Back in the USA!

I've made it back to the land of the free and the home of the brave. It's good to be back. I'm hanging out with Brad and Katy in Phoenix this week before going to Baton Rouge. I had such an awesome time travelling Oz and NZ. I learned so much from meeting people from around the world and living in a different culture. It was definitely an awesome experience that I'll always remember.

As I quoted before leaving:
The seaons remind me that I must keep changing, and I want to change because it is God's way. All my life I have been changing. I changed from a baby to a child. I changed from a tennager to drive a car, into a worker to spend some money. I will change into a husband to love a woman, into a father to love a child, change houses so we are near water, and again so we are near mountains, and again so we are near friends; keep changing with my wife, getting our love so it dies and gets born again and again, like a garden, fed by four seasons, a cycle of change. Everybody has to change, or they expire. Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons. D.Miller

Queenstown

I've been here in Queenstown (South Island) for a few days now. It's my last stop in New Zeland; it has been great. The snow-capped Southern Alps and Lake Wakatipu provide an awesome backdrop. The first day here we took a 9 hour kayak trip down the Dart River which was absolutely breathtaking. We were able to go through some caves where the water was so clear you could see down 30 meters or so to the bottom.
The next day we headed to another river for "Mad Dog River Boarding" aka White Water Surfing. The basicaly give you a boogie board and put you in class 3 rapids. By the way, the water was freezing cold. I don't know why I keep putting myself in cold water as we are approaching winter. It was a pretty intense ride down the river (about 5km of rapids and 2km of calm water). After the hard-core section of the river, the guides pulled us behind a jet ski and then let us go down a really huge slide into the river.
From Queenstown, we took a trip to Milford Sound, via Te Anau, where we spent the night on a boat. Some of the best scenery I've seen was from there in the sound.
I'll be heading back to Sydney for a few days this weekend before returning to the USA!

Christchurch & Fox Glacier

After arriving on the ferry to the small town of Picton on the South Island, we got on the bus and headed to Christchurch. We followed the Kaikoura coastline and stopped to see some seals and some really nice views, similar to the great ocean road in Oz. We didn't really do much in Christchurch besides walk around the town for a couple of hours. It was settled back in the day by the Europeans to be a town centered around Christ, hence the name. It has a nice little river running through it. From there, we took off for Fox Glacier.

Fox Glacier was really amazing. I've never seen a glacier before much less hiked on one. After taking a helicopter ride up to the glacier on the side of the mountain, we put on our boots, attached the spikes and started hiking along the glacier. The glacier grows 3 meters (~1 foot) per day so it's always changing. We hiked through some ice caves and saw some waterfalls. Fox is the 3rd largest glacier in NZ and is one of over 3,000!

Wellington

After leaving Taupo we headed south to the nation's capital- Wellington aka Welli. We drove through the Tongariro National park on the way which was the first place we saw snow up on the mountains. Wellington has a scenic drive into town along the water front and we saw a great view of the city from Mt. Victoria. The city sord of reminds me of Chattanooga; its about the same size and has a similar feel. While in the city, Nathan and I checked out the national museum which was really cool. Included in there was the Lord of the Rings exhibit. This country has gone crazy over that movie; we've seen many locations that were in the movie. We also saw the theatre that held the premier. We left Wellington on a 3 hour ferry ride that carried us through the Marlborough Sound and Cook Straight to Picton on the South Island.

Did you know there are only 4 million people in the country of NZ? That's about how many people live in Louisiana alone. Also, they call themselves Kiwis after the national bird called the kiwi.

Rotorua & Taupo

In Rotorua we visited the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institue (called Whakarewarewa) and learned about the Maori people (native to NZ and of polynesian deceant). There was a pretty cool geiser there that was erupting. We also saw the Craters of the Moon thermal area and Huka Falls after leaving Rotorua towards Taupo. During the evening in Rotorua we went to eat a traditional Maori meal and watch a show about their culture.

Taupo is cool and sits on a big lake. There we went on the luge which is great fun. You sit on this little seat that has a t-bar handle which is your break and steering wheel, then take off down a big hill. It's a lot of fun. We also did an awesome ropes course where we walked across a log that was really high in the air and across some wires. We also climbed a telephone pole, stood on top of it, and jumped to catch a trapeeze bar. We ended the course by jumping off a tower; it was like a bunjee swing type of deal. We ended that day with a boat cruise and dinner on the lake.

I was showing off in the picture by lifting my foot for the camera.

Waitomo (North Island)

I met Nathan in Auckland the other day and we headed south to Waitomo. It was really nice to see a familiar face from back home after 3 months away. In Waitomo we went black water rafting which is basically tubing through a cave. I really don't think they would allow this type of thing in the US, but it was great fun. The water was 11 degrees C which is pretty cold. I could blow smoke out of my mouth. It was pitch black except for the light from our helmets when we turned them on. We had to climb over rocks through the cave and jump off a few waterfalls. In certain parts of the cave, you could look up and see the glow-worms, which actually glow in the dark. You can see more of what we did at blackwaterrafting.co.nz

After leaving Waitomo we stopped to do the Zorb! This is the craziest thing I've heard of. You get in a giant ballthat has water in it and roll down a hill. You feel like a hamster in one of those wheels or some people compared it to being inside a washing machine. (see above pic)