1. Queen Charlotte Track: in a word, AMAZING. And a "Great Walk" it was. Gorgeous coastal views for 4 days, camping each night but not having to carry our overnight packs, nice weather that surprised us after several days of grey & rain... perfect.
2. Back to the Nelson/Abel Tasman region: dinner with my cousins, stayed in a huge flat (for free!!!) with the wonderful Dalton family in Ruby Bay (super-highlight), beaches, bananagrams, swimming, enjoying eachothers' company.
3. Sexist WWOOFing in Rangiora: you'll get to hear me rant about this in great detail in my next blog post, but to be short, we stayed with a family made up of 7 WWOOFers, 3 boys, a dad, and crazy mom from hell. Best example of our stay on their homestead: the boys and men outside chopping wood, the women in the kitchen going on 6 hours of cooking. Mom says with a dreamy far-away look in her eyes, "It's so nice to see boys becoming real men, doing many things." BARF. I made it through this experience, but just barely. More on that later.
4. My dear friend Allie visits: 8 short days of adventure! We started in Akaroa, a beautiful east-coast town with a heavy French influence. Drove a long and unbelievably scenic drive to Wanaka, kayaked, partied, hiked part of the Copland track to a hut with snow-capped Alpine views from an infinity-pool of a hotspring. DREAMY. Stayed in Franz Josef and hiked around on the glacier. Lots of driving with the best scenery, quality time together, and sightseeing. I'm so sad that she's gone!
5. Hokitika: Brian and I are now on the West Coast, floating around while we wait to see what plans formulate for our next few months. Today we meet up with Zosha and Matt, a couple from San Diego who moved to NZ a month or so after us. We're going to camp and hike with them for a bit and I'm very excited we're finally crossing paths!!!
We have a few potential job prospects... more details to come as we figure out what we're doing. The next few weeks are very up in the air. Hopefully I'll have more time to write! :) I see that my photos have FINALLY imported so I will leave you with a couple until next time. Hope all is well at home/wherever you all are. Lots of love from NZ!!
