Second Round

The second round starts out in one of the most gorgeous places in all of New Zealand...

 Tamarillos.

 Feijoas ready for picking.

 Afternoons walking the beach.

And practicing our pool game. 

 My new friend and breakfast companion, Bacon.

 Vroom, vroom!

 Saracens Cafe, my first WWOOF host.

 Brenton, a fellow volunteer, in his natural state.

 Goodbye, Karamea!

 Driving on the other side of the street.  First sheep crossing experience.

 Second WWOOF host in Takaka.  Solar-powered yurt.

 PuPu Springs, one of the largest freshwater springs in the world.  So clear you see straight to the bottom.

 Yup, all me.

 Kristine and I met up again to hike the Abel Tasman trail.

 Which had views like this.

 And a few cloudy days like this.

 We made new friends.

 And I found an old one too.

 Travel chess.  I lost twice.

But making dinner by headlamp was nice.

First Round

I have finished working on my New Zealand edit and am ready to put up a few photographs for everyone to view!  The original idea was to make a slideshow or two, creating a story to go along with all of the pictures that I picked out.  That idea ended up being a lot tougher to make happen than I thought, so I whittled down to a hundred-ish pics to post individually.  These photos are a mixture: some scenic, a few artsy, others just give a glimpse into my New Zealand adventure.  My hope is that you enjoy them for what they are and with that... I give you round one!

 Awaiting my flight to Queenstown.

 I was overjoyed to see so much fall color!

 Major flooding from weeks of rain caused things such as walkways to disappear.

 Te Anau.

 Mirror Lake.

 Red Tussock Grass Reserve.

 Venturing into Milford Sound.

 Where we traveled to the open Tasman Sea... or the end of the world?

 Intensity of Stirling Falls in the Sound.

 Franz-Josef Glacier.

 Hot spring reward at the end of the grueling Copland Trail.

 Traveling cohort for a few days, Kristine.

 Pancake Rocks.

Update on photos

All right.  So I have obviously failed miserably to further update my posts after my return to California.  The craziness that ensued - housing insanity, job hunting, full hard drive - offered very little time, ability to continue regaling you with my adventures.  Good news, though!  I have finally begun editing photos and am hoping to have some put up sometime (early) in the new year.  It's been fun going back through them and remembering.  I promise to have pictures posted in January!  That is, if you are still around and listening.  Miss you all and a brilliant arrival into 2011!