Hi all! Sorry we have been so bad about blogging out here. Things seem to close down very early, and we have mostly been blogging on the laptop and waiting to upload. So, we've got updates for the first two weeks in New Zealand, and we'll try to upload our blogs before we leave each destination. We've been seriously on the move out here, so we're never in one place for very long, which makes it tough for blogging, but fun for everything else! We'll start with an update from Christchurch and then move into the rest of our stops. Here goes:

For some reason, we were both super uncomfortable during the nine-hour flight from Singapore to Christchurch, and the five-hour time difference on top of that was enough to pretty much destroy our first day in town. Our hostel was really nice, though, and it had a great communal area with couches, tables and chairs, and a fully-equipped kitchen.

Our first full in town day was dedicated to trip planning, blogging, errands, and burning picture CDs. We picked up food from the supermarket (it felt so odd to be in an enormous market again) and made our first from scratch meal since early January. It was great to cook again. We enjoyed a homemade dinner along with some libations from the happy hour special at the hostel - a jug of Export Gold beer.

It is cold in New Zealand right now - dang cold. At around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, we are 45-50 degrees cooler than when we left Thailand. Since we jettisoned most of our warm clothes after Seattle and again after Tokyo, we spent the next day getting our gearing back up to snuff. We went to the Target of New Zealand, a place called "Warehouse", and other than for hiking or overnighting in the bush, we are pretty much set.

While we did get out and about in Christchurch some, we were basically using it as a hub and launch point for the whole New Zealand leg of the trip. We spent the better part of three days knocking out our errands and solidifying our high level travel plan. We decided to rent a camper van, periodically stay in camper parks so we can hook up, and pull over wherever we can for free when we don't need to hook up. We'll spend about 3.5 weeks on the south island and 1.5 weeks on the north island.

Our last day at the hostel, we finalized some Internet research into a few treks (called "tramps" here) and called to get the camper van. While we were waiting, a really nice couple from Canada gave us a heads up that they were unloading the stuff from their camper van, and we got a head start on stocking the party van with the necessary sundries.

The camper van company picked us up and drove us around 20 minutes out of town to pick up our ride. Our driver was chatty, and once we got to the office and signed our lives and checkbook away, we got a tour of our trusty steed. We chose a Fiat Ducato for its diesel engine with newer fuel injection technology and solar panels, so we get better gas mileage than my Honda and we can recharge the batteries that run our lights, fridge, and water pump courtesy of the sun. They ran us through all the features of the camper, and I mean all, in around three minutes, and we were almost on our way. Turns out, the company has no automatic camper vans, despite telling us they did. We think there was just a Kiwi/American English miscommunication. They've been happening more often than not out here. I'm not sure who I understand better, the Thais or the Kiwis. :) Anyway, despite the fact that my stick shift skills are rusty and Bev's are virtually nonexistent, we just jumped into the adventure.

We attempted to leave Christchurch, but our van started making some rattling noises, so we brought it back. They gave us a new one and we were off. Unfortunately, the new one was missing the instruction sheet that our first one had posted on the wall. If any of you remember the 1980's show "The Greatest American Hero," we feel like William Kaat. We have the suit but no instruction manual.

Other than that, our new steed seems fine, so we left Christchurch an hour or two before dark, and we headed out to Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand and an intermediate stop on our way to Queenstown. We spent the first night on the side of the road next to a pub, and other than being a bit chilly, we were pretty comfortable. After a quick breakfast, we headed out towards Mount Cook.