Well, we are in New Zealand now. We have been here for a little over 2 weeks now. It's been incredible. The scenery is amazing!!

We flew into Auckland at about 11:00 pm Tuesday NZ time. We hadn't booked any accomodations, but were lucky that our shuttle driver new of a place with openings. Little did we know that the biggest concert of the country was happening the week that we arrove, so all the hostels were fully booked.

We spent 3 nights in Auckland. Our first day we got organized and just walked around town. The next day we did a day trip to the Bay of Islands in the North. We took a boat cruise in the bay and got to see dolphins!!

The next day we started our trip around the Islands. We booked a tour bus that takes us to all the good places and we can jump on and off whenever we want.

Our first day took us to Raglan, the big surfer region. We didn't try surfing though, we just played in the ocean - how cool is that!!

Then we were off to the other side of the Island to Hahei, another beach hostel. We went to the hot water beach that night. It was so neat. You just dig a hole in the sand and hot water flows in making a hot water pool. The sky was clear too, so we sat there on the beach looking at the stars - amazing! We were taking a liesurely (sp?) walk on the beach in the moring and were attacked by a crazy sea gull, it almost pooped on Trevor.

Our next stop was one of the most interesting so far. The Maori's are the natives to NZ and we got to stay at a Maori's house and they fed us a traditional Maori meal and put on this incredible show for us. We even got to learn some of the dances. Trev got to do the "Haka" like the All Blacks rugby players do before a game.

We jumped off the bus in Rotorua to stay an extra night. Crappy for us it rained all night though. We went river rafting in the morning though. So much fun - we went over a 7m waterfall!! The trip only lasted 50 mins though, but well worth it.

We spent three nights in Taupo. Trev went fishing one day with 3 other guys. They got 3 fish, really tasty. We had smoked trout for dinner. Plus, we went Sky diving!!! How crazy is that?! We paid to jump out of a perfectly good plane!?! Soo cool though. We have videos of it all too. Can't wait to show it to everyone.

We did this amazing walk over the Tongariro crossing. It took us 7 hours to walk it and we walked up over volcanoes and in the craters. There were 4 small lakes up in the crater too, so weird. It was so beautiful. That's actually the area they used as Mordor in The Lord of The Rings. I was sooo sore after walking for that long, so luckily there was a spa at our hostel that night.

We made it to Wellington on the 24th, the most southern part of the North Island. Our driver took a few of us to the motorway that night. It was soo neat. I had never been to anything like it before. The race actually got pretty intense.

The next day we crossed over to the South Island. We stayed at the Abel Tasman National Park for two nights and had to sleep in tents. We went sea kayaking for half a day. It was pretty cool. The waves were huge and I got pretty wet since I was in the front. We had wanted to spend an extra day there, but it was raining when we got up, so we just jumped back on the bus.

In Barrytown the whole group on the bus went to the pub at the hostel. Except, it was a themed party. It was a cross-dressing party. Let me tell you, Trev makes a beautiful woman. Don't worry, got lots of pictures. I dressed in Trev's clothes and looked a lot like Riv.

In Franz Joseph there is a natural glacier, one of only 3 in the world in such warm climates. We got to walk on the glacier. We took another 7 hour tour over the glacier. It was the most scary thing I've done so far. Trev wasn't scared at all though. It was awesome though. The ice was so blue and we got to walk through crevasses and everything. It started raining on our way back down the galcier though, so we were pretty wet and our bus driver wouldn't let us get our bags out since they were packed way at the back, so we had to sit on the bus for 3 hours in wet clothes. Then, when we got to our hostel and wanted to change into dry clothes, I found that the beer that Trev asked me to put in my pack had exlpoded all over everything. Not a good day. However, Trev did do my laundry ( a first) and made me dinner.

Yesterday we sropped for a bit in Wanaka and did this maze thing. It was neat, but I was so lost. Trev had to help me find my way out. We are now in Queenstown, the adrenaline capital of the world. There is so much to do here, but you will go broke doing it all. Trev is in the process of doing 3 different bungy jumps at the moment. I chickened out, I was going to go. I am booked for para-sailing this afternoon.

It's been so much fun though. We have met some incredible people. We are just having a blast. Can't believe we are still just in the beginning of the trip though. We still have so much to see and do.

First week..........

What a great first week, we can't believe it's already over!

Summary......

Monday
We arrived in San Francisco, 2 hours late because of security delays. First thing we did was rent a car - a red Dodge Stratus (supposed to be a Geo Metro but we got a free upgrade). We met up with Andy and George for dinner and then just chilled for the night.

Tuesday
We drove out to Muir Woods. It's a big forest of huge red wood trees. We got to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge to get there and then we drove up a really windy road through the mountains. Just the drive there was awesome. We did a tour through the woods and almost got lost. But we made it back before dark. When we got back to Andy's, they took us out to a little bar named Boswells for some Karoake.

Wednesday
We spent the day in "the City". We drove to downtaown and parked the car. We got to take the historic trolly down to the wharf where we did a tour of Alcatraz. It was really neat. We got to cross the Bay on a ferry over to the island. The tour through the prison was quite interesting. We learned about the history of the island and the prison and who was held there. We then just toured around Peir 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. They are the touristy areas. Peir 39 is like a miniature fair, there was even a Merry-go-round. We had the staple Clam Chowder in a bread bowl, Alison even liked it. We walked back to the car and walked through China town.

Thursday
We got up early and went for a 12 hour drive. We drove down Highway 1. It's the highway that runs along the Pacific coast. We stopped in the little town of Santa Cruz and ate our lunch on the Pier. We continued driving down the coast for the rest of the afternoon. We took some really nice pictures. We didn't get back until late, so we just stayed in while Andy and George went out.

Friday
We wanted to go to Napa for some wine tours, but we decided that was a little out of our budget, since most of the tours were done by limousine. So, instead we went to San Jose to the Winchester Mystery House. This crazy lady thought spirits were trying to get her and her psychic told her that to keep ther spirits away, she needed to continue building and never be done until she dies. So, she bought some property and started the building. The thing is, she lived for another 38 years, and had to keep building. So she would just build around what was already there, thus blocking windows, making doors open to walls. There was a door that opened to nowhere and a flight of stairs that led the ceiling. It was an impressive house which cost her $5.5 million to build.

For dinner, Andy wanted to take us out for sushi. So, we tried it. Trev ate raw fish!! Alison just tried the vegetarian stuff.

Saturday
We took it easy during the day, because we were going to party that night for George's birthday. George wanted to drink 25 drinks for his 25th birthday, but he passed out at 24 drinks, so close!

Sunday
Another easy day recovering from the night before. We just got our stuff together and ready for leaving tomorrow.
WOW!! I can't believe it. This is where the real excitement begins, we are crossing an ocean tomorrow!! (but it is a 15 hour flight)