A Full Cup

February 15, 2016

A Full Cup

Reunited and it feels so good!

Our New Zealand trip this past month seemed to have a reoccurring theme: Beach and Barbecue! As Jeremiah put it so eloquently, we have attended more barbecues in the past three weeks than we have in the past year. Kiwi's love their barbecues! Summertime in Nelson is warm, dry, and beautiful. I think it rained once during our entire stay in Nelson. Luckily it offers so many swimming holes and beaches that it can be difficult to choose... So we sampled several! Whether it was swimming at Tahunanui, jumping off the steps on Rocks Road, swimming the Maitai, snorkeling at Cabel Bay or jumping off the rope swing up the Lee, Jeremiah and I were in the water cooling off. I decided to try my hand at iMovie and put together a little mash up of a few of our favorite swimming holes that we visited during the trip.

Music 'Sweet As' by Katchafire

We are both so full of amazing memories right now that they seem a bit scattered trying to write them all down. My cup is full from the many visits we had with friends on the other side of the world. Nelson is a piece of home to me and Jeremiah, it's not just a vacation spot anymore. The more time we invest in New Zealand, the more I feel my heart splitting into two. I definitely left a good portion of my heart back in Nelson and it is meant to stay there with the people I love. It seems this is destined to happen the more that you travel, leaving little pieces of your heart with the people you come to know and love. But God made this heart for travel and it seems to grow in capacity rather than shrink every time I give another piece of it.

While we did spend a good portion in Nelson, we did manage to scrape together an amazing week down South with our lovely friend Julia. Our trip itinerary included stays in Christchurch, Akaroa, Dunedin, Queenstown, and Franz Josef. Road tripping definitely brings you closer together. We had a lot of driving to do so we cranked up those tunes and took turns napping in the back seat.

In Nelson we spent the morning at the Orana Wildlife Park Zoo. Not too long ago the zoo allowed visitors to drive their own cars into the lion exhibit for an up close lion encounter! Julia has a photo of these great big lions crawling all over her parents van! They still offer lion encounters, but it is no longer in your personal vehicle... I imagine their might be some damage to the paint job :) We were able to feed the giraffes, see a live kiwi for the first time, and watch the gorillas explore their new enclosure. They were so inquisitive, coming right up to the glass to lick it like an ice block (popsicle). One of them was even playing a version of peek-a-boo with the kids on the other side of the glass, jumping out to scare them and then hiding behind the concrete again. The interactions with the animals at this zoo is a unique thing to see.

Getting my good side.

We then popped off to the French town of Akaroa for a chance to shop the downtown and swim in the harbor. Akaroa is well known for the opportunity to swim with dolphins out the harbor. Unfortunately our time was too short for us to join in this activity, maybe next time! From Akaroa we traveled south, going to place Jeremiah and I had never traveled before. Dunedin and Queenstown were so rich in adventure that I will dedicate another post to those amazing towns. We barely scratched the surface of what the South has to offer but it was amazing! More to come soon.

Currently I am writing from the San Francisco airport where we've been stuck for quite some time now... no more delays please! Hopefully we will arrive home in Raleigh soon and have a good sleep.

Sending my LOVE to YOU!!! ...... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz