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!!!