An attempt at the quick low down.

Kate and I have been busy. Our time is almost up and we're attempting to make the most of it.

Shortly before the election, we flew the coup and ran to Australia. Side note, we flew from Christchurch to Aukland, NZ and then to Cairns, AU. I got through security and onto a plane in Christchurch without once showing ID, and I didn't show my ticket until I actually got on the plane. Weird, a world without paranoid airport security! Intense.

Austrlia! Was amazing. Kate and I went on a three day/ two night dive cruise on the Great Barrier Reef. That is the life. We had a beautiful room on a cruise ship, PLUS! 12 dives on the 8th wonder of the world! A few of the high points: sharks, turtles, cuttlefish, lion fish, and of course, lots of nemos. Another great part, Wednesday, as we're about to be briefed for the fourth dive of the day, finding out that Obama won. Rock solid!

After our dive trip, we took Friday to recover and went to the beach. Unfortunately, it's stinger/crocodile season, so there was no swimming. But it was still pretty!

Saturday, we went with Uncle Brian on Gus the Bus to see Rainforests! And actually, Uncle Brian sold the business a while ago, so we had Aunt Charine. and Gus had busted his eardrum the day before, so we had Steve. Needless to say, it was an awesome day, filled with rainforests, giant spiders, a few snakes, waterfalls, and crater lakes (lakes in volcanic craters!) Oh, and guess what. That funny think called a platypus, made with left over parts... they DO EXIST! We went spotting platypi and I actually saw them with my own eyes! I'm a believer.

Sunday, we hopped a plane back to Aukland. Were we cozied up on some benches in the international terminal before catching our flight to Christchurch on Monday. (Did I forget to mention we had to sleep in the airport both ways... fun...)

From Christchurch we took a bus down to Dunedin to WOOF at a Bed and Breakfast. Our trip to Dunedin had a few objectives: 1. Check out the University of Otago 2. Check out Otago Peninsula (awesome marine life!) 3. Walk up Baldwin St.

Finding and checking out Otago was easy. Cool university with a good Marine Bio program.
Unfortunately, our trip to the Peninsula didn't work out. Our ride for Thursday fell through, and sadly we had bus tickets for Friday morning. So I'll just have to come back to NZ to see the penguins and albatross colonies.

Baldwin St. Why that street? Five Words: STEEPEST STREET IN THE WORLD.
Who can resist? So on Thursday, Kate and I went for a stroll/photo shoot. It was a fun little walk. We took lots of pictures of the insanity. Wondered why the street existed (it doesn't go anywhere!) Worried that cars were going to roll backwards down it. I went to roll down it, but I was scared of the concrete and cars. It was intimidating! Really...

And now! Kate and I are in the most beautiful place in the world. Lake Wanaka. We had a day in town before our new hosts picked us up. So I followed the advice Alex gave me: 1. We went to the movies. 2. We went to the Bakery. Two delightful endeavours.

The movies were special. Well, the theater was, the movie (Body of lies) ... eh. So, it was a one screen theater. But instead of rows of seats they had lots and lots and lots of comfy couches! and one car. AND it gets BETTER! It was attached to a cafe, where you could enjoy a delightful dinner before or after the movie. Or even better, at halftime! Which was the intermission, and then you could take your dinner in with you if you didn't finish in the time allotted. It was absolutely delightful. Unfortunately, the movie playing the next night did not look enjoyable, so Kate and I couldn't make an excuse to go twice.

The bakery we found. Also amazing. We went to the Doughbin. I'm not sure if this is the one that Alex meant, but it was delightful!

We're with our new hosts, who just joined the WOOF network. Lucky us! The were woofers themselves, 15 years ago, and now they are AMAZING hosts! The last two days we have worked in the morning and then they've taken us to do walks in the afternoon. Quite delightful walks! Tomorrow we're taking the day off and going out to Mt Aspiring Nat'l Park to hike to Rob Roy glacier, and hopefully see some avalanches!

They also have been helping to make sure that I get the right bakery. They've told us all the bakeries in town, and I've now tried two. There may be one more. Doughbin was better than the one today, but I'm a scientists, it's all about multiple tests (I've already tried DB twice, it's only fair that I go back to the one from today).

OK, bed time!