away then, and I’ll miss you terribly if you don’t
I used the hostess Simply Scrappin’ Kit on this page of Chad’s favorite video game. The colors are pretty masculine without being dark and boring, and I like the die cuts that come with it. This was a fun page–I wish I made more like this, that focus on who we are and what we like instead of always what we do.
Wow. It’s funny about these events that we wait for and plan and anticipate and dream about. Like weddings and HUGE VACATIONS. Because they eventually roll around on the calendar, and we experience them, and they’re over. But when the day finally does arrive, it seems slightly unreal–how can this daydreamed thing really happen?
I am leaving Cleveland this afternoon for Chicago. Then LA, then Auckland, then Christchurch. 27 hours, total travelling time. Long time to be in limbo, that. The most important question of all is: will I have enough to read? But even I can’t read for 27 hours straight. Hopefully I’ll be able to sleep tonight on the plane, although historically, I’m always too keyed up to sleep on the way to where I’m going.
I’ll miss you guys.
Talk to you from the road!
