The latter half of New Zealand

So, we ended up getting to do some really sweet sea cliff climbing off the West coast of the South Island at a place called Charleston on Christmas Eve. Definitely a highlight of the trip. The weathered grey granite was smooth with rounded features and cracks on relatively tall walls (up to 30m), situated on top of a flat platform. There was a small blowhole near by, so every couple of waves would bring loud boofing sprays. After climbing to the top of a satisfying pitch, one is rewarded with the sight of dolphins swimming and playing in the waves below. Unreal.

Later that day, we packed up and drove up North to Paynes Ford to settle in for some more climbing and the social scene that abounds at the hippy/climber camp there. We sang Christmas songs all the way. They love the Pogues down here and this song was all over the radio. We sang along happily, thinking of Scott and our last few Christmases back home. We arrived late in the night and slept as best we could, having parked the van in the only remaining spot at the camp, which was slanting to a silly extent.

We woke up to the subtle sound of the sleigh scratching on the roof of the van. We got out and St. Nick had already moved on, but it was a gift to see the Southern Night Sky blazing above with Orion in full cartwheel and the Milky Way the brightest we've seen. On Christmas morning, we opened our gifts (including a new camera that we bought for each other) and looked out to see many others doing the same, families that were there and mates showing their creativity. The guy parked next to us received a mini blow-up doll of the perfect woman. After breakfast, we explored the campervan and tent roofs with the kids of the camp and some of us saw the tell-tale sleigh marks.

The Paynes Ford climbing that we discovered on Christmas was unique to say the least. Being in a temperate rain forest, the limestone layers there are exposed to some weathering that we've never experienced. We saw and touched cool fins, ridges, fossilized seashells, slopers, and pockets. We shared a put-luck Christmas dinner with the rest of the gang that was there and, just like back home, there was too much food on the table. Everybody ate and drank their fill and we talked and played games afterwards. Great swimming holes post-climb count as showers.

In the northwestern part of the South Island is the Golden Bay. It is beautiful and definitely a mecca for green living and sustainable agriculture. We picked a couple quarts of raspberries and boysenberries on Boxing Day and devoured them. It was crazy to think that we were picking berries in the sun in December.

As the New Year approached, we completed our round trip circuit of the South Island by heading East and then South down the coast back toward Christchurch. In the northeast, we were confused for a while as we thought we were driving through Colorado. It was strange; the brown rolling grassy hills of the Marlborough region gave way to beautiful and rugged coastline. Many people were taking their holidays there, surfing, spearfishing, enjoying fresh seafood and hating the sandflies. Again we slept right on the beach overlooking the Pacific.

On New Year's Eve, we headed back up into the Southern Alps to Castle Hill. This area has some world-class limestone boulders that take some getting used to. This place is overflowing with boulders. The style of climbing there is, um, different. There really aren't very many holds, just a lot of body scraping friction and mantling. The tops of the boulders often roll back to nothingness like a featureless bulb. Imagine trying to climb up a huge upside down Christmas tree bulb. That's what it's like. At the end of the day, there were many abraided limbs and traces of carnage. Nevertheless, we had a great time, met up with some really nice folks there and got some exercise.

New Year's Day: the Cave Stream. An unreal Karst feature has moved the bed of this creek from the peaceful sunny valley where it once lived, to a dark, cold, twisting tunnel of gushing water. A 45 minute dark-wet-scramble-wade through this underworld sees one come to appreciate the sunlight on the far side. Another highlight, to be sure. Quite an awakening and cleansing experience on the first day of 2009.

We hesitatingly turned in the van on the 3rd. We were sad to let it go. Now we're back to the backpacker lifestyle of public transport or your feet. We surfed a classic Christchurch college kid couch. Ian and his mates were very welcoming and fun to get to know. They showed us this HBO show, the Flight of the Conchords, about two Kiwi fellows living in New York City and their struggles to relate. Really really funny. This is our favorite song from the show that we've seen so far. Tony got to play life-sized chess in the Cathedral Square

We flew back up to Auckland for a few short days, during which we rented a small car and drove north to the Bay of Islands for some quality beach time. We found a sweet spot at Russell town and Cape Ngahau, where we saw many amazing boats. The coolest one was the Spirit of New Zealand. We had our last fish and chips overlooking the harbor full of sailboats, feeding the dream of building our own sailboat someday.

We got back to the airport and caught a wonderful flight to Bangkok on Thai Air. Wow. The service was first-class. We didn't go hungry, there was nary an empty wine glass, and for the first time in a while, we were overentertained. Not only were there tons of movies, tv shows and music stations to choose from, you could play games, including trivia against other passengers. There was even a little language primer, so we could get a jumpstart on the Thai. If you ever get a flight on Thai Air, don't plan on reading your book. That's all we've got to say about that. Awesome.

So, here we are in Bangkok, recovering from the jet lag, waiting to pick up our next flight to no-plan-yet Phuket. We don't have too much of idea of what we're going to do when we get there, but we'll figure something out. That's pretty much the theme of the trip.

Thanks for reading all this and sorry for the long delay between posts. Love you all!