Wellington continued... plus Kahurangi National Park, Nelson, Sky diving, Nelson Lakes National Park, Franz Josef, Queenstown, and Mt. Cook!!!

Sunday, Feb 6th, 2nd day in Wellington
Wellington, by the way is not a very big city. its about 180,000 people in the city and about twice that if you count the suburbs. its at the very south tip of the north island and sits tucked in on the edge of a bay that i dont know the name, which eventually leads out to ocean. there is a good amount of the city that is on the flat land right next to the water but also a good part that extends into the hills surrounding the harbor. a city wrapped around a large bay, extending into the hills. so in a lot of places, once you start getting away from the downtown area, you are going straight up hills for awhile. if this place had ice, people would be in big trouble with these hills. extremely beautiful, especially at night. i saw several professional panorama shots of it while here and its really great. today started in the Te Papa museum. The catch phrase for Te Papa is "our place" as it is NZ's national museum. Its all about new zealand, its history, its people, how it came to be, the culture, arts, sciences, you name it. this place was huge, the type of place you could probably spend a week in and still not see everything/read all the interesting stuff/interact with all the exhibits. it had 5 floors, maybe 6 actually, and had all this random stuff about it. very interactive based, very modern feel to the museum. this one exhibit had this fake house that had a blib about a massive earthquake in NZ awhile back and at the end it would shake to give you a feeling of what an earth quake is like, pretty cool. it also had the heaviest colossial or giant squid ever caught and one of the only ones on display in the entire world. it had a complete exhibit on the squid, this massive animal preserved in a tank for observing... eyes the size of soccer balls. it had a movie about how the squid lives, super interesting. it lives really deep in the ocean where almost no light is so having huge eyes helps it to see. crazy to think about all the things that live down in depths that almost all of us will never see... they all go on living down there every day, just like we go about our lives on the surface every day. it really gets me thinking about how big the world is, how many living things there are in it. amazing to think about God creating it all, how much creativity, power, imagination it must have taken. truly spectacular. one dislplay was "bush city." this was an outdoor area where they had all types of plant life that lived in new zealand all growing together in different sections. several levels to bush city, amazing to see the diversity of plant life in one place. it had lots on the maori people, so that was interesting, and we had the priviledge of eating some traditional maori food... a main component was mussels, not something i eat every day. it was actually pretty good. definately different yet good. one entire floor was devoted to this guy named brian brake... a renowned photographer from new zealand that traveled the world taking all sorts of pictures. very moving and powerful... just amazing all the life that happens on this earth... everything from an american doctor doing surgery on a young girl's skull in India, with only simple tools and local anesthetic, all while the girl's uncle has a hold of her ankles, kneeling by the make shift operating table (which appears to be in the middle of a market place) and he is crying... to President Eisenhower speaking at the first meeting of NATO. Pictures from all over the world of random things over 40 years. i finished today by climbing mt. victoria, which looks over wellingtion, it was rainy and cloudy today, so not the best views of the city but the park was beautiful. a massive park with multiple tracks stretching the length as well as leading to the top. this 'mountain' is not an actual mountain but its still pretty high. the park is where they filmed a couple sets of the Lord of the Rings. Since the sets have long been taken down it is sometimes difficult to recognize these places, so to see/find most you have to pay for a tour with special guides that get you to the place and sort of explain how the set was situated so you can kind of imagine how it was. i was pretty pumped to find 'the hobbits hideout' which is the place in the first movie, the fellowship of the ring, when they have just begun their journey, stolen veggies from a local farmer, and encounter the first black rider that comes after them. when frodo says: "get off the road!" and they hop down off the rode to hide. pretty neat to see what frodo calls 'the road' that they were on. the park also made for a great place for some reading and time with the Lord.

Monday, 2/7/2010
today was an early wake up, 4:40. we made our way to the south island today, very exciting. to do this we were at the water's edge at 5 am to take the 'interislander' a vehical ferry, to the other side. was about a 3 hour jaunt. the views coming into the south island from sea were incredible. once on land we made a pitt stop in Picton, which had many tourists, lots of elderly people hanging out. then we made the beautiful 2 hour drive to Nelson. it was perfect weather today, sunny and bright. this part of the country had many many vineyards and farms. wine country. vineyards would stretch on both sides of the road for miles, with large rolling bluffs, everything is REALLY green, all types of fruit trees, nursieries of different trees, the bluffs differing in colors, some golds, dark greens, light greens, short grasses, long grasses, scattered trees and bushes, stands of thick pines, man.... i cant describe it. some housing along the road but fairly spread out. small simple farm houses. got to our YHA hostile at noon. cooked a nice big steak for lunch, yea baby. a nice old man from from france saw how simply i was making it and loaned me some fixings, it was funny, he was like: aw you cant make it like that! my futile or crazy methods at cooking continue to amuse the people who see me in the kitchen. i get the job done, and have a laugh at it, so it works for me :) talked to a young gal from Japan for awhile who has been working here for 4 months. interesting story, a bit hard to understand, and very neat gal. this place is really clean and well kept, i have been very impressed with the hostiles. after lunch we went shopping for groceries for our next expedition. had a 45 min run on a path on the outskirts of nelson. absolutely gorgeous run. very nice path. a river ran right next to it. i dont think i have been on a run where i havent been right next to some body of water. the water was very clear and there were many stones big and small in the river so it made for some scenic rapid type things. at one point there was a small wall of rocks that ran the width of the river that the water fell over. very neat. on the other side of the trail was the backyards of residential houses. ALL of them had beautiful gardens and flowers along the back of their backyards, directly next to the path. so pretty. eventually i got outside of nelson and started to go into some hills when i turned around. i listened to one of my messages by paul washer on my ipod and was very convicted about the question: 'what does my faith cost me?' the more i thought the more i felt that my faith in many ways has become comfortable, convenient... that i have lost my willingness to become uncomfortable, to go the extra mile for the purposes God has called me to. ill sacrifice when i feel like it. ill be available to Him when it works into my schedule, when i get all the things i think i need to get done first... ill go out to lunch with that person... you know, that person that is not the easiest or most enjoyable to be around, but surely i cant give my whole afternoon to just spending time together... that would just take way too much time and inconvenience me too much. challenge my comfort level too much. i felt it had become a lot about what i want, a 'me first' type thing. i even saw this in the trip... i have been spending a lot of time on my own away from the group doing the things i want to do with our free time, seeing the places i want to see... regardless of what anyone else decides to do. how do i expect to have a positive influence in other people's lives if i never spend time with them? if i am always off in my own world doing my own thing? investing into them... only when its convenient for me. how about this: after knowing i am a christian and spending time with me, will Christ have a more favorable reputation because they met me or less favorable? i know i am not here to please man, but God... yet i also know that i am Christ's ambassador. so in short, i had a lot of things rolling around in my brain on that run. good stuff though. we had a nice supper together as a group when i returned and i met rachel and scott... the directors of pacific discovery for the first time. they live here in nelson. very neat people. scott is the epitome of chill. had some intense games of 2 on 2 fooseball in the lounge after supper... intense. we probably played for 45 minutes. dont tell anyone but... i had a loss column of zero. not that it wasnt challenged many times, because it was! we had fun doing celebrations... different handshakes, high fives, fist pounds, chest bumps you name it. it almost became more of who had the better celebration that the game itself.

Tuesday, 2/8
we drove 2 hours to kahurangi national park. set up camp. we met andrew and dawn, our guides through the park. very impressed by their knowledge and leadership abilities. new zealand has a lot of these bugs: wasps, sandflies, and bumble bees. every where. swarms of them. sandflies rival the annoyance of mosquitos. they are bigger than a gnat but smaller than a fly. they bite and leave really itchy spots that dont go away for weeks. bug spray doesnt work the greatest, the best defense i found is long sleeves and pants. the bumble bees are also thick. not too aggressive which is good. they are just very curious and they hover around you and your stuff, in your tent, all the time. these creatures were the topic of much of much groaning among the group. after camp was set, we geared up in overalls, and hard hats for some caving in blue creek cave. it took some doing to get to the cave, a walk through thick bush and across an steep incline to get there. the cave was amazing. we spent a good portion of the afternoon exploring it. at one point we shut off all the flashlights and it was pitch pitch dark. Kitty sang us an old irish folk song... it was sweet to hear her high, elegant voice echo through the cave.

Wednesday, 2/9
today was canyoning day. we learned how to do what they call abseiling... or repelling. the canyon was a thin long channel cut by water, very twisty, and had many fairly sizable drops... big enough that you could not jump down and steep enough that you could not climb down. that is where the abseiling came in. very fun. basically you have a harness around your waist, with a rope anchored at the top, sliding through a carabiner on your harness. you control the speed with your hands, and lean back and walk yourself down the slope with your feet. should your feet slip or footing is bad you face plant into the rock. so it becomes a challenge when the rock face becomes uneven and there is no where to put your feet. we repelled over 10 drops through the afternoon. its quite the process when you have to get 15 all safely down these places. this meant at times lots of waiting on others to get down. it is interesting to observe the emotional changes in myself and the group throughout the day. when we start getting tired or impatient. when our moods get into a 'blah' phase. this is discouraging... how you could possibly not be in a fantastic mood every minute of the day since we are in NZ... but unfortunately significant bouts of complaining and negative energy still exist at times. this is a challenge to me, almost wearing at times, yet a terrific opportunity to remain positive and encouraging of others. when your only happy when everything is perfect, what have you really gained? it also tests that unconditional love that i always desire to be able to extend more of. its easy to love someone who is nice to you. not so easy when they give you a snappy response or a poor attitude. the sun shining through the trees above the canyon and the mouth of the canyon itself, was beautiful. after we got through the canyon, i had a massive conversation with Kitty about the difference between protestants and catholics. we probably talked for over an hour. very deep. definitely gave me some things to think about, question, and explore. she is very knowledgeable about her faith and why she believes what she believes, more than any catholic i have ever met. a big topic of discussion was communion... she believes the blood and bread are actually Christ's body and blood... while i see it as a symbol of remembrance. we talked about the church, Christ's followers, how it should be organized, and ultimately discussed the role of the pope. we talked about the role of mary in the catholic faith and how/why they pray to other saints. very interesting. we discussed the origins of scripture, how it was written, who wrote it... whether or not Martin Luther made changes to / edited the scripture during the reformation... crazy stuff. i need to do some homework, and that is a good thing. it feels like so many of my views and perspective about pretty much everything are being tested right now and it is mentally exhausting to sort it all out sometimes! to give a fair look at ideas, possibilities that are presented as a result of being in a new place with new people. you start to feel like you dont really know anything and your perspective is so limited and small. to make a definitive statement about anything seems dangerous because if feels that someone or something you see/experience will expose a loop hole, exception, or provide facts or evidence that shows you are flat out wrong.

Thursday, 2/10
Today was day 1 of a 3 day trek through the park. our ultimate goal is to get to the summit of mt. owen. and return through some jagged rocks on the other side. the park is ginormous. it has been quite chilly in the mornings here... not what i expected for summer at all. it warms up fine, but it can be down right cold early on. we needed thermals, hats, gloves, everything. could see our breath. today was the start of living strickly out of a backpack: food, clothing, tents. the first 3 hours was up a long very steep incline, it was probably close to 45 angle of incline for some stretches. tough going with a 50 lb pack and loggs, bushes, rocks, all over the place. christina was sick today and ended up having to return down after lunch. sarah also stayed back in nelson. after that the way was a little more friendly for a bit, then we went down a section of steep decline called the devil's staircase. very steep. after that we went through an interesting stretch of forest called ghost valley. very interesting trees. we stopped at a small stream for some fesh water, so that was cool. also went through a section of trees... im not sure the scientific name but they looked exactly like some of the trees in Dr. Suess books. really cool. then was a section slightly up hill through a dried up creek bed, large rocks, lots of rock hopping. arrived at a place called granity pass hut and camped there for the night. we saw another lord of the rings site... where the fellowship characters hide from the crows that tried to spy on them in the first movie. sweet. they have lots of gray robins here, they and they are extremely friendly. when we move through the bush, they are attracted to us because we stir up bugs, which = food. i got one such robin, who i affectionately named 'rob,' to land on the tip of my boot. it was sweet. the forest is largely beach forest. beach trees are very thin and tall and their branches/leaves spread out very wide horizontally... they almost look like plates. very thin, small, circular, flat leaves. makes for an interesting canopy. lots of stringy moss stuff... like we saw on the islands. the evening in the hut was quite entertaining. we hung out with these guys from the north island... comedians. they were in their early to mid thirties i'd say. we gathered around a huge table in the hut and had a good time discussing culture and we sang a lot of classic, popular songs together. i am amazed at how much they know about the states. our media influence... music and film... is huge, not just here, but as i have come to realize, all over the world. i think a big reason is not many other places have the resources to develop and spread it like the U.S. does.

Friday, 2/11
today is granity pass to mt. owen, and down to lake bulmer. it was an early rise and another long steep climb to begin the day, climbing up a place called sentinel hill. today there was no bush, we are higher now, so plant life is very short, tough, hard, and sometimes even sharp. mostly short grasses and shrubs. a typical alpine environment. it was slow going climbing mt. owen today, but man was it worth it once we got to the top. great views of the surrounding mountains. the different varieties of rocks, cliffs, ledges, formations is amazing. we have a hiking game going on where someone was chosen by the drawing of leaves (one leaf was different than others) and this person is the hiking villain. this person's task is to 'kill' all the others in the group without being detected or accused. there is a sign that the villain shows a person that signifies that that person is dead. the person then must make a public act of their 'death' but it must be at least 5 minutes after the sign was made, so the villain has a fair shot not getting caught. if the person just dramatically died on the spot you could figure it out pretty easily. so there has been some rather interesting acting jobs. and the villain went undetected today. the way down mt. cook was pretty challenging. the rocks are very sharp and a lot of them with pointy edges pointing vertically. some are sharp like knives so a fall would result in a fairly bad cuts. we had to be careful. its hard to get around because you have to balance on rocks to get down, uneven surfaces, gaps in the rocks, places where you walk on points instead of flat faces, and you sometimes you cant use your hands to get a hold of things for balance or assistance because the stuff around you is too sharp to grab. there were a couple very steep declines where we had to go one at a time, pretty intense. one particular place there was a gap, no more than a foot and half wide, in the rocks. there was nothing for a long, long ways down below the gap. both sides of the gap where also exposed to a long fall. basically two big parts of the mountain coming together at a very skinny point. it was freaky. a slip of the foot and things could get real scary. so it was a challenge to get everyone across. not a big deal in all reality... all you really had to do is have one foot on one side, put the other foot on the other side and then shift your body/weight from one side to the other. a simple move, but man it was freaky. on this side of the mountain we did not have any type of trail we were just following andrew's GPS. it was a great challenge today, i loved being out where hardly anyone else goes. today we got to see where the LOTR characters exited the mines of moria. when we got out of the rocks, we went down a long wide valley with long slippery grasses, as well as some really sharp grasses called 'spainard.' after the valley we dropped down another very steep but short section of rock to a lake, lake bulmer. andrew says hardly anyone knows about this lake. it was pretty small for a lake in new zealand but very cool, completely surrounded by towering walls of rock with the exception of one end of the lake which is where the bush started again. we camped by the lake tonight and had a camp fire which was nice. cold in the evenings.

Saturday, 2/12 day 23
i really enjoyed today. it was back in the bush, still descending but way more gradually. we had two drops to get by... which we used ropes to help us down the drops, not near as steep as previous ones, fairly easy. the bush was thick and beautiful. moss covers everything... rocks, trees, fallen logs, etc. we moved very quickly today, much easier going. on several occasions we were on the edge of the mountain, with a huge wall of rock hundreds of feet above on one side and a single line of trees, bushes separating us from the valley below on the other side. fantastic views. once we were basically back down, we had go the rest of the way out of the park. this involved crossing small streams 7 different times. i was having quite a time keeping my feet today. slipping and losing my balance everywhere, but not completely falling. ironic because the rest of the trip, the most difficult parts, i had been extremely graceful. the rocks in the water were really really slippery so that made things interesting. i was at the back of the line with Trick and he had noticed my difficulties. at one point i was joking with Trick Kitty about how out of all the times id lost my balance, i was determined to not completely lose my feet, and about this point i reached up to grab a smaller tree, smaller but very sturdy looking, to help myself over a small section of water and it completely snapped from the very base, apparently rotten at the bottom. really funny moment. a short time later, i stepped on a patch of ground on the edge of the track with a deep ditch below to the side and the patch of 'ground' gave way, leaving one leg going straight down. i cant imagined what it looked like from the front or back of me. walking just fine then bam! my right leg just disappears... it was quite a deep ditch so i really didnt want to fall all the way down so i managed to save myself with my other leg and hands, doing a single leg squat up and out of the nice air hole that i just made. perhaps the funniest moment of all was our experience with a large horizontal log stretching across the path, just below shoulder height. it was a tough call, which way you should get through: go under or over. Tick decided he was going over. with a big pack on your back, it is a difficult task to go any distance vertically. and pulling yourself up is a quite a daunting task at times. he got one arm and one leg on the log easily. with about half of him on the log he looked like he needed just a little extra 'umph' to get all the way over, so i gave him a little push on his pack. just so happened to be about the same time that he got enough 'umph' by himself. now... he had too much umph. so: imagine a 6'4" dude with arms wrapped around a large mossy log, legs now straddling it, also wrapping around the log, now spinning around the log, at an impressive speed, holding on for dear life. Trick successfully went full circle around the log, going all the way underneath and spinning back up where he began. he ended up safely passing over. it was the most funny thing i have witnessed in a long, long time. it kept replaying in my mind and we were laughing so hard our eyes were watering. we must have laughed for 10 minutes about it. oh my. we finished the track out of the park and headed on back to nelson.

Sunday, 2/13, day 24
SKY DIVE DAY. about 7 of us went. 16500 ft. 70 seconds of free fall. falling the distance of one football field every 2 seconds. absolutely cool. on the way there austin plugged his ipod into the van and we listening to the likes of ACDC, Linkin Park, and eminem... you know... holistic, educational, calming music. after a short drive to the place, we got a short briefing on the jump, geared up in the jump suit, hat, eye wear, harness. loaded up the small single engine plane. this had no seats we just sat on the floor, it wasnt even big enough to stand up in. we took 20 minutes to climb to our altitude and jump point, final instructions, green light goes on, door goes open, we slide out onto the outside of the plane, stomach does a little flip, and we let go... the first 2 seconds was nuts... we did a slow 360 flip and i really felt the change from not falling to falling... very fast, kind of like that roller coaster drop feeling. then we got into our falling position, belly down, back up, legs bent, arms out. some people thought the free fall went by really fast, i felt it seemed way longer than 70 seconds. really cool. i could see so much. the ocean, some mountains, nelson. we fell through a cloud, that was pretty cool too. most of the falling felt more like flying its a very peaceful sensation. then the cute came out and we had a nice 5 minute float to the ground. the guy swung our cute around a few times, the horizon shifted around pretty good, kinda made me nauseous but it was sweet. landed safely. if you go skydiving dont forget to pop your ears, to equalize the pressure in them, as you are falling. i didnt and my ears really hurt afterwords. quick change in pressure = tough on the ears. austin threw up on the way back from the place... felt bad for the man. he was not feeling good. another interesting part of the day was a long conversation with some german ladies at supper. good day. crazy day.

Monday, 2/14 day 25
left nelson to go to nelson lakes national park, about 2 hours. first day of our second volunteer project. we spent most of the day planting native plants which they are trying to re-introduce into the area, while taking out other pest plants. pretty interesting to learn the background info about the project. after a few hours of planting native grasses and trees we had a good swim in rotoiti lake. huge lake fed by water running off from the mountains. this is a picture-esc place. large mountains in the distance coming straight out of the lake. usually the waters are calm, creating sort of a mirror image effect. beautiful, cold, clear, clean water. really cold. refreshing after a afternoon of hot planting. did some back flips off the doc. holly got a great air born pic of me with the mountains in the background. pretty sweet. took a 30 minute nap after the time in the lake and then went for a 50 minute run on the edge of the lake. a great dirt path with scenic bush on my right and lake views on the left. amazing run. really reflected on the path i have taken in the last 23 years and all the things that have happened. i think it would be unfortunate if the only time our lives flashed before our eyes is the time when we die. if we never think about such things we never have time to truly express our appreciation and thankfulness for the life, truly realize the amazing story each one of us has... and appreciate the author. i challenge you to take some time soon to reflect a bit. i started from the earliest day i could remember... went through pre-school, elementary, middle school, high school, college and now. thought about all the people that have been involved in my story, teachers, coaches, community people, family, friends, the places ive been, things ive seen, experiences, jobs, summers, winters, joys, sorrows, challenges, defeats, victories... on and on and on... and most of all... God's faithfulness through the entire journey. how the small details of life seem to add up and make sense in a bigger picture. we had some good supper when i got back and i ended my day by learning how to play cribbage. pretty fun game!

Tuesday, 2/15
Today our mission was to work on some water drains on a walking track up into the mountains. we climbed the track all day and ended our day by staying the night in an old shut down skii lodge. the views from this track were fantastic... it hardly felt like a work day. great views of the lakes, mountains, valleys around the park. amazing. we cleaned up a hut about half way up and made supper in the lodge. the lodge was an incredibly interesting place. it was shut down in the 1980s and looks like it hasnt been touched since then. fascinating, feels like you are stepping back in time about 30 years. we played a couple intense games of jungle speed and a team game of cribbage and called it a day. ah yes, i met the first people from the states that i have seen so far today. kind of a nice thing.

Wednesday, 2/16
had some great time with the Lord early this morning outside of the lodge with the company of the mountains. it did not take long to come down from here and we had some good time in the lake again today. today steph, alli, austin and i swam out to a bouy a good distance from shore... it was a really cold swim but really fun. felt accomplished to swim a good distance. then to warm up, karen and austin buried me in a pile of rocks on the beach. kind of funny looking.

Thursday, 2/17 day 28
did some more planting of some native vegetation again today. very satisfying work. the sand flys were the thickest ive seen them yet, but that did not deter us from doing some great work, having a great attitude about it, having some laughs, and enjoying our time together. today my mind was in a goofy place, i kept thinking of these silly connections. so my job today was digging holes for the plants, mainly trees today. others did the planting, and others did watering and put up these protection net type things around the plants. so there is a pop song out and the chorus goes "ive got a feeling... that tonight's gunna be a good night..." so instead of having a good feeling about the night, i had good feelings about the holes i was digging. singing... out loud... "ive got a feeling... that this hole's gunna be a good hole..." very stupid, but very entertaining. help keep the mind of more unpleasant aspects of the work. i read Ephesians 5&6 today and i had two goals... love like Christ loves... unconditionally... (well, a good attempt at least) and to give thanks in all circumstances. Ephesians 5:20 says "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." thats the king james. interesting to have the KJV for my Bible, never got into king james much but i like it. more swimming in the lake after our work, and a relaxing evening! Great weather the all week.

Friday, 2/18 day 29
i got up early today for some time with the Lord. time in prayer was great... i prayed for many things and many people. the biggest prayer today was to become more like Christ. that He would increase and i would decrease. this trip has been very humbling... a lot of character flaws exposed. im sure many of them have always been evident but ive just never realized it, until this unique opportunity has allowed me to look at myself through fresh new lenses. it was some what of a desperate prayer... knowing my own feeble will power is not enough to slice through the thick walls of the dark selfishness strongholds of my being. i have become clearly shown that i can NOT make the necessary changes on my own and am dependent on His work in me, as well as moment to moment decisions on my part, to make it happen. your either going forward or backwards... very few moments you are standing still. we left nelson lakes today after a short morning of work. it was a sad day, i liked this place a lot. i will miss the lake. we drove to Punakaiki, about 2 hours. our hostile was very unique... it was named Te Nikau and it was more of a house/condo style. our group had it all to our selves. very scenic place... it sits in the middle of the bush, 5 minutes away from a beautiful section of beach. it had a huge rock/boulder built into the floor of the kitchen... had a very unique, yet cool style to the place. there was a nice trail, the Truman trail that went through the jungle as well. very neat. i went down to the beach with austin and manisha, meeting ali on the way. we had fun jumping in the water and crashing against some oncoming waves. real cold water. nachos for supper tonight... 5 pans of beans, refried beans, beef, and tortilla chips. all you could eat and more. the cheese heeping. condiments were jake's home made guacamole which was excellent, sour cream, and salsa. all of this topped some warm tasty rice & sauce. i dont know how they did it but it was so good. it had the quality and taste of a really nice restaurant. certain members also completed the push up challenge... P.U.C. for short. pronounced 'puck.' this has been an comical part of our trip... it was an idea came up by austin, trick and i to keep in some sort of shape. what PUC is: a latter of push ups done in a group. where the first person does 1 push up, waits for the others. then he does 2 push ups, until everyone has gotten to 10 push ups.... the latter is fifty some odd push ups and probably the most difficult part is holding the push up position while the other people complete their push-ups, no breaks. so many inside jokes have come from our various PUC sessions. hilarious. we have determined that PUC is done to prevent the softy. the softy is a person who has the quality of being soft. not chiseled. out of prime form. being soft is often linked to excessive amounts of time spent on the couch, and folding of the hands. if softy is used in the plural form... softies... it refers to those happy parts of the body that tend to be the first to show extra weight that may be obtained. this is different for each individual but usually includes but is not limited to: the belly, sides of abdomen, buttocks, thighs, ankles, upper arms, chin, cheeks, and/or neck. we joked that tonights meal could open the possibility of "the return of the softies." the joking about this keeps going on... it is so ridiculously stupid but for some reason we find it extremely comical. i had a hard time not laughing, just writing this. when i attempted explain PUC and softy(ies) to Holly in the most serious of tones, she looked at me like i had lost my mind. it was SO funny. we laughed for minutes. the type of laughter that requires the pounding of a nearby object with a fist, in this case, a table. i am also having a good time with my hair... on top of the head and the face. i have not shaved my face in 19 days now. looking a little nasty, shaggy, thin attempts at a beard/go-tee. its made progress but its still not my style. in addition to the weak attempt at a beard, i also sported a fo-hawk today (fake mo-hawk). all i can say is, its nice to be in a place where no one knows you. its been great to open my mind to other possibilities and to get creative again on how to mix it up a little. i am convinced that life is not meant to be boring. there are too many possibilities of activities, food, entertainment, service, relationship, i could go on, to have life be boring. one day i will probably have to re-read my own writing to remind myself, but it is true. i just have to get my mind right to see it. easy in a different place, not so easy at home in the regular routine of things. sometimes i think i will have to force myself to mix it up... just for the sake of remembering that life is not supposed to be boring. that it is my choice to make it that way or make it another way. life can be made un-boring in the most simple, mundane activities... even things we do repetitively. the mind must simply be open to seeing the small miracles that make up our daily existence.

Saturday, 2/19
today was great. we drove from Punakaiki to Franz Josef and had a kayaking adventure half way in the middle. we also saw a park containing the pancake rocks... a very interesting group of rocks formations that look exactly what their name implies. tall relatively skinny columns of rock cut by wind and water with thousands of indentions on the sides and through the width of the rocks to look exactly like really tall stacks of pancakes. lots of columns of pancakes. this was close to the coast so some cool views of the water and coastline as well. we kayaked out to a place called okarito lagoon. it is the largest unmodified wetland in new zealand. there are some extremely rare wild life that live here, such as the white heron. this is the only place in all of new zealand that this bird lives, and we were fortunate enough to see one! there are a lot of mountains and glaciers in this part of the country so the water is a really light blue color... almost like sky blue but a little different, hard to describe, really beautiful. in some places the water is a really light gray or even white because of all the sediment in the water from the glaciers. when we got to franz josef we took a hike for a couple hours to see the glacier... very very cool. never seen a glacier before. hard to even begin to describe it. we saw the tip of it coming down between two mountains. white snowy, icey looking with some brilliant light blue parts in it. ive been told that it is very rare to see glaciers come so close to the coast. beach and glacier in close proximity = cool. i guess its 8 miles long and flows over 3 ft per day. the walks to the sights here are almost just as good as the sight itself. beautiful landscape. there are lots of stuff to do way up high on and by the glacier... lots of ice climbs and other hikes that would be fun, but we just dont have time. every place we go it seems i could spend at least 3 or 4 days doing all the things to do here. some places a whole week. and still not see and do everything. it is overwhelming to decide!

Sunday, 2/20 day 31
big travel day... franz josef to queenstown. drove down the west coast today... beautiful drive, the west coast is very scenic. we stopped at some random cafe in the middle of no where and it was an interesting feel, reminded me of home... you had the old folks all having breakfast together, newpapers out and coffee steaming, just chatting away. looked a lot like small town nebraska. stopped at a place along the road called knight's point... it was a look out spot where you looked straight out into the ocean, and i guess from this point there was no other land mass between you and Antarctica... just miles and miles of water. we also stopped at a place off the road called thunder creek falls... about a 5 minute walk through some beautiful bush and wal-ah. very amazing water fall, one of holly's favorite in all NZ. pretty cool stuff. more driving. lots of sky blue waters, towering mountains, small farms, pine trees, ocean views, pebble beaches and stretches of jungly bush. one particular part is a freeze frame in my mind... on the left side of the road picture a field thick with yellow flowers with a neat wooden fence around the field. at the end of the fence imagine a neat line of tall skinny dark green pine trees, neatly arranged. the green of the trees making a great contrast to the yellow of the flowers. on the right side of the road was open farm land, bright light green very short grass, like that of spring, with a couple small farm buildings in the distance, cattle and sheep scattered about in the fields grazing peacefully. the back drop to all of this... looming in the distance, as well as sitting in front of a long stretch of open road leading on before us, are the southern alps of new zealand. breath taking. we stopped in wanaka for lunch. i had a peice of elephant fish from a street vendor. it was very good. a popular meal here is 'fish and chips.' you can find fish and chips joints pretty much everywhere you go. (sounds more like 'fush and chups' sometimes) you get fried fish usually and thick french fries. quite the meal. upon leaving wanaka we picked up a german hitch hiker named christov. christov was a technician of some kind, not more than a few years older than me, and very nice. a funny story about him was... he was telling us he had met this guy from japan who had been biking around new zealand for 2 years running. pretty impressive. it is very common to see travelers biking... all their packs loaded onto their bikes. i wouldnt want to climb some of these hills on a bike, so hats off to them. anyways... when we were driving to queenstown from wanaka we saw this guy riding his bike up a massive hill and he had a japan flag flying from a small poll at the end of his bike as well as a japan biking jersey on. christov said he thought it was the same dude he met earlier in his travels as we passed the biker. we stopped at the top of the hill to give the van a breather and take some pics and the guy caught up to us. he stopped to take a picture too. so we were like... man christov, you should go over and say hi!! so christov did and it turns out it wasnt the same guy he had met earlier! bummer. it was so funny cause the biker guy had no clue what was happening. good stuff. the last 20 minutes or so to queenstown we spent driving by a huuuuuuge lake called lake wakatipu. beautiful lake, with mountains coming straight out of it. really really light blue color. what is cool about queenstown is its built around an inlet on the lake. nice place to have a town, very scenic, really a sweet place. the home of the first bungy jump. random fact... ive heard many new zealanders call a jacket a jersey. odd. anyhow, two words come to mind first when i think of queenstown... energy and excitement. it is a tourist town, holly said at any given time, tourists may make up 1/2 of the population. pretty crazy. very nice feel to it though, surprisingly. queenstown is also famous for its crazy night life. so tonight we went out to a nice authentic mexican restaurant where i paid $26 for a mediocre burrito. i split a liter of kiwi margarita with christina and trick, which was priced at $53... $18 a piece. it was served in the typical small glass... maybe holding a standard cup of liquid. i had one and half of these. it was the most expensive one and a half cups of beverage i have ever had. but i guess you have to live a little. the margarita though was real good. the best margarita ive ever had...(better have been for $18!) it was frosty cold with thousands of tiny frozen bits in it, very refreshing. after supper we visited two local pubs... willies bar and the buffalo club. i had two unique drinks throughout the night, fun to try my first new zealand beer... one was a drink called Monteith Brewing Co's Radler Bier and the other called Tui East India Pale Ale, from the tap. i am not a big fan of beer but this stuff was really good. good of flavor to it... light and smooth, goes down with a warm feeling. both of these were light beers, dark beers far out number the light. we were fortunate enough to be there during happy hours as well so one was $3 and the other $4... usually they are at least double that. clutch. the guys stayed out the latest tonight so i had some good man time with austin and trick. i dont know where jake was. also talked to a guy from Connecticut tonight... he takes people sky diving for his job. i asked him if he had experienced any scary moments and e told me he has been doing it for a long time and has had to rely on his back-up shoot about 15 times. the back up cute is the last resort, so pretty scary times. the funny thing about it is the people never know when this happens, he just acts like nothing is wrong. crazy. i got tired the fastest of the three so i said my goodbyes and headed back to the hostile, and had some good time with the Lord on a bench by the lake. i saw it, and it was so peaceful looking in the dark so i just had to do it. the sound of the water lapping the bank was very soothing.

Monday, 2/21
this was catch up day. laundry, cooking, emails, blogging, taking a look at the budget and financial situation, trying to contact some people in Australia for scuba diving, etc. we also had a great couple of hours at queenstown's gondola and luge. the gondola took us up the side of a really big hill/small mountain where we got great views of the city and the lake, mountains. real cool. and the luge was really fun. i didnt even know what it was... basically these little karts that you race down the hill on a curvy track... really fun to race people. definately had some wipe outs. good stuff. my favorite part about today was my run. ran by the lake on a track going out of town called the sunshine by track, great scenery of course, lake on one side, jungle on the other... cant beat it. love the running here. absolutely dig it. it definitely fits me like a glove. the was the way back... back into town... turn on your eye of the tiger music. i dont know what it is but this town just gets you excited. as i was entering the city limits on the lakefront i imagined myself winning a big international race of some kind. ive never been in boston or ran the marathon there but this place definitly has the potential to hold the same kind of electric atmosphere i imagine that race having. i was hauling it of course by this point, full throttle... i could just hear someone saying: "And the American... from some no name town in the state of Nebraska... is in the leeead! on the home stretch in the queen's city!..." needless to say i got some suprised... almost startled looks as i continued running into town trying to calculate my path and anticipate where other pedestrians wouldnt be... great times.

Tuesday, 2/22
free day number 2 in queenstown was a marvelous one. i booked a trip to milford sound, a world heritage site. you gotta be one of the best natural wonders of the world to be a world heritage site, and this place definitely lived up to its classification. all i can say is, if you go to new zealand, you MUST go to this place. its a glacier carved fiord. HUGE mountains coming straight out of the water. awesome. i left early for this thing and we had a 5 hour drive on a coach to get there. the drive was amazing. we stopped in Te Anau for a toliet break and snacks then the drive got interesting. just outside of Te Anau is where Fiordland national park is... this is one of the most beautiful places in all new zealand and the world. you could spend months in this place. thick rain forest, only see 100 sunny days a year here, 7 meters of precipitation (a meter is over 3 ft.... thats like 22 ft of rainfall) you got the southern alps all over, some of the most dangerous roads in NZ, over 40 potential avalanche sites... the weather gets so nasty in the winter that they shut a good portion of the park down, its got four types of beach forrest, sits directly over multiple fault lines... this place is nuts.  it is home to the world famous Milford Track... one of the most beautiful hikes in the world. to even get a chance at the milford track you have to reserve spot over 1 year in advance. i wont even begin to describe it. there is a certain awe about the place that you cant experience unless your there. even the best of pictures (and there is some real good ones... look up milford sound somewhere) dont even touch it. and what do you know... only 100 sunny days in the year and we caught one today! nice work. the drive through the small portion of the park that we saw was stunning, then we got to the sounds and had a nice 2 hour boat cruise through them with a ginormous buffet lunch. on a boat, good food, in one of the most beautiful places in the world. a small slice of heaven. then we booked it back to queenstown. arriving at 8 pm a little over 12 hours after leaving this morning. had an amazing night run through the queenstown gardens tonight and along the lake front... beautiful to see the city lights on the water... the gardens sit on a peninsula into the lake so you can look out over the lake and see the city strech onward along the waters edge... amazing... the gardens had a beautiful gazebo in it and a spectacular sprinkler type thing that shoots the water of one of the ponds into the air... that was all lit up. running through the wharf was sweet... seeing couple through the windows of nice restaurants enjoying a nice dinner together... just gives you the warm fuzzies every time :) i was exhausted but for some odd reason, to top the night off, i joined the others who were mid way through a pub crawl in the down town area... 6 bars, 9 pm to 2 am, an organized thing called the 'big night out' lots of dancing and loud music bars stayed open specifically for the event... i didnt have anything to drink but it was fun to tag along through 2 of the bars. since bump and grind dancing is not my style, i just danced like a foolish man (the best type of dancing) with some drunk people who didnt really have a good grip of what was going on... and had a great time with it. came late, left early, and slept hard.

wow that was heeps of writing and the crazy part is i left most things out of the story! wishing everyone well from NZ. im andrew laflin.... good day!

Whanganui River Expedition + other stuff

got my typing sneakers on and ready for another marathon blog. i will start by finishing the last blog which left off on Sunday, January 30. at this point I had just come back from the thermal park. after arriving back at 4:45 ish, I geared up for a run to Huka Falls... a big time water fall near Taupo. the route was estimated to be a 1.25-1.5 hour walk from the Tiki Lodge. by running, i made the trip to the falls in 30 minutes flat. i was pushing it because i wanted to make it back in enough time to make and finish supper by 7:30. NZ in general makes for difficult running conditions. lots of hills, up and down. intense terrain. very few flat stretches. tough to get any type of rhythm going but it makes for a good workout. i had a general idea of where i was going but the details were uncertain so i was running very quickly in case i needed extra time to find the way. i ran a good way, almost entirely up hill, up 'spa road,' found the entrance to the park, ran through that, found the walking path, ran down that for a ways, and then hit the bush. the bush is what people around here call the forest/country. the path through the bush was very narrow but it made for a great run. i was a combination of small rock and dirt. it ran parallel to a river which was full and moving swiftly that day. the river was perhaps the most beautiful blue-green aqua color i have ever seen. the waters close the banks were clear and i could see the bottom, the sand and the rocks there. there were many signs warning of strong currents along the path. sometimes the path would leave the water's edge and climb up above the river which had some great views. there were times where the path was a good distance from the river but since the river was full, water had overflowed, making mini-swamps. this was sweet because you could see trees, logs, shrubs partially or completely submerged but still see them clear as day since the water was so clear. the path was winding up and down all through the jungle like forest. it made for an incredible run. aside from the up and down nature of it, it was a path that i would enjoy running often if i lived here. it is always enjoyable when you get that lost feeling when you run, where you cant see your destination and you really don't know exactly where you are at any particular moment. it is also fun to fly past the trees, a feeling magnified by the close proximity of the vegetation on either side. the winding path keeps any sort of boredom from setting in. finally arriving at the falls, it was an impressive sight. it consisted of about a .5-1.0 mile long gauntlet of a skinny water way where the water flowed violently with great velocity, gaining speed and strength as it went, finally emptying through the mouth of the falls at the end of the straight away. the water was white the entire way with foam and waves crashing into each other. once in awhile a patch of sky blue water would emerge. it was very pretty. i spent about 20 minutes walking along the water way and falls, marveling at the display of power. the way back was more relaxed and enjoyable with the knowledge of the way back and enough time to return. supper tonight was stir fry... a bag of frozen veggies on sale + chicken breast. i have a new appreciation for meat now. we don't eat meat whenever we are not in town... ie expeditions or volunteer projects... so you definitely miss it during those days. i enjoyed eating out on the deck of the lodge watching the skyline turn to dusk. then the group left together for the thermal spa park. the sun was going down as we arrived so it was a pleasant evening, slightly on the chilly breezy side, perfect for a dip in the hot springs. the ones we visited were a series of three separate pools that flow into each other at three separate levels. the stream started from a place in the bush that could not be seen. it was no more than 3 ft deep at any spot deep enough to get your entire body under the water if you laid down. the bottom of the pools consisted of pebbles that moved over soft ground. the water was clear. it was hot tub temperature, id say about 100-110 degrees. the flow of fresh warm water across the body was very relaxing. it was like a gentle massage. no chemicals needed. small floating rocks called pumice regularly floated past. they were porous rock, almost looked like petrified wood. on the lowest level there was a large flat rock on the side of the pool that formed a table looking surface where people had made structures of rock that almost looked like chess pieces lined up on a chess board. cool. the rocks were all very smooth from the constant wearing of the water on them. you could slide past them or lay on them and find a comfortable position. the different levels offered different temps. i would get hot quickly so i would go to the lowest level where the spring drained into the river. the river was freezing. therefore, there was about a 3 ft transition area, where the waters of the warm and cold would mix and you would have a temperature similar to a regular pool that you could cool off in but still be comfortable. perfect combination of cool and warm places. amazing place. at one point i tipped my head back to have a look at the stars. man. fantastic stars. interesting the difference between here and home. since NZ is in the southern hemisphere, some of the same constellations can be seen but upside down. crazy. we probably hung out here for two and a half hours. my favorite part of the trip so far, just great chillin time. we met some cool people there too. some dude from NZ doing some traveling... had been at it for 2 years... seen Europe, chilli, canada, among others. just nuts some of the stories people tell that i have met here. some of the experiences people have traveling. crazy. not enough time to write.

Monday, 1/31 Day 11
slept in a bit today which was nice... maybe 9 ish. had a good time going through romans 6. i was reminded of the power Christ has given His followers over sin, should we choose to accept it. just as He defeated sin, so can we... by the power of the Holy Spirit. that through His work in our hearts, and our commitment to that work, we dont have to be slaves to sin any longer... but rather slaves of righteousness (vs 16). there seemed a quiet challenge in the words to me... how convinced am i that through Christ I can over come some of my worst habits and hang-ups? when i look at my life, can i see the fruit of His work? am i becoming more like Him, or remaining more like myself? interesting to think about. today we made the trip from Taupo to Taumaranui, where we would hook up with the canoes for our river expedition. bout a 2 hr drive. when we got there we put all of our river and camping gear in plastic barrels that would keep our stuff dry. we took 6 canoes, two people + 4 barrels per canoe, or 'canadians' as they call them. we then drove the rest of the way to our put-in point. took another 2 hours... bumpy and curvy road. it brought a whole new light to the facet that there are more sheep in NZ than people. in our driving time we saw 3 other people in vehicles. few other signs of human existence could be seen... a few bridges, drive ways, small address signs next to long driveways that turned out of side, leading unseen houses. 99% was covered in green and sheep. very scenic. we were always driving on the edge of a cliff or bluff. miniature mountains all around. full of views... down into the valleys... when we would cross bridges you could see down narrow straight aways on either side.... just amazing. the sheep are everywhere. they are spotted on the hills like the blueberries in a blueberry muffin. so many. NZ is so much larger than i ever imagined it being. on this drive it seemed there is no limit to this wilderness. and the best part is its just sheep and plants, none of this touristy stuff. the bugs are minimal in this part of the country. when we finally arrived at the riverside, it was raining steadily. i was clad in rain gear and life jacket. i was paddling with Jake... he in the front, i in the back. supposedly the rule is the person in the back is the steer man, the strongest paddler. the person in the front is the pace setter. so i like to think i was in the back because i was the strongest but i am sure Jake would beg to tell you differently ;) interesting to re-learn the mechanics of proper paddling and steering, controlling the canoe. its an art for sure. the river was full and moving fast. the walls on either side are gigantic, straining your head to see the tops of them. trees cover the towering walls. the trees are often pines that are arranged neatly, so thick that you can not see the bank below them. sometimes the walls are large stretches of rock... gray, orange, tan, brown colors... equally impressive. the river was mostly smooth but occasionally we would hit some rapids and get a pretty good shaking, which was always a good time. the rain was actually refreshing on the face, yet i was very thankful for the rain gear. would have been sooooaked. occasionally we would hook up with another canoe and float together for awhile. good times. many small waterfalls would come flowing out of the walls as well, which were neat to look at. i enjoyed just floating the most... taking in the scenery and enjoying the calmness and peacefulness of the river... the gentle sound of moving water providing a soft background melody. the water is very cold and an earthy green/brown color, very little visibility to through it. after 2 hrs of paddle we pulled off the river at our first camp site. we dragged the canoes way off the water and pitched our tents. the camp site, more like a rectangular shaped area with shorter grass than surrounding areas, was very basic. there was a simple structure with a roof that rested on one wall and poles. this is where we made our meals. there was also a compost toilet house. this was a wooden rectangular out house that had rusty hinges and various levels of wood decay on the walls, door and roof. it looked like something from a horror film. if it had a sign above the door, the caption would read something like: 'if any man should enter, he shall never return.' oh, and the look was not enough to terrify, the smell was. horrendous reek. but i guess what should i expect, right? after all, this is no holiday inn out here. it was still raining when we put up our tents. i was in a foul mood. i did not take kindly to walking around in sandals when everything is wet and muddy... then tracking that wetness and mud into your nice, damp tent. ugh. keeping the rest of the gear and supplies dry was near impossible as well. to the side of the structure, there was a sink. this sink had a long ancient looking lever. lift lever up, push lever down = flow of water. it was like stepping back in time for water, but i was thankful for it. we made supper using portable stoves. interesting devices... multiple pieces that are assembled together to form a bowl over an apparatus that provides a flame. the flame is produced by lighting flammable fluid. when the pieces are in portable format, the are a small compact cylinder. really pretty slick. gosh it took me ages how to figure out how to assemble it took cook tonight though. rrrrr. it was a difficult task to know how to work it so the intensity of the heat is what we needed as well. preparations took forever tonight. we made stir fry, with many cut up veggies.... so it was worth it but we didn't eat until about 9 tonight. the mood of the group was not a fun one. cold, dark, muddy. i was last to leave our 'kitchen' having some intimate time with the sink, mr. ancient pump, and our dishes. it was difficult task to see, hold a flashlight, pump the handle, hold the dish or utensil under the intermittent streams of water, and scrub it... all at the same time. needless to say i was making use of the teeth, elbows, wrists, 10 fingers, etc. then 'dry' them with a nice dirty sopping towel. lovely. it was at this time i had lots of positive thoughts in my head... and thought how much i enjoyed running water, dish washers, a house to put ur stuff in, places to put the stuff where you knew where they were actually located, warm showers where you can be clean and not feel smelly or disgusting, a bed that is comfortable where you have your own personal place to sleep and not breathing the same humid air in a tent that is slightly undersized for three people. i also thought about how much i liked clean toilets that flush and dont knock you over because of their stench. these thoughts and many others where running through my brain. all this to say: you can find out a lot about yourself.... where you are as a person, what character you actually have compared to what you think you have... when you are thrown into uncomfortable, unfamiliar, unpleasant situations with people who aren't seeing eye to eye. yes, this is when the rubber meets the road. and i was not impressed with the condition of my heart in this moment. i had not witnessed myself in such a foul mood or ugly state of mind in quite some time. it was a great lesson, a great thing to be reminded of, that i have a LONG way to go in the development of Christ-like character and unconditionally loving others. some of the best lessons are learned from challenging, not pleasant, circumstances.

Tuesday, February 1, Day 12
today was a grand improvement of the conditions of yesterday. second day on the water, perfect day... sunny, 70s, not a cloud in the sky. a guy couldn't ask for a better day.  romans 7 was the Word of the day. it is good to have scripture with me, like a drink of ice cold, frosty water on a muggy hot afternoon. sort of ironic... after yesterday's struggle of will, i can identify with Paul when he speaks illustrates the paradox of doing what he does not want to do (sinning)... and not doing what he wants to do (God's way). today my paddle mate was Steph. we had a good conversation on the river. we spoke about her living in texas, her family, parents, how the parents met, her brother and his experience serving in iraq, playing division one volleyball at rutgers university, how her first coach got fired the interim coach destroyed the program and her third coach restored it. she spoke very fondly of her parents lake house and writing in guests on the calendar to host each weekend of every summer. she talked of grilling out, boating, and hanging with family friends... sounded like fun to me. we broke off for lunch and a rock skipping contest. the most skips after three combined throws was declared the winner. after going into an over time throw with Patrick (who I call 'trick' for short) yours truly had the most skips. after lunch i had Fish as my partner. another good talk. she said the bravest thing she ever did was hold her father's hand when he died. i guess he went in to get a colonoscopy because he was 50, they found cancer, it spread to his bones and then to the rest of his body, and that was the end. tough story. this trip is quite challenging mentally and emotionally in that way. complete strangers trying to get to know each other a little more every day... so we ask each other all these random questions about our lives and it makes me really think about my life and how i live. a lot of reflecting on the past. what family is like, random things you like/dislike, what home is like, traditions, school, activities, traveling, hopes, dreams, preferences, friends, people, issues, problems, the world, experiences.... the extreme questions like bravest thing you've ever done, most embarrassing, stupidest thing, craziest thing, most desired super power, and the favorites like movies, food, music, people, places... i could go on. thinking through and sharing is a task but equally as challenging is listening to what everyone else has to say. everyone is so different, and very different than the type of people i'm used to flying with. really challenges your perspectives on things. after a pit stop, i got to try the kayak. it was sweeeeet. way more agile, light, and maneuverable than the canadians. it just slices through the water like a razor. the double ended paddle was different and an interesting thing to adjust to. it was fun trying to twist the bar to make smooth even stokes on both sides so the vessel would float straight... and do it quickly so you could get some good speed going. it was fun getting out in the front of everyone so you had some space... where you felt like you were the only soul on the water. all i could hear is the water moving, the slight breeze over the surface, soft crickets and locusts... not the loud obnoxious ones i am accustomed to.... this made for a quiet awe-inspiring feeling. a feeling of smallness. a mysterious aura of the land and the water. i loved the smooth parts of the river where i could watch the gentle ripples formed by the nose cutting through the still, glass-like water... the soft flow of water around my extended finger tips, leaving miniature wakes behind them... taking in the silent landscape, enjoying the peace of the moment, wondering how it all came to be, admiring the massiveness of it all.... incredible. then came my favorite part of the river experience... the small break in the wall. it was a channel of sorts that cut into the land, the only one like it that i saw. it was a water way, no more than 20 ft wide that cut into the surrounding land. the walls of the inlet were high, probably 30-40 ft tall and they were STRAIGHT up on both sides. it looked like those bushes that are trimmed with straight edges, except it was rock instead of plant. it was a mysterious looking place. the first thing that popped into my mind was the movie "the secret garden." the water was completely still, nothing was moving in there. while getting the ok from Fish to check it out, i turned my kayak to make an entrance. the others passed by as i slowly made my way into a long stretching channel that curved, hiding the rest of the way from view. it was a bit of an eerie feeling, being completely alone now, gliding silently into this place, cautiously making my way further and further into the break in the wall. i was startled by a loud thump that broke the silence when a moss covered log, floating just beneath the surface connected with the hull of the kayak. at one point i became uncomfortable going on, not being able to tell what was in the water or when i might run aground / hit rocks but decided that the risk was minimal and the the desire to leave no stone unturned won me over. as i kept going, i observed some wreckage of some trees dead on the rocky beach that began to form on my left. it was an odd realizing how alone i was in such an obscure place, that probably few people have seen, so far from home. finally the water became too shallow to continue, leaving me only able to stare down the straight away as it cut further into the wilderness ahead. i turned the kayak around and slowly made an exit, stopping briefly at the mouth to look back at this marvelous place, sitting completely still in the shade. it was really fun. tonight everything went quite smoothly. warmed up some canned chunky soup and called it supper. no fumbling around in the dark tonight. camping can be quite pleasant when the weather is nice, you aren't in a hurry, and people are in good moods. we built are first and only fire tonight of the river expedition. fires are usually banned in the parks. we played a couple games around the fire which were quite entertaining, and gazed at the stars overhead. it was so cool. no artificial light out here. tonight it looked like someone took some very bright grains of sand, some brighter and larger than others, and flung a handful across the black sky... scattering thousands of tiny white pearls to completely fill the canopy... from directly over head to the edges of the horizon. strange patterns and clusters were made. it almost made me dizzy trying to look at all of them. kind of like looking at a movie screen that is way too big and you're in the front row. so much to look at over such a big space... hard to focus on any one part. it was fantastic. the coolest star gazing i have ever done.

Wednesday, February 2, Day 13
today's highlight was canoeing under a waterfall. the fall was small, about 4 ft wide and was pounding the water down pretty good. it was falling down almost flush with the the flat, straight up wall of the bank. this made the approach difficult, kind of like parallel parking a car. we were trying to keep going forward and position ourselves flush with the wall. we ended up not getting completely parallel so the nose struck the wall at an angle and we came to a screeching halt. conveniently, i was in front today, just inches away from the nose. i got pelted by water for a good 5 seconds until we could swing the back around enough to move forward again. 5 seconds is a long time when you are under a water fall. i am sure it must have looked quite hilarious from an observer's perspective. we had a strong 3 inches of water to bail from the bottom of our canoe after the encounter. i'd like to say: we came, we saw, we conquered! oh, random fact... it is not a good thing to say "fanny pack" in new zealand. apparently "fanny" is synonymous with the word "vagina" here, so it you plan on a trip to NZ, keep that in mind ;)  oh and for those who are unfamiliar with sheep as i am... i find the difference between a sheared sheep and a woolly sheep is amazing. the sheared sheep look so tiny, almost like white dogs. the long hair sheep look really fat in comparison. entertaining. to the easily entertained. we also made a stop to the "bridge to no-where." this attraction is, just as it sounds. a bridge in the middle of the jungle, headed to absolutely nothing. i guess back in the day there was a up-start town in this area where they thought there was gold or other things of value and they built a bridge to accommodate the hastening expansion of the town, only to have the town go completely deserted shortly after the completion of the bridge. thus, a bridge to no where. kind of an eerie sight, but a really nice bridge no doubt. concrete, with style to it. i finished the day today by cutting open my thumb while slicing an onion. rats. luckily i had my handy dandy medical kit that my lovely sister got me!

Thursday, February 3, day 14
Final day on the river. with an early rise, i teamed up with Trick today to finish the final 3 hours of paddling on the menu. today was cloudy and sprinkling. we stopped at a cave on the side of the river... pretty massive. there was a waterfall that could be seen a small distance into the cave and it was really sweet looking. a waterfall in a cave, what more could you want! after the cave, my travel mates had plotted to slop me from head to toe with mud from a nearby slime pit... and they succeeded. a good mush to it. i felt like a coach after winning some sort of championship except instead of ice water it was.... mud. the exit point was not far from the cave and we had a quick lunch while we loaded up the canoes on a trailor and transferred all our gear from the plastic barrels to our bags which we had the privilege of re-uniting with. we drove an hour to a Maori (the native people here in NZ) "marae" or settlement. this was in the middle of no where. rolling hills, green pastures, sheep, cows, horses, and a small single lane road were the only amenities that accompanied it. the marae consisted of a church, a shower/bathroom house, a small museum of maori artifacts, two maori meeting houses for sleeping, and a kitchen/dining hall building. very interesting place. it was fairly modern, the buildings where of maori style with many carvings of warriors, animals, varying shapes and patterns, all of wood. there was running water in the bathroom house which was a plus. also cooking appliances. oh, everything felt ancient. tables, chairs, eating ware, appliances, carpet, odd trinkets and decorations. it had an old smell to it as well. this stuff had the character of a grandparent. we had an interesting entrance into the marae. our host stood on the other side of the lawn while we stood just outside the main gate/entrance. she began to sin in a low tone that had very little change in pitch, speaking in maori. we were previously instructed to take three separate moments of silence as we proceeded to enter the marae. we walked forward about a quarter of the way and stopped for our first moment of silence as she ceased singing. the first pause was to think of all the people we have left behind for our travels... family, friends, people who have already passed on, etc. the second moment was for appreciating nature and the things and animals around us. the third moment is escaping me now... maybe ill come up with it later. we finished the entrance by making the customary maori greeting... which consists of touching foreheads together. sort of an odd feeling. the approach is almost like you are going in to kiss the person, aligning the noses. then you gently bump heads, and pause. the maori believe this connects the spirit of each person together. the thing that stuck out most to me was how surprisingly firm the surface of another person's forehead is. i dare you to try it with someone. a highlight of today was definitely the long walk i took on the single lane road among the rolling hills. it is fun to sing in places like these because there is no one to hear but the sheep. it was inspiring to study the angry looking, stormy clouds rolling over head. how they roll and tumble over each other. if you havent taken a long walk to connect with your Creator recently... i recommend doing it. well worth the time. by the time i returned to the marae, it was dark. it is an odd feeling... hearing farm animals make their noises in the darkness around you when you cant see them, coming from random directions and distances, it makes you feel like you are walking right next to them.

Friday, February 4th, day 15
woke up at 5:30 this morn, for a long run! needed to take advantage of the semi flat ground that is around these parts, since flat ground is a rare thing so far in NZ. it was dark when i started but the light came quickly. at one point i had gone out about 6k and i realized that the probability that there was another human being between me and my starting place was very slim... me by my lonesome in NZ... sweet. i had a neat encounter with some sheep on the run today. i came right up on a pack of 20-30 sheep grazing all together right by the fence, which was maybe 6 ft from the road, real close. i was running briskly and quietly so they did not notice me until i was right on them. they took off, and i couldnt help myself to speed up and match their pace. for a few moments which remain etched in slow motion in my mind... we ran together. me, with the leaders of small heard of sheep, side by side. these sheep were not the most brilliant animals. it took them a bit to understand that they were not increasing their distance from me by running parallel with the fence. just before they finally turned off, a comical picture came to my mind. from a distant view this must have looked very odd... a random guy, running, in the middle of the boonies, who is apparently being chased by a group of sheep. hmmm. not something you'll see everyday. after i returned to the marae, the others were having a hard time waking up. Holly went into our meeting house and mimicked a rooster... making loud and enthusiastic crowing noises. quite funny. after breakfast, we were off to Wellington. Wow, what a happenin place. Wellington is hip. pretty clean tho i feel Auckland is cleaner. we had arrived to see Wellington as the host of the World Cup of Rugby Sevens... the "Sevens" as it was commonly referred to. 30 minute games of intense 7 on 7 rugby, all weekend long. and the city was one big party. i guess when you go to a sevens game... you dress up in crazy costumes like halloween, you buy a lot of alcohol in the stadium, and you get very drunk. these people knew how to dress up. great costumes, some of the best ive ever seen. had a little bit of everything: chewbacca, edward scissor hands, super heroes and villains of all kinds. many did group costumes such as jenga blocks, french fries, whoopee cushions,  barbies (box included) and dominoes. it was great. the games were on TV everywhere. we ended up getting to watch the U.S. team beat the Cook Islands in this bar called "Murphy's Irish Pub." it was totally sweet. never seen much rugby before. very intriguing game. also interesting to watch because half of the entertainment was watching the people in the stands. with all the costumes and people acting ridiculously intoxicated, the camera was constantly scanning the crowd and sending the spotlight to reporters interviewing random spectators. totally crazy. we took a very interesting of their Parliament buildings... our equivalent of going to the U.S. captiol building... where we saw amazing old english architecture and learned about NZ's unique history and style of government. top political issues in NZ right now... 1. drinking age (considering increasing it. current age is 18). 2. country assets (such as airlines... should government control/own/run certain things or not) 3. land disputes (ownership rights, what land should be used for, etc.) fascinating. wish i had time to describe. but i do not.

Saturday, Feb 5th, day 15
Free day in Wellington! today i was all over town. had to figure out the bus system so that was an interesting experience. first stop was this park called Zealandia. i could write forever about it, but in short it is a completely fenced off, Jurassic Park like compound, where they are attempting to restore the land to what New Zealand was originally, before man entered the picture. as many of the original birds, animals, and insects of the original NZ. there i watched a 10 minute film about the history behind the project, the New Zealand's history, the consequences of human settlement in NZ, and a imitation on what NZ most likely looked like back then. pretty crazy. very cool stuff, walked about for a few hours on a path in the forest, seeing interesting animals, listening to staff members talk about certain animals, visiting exhibits, etc. very strict security. there was absolutely no tolerance for pest animals like rats... who were introduced by early settlers and were responsible much of the destruction of the natural ecosystem of NZ. Second visit was the Botanical Gardens of Wellington. Awesome place. Huge. We're talking multiple square miles. of flowers and other growing things. nuts. so many different types. they had one complete garden reserved for different types of roses. i never knew so many types or colors of roses existed. wow. they also had a planetarium which i visited... why not, right? i watched one of the shows. at the end of it they did a star gazing session where they digitally showed you different constellations. then they took us on a digital tour of the universe... at least as much as we have been able to see with telescopes. this "tour" started on earth, then our solar system, then our galaxy, then the neighboring galaxies, then all the galaxies that we know to exist. one of the last images was a three-dimensional model of what we believe the universe looks like... it looked like a cluster of hundreds and hundreds of stars, except the "stars" were actually galaxies. can you say brain overload? because mine was. to top it all off, the gal who was talking to us had the most mysterious, low toned, quiet voice... all for added effect! the third and final stop today was the Weta Cave in Wellington. This was basically a small building with tons of authentic props and models used in making films. Weta was started by these people that hooked up with Peter Jackson to make films... props, costumes effects, minatures... pretty much everything minus the actors.... Weta does. this place was full of stuff from movies like the Lord of the Rings, District 9, the Narnia series, and King Kong to name a few. really neat stuff. thats it for this entry... hope all is well back home! i will do my best to catch up, sorry i am so behind! cheers! 

Bay of Islands

Ok I dont have much time so I am typing real fast, hope it makes sense! Re-cap of the last few days/weeks...
Sunday, 1/23
we made the drive from Auckland to Paihia today. up early, its been raining all yesterday and today. Auckland is soaked! Paihia is a nice little town right on the coast of some large body of water im not sure which. its hard to keep track, there so much water around, between oceans, bays, lakes, seas, etc. we will eventually get to Te Uenga Bay, not far from Paihia then boat across water to Urupukapuka Island. quite the process. the drive was very scenic. the road is VERY curvy, twisty, and hilly. Megs, you would get sick in like 2 minutes in the car here. crazy roads. and driving on the wrong side of the road of course! neat farms, tidy fences, livestock grazing, sheep dotted fields and hills. unique blends of forest... tons of vegetation, the shapes, variety, sizes of plants all together in one place... amazing. the underbrush is thick. i cant even begin to explain, this place is incredible. instead of gatorade they have mizone. they also have powerade, coca cola products, red bull, and this really popular drink called L&P kinda like sprite... just to name a few. everything comes in milliliters, grams, liters, and kilograms. snickers is like $2.50 for regular size. pricey stuff. 'heeps' is a the word used to say 'a lot.' tons of water everywhere, a lot of flooding going on in places. we saw a group of cattle stranded. felt sorry for them. the place is an odd mix of the ozarks, oregon, colorado and florida. most buildings are older but well maintained. the hostile we are in is very nice, way better than i expected. good sized, great kitchen, big thick wooden table to fit 13 of us for supper. toilets have two buttons here. one is half flush, one is full. interesting. fresh water is a valuable commodity in NZ and australia so they have taken many strides to save water. once checked into the hostile, we went to Waitangi (not sure on the spelling there), the site where a treaty was signed by british officials and maori cheifs (maori is the native tribe), they signed this long treaty and for new zealand its kind of like the declaration of independence for the U.S. kind of the start of the modern new zealand as we know it. the maori make incredible structures and carvings. they are a very respected group of people here, unlike many other indigenous tribes in other places. we saw a building made by the maori and it was incredible. such detailed carving in the pillars, walls, ceilings. they are into carving heads and bodies of important warriors and cheifs. they tattoo like crazy. most of the chiefs, their entire face is tattooed with intricate designs, mostly in the form of lines, not shapes. they look like they have a mask on but its their face. the bay where the treated was signed was also a great place. long, open, green lawns overlooking the harbor which was one of the first places the english came in. it had a maori meeting house built there, numerous trails, long maori ships (like 50 ft + big canoe) the house of the main officer who led the treaty signing effort, cant remember his name, whos quarters where preserved just like they were back then. very cool coastline and view of the bay. after we got back from that i went for a run with Ali. the run in the rain was awesome. it was about 60's and cloudy. we ran along the coast and up into a hilly wooded area. great times. shes pretty cool. she is from new york and has a twin sister. she is going to Harvard next year. she says it is sort of a family tradition for she, her sister, and her dad to go for long runs on saturday mornings. reminded me of some people i know! shes really into eating healthy and nutrition etc. i went a little farther after she was through and found a great place have a little chill time by myself. it was so refreshing. we had stir fry for supper. I like, Holly's, (our leader) food choices, we are eating very well and very healthy. we split into groups of three and will alternate nights on cooking supper. it was fun. had some tim tams for dessert. it is like a rectangular cookie that is popular here. more on that later. then we learned a game called jungle speed. sweet game. its played with cards that have different symbols, shapes, and colors. you start with a certain number of cards and try to get rid of all of them first. you eliminate cards by trying to notice a matching card that another person has played. you lay one card face up each round. if you see a matching card as another person you must grab the totem (wooden hand sized pillar in middle of table) first and you get to give the other player your card, subtracting one card from your hand and adding one from his. if you play a card and it does not match anyones your card will remain on the table and you will play on top of it for your next turn. the bigger pile you accumulate on the table, the more you will give away to the next opponent that you beat to the totem. it is a very intense game. if you grab the totem at the same time, you must fight for it! after the game i had a pretty deep conversation with Holly about where she was in her faith. it was a good conversation. to say the people in the group are different than me would be an understatement. but they are great people. very sharing, whether its food, sunscreen, helping you out with bags, whatever they are a giving bunch, good community. there is so much profanity. the f word being particularly popular. its starting to wear on me a bit, but ill learn to deal with it. we are very respectful of each other and our various perspectives on life, so that is nice. we have already had many conversations about faith, values, and morality and it is easy to see differences among members in the group. many of them are into smoking and drinking, so that is popular conversation as well. i also had a unique opportunity to talk with two twenty something gals and a guy from switzerland tonight after supper. it is so neat to be in hostiles. you have all walks of life, many languages, people making bizarre foods right next to you, as well as very familiar dishes (hey, you like that too?!) its a sweet place to meet different people. i talked with the switz people for quite awhile about our lives, the similarities and differences, very interesting. maybe i should move there, the ladies were very attractive.

Monday, January 24th
today was our first work day with D.O.C. (department of conservation) they maintain much of the ground in NZ, national parks, islands, rivers, etc. got up at about 6:30 and had muesli for breakfast. it is a really good type of cereal here... lots of oats, various nuts and seeds, dried fruit, really good stuff. wish we had it in the states. we met up with the DOC guys a little later and followed them down a winding road to the whangamumu scenic reserve. the drive again was stunning. we entered the reserve in a valley with open field and long grasses. we met some friendly horses who thought we had food for them. unfortunately for them we didnt. it was fun to hang with them for a bit though. the trees began to thicken and suddenly we were in a dense forest that stretched for miles. it was really neat, pretty much a jungle type feel. today was 70s and sunny. a much needed break from the rain. my first job in the jungle was weed wacking, or 'scrub barring' as they call it, around the walking path through the reserve. they call the walking paths or trails 'tracks.' the scrub bar was the most massive weed wacker i have ever seen. it had two handle bars and you hitched it to a vest that helped distribute the weight. it had blades instead of string. did some serious work with it. had chaps, ear and eye protection. after that i set to clearing the drains. the drains are 5-6 inch wide ditches that stretch along the tracks for water draining to keep the track from being washed away or flooded. this is hard work. you take a grabber... a hoe-like tool, and clear extra dirt, grass, roots, rocks, sticks and other debris from the drain. sometimes you make a completely new stretch of drain which is a good load of work. the dirt is hard is most places along the track, lots of clay. this works out the back pretty good. most of the others had no outside work experience, it was kind of funny to watch. it made me proud of my nebraska roots. someone said i looked like i should be getting paid to do what we were doing... i took it as a compliment! the track is straight up and straight down, no flat areas. every once in awhile you get to a high place and there is a small break in the vegetation and you can see all around... amazing. wont even try to describe. the sun is brutal down here. i guess the UV rays are worse because we are closer to the hole in the ozone so wearing long sleeves, sun block, having a broad hat, even pants to protect your calves from burning... is almost vital for people who arent used to it, ie. americans. it seems like we put more sunblock on every hour, and i practically never use sunblock back home. most of us have some burns going. after work we checked into a new hostile, which was again very nice. this one had more of a family atmosphere to it. less younger people, more older people, and more families. it was right next to part of the residential area, and there were some cool houses built into the bluff next to the hostile campus. it had a great view over the water and of nearby islands as well. water and islands are all over the place in this part of the country. they also had space for pull up campers which was a neat touch. we walked about 10 minutes to Long Beach. a gorgeous place... great waves, you can see for miles. at one end of the beach and there is high ground with black rocks at its base that extends for a long ways. we played catch with a tennis ball and some random dog on the beach, skipped some rocks, did some swimming, jumped/crashed into some waves. i tried to do my own made up form of body surfing. i would get to swimming fast before a wave so when the wave caught me, it carried me on the top for a few seconds. it is a really cool feeling, i actually moved with the wave for a few moments before it passes under me. the water is chilly but fine when you get going. once back from the scenic walk from the beach we made supper. it was spaghetti, which was real good. we had sausage, cucumber, mushroom, tomatoes, onions, and carrots in the sauce. good stuff. after supper kitty and i found some random bench and had a great time of prayer together. it was a neat experience because she is a catholic and has never prayed with someone out loud informally, always formal prayers. she thought it was great, it was neat to hear her heart and prayer. we had a great conversation comparing catholic and christian traditions afterwords. very interesting how the perspectives differ. she is so reverent to God... probably something I need to work on.

Tuesday, Jan 25th
we headed out to Urupukapuka island today, where we set up our base camping spot for the next few days. 6:30 am start. we boated our van and trailer across the bay via a vehicle barge with about 7 other vehicles. it was sweet, never seen such a thing before. We drove a little further then hit the bay where we met Chris, one of the head doc guys. he pulled up in a world war II looking boat, kinda like the ones used to take Normandy... it had a flat door at the front of the boat that dropped down to large amounts of cargo to be loaded directly from shore. pretty cool. he boated us over to Urupukapuka island. about 20 minutes total from mainland. once there, we set up 3 person tents, and a kitchen area in the trees which consisted of tying a huge tarp up in the branches to form a ceiling and one wall. we stowed all of our food and a big cooler here. we have about 5-6 huge boxes of supplies for cooking, eating. including our packs, it is a lot of work moving from place to place. but worth it. i am quite sore from the work yesterday, i busted it pretty good. we have a couple burners that connect to a propane tank for cooking. once we were set up, we took our day packs and hiked to the sheep farm that DOC runs about 10 minutes on foot from the camp site. We met Chris and Dean and two younger assistants about my age, Lucky and Cain at the sheep farm. today we worked around the farm hauling sticks and logs from the surrounding areas, trimming up the farm with scrub barrs, mowing the grounds, and cleaning up the nearby walking track. more words: chocolate is 'choc', breakfast is 'brekkie' gas is 'petrol.' i ended up mowing today with a beast of a push mower. it was real old. pry 2 ft wide deck self propelled approx 100 lb machine. it was a work horse. odd controls. it had two levers, one for each wheel. you put your the levers between your index finger and thumb on each hand and pushed the levers that way. little awkward but i got the hang of it. looked good after i got done. they cut their grass short here. everywhere. every once in awhile i would look up and remember: 'hey, i'm in new zealand!' the DOC guys are pretty sweet. really fun people, definitely know what they are doing, very good sense of humor, patient with us... know most of us have no idea what we are doing but they don't make us feel bad about it, pretty laid back and calm. hard workers. after we were done, we marched back to camp and took some pictures along the way. Holly is into goofy pictures. every group picture we take has to be different. the grass is so nice here. so soft. you can walk everywhere barefoot and not worry. once we got back to the camp i went with Pat for a swim. we swam for about 10-15 minutes to a nearby part of the island where there were rocks sticking out. we climbed the rocks, then the cliff, about 40-50 ft over the water. we explored the flat ground on top. ran into a patch of crazy looking trees. they looked like they were from another planet. they were covered in green very fine, stringy, moss like stuff which was all over the trunk, and branches, much of it blowing in the breeze. pretty groovy looking. very jagged and groovy branches. there were some places we just stood and took in the view for a few minutes. amazing place. you look around and there are tons of islands big and small all around. and lots of water. one side of the hill was facing the open ocean. we made our way down to a secluded rocky beach. the rocks are sharp and hard on the feet and hands so you have to be creative at what path you take, plus sharp shells and barnacles stuck to the rocks close to the water but its so worth it. after checking that out for awhile we made our way back, and swam back to camp. i felt like a true explorer! swim to the place, climb the edge of the cliff/hill, explore the hill, climb down the other side, get through jagged rocks to a secluded beach, explore the beach, climb back out, make it back to the other side to the water, and swim back! took about 2 hours. greatness. the water is pretty clear here. in some places there is stringy plants on the bottom and it looks like a lawn of regular grass, really thick and lush, except under the water. pretty cool. we had burritos for supper. keeping things dry is tough. once things get damp its almost impossible to get them dry. the toilet and shower options are pretty bleak too. cold hose for a shower and a really smelly outhouse for a toilet. laundry is rough in most places so far too. $8 to wash and dry one load. nasty.

Wednesday, 1/26
interesting fact: many people smoke here, and many roll their own tobacco. Chris does it all the time. interesting to watch. 'rubbish' is the common word for trash. instead of the game 'rock, paper, sissors', you have 'steve, crocodile, sting ray.' where steve beats crocodile, crocodile beats sting ray, sting ray beats steve. funny. the air is so fresh on the island. a hint of after-rain smell all the time. the water keeps temps mild and breezes cool too, great weather. sunny today too. got up at 5:30 to watch the sun rise today. awesome. had a great time with the Lord after that as well. having a quiet time alone to the sound of the waves on this island is something else. i have started reading the book of Romans. what hit me today was the cost of the gospel. thinking about the sacrifice, humility, love, and grace it took Christ to do what he did. how much it must have cost the Father. how hard it would be to lay the wood to your own son. your perfect son, whom you love more than anything. to see him in pain, to watch him take the punishment from your own hand. to imagine the struggle that relationship took for those difficult moments. all for people who dont deserve it. after quiet time was breakfast. we got to work by 9 clearing a lot of drains today near the sheep farm. i also got to work with Dean's son (Dean is another head DOC guy) on a gate to a cemetery they had nearby. this gate was a massive wooden thing. it took 6 of us to carry it. my job was to bolt down thin logs to the front so it has an aesthetic rugged look to it. the wood is great wood, and the gate and the logs are stained too, so it looks beautiful. the gate took most of the day. got to talk with Keagan, Dean's son, a lot. he is 16 and currently on summer break. their break is only about 2 months but they get more breaks during the school year. it was interesting to here similarities and differences between a guy growing up near the bay of islands and a guy from rural nebraska. more similarities than differences actually. he goes to a small high school a little bigger than Norris... the school is made up of kids from a lot of small towns in the area, a lot of farm kids. in his school he said a good part of the student base will not go to college and just pick up jobs. he said this outdoor work is the type of work he wanted to do so he did think he would go, maybe even work for DOC.  so much to talk about, so little time. after our work day was through, i went for a hike. i hiked one of the highest points of the island and had the most wonderful view i have seen yet this trip. a 360 view of the entire island and surrounding islands and bays, ocean. fantastic. i took a movie clip of it on my camera but it just doesn't do it justice. after supper tonight we had our first Tim Tam Slam. The Tim Tam is the cookie that i spoke of earlier... it has a type of creme filling in the middle of two crunchy parts and the whole thing is covered in chocolate or some flavor. so what you do for a Tim Tam Slam is you break off two opposing corners of the rectangular cookie. you have a cup of hot chocolate ready, stick one end of the cookie into the hot chocolate and put your lips to the other end and pull the hot chocolate through the cookie. the hot chocolate then quickly melts the cookie, making it warm and soft with hot chocolate stuck inside. then you slam it... stuff the whole thing into your mouth. it is unlike any dessert that i have had. SO good. im going to have to bring some back. personally i like to eat the cookie in small bits... which is messier but you can enjoy it for a longer period of time. we also played our first game of cricket. cricket is popular here in NZ and Australia. rugby is probably the most popular. cricket is kind of like baseball but there is only one base, and you run back and for between that base and home to score runs. a score has a different name, cant remember what its called. and the batter can have as many tries as he wants unless the pitcher manages to knock over a wooden structure called the wicket which is where the catcher would normally be, if the wicket is knocked over the inning is over. the pitching motion is odd... you release the ball over your head. its more like a softball delivery with an opposite release point. weird. i like baseball better.

Thursday, Jan 27th, day 7
today i went to a spot i found while hiking yesterday, facing the ocean, for a quiet time. today was Romans 4&5. as odd as it sounds, sometimes it is sort of easy for me to get lost in the awe of creation and forget about the Creator as i am here. however, to think about what it must have took to make it all, brings my admiration quickly back to Who it should be on. today we got on Chris's boat from base camp and boated over to Roturura island to work on clearing more drains. we divided into two groups. another island with endless walking track. yet we saw very few people while we were here. i like that aspect. its mostly you and the land... not all this touristy stuff here. my group was not the most excited about work today. from my perspective there was a good amount of standing around, looking around, watching others work, talking about whatever, taking breaks, etc. i felt compelled to do good work and get something done so i was doing a good amount of the work. while i was happy to do it myself, i knew this was not beneficial for the total work getting accomplished or for members of the group. so it was an interesting art i had to develop in order to encourage the others to get something done and not come across as nagging. i didnt look down on them because most of them had no background in working outside, little experience of really getting after hard hands-on labor. today we were up aways from the water and it was hot. no cloud in the sky, sun was intense. i am really sore too. not a fun day but a good one. today we got done early, around 2. we had a nice few minutes relaxing under some trees right on the water, with a refreshing cool breeze blowing on us. it was great after a hot days work. Chris boated us back to camp and we had a fun game of hacki sack. i have not played that since middle school. crazy. after that i wrapped up the afternoon with a 30 minute swim. i was actually pretty cold by the time i got done. water was rougher today. for supper, Manisha, Karen, and I made Indian Curry for supper with some Papa Dons. I had never had either of these so it was an interesting dish. Our Curry consisted of carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, curry, lentils, coconut cream, boiled together spread over rice. The Papa Dons were these circular flat bread slices that we flipped into a frying pan with oil in it. the papa don would absorb the oil and cook quickly... we fried them until light brown and crispy. we had to stick something on them to keep them flat or else they would curl up at the edges. it sounds nasty but they were actually quite tasty. after supper we played charades. we tore up small pieces of paper and each  wrote random things on 10 pieces, and threw them all into a pile. we divided into two teams, each having a player act out what was on the particular sheet that was picked. i wrote 'poop on a boot' for one of mine, because we did have poop on boots while on the farm, and it was hilarious watching them try to act it out. probably THE most funny one, but hey i'm pry biased. today, for whatever reason, was an especially wearing day of profanity, negative comments, complaining, and the like... and by the end i was a bit tired of it. the phrase 'oh my God' is probably uttered close to every other sentence. hopefully things will get better in this department. we are all starting to pick up on each others' quirks and annoying habits, and starting to voice our opinions about them, so that is probably why things were a little down. happens pretty quick when you spend all day every day with people.

Friday, Jan 28th, day 8
last night was the best of the three nights of sleep for me. the first night was horrible. not really used to sleeping in a warm, damp, crammed tent snuggled up with two other people i dont know too well yet. but last night was great. it rained all day today. it seems when it rains, it really rains. non-stop. we went to the wool farm and carried the gate up a hill and across the top to the cemetery. i guess a lot of geological work is done around here and they find a good amount of remains so this is a designated spot to put the remains they find. the gate was a bear. 6 of us carrying it close to a quarter of a mile. we took a break about every 100 meters. this was our only task today, a very short day. we said our good-byes to Dean, Cain, and Kegan and headed back to camp to pack up. packing up in the rain was not too pleasant but we got it done. we dragged all our stuff to the beach, onto Chris's boat, and off we went to the mainland. on the way back Christ spotted some dolphins so he steered over to them, going real slow. they were sweet. a couple swam right next to the boat for a ways, like touching the boat. it looked like one wanted to race us. they were surprisingly big. like the bigger ones probably 6 ft long, dark gray. we saw a couple jump out of the water. such playful animals. Chris said these ones were territorial and would get aggressive if you swam with them. they lost interest in the boat quickly and swam on the merry way. hard to get a picture of them, always moving fast. i have to admit it was sad leaving the DOC guys. God made Chris to be one of those naturally wise guys. he always has good ways of explaining things, finds the comical part of any situation, is even keeled all the time, even when someone messes up, has a jovial laugh, is optimistic, patient, and a good teacher. Holly knows him well and says he would be a fun to have as a dad. once back to the mainland we packed everything into our little trailer and hit the road, wet and sloppy. we stopped for lunch in a town called Russel. lunch while camping usually consisted of a salami, tomato, avocado, cucumber, cheese, sprout sandwich. pretty good stuff. rather than going out today, i ate some left over noodles from a previous supper. eating out is real expensive, even for something simple like a sandwich. the drive to Auckland is about 3.5 hours. i definitely underestimated how big even a small country can be. i feel like we have done a lot of driving and we have only seen a small portion of the NORTH island. being away so far has also already given me a new appreciation of the simple familiar ways of living at home. the regular ways of having fun... having people over, watching movies together, going out to eat, playing various types of games, sports, going to church... stuff like that. it is amazing how being in another place has caused me to re-evaluate my own home and usual way of life. to see how differently some people live. achieve a meaningful existence in an entirely different way. suddenly i am exposed to something completely different and i must consider... do i like this? what do i think about this? why do i think this way? how does this compare to where i am from and how i do things? is it better or worse? differences in our cultures is intriguing to me. there are similar things and different things in the same wavelength. for instance, language. we both speak English and can understand each other but use completely different way of speaking it... different slang, structure of sentences, vocabulary, accent. its nuts to me. it seems that every moment of the trip so far has had something new about it... something new to learn or pick up or think about or observe. we got stuck in rush hour traffic in Auckland, so by the time we got to our hostile a roof, a bed, a free warm shower (it is not uncommon in NZ to have to pay for a hot shower), running water, a hygiene friendly bathroom facility, and a dry place to put your stuff was a sight for sore eyes. the feeling of being clean and dry... goooood. Instead of going out for supper, i went with Holly to get some groceries at a near by grocery store. i look for sale prices and specials cause even groceries are through the roof here. also had some time to catch up on other things. it is a difficult balance to find time to write, schedule extra activities during free days, do laundry, re-pack and re-organize your stuff, keep track of your stuff, find time to go on a run every once in awhile, have time with the Lord, have time with the group, etc all outside of the schedule we already have. but its working out good so far.

Saturday, Jan 29, day 9
white water rafting day! great night of sleep... having a bed is glorious. left auckland at 8 am this morning. 4 hour drive to town of Rotorua. seemed to take forever. we had a detour because of flooding so it took longer than planned. we had a rushed lunch in Rotorua... for my lunch i had bread, one tomato, 100 grams of sliced ham. i learned that if you take one bite of each, chew it all together, it tastes as if you are eating a sandwich. didn't have much time to put it formally together, so ate it in bites :) we met up with the people from the rafting place and drove another hour to the river. the river that we were supposed to raft was over flooded so we ended up rafting a different river than planned. this river was really full as well and was moving very fast. good choice for white water rafting. they said it was like 4-8 meters higher than normal, and it has never been like this before. on the way there the roads kept getting smaller and smaller, and less maintained. down to one lane, finally just a dirt road. you really felt like you were out in the boons. when we got there, we were given a wet suit, life jackets, and helmets. we had quite the briefing on how to paddle, positioning in the raft, how to keep yourself from falling out, how to pull your buddy back in, how to paddle in time, and all the commands from our guide: forward, back paddle, back right, back left, right over, left over, get down, and hold on. it was fairly intense, i was surprised. i felt like i was in the military and our guide was a drill sergent. not that he was mean, just direct. Austin and I were at the front of our raft so we took the brunt of the punishment, getting a fair amount of water in the face. it was a good fight to keep paddling after you just got  a face full of water and your eyes are flooded. i got taken out by a tree branch that was skimming the water... normally would have been no problem but with the high water i got nailed. almost took me out of the boat. i bet it looked pretty funny. it was like slow motion to me. i could see it coming but didnt know what to do. the water was real cold. my hands were ice by the end. thankful for the wet suit. the backdrop for all this was forrest. usually steep inclines formed the sides of the valley the river ran through, with many sections  of tall thin pine trees. very scenic. there were a couple places that had evidence of mud slides/washouts where trees were down and lots of mud, big logs sticking into the water because of all the extra rain lately. our guide was a guy named Matt. he was from NZ originally and got a major in outdoor recreation and management. quite the major. now he spends several months in NZ in the summer months and several months in california doing rafting and kayacking trips. never sees winter. tough life. the ride lasted for about an hour. after it was over, they had hot tomato soup, bagels, cookies, and juice waiting for us. the hot soup felt good to eat. id never tried this but bagels dipped in tomato soup is a pretty good combination.  we had a good time conversing with all of our guides afterwards. there were a couple other people not a part of our group that went rafting with us. while were were all together talking, a guide stood up on one of the vehicles and shouted this, very informally... (picture the down under accent please):
Guide: "ok one of you dudes owes me money... (pointing to one of the other dudes) ah, yea i think its you, mate. you lookin away when i said that."
Dude: "I owe you money... why?"
Guide: "You just went rafting, brew! Come over here and let's do business. step into my office... (pointing over to the back of an old beeter looking SUV with the back doors hanging open). Austin, Jake and I just cracked up, it was so funny. after we finally made it back to a civilized road, it was a 2 hour drive to Taupo. got some enjoyable reading in... started reading "The Greatest Miracle in the World" by Og Madino. its great so far. 5 k's outside of Taupo we had to stop because the suspension of the right side of the trailor had failed, so the wheel well was resting direcly on the right tire. bad deal. we had to leave the trailor in the parking lot and load all the bear necesities into our laps on the van. we checked into Tiki Lodge... a hostile for backpackers. again, nice place. great view of Lake Taupo and surrounding residential area. the lake is gigantic. they say it is actually filling in the mouth of a vocanoe that errupted years and years ago. went out for a run along the lake. it had big waves rolling in because the wind was stout. partly cloudy day. there was a nice bikin/running path along the lakeside that made for a perfect run. at one point there was a small jut of land sticking further into the water than the land around it. i stopped and went out to the edge. the only person around was a random dude fishing on the shore about 50 yards away. the wind was stiff and constant in my face. i looked up into the sky and the clouds were rolling, poofy, and stormy looking. they were wrestling with the sun, making the rays shine through at random angles. i had my hands at my sides, palms forward, feeling the wind as it rushed through my outstretched fingers, its rapid flow over my face, chest, arms and legs. the Revelation Song came playing on my ipod and I sang loudly into the wind, fully drowned out the sound to anyone near enough to hear. i gazed across the water, up into the clouds, at the waves, the bluffs, the housing on the ground and in the hills... and thought how great God must be to make all of this possible. it was a spectacular moment to share with the Lord that i wont soon forget. when i got back, i took out the laundry that i had put in before the run and got it sorted out. supper was warming up frozen veggies and a cheap frozen pizza i found at the grocery store. while i was eating, the others came back from eating out and had some beverages with them. they went to sit out on the deck so i joined in. it was nice, just chillin on the deck. after awhile we decided to go out on the town and see what was going on. we got to this place and they were checking passports at the entrance. i realized i had forgotten mine, being pretty new to this whole process. when i got back, i realized it was back at the trailer, so there would be no going for me. bummer. i did hear a good story about Steph and Pat later on though. I guess Steph was dancing at the place and this creepy guy came and started dancing with her. She immediately grabbed Pat, who happened to be in the area, and stated that he was her boyfriend. Pat, then proceeded to confirm this statment while putting his arm around Steph and therefore successfully deterring Mr. Creep. If you know Pat, you would know this to be a priceless moment. Pat is 6'4" of the most quiet, polite, unassuming guy around. To see him play along in this situation and put his arm around a girl that is not his girlfriend is a classic, an ESPN game changing performance. man i wished i could have seen it. they went out later that night and i heard about a funny story on Steph and Pat.

Sunday, Jan 30, day 10
free day in Taupo! slept in which was great... queen size bed all to myself baby. breakfast at 9 was eggs, bacon and hash browns made by the group. twas good. put some diced sauteed onions and mushrooms on my eggs and toast... gross to some, good to me. we spent the next tour hours as a group buying groceries for our canoe expedition. we were divded into groups of 4, and we chose our meals and what we needed to buy for the week, and Holly paid for it. getting 4 youthful, at times spastic, people to agree on what to eat, what people like and dont like, what we needed for fixings... all while everyone is talking all at once and no one is listening... made for a bit of a fiasco. but somehow we got 'er done. when we got back i made some plans to go to Korakei Orakeo... a geothermal park just outside of Taupo. It was nice, the hostile lined up the shuttle and everything for us. it was $56 total for each person, shuttle included. kinda steep but, im not sure if i'll ever be in Taupo again. Austin, Jake, and Sasha all went with me. it was a 25 minute drive there, and we took a ferry across a river to get into the park. there was hot water bubbling everywhere. slimy algae type growth and sediments collecting on the edges of the pools that made interesting orange, brown, white, gray, and yellow colors on the surfaces of the rock and in the water. the water smelled strongly of sulfur, the rotten egg smell. there was a big main area with lots of bigger hot pools and random other smaller pools scattered around it. there was a small geyser but we didnt see it go off because it erupted randomly every 2-3 hours. there were also mud pools, differing in colors... brown, gray, black... that made constant belching or farting like noises as the spewed fresh mud from holes. kinda gross. there were also deep boiling pools of water that were clear. bubbles would rise from unseen depths, making you wonder where they were coming from. mysterious. the park also had a beautiful track through the surrounding forest by which you got to see each hot pool/viewing area. there was also a pretty massive cave with a clear pool of at the bottom of it which was pretty neat. there were sections where the ground, rocks, and parts of the cliffs were completely white and grey... it almost looked like we were on the moon or something. hot water and heavy white steam would pour from random places in the ground. possibly my favorite part of the adventure was taking funny pictures with the others along the way. for some reason we have this thing where Austin and I take a picture with every warning or caution sign that we come across during the trip. we've had some pretty good poses and expressions in these pictures. good times. After we left, Austin decided to jump into the river before we got on the ferry. i got a pretty sweet pic of him air borne off the doc in his boxers with the river and hills in the background. Alright... out of time on my Internet... until next time!