"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!"