At the Hoogvliet's!

For any UCB fans, that name will sound very familiar. We are staying at Gary and Pam's house in Richmond, at the very top of the South Island. It has been great! It is actually just Pam and Summer here, as Gary is in Belleville at the moment. We've made a little switch! They live in an absolutely beautiful part of the country (you can check out the pictures in "Our Photo Album").

To explain a bit about what we've been up to, here's a little commentary for the rest of the pictures. The first pics show our last night at Living Springs, and the little ice cream party that went with it. We hope all our Living Springs friends enjoy being on the blog - we told you we would :) Then, you see the seals, which I think I talked about in our last post, so not much to say about them - except they really are hilarious to watch. Such clowns!

After the seals and the salt mine, we headed to Abel Tasman National Park - officially one of my favourite places in New Zealand. We hiked a few hours through lush forests until we arrived at our destination, an absolutely stunning beach, where we relaxed for a few hours, before catching a water taxi back to town. It has become a favourite mode of transportation here - such fun!

The second set of beach pics are Farewell Spit, a 27 km spit of sand dunes on the northern most point in the South Island. We walked out a few kilometres, and Dave loved it, as it felt like you were walking to the end of the world. The explorer in him, I guess. We spent a couple hours talking, picking up shells, and enjoying the gorgeous views.

The last pictures from our travels include me standing beside the world's clearest freshwater springs. It almost felt like you were looking into the side of an aquarium because the water was crystal clear. Amazing! It was really tempting to jump in, but there were lots of signs telling you not to, as it has historical significance for the Maori people. (The fact that the water remains a chilly 11.7 degrees year-round deterred us as well!)

And the last pics are at Pam and Gary's place! Such a great place to explore. The house they are living in and the surrounding gardens are Pam's sister and brother-in-law's, but they are building a place right next door - just like the Heidt-Hannah commune in Rossmore!

Well, I guess that is it for now. We leave for Marlborough Sounds tomorrow, and the much anticipated sea-kayaking adventure. Let's hope the weather stays beautiful!! We'll write again when we arrive at Lake Taupo in a week.