"The cream cheese has flooded"

We'll get to the cheese in a minute, but first; welcome to Sara and Gareth's first blog post. This initial foray onto the superhighway of info will be light on text and heavy on photos, along with a few notes on some of the places we've been and the things that have happened. Which brings us to the cheese: it occurred to us that those words have likely never been spoken in that sequence ever before, but there's no other way to describe what happens when you live in a station wagon and your "fridge" is a box of somewhat chilly water with food items floating helplessly in it.

The following photos are slightly out of order but we don't have time to change them yet.

Our arrival in Fiji, hot and sweaty but happy to be on our way.


Sara and Gareth at Sumner Beach, just outside of Christchurch. This was our second night on the South Island, and the first place we drove with our car. Rosamund and Alistair were kind enough to put us up and feed us.


Mum's present (stuffed beaver) receives an ignominious welcome to New Zealand from Coco the kitten. Don't worry, things will get better for this little Canadian icon.


Sara, Gareth, and Iselta relaxing at Paul's house on Waiheke island.


Sara crosses the second swing bridge into the Hooker Valley, near Mt. Cook.


Gareth in front of the Hooker Glacier.


A neighbour at our campsite beside Lake Alexandria, near Lake Tekapo.


Sara invites the waves at Lake Tekapo.


Marcus, Sara, Jan, and Gareth (and Quizzy dog, hiding) at their beautiful place in Lyttleton.

Sandfly Beach (not as bad as it sounds) on the Otago peninsula outside of Dunedin.

Moeraki rocks on the south-east coast of the South Island.

Gareth on one of the spherical rocks, mostly soaked from the waves.

At the Tasman Glacier viewpoint, near Mt. Cook.

On top of Mt. Kitchener, which we thought was Mt. Ollivier, the first mountain Sir Edmund Hillary climbed. In reality we'd already walked right over that one by accident.

Swimming in the layer of fresh water on Doubtful Sound (really a fiord). Shockingly cold!

Gareth at the headwaters of Doubtful Sound, looking out to sea.

Dolphins playing in the wake of our boat on the Doubtful Sound. One of 52 dolphins!

Sara on the Fiordland Navigator - note the dolphin in the left background.

Sara at Slope Point, the southernmost point on the South Island.

Sara walks out of Cathedral Caves, in the Catlins.

Sea lion near Owaka.

Gareth on top of Mt. Luxmore, on the Kepler Track.

This is what they call a "hut" in New Zealand. Luxurious backcountry accomodation on the Kepler Track is $90 a night for those that can afford it. We stayed in our tent.

Kepler Track ridgewalk. Before the worst part of the weather, windy, cold, and amazing.

Lake Te Anau on a windy night.

Sara at a small lake below the Gertrude saddle, just before the Homer Tunnel.

Sara and Gareth at Gertrude Saddle, overlooking the Milford Sound.

Going through the somewhat terrifying Homer Tunnel.

Sara and the Milford Sound. Pretty nice, I guess.

Ben Lomond, outside of Queenstown.

At the summit of Ben Lomond.

View across the Dart River from the summit of Mt. Albert, near Glenorchy.

Sara "relaxes" Roman style at Puzzling World in Wanaka.

This is what Sara wants to look like.

This is what Sara actually looks like.