HI! It's been a while, 3 months since the last post! Hope everyone is doing well and enjoyed the summer up there. We've been pretty busy working and getting used to living life down under.

Barley and Shyster arrived on July 20th (yay!) and 30 days later were released from quarantine. The quarantine was more like a pet hotel, so they were doing pretty good in there. After about one day at the house, they were running around like happy kitties who never made the big journey.

Barley and Cat cuddlin in the quarantine.

Shyster feeling triumphant upon arrival!

Shyster and Barley sitting in the NZ sun at the house...

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Snowboarding season here is from about late June - early October. The first time we went up was in July to Mt. Ruepehu in the middle of the North Island - an active volcano! Although our trip was geologically uneventful, there are warning systems on the mountain for things called "Lahars" which are mud flows from when the crater overflows when it erupts. The photos below are from a later trip we took down to Mt. Hutt in the South Island. The Southern Alps are awesomely pretty and have more powder than the North!

This is a bungy platform in the summer

Beautiful!

Cat taking a photo two snowboarding wizards...

Then all these random people wanted to join in!

We went down for a friend's 30th B-day - here's the crew!

Playing in the powder!!

Austin takes a head first route down:

The birthday boy, wearing a cape on this epic day....

Kea parrots - mountain birds!
Food is scarce up here for the birds,
so the ski resort has warning signs
that these snow parrots might chew
the rubber off your door seams!
Here they are in the video, eating a hat.



Afternoon fog rolling in at the lift.

Ski patrol helicopter. This came in handy twice later on in the night. There was a "Big Air" competition with guys on dirt bikes doing flips in the air and snowboarders/skiiers going off jumps! A couple of the guys crashed but were not injured too bad.

Austin, doing a little grocery shopping in the town of Methvin at the base of Mt. Hutt.

It just so happened to be October Fest while in Methvin...

our group partook in the festivities with a little dancing of our own!

Some scenery just outside Christchurch:
The river water really was this bright blue!

No trip to the South Island is complete without getting road blocked by a herd of sheep!

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No photoshop here - This is from a weekend trip to Rotorua in August for Cat's birthday! We went to these geothermal sulphur spots that had bubbling mud and steam rising right out of the ground. The whole town smells like rotton eggs!

Apart from the smell... we thought it was pretty amazing!
Cat waving hello from a sulphuric cavern!

You have to keep on the path because

the ground around it is bubbling!

At first Austin was taken a bit off gaurd from the danger...

Some more bubbling green stuff...

This reactor was just down the highway... hmmm...

maybe all these "geothermal" green ponds aren't natural...?!

Some cool steaming sulphur craters: This little spot

is called Craters of the Moon in Taupo (next to Rotorua).

It was raining out and

we were the only ones out there...

....a bit eiry, but totally awesome! One of our

favorite places that we visited!
Looks a bit like a fire...

Good news! they are harnessing the energy under the

ground here at this geothermal plant.

Austin at the Huka Falls river in Rotorua!

Huka Falls still...

We completed the Rotorua weekend adventure

with some kiwi-invented road LUGING!

Check it out - it's like Mario Kart!

MISS YOU ALL!!!