Crossing Over

Well, today we will be leaving the South Island to head back into the 'north'. We were hoping for some nice weather to do a bit of the Able Tasman track before we left the south island but to no avail, it's cloudy and threatening to rain. Oh well. We've had a great trip from Invercargill north including a curious look at these weird shaped rocks on the east coast (as well as a meal at a great seafood restaurant) spectacular views of Mt. Cook (sunny and blue skies) We've had all great overnight spots so far (the free one's are best) and we must say that those little pic-nic spots along the main roads here in New Zealand are great! The one cool campground we stayed at was just outside the Mt. Cook village and as we went to sleep we could hear the glaciers groaning and crashing.


Please keep praying for us as the stress of our whole lives changing again is weighing on us. There are several things that need to fall into place quite quickly here so please pray that our van will sell easily, that our final plans for Thailand go smoothly, that our flights home are un-eventful, and that a place to live and jobs are found relatively easily once we are 'home'. I guess you can also pray that we will adjust to living in Grande Prairie again too!

2 days on the trail

Well, we are back in Invercargill for re-fueling and a bit of laundry after our most amazing hike through beautiful forest and amazing waterfalls (not to mention the scenery of mountains all around us) We got all packed up and headed back out to Fiordland National Park where we purchased our 'hut' passes and then set out. We had originally planned to do two nights in two huts but the weather forcast wasn't that great and we found out it's $40 per person per night to stay in these huts so we camped one night in our van in the park and then set out the next morning. Our packs were fully loaded with enough food and clothing, sleeping bags, water, etc for the trip, meaning they weighed in between 11-15 kgs (24-33 lbs) mine being the lighter of the two. The trail was amazing, there were plenty of little huffing and puffing stops as we climbed up and up and after 7.5 hours on the trail we reached the MacKenzie Hut. Please note that it wasn't 7.5 hours up or I would have died. On the way we passed by the Earland Falls which were amazing at 80 meters high and though it was quite foggy and we couldn't see any of the amazing mountains all around us, there were plenty of beautiful sights along the way. The next day we were quite sore but being that we were in the middle of nowhere we had to walk back out so we set out again! The weather was better so we could see much more of the scenery and it was breath taking (or maybe that was just the hiking with a pack part?) Anyways, it was a beautiful walk out (again 7.5 hours) and we even did a little side trip up to Key Summit. The clouds parted just enough for us to glimpse the almost 360 degrees of mountain view all around us. I've included a link here for more info about the Routeburn track. We didn't do the whole thing only from the divide to Lake MacKenzie and back but you can check it out here.

All in all it was wonderful and we think we'll try to do another walk or two like that before we leave New Zealand. It's so worth it (plus it's good for you). Today once the laundry is finished we'll attempt to head towards Dunedin and then Mount Cook on Saturday! We'll let you know what adventures we find along the way!

Goodbye Invercargill

Well the time has come once again to say Good-bye. You'd think that after a while you would get good at this but once again it's not easy to leave the people and places that we've come to know and enjoy. We've been blessed by the friends we've made here, especially the Conway family who have adopted us as part of their family almost and let us live with them for the past few months. We've had jobs some that we've enjoyed more than others, and we've even been blessed by the local church family. Now it's time to move on.

The day after tomorrow we are planning to head to Te Anau and do a bit of a tramp. We've never really done anything like that but we're excited and getting lots of coaching from the 'locals' about how to do this and what we need. That will be a few days and then we'll drive around in our van, seeing what we want to see, driving when we want to drive, sleeping when we want to sleep, the simple life really.

Please continue to pray for safety for us as we travel, and that we would be able to sell our van easily, enjoy Thailand, and get home safely. I won't be able to post much in the next few weeks but we'll do our best to let you know what's going on.

What did You do for Easter???

Another adventure has come and gone… Easter Break. It was absolutely amazing. Ben, John and I
spent 3 nights and two days living on a boat (with the occasional stop off to do a walk or swim or something) We drove up to Lake Manapouri which is about 2 hours from Invercargill and is in the heart of Fiordland. Fiordland is like Jasper and Banff put together and less touristy. The mountains and the roads out there are WILD! The lake that we were on was amazing and the beauty

of the mountains all around us is hard to explain other than to show you pictures.

I’ve never slept on a boat before so that was an adventure in and of itself but all in all I did well. The lake was very calm most times so I didn’t get sick at all. It was fun to cook our meals and sleep and play games etc. all on this fairly small (don’t tell the Conway’s I said that) sailboat. There were only a few hitches along the way being that the rudder broke on the second day due to a massive wake from a large boat that we weren’t really expecting to hit so hard while we were trying to go ashore a little island. The boys managed a wonderful recovery and temporarily fixed it enough to continue our adventure. One afternoon we also decided to climb what they call “The Monument”
The photo with the rocky face cliff poking out the top of a hill, yeah that’s it. Climb it we did (although I thought I was going to die more than once, it’s about 500 feet UP the whole way). Some bits, as you can see from the other picture, are also quite steep and you need rope/chain to climb up.
That’s one very large step for this inactive office girl. The last day that we were in Fiordland we left our little boat behind and headed for Milford Sound, which is a major tourist stop in New Zealand but is also a very wild bit of the country. I couldn’t believe the number of tour buses on the road as we drove. It was crazy. It was also a fascinating road. Quite windy and comparable to a non-major mountain pass like going from GP to Prince George or something with a massive tunnel through one mountain they couldn’t go around that leads to this inlet (look it up on a map, you’ll find Milford Sound). There’s really nothing much else there than several boats that you can go on a tour of the sound, you can rent kayaks and a few room motel? Not much else. Anyways it was beautiful and we got to see one of New Zealand’s famous mountains, Mitre Peak.

All in all, the trip was absolutely amazing. An Easter that we’ll never forget I’m sure. Now it’s back to work (for Andrea anyways) The bottom fell out of the wool market and John is no longer employed, so I’m left to bring home the bread. I only have 5 shifts left and then off we go again to the freedom of our little van. Hey if you think of it please pray that God would be continually guiding us as we finish up our time here in New Zealand, try and sell our van, and move back to Canada (with a side trip to Thailand). There’s a lot of stuff up in the air and we don’t really know what’s next for us. We know we can trust God’s got something up his sleeve but in the meantime, it’s a little unnerving. Thanks!