Terri and Cameron "Kia Ora"
Terri and Cameron "Kia Ora"
Images from New Zealand
Terri, "THE THINKER AND PLANNER" and a great organizer!
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This message is for the SAND FLIES!No people on this beach, just Terri, Cameron and lots of sand flies.
What a great picture! Good Job!
More pictures BIG and small!
They have left the North Island now and are on the South Island.
North Island
First email from New Zealand December 30, 1999: Has been removed.
Bay of Islands
Another email from New Zealand Jan 12 2000:Has been removed
January 31, 2000
Wow, Can you believe we've been here a month already? We haven't run out of money! We just got done with a tramp in the Tongario National Park, the 1st national park in NZ. It was what NZ calls a great walk that involves a pass through two "active" volcanos. It's a loop trail that takes approx. 4 days. We actually hiked out in 3 days because it started raining half way through the trip and never stopped. Terri almost took a swim in one of the rivers that was high, due to the rain. The trails became streams and the streams became rivers! We have found a few quinks in our gear seeing that it's not "completely" water-proof. We have spent the last day drying our equipment in Wanganui. We hope to have good weather for surfing on the coast. If not, we'll be heading south to Wellington for another tramp. Cheers!
Love you, Terri
February 6,2000:
I hate to write one letter to everyone but it becomes difficult remembering who I've gotten in touch with and who I haven't written.
I've been gone for over a month now and have finally gotten comfortable traveling. I've discovered a difference between being a traveler and being a tourist. My favorite memories so far have been the people we have met and the
hospitality they've given to us. It's not the packed schedule of getting to each and every museum in town or riding tour buses from place to place with people from the same country. We've hitch-hiked part of the trip and it's been wonderful; we've been very lucky and have met great people. We then bought a car which has taken us all over the north island. We've done 3
tramps and a week of awesome surfing with a family that took us in and gave us lessons.
We are now in Wellington (the southern most part of the north island)looking for another vehicle. Ours died on the way to the ferry to take it to the south island. We sold it for what we paid for it and delayed our trip to look for another car.I definitley could live here on the coast somewhere if it wasn't so far away from my dog and love ones. There are so many beautiful coastal areas here and most of them undeveloped. Anyone want to go in on a vacation home? The weather has been great, when I think about what the weather is like in Colorado right now. Today is sunny and blue skies, probably in the 70-80's F. We had a week of rain and we were on a tramp in Tongario National Park. We hiked out early crossing some high rivers along the way and spent the rest of the week driving from coast to coast seeking sunshine.I can't wait to get to the south island because everyone says it's the place to go. The mountains are massive and the landscape is much different from the north. I think I'll miss the beaches and tropical weather though. It rains a lot more in the south and it probably will be much colder down in the fjordlands.
Well, I hope all is well in the "states". If your in Fort Collins stop by and give my dog a hug for me......maybe a walk for her.
I'll never leave her home again when I travel.
Love,
Terri
Cheers!
March 03, 2000:
To everyone back home,
Wow, we have a recommendation for anyone coming to the south island. When you get into the Nelson region. Stop in and spend a day with Stephan the local bonecarving artist; we ended up spending 3 days with him and have a new hobby when I get home.
Then pick up a bag of huge NZ apples in one of the numerous orchards on the way to Motueka.
Then a 5 day kayak trip with
"The Sea Kayak Company" can't by past. We rented a double kayak and spent 4 nights and 5 days kayaking in and out of bays in the Abel Tasman National Park; definitely the way to see this national park.
We spent endless hours viewing the tides coming in & out, the waves, the beautiful sunrises and moonrises, and even got to visit with a seal colony where the seals came right up to your boat!
If you decide to do the tramp it's 51km going over one pass to another with the beaches in between but you never get to stop and enjoy them because you have to keep hiking to the next hut in the system of tramp huts. Yuk!
Also, we found this beautiful lodge called the Aworoa Lodge in the Aworoa Bay. It's in the native bush only 5 minute walk from the beach. It has cabins for rent, kayaks, a restaurant, bar, and a beautiful landscaped patio. A place I would have loved to have spent more time at or even work at someday. Guess what? It's for sale too! Anyone looking to invest in this beautiful vacation home....I'll run it for you!
After the beautiful experience in the north we began driving down the west coast. It became very rural with very few travelers on the road. The waves along the west coast were huge! We spent 3 nights parked on the beach watching sunsets. There is a certain time when the big waves coming up to
the shore catch up to the smaller ones and they crash together
magnificently. The crash creates a huge spray that is one of the best experiences I've gotten to see on the trip. I tried my best to catch it on film...we'll see.
We then visited Franz Josef glacier(european name). This glacier along with the Fox glacier are under 6 km from the sea but are continually receding so they will never touch the sea again. Every year the annual snowfall is less than the receding or melting in the summer. You can hike right up to the
glacier. Many of these areas remind me of Alaska(Exit Glacier?..Jim). On to Queenstown, where everyone told us to go. It looks alot like the Vail Valley back home because it's apparently a ski town in the winter and a tourist trap in the summer. It is pretty though and Cameron is out looking
to buy a rope for climbing. Both of us have discovered that traveling can be harmful to your health. The van has made it very easy to drive from place to place rather than hike or tramp. I finally started running again and Cam and I have both started bouldering here. There is a place called
the Remarkables just outside Queenstown so we will be in this area until probably the 10th. Then we head north towards Christchruch where we need to sell the van by the 28th of this month before going to Australia.
I hope all is well with you and yours......don't forget my lonely dog if your in my neighborhood. Erin would love to let her go for a walk with you!
Cheers,
Terri & Cam
March 11, 2000:
Remember it's the journey in life we need to enjoy, as well as the destination....
I know in the past couple of emails, I haven't written much more than the average day to day adventures. To some they might sound more interesting than the repetitive process everyone else not traveling goes through day today. Getting up, going to work, going to after work functions, and then returning home for dinner and bed only to do it again the next day. Until now, I always thought that this is the way it was to be and I became really
bored with it. I guess it took traveling over 6,000miles to figure out some thoughts I would love to share with you now. Some of you who are older, more educated, or possibly wiser have already perhaps discovered what I'm about to tell you. Some of you may even find it humorous but I hope that some smile and make a connection with it. I never realized how important it is to take time for yourself. I used to put it off for later but I found it catching up to me. This maybe one of the reasons for taking this trip. It may also have been an excuse to quit my job or maybe a way to get away from some of the responsibility I felt on my shoulders. These were questions I tried to answer before I left and what I am still learning the answers to still today. What I have learned on this trip though is what is important to me; family and friends. Love ones have become important to me during this journey more than ever before.Have you ever let the answering machine pick up your phone when you just arrived home from work? It's a good friend of yours but you decide to let them just leave a message. I know I can't be the only guilty one. After everything is done in life; your job, your house, your various projects, and even your travels, what is left?I used to be confused by those people that never left Iowa or their families to travel the world. I didn't realize that they had some of the best values in the first place. Now, I am not saying that going away from home and seeing the world is wrong. I have learned so much since I left home. I probably wouldn't be writing this letter if I hadn't taken this trip. I am trying to say that travel has been good for me....really good. It has been good for my mind and good for my heart. I hope to never leave my answering machine on again because if you wait to call those loved ones back they might be too busy for you too. Loved ones are the greatest gift in life and this trip has definitely helped me cherish this realization. Thanks for sharing your time with me. I hope your doing well.
Love, Terri
March 20, 2000:
We are now Downunder!
We made it to Australia flying stand by! We are in Melbourne now and hope to start our trip out of the city as soon as possible. It's funny that every Metropolitan area you visit in the world feels very much like the last one you came from. We stayed at a hostel in the heart of Melbourne last night in a bunk room with 14 other beds; that was interesting. The only nice thing I can say about the city is convenience. It's easy to find an outdoor store, a cappuccino, a magazine or bookstore, or a toilet. That's good right?
We've decided not to buy another car and just travel by train to the major towns and get other transportation from there or hitch. We don't want to be tied down to selling a car before we leave or worse hit a kangaroo or have our car breakdown in the middle of no where. After buying a few more pieces of climbing gear we are headed to a climbing place called Arapiles in the Grampians National Park. It's about 4 hours northwest of here. We plan to
spend a couple of weeks camping there and getting back into shape. It looks like a great time to be climbing too because it's not blazing hot here now. Plus I have another benefit to climbing....it keeps Cameron happy and that keeps me happy! That's about it. I hope all is well in "the states" (that's
what they call it down here).
Has anyone hugged my dog for me today?
Cheers, Terri & Cam
This picture was taken at the Sidney Hotel in Estes Park, CO just before this couple left for New Zealand. This page will be a tribute to the couple, Terri ans Cameron, backpacking across New Zealand.
More pictures BIG and small!
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Come back often, I really enjoy seeing you here.
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These are links to Judie's (Terri's Mom) other web pages. They will soon be removed and replaced with links to neat places where Terri and Cameron visit along thier way.
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