NZ part one

Greetings from down under,

Well, it has been along time since i have written a mass post from another country....must say, i am glad to be doing it. Praveen and i arrived in Auckland, NZ on...Friday, Sat not really sure...we missed a day on the flight, which wasn't too bad actually. I am extraordinarily happy to be exploring an new country and i feel so fortunate that it is one of the most beautiful i have seen before.

Praveen has a friend, Mathew, in Auckland who showed us around a bit. It is a really nice, beautiful city,with about a million people right on the water. It reminded me of SF a bit actually. Lots of parks and nice shops. The coolest thing there was this big volcanic crater. Praveen and i walked all the way down inside. Then back up- that was the hard part...Auckland was FREEZING. i had checked the weather, it was suppose to be 65- it had to be like 30 with a -25 wind chill.

We took a flight out the next morning to Wellington,where i meet some locals and had a beer or two while praveen showered. Then we jumped on a beautiful ferry ride across Marlborough Sounds. It was again really cold. praveen, who was to stubborn to buy a hat and gloves had his PJ pants wrapped up around his neck for warmth. We were a sight to see.


There were nice mountains all around us. Later, when we were settled, we took a Kayak around....it was cool. I wasn't thrilled about the idea because of the temp, but the sun came out and it was a beautiful day (today). I even got burnt up to a crisp. So in the water there were thousands of jelly fish. I got a little petrified for a minute worried about falling in and all if them eating me. I was scared to put my paddle in the water for fear that one might jump on and try and get inside the boat. Those jelly fish can be sneaky you know.

Anyway, we have already done a fair share of hiking. We are getting plenty of exercise...there are hardly any fatties here, so they must be all climbing the hills too. Oh, the bus ride down here to Christchurch was really beautiful. there are black sand beaches all along the east coast side of the island and they are reallyspectacular. The food has left little to be desired thus far...fishand chips are everywhere...i am still looking out for some good sea food and oysters...yummmm.
So that is about it for now. We are off to take a train across the south island. It is suppose to be the most beautiful train ride in the world. I can believe it. I am looking forward to the snow capped mountains.