The Good, the Bad, and the Kiwi

Hey sweethearts! I've got some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first? Both at the same time? Yeah, right! And then we wend up with some crazy mumbo-jumbo that the known secret services can't help but interpret the wrong way. Sorry, but I had enough of that bit the first two times around. Well, since you're just useless as far as decisions are concerned, here's the good news first:

1.) New Zealand is great. How great is it? Greater than the Great Wall of China, and the Great Barrier Reef, and Peter, Alexander and Kathrine the Greats, and the Great White Shark, and the Great Gatsby, and Great Balls of Fire (Goodness, Gracious!), and Great Britain (including the Greater London area), and the Great Gig in the Sky, and the Great Lakes (without Ontario though), and the Great Canyon, and (oh my gosh, like) the greatest sale ever, and the Great Crystal Ball of Eastern Torigonga (greatest crystal ball in the southern hemisphere between 17 and 23 degrees longitude) all put together in a great bunch of great greatness. Pretty great, huh?

2.) We have seen a lot of waterfalls.

3.) We have seen glowworms in numerous caves, wading through waist-deep water in one of them.

4.) I have been surfing, although not very successfully.

5.) We have seen endangered birds on Tiritiri Matangi.

6.) I have started eating kiwifruit with the skin after I learned from an Irish couple that other people do it as well. It's a little weird at first, but you get used to it and it's much more convenient than scooping that stuff out. Show that fruit who's boss! It's healthy, too.

6.) We did a "walk" up Mt. Karioi near Raglan that included pulling yourself up using chains at steep bits and lotsa mud. Needless to say it was fantasmic!

8.) We went down some awesome waterslides and had delicious steak that night courtesy of a farmer who stayed at the same campground. It was from his own animals and he had marinated it. We hadn't had meat (other than lunch meat) at that point for a while, and that steak was outa this world.

14.) Kumara tastes really really good.

15.) Our sandfly bites have stopped itching.

16.) I go skating like every other day.

Now the bad news:

1.) I cracked my skateboard.

Don't worry though, it's not completely broken in half yet, but it's a matter of days at this point. We also added more pictures to the gallery.