Saturday, July 28, 2007

The blog has been taken over by visitors...aaarrrrgggghhhh!

Victoria and I (Jennifer) were coming back from a fun-filled weekend, having visited the indescribable Doubtful Sounds of Fiordland National Park and the intriguing glow-worms of Te Anau, when we caught sight of it: a cave. The limestone caves of the tiny town of Clifden. We had to explore it. The caving safety signs were posted everywhere:
-at least two people recommended for safety reasons (check)
-two torches/light sources per person, including spare batteries (ummm...)
-leave your trip intentions with reliable person (we are reliable...)
-helmets recommended (our noggins are pretty hard...)
-ropes and climbing equipment required (I'm pretty sure that is also just another recommendation...)

It was one o'clock in the afternoon. There was plenty of sunlight. We took the recommendations into consideration. One out of five isn't bad. So we went in. For about five steps. It got really dark, and we (I) made us turn around.

We rummaged through the car. No light sources to be found. We wandered around town, and finally found a grocery store that sold flashlights. We bought one (because we are cheap), for the two of us. Upon hearing of our intentions, the cashier warned us: "I wouldn't go in the caves today, girls. It's been raining pretty hard, and the caves are prone to flash flooding." Flash flooding...like at Universal Studios? Now we really had to go back. Besides, as Amy always says, "What could go wrong?"

It was two o'clock. We returned to the caves. With our new light source, we were able to wander about 15 steps into the darkness. We hit a dead end. Is the arrow pointing toward that tiny hole in the ground? I thought about how I would explain to my parents how I lost my little sister in a cave in New Zealand. Then I made us turn around again. We would go home, and maybe invite Amy and Kimball to come with us another day, with all the recommended equipment.

I (Victoria) was double sad sad. = ( We're turning around AGAIN??? What the? As we left the caves for the second time, I thought out loud, "Well, wouldn't it be nice if we came upon some other people who were well equiped for caving of course, and tagged along?"

Imagine our surprise and delight when we came out into the sunlight to find another car parked right behind ours, and three local Kiwis climbing out.

"Are you going into the caves?" "Yes."

"Do you have light?"

"Well, Tom has a head light. We have two glowsticks." (Glowsticks, like from Disneyland?)

"Have you been through the caves before?"

"Tom has. It only takes about 1/2 hour." (The DOC -dept of conservation- says 1 1/2 to 2 hours.)
Then, the magic words: "Do you want to join us?" "YES!!!"

Two lightsources, and two glowsticks, for five people.

It was two thirty in the afternoon as we entered the cave, for the third time. Tom led. Ross and Louise followed. Victoria was next, and I followed with our flashlight. Mostly I remember the silly sight of the purple and orange glowsticks waving uselessly in front of me, and the consuming darkness behind. I tried not to think about the scary movies I'd seen in the past.
We reach the same dead end. It turns out we are supposed to squeeze through that hole in the ground. Tom starts, feet first. He then turns around to announce: "We have to go in head first." We all look at each other in disbelief. We are not totally convinced we can fit when Ross volunteers to go first. After he disappears into the hole, we hear, "Ahh, what's this big hole down here? I can't see!"

"Is this really a good idea?" I ask.

Tom replies, "Oh yeah, fat people go through this all the time. If I can do it, you all can."
Tom is tall, like Ross, but more ah...well developed and nourished. After witnessing Tom successfully squeeze through the hole, Louise, Victoria and I follow (feet first for the girls...silly boys).

Inside, we saw amazing limestone rock formations, glow-worms, graffiti. We manuevered around wading pools and climbed ladders into various levels of the cave. It was an unforgettable experience.

True to his word, the trek took 1/2 hour.

flashlight: NZ$15.40
unplanned caving with new Kiwi friends: priceless

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

This is winter!

Living as far south as we do sure provides for interesting weather. Besides being iced in last monday, just north of us they're getting -19 degrees celsius! The bars are bringing in the beer kegs to put them in the fridge to keep from freezing. The homes are putting big round hay bales around outside just to keep warm.

It's nice though on days like today when I have my satellite clinic 15 minutes drive toward snow-capped mountains out to a small town (Nightcaps).

Yesterday, my nurse rallied me and our receptionist to help her move sheep during lunch. In the winter since there's so little grass they fence the sheep in a new small area of grass each day. Otherwise the sheep would eat all the grass for the winter in a few days. And now all the sheep are pregnant so they're especially hungry! It's funny/sad to see them all waddling around in their tiny patch of muddy grass.

Tonight one of our church friends came over and we had a good study on the Holy Spirit. We're still waiting everything to clear the church board so we can start a number of small groups on the theme. With so much controversy in our church, we didn't want to go ahead on our own and become a part of the problem. People are interested though and soon we'll have three groups starting up.

Tomorrow Jennifer Sun (my fellow Pomona Valley FP Residency grad) and her little sis are coming in to town for 10 days. They'll get some bright sunny weather so maybe we'll have some of their escapades up next.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Flight over Milford, Glenorchy, Routeburn, Hollyford

That's me with my hands on the controls...can't beat the view!
Mitre Peak from the airstrip.
A secluded mountain lake...wonder if there are any fish...
Flying close enough to reach out and touch some of these mountain ranges was my favorite!

Just leaving Queenstown.
Mitre peak, reflection and all.
A successful trip and back on solid ground in Queenstown...now lets drive up to Glenorchy and see what we saw.

Winter is here!

Glenorchy in all it's glory... what's wrong with this picture?

Our first taste of snowboarding in July!

The Remarkables is kind of like riding the Matterhorn...no trees on this mtn!
Frankton, Queenstown's forgotten brother...with a view of the Remarkables behind...
Moo!
Glendhu Wetlands out in Wanaka...

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Surfing Down South...

Tubage...at Curio Bay
Yup, it's dang cold down here...water temp is usually 46-53 deg F,
but I actually got to go without my hoodie in this shot...
No crowds, clean lines, pristine H2O, and incredible coastlines...

North Island Adventure

Here's the North Island photos we promised to put up months ago...still incredible, but still no comparison to South Island...
Pohutu Geyser at Rotorua...can you spot the doggie?
After 2 days of surfing at Raglan!
Looking for a way out of Waitomo Caves...
After caving, it was time for glo-worms and tumu-toobing!
You dig the gumboots?
Frying Pan Lake... too hot for the hot tub!
Inferno Crater looks cold, but gets up to 184 deg F!!!
But it made for blackberry heaven!
New Zealand is ama-za-zing!
Huka Falls (below) cranks out 220,000 Litres per second...some crazy kayakers hucka'd themselves offa it!You climb into the little blue hole on the left, then run like a good lil' hamster downhill...joy!

Monday, July 02, 2007

Swimming with Wild Dolphins!


Amy adjusts her snorkel and takes the plunge, and Kimball rolls the underwater camera video.

Eeee....eeeEEeee....eeeeeEEEEE! ee-EEEE??!? E!

Somewhere btwn 150-200 wild dolphins surrounding us

and making funny underwater noises at us...

A Dolphin & a baby Flipper!