First of many!

Hello Friends!

NZ, land of kiwibirds and gorgeous views, has been wonderful so far. I've been in country for almost a week, and I'm already loving the people, the tea, the views, the food, etc. My first stop was Rotorua, which is right on this geothermal fault line, so there's bubbling mud and hot pools all over. The first few pictures are in Rotorua near the lake (did anyone else know black swans existed?!) and then in a place called Hell's Gate, where I went to the mud spa and walked around

the bubbling pools.

Another picture is from Auckland, from the ferry ride I took across the harbor at sunset toward a little island community for dinner. Today Laura and I drove up from Kaikoura, which is a whaling community, where we saw the sun rise out of the ocean, went for a spectacular cliffside walk and made friends with some seals. This afternoon we drove up through wine country to where we are now, Nelson-- top of the South Island. Tomorrow we will try to meet up with a day-and-a-half sailboat ride, and then we'll go to Golden Bay and then off down the west side of the island. Great so far, and more to come! Hopefully I will get better at this blogging thing-- I can't seem to figure out how to orient the pictures in a less-than-retarded way. Sorry! Miss you all and still keeping my fingers crossed that some/all of you can come meet me in various legs of the trip. xoxo!! -Sheri