Canyoning in Wanaka

December 30th was spent canyoning outside of Wanaka. We were scheduled to do the "Big Nige" trip, but the water levels were so high that they only let us do the "Niger Stream" trip, which was pretty extreme with the amount of water pumping through the canyon! When we first arrived, we had to hike up a hill with all of our gear. This might have been the most difficult part of the day, but the scenery was nice!

Then we put on our super thick wetsuits, helmets, and harnesses and started our adventure. We got to abseil down a few large waterfalls like the one seen here.

We also got to do some ziplining, some cliff jumps (including one really high one!), and some sliding down water chutes (including one head first!). The sliding was my favorite part.

Sometimes you didn't even know what the bottom looked like; you just had to trust the guides and slide down into a big pool of water at the bottom. The canyon was awesome; it was like a naturally occurring water park!



















Canyoning made for a really fun day full of adventure, and we're so glad we did it. I'll end with a video of Zack doing one of the jumps with an oh-so-graceful landing!

A Christmas Tramping Trip

Split Apple Rock in Abel Tasman

Christmas Day in New Zealand was spent hiking part of the Abel Tasman track. Hiking is called "tramping" here, whereas in Australia it's called "bushwalking." Anyway, we took a water taxi from Kaiteriteri Beach to Bark Bay. Then we walked back on the trail to get picked up at Anchorage, for a total of just over ten kilometers of tramping.

We had amazing sunny weather, and the views and beaches on this track were incredible. Check out this private little lagoon on the right! We enjoyed the swing bridge and playing on one of the beaches at lunch (both seen below).

We took a short side trip to Cleopatra's Pool, a freshwater area with small waterfalls and a natural slide. It was so fun and a great way to cool off!













When we got to Anchorage, we had some time to relax while waiting for our water taxi that would take us back to Kaiteriteri. So we enjoyed the gorgeous golden sand and clear cool water and took naps on the beach. Like last year, it was another amazing Christmas Day spent in the sunshine.









We spent the night at Kaiteriteri Beach and didn't feel like cooking after our busy day, so we drove into town and found an Asian place that was open. We got some fish and chips (they didn't have Asian food-go figure!) and a fried chocolate bar for dessert (delicious!). Oh yeah, and we were even able to connect to the Internet and talk to our families on Skype for a bit. It was Christmas Eve for them (and a lot colder), but it was awesome to "see" them and wish them "Merry Christmas!" A great day all around.

A Belated Merry Christmas from the Keys!