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!