West Coast Travels

In case you wondered, we quickly recovered from our adventures on Stewart Island. Our legs felt like rubber for a few days, and my clothes needed a serious scrubbing, but all is well. After expending a great deal of energy there, we decided to take it easy for a few days. (For those of you battling the Canadian winter, you may want to skip the upcoming section.) It is true, we are enjoying seriously warm weather at the moment. And, with the soaring temperatures, we can not resist the pull toward the water - either the ocean, a river or a lake. While the water still remains quite chilly (being filled by glaciers has that effect), we at least dip our toes in to cool off every day.

Right now, we're hanging out in Queenstown, at Brent's place. Brent is Madz's cousin, and his place is absolutely beautiful. His house is right on the lake, with a gorgeous view from the deck. Brent lives in the bottom section of the house, and has graciously given us the top half for a few days. When you live out of the trunk (or boot, as we say now) of your car, and a small tent, you immensely appreciate the luxuries of a house - a real toilet, a couch, carpet under your feet. On the other hand, we love the freedom of having few posessions. We really can pick up and go exploring at any moment. This trip continues to teach us to appreciate each moment, to be content in all situations.

We leave tomorrow morning for Mount Cook, New Zealand's largest mountain. The natural beauty of this country continues to amaze us. We hope to spend a few days there, tramping around the base, pretending to be real mountaineers. Then, off to Lake Tekapo, famous for its sparkling blue waters. We plan to meet up with some of our friends from Camp Columba, who will be passing through the area, which is exciting.

Another big reunion coming up will be our trip to Australia! In less than 2 weeks we head to Sydney to meet up with Amy Fisher and Trevor Joseph. Trev lives in Sydney, and Amy is coming over for 2 weeks. We really can't wait, as it will be so amazing to spend Christmas with friends from home. A true blessing!

And the best news for last - we finally have new pictures up! Yeah! Sorry for the wait, but we do hope you enjoy them. We had a little incident today with accidentally formatting our memory card, so we're determined to back up our pictures more often, which should mean posting more frequently too. Here's hoping!