G'day Mate

Picture above will be explained tomorrow. For now, I shaved my head and left a Mohawk.

Moving on. Have you ever been to a place where you seriously considered never leaving? Giving up everything you have worked so hard for and living the simple life? Knowing that no matter how terrible your life is, you can always rest assured that you live in one of the most beautiful places on planet earth? New Zealand is that place.

It’s hard to elaborate in words but it parallels heaven on earth. I don’t mean that in the cliché way that most people use it, but I actually think that if God ever chose a place on earth to be heaven, it would look a lot like New Zealand. With a little over 1 million people and a much higher number of sheep on the island, this place is untouched. It’s impossible to find a place that reminds you of somewhere like Beijing or LA. It’s nature at it’s most pure and I’ve already vowed to retire here.

After arriving in Christchurch we quickly headed across the island to Queenstown where the town is surrounded by mountains and the most beautiful lake I’ve ever seen. While the mountains don’t reach extremely high altitudes, they do protrude up to 12,000 ft from sea level which is indescribable. We spent most of yesterday exploring Queenstown until we decided to white water raft down a class 4 section. With water at a sweltering 4 degrees Celsius, we were chilly to say the least. Unfortunately, nobody in our raft could match AJ’s ejection in Placerville this past summer. It was fun nonetheless.

After rafting we took a locals recommendation and decided to eat at Fergburger. Go ahead, do it now, make fun of the name. Do not make fun of their burgers. Matt Hall and I decided we would take the Fergburger Challenge and attempt to eat Big Al, their largest burger. It consisted of a half pound of meat, beets, onions, tomatoes, cheese, lettuce, bacon, two fried eggs, and various sauces. It was truly a man’s burger, better yet, a manburger. We both succeeded with varying degrees of stomach pain but the feeling of absolute masculinity that followed was well worth it.

Today was no less exciting. We woke up around 3:30 am and headed straight for Milford Sound, Fjordland. It was a four hour drive and I probably would have driven another 30 hours to simply get a glimpse of the majesty of this place. Do yourself a favor, look it up on wikipedia, then come visit it as soon as possible but don’t forget to bring me. We decided on the kayaking expedition which began at 9 am and finished around 3 pm. It was a considerable amount of work but definitely the only way to truly get a feel for the awesomeness of this place. I don’t have much else to say about it but look at my pictures, it’s otherworldly.

Tomorrow is going to be equally exciting. Pray for me. I miss you all and I’m sorry for such a short blog and for such a long period of no blog as the last few days have been hectic.

Let me know how you like the pictures!

Pictures:

Te Anau- Beautiful and has even better food.

View from pier in Queenstown.

View from peer overlooking water.

View from outside hotel.

Beach beneath hotel.

Sunset

Fjords in Fjordland. Honestly, this picture does this place no justice. You have to come on your own to understand it's beauty. Imagine kayaking while surrounded by cliffs rising close to 5,000 feet. Waterfalls were unbelievable. It was cold, but I would have done it a thousand times over.

Who's that beauty on the left? Kayaking in Fjordland. This is before the haircut as you can see.

Thank you everyone, keep me in your prayers!

Michael