New Zealand: South Island

The South Island was beautiful!!!!! We ended up flying between cities because it was cheaper and faster than renting a car and driving. to fill up a tank of gas here for a tiny compact car was at least $60. no thank you. so we flew from Wellington to Christchurch. Honestly: Christchurch was not worth it. It was a bunch of bad luck too on my part. Only on mine because I decided to go do something on my own for one of the days...which was a bad choice. After that...the new rule was: Saryah makes all the decisions. Good rule indeed. The coolest think about Christchurch was we watch LOTR: Two Towers. Woot. and i played chess with a German guy named Tom who was drinking a bottle of wine while eathing chips with sour cream dip. Classy.

We then flew to Queenstown. IT IS BREATHTAKING!!! The scenery was amazing. We took a taxi from the airport to church only to discover that it was conference weekend and church was not in the building. (this only reinforces the new rule of Saryah making all the decisions).

After taking the gondola ride up Bob's Peak

We had the famous Fergburger, which was big and yummy, and we had also found a British shop earlier, so I bought an Irn Bru to go with lunch. AMAZING!!!

In a little store I saw a little stuffed lamb that I wanted to buy for Baby Spice but I decided that it wasn't uni-sex enought to buy. Plus Erica wasn't emailing me back about her opinion (only for me to realize that my email was never sent but saved as a draft :/ )

I went to Milford Sound the second day. It was wonderful. I made friends with a guy from San Diego, Eli and a girl from NYC, Lindsay. We were picture taking buddies since we were all traveling alone. It was great. We were really lucky. Dolphins swam toward and under our boat and we saw little baby seals who were just swiming in twirls. it was adorable!!!!

Then to Dunedin. One regret: We didnt do an extra day there. It has a strong Scottish influence there and they kept all their old buildings there, so it was really pretty to look at. Loved the South Island. It was fun.
We're in Auckland right now. Saryah and I just got back from the Mercer's. We went to Kelly Tarlton's this morning. Best part of our bus ride back home: Saryah and I were just listening to our iPods and we looked at each other. I think signed the Hot Rod "I'm too legit to quit" signs without saying anything and at first she looked confused and then understood and we started laughing. life is great!

Work Update: I have a lot of paper work to do when I get back home that I need to get sent in. Also, they're working on getting me a studio apartment in Munich, while Lindsay (my future partner in crime for the next year) will have to live in a hotel in the little suburb we're going to be working in. All because she's on a visa and i'm a EU citizen. WIN! But until the papers are finalized, I'm not getting too excited.