New Zealand

Tooling around New Zealand’s south island with Jason. The car has treated us well and we’ve logged many kilometers since leaving Christchurch five days ago. The scenery is amazing. I’ll let the photos below and your Lord of the Rings DVD collection certify that.

I’m in Queenstown now, which is known as the adrenaline capital of the world or something like that. I don’t feel like skydiving, rafting, or bungee jumping right now though because I can barely tie my shoes due to a badly infected left thumb. It’s blown up to twice its normal size and looks a bit like a balloon has been inflated inside it. The shape reminds me of those giant long-haul planes with the rounded nose and over-sized belly. I tried popping it today (a couple British doctors I met recommended that) but when I jabbed it with a sewing needle nothing happened (besides me grunting a fair deal). I’ve started antibiotics.

It doesn’t hurt too much right now because it’s frozen. It must be 10 degrees here (oh, you want it in Fahrenheit? Then it’s about 45). It was warmer on the damn glacier we hiked a few days ago. That’s right, we hiked a glacier. Pretty cool to walk around the ice and through the crevasses with those spiky shoes you always see the Everest folk wearing.

Have a week more with Jason in the car before getting back up to Christchurch and touring the north part of the south island. This is as cold as my trip will get (at least until Oktoberfest) so I can deal with a little chill before the Thai beaches.



This is Jason. He delivered his best line of the trip when I showed him pictures of Sabrina and me: "She's not bad for a blind girl."






A glacier


The bridge was dodgier than it looks due to intense wind