New Zealand... conclusions...

Photos to come...

I could do a day to day, blow by blow but that would be boring and not very nostalgic. So here's NZ...

- DIVERSE landscape - sea change, altitude, remote lakes, party towns, rock formations, fiords, glaciers
- DIVERSE weather - freezing before the sun comes up, blazing hot sometimes (no ozone above NZ at this point), windy as hell in the mountains
- Kiwis = Canucks - seriously found that the people of NZ are much like Canadians
- North Island = sheep, farms, possums, sulfur, volcanos, Auckland, surfing
- South Island = sheep, farms, possums, giant mountains, glaciers, penguins, extreme sports, drinking
- Kiwis hate possums - they run them over or shoot them on site because its legal (actually seems like its illegal not to since they were an introduced animal and they are ruining the ecosystem)
- New Zealand is expensive and since its so damned remote its not very easy to do anything
- The huts are v. cool - on the tracks (on which you tramp) there are huts that you must book in order to sleep comfortably in the mountains or whatever - you will meet people from all over the world. We were the only Canadians we knew of - mostly, Aussies, Israelis, Germans and Japanese
- NZ loves skateboarders - no matter how small the town there was always a skatepark which made Darren and Ken very jealous
All in all, New Zealand was an amazing experience and I'd go back anyday - especially to do the Milford Track and perhaps get up to the Bay of Islands north of Auckland.