I ate a burger the size of my face!

After spending 2 nights on the Routeburn-one of New Zealand's great walks-Aimee and I decided a Fergburger was the way to refuel.  Queenstown is like a smaller version of Pigeon Forge, TN.  Lots of crazy activities and food all over.  Fergburger is famous in the area-Aimee and Clay ate there several times after hikes.  I am not kidding when I say it was as big as my face-really more bread than meat, but after 2 wet windy days on the Routeburn the burger was perfect.  The rest of the afternoon we spent hanging around town in the warm sun-got some ice cream(pistachio and fig) interesting combo-wouldn't get it again, but good.  Listened to live music and enjoyed our Sunday!
Today, Tuesday we are waiting out a storm.  8 inches of rain on the way.  Not really ideal when you need to cross rivers on a hike. 
Pretty sure we were in hurricane force winds last night- the tent held strong, but not great for a good night of sleep.  Haven't had one of those in days.  Going to see a movie this afternoon-they serve hot cookies at intermission-perfect reason to see a movies if you ask me.

Laughing all the way!

Pretty sure Aimee and I were the only ones laughing on the trail yesterday.  We had to stop a few times so we could breathe.  What is heaven like?  According to Hanna, no pants required(just shorts) and full time pow pow. Oh yea, pretty sure there would be water skiing-glassy water only please-and lots of mountain biking.  Some topics we covered cannot be discussed here-due to reader demographic : )
YesterdayJan 25 Wed. was really a piece of heaven from the time we got up until sleep time.
Tramped on the Kepler Track, swam in the largest freshwater lake in the Southern Hemisphere, saw a little owl(Athene noctua) not sure how I saw him though, had a dinner that was better than ever(avocado, tomato, tuna and crackers and Timtams for dessert-chocolate cookie Aimee loves-she'll have an unlimited supply of these in heaven I'm sure.  Think we may have kept up the neighbors with our laughing once we got to bed.  Good times had by all and livin' large.

Random photos

Jurassic Park-actually Zealandia

Tramping around Mt. Taranaki

Luxmore Hut on Kepler Track-we didn't stay here though

a few of the 1600 stairs on Mt. Taranaki

Mt. Henry

Luxury dinner after a better than fine day on Kepler Track
tuna, avacado, crackers, tomato. Perfect ending to a fantastic day!

Light Nights,Cold Nights

Random night last night-Jan 25. hand delivered a wedding invitation of a friend's nephew to The Red Cliffs Restaurant in Te Anau. Moggy, was very surprised and shed a few tears when she realized Jordie wanted her daughters to be the flower girls for the service.  She gave a us a beer and told us to stay at her place for the night.  Sweet!
We set up the tent in the yard-near the woodshed. Even at 10:15 pm it was still light out. Guess, that's what you get this far south of the equator! Apparently, I tend to sleep diagonally in the tent or up against the tent wall as if I'm trying to escape.  According to Aimee-I get all up in her space! I think it was because it was so cold and I was just moving to try and stay warm.  Who knows?

Off to hike on one of the Great Walks-The Kepler Track tomorrow

We Sleep in Frontyards. We Pee In Woodsheds (also in the frontyard).

I apologize for the delay in blog postings. I have tried several times to upload some stunning videos, but no luck so far. We are working on a mini series entitled "Nerdy Naturalist Moments With Nanette." You will want to see that.

Dinner of Tuna and Crackers.

So far life is going awesome while we are here in the South Pacific. We have climbed a volcano with zero visibility most of the way up. We participated in some possum hunting while at a backcountry hut. Hitch-hiked with some random Canadian kid that was trying to move in on the corner we were working. We saw a tuatara. Josie nearly fainted. We scored a free frontyard to put our tent up in thanks to a hand delivered invitation to a wedding in Lander, WY. After waking up in previously mentioned front yard I could barely crawl out of the tent due to a full bladder. I contemplated being civil and using the bathroom but was afraid the dogs would start barking and wake up the self proclaimed 5 3/4 year old. I had no choice but to use the wood shed as my personal privy. It was a first for even me. Today we swam in the biggest freshwater lake in the southern hemisphere, Lake Te Anau. Tried to hitchhike a ride onto a ski boat, but were sadly unsuccessful. Heading back into the backcountry for a couple days in Mt. Aspiring National Park and Fiordland National Park.

Top 10 list in the works, "Top 10 Things that Cause Josie deS Bryan to say, "Wow That Is So Cool, While The Rest of Us Roll Our Eyes." Stay tuned..

Kaikora Beach, where we were thwarted twice in our attempts to see Sperm Whale.

Tuatara sighting in Zealandia.

We found better uses for the helicopter pad.

Some pretty steep down climbing made easier by stairs. Mt. Egmont National Park.

Summit of Mount Taranaki.

Sleeping Under a Different Piece of Sky

After a mind numbing amount of travel time Josie and I found our way across the Pacific Ocean to Auckland. Our travel time was pretty uneventful but we kept ourselves entertained by developing top 10 lists. It all started with a flight attendant that reprimanded me for sharing a very important story with Josie during her safety demo. We determined that if her safety demo had been a little more Bon Qui Qui I might have been inclined to pay attention.
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuEu0t-PiNM

Top 10 Reasons Why Our Flight Attendant Was Having Such A Bad Day

10. She made a sub-optimal underwear choice for the day.
9. Passengers did not listen to her safety message.
8. People touching her. She almost tackled a small boy that tapped her on the arm.
7. Passengers ask her questions.
6. Her occupation requires her to wear panty hose.
5. She had just found out her kids were going to be Park Rangers.
4. She wanted to be on the Frontier plane with the grizzly bear on the tail instead of the bighorn sheep.
3. Pissed she doesn't get to eat the chocolate chip cookies they pass out.
2. Josie asked her for cold milk to go with the cookies.
1. She saw that the passengers in 10 B & C were making a Top 10 list about her.

On Orbit

After high demand Josie and I decided to start a blog to keep you all updated on our location and status. We will be leaving the mountain time zone shortly headed to the southern hemisphere. Many hours from now and several marginally good movies later we will touch down in Auckland and will commence with the shredding. We look forward to updates from your corners of the world as well :)

Luckily before we left Colter Bay yesterday a friend of ours left us a sign pointing us in the right direction. Good friend.

Bon Qui Qui

I met Josie Bryan officially in June of 2011. A couple months later we decided it would be a good idea to travel to a foreign country together. Our deep appreciation for Bon Qui Qui solidified this decision.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZkdcYlOn5M