Tearing down or building up?

I've already mentioned that we are doing work on our house right now. We've put the basement on hold for a bit while the weather is nice enough to work outside (AKA, before it gets so blasted hot outside). This weekend we decided to get ambitious and put a fence in the side of our yard. Well, there has been a row of bushes that slowly pushed the previous fence over. So, we pulled out all of the bushes one a time with a chain and Grant's truck. I got to drive. It was definitely the fun part.

We cut down a tree!

It was actually pretty easy to do all of the tearing down. We spent several hours working on it, but it was clear that we had accomplished much at the end of the day! Just like starting the basement, beginning the outdoor projects was fairly quick and without much trouble. I'm sure it will be much more difficult to actually build our yard back up to what we want it to be.

Fast forward to this week. I was praying about how to encourage someone in my life. I often find myself at a loss for how to encourage others when they have little confidence in themselves (whether it be in general or a particular area of their life). Yes, I know I'm a therapist. Trust me, it does not make me a mind reader. In fact, becoming a therapist has opened my eyes to how little I actually know about other people and how much I merely think I know.

As I was quietly pondering and listening for answers, I got an image of the work we've been doing on the house. Tearing down is easy. It's quick and usually doesn't involve a large amount of frustration. It's satisfying to get trees or bushes or walls out of the way. On the other hand, building back up takes a lot of work. It's not very easy. You usually run into many bumps in the road that cause you to backtrack. It takes time...a lot of time. Much more than tearing down takes.

Just like building homes or beautiful landscaping, people are much easier to tear down than to build up. Tearing down takes only a few seconds and can cause days, months, years of setback. Building up is a slow process that includes bumps in the road, time, patience, and love. What if I focused more on not tearing others down? It would prevent unnecessary setbacks. It would encourage others to continue building up and growing.

I've learned that people can only be built up as much as they have confidence in themselves. Words and even actions of others seem to deflect off of us when we don't believe in ourselves. I can't control that for other people, and it can be quite frustrating. But I can prevent myself from tearing them down. I can work to resolve my frustration, anxiety, worry, irritation, anger, lack of patience and all of my other emotions by processing them myself. For me, that can mean journaling, praying, running, or talking with a neutral third party (better to not use names if it's a person you're upset with).

I'm not saying that it's fruitless to build others up. I do that in therapy.

I am saying that it's important to note the vastly destructive nature of tearing others down. We are most vulnerable when we experience heightened emotions. And I need to be attentive to those moments. The moments that a "bit tongue" can mean the difference between tearing someone down, ruining months of progress, or stifling my fleshly feelings to prevent that destruction.



A balancing act

Well, I was hoping to update this more often, but I guess there's this thing called life that gets in the way sometimes.
This week has been a bit on the crazy side, starting the with the tornado that swept through Wichita on Saturday night. Living in the Midwest my entire life, I've never taken tornadoes quite as seriously as I did this past weekend. For awhile, Grant, Bandit and I were huddled up in a closet in our basement while we watched the radar predict that the tornado was coming straight at us. It eventually veered off toward Wichita, causing millions of dollars in damage, but the fright of the possibility stayed with me.

Search "wichita tornado damage" on Google Images for some humbling photos. I'm not sure what's copyrighted and don't want to inappropriately use any here.

Being the conversational (code word for "I love to talk and I'll probably ask you a million questions if you engage me in conversation") person that I am, I have been questioning people about the tornado all week.

It's interesting to hear the responses:
"I don't care; a tornado will never hit me."
"We drove X miles away to stay with our friends/family because we don't have a basement."
"We sat out on the porch to see what was happening."
"It didn't hit our house, but it was too close for comfort."
"I was in shelter for several hours."
One lady at Hobby Lobby told me that she wasn't worried about it, but she and her husband eventually started driving away from their house in East Wichita (no basement) to Andover. When they realized it was heading toward Andover, they just parked on the side of the road.
One of my friends had to leave her cats at home and was worried for them (that's sad to think about).

I've often thought that a balanced perspective gets me far in life. I trust God that He will take care of me and that my life truly is in His hands. Although, if I ignore warning signs and live my life as if nothing could ever befall me, I do believe that I will eventually find myself in an undesirable situation. There's got to a balance between blindly trusting God and watching out for my own safety.

AND, I would have to venture that it goes farther than merely staying safe from natural disasters. It's rather easy to take control of our lives. I mean, that's what human nature compels us to do: watch out for number one, make sure I get my share, keep all of my ducks in a row. I like to keep things orderly. I'm self-admittedly a neat freak. Piles drive me crazy. Even the organized ones. And yet my life becomes cluttered, driving up my anxiety until I spend days picking up all of the pieces. Or I just go to an organized room in the house and pretend that the rest of it looks like an issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

Don't get me wrong. There's nothing inherently sinful about keeping things neat and organized. Or being a little messy. Or saving money for a rainy day. Or spending some on that gadget (or purse, or shoes, or...) you've been eyeing. Or having a meticulously detailed planner. Or leaving your planner wide open. But, at the end of the day, do you rely more on yourself or your bank account than you do on God? Or do you leave life completely to chance, not taking much responsibility? It seems like most people I talked to about the tornado did one or the other: blindly trusting that they would be safe or freaking out that a tornado was even possible. Natural disasters bring out extreme responses, true. But what about the everyday? Where's the balance?

By the way, my sweet precious kitty got attacked by a stray tomcat this week. Her paw got split open and her leg was scratched in several places. I couldn't control that, either.

Kitty and I on graduation day, May 2011

Putting the great in the ordinary

Our flight home was fairly uneventful. We saw the All Blacks (NZ's rugby team) in the Christchurch airport. Pretty cool! I should have asked for a picture! We had to wait through the check-in line twice: once in Christchurch and once in Auckland. That was annoying, but I guess that's what you pay for the laid back kiwi lifestyle (not a lot of organization at times). We hardly slept on our 12 hour flight. People were not sleeping and there was a LOT of coughing going on around us. (We didn't get sick!) Needless to say, by the time we arrived at LAX, we were pretty tired, so we slept the rest of the way home.

Still smiling on our plane from LA to Dallas 

 

 

The clouds were really pretty! We could see a layer of cirrus clouds above a layer of cumulus clouds.

Having been home for a few days, I would assume that life would be back to normal. It is somewhat back to normal: I've cleaned, done laundry, gone on a run, cooked some fresh beans to freeze and use in chili this weekend, made way too many phone calls already... And yet I still feel a part of me isn't quite here yet: I consistently think I should be walking and driving on the left side of the road; I spent half of my morning dreaming about where I could go hiking - the only hiking I got to do was up and down the stairs to the laundry room; I felt clueless when it came time to plan meals for the week. It's kind of funny to adjust to life after being gone for an extended period of time. The last time I was away for more than a week was over six years ago for a mission trip.

There was a lot to catch up on! We had an entire bin of mail!

All of that to say that there is still a part of me that feels I should be doing more. I feel like I should be at 110%, saving the world. You know, keeping a spotless house, working out at least two hours a day, spending a significant portion of my time with the Lord - all before lunchtime. Ha! I don't even come close to that normally. And I'm having a hard time dragging my jetlagged behind out of bed. What time is it? What day is it, for that matter?

And then I remember that my worth isn't contained in what I do, but in the moments that I serve God and give Him glory. When I'm patient on the road, when I smile at the slowest grocery store cashier to exist, when I take a few moments out of my run to say "Hi" to my neighbor.

Going to New Zealand was kind of selfish. It wasn't a benefit to anyone other than my husband and I. There was no evidently eternal purpose for going on vacation. And yet I feel like the Lord lined up this opportunity for us in a way that could not have been more perfect. Should I feel guilty for having this blessing? It can be easy to feel guilty for our blessings, but guilt doesn't foster a sense of gratitude to the ultimate gifter: God.

And the gift within the gift of this vacation was a renewal of sorts. It was helpful to be (mostly) disconnected from the world, to spend time with God and Grant, to reflect on our lives, to immerse ourselves in the laidback lifestyle of many of the Kiwi people. We were reminded that "things" mean little to God. They can be tools, but they can also be idols. A spotless house, a perfect lawn, the "perfect" job: they don't define me. I am a human. You are a human. You are worth much more than you can ever realize. Your value is found within: the core of who you are, your personality, the gifts you have to share with the world, your quirks and even your weaknesses (weaknesses always seem to mirror our strengths). A thankful attitude brings much more fulfillment than any"thing" else.

So, thank you God, for New Zealand. For the beauty of the land, the people. For reminding us of who You are and who we are. For helping us to see the great in the ordinary. We are all ordinary people, no matter where we are. Whether it is the middle of nowhere, USA or on a glacier in New Zealand. And there is always great to be found in ordinary.

Hole in one

Our last day in New Zealand. Definitely bittersweet. It’s been a wonderful journey, and it is sad to see it coming to an end. We have been here for long enough that we have grown accustomed to our lifestyle. We’ve actually become quite proficient at unpacking and packing our bags in a matter of minutes. And, of course, we know all about getting groceries, petrol (gas), and how to find free internet. We miss the comforts of home, like our bed, unlimited internet, our cat…oh yeah, and being able to talk with family and friends. ;-)

Activities for today were not nearly as exciting as many of our other days here. We had a nice, long drive from Franz Josef to Christchurch – almost five hours. We drove through Arthur’s Pass National Park, saw some pretty scenery, and stopped at a gas station since gas in Franz Josef was several cents higher per liter than everywhere else. Everything there was expensive – even their milk and water costs more than in the other towns we visited.

The scenery was more desert-like than most of the other landscape we’ve seen. There were plenty of mountains, but many of them were more brown and grey, as opposed to green trees or white snow.

Once in Christchurch, we decided to head to Caddyshack City Minigolf. We had just enough time for one more fun activity. I’d read about this mini golf online, and people really seemed to like it. Although it was on the pricey side, it was definitely worth it! Each hole had a different theme that related to New Zealand. One resembled the Skytower in Auckland, one had a fancy looking church like the one that used to be in Christchurch, one had a lumber yard, one had a national park, etc. Not only were the holes very thoughtfully designed, but they also lit up, played music, and moved around! One hole was supposed to be a roller coaster and it took your ball up an incline in a “seat.” Another hole that resembled the skyline gondolas took your ball up an incline in a little gondola. It was so cool! At the end, when you hit your ball into the final hole, a lollipop dropped down. Since we love minigolf and I’d wanted to try out this course, it was the perfect way to end our time here!

The Skytower hole

Candy at the end!

We chose a hotel that is literally right outside the airport since we have an early morning flight. We dropped off our car, figured out where we need to go in the morning, and walked back to the hotel (it was only about a five minute walk). Off to bed early so that we can catch our flight. We have to get up around 3:45 – I guess it will give us a kick start to getting back on Central time.

Love, the George family

Ice is nice

Today began in the very tiny township of Franz Joseph. The closest thing to a bank here is a single ATM machine. We drove to Franz Joseph Glacier Guides this morning (a whopping one minute drive) in anticipation of our glacier walk. It took about half an hour to put on all of the glacier hiking gear, including woolen socks, boots, crampons (metal spikes that go on the boots), mittens, hats and rain jackets. We then got on a bus that recently won an award for least foot room ever (haha). It was a Japanese bus, but I guess it was the right price for the five minutes that it takes to get from the tour office to the glacier car park (parking lot, for you Americans).

Trekking to the glacier is quite a process - it begins with a short walk through the rainforest (read 15 minutes) and then a long walk across the moraine, which is fancy talk for all the rock deposited below the glacier from the mountains (read 45 minutes). Back in the 1800s, the glacier actually came all the way to where we were at the edge of the rainforest, but we had to hike through the moraine. Once we finally got to the glacier, we stopped to put on our crampons…all in order to go on another 20 minute hike uphill, finally on the glacier! It didn’t quite look like a glacier at this point, because the ice was all covered in rock.  The glacier literally carves rocks and boulders out of the mountain. As it melts, the dirt becomes exposed. At first, it makes the ice melt faster like wearing a black t-shirt in the sun. Eventually, it builds up enough to insulate the glacier, leaving this first part that we walked on today.

At last, we got to the part we were waiting for: the exposed ice. The guides go out early in the morning to cut steps and evaluate trails that day’s tours.

Franz Josef Glacier. The dark part you see to the left was caused in October 2011 by massive rockfall off of the mountain. Dust caused the ice to become discolored.

The glacier changes every day: melting, breaking off, shifting. In the past three months, a large portion of the glacier caved in. Only a small section is left to trek across, and it continues to deteriorate on a regular basis. In three days, the tour company will be discontinuing all hiking tours as they are worried this shelf will eventually cave in completely. Helicopter tours to hike at the top will still be available, but they will obviously be much more expensive. So continues the perfect timing of our trip.

Another view of the glacier. The stairs you see are what we climbed on – they are carved out by the guides each morning.

Our guide directed us through several narrow areas, including an eyelet which I basically had to crawl through. It was very cool. We also found a cave in the ice.

Us in ice cave. It was dripping water all over us!

It was a very fun day…and to think that they cancelled all tours except heli-hike tours after this Wednesday.

There were a lot of neat photo opportunities!

In total, we hiked for about 4½ hours and came back very hungry. We ate lunch and stopped by a coffee shop with free Wifi to update our GPS – we didn’t have a signal yesterday on the drive to Franz Josef. Upon checking email, we realized it was a software error that required a downloadable update. With our limited internet at the hotels, we couldn’t download it. Thankfully, we found a coffee shop that offered 30 minutes of free Wifi with a drink purchase. Cindy enjoyed a cappuccino while I updated the GPS, and it worked! Now we won’t get lost on our drive tomorrow.

Our glacier hike fee included access to the Glacier Hot Pools, which is pretty much just 3 really big hot tubs filled with lots of people. It was a nice way to relax at the end of the day, as we couldn’t handle any more hiking, although our guide did recommend a nice eight hour hike up the mountain. The glacier hike was our last planned tour in New Zealand. Tomorrow we drive back across the mountains to Christchurch to catch the ONLY free skymiles flight out of this country American Airlines could find.

Love, the George family

Happy Easter from Franz Josef Glacier!

Up the west coast

At the end of our three night, and longest, stay of the trip, we were ready to move on. As we mentioned yesterday, Easter is a huge holiday here, so everyone is travelling for the weekend. Queenstown was a bit of a madhouse yesterday, and even Franz Josef (the little town we’re staying in for the next couple of nights) is really busy!

Just outside of Queenstown is a neat area called the Kawarau Gorge, which has a suspension bridge crossing it, aptly named the Kawarau Suspension Bridge.  A famous bungee spot is located on the bridge, but we weren’t able to see anyone jumping because it was too early when we arrived. The view of the gorge was what I wanted to see most anyway. I had researched it at home before the trip and Grant found out that it was a filming spot for LOTR. It is the setting that was digitally animated with the Pillars of the Kings (Argonath) on the Anduin River. In reality, it is the Kawarau River. We drove up a one lane dirt road for 2km in order to get a good view. It was actually very beautiful and it’s neat to see the landscape that was filmed in the movies.

Kawarau Gorge from the top of the dirt road

About an hour down the road, we stopped at Puzzling World, which is a museum on sorts that contains a giant maze and a gallery area with puzzles and mind tricks. The maze was very confusing, but we conquered it by the end. At first, we were not too impressed with the gallery, but then came across some really neat exhibits. There was a room that was much larger on one side than the other, which gave the appearance of being very small one side and very large on the other. There was also an area with a slanted floor, which allowed for some cool mind tricks. The best one was a seat that could roll up and down a track. Because of the angle of the floor, you could sit on the seat and roll what appeared to be uphill. In reality, you were rolling downhill, but the angle of the floor made it seem like you were rolling uphill. Crazy, huh?!

Puzzling World

Driving today was both beautiful and scary. We were winding up and down mountains with no shoulder all day. We therefore got some spectacular views, delays behind slow cars, and even a couple of scares when there was a car coming the other direction around a really tight turn. There are a LOT of one lane bridges in NZ – those can be fun!

We stopped to snap some photos of the ocean, as we may not see much more of it

Once we arrived, we headed straight for the Tatare Tunnels (a bit deceiving, as there is only one tunnel). Our Scuba guide told us that we HAD to do this hike in Franz Josef, so we decided to go for it. It was about an hour and a half return hike, with the middle 35 minutes through a tunnel in a mountain. It was used as a mining tunnel in the past, and contains very cold water that you have to wade through for the duration of the tunnel. Despite our cold toes, the hike was spectacular and definitely worth it! We were even able to see more glowworms, which was actually quite cool. They were right above our heads through the tunnel. It was pitch black in the tunnel, so we had to use torches (flashlights). I think it sounds a lot cooler to say you’re carrying a torch than a flashlight.  It looked like there used to be access to at least one more tunnel, but at the end of the trail, there was a sign stating that the rest of the trail has been closed off. 

The end of the Tatare Tunnel. We are ready to head back through the tunnel and back down the trail.

There was another trail to the Callery Gorge nearby, so we did that one and a half hour return hike, as well. The gorge was neat, but the suspension bridge was not operating anymore, so we didn’t get as good a view as I’d hoped. The best part of the hike was walking through the thick rainforest. It is the first dense rainforest we’ve seen. The trees were covered in moss, and it was a stunning walk! We did almost get run over by someone on a dirt bike. We had passed him on his way into the trail, so he knew we were nearby when he zoomed past us on his way back out and missed Grant by only a few inches. We spoke to a couple of woman who live here and were hiking just ahead of us. They told us that they were very upset about it, as we were, and to report it tomorrow. They apparently know who the kid is and he causes a lot of problems in the area. It was pretty scary, and he definitely shouldn’t have been on the hiking trail.

Well, tomorrow is our last big activity – hiking on Franz Josef Glacier. We can’t wait to see it! We’re praying that the weather holds out. It was another beautiful day today, but there is a chance for rain tomorrow. Weather permitting, we’ll be celebrating Easter glacier-side! Pretty awesome!

Love, the George family

A Good Friday

I don't really know how to follow up yesterday's post, but I guess we were alive today. Today was relatively unplanned....which means we had a list of 10 or so different things to do just in case. We decided to start the day with a hike down by Twelve Mile Stream before anything else was open. We had a short car ride and the radio was really quite interesting today. Easter and Good Friday are HUGE here in New Zealand. Combine Labor Day (it's their last Holiday weekend before Winter), Halloween (Every New Zealander we've seen has left the grocery store with some kind of Cadbury Chocolate Egg or Bunny the last couple weeks) and add a little Christmas (they are very sincerely religious about the holiday). We listened to a radio discussion about how to approach Easter with young children. How do you relate to a two year old the sacrifice that Good Friday represents? How much do chocolate bunnies deter from this meaning? They had an entire discussion about chocolate deterring from Easter, much like we would discuss presents taking away from Christmas. Chocolate is THAT big. It was interesting to gain insight on the holiday in New Zealand, and it actually helped us to gain a deeper appreciation and respect for Good Friday and Easter. Like one man said on the radio, "Without Easter, Christmas is meaningless."

We finally arrived at our location to hike. Like many scenic places, it was also a location for....you guessed it, Lord of the Rings. To be honest, I don't think there's hardly an attractive place in New Zealand not used in the movies. If the Discovery channel could remove the characters from the film, they'd have a polished documentary of New Zealand. It was a much shorter hike than most of the other hikes we've done. Twelve Mile stream is just that. It looks as if it can multiply in size quickly if it rains but doesn't have enough constant water to support any fish.

Just add Oliphants and Haradrim

After the hike, we went back to Queenstown and walked around the city center. We bought some souvenirs and if you want something, just wire me some cash, as I'm about out. Queenstown Gardens is a "must see" and was our next stop - we enjoyed a picnic lunch on a fairly hidden park bench. As we people watched and ate, we saw a bunch of people walking by with disc golf discs. I had bought a putter with a New Zealand tournament logo on it as a souvenir, so Cindy convinced me to play a round of disc golf in New Zealand. Awesome!

Here I am tee-ing off from a rock. Yes, that is the starting pad for hole number 2 on the course.

The course was much shorter than most back home, which was good since I only had a putter. I somehow managed to birdie a par 4 due to a lucky roller shot, but mostly had trouble getting around the trees (including a few sequoias).

We then headed on to our one scheduled activity: the Skyline Gondolas. We haven't seen any amusement parks here, so I think this is as close as you get. You ride in a gondola a kilometer up above the city. The ride was scary enough that Cindy decided to skip the bungee jumping and para-sailing you could do at the top. The view was fantastic. I don't think many of the plane tours actually get up that high.

Queenstown from the top of the Skyline ride

The one thing we decided to do at the top was the Luge! It was better than Go Carts. They've made 2 courses where you ride down on....the luge things....and you can get going pretty fast.

Us with our luge helmets on. You can see people going down the track in the background.

The rest of the evening we just relaxed by walking around downtown Queenstown. We sat by a dock for a while and walked through the open air market. I (Grant) was excited to eat at Fergburger again, but sad it would be my last. I don't know what tomato relish is.....but it's amazing. We also had fun joking about the burger names, which include Sweet Bambi (Venison), The Codfather (Blue Cod), Little Lamby (Lamb) and Bun Laden (like Bin Laden - it's a falafel "burger"). Tomorrow we head back North (but stay on the South Island) and eventually back to the airport. It's sad to think that our trip will eventually have an end, but it's crazy to think of how much we've done and seen. We hope you all have a nice Good Friday at home! We definitely had a great one here in New Zealand!

Love, the George family

Memories

I'm 8 years old....rolling down the driveway in an old farm cart with wheels as big as I am. My Nana tells me to sit indian style so I don't get hurt as there are no sides to the cart. Memories.....the accumulation of our experience, our lives. Today was a day we made some great memories and I remembered some old ones.

About 10 years ago, I told my Nana I wanted to go to New Zealand. Her quick response was that we would go there together someday, maybe after I graduated college. I'm guessing she planned to tell my Papa later. She always took the lead in family vacations. Today, I've finally made it to New Zealand and seen possibly the highlight of our trip...the fjords. 

Doubtful Sound

Today we went to Doubtful Sound, the second largest (and possibly most beautiful) fjord in the world. According to our guide, only New Zealand has technical fjords, as those in Norway, etc were carved by glaciers which somehow disqualifies them in the Kiwi's eyes. Ironically, the New Zealand fjords are named  "Sounds," which isn't the correct term, since we're getting technical. 

It took us 5 hours to get to the Doubtful Sounds. It's not a trip for the faint of heart. Begin with a taxi from the hotel to a large bus, which drops off to a smaller bus on the side of the road. After this second bus trip to a dock, take a  boat with many more people across Lake Manapouri, which loads onto a third bus that treks over the last bit of mountain to Doubtful Sound. Finally, the three hour boat trip on Doubtful Sound! Yes, you read that correctly: a taxi, three buses, and two boat trips...and that's just the way there!

It was just us on a ship with 40 people to enjoy the beautiful views for 3 hours. As soon as we entered the Sounds and saw the view in the first photo, I remembered that conversation I'd had with my Nana 10 years ago. This was the tour she would have enjoyed most. It deeply reminded me of my times with her.

Cindy and I in the fjords

While in the fjords, we saw 2 boats. One was a cruise ship which could only briefly go through the outer sounds (near the Tasman Sea) and looked like a toy ship compared to the mountains on either side; another, a small vessel heading out to sea. We enjoyed this large expanse God created primarily to ourselves. It was not only sunny (it rains and is cloudy 2 out of 3 days here), but it was calm. We were the lucky (we call it blessed) 1 in 50 trips that got to venture all the way to the outer sounds and into the Tasman Sea, viewing many of the small islands and the first look that Captain Cook had when he named the area.

Nee Islets, including the Hair's Ears in the background

Doubtful Sound was named "Doubtful Harbor" by Captain Cook in 1770 when he sailed by, deciding not to go in as he did not think he would find harbor there. I just think that the most beautiful fjord in the world should be named Cook Fjord if only he'd dared to venture in. If a cruise ship can sail through here and look like a row boat, I think he would have been fine, but at least he got the tallest mountain in New Zealand named after him.

We were pretty much in awe the whole time. On our way out to sea, we saw a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins faintly in the distance. As we circled the Nee Islets, we found a large colony of seals. Technically, the New Zealand fur seals are closer to a seal lion than a seal. More improper naming.

Fur Seals on the Nee Islets, sunbathing and playing in the water

To conclude our tour, we drove 2 kilometers down into the earth through solid rock tunnels into a hydro-power station. It takes water from Lake Manapouri and runs it through turbines, then down to the Sound in two very long underground tunnels. It was impressive and produces 18% of New Zealands electricity, but was definitely overshadowed by the fjords and is not as impressive as Hoover Dams' turbines and size. It was unique to see, because it is very secluded, as are the sounds (since you have to take land and water transportation to even get to this part of New Zealand).

I think the largest testament to how amazing the views were is that we are still wearing big smiles, despite getting up at 6 am and spending 10 hours traveling by bus and boat in order to spend a measly three hours in the sounds (not to mention the fact that we had only one meal during the 13 hour period). On the trip, we both talked about our grandmas and how they have loved us and affected us so deeply. We cherish the memories we made today and dedicate this post to the memories we have with Nana, Grandma, Granny. Thanks for teaching us to cherish the memories.

Love, the George family

Mount Cook

This morning, we were excited to get up because we were headed to Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand. We had scheduled a tour after lunch, but we wanted to head up early so that we could check out some of the mountain views beforehand. The mountain range is called the Southern Alps, as it resembles the Alps of Switerzland. Sadly, as we drove up into the mountains, we could hardly see them because the clouds were too low. We found out that the mountain is covered by clouds one out of every three days. When we arrived, we decided to take a hike to a couple of suspension bridges and hoped to get a better view. The bridges crossed a glacial river, so the water was a very pretty shade of blue. It was a chilly morning because of the cloud coverage and the cold water running off of the mountains.

By the end of our hike, the clouds were starting to lift and we could finally see parts of Mount Cook! We were very excited, and it was definitely worth the wait!

Mount Cook is in the background. The clouds are almost entirely cleared, but the views only got better.

After this, we headed off to our Glacial Lake tour on Tasman Lake, which runs off of the largest glacier in New Zealand. The glacier rests on Mount Cook and has melted down enough to form Tasman Lake, which is only possible because the glacier rests in a horizontal position, which leaves no where for all of the water to go. The lake is about two degrees Celsius, which is warmer than the glacier and actually causes it to melt faster than it would without the lake. There are several icebergs in the lake, which we got to experience. It was amazing! We went on a boat ride around the lake, took a LOT of pictures, and learned about the icebergs and glaciers.

Grant is licking a piece of ice from one of the icebergs. I didn't try it, but the consensus was that it tasted "cold." Others said that it tasted dirty, as icebergs have suspended dirt and debris frozen into them.

This part of the iceberg just surfaced today. If you look closely, you can see that it is still a blue-ish color.

If you went to look at the same iceberg tomorrow, it would no longer be blue. Once the surface of the iceberg hits the light of the sun, it turns the iceberg white, like snow. Over time, the outer layer of the iceberg melts away, revealing all of the trapped dirt and debris, which is a brown or black color. Eventually, the iceberg will melt away enough that it needs to "settle" and it will flip around in the water, revealing a new blue-ish piece of ice.

Posing in front of the glacier. This is where Tasman Lake originates. The glacier is the flat, dirty looking sheet that you see right above our heads. It looks dirty because of the trapped dirt and debris. The icebergs break off of the part that you can see.

As you can probably tell, we very much enjoyed this boat tour. It was definitely an up close and personal way to learn about glaciers and icebergs. We have many more pictures, but the internet it too slow to post them all.

I was exhausted on our drive to Queenstown. We stopped a couple of times to get another look at the mountain and to check out a river in the Kawarau Gorge. The last hour of the drive was breathtaking, as we were driving through the mountain gorge.

We ended our night by eating out at Fergburger. It was recommended to us by several people and is in the Lonely Planet, so we had to give it a try...and it definitely lived up to it's hype! The sauce on it was a tomato relish, and it was amazing! Even the fries were delectable. I don't know how you can make a burger and fries so different, but this place was excellent! The burgers were HUGE, too, and we were hungry enough to eat every last bite. Yum!

Tomorrow, we have an early morning and a long day because we are touring Doubtful Sound. It is the tour that we have been anticipating the most, so we have high expectations!

Love, the George family

Stop and go

We took our time driving today, stopping several times along the way. It made for a long, but enjoyable, day!


Scuba diving on Sunday really zapped us of energy. We went to bed last night at 10 and were still tired when we got up at 8 this morning. Since Christchurch shuts down early, we pushed off a few things that we wanted to do until today, so we didn't want to sleep in too much. Our first stop was the library so that I could use wifi to post. Our hotel was supposed to have wifi, but it didn't work very well. The hotels here have not quite met our expectations.


We spent most of the morning exploring the Canterbury Museum and Christchurch Botanical Gardens. The museum was fabulous (and free!), with exhibits about Antarctica, the Maori people, early English settlers, the history of Christchurch, and information about the recent Earthquakes. It was staggering to realize the amount of damage that was done in Christchurch. We spoke with one woman who lives in Christchurch. She told us that Christchuch has experienced tens of thousands of earthquakes in recordable history. In February, 2011, the earthquake was not as powerful as some of the others they have experienced, but it moved the earth up and down, back and forth continually, which is what destroyed the foundations of many buildings and homes. Over a hundred lives were lost. It was inspiring to see the way that the people from here and around the world came together to support the victims' families, as well as help rebuild and get people through the terrible devastation. This was our favorite part of the museum because of the history embodied in some of the remains and the story of destruction and unity that it told. One sad outcome of the earthquake is an Anglican Cathedral that was destroyed. It was very beautiful and well-known in the area, as it was well over 100 years old. It's destruction was quite severe and the city had decided to completely demolish it, as it would cost at least $20 million to repair. The people are very fond of this cathedral and there were many pleas to save it, but it will not be saved. Quite a sad story!

This is the steeple from the cathedral that was destroyed. It is on display in the Canterbury museum. 

It was also interesting to see some of the equipment used in Antarctica. We learned that only male whales make noise and that they repeat their noises in song-like patterns that can last for hours at a time. They only "sing" when migrating or mating...look out ladies!

We spent some time walking through the gardens, which were intricately designed. The fountain was quite beautiful itself!

After walking through the Botanical Gardens, we headed off to the only outlet mall on the South Island. Of course I wanted to at least take a peek. :) I saw that there were some stores I recognized, which was exciting! When we walked inside, I quickly realized that outlet prices are normal US prices. I should have guessed as much - yesterday, when we went to the Re:START mall in Christchurch, I found a pair of Grant's pants for nearly double the price we paid in the US. The cost of living is just ridiculous here! Needless to say, we didn't spent too much time and walked out empty handed.


Our drive was about four hours long today, but we ended up stopping in Geraldine and Fairlie to check up on the KU game. We researched libraries along our route from Christchurch to Twizel for the sole purpose of finding free wifi. It worked out pretty well - we caught the last several minutes of the first half, drove during half time and the first part of the second half, and watched the last several minutes of the second half. We watched KU close in on Kentucky, which was exciting. Sad ending to the season, but Grant said he's just happy to see them make it all the way in the tournament. It was kind of funny to watch the game in libraries, because you have to be really quiet. No yelling or screaming when exciting things happen or bad calls are made. :)


The only other stop we made was at Lake Tekapo, where we visited the Church of the Good Sheperd. It is a famous lookout point, mainly because the church was built right on a beautiful lake. There is a large window behind the pulpit with a stunning view of the lake - what a spectular location for a church!

Posing in front of Lake Tekapo. We are wearing our KU shirts, of course, in support of the game!

The view of the lake from inside the church. I'm sure we could have spent the whole afternoon there, but there were a lot of visitors in the little church, so it quickly became crowded.

Tonight, we are staying in a chalet near Mount Cook. We could see Mount Cook in the distance as we were driving this afternoon, and it is majestic! We will be up there for a tour tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully we will get some great photos!

Love, the George family

Meandering

Today was an unplanned, play it by ear kind of day. Our scuba dive master told us about Ohau Stream, which is on the way to Christchurch from Picton. We decided to stop there and were very happy that we took his advice. Baby seals make their way up this stream (from the ocean) to a waterfall at the beginning of it each winter. As it is fall, there were plenty of seals all along the stream. Yesterday we saw young seals, but today we got to see baby seals. They were adorable and full of energy! Grant took some great video of them playing in the water.

How can you resist that adorable face?!

The drive today was also fabulous! It was our first day exploring the South Island. We found ourselves amidst mountains, large hilly areas, and the ocean. You definitely feel small in the middle of all of that!

Clouds descending upon the mountains. It was stunning!

We were also driving along the ocean for most of the day.
The water shimmered a thousand colors of blue.

Our next stop was Kaikoura, an eco-tourist town. There are plenty of tours there, especially whale watching tours. We just stopped for lunch at an outdoor café and did some souvenir shopping. Grant had a venison burger, and I had a chicken sandwich. We originally went in for fish and chips, but changed our minds when we saw the menu. The food was delicious, but our simple lunch cost nearly $40. Food is quite pricey here! It is interesting to us that they serve venison at restaurants. We actually saw a deer farm one day while we were driving. I did a double take when I saw deer grazing in their own field next to a cattle field. I wish I had thought to take a picture!

Upon arriving in Christchurch, we realized we didn’t have much time to tour because most of the town shuts down between five and six in the evening. We decided to drive to the part of downtown that is still accessible. Grant parked the car and told me he had an idea:

Punting in the park. It was the perfect afternoon for a little boat ride. We got a private thirty minute tour on a river that winds through the Botanical Gardens and Hagley Park.

Our last stop for the day was a mall that lies beside the earthquake ruins in downtown Christchurch. What a unique way to temporarily rebuild!

The container mall, called Re:START, consists of stores inside of containers from
rebuilding downtown Christchurch after the earthquake in February, 2011.

We ended our day at a mall that had free WiFi. It is the first time that we have been able to surf the web without worrying about how much data we are using. We found out that all of the public libraries here have free WiFi, so we may end up stopping by some more libraries along the way. We hope you all have a wonderful start to your week!

Love, the George family

A day at sea

Today was spectacular! We were out on the boat from 9:30 this morning until about six this evening. We had a full day of boating around the Marlborough Sounds, snorkeling, and diving.

We started this morning with a bit of a bump in our plans. We’ve been washing and drying our clothes as we go, which has been a bit of a challenge because of the high humidity here. Until now, there have been fans or heaters in our hotel rooms that aid in the drying process. Unfortunately, this hotel does not have any fans or A/C and there is nowhere to hang clothes by the heater. As you can imagine, we woke up to soaking wet clothes. We specifically chose this hotel because it had a washer and dryer – what we didn’t know is that you are only allowed to use it between 9am and 8pm. Brilliant, as those are the main hours that people are out touring. We tried to hang them out as best we could before we left this morning, but they weren’t dry by the time we got back. So, they are in the dryer as we speak.

Enough about cleaning our clothes, though! The boat ride was amazing, as it was on the ferry yesterday. We started off by boating around the sounds to find active seals. We saw many sunbathing seals and three baby penguins on our way to our first location. Our guide knew a lot about the marine life, and he shared a lot of it with us. At our first location, we went snorkeling with the seals. They come right up to you, swim around you, and do acrobatics. They are very friendly and playful. Incredible doesn’t begin to describe the experience! It was my favorite part of our travels thus far!

Grant is literally right beside this seal. They like to lay upside down on the surface of the water.

Here I am from the other point of view.

Some of the other sea life - we went too deep on our dives

to take the camera, so we weren’t able to get too many pictures

of the other sea life. But it’s all in our memory!

Next, we picked up three guys who work on a cruise ship that came through Marlborough Sounds today. They had the afternoon off, and wanted to go diving. We learned a bit about cruise ship life – they are Dutch (the cruise line was Holland America), as are most of the crew on board. They work for four months and get two month’s vacation. Not a bad set-up!

Our first dive was at the Double Cove Fish Reserve. The fish were very people-friendly, so we were able to touch them as they swam by. We had food, so they swarmed around us, particularly the Blue Cod. It was quite amazing!

Our second dive was at the Koi Wreck, which was a shipwreck in the 1940s. Neither of us have ever done a wreck dive, so it was very interesting. We went down around the different parts of the ship, saw a large seahorse, a stargazer fish (it is a bottom dweller that blends right into the sea floor), a lot of algae and growth on the ship, and many other sea creatures. We really enjoyed exploring the area.

In our wetsuits and weights, getting ready to gear up for our final dive.

Overall, we had a splendid day! The water was a bit cold – 14 degrees Celsius, which they said was about 50 degrees Farenheit. We had on $800, 8mm wet suits, though, so they kept us quite warm! Grant said that my face was stark white during some of the dives because my body was conserving heat to my internal organs. That must have been a sight to see!

On another note, we saw that KU won! Go KU! Too bad we won’t be able to watch the game – hotels limit how much internet you can use, and we only get about 50-100 MB per day, so we have to conserve our usage. It goes very quickly! We are on the road again tomorrow, so I had better get some rest!

Love, the George family