Summertime

It is finally starting to get warm here. Since it is Spring the weather changes like crazy. One day it was freezing cold, the next really hot and so on. Now it is even warm in the evenings. The only weird thing is seeing all the Christmas stuff when it is really nice outside. They even use snowflakes to decorate the windows here.

On Tuesday of this week we got to go sailing again. The Dad of the Mom at the farm that we are at runs a 'Swim with Dolphins' from Tauranga and he invited us to join him one day. It was so cool! We got to see 3 common Dolphins, big schools of fish and little blue penguins. It was another amazing day out at sea. Although it was pretty windy and a little chilly and Christoph got major sunburn on his knees.

Anyway, we are getting ready to leave the lovely farm in Te Puke and move on down the road. It has been really nice here and we have been in this area for about a month now. We have been visiting our lovely friends (that we met in Raglan) at the Mount as well. A very nice time but we are starting to get a little stir crazy. We want to hit the open road and start exploring again. So tomorrow, after we watch Borat tonight (YEAH!!), we are going to leave. I am almost postively sure we will be back to visit the family we are staying with now. It is just so much fun here and they are so nice.

We are planning on heading to the South Island by about the second week of December. First we want to do the Tangariro Crossing and go out to Mt. Taranaki. Then we will check out Wellington and head over from there. That is the rough plan, but we will just have to see what happens along the way. We really enjoy just going with the flow. If we hadn't been doing so then we never would have ended up where we are now and we never would have met all the cool people around here.

Take care everyone and keep keepin' in touch! :)

Major new developments (get excited...wait...wait...now!)

As you might have guessed, a lot has happened since our great Walk. And since you ain't got all day to read me rambling about every little thing, and getting caught up on some minute detail while struggling to maintain the level of sophistication, as far as sentence structure and use of language that have made this blog the roaring success that it is today, but not content, no this blog does not depend on content at all, are concerned. Have I mentioned I'm reading Gravity's Rainbow at the moment? Anyway, let's make this quick and painful, and then I show you a picture of me and two dead things. Well, maybe not things, since they were non-things before they died, but I don't wanna give it away. I'm also gonna use some Kiwi slang we picked up along the way. Who of you can find it all?

We have looked at a waterfall that comes right out of a cliff (Tarawera Falls) and went to Rotorua. To look at all the cool geothermal stuff is quite dear, but Hell's Gate was included in our ticket for the Maori cultural experience and hangi. It was yummy. Then we went on to Mt. Managanui to visit Brooke and Leon, the couple we met in Raglan. We stayed with them over the weekend until Thursday, and it was awesome as. Then we went to the farm where we are right now, and it's been awesome so far as well. Everybody's supernice and the food is preemo. Oranges straight from the tree, tasty beef sausages, and veggies that couldn't be any fresher. Plus we get to play with the kids during our off-time and really get to take part in the family life.

But now to the part where it gets real interesting (i.e. the part revolving around me, oh, I snapped my deck and got a new one by the way, it was cheaper than usual decks as I got one made in New Zealand but I don't wanna bore you with any details): Last Sunday I went fishing with David (the dad), and caught my very first fish (in my life). We went on his boat with another guy and I ended up catching several fish, mostly Trevally and Snapper, but also a Blue Cod. It was amazing. So now, for your viewing pleasure, [+] Christoph with two fish: That's Trevally, Christoph, and Snapper from left to right (that joke will never get old, not on my watch)

[-] Right-o, Christoph.