New Zealand

We left PNG on Feb 19. It was amazing because we got to fly down to Australia in the New Tribes Mission plane. Normally leaving PNG is quite a process and it takes at least all day if not 2 days to get to Australia. Well, because we flew with the mission plane we left Goroka, PNG at 8am and got to Australia at 1pm. It was great. I have never had such an easy hastle free time leaving PNG. We over nighted in Cairns, Australia and then we flew to Auckland, New Zealand the next day.
New Zealand was a lot of fun. We didn´t see much of Auckland but we did see the Shire and Mount Doom (Mordor) since we are Lord of the Rings fans. New Zealand is a really beautiful country. So much of inland New Zealand really does look like the Shire. It was really neat to be there.

Our first day we went to this really awesome volcanic valley. We saw bubling mud, thermal pools, and amazing colors in the water due to all the different types of mineral deposits. The smell was terrible but it was a great place to see.

Our second day we went black water rafting. (tubing on an underground river) While we were in the caves we saw amazing glowworms that were all over the roofs of the caves. We had a really good time. The water was freezing even though we were in full body wet suits. It was quite an adventure.

The final day we drove everywhere! Not really but we were in the car all day. We saw some amazing country side and we happened on this great black sand beach. It was so cool. We had a great time running around the beach after being in the car for hours. Jason didn´t realize that the day he had planned included 800km of driving which would take 14hrs. Another fun thing is that the shops in the small towns in New Zealand typically close around 5 or 6pm. Well, at 7:30pm we realized we needed gas. We passed 2 towns but every gas station was closed. Luckily we made it to a bigger town just before we hit empty.

Jason also loved the food in New Zealand. They have all kinds of meat pies that he couldn´t get enough of. I learned just how much I love KFC. I became an addict of the popcorn chicken and everything else made with chicken. Oh, that would be everything they make! Haha...

We are really glad that we made the stop in New Zealand. It has become one of our favorite places.