hang dog

Well friends, we have left Queenstown and have finally arrived in a place called Takaka. It is hippie central for New Zealand and possibly the world. I have never seen so many dreads and people with out shoes. We were in the grocery store and most people were not wearing shoes. Our drive here took 3 days. We were almost to Franz Josef glacier when we had to stop because of enormous amounts of flooding. It was on the news here we were told. So we were wondering where we would stay because the last place was booked out. Luckily, we got the opportunity to stay at a Marae (click to find out what that is). They fed us dinner and we played games. Good times...

Pause from the update: This is a quick update because it costs $6 to even be able to do this. Which reminds me, there are a few things that I do not appreciate about NZ. The lack of good coffee and the expensive/bad internet! AND every guy, it seems, has a mullet and wears stubbies. Stubbies are basically really short shorts, or rugby shorts.

Things I do appreciate: cops do not have guns, yet they wear bulletproof vests. The colors/colours here are more brilliant then any place I have ever seen (blues are brighter, greens, oh man!). They play rugby, which I have decided makes football look like a sport for girls. No offense, but it is true! Oh and you can meet people from all over the world. Here is a small list of countries: Brazil, Switzerland, England, Germany, Nederlands, Canada, USA, Israel, Spain, Czech Republic, and Australia (and those are just what I can remember).

Back to the update...

We are now staying at a hippie camp called Hang Dog. Seriously, you all would love this! I will have to take pictures, but imagine the hippie camp at Yosemite (everyone at the camp climbs, it is my heaven) and you have where I am. Everyone either has a tent or is sleeping in their vans. They all just got back from the hippie gathering. I really can't think of how to describe this place better, so pics to come soon.

*now to update our teams blog!

Miss everyone. Can't wait to get back to the States for some GOOD coffee, free internet (I will be living at the Coffee Shop on Cherry Street or Panera), cheap food (everything is so darn expensive here), Mexican (oh queso, chips and salsa, how I love thee), and driving on the RIGHT side of the road (right in more ways than one).

Hope everyone had a great New Years!