All is well that ends well!

Well, I made it home, but barely. Saturday was our last day in Holloywood, we did some of the typical tourist things, such as visit the Chinese Theatre (stuck my limbs in Kevin Costners hand and footprint moldings) and Kodak Theatre (where they were setting up for the Oscars this week). We got to go inside the Kodak theatre, but not into the actual oscar theatre. We tried to bribe the security guards, but they thought Canadian money was play money...Then we took an hours ride to Santa Monica Beach and to the world famous Santa Monica Pier (why it is famous, we do not know...) All it was was a pier with its own amusement park, but nothing too interesting. And the beach was just like a regular old beach, long, but covered with a few needles, lots of garbage and what really ruined it for me was the big huge parking lot paved right ontop of the beach. We now figure that New Zealand really spoiled us from enjoying the rest of the world. We then shopped in Santa Monica and Melrose and we did discover our new favorite store "Anthropologie". We drove through Beverly Hills, not at all what it is cracked up to be! So our time in Los Angeles was short, but obviously not short enough.

Sunday we were 2 hours late leaving LAX, and were sitting on the plane for those 2 hours (not a Jet Blue flight...) because the plane had no running water and someone needed totake 2 hours to get a big enough supply of wetnaps so that people could wash their hands...So we only had 2 hours in our stopover in Toronto, so I figured we would miss ourt connection. The pilot made up some time, and left us with 20 minutes to go through customs, pick up and recheck our luggage and go through security again. So needless to say, we were told on arrival that we had missed it. So as we went to rebook for the next available flight, they told us that our flight to Halifax had been delayed due to not having scheduled any pilots to fly the plane. We had an extra half hour to make it, and we did, and then we sat on that plane for an hour waiting for them to pull pilots off another plane to come and fly ours. We made it home 2 hours later, at about 3 am, but all our luggage made it so we were all smiles. What was waiting for me at home? A hot turkey dinner with all the trimmings! All is well that ends well...

Here are just a few of my favorite pics from the trip that I took...you will all see the rest this weekend I am sure! enjoy! Thank you all for reading my blog! I loved reading your comments as much as I hope you enjoyed reading about us :o) Thank you! LB was askin...I took all the scenery shots and Eddie and Melissa took the ones with me in it.

Jay Leno and John Stamos!

SO Friday morning we woke up at 5:30 and headed to Burbank, California to try and get tickets to the tonight show with Jay Leno. There was a line up for the tickets (they give out more than they have seats for) so then you have to stand in another line up all afternoon to get into the stage. We got tickets no problem, Then had about 7 hours until we would be let in. We decided that we would still be pretty safe to take off for a few hours and start standing in the line by noon (they let people in at 3;00), so we went to Warner Brothers studios and paid to go on the VIP studios tour. It was alot, but we got too see (AND WALK AROUND!) Stars Hollow (Luke's diner, Stars Hollow High School, Lauralae and Rory's house and Sookie's house. And the park in the middle of Stars Hollow with the Gazeebo. It was so cool. We got great pictures there. Then as we were scooting around the sound stages in out trolly, We drove right by John Stamos (Uncle Jesse from Full House...) and he waved at us. He was really the only celebrit that we saw that I had ever heard of, but that was a good one. We also saw a girl from Studio 60, but I hadn't even heard of tath show before. We visited the stage of the old Friends set and got our pictures taken on the Central Perk, friends COUCH!!!! It was awesome. Then we visited the WB museum and got to see lots of costumes and the purple door from Friends. Then we headed back to the line for Jay Leno, we were #7 and #8 in line, and the first 300 people get let in. We got really great seats, middle of the studio, 4 rows back, but the first elevated level so we could see awesome. Teri Hatcher, some other guy and Omarion were on the show. SO the line up wasn't that cool, but it was so fun just to bet there, and I love Jay Leno himself. He was hilarious. We were told that we would be on tv near the beginning, so of course when we got back to our hostel, (we have atv in our room-weird b/c we havent seen tv since december) we watched Jay Leno later on. They sure did scan the audioence, and we were able to find ourselves, but it went so fast, if you didnt know where to look, you would never see us. So that mad us mad. We had a blast all the same. Today, its Santa Monica Beach and Melrose! Tomorrow...home....

Glad to be alive, sad to be in Hollywood

Wednesday night a lady that Melissa worked with was kind enough to offer her home to all 3 of us for the night, she picked us up at the airport from the South Island and took us to her house, and drove us to the airport the next day. Eddie came with us to the airport to kill time before he went to his hostel in Auckland for the night. He didnt leave until Thursday. The airport was awful, first when we checked our baggage at the airport last night, we are allowed our suitcases to be 20 kg and our carry-ons 7 kg. Well they didn't weigh ours on the way over so we had NO idea how much we had. Well my suitcase was only 25 kg (under), but Melissa's was 42 kg! So we loaded some of her stuff to mine. But then...they weighed my hiking pack (a carryone) and it was over, so I had to unload her stuff and repack mine. We were unpacking our luggage in the lineup for like at least 1 hour. Eddie was waiting at the airport with us this whole time...

Our plane ride to Los Angeles this morning was awful. WIth about an hour left in the flight. We hit some unbelievable turbulence. I thought that was the end of me. I started bawling my face off when the pilot came on and told all the crew to sit down and buckel up immediately. He sounded paniced to me, and I started sobbing. When it got rougher, I even contemplatted seriously using my visa for the $5.00/minute phone to make a phone call to mom on the ground. Melissa was great and held my arm, but I didn't understand why the pilot wasn't saying anything reassuring. This went on for about 20 minutes. The whole rest of the way on the plane, I pondered the best and fastest way to get home afterI sold my remaining plane tickets. Bus would be about 2000.00 and take 2 weeks. I am scared to death to get back on a plane.

Then we got a shuttle to our hostel in Hollywood, a 1.5 hour ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its not that far but he drove around at so many stops and the traffic is NUTS!!!! The city is so smoggy and dirty. And our room...get this...the toilet is in the middle of the room....so everytime that we have to pee, the other person has to leave the hostel room! We detest it here already. Nothing is within walking distance. We are too sad and TOO exhausted to go anywhere. We both just want to come home...really bad. Sniff...sniff....

Who would have thought 14 hours of fishing could be so fun? Well...for me...

So today, our last full day in the South Island. And I spent 14 hours of it fishing, well watching Eddie fish, and it was one of the nicest days that I have had so far this entire trip. Yesterday on the bus ride home from Milford Sound, Eddie was talking to the lady that drove our tour bus and mentioned that he was hoping to do some fishing around the area that we were passing through on the drive, about an hour outside of Queenstown. She just offered to give us a lift today back to that spot and pick us up on the return of the people doing Milford Sound today. For free, even after we offered to pay. That bus fare would have normally cost us at least 60 dollars each! So we were up and on the bus by 8:15 this morning, got dropped off at "Stu's Fly Shop" precisely in the middle of nowhere. Eddie got his licence and looked at some 1500 dollar fishing rods. He was like a boy in a candy shop. Then we hiked about an hour away to get to the Mataura River, one of the most famous fly fishing rivers in New Zealand. And what comes along with the most famous fly fishing river in New Zealand? Fisherman. Quite a few of them. So we had to hike another hour just to get far enough away from them and so that Eddie coulds feel like he was the only person in the world. We found the spot, many many of them. I have never seen Eddie as happy as he was today. He says that he was even more happy 2 Fridays ago, but I dunno, he was in cloud nine. All the way that we were hiking upstream to get away from the other fishermen, they told us that they were seeing quite a few fish but were not able to get any bites at all. That same story came from many people. But after 5 hours of fishing, do you think that Eddie was discouraged? Heck no, he caught the big one, it was a 600 lb brown trout he told me to write....no more like 1.75 kg really. It was a beaut (as Clarke Griswald would say...). I played papparazzi for that fish for a while and we got some great shots...proof....evidence. Eddie said that it was his goal to come to New Zealand and catch one fish. Well, that's alot of money to spend to catch one fish, but the look on his face was worth it! Most of the day I spent suntanning on the flowery banks of the river, waking up every 30 minutes or so when Eddie wanted to change spots. He is very protective over here and won't let me go to sleep in the middle of nowhere, in my bathing suit...go figure. My goal for today was to get back that suntan that escaped from my possession 2 weeks ago. I succeeded, well, I tried a little too hard and purposely "forgot" the suntan lotion, so I am crispy and so is Eddie. It was all worth it though to see how happy he was today. We both just couldn't get over the backdrop of the sites that he was fishing. It was beyond description. That's why it's so nice to have him here, we don't have to try and explain it to each other, we just turn the corners and look at each other and smile.

Off to Auckland tomorrow afternoon so you may not hear anything until we are in LA. We wonder why we ever signed up for that. It seems so silly after all of this. Oh well. 4 more days to put off doing school work is how I look at it. Looking forward to my own bed in 5 more sleeps.

Mom -What did you mean by your were just joking about asking me what I would like for dinner my first night home? You don't want to know? Or were you teasing? Turkey, gravy and vegetables...cheesecake....& milk (I have honestly not had one sip of milk since December 26, 2006...last year). I am scared of it here. AND THEN FOR THE MAIN COURSE....

XOOXOOXO

Fiordland National Park, Heaven on Earth

Mitre Peak...saw this :o)

Milford...saw this :o)

Well the ride out to Milford Sound was incredible, 4 hours, each way (but that includes some photo stops at some pretty amazing sites, like the Homer Tunnel, Te Anau Wildlife Park, Chasms, mini glaciers, etc). I guess the biggest thing that I realized today is that if you are coming to New Zealand, you have to try really hard to not come with preconceived visions of what specific places will look like and feel like to you. I had very vivid visions of Milford Sound, and that just made today weird. If any of you have ever travelled to a place that you have really really wanted to see, maybe you know what I am trying to say...Milford Sound, and the drive down Milford Road was better than I could have ever imagined, but wasn't exactly how I was expecting it, I don't really know how to explain what I am trying to say, but I think I would have been even more floored had I not imagined in vivid details what it would be like. I think it's because a lot of these places you just can't dream about becuase you just don't have the background to do it right. The only way to do it is to be here and to feel it. So in a way I was dissapointed that it wasn't what I thought, even though in reality, it probably was better. The fiords were indescribable. It was impossible to see each fiord in one field of vision, and in some cases you had to hyper-extend your neck beyond normal abilities to actually see the tops, especially when cruising right alongside the highest point in Milford, Mitre Peak. Some of the fiords actually had overhangs, which had giant pieces of rock break off and fall into the water only recently....it was quite scary being there...The best part of the day for me was when we cruised in over the part of the sound where a tributary empties into the main bay. I had seen an aerial shot of this part in a book that I bought and obviously know that I wouldn't have been able to see the color formation in the water below because I was flat on the water but once I identified the spot, it felt surreal as I had starred at this spot in books for the past few months. Again, I saw it...but never believed that it was really there...until I was on top of it. Also during our cruise, we saw a few bottle nose dolphins perform some tricks for us. It was a 2-hour cruise, but way too short. The conditions were so good though that we made it out to the open Tasman Sea, where they don't usually get to go. There were some people kayaking the Sound and I know that I will be doing that the next time. It was a crystal clear day which was really great for pictures, but there were only 4 major waterfalls happening. They told us that it rains at Milford almost 250 days of the year (it is the wettest part of NZ), and if you visit Milford Sound on a rainy day, you can see up to 100,000 waterfalls. I can't even imagine it being more spectacular than it was for us today.

Tonight me and Eddie are having a quiet night, all the people from our hostel are gone our drinking and Melissa went with them...all I think of is Aruba...but she is 26 now and quite capable of making her own decisions. :o)

I can't wait to get home now, tomorrow is our LAST full day in the South Island, and I will be spending it with Eddie in the River for a 12-hour fishing adventure. He will be fishing for 12 hours and I will be taking pictures of him for 12 hours...and hopfully getting my tan back that seems to have dissapeared in the South Island. Then we will be all over the place for the next week. Looking forward to moving along, Eddie will be taking the same plane with us back to Auckland, but then he will be going to Fiji for a day before heading to LA. I will be able to meet him in LA on Saturday and spend the day as his stopover is 10 hours. But he is not staying there with us, he'll be right home after that, early Sunday morning and I'll be getting home late Sunday night (well 1:45 am Monday morning-Canadian time).

We are very excited to see everyone and to tell you our story.

Jo's last words------"Ah, holy poo"----------

That was about the only thing that was going through my mind all day and was the last thing that came out of my mouth (only a little more harsh) as I walked and inched my toes out over the ledge and made the leap. The ride out to the jump pod on the cable car made me sick as anything to my stomach, just looking down into the gorge was incredibly overwhelming. Watching 19 people throw themselves off the pod before me, I would have thought would be excrutiating. I was the lightest out of the 20 jumpers, so therefore I was the VERY last one to go. One by one, these people plunged to their deaths. Out in the pod, the music was blarring to get people pumped I am assuming, but in my mind, all I thought was again, holy poo, how are the crew members able to concentrate on their job of securing us to ensure that are lives are spared with all of the ruccous going on. The pod was packed with people and people were all over the place. There was no time to think or ask questions at all. I had my whole speech planned to the crew about the security measures and to double check everything as they strapped the harness to me and to explain how everything works, but no, I didnt even have time to ask initial questions. And when I tried to yell my questions anyways, they couldn't hear me because the music was too loud. It was like trust us or you don't. I was getting hooked up to the bungy as Melissa took the plunge. Well I just looked behind me at her and the vomit surfaced, all I could do was look at Eddie, laugh, and blow a final kiss. I had to hobble out to the plank, b/c my feet were bound together. There was no time to turn around even and say "No freakin way"...from the crew, it was "Get your toes out over the edge". "Farther....farther, 3...2...1... good riddance". It only crossed my mind for 0.00001 seconds that I wouldn't do it, but then I jumped, no hesitation, went on the first go. I dove head first, I tried not to be a screamer, and I went long without screaming, all the way from when I bent my knees to when I was laying out flat like a pancake ontop of the wind. Then after 0000.5 seconds, the wailing prevailed. I screamed like a banschee all the way to the bottom. It was the most surreal thing to ever happen, way way way more intense than I had imagined, but I suppose there are no other experiences in life that would get you ready for that. I had thought that the whole way down I would be just praying and waiting for the bungy to kick in and rebound, but it didn't cross my mind once as I fell 440 feet. My screams weren't even like "Oh lord , I'm going to die", they were more like "I can't believe this is happening". I had NO control over any body parts or functions. When they took the harness off later, I actuaally felt my jeans all over to make sure I hadn't peed, because I wouldn't have known at the time. It was just an experience that I can't even re-live in my mind now. Minutes after we finished, Melissa and me were trying to explain it to each other and go through it again in our minds, but we both couldn't. It is such an unnatural thing that it only existed in the moment, all I remember is that it was the craziest thing I will ever do (besides marry Eddie....:o)) joke....

We both bought the DVD of our jumps so you will all get to see it.

Tonight we are having some drinks for Melissa's birthday, not a good idea I can tell so far after the massive buffet dinner we had, I really over exerted myself at the sundae buffet. We are in our hostel lounge right now talking to American boys (shhh, don't tell anyone, they are despised around here...) but one of the guys went to the Nevis bungy the otherday and got on the plank and chickened out. Baaaackkk...baaackkk....baaackkk.....

Tomorrow it is off to the beautiful Milford Sound. First day of relaxation and pampering in well....7 weeks! Ahhh.

I can't believe that I am still alive.

Bungy! and Happy Birthday Melissa!

My Heart is in my throat this morning. I am up early while Eddie and Melissa are sleeping. I couldn't sleep at all last night, because in 3 hours from now, I will be throwing myself off of a 440 foot ledge from a cable car for a 8.5 second free fall. Yesterday we watched another bungy jump in Queenstown, only 43 feet and I felt sick as anything just watching. Maybe we should have watched before we bought our $210 non-refundable bookings. Word of advice for next people! Anyways, so I can't really enjoy this morning, because I am thinking about what my thoughts will be on the way down. Check it out. This is known as the "Worlds Wildest Bungy". The Bungy is named in USA extreme-sport magazine 'Headrush' as the 2nd most out-there extreme activity in the world. At the time, we thought that we might as well Go Big or Go Home! Now I realize that was nothing other than stupid.

This is what I will be jumping from: (and Eddie even paid $45 to come on the ride out to the platform to snap our pictures. He is scared of the ride....and standing on this thing...)

This is what I will see if the tears aren't blocking my view:





So to fill you in on the past few days...we are in Queenstown now and will be staying here for the rest of our trip. The place that we are staying is called the Alpine Lodge, and is right in the heart of Queenstown. It has free internet. Unbelievable. But like now, you have to get up super early or stay up super late to be able to get on it becuase its so busy. It surprises me here how many people hang out around the lodge during the days, they are not out enjoying every minute of the day like we are. It saddens me.

We spent our last day in Dunedin on Tuesday on the Otago Peninsula, with a car that we rented. We drove to Sandymount and to Sandfly Bay. This is not my picture-ours our way better, but at least you can see something...Here we saw sea lions and seals. And towards the end of the day we waited and waited for the yellow-eyed penguins to come ashore we never saw them, but Melissa wanted to hang in there and wait longer. Me and Eddie went for a walk on the beach, the sun was setting and it was just amazing, Melissa came down and found us and told us that she had run into a tour guide who told her that some of the penguins had alreay come ashore in a restricted area and that they were not visible from where the public hide was (a camo building constructed for people to view the penguins from so that they cant see you-b/c they are scared of us and wont come in). So he took her and showed her, then she came and got us and showed us. It was cool, but more cool b/c only a few people could get to see them. Then we made our way out of the Sandfly Bay, which was quite the challenge. The way down onto thebeach was pretty much running and tumbling down very steep sand dunes. You couldn't walk down if you tried it was so steep. And very very deep sand. We didn't think about the way out at the time. It was so hard, I think we had to stop a few times for water and to get that feeling of what it is like to breath back. That is why I figure most of the places that are spectatcular to see are almost always empty of people. The most amazing places to see are the ones that are very taxing on the body to get to and require great fitness levels (not that we have that...but we manage because we understand the rewards). We are so glad that Eddie is here to attest to all of the complaining about the walking and hiking and food down here. He is needing to buy new shoes b/c he has worn his out to the core in just a few days and is complaining of foot pain often. And any of you that know him know that he would eat anything, absolutely anything. And even he, yesterday said thathe understood us when we said that there is nothing to eat in this country. Even if you are starving, and would spend any amount of money, you still cant find anything that you want to eat. So you can only imagine for us picky eaters.


So we left Dunedin on Wednesday and came back to Queenstown for the night. Thursday morning we rented a car and drove up to Franz Josef Glacier. The drive normally takes 5.5 hours, it took us 11. There were so many places to stop on the way including many hikes that we did in the Mount Aspiring National Park. It is interesting all the parks here call their trails "walks" but really they are sweaty, hikes, all on what seems to be 45 degree plus inclines the whole way up. But it is always worth it. You just get to the top and can't believe what is before your eyes in every single case. The views are to die for. (as I am sure they will be from the 440 foot cable car this morning...). Eddie was able to fish in some rivers as me and Melissa climbed some waterfalls. The wtaer that he is fishing on is just incredible. It is so clear all the way through and at any depth. No fish this day. We got to Franz Josef late at night and checked into the YHA backpackers lodge. Well Eddie and I did, Melissa chose to sleep in the car. We found her a pretty safe spot close to our window and I guess she didn't mind it. We got up early, Eddie dropped us off in the Franz Josef township and he headed off for a day of fishing on some lakes that he spent quite some time mapping out. It was POURING hard this morning, but he made the most of it. Me and Melissa booked our half day guided glacier walk. It wasn't at all what I was expecting. I was expecting to be ontop of the ice, checking out the views. But the whole walk was climbing the glacier, up and down, up and down, very hard work. AT the bottom we had to remove all of our clothes and were in tank tops, at the top, I was wearing 3 layers and a jacket they provided and mitts and a tuque and big boots and was freezing cold numb. The climb was pretty incredible, the ice was a sparkling blue and was melting fast, there was water running down in heaps. So amazing to be standing on it. But if I would offer anyone advice, the half day is enough, as with the full day you just walk higher onto the glacier (where you do get to see more clean ice). Some of the parts that we climbed were covered in rock b/c the pressure of the ice on the surrounding valley rocks cause it to break of and fall onto the ice, but there still were some really clear parts. You just get so cold fast , even with all the gear on, b/c you get wet. Especially your hands holding onto the ropes for some of the steep spots. And wet and cold is never a good time. So we were really glad that we chose to do this, it was truly a unique experience. The guide made fun of us b/c he said that the glaciers that we have in Canada are even more spectacular than this one. But we told him that its more expensive to get to those than to these. And besides, everything is better in NZ...Eddie came back from fishing from La Fontaine Creek and still no fish. But not for lack of trying.

In the afternoon, we started the drive back to Queenstown, but again, lots to do along the way. We took our time b/c we had no place booked to stay this night and were planning on sleeping in the car, all of us. Guess we should have thought of that when we asked for the cheapest car available, a small hatchback...We stopped at Lake Matheson, which we had been excited for since day 1 in NZ. There are posters of this lake everywhere as it is known for its spectacular reflective views of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman, the highest peaks in New Zealand. Well, this is the one place that we were dissapointed with on our trip. WE walked along the 1.5 hour trail around the lake, searching of rthe infamous spot where these photos are taken from. There were only 2 viewing spots. The first one was like a little wharf that overlooked what we thought to be a pond, until we walked closer and read the sign indicating that it was infact Lake Matheson. We were heartbroken, we were expecting the biggest lake we have ever seen. We took a picture here, just incase this was the only spot, but trekked on hoping that we would still get to see the "bigger part of the lake" that we had faith was still out there. It wasn't. I guess that it is just one of those places that you have to be there on the most perfect of days to see the effects. On this day, the clouds were low, and covered the snow peaks of the mountains and the water on the lake was rippling. But in all honesty, still beautiful. The lake is about as big as you see oin this shot. And again, the snow peaks were not visible to us.

We also drove up to Fox Glacier, the 2nd of the only 2 glaciers in NZ. Not much differemt from Franz Josef, but we drove right up and hiked a bit so Eddie could see this one up close. Then we drove back. It got dark about 1/2 way back and we had to drive extra slow. Well...Eddie had to, he refused to let me drive for any part of it. He finally let me once he started to doze off with 0.5 hours to go. It was either taht or sleep in a parking lot, so he let me drive. So I drove back to Queenstown and we still slept in a parking lot, but a well lit one, right across the street from our lodge that we coudn't check into for another 12 hours. I slept ok, Melisa slept good, and well, Eddie hardly slept. His legs are too long. We woke up at 6am and drove to get gas to fill it up, then parked it at the top of a hill ontop of the the town and slept some more. We woke again at 8 and returned the car, went for a walk in the Queenstown Gardens (along the lake) and to two of the local weekend markets until 12 when we could finally check in. We all slept for a few hours, then hiked up a mountain for an hour+, instead of paying 10 dollars for a gondola ride to the top. We needed to get up this mountain to get to the Luge Track. Exhausted when we got there, the views were amazing. We all went luging, Eddie and Melissa twice so I could get their pictures. Then we watched bungy jumps at the "Ledge" bungy, not the one that we are doing today, but still scary to watch. Then me and Eddie got the Gondola ride down the mountain and met Melissa at "Hell" for supper (the pizza place).

And here I am now, only 2 hours to go now.

I hope to talk to you all again! And I hope I actually didn't chicken out. I have to make it to Milford Sound tomorrow...maybe we should have done that yesterday!

South Island...and EDDIE!

So here we are. Sorry nothing to read for the past few days but WAY TOO MUCH has happened. So I left work Friday to meet "Anna". I got to the Western Springs PArk by 4:30, barely, and I was so worried about being late and her leaving without me being able to get the package from Eddie, and I really really really needed to hear from him. So no one was there at 4:30, I waited until 4:45 ish and started to head back out to the main gate, when I heard a whistle. I turned around and almost passed out. I literally was frozen, there he was coming out from behind a tree. I just buried my face in my hands and cried. I couldn't even walk towards him I was so stunned. He just held me for a bit and I kept crying...and crying...and crying. I am going to wait until I get home to fill you in on what happened next, it just doesn't seem appropriate for a blog. I was literally in such a panic, a billion things rushing through my mind, like we had to get in town fast to book him on all the same stuff as us, as we were leaving for the SI the next day. But I couldn't think of anything for more than a second, I just couldn't believe that he was there, I have never been so shocked in my life and in love. I nkow I am all mushy now, but its this country! and Eddie of course... This is so surreal, still. I knew we had to go but I never wanted to leave that spot, ever. But we had to and eventually later that night we were able to book him on all of the same accomodations and buses as us. It worked out really smoothly. That night we all went to the Christchurch and Auckalnd Rugby game at Eden Park. And that night, Eddie got to experience first hand the amazing apartment that we ahd been living in the past 5 weeks. He didn't think it was that bad...but mostly b/c he thought it would hgave been awful from our descriptions.

So up early the next morning and to the airport. Called mom from the airport so I could get a much needed reality check...The flight was amazing. We flew over glaciers with pure aqua colored water and when we got closer to the bottom of the south isalnd we flew over and between mountains of huge grandeur. It was sometimes like we were so close that we could have easily flown into them. The peaks down here are fascinating, luch green terrain with snow covered peaks billions of miles into the sky. You just can't see the tops and the bottoms at one time. And Eddie was here...everything seems more amazing with him. So we got a shuttle to Queeenstown which we were REALLY impressed with. he town is right in a valley situated between gorgeous mountains ( alot of rock ones) and is definetly a ski town in the winter. We explored around the town as we only had half a day, and through a park in the evening and stayed the night at the Discovery Lodge, which we cancelled our bookings there for the end of the trip the next morning. It was awful. We were in a room with 8 people (Eddie was able to get in with us), but it was so messy that you couldn't even get to our beds without literally climbing over others peoples stuff. All the other people were drunk early in the evening and came home at like 3 am, and woke us up. So we were actually able to book our own room for the other 6 days that we will be spending in Queenstown later, at another Lodge. We are so happy in our own room. So Sunday mornign we got the bus to Dunedin. The bus ride was the highlight of this day for sure. Dozens of deep gorges, and Eddie was able to see a billion places that he would love to fish when we rent our car at the end of the week. It was very impressive. When we got to Dunedin, it was a lot bigger than we had expected. We got lost on our way to our lodge, and ended up taking a n our hiking with our packs on when it should have only taken 5 minutes. But when we found it we were very happy with it. We have our own room in a chalet in the back, surrounded by gardens and a jacuzzi outside (which of course is gross and we wouldn't use). Sunday we explored the town, went to Baldwin Street (a 1.5 hour walk to get there), just to look at a street, but it is the steepest street in the world! We climbed it. then we walked through the Dunedin botanical gardens, very awesome! And then down through the town.

Monday we woke up and missed the bus to the Otago Penninsula by about 2 minutes, It's hard when 3 people have to time getting ready in the morning. So we decided to do our tour of the Cadbury chocolate facrory this morning! It was phenominal...well at least I thought so. :o) Free chocoalte and surrounsung by chocolate waterfall silos. I was very very impressed. They only export 30 % of the chocolate. But yet no overweuight people here...interesting. Its all the hills and lack of public transportation. Then we caught the bus to the penninsula and hiked 1.5 hours UPHILL the whoel way to Larnach Castle. It wasn't as big as it looked in the guide, but the gardens were beautiful. Melissa didn't want to pay to get in, so me and Eddie went in. We walked around the gardens, it was so high up that we also had amazing viewsw of the Otago harbour and all of its islands (also mountains). NOthing is flat. It was nice to get some time with him. Then we heard Melissa in the flowers, she had snuck in without paying. We walked around the castle courtyard, and on the way out, the guards approached us and asked Melissa to leave as the had cameras and knoew taht she didn't pay. We made our way out to the exit, but she tried to get out the way that she came in, on another path. They stopped me and Eddie at the gate and asked us wheer she was, we didn't know. Tehn when we got out of the courtyard and were leaving, a worker followed us and asked us to pay for her or they would call the police on her. So of course we paid. That was not a fun time. Then we got the bus back and are now making plans for tomorrow. We are renting a car and driving back to the penninsula to do the walking trails to some waterfalls and wildlife (inc penguins). Eddie will finally get to do some fishing! Well thats all for now. there is SOOO much more to say but the internet is so much money at this lodge. We are having a great time and the weather has been superb since he has been here. It is colder in the SI but a real crisp fresh air, which is great for hiking and makes us less tired.


I am still so stunned when I think th at Eddie is here, never in a million years...only in a million dreams. This vacation can not get any more perfect.

Miss you all and CANT WAIT TO GET HOME TO FILL YOU IN! and to show you something...