Nelson, and a Pair of Shoes

Heading west from Christchurch, was made a beeline to Nelson.  My new hiking boots (finally) had arrived there. 

We took the Lewis Pass Route.  Some big mountains hiding in the clouds.


After what felt like eternity (ordered on 12-Nov, received on 12-Jan), we found some parking, and retrieved the boots. Classy, eh?


To start the break-in on these green-tinted, and Italian-made beauties we hiked up a local hill, which is the self proclaimed “geographic center” of New Zealand. 







Jen wanted to stand smack-dab in the middle of New Zealand.


We stopped by a Kauri Tree on the way down.  Now rare in NZ, these native trees can live over 1000 years, and grow to immense sizes. This sapling is only 67 years old!  Most old growth Kauri have long since been logged for timber.  Only a few isolated pockets on the North Island and one section of protected forest in the South island have large stands of them.  Interestingly, it took activists chaining themselves to these trees in the 70s to convince Parliament to protect what remained.

New Zealand Q&A

By Jen. 

Since this is a fairly short post, I thought I would take some space to answer some common questions we get about our travels in NZ.

1. When did we arrive? Dec 4, 2017.
2. When did we get the van? Dec 13, 2017.
3. Where did we arrive? Auckland on the North Island.
4. How long do we plan to stay? Hoping until August. Van has to be out by Aug 18th, 2018. We will probably try to stay until about the end of July, beginning of August, unless we run out of money first. 
5. When did we go to the South Island? Dec 26, 2017.
6. When we will we go back to the North Island? Don't know... whenever it gets too cold down here or we run out of things to do. 
7. What is our itinerary? We don't really have one. I have a list on Google Maps that identifies the locations of the POIs that we are interested in, we pick one the day of or the day before based upon where we currently are and the weather. 
8. Where are we going after New Zealand? Back to the USA, we will be out of money and need to find a home and work (and now there is a wedding to attend! 😊). We are currently researching places to live that meet the following guidelines (yes, I know I am picky and asking the impossible, Jonathan informs me everytime we have this discussion): 
1. Outdoorsy: I want to be able to hike, kayak, and play sports in the evenings and on the weekends.
2. Nice weather for being outside: No warmer than 80s in the summer, low humidity, preferably short or warm winters (willing to compromise a bit on the winter weather).
3. Friendly, like-minded people.
4. Recycling options.
5. Jobs: Engineering or technical positions where we can find good-paying work.
6. Cost of living: looking to be able to work, possibly purchase a home, have projects (van reno #2!), and still be able to save for travels and retirement. So, relatively low cost of living compared to income potential would be great.