On The Road Again!

Well, we have left the comfort and friends of Camp Columba, and headed back out on the open road. We had a great last week at camp, filled with lots of stair-building for Dave, and typing and laminating for me. We also spent lots of time with friends, sharing every type of meal imaginable, from breakfast to late night desserts. They spoiled us with gifts too - personalized CDs of New Zealand music, books, gas vouchers and, chocolate!

We feel so blessed by our time at the camp. More than anything, it reminded us about the importance of community. No matter how much we love eachother and enjoy spending time together, Dave and I can not exist as an entity unto ourselves. While we strongly feel the love and support of family and friends at home, it has been so good to become known by others here as well. As hard as it was to leave the comfort of friends, we trust that God will sustain us, and bring us again into community as we travel.

We left camp on Saturday morning, with a mixture of sadness and anticipation, and headed for the Caitlins. The Caitlins is not a well-known area of New Zealand, in terms of tourism, but it is a bit of a hidden gem, filled with rainforests, waterfalls and other natural wonders. Since we don't have any pictures up of them yet, I'll try to give you a visual image of some of the highlights.

After a couple hours of driving, we began our sightseeing at Jack's Blowhole. Now, the name doesn't exactly do justice to this natural phenomenon, and I am sure my descriptions won't be able to capture it either. In our heads, we imagined a small hole in the ground near the ocean, which spouted water when the waves crashed in. After tramping through some farmer's fields, (filled with sheep, of course), for about 30 minutes, we began to hear what sounded like the rush of water, and knew we were close. The location was about 200 m from the ocean, totally surrounded by native bush. As you approached, we began to feel the mist on our face and realized our previous ideas were misguided, to say the least. As you peered over the fence, the ground dropped away to display an absolutely massive hold, probably 50m by 50m wide and almost that deep. At the bottom, the ocean crashed against the walls in great waves. If this helps you imagine the experience, Dave actually screamed in response! It was that cool!

After Jack's Blowhole, we saw two spectacular waterfalls - Dave was in photographer's heaven. We stayed at a beautiful campsite, right on small inlet to the ocean. One of our favourite things is going to sleep to the sound of waves crashing. The most spectacular part of the trip was our last stop though - Cathedral Caves. Accessible only at low tide, the caves are massive sea caverns created by waves crashing against the cliffs. After walking through a beautiful rainforest, we landed on a gorgeous sand beach that led to the caves. We stood at the entrance to the caves awestruck, blown away by their sheer size. As we entered, our amazment grew, as they seemed to go on forever. A European explorer named the caves after England's cathedrals, as the shape and acoustics seem to match. They were truly magnificent!

Today, we are in Invercargill, the southernmost city in New Zealand, and, we have plans to go even farther south tomorrow. Now, don't be misled - in New Zealand, the farther you go south, the COLDER it gets! We will be the closest we will ever get to Antarctica tomorrow, when we arrive on Stewart Island. After a 1 hour ferry (known to be one of the world's worst crossings!), we plan to start our 3 day tramp on the Raikura Track, one of New Zealand's Great Walks ! We are really looking forward to the adventure, as it will be our first long trek since arriving. The hike meanders along the coast, through forests and across beaches. The past couple days has been rainy, so we're hoping to not get too drenched on the adventure.

After Stewart Island, we begin travelling up the West Coast, hoping to see glaciers, lakes and mountains along the way. Please continue to pray for safety, both in the outdoors and on the road. Also, please pray for this time of just the two of us, that it would be a time of growth in our marriage, that we would learn again to depend on God for each day, that we would allow Him to guide our steps. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.