How is it almost March?!

How is it almost March already? The time is going by really fast, and we only have a week left in Akaroa and at our jobs at the restaurant. The weather has been better the last couple weeks and we have spent some of our free time at a nearby beach. Hope everyone at home is enjoying the winter! We also had a nice evening out for dinner (at the same restaurant we work at-but the food's amazing!). It was to celebrate Chris' birthday/New Year/Christmas/Anniversary... and our only proper restaurant dinner since we've been in NZ.  We had mussels and a caesar salad to start, followed by steak (for Wes) and venison (for Chris). Yum.

steak, potato croquette, bernaise sauce

venison on potato douphinoise and pear

pacific ocean

Akaroa

enjoying the sun with other travelers in akaroa

le bon's beach, 20 min drive from akaroa

We are saying goodbye to Akaroa in a week, on March 4 (tuesday). We have planned a three-week tour around the southern half of the South Island, along the east coast through Dunedin and the Catlins conservation park, all the way to Bluff. We'll be sleeping in the van. 

We are also going to Fiordland Park, where we will be taking an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound.  It's our one 'Splurge' -- We are paying $750nzd ($625us!!) for one night on a boat!  But it's going to be amazing and we'll take lots of pictures.  From there we'll go to Queenstown, Mt. Cook, and maybe a couple other places before heading back towards Christchurch.

Our plans after that are kind of up in the air-- we want to be back on the North Island by April 1 so we have time to visit everyone on our way back to Auckland.  Our plans are to go to Wellington for a couple days, then back to Feilding, then Hawke's bay, and if the weather's nice we want to do the Tongariro Crossing- the most popular one-day hike (and also Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings movie).  Then back to Auckland, where we fly to Los Angeles on April 17.  It's going to be a busy six weeks!

We are excited about seeing more of the country in the upcoming weeks but are also looking forward to coming home. We will be back in Albuquerque on Tuesday April 22 after a few days in Las Vegas!

Can't wait to see everyone and meet the two new family members!

We will post another update in a few weeks, after our tour around the south.