Nzed Return

As I have mentioned before, New Zealand is a good place. It is beautiful, friendly, and unique. The country is content with its own culture and seems to have discovered its own secrets to life. Kiwis cherish time spent with one another. It is not unusual for dinner conversation to carry on an extra hour or more after eating --without anyone immediately asking to be excused or the television playing in the background. (I am often guilty of both of these, but this is something cool I observed in Nzed) Leisure time is spent enjoying a brew in each other's company, getting to know one another. Hence, when offered the chance to accompany my friend Jeff on an end of the semester trip to New Zealand.....I was definitely going to return to NZ :)

Through family friendships, Jeff had a great contact with the Fox family in New Zealand. We were lucky enough to experience another side of the NZ culture that most visitors do not get to see --living on a NZ farm. As the picture above shows, lamb was a major commodity on this farm.

The truck of choice on the farm is this awesome Toyota pickup. I was very excited to get to ride in this truck. Andy, Jeff, and James are leaning on top of the pickup.

With the guidance of Andy and James and the muscle of the bulldozer, Jeff and I laid piping on the farm for water flow. We also helped build a fence and saw the sheep dogs herd the pack.

James taught Jeff and me how to play some cricket in the front yard...

Then we tee'd off from the backyard driving range....

This is just a picture of a typical New Zealand sunset. ( I love the NZ sky) The clouds seem to have more levels than back home in San Diego and the lighting is incredible. This picture was taken from the family's backyard porch.

Next, Brian and George took Jeff and me on a few-day road trip down to Queenstown --the adventure capital of New Zealand.

We had an amazing view of these mountains in from our Queenstown hotel room. In the morning, we awoke to these mountains being snow capped.

This is the LUGE Track! One must take a gondola ride up the Queenstown mountain and then luge down. It is an exhilarating ride with a Mariokart feel.

Jeff and I chose to partake in an adventure than can only be done in New Zealand. We went for individual rides in this 2-person plane doing aerobatics in the NZ sky. We did barrel rolls, spins, dives, etc. for 20 minutes in the sky. The force varied from -2 to 5+ G's. (instant changes from a feeling of floating to a feeling on being shoved down in your seat) Only in NZ can a plane this size be commercially used. An amazing ride and luckily only one of us spewed in the puke bag :)

Fergburger is a hamburger restaurant in Queenstown. It has arguably the best burger I have ever had. (a mouth-watering combination of daily raised bread, NZ beef, and special sauce) For anyone visiting Queenstown, a Fergburger is a must have. Also, rumor is that the cast of Lord of the Rings ate Fergburgers during filming in NZ.

When you see a "Free Salmon Feeding" sign on the side of the road, who isn't going to stop?!?!

I hope you enjoyed my picture/sumary documentation of my travels. This return visit to New Zealand just expanded my fascination with the country. The trip shows another unique opportunity abroad that I was fortunate enough to be able to partake in. A couple days on the farm and spending the week with locals gave Jeff and I a look into NZ that we had yet to see. I have been to NZ twice now, and I look forward to my third trip in the future :)

Post.Script.....one more final post to come after Xmas.