More sheep than people

Hi Friends. New Zealand is amazing!!=wild, rugged, beautiful, clean, pure, friendly, temperate, reasonable, damp, green, dense, delicious and full of sheep.
Our day today began in Christchurch with a 7:00 alarm. (It felt like 3:00- it really did.) On the road by 9:30. Robin drove. I was not ready to face left hand driving whilst my body and brain told me it was still the middle of the night, thanks. Robin handled the wheel very well except for a few hits of the wipers instead of the turn signal, but that's just initiation to driving the Japanese made cars.

The day was rainy, grey and misty. Or at least all the tops of the mountain peaks were shrouded in fog- so we missed the full effect of the drive into the mountains. I may have brought this weather on with my not packing an umbrella or my "Bring it ON" attitude when faced with less than ideal conditions...I don't know, but it spit on us off and on pretty much all day. Didn't dampen our spirits though. We said the weather be damned, and our first stop was a hike to some outcrops of limestone. This was a magical place. I wish we had the boys with us when they were about 6, 8 and 10. This hillside would have provided them with days of fun. What an interesting landscape. Unlike any I've seen. We think this looked familiar- and are eager to go home and watch Lord of the Rings to look again.

We made it to the West Coast, and then I took the wheel. I am really proud of myself. I did the second half of the day's driving. And a lot of it was twisty turny switch-back mountain driving. On the left hand side. No accidents so far. Knock on wood. We saw a kiwi bird in a wild life exhibit. We spent an hour on the beach in Hokatika looking for cool rocks (which we found- ever the geologist, my husband, "every rock tells a story!") The surf and breeze were strong and fresh. Anti- Tokyo tonic for the soul.

Our final destination of the day was a B & B in Fox Glacier called Misty Peaks (and yes- the peaks were misty!!) owned and operated by Lee and Dave. They plied us with fabulous New Zealand wine and fed us an impromptu dinner of bacon sandwiches. We decided to stay in (twist our arm after 2 glasses of wine) and enjoy the company of another couple from the UK. Turns out, Ian is a lounge singer who doesn't need too much of an invitation to sing and who takes his back up CDs everywhere with him. The evening ended in some slightly impaired karaoke style singing along to Frank Sinatra tunes. Pretty hilarious. Ian's wife Sue was mortified and retired early.

Tomorrow it's on to less driving, a hike to Fox Glacier (check it out on google earth), other stops along the way and another B & B destination. I am finding the very best part of this trip is meeting and talking to the people.

The scenery is magnificent, the people are friendly, the sheep are adorable and we can't wait to catch up with Nate on Monday. But until then we are having sweet adventures.