The road goes on forever and the party never ends!

It's way to early to be up on vacation, and it's definitely way too early to get up when you know you're leaving New Zealand today. In just a few minutes we'll be heading out the door of Tiger's Den to head to Christchurch to catch our flight back to the states. It's definitely bittersweet because none of us are ready to go and we know reality and our normal lives are waiting for us in Colorado, Cali, and Texas. Last night Team Heather made an AMAZING feast of filet, cous cous, salad and bacon wrapped peppers (I'm officially calling this cook-off a tie!) and we went around the table saying what we were going to take back to our normal lives to keep this vacation spirit going. Some of us said wine and cheese Fridays (that was me) but others said things like making sure to ford waist deep water at least twice a week, continuing to drive on the left hand side of the road (that might not last that long), or jamming to tunes on the back porch morning, noon, and night.

On another round around the table, we each said what we'll miss most about New Zealand. The combination of mountains and water was definitely top on the list, but the undeniable number one answer was hanging out with eachother every day and having a giant slumber party every night. We're not going to know what everyone is up to every second of the day anymore. Kieth, the NZ owner of the house, had dinner with us last night and couldn't get over how we had all been together 14 days and still liked eachother. No blow out fights, no grudges, no attitudes: we seriously all still love eachother after this trip, even more if it's possible!

On that note, I thought I'd share a couple more pictures of our last group pyramid of the trip (unless we bust one out in LAX). The first one wasn't a complete success, as you'll see below, but I think it's important to note that this group pyramid is kind of like life: sometimes you'll fall and sometimes you'll make it all the way to the top, but if you can do both with a great friends while laughing, you've succeeded either way....

Thanks for following our adventure-don't worry there will be more to come.

Signing off for the last time in NZ.... :(

Jill

Holy Wine and Mussels!

What a glorious day yesterday was! Breakfast on the porch, a half day of wine tasting, and then a gourmet dinner cook-off including mussels, lamb, and salad (some actual nutrients!) We found a great little wine touring company that offered a half day tour of the Marlborough region wineries. Since our group is so big, we got our own van, our own tour guide, and could choose any 5 wineries we wanted to visit. Frank, our accommodating and awesome driver, took us to: Alan Scott, Cloudy Bay, Nautilus, Forrest Estates, and Highfield vineyards. He must have obviously picked up our vibe throughout the trip, because he ended our tour by taking us to a chocolate factory! The smaller, more family run wineries like Alan Scott were our favorite (plus it helps that they also operate a brewery!) and we loved trying out the different signature New Zealand wines and learning about this amazing region. Of all the places we've been in New Zealand, I can say that Picton would be the place I'd love to actually live. All of the other areas have been beautiful and exciting, but Picton and the Marlborough region have been so relaxed and tranquil, while still offering loads of things to do! You're right on the water, with mountains all around and biking and hiking trails all over. Don't worry, I asked Frank if I could have a job leading wine tours:One thing I will say is I don't know how people do an all day wine tour!! We were a mess after five wineries and a chocolate factory, so I can't image double the action.

The night before we had divided up into teams for group dinners. Team Turner (Me, John, Sara, Adam and Amber) were cooking the first night and Team Heather (Heather, Kyle, Goodman, Kellyn and Blankenbanker) are going to cook the second night. Team Turner came up with an amazing menu (If I do say-so myself) of NZ lamb, green lipped mussels with bread, salad with NZ blue cheese and oranges, and of course some feijoa and hokey pokey ice cream for dessert. Alot of us hadn't had mussels before, but Sara and John cooked up some mean mussels and they were a big hit! The owner of the house even stopped by and gave them the thumbs up!
Team Heather has an unfair advantage because the owner brought over some filet steaks from his dairy farm in Christchurch for them to cook up tonight. The guys are fishing right now, so I have a sneaking suspicion that they are going for a Surf and Turf menu for this evening. I guess we get to reap the benefits as well, so I don't really care!

Kieth, the owner, is picking us up on his boat in a little bit to check out the Sounds. It's a little overcast today but still beautiful, and we're all excited to check out this area on water. He's been so great and is hilarious. We highly recommend this place: http://www.tigersden.co.nz/

And so somehow it has become our last night in New Zealand (tear). We are all on the brink of sadness, and can't imagine leaving this beautiful place. Although it's not officially over yet (we still have a 5 hour drive to Christchurch tomorrow, and our drives have been part of the adventure) I think we can declare that this trip has been a complete success!! Fun, adventure, laughes, great friends, and amazing stories. It's something we will never forget. We're thinking we need to make this an annual trip... anyone want to help out with that?

Low tide at high tide

Whoa, so much has happened in the past few days, and we've landed in JUST the right spot after all these crazy activities. We pulled up to our amazing beach house in Picton last night and it is absolutely gorgeous. Hot tub, 10 person dining table and grill on the deck... it's a little piece of heaven and the sunrise rise this morning was unbelievable! We are currently cooking up a breakfast feast to have on the porch while planning out wine and kayak tours for the next couple of days.

But let's back it up to a couple of days ago when we were still in Queenstown after the Kepler Track. The girls were pretty sore, so we decided to have a spa day the following morning (which was AMAZING!) Right after such a relaxing activity, we decided to do one of the most stressful activities in the world: jump off a suspended ledge over the river at 440 feet! 6 of us did the full on bungee jump, and the other 4 of us did the worlds highest swing bungee over a gorgeous canyon. To say it was scary is an understatement, but talk about living life to the fullest!! The next day we set out on the worlds longest road trip. People in New Zealand like to stay positive, no matter if it's true or not, so when we asked some locals how long it took to get from Wanaka to Nelson, they'd look a bit confused and then say "Ooohhh, ya know, not too long. Maybe six hours or so". Well.... 12 hours later, we were still on winding roads, making our way up the gorgeous west cost of New Zealand. Thankfully it was a gorgeous day, so the views were great, and we were in no short supply of gas station stops, chips and candy. If someone were to ask me that day, "Hey Jill, what did you have for lunch", I would reply "Sour peachy rings and salt and vinegar chips". We did however, also get to see the Franz Joseph glacier, which was spectacular, even from our far away view. That night we rolled into the Bazil Hostel at 11 pm, after a long day of driving, where our hostel host was patiently waiting up for us while feeding coal to the stove because she was worried about us. The people here have blown us away.

The next morning we woke up early and hit the road again to get to Abel Tasman (think beaches!) National Park, where we jumped a water taxi to a beach side campsite where we were the only residence. Please envision a pristine beach, with rocks and cliffs, camp sites overlooking the water, and falling asleep to the sound of the waves. And let's not forget beach side yoga:

After a full nights sleep on the beach, we embarked on the hike along the coast to where the water taxi was picking us up later that day. We got to ditch our packs at the campsite, where the ridiculously nice local boat driver said he'd pick them up, and started our trek along the beach. Now please keep in mind that we only had 3 hours until our boat was picking us up, and our trail was "3 hours". We came to a fork in the trail where our options were "High Tide trail: 4.5 hours", and the "Low Tide Trail- 3 hours". Well we didn't know much about the tides, but we knew we had 3 hours.... so obviously we took the low tide trail. About 30 minutes in, we realized why they called it the low tide trail..... the tide was coming in fast, and we had some major water to get through. It's all part of the adventure, right??

Thankfully we made it safely across, and ended our treck in beautiful Bark Bay, where our water taxi picked us up to head to shore. We saw seals and a 'penguin' (the driver was humoring us I think) on the drive back, and then it was on the road again, heading up to our beach house in Picton.

We pulled into this fabulous residence last night around 9 pm. The friendly home owners had turned on the lights for us, and the view from just the driveway made us all melt! This is what I want my house to be 'when I grow up'.... seriously. Everything from the gourmet kitchen, the hot tub and grill on the deck, the brown velour couches (you know how we love those!!) and immaculate decorations are absolutely the best. The owners have been great, and are even bringing up steaks from their family farm for us to enjoy tomorrow. Essentially, we went from cooking green curry on camping stoves with blisters on our feet, to lounging in a hot tub while Heather cooks us a meal straight out of "Bon Appetit" in the kitchen in her travel dress. This is the most amazing way to end our trip. And as I say "end our trip" I want to cry....

The next couple of days will include gaping at the views off our deck, wine tasting, and exploring the sounds in a kayak. I could do this forever...

Quick and Dirty...

Ok here's the lowdown:
Girls Spa day: check!
Bungee Jumping: check!
18 hour road trip up north to Abel Tasman: check!
About to jump on a boat taxi to camp on the beach: check!
THE SUN IS OUT: CHECK!

We'll be at our beach house in Picton tomorrow night and will have a more elaborate update then.

Everythings great, we're loving everything, even the curvy 18 hour drive up the coast supplemented by pounds of candy and potato chips.

Talk soon!
Jill and crew

Tramping for Treatment....for real.

Ok, rewind before the Kepler Track to where it all began… Queenstown. Turns out that Queenstown had too many choices for the 9 of us- At one point we were standing in the bungee jumping store for 45 minutes without a decision. So we did what any group of 9 young, tramp-loving (get your mind out of the gutter) adults would do: we decided to go on a 36 mile backpacking trip in the rainiest area of the country: the Kepler Track near Te Anau. It was the only ‘great walk’ that was still open through all this rain, so we jumped on it! The guys had met with Kris from Trippin’ for Trout during breakfast, and when they asked him what we should do, he agreed that we should “get the hell outta this town”… great advise.

After a beautiful photo op with the Trippin’ for Trout boys on our way out of town we started our departure from Queenstown. Clearly, the girls decided to turn our 3-hour drive into a little Michael Jackson , Country Wine booze cruise. With the girls singing sweet tunes and the drivers going deaf, we finally made it to Te Anau at 9 o’clock. This all after having to take a detour due to flooding. That should have been our first hint about the massive amounts of rain in the area. We swung by the grocery store to pick up some backpacking food, grabbed a bite to eat at “The Moose”, and somehow found some rooms at the “Barnyard Backpackers Hostel, nestled up in the foothills, of course near some sheep and cows. We woke up first thing in the morning and hit the DOC (Department of CONSERVATION- please forgive my earlier typo) and drove to the trailhead… just about the same time the rain started to fall.

The first 4 miles of the trail on the first day were right along the swollen lake: nice and flat. Then the climb started. We climbed 3000 feet worth of switchbacks through the New Zealand rainforest until we broke through the tree line into the exposed climate. At this point, we were by NO means dry, so we didn’t really mind the extra rain and wind. We knew we were close to the hut at this point, so it gave us some hope. We finally arrived at the Luxmore Hut (sounds luxurious, doesn’t it) where we had some hut-mates who had started up a fire for everyone to hang our wet clothes above. That night we thought the hut might blow over. The wind was howling and the hut was shaking, but it was 200 times better than sleeping in a tent up there. The next morning we jumped up early, hoping for blue skies, but were not happy to see extra clouds and wind. When our “hut master” Jeff came downstairs, I asked him “Hey Jeff (pronounced Jiph), what’s the good word?” He promptly replied, “There is none…. It’s going to be terrible today. Rain, sleet, hail, snow, wind over 50 mph”. Dang it…. Not what we wanted to hear. None the less, we took off up the hill, and climbed an additional 1000 ft to the Luxmore Saddle, where we LITTERALLY THOUGHT WE MIGHT BLOW OFF THE MOUNTAIN.

Seriously, Kyle made us hike in a straight line 2 feet in front of eachther for protection. Every time you thought there was going to be a lull in the gusts, and would peak out from under your rainjacket hood…. The wind would come full force and bitch-slap you in the face. At this point, our hike must seem a little brutal to all of you, but it was absolutely beautiful. There were gorgeous views (if the clouds broke), an amazing trail, and great friends to share it with. We were all drenched to the bone and our muscles were burning- but we were in it together.

After we made it past the saddle and up another ridge, we finally dropped into the trees… but don’t think that helped with the rain. Now, at this point, we were running DOWN the switchbacks, past waterfalls, and heading to the next hut: the Iris Burn hut, where we had two great hutmate couples: an older couple from Australia who had just climbed Kilamajaro, and a young couple from the north island in NZ. You could see numerous beautiful waterfalls all around the hut and a luscious jungle around us… SO BEAUTIFUL.

By the next morning, we were ready to rock the 12 miles of flat terrain. Without the elevation challenges of the days before, this day seems really easy, AND WE EVEN SAW THE SUN!!! It was SO glorious and brightened all of our days. The rain subsided, and we even thought we’d make it to the next hut without being totally drenched…. Then we saw the waist deep water we had that had taken over our trail. Lake Manapouri had swelled WELL over it’s boundaries, and had flooded our track. It was actually quite comical for all of us to cross -just another adventure!

The next hut was right on the lake, and was an amazing little beach house. We ate the last of our dehydrated food, and stayed up REALLY late: like 8:00!

The last morning, the brave trampers without blisters (ie… not me) hiked the last 17 k to the van, (most of which was in waist deep water) while the other half of us hiked the shorter route to another exit point.

We all jumped into the van, and started the dance party in the van back to Queenstown. We were bruised, we were battered, and absolutely exhausted: but we felt GREAT. The only open “great walk” in New Zealand was just that…. It was great. We shared some great struggles and triumphs on this trail, and that of course led to some great laughs. It’s definitely a backpacking trip we will not forget.

Now back in Queenstown, we took a much-needed shower, ate a delicious dinner, and a few brews. The following days will include possible bungee jumping, fishing, maybe a spa day for the girls, and plans for another tramp up north on our way up to the beach house. AND PLUS WE’LL HAVE DAVID GOODMAN HERE TOMORROW!!!

WE'RE ALIVE...but wet!

Hey All!
We just got off the Kepler Track... 4 days, 3 nights, 500 mm of rain! Seriously!
It rained, it stormed, it hailed... and the wind bitch slapped us in the face all day... BUT IT WAS AMAZING!!! 60 km of tramping, that's like 36 miles!
We're going out for a well deserved burger in Queenstown right now, but we'll post more stories tonight!

LOVING NZ!
Jill (with 16 blisters)

"This is the first time it's rained all summer!"

WE MADE IT! We are here safely, you can calm down parents! After traveling for 35 hours of inital travel, plus another day of driving, we made it to Queenstown last night after an amazing night at Braemer station near Lake Takepo (read: Lake Take-a-poo, at least that's how we liked to pronounce it). Our 6 hour layover in LA was awesome, with dinner on the beach, a pyramid picture in the sand, and Adam and Kyle even managing to take a dip in our first body of water. The flight over the pond wasn't too bad. We managed to watch 4 movies each, drink 90 mimosas (hey- we're on vacation) and play tetris for hours on end. Flying Air New Zealand was all it was cracked up to be, and everyone on board was SO nice.
Once we made it to Christchurch, we picked up our 10 person van with gear trailer, which is hilarious, and started the adventure of driving on the wrong side of the road in the passengers seat. Brian, who was the first brave one to drive kept hitting the windshield wipers when trying to turn on the turn signal, and we all kept yelling at Kyle who was in the 'passengers seat' to put his hands on the steering wheel.


After 3 hours in the car and a long drive down a dirt road, we pulled up to Braemer Station - a sheep farm right on the Lake, which was turquoise blue. This place was so great! Kitchen, beds, sheep and cows out the window, and so old and cozy. We cooked up a great dinner there, and fell asleep early, after such a long commute.
The next morning we braved some rain, and took a walk around the lake AND of course a dip in the lake! Let's just say it wasn't that warm.


We gathered up our stuff and hit the road again, heading to Queenstown in the rain. We stopped in a town called "Twizzle" (please just imagine the SnoopDog references we keep coming up with) for a beer and some brunch and while talking to a local woman, asked about the weather forecast. She said: "Oh man, this is the first time we've gotten rain in the past couple of months- We love it!"... go figure! We kept on trucking to Queenstown, and when we arrived in this great little town found out the Routeburn Track, the main "tramp" we planned to do the next day (today!) had been flooded out, and hikers had been evacuated from the huts the night before because the water was up to their belly buttons. Guess it doesn't matter after all if my boots are waterproof or not!
We checked into our hotel, and stumbled across the perfect dinner spot "The Cow", an old-school pizza and pasta restaurant which had coincidentally been recommended to us by a VR co-worker. Still tired from all the traveling, we grabbed a beer (NZ has GREAT beer!) and headed back to form a plan of attach for the next couple of days.

Our original plan had been to hit the Routeburn today, but currently the guys are talking with the DOC (Department of Transportation) to see what we should plan with this weather that's currently on the South Island. When we first got here with all the rain, we threw out a couple ideas like catching a flight to Tahiti or Australia to lay on the beach, but then we remembered that we are in NZ, NOT at work, it's beautiful rain or shine and have 12 days to feel out. So David, if you're reading this, the Routeburn might happen while you're out here!!! We're meeting in just a minute to nail down some plans for today that might include bungee jumping or jet boats.... TBD!
So there it is: the first blog post in New Zealand.... We're here.. we're safe, and we LOVE IT!
Miss you all!

Jill

From Kyle "BAM!"

OH MY GOSH WE LEAVE TOMORROW!!!

Whoa, where has the time gone! I feel like just yesterday we were setting up our site and the countdown read: 200 days until New Zealand. Now we're down to ONE. We'll head to DIA tomorrow around noon for a solid 30 hours of travel time, landing us in Christchurch around 10:20 AM on the 25th. Sorry 2010, we're not going to experience April 24th.....
Kellyn, Sara, and I were debating about whether or not we should wear jeans or yoga pants on the plane, however we definitely landed on yoga pants! Heather and Amber, if you girls wear one of these cute "travel dresses" we keep hearing about, you're in trouble!

For those of you who haven't seen the itinerary, it looks something like this:
25th: Land in Christchurch to pick up our smelly 11 person van and gear trailer. Stay overnight in sheep shearer's quarters (I'm thinking that's kind of like the Marriott)

26th: Drive to Queenstown while gaping out the windows like some of the best Breckenridge tourists

27th: Hit the Routeburn Track for 3 days!

29th: Go to Milford Sound for the night after our hike

30th: Back to Queenstown to do some crazy adventure stuff for a couple of days and pick up David!

2nd - 8th: This is our PIBE week (Play It By Ear). Here are the things we KNOW we are doing at some point or another:
- Staying at a Schoolhouse hostel in Okarito
- Driving up north and hiking/exploring along the way. Maybe sleep on the beach?
- See some whales and dolphins, drink some wine, hike and play, etc
- Stay at our RIDICULOUS beach house in Picton the 5th-8th (http://www.tigersden.co.nz/ - get a life, this place is unreal!) This place is walking distance to wineries, too...

So that's what our next two weeks look like, and it all starts tomorrow. We'll have a laptop along and will be stopping to update our adventures along the way, so stay tuned.

Adam got this picture yesterday from the guys at Trippin' for Trout (oh yeah, we're meeting up with them too!) and it looks like the sunsets in Queenstown aren't that great... yeah right.

Anyways, wish us luck. We can't wait to jump on that plane tomorrow and get away from it all: moving, work, brains, bills, stress... see ya later!

Love you all! Can't wait to share our adventures!
~Jill

NOTE TO SELF:

DO NOT MENTALLY CHECK-OUT FOR YOUR VACATION WHEN YOU'RE STILL 20 DAYS OUT!



The past few weeks have been interesting: trips to Texas and Santa Cruz, shopping at REI for important items like rain pants, and signing leases on new Boulder pads... but one thing has stayed constant... we all have New Zealand on the mind! We leave in 16 days... taht's 2 weeks and 2 days which means just a little over two full work weeks. When April kicked off, I found myself trying to mentally check out of work, which proved to be impossible once I realized what needed to get done between now and our departure for New Zealand. I think we all tried to do that, but now we're back at it for the next couple of weeks. Then it's time for out of office messages and no cell reception. Can't wait!



Adam, Kyle and I signed a lease on a new place in Boulder. Let's just say that this place is a little piece of heaven. Even though it's a little 70's style, with green carpet and lantern lighting, the view off the back porch is ridiculous and it's nestled right into the foothills (literally!) and just a short drive to town. In fact, we can hike to the top of our subdivision (where the rich neighbor has an Eisenhower-esce Tunnel for their driveway) and drop right over to the top of the Mt. Sanitas trailhead and into town! We're going to be all moved in before NZ and will have a house warming and welcome back party when we return. Invites to come. Kyle has decided that for now we just need to move in the grill and the dining room table so we can head up there for some BBQ and the sunset. Here's the view:

We also got the great news that our layover in LA while en route to NZ grew to 6 hours. United canceled our original flight and replaced it with a flight that didn't give us enough time to connect. The only other option was giving us 6 hours in LA... oh well.. better safe than sorry I guess. Amber has come to the rescue once again and is going to send a fleet of her friends to pick us up at the airport and take us to the beach for a few hours in between. Now that I think about it, I love this 6 hour layover. Our vacation begins that much earlier!

Otherwise, we've been just doing the normal day-to-day stuff: naming non-profits, picking out dogs for Kyle for once we return, and talking to NZ flyfishing gurus who are going to document our entire trip. That's normal right?

The two week countdown is about to begin... ye-ah!

Jill

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it" ~Immanuel Kant

And that's what we did this weekend up in Breckenridge: We'd planned and imagined our trip to New Zealand and created the perfect adventure which will begin in 32 days. Yes, you read that right... 32 days! At the 30 day point, we'll all make countdowns for our desks and slowly start removing all of our personal possessions from our cubicles, in case we never come back!

The meeting kicked off with Brian wowing us with his amazing yoga poses, mixed in some tunes, some brews, and of course some hostel bookings.

Amber and David flew in from California and Texas, so we had the group in full effect, except for John who was extremely busy drinking Cooderbears and watching basketball at an annual March Madness Mancation. Definition: Cooderbear 1. Noun- An alcoholic drink made with Vodka, Kahlua, half and half, with a splash of Coke. 2. Noun- One of your good friends or bugaglugs Abbreviations: Cood (pl Coods), CooderBizzle, CooderBeeps.

Here are the planning highlights:
- Booked lodging at a school house hostel in Okartio (populations 40!) on the drive from Queenstown to the 2nd big hike up north.
- Created a packing list with a MINIMUM of 1 pair of travel underwear
- Executed complicated mathematical equations about how many tents we need to bring
- David sulked about how he's missing the first week of the trip (It's not too late to change your flight buddy!)
- Laughed nervously about the possibility of bungee bumping

Then the girls of course needed to go shopping, and picked up some sexy hiking 'zip-off pants' for the trip while the guys watched basketball and ate hamburgers... whoa that sentence was so stereotypical, well except for the 'zip-off pants'.
We hit up some disco tubing at Keystone that night, and then danced until the wee hours of the morning to the musical genius of ConHair, a local Breckenridge legend.
Sunday morning started slowly, however breakfast at Amazing Grace proved to be the best decision ever. Superfood Burritos and homemade Biscuit Breakfast Sandwiches around the wood burning fire concluded the Tramping for Treatment planning weekend, and soon we were all off to different adventures. Mine thankfully included crying tears of joy over a MSU basketball victory, but others included some skiing, I-70 traffic, and airport drop-offs.

All of our plans (except the 1 pair of travel underwear) are pretty flexible, and as Kyle would like to say, "We'll play everything by ear". But one thing's for sure: I have never felt this excited or privileged to go on an adventure with such an amazing group of friends. I can't wait to laugh, play, drive on the left side of the road, and hike with all of these Coods!

Until next time, which will be even closer to our departure date,

j