NZ - One Year Ago

It has been one year since I embarked on my first international trip. Three lessons learned, not in any particular order of importance.

1. Jet lag sucks. And it is pretty much impossible to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time no matter how long your flight is.
2. There is something called airplane smell. I am sorry for all you frequent travelers. You really do stink when you get off the plane.
3. I loved it.

The Undie Fence was one of the first sights coming out of the Christchurch airport.We need one of these.

After crashing for a couple of hours, we went to the beach while we waited for my mom to get on a plane that DIDN'T pop a wheel on take-off. Oh, that would be lesson #4 - stick together when you are traveling in a group. Otherwise you don't know when someone gets stranded on the other side of the ocean.

I know you are thinking that we ought to be models. You ain't seen nothin' yet...

Sometimes we have to talk each other into being in photographs. When that doesn't work, just drag the reluctant party into the frame.

Sometimes no coercion is needed. We laughed for days at this photo. Really.

The next day we picked up my mom and headed down to Queenstown. By the leasurely route. The nice thing about having no specific destination is you can stop wherever you want. This was a gorgeous overlook before we headed into a mountain range. So naturally we did a little posing in front of the beautiful scenery, Westaway style.

Funny.

When we got to Queenstown it was dark. We rejected several inns that didn't pass inspection, and finally found one that was nice. This glowing thing floated high in the air. Total UFO moment.

We went up there the next day. It turns out the views were pretty spectacular. So what do you do when you are on a perfectly good mountain?

Get stuck on the lift.

Or make fun of people who do.

What else can you do on a perfectly good mountain? Strap on a parachute and jump off. Mom is the brave one. She started the trend.

Naturally the rest of us decided to follow.

Oddly enough, my mom never asked us the question growing up, "If all the other kids jumped off a bridge, would you?"

We took things a little tamer the next day and got in a bus for a 6 hour ride - one way. Because there were stops along the way for tourists (like us) to see the sights. Sheep sheering sheds. Say that 15 times fast. With a Kiwi accent. I dare you.

Ok, so maybe I didn't figure out until AFTER I took this photo that I had my camera on "sunset" mode. But I think it gives kind of a cool look. I wasn't sad.

Destination: Milford Sound. One of two sounds in the southwest part of the south island. Accessable only by a really long bus ride or a helecopter flight. Maybe we could have taken the helecopter ride, but then we would have missed out on our bus driver pointing out the sheep sheering sheds.

Did I mention that June is the beginning of winter in New Zealand? We bundled up.

And teased my mother. It is kind of a favorite family past-time. Which got us a finger wag.

I don't know what to say about this except I think my sis is awesome.

Don't ever underestimate how much fun it is to throw rocks in a body of water. Who needs big fancy toys when you have rocks and something that will go *splash*?

Please observe that the sign says "Do NOT feed the kia."

We are not always good at following directions.

We got to the glaciers a little too late to see them properly so we found a place to hole up for the night. This totally counts as a hostel experience for those who feel like that is something they want to do in life. (*Ahem* see the lady on the right who jumped off a mountain.)

Luckily the glaciers were still there the next morning.

Perhaps my skills with the auto-timer on my camera were not...

Aw, precious. Not as in "my precious" with a creepy golum voice. What can I say. I handed my mom my camera.

I am more likely to take one that looks like this.

If you are not supposed to touch, how close can you get and still follow the letter of the law? Veeeeeeeeeery close!

Coolest sign of the whole trip. How often do you see death by ice flow, rock fall, tidal wave, or falling glacier depicted in a sign? I looked and looked, but never found a book called Death In New Zealand. If anyone ever comes across it, please let me know.

The picture tilts a little because we are in the Southern hemisphere. Honest. It isn't because my camera was sitting on a tilted rock. That just doesn't make any sense. The Southern hemisphere thing does. Look at a globe next time you see one. It is totally tilting! I would not make this stuff up.

Ok. I take it back. We don't really have to be convinced to be in photos. Just don't expect any normal faces. Or poses.

Rest in peace, Christchurch cathedral. I'm glad you were standing when we were there.

Bottom line? It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Glad it happened in my lifetime.