I woke up to the rain coming through the bug screen onto my face a little bit, but i didn't mind. It was nice to have the fresh air. 🙂 I kept my phone right next to the ear closest to the road, with my noise maker turned up just enough to cover the sound … Continue reading 2022-12-29 — Who’ll Stop the Rain

Yesterday... the 28th (USA time). Originally, I set my alarm for like 7:30, but after thinking about it for a little while and not wanting to be up for very long without the owner of the house up, I decided to get up right about 8:00, so that I could just jump right on the … Continue reading 2022-12-28 — Christmas Lights and Sticky Tack

No, we just weren't gonna do the river. Perks reviewing the place said the sand flies were just dreadful, and boy did we agree. Why get carried away by the little things, blood sucked dry, and add heaps of itchy bumps to the many already there in the hopes of digging out some hot springs … Continue reading 2022-12-27 — Impromptu Heli, and Other… Rides.

I guess we were closer to cows than I realized that night (once again behind. been a crazy few days). Smelly night. 🙃 Every time I woke up in the middle of the night, it was like--yuck. But whatever. Is what it is. I spent some time writing another catch-up post. I'm almost caught up... … Continue reading 2022-12-26 — Might As Well Jump

Yesterday... Hmmm... Yesterday... Love was such an easy game to play. Just kidding. 🙃 No, yesterday I woke up and started working on catching up on my other posts while sitting on the railroad tracks near our little hidden falls hike, fighting off the sandflies all the while. I've taken to just wearing long pants, … Continue reading 2022-12-25 — Blue Blue Christmas

I'm writing this on the 25th (US) time... so Merry Christmas!!! 🎅❤️⛄❄️😁🥳🥰😍😊🎄🎉 Let's see, though it was Christmas morning in New Zealand, I wasn't wanting to get up early in the morning to set up Christmas lights and have a Christmas morning in the dark, even though it would have looked super cool to have … Continue reading 2022-12-24 — Christmas by the River

How the day started on the 23rd (New Zealand 24th) is a little vague for me. Wait... it's coming back. We woke up late to other cars joining us in the parking trailhead dirt parking lot/pull off. We had been out of reception all night, so we first went back to the Devil's Punch bowl … Continue reading 2022-12-23 — 41 ish

The 22nd was a pretty rough day for me, just sick over what had happened. After the initial message I received, I'd desperately tried to repair the harm I'd caused as we texted back and forth, but there really wasn't much I could do. So I spent until about 2:30 in the morning going back … Continue reading 2022-12-22 — Spill Over and Sand-fly Protection

I can't even remember where we slept last night. Wait... yes I can: Side of the road, just off the water, waves on one side, little unseen waterfall, er... trickle, on the other. 🙃 Couldn't sleep much again. Culprit this time? My heart. It was beating a lot faster than it should for sleep time, … Continue reading 2022-12-21 — Down, Up… *Down*

Man, the sand flies have been brutal so far in the South Island. In the North Island, they were annoying here and there. I'm the South Island so far, they're almost maddening. The darn things are small enough to fit through the mosquito netting holes. Guess we need sand-fly netting. 🙃 Good gravy. 🤦 Anyway, … Continue reading 2022-12-20 — FlyPocalypse