An Early 25th Anniversary trip

With Angela deciding to go to Bible College in New Zealand this past fall, Rick and Jennifer took advantage of the opportunity to do a bit of traveling and to celebrate our 25th anniversary a year early.  We flew with Angela through Vancouver and Sydney, Australia to Christchurch NZ, where we rented a car and toured the south island for one week with Angela and an additional two weeks after dropping her off at Capernwray Bible College in Geraldine, NZ.

We drove about 3000 kms total, in a figure-eight around the south island, taking in many incredible sights.  Rick gave his new camera a workout, taking about 1500 photos.  Jennifer was very patient with the photo stops, and together we enjoyed many kilometres of ‘tramps’ (as the Kiwis call them) through the gorgeous natural spaces for which New Zealand is famous.

One of our favourites was Milford Sound on the west coast, where we were blessed with a sunny blue sky (where the annual rainfall is nearly 11 metres!).  We took a cruise on the sound and enjoyed the pleasant storytelling of our guide.   The drive around the entire south and west coast were filled with incredible scenery almost around every corner.  We stayed one night in the gold rush era Arrowtown, and nearly froze in a small cottage on the beach in the Catlins.  We were fascinated by the boulders at Maoraki, and visited with lots of seals on the north east coast.  We spent one early morning in Picton kayaking on Marlborough Sound.

The week before we were to leave on this vacation, our whole trip almost didn’t happen as our babysitting arrangements for Benjamin, Sarah and Natania fell through.  We were blessed by the last minute offer from many of our friends to share the task over the three weeks we were away.  For that we are very thankful.