Happy Easter from NZ!

 I talked with a New Zealand couple back in Geneva and they said that it's been a long time coming, but Kiwis are coming to have a recognized personality.

What I find endearing is that every time you enter a store or cafe, you are greeted "hey, love" or "hi, lovely" or "how's your day, dear?"  Something interesting or exciting is responded to with "Sweet as!"  And I still haven't figured out the expression "Good on you!", but it seems to range between "good for you!"and "thanks!"

From what I've noticed, Kiwis have a great sense of humor.  Instead of the typical in-flight safety announcements on the Air New Zealand flight from Melbourne, the crew showed a parody of a Richard Simmons workout video, but airline safety-style.  Starring Simmons as himself, of course.  I've never seen an entire plane watch those announcements before!

Following the February earthquake in Christchurch, radio personalities joked that McDonald's is now offering a special: with every McChristchurch burger you buy, you get a shake.

Of the many adventures in the past week, the hardest was the Kepler Track.  I decided, without having any real tramping experience, to tackle the 4-day trek.  Fortunately, there are well-organized huts along the way with plenty of other hikers, but it was up to me to handle about 80 km (48 miles) of hiking.



Day 1: I noticed that my mood is inversely proportional to the steepness of slope.  Given that the first day was a 3000-ft climb, it was a lot of bitter why-am-I-doing-this-to-myself mumbling.


Day 2: All completely worth it.  The second day was my favorite.  It brought me through gorgeous mountain tops above the clouds, with views of fiords hugging Lake Te Anau down below.  It is incredible to walk across a mountain crevice and be encircled by mountains, all while realizing that it is just you and the majesty of the landscape.

zDay 3: Much, much easier.  By mid-afternoon, I was at the 3rd hut, which is conveniently placed on the lake.  I'm starting to realize why everyone brought freeze-dried food - as nice as steamed veggies on couscous is, it's heavy!

Blowhole at Pancake Rocks - Punakaiki

Day 4: The last day was much easier, but equally exhausting.  I got back to town, took a much-needed shower, and did laundry.  As some Sir Edmund Hillary said, "It is not the mountains that we conquer, but ourselves".  This could not be more true.

I'm jealous of the fact that Kiwis have the whole South Island to only 1 million of them, a third of which is conservation land for exploring and enjoying, the rest for towns and wide pastures with merino sheep and dairy cows.  Basically, no matter where you go, it is absolutely stunning.

Kayaking trip (that's the tour leader)