A Synopsis of the Start

In light of the fact that I am lazy when it comes to typing volumes and that efficiency is truly how I roll, I've decided that this html conglomeration is the best way (for me of course) to keep those truly interested (I love you mom) up to date on my shenanigans. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it as colorful as my time here in New Zealand really is but I can't make any promises as even on the days that are meant to be uneventful, the eventful happens and it's hard to keep it all chronicled. This place has a funny way of keeping you entertained. Plus, I really only type with two fingers and one eyeball.

A brief synopsis of what in the hell we've been up to thus far: Flew from Tampa, to LAX, to Nadi, Fiji, to Auckland, NZ, and finally to Christchurch, NZ. We spent the first week in Christchurch fervently looking for a set of wheels to call home for the next year. This was a major pain in the ass as most of what we looked at were basically rusted pieces of crap that had been abused by some _______ (insert nationality) as they toured around NZ. We ended up finding a car from a local kiwi that was just what we were looking for. Before leaving Christchurch we went to "SoundDay" music festival and were exposed to a plethora of amazing kiwi music. If you get a chance check out the following:
Fat Freddy's Drop
Black Seeds
Shapeshifter
From CChurch we went to Queenstown and partied through the weekend for Kay's birthday. The pictures on Facebook don't do the debauchery justice. Oh yea, that reminds me, thanks Jaron and Kay for getting us kicked out of the club. Something about dirty dancing and boobs on heads. It's all a blur. We spent the following week climbing in Queenstown and found some amazing crags. From there we went straight down to the southern coast. Invercargill, the Catlins, and Dunedin. The surf down there is amazing as is the sea life. One minute you're getting barreled and the next you're getting chased down the beach by sea lions, literally. We surfed with the world's smallest dolphin (the Hector Dolphin), spent evenings watching the endangered Yellow Eyed Penguins come in and feed their chicks, rock hopped over sea lions, and tramped (NZ for "hike") around a 180 million year old petrified forest. And this was all in one place!!! Porpoise Bay in the Catlins... Just amazing. While down there we also did a little caving where we stumbled upon some baby Blue Penguin chicks and we found a little beach bouldering (a type of rock climbing for you non climbers) that would've been prime at low tide. The surf was amazing and is amazing all along the coastline here. Around every bend there's a different point, reef, sandbar, or bay and they are all uncrowded! Even in the bigger cities that we surfed there is more than enough room to get your own without the paddle battle.
From the south coast we were slowly making our way back up the island on our way to Murcheson for the Buller River White Water Rafting Festival that kicks off tomorrow when we decided to stop for the night @ a Department of Conservation Campground (DOC) @ Trotter's Creek. It had been raining all day and when we got to the campground that night the creek was barely flowing. With the rain only maintaining, not increasing, we thought the creek would be fine and that the two crossings we made to get to the campground would still be passable in the morning so that we could get out and back on our way. NOT the case. We woke up to find both creeks had risen by at least two meters and that there was no way to get out. After three days and the help of a local who owned a neighboring farm (and who's vehicle had been swept downstream when he tried to move it on the first night) we were rescued. He and three of his friends brought an outfitted Land Rover with a massive car trailer attached and pulled us all across the two still heavily flowing creeks to safety. The funniest part about the whole ordeal was that the paper was there to catch it all and the following day we were on the front page. Luckily it wasn't just your two American friends in the debacle. We were there with a few French, a Czech, two Australians, an Austrian, and a German. Enough of a mix that "from the States" was lost in text. Whew, that was a close one. I know I know, we're really trying to improve the American image, I promise...
Now we're in Murcheson. The festival starts tomorrow and I'm stoked. Never been white water rafting before and we all know how much fun firsts are. Minds out of the gutter please.