Nelson!
Two couches, three chairs, a table, pots and pans and plates and
silverware, a mirror, a desk, a phone, and answering maching, computer
speakers, a blanket, and a bike...$100.
Spending summer in New Zealand...priceless.
First of all, Happy Holidays to everyone! We hope this finds you
happy and well, preferably enjoying some fun in the snow.
Although we're beginning to miss family, friends, and snowshoe racing,
we're very happy at our new location in New Zealand. Since the last
post, we made our way up the West Coast of the South Island. This is
NZ's most remote and wild area, and it's pretty sweet. Steep
rainforested mountains rise from a sometimes turbulent sea and
culiminate in huge glaciers and snowy peaks. In a couple of places,
glaciers go almost all the way down to the sea itself. It's one of a
few places in the world where glaciers are right next to rainforest.
We took advantage of this at the Franz Josef Glacier and went on a
tour that took us up and onto the glacier. It was pretty neat;
glaciers always make me appreciate the enormous power of nature.
We were also happy to take advantage of some nice running and hiking on the
West Coast. Miles and miles of pristine forest, mountains, and rivers
leave many other yet untouched possibilities.
From the West Coast, we headed northeast to Nelson, a Boulder-sized
city right on the coast at the base of some hills. We had been very
excited to see Nelson, and it lived up to all of our expectations:
great trails for training, sea and rivers for paddling, three national
parks down the road, cute city center, large enough to provide jobs
and community activities but small enough to feel like home. In
short, we like the place so we decided to stay.
We're renting a small apartment near town, and Amy already has a job
selling clothes (Travis is looking for one as well, but keeps getting
distracted by the great running, biking, and paddling opportunities
here...). Back to the credit card add above. Our apartment was
unfurnished, so we needed to get some stuff to survive in there pretty
quick. Luckily, Nelson has a great program that allows people to
bring stuff that would normally get dumped to a center that re-sells
the items on the cheap. So, we got all of the items listed above for
$100NZ. Our apartment is set and we saved a bunch of stuff from going
to the dump. Amy's new bike is particularly sweet: it's neon green
and says "Rocket" on it. She speeds down the street daily to and fro.
We celebrated Hannukah in style with some Israeli friends Amy met and a banana menorah (See pics), and Christmas will be spent with more new friends traveling from Belgium and Germany.
In one other news bit, please send your thoughts out to our friend
(and Trav's teammate) Danelle Ballengee, who slipped on ice running in
Moab and fell 60 feet, breaking her pelvis badly. Nellie spent two
winter nights out there before her dog, Taz, led rescuers back to her.
Thanks to Taz, the rescuers, and Danelle's neighbor, who called her
parents after noticing her lights were still on, and good luck to
Nellie as she recovers at the hospital in Denver.
That's all for now, and have a great holiday season!
Lots of love,
Travis and Amy
silverware, a mirror, a desk, a phone, and answering maching, computer
speakers, a blanket, and a bike...$100.
Spending summer in New Zealand...priceless.
First of all, Happy Holidays to everyone! We hope this finds you
happy and well, preferably enjoying some fun in the snow.
Although we're beginning to miss family, friends, and snowshoe racing,
we're very happy at our new location in New Zealand. Since the last
post, we made our way up the West Coast of the South Island. This is
NZ's most remote and wild area, and it's pretty sweet. Steep
rainforested mountains rise from a sometimes turbulent sea and
culiminate in huge glaciers and snowy peaks. In a couple of places,
glaciers go almost all the way down to the sea itself. It's one of a
few places in the world where glaciers are right next to rainforest.
We took advantage of this at the Franz Josef Glacier and went on a
tour that took us up and onto the glacier. It was pretty neat;
glaciers always make me appreciate the enormous power of nature.
We were also happy to take advantage of some nice running and hiking on the
West Coast. Miles and miles of pristine forest, mountains, and rivers
leave many other yet untouched possibilities.
From the West Coast, we headed northeast to Nelson, a Boulder-sized
city right on the coast at the base of some hills. We had been very
excited to see Nelson, and it lived up to all of our expectations:
great trails for training, sea and rivers for paddling, three national
parks down the road, cute city center, large enough to provide jobs
and community activities but small enough to feel like home. In
short, we like the place so we decided to stay.
We're renting a small apartment near town, and Amy already has a job
selling clothes (Travis is looking for one as well, but keeps getting
distracted by the great running, biking, and paddling opportunities
here...). Back to the credit card add above. Our apartment was
unfurnished, so we needed to get some stuff to survive in there pretty
quick. Luckily, Nelson has a great program that allows people to
bring stuff that would normally get dumped to a center that re-sells
the items on the cheap. So, we got all of the items listed above for
$100NZ. Our apartment is set and we saved a bunch of stuff from going
to the dump. Amy's new bike is particularly sweet: it's neon green
and says "Rocket" on it. She speeds down the street daily to and fro.
We celebrated Hannukah in style with some Israeli friends Amy met and a banana menorah (See pics), and Christmas will be spent with more new friends traveling from Belgium and Germany.
In one other news bit, please send your thoughts out to our friend
(and Trav's teammate) Danelle Ballengee, who slipped on ice running in
Moab and fell 60 feet, breaking her pelvis badly. Nellie spent two
winter nights out there before her dog, Taz, led rescuers back to her.
Thanks to Taz, the rescuers, and Danelle's neighbor, who called her
parents after noticing her lights were still on, and good luck to
Nellie as she recovers at the hospital in Denver.
That's all for now, and have a great holiday season!
Lots of love,
Travis and Amy
posted by Amy and Trav at 6:45 PM
2 Comments:
I enjoy reading your descriptive travel journal.
Bob Weiner
Cindy and I have welcomed a new family member to our home as we celebrate Hannukah at home with our friends.
My wife Cindy had been lobbying me to buy a 2nd pup to keep Shayna, our 2 1/2 year old black pomeranian company when we are not home. For the last two weeks, Cindy told me about a beautiful 5 month old tan colored pomeranian for sale at the pet shop. I responded that I did not think that our hectic lifestyle permitted us sufficient time to properly care for a second dog. With Cindy's pleas ringing in my head, I decided to visit the pet shop without Cindy's knowledge and immediately fell in love with the pup. I purchased the pup on the spot and brought him home to surprise Cindy. Cindy was quite surprised and elated to see the pup when she came home. We decided to name the pup "Mench". In Jewish, "Mench" means a kind & good hearted man. Our "Mench" is gentle, playful, loving, well behaved and very smart. Shayna is not quite ready to welcome Mench "with open paws" but she is warming up to him. Mench has essentially been caged his entire short life. Cindy, Shayna, Mench and I made our first visit to the Talley Day County dog park where we were greeted by many other friendly dogs, including Buddy,
Cindy and I have welcomed a new family member to our home as we celebrate Hannukah at home while also enjoying this Christmas time with our friends.
My wife Cindy has been lobbying me to buy a 2nd pup to keep Shayna, our 2 1/2 year old black pomeranian company when we are not home. For the last two weeks, Cindy told me about a beautiful 5 month old tan colored pomeranian for sale at the pet shop. I responded that I did not think that our hectic lifestyle permitted us sufficient time to properly care for a second dog. With Cindy's pleas ringing in my head, I decided to visit the pet shop without Cindy's knowledge and immediately fell in love with the pup. I purchased the pup on the spot and brought him home to surprise Cindy. Cindy was quite surprised and elated to see the pup when she came home. We decided to name the pup "Mench" or "Menchy". In Jewish, "Mench" means a kind & good hearted man. "Mench" is gentle, playful, loving, well behaved and very smart. Shayna is not quite ready to welcome Mench "with open paws" but she is warming up to him. Mench has essentially been caged his entire short life. Today, Cindy, Shayna, Mench and I made our first visit to the Talley Day County dog park where we were greeted by many other friendly dogs, including Buddy, who is my brother Larry's dog. Although Mench was clinging to mom and dad at first, he eventually began to overcome his timidness. We will return to the bark park again often.
Chag Samayach (happy holidays) to you!
Bob & Cindy Weiner
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