Finally,the FIRST of the 2006 updates. The link for the photos of week one on my Kodak gallery should be coming in a separate email (if AOL will let me).

..but before I get to the updates, here are some other December happenings that I forgot to mention last time.

EARTHQUAKE. Jenn and I had our first NZ earthquake experience! At 9:09 PM Dec 13th, we felt a quick jolt that lasted about one second and shook/rattled the whole house! Exciting. I texted our neighbor, Cindy, to see if they felt it too. CONFIRMED! Good times. Jenn decided it was time we bought some bottled water (part of the earthquake survival kit). I found a web page that lists all the earthquakes in New Zealand. I entered in our info to report what we felt (small as it was) and a few minutes later saw that the earthquake was listed (although it was not because of my report). It was 4.5 on the Richter scale. Check out the web page. http://www.geonet.org.nz/recent_quakes.html Porirua is the next town north of us - so as you can see it was very close, just a few miles north east of Tawa. Seems that people watching King Kong in the cinema thought it was all part of the special effects. Just waiting for the big one...

FLOOD. Not exactly, but reminiscent of the "flood" from the burst water pipe in our last apartment in Plano. The night before my mom arrived in NZ, I heard an unusual rushing water sound and then water started pouring through the ceiling in our living room. I plopped a bucket under the leak then ran out to investigate. The neighbors' TV was on so loud they had no idea there was a problem. Seems they has something wrong with their washing machine. I helped them soak it up, then went back downstairs to my own deluge as there were now three leaks in the ceiling spraying funky water all over the carpet.and my travel maps and notebook. Strategically places more pots and pans, blow dried the notebook, then went to bed glad it didn't get my computer. Since then the leak happened two more times, once when we were not there, and a really bad one when we were. It's fixed now.

And finally..Mom and Kelly Explore New Zealand (Week One)

I was all ready for my mom to arrive on December 30th, so I called home to make sure her flight was on schedule. When I called, my parents had just found out that cancellations and subsequent delays would cause her to fly out the next day instead. So TAKE TWO. On New Years Eve, Cindy picked me up and took me to the airport to pick up my mom. Since there really isn't any security in the Wellington airport, we were able to wait right at the gate! Mom and I had our reunion and then made our way to our first adventure. Cindy drove us up to the top of Mt Victoria - an old volcanic cone that overlooks Wellington and the harbor. I told Mom that I was sure the steep walk up to the outlook was the steepest we would be hiking during her trip, but I am not sure she believed me. The weather was great, so we had a great view. That afternoon we had lunch at a Turkish restaurant in the city, then went home to relax and get ready for the Country Western New Years Eve party that Brook, Katie and the gang were throwing at their house that night.

Mom and I, armed with our cameras and dressed up in our jeans, pearl-button snap shirts, bandanas and cowboy hats, walked over to the party. Brook had asked us to come over early so we could take lots of photos. When we arrived the live band, including talented Andy, was warming up - they sounded amazing with a wide selection of country songs. Impressively, they had learned most of the songs in just a few days! All the guests, many members of the Blueprint congregation, started arriving dressed in their best Country Western interpretations. This included one in full Native American garb, several overall wearing country bumpkins, a guy in white thigh bearing cut-offs, a horse, and plenty of cowboys and girls. One guy even had a Bush t-shirt from the last Republican Convention. BBQ, music and lots of fun made the night quite memorable. Mom and I went home around 11 pm since we were both tired, but we heard the countdown and fireworks from my flat.

New Year's Day Mom and I hit the town. We rode the train into Wellington then walked around the city. Many of the shops and restaurants were closed due to the holiday, so we ended up at McDonalds on Lambton Quay for lunch. We window-shopped along Cuba Street and walked along the wharf. We enjoyed the informative exhibits in the Te Papa museum, including the postage stamp exhibit that I hadn't seen before (remembering all the fun times I used to have with my grandpa when he shared his collection with me). We made it back to Tawa in time to have a delicious dinner back at Brook and Katie's house with the gang and Brook's parents.

On the morning of January 2nd we started our South Island adventure, taking the InterIslander ferry Kaitaki down to Picton. The weather and wind were pretty ferocious this morning - Mom got a real feel for Wellington gusts as we pulled our suitcases to the dock. The ferry ride was quite eventful too with the rough sea, waves crashing against the boat and lots of seasick passengers. Once on dry land, we picked up our rental car and groceries, then headed out along the North part of the island - passing vineyards, bays and farmland. My plan was to make it all the way to the west coast so we could see the sunset on the beach, which meant several hours of driving. Along the way we stopped to do a short walk up to a lookout over the Takaka Valley and another walk through a scenic reserve - this was Mom's first taste of the amazing plant life we would see around the country. We checked in at our accommodation for the night, a hostel called The Innlet. I was pleased because it was one of the nicest I had stayed in so far - so I wasn't taking Mom to anything scary right off. We continued driving to the Puponga Farm Park, farmland run by the Dept of Conservation. Here we found a walking track across the farmland to Fossil Point - a beach just near the edge of Farewell Spit (the last long spit of beach that makes up the very end of the island and edge of Golden Bay). Since the sun sets so LATE being so far south, we were able to enjoy the evening light until around 9:30pm. The beach was long and wide with large swells out in the distance, thin layers of water rushing up onto the beach and gusts of sand swirling about. I could tell this was not the beach I had intended we go to since I didn't see any large arch rocks out in the water. Later we found out we should have driven further to get there, so we scheduled that for the next morning. But, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We watched the silhouettes of a lone shepherd and his dog herding sheep up on a hill and then met a very friendly young sheep that let us pat him and take pictures. We even caught sight of a hedgehog rustling through the woods at the end of our hike.

The next morning we drove to Wharariki Beach, on the other side of the beach from the night before. We had a beautiful walk through hills and farmland then hit the huge sand dunes leading to the beach. It really took a lot of effort to walk through these shifting formations! I sunk up to my ankles several times attempting to make my way down. We were also trying to be extra careful to in order to prevent our cameras from getting sandblasted. We finally made it to the beach where we enjoyed the views of the arch rock formations off shore and the waves coming in for high tide. The crazy photo taking by mom and daughter had begun! In the car again, we drove back over the road along Golden Bay. The lady I met on my trip to Mana Island told me that Golden Bay was her favorite place in New Zealand and the my mom would especially enjoy it because the area was known for its artists. She was right. I found a Guide to Artists of Golden Bay map, so Mom was able to pick out several of the places she would like to stop. Before we got to the main artsy town of Takaka, we visited a few artists' home workshops, including a linoprinter and potter. We also stopped at Waikoropupu Springs ("Pupu" for short), the largest freshwater springs in NZ and supposedly the clearest water in the world. Astonishingly clear, the water allowed you to see everything it covered. We saw "dancing sands" - sand being swirled about from the force of the spring water bubbling up from underground. We had a picnic lunch there and pleasant walk through the Scenic Reserve. Once in Takaka, we visited all the art shops along the main street - so many varieties of art and local crafts! We also had a meal of pumpkin soup and the yummiest kumara (golden sweet potato) chips at a café. That night we stayed in a private room at a motel in Nelson called Footprints by the Sea - still had to share the bathrooms, but it was a big step up from the hostel.

January 4th we woke up glad that the rain cleared up from the evening before so we could explore Tahunanui Beach near our motel. This beach turned out to be a seashell hunter's dream! We had such a great time finding all sorts of exotic NZ shells and even live sand dollars! Sadly realizing it was time to head on to our next destination, but finding we came at just the right time for shelling as the tide was coming in, we drove on to Westport further south on the West coast. We went to Cape Foulwind, aptly named for the smelly colony of seals that make it their home. We sat in the car eating lunch during a sudden downpour, which cleared just as quickly as it came, and then we got out to walk along the path toward the seal colony. I was thrilled to see two weka birds, unique flightless New Zealand birds, along the path. At the seal colony we were fortunate to see plenty of playful pups since it was the month after they were born and they were still hanging out on the rocks with their mothers. From Cape Foulwind we drove to the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes at Punakaiki. Adam and I had been here the month before, but came at low tide. Mom and I arrived just in time for high tide, the best time to experience the place! The water was so powerful; literally shaking the ground as it hit the rocks with a giant roar then soared up over the rocks and into the air. We watched, listened and felt as the surging seawater shot up between the limestone rocks and hissed through the blowholes - so much fun! After the Pancake rocks we drove to the Coal Creek Falls walk just outside of Greymouth in Runanga. At the beginning of the trail we met two older men, one of which was local to the area and felt the need to become our tour guide. Nice guy, who shared lots of history about the mining days of the local area, but a bit awkward for us. We stuck with it a while, but then lost them as we were making multiple lengthy photo stops. The actual falls were not as impressive since the water was rather yellowish brown from recent rains, but it was still another good hike - around two hours. All our hikes were about double the time they were supposed to be due to the frequent snapping of our camera shutters! That evening we stayed at the Global Village hostel, known for its internationally themed rooms. Mom and I made spaghetti in the community kitchen and during dinner we got to experience a sudden heavy hailstorm and a rare clap of thunder (don't hear thunder much in NZ)! What a day.

January 5th our adventure led us through Arthur's Pass on the crossing over the Southern Alps on the way to Christchurch on the East coast. I had been along this route on the TransAlpine train ride twice before, but never driving. Mom and I stopped at a good viewpoint so we could see the viaduct that makes what was a treacherous road in the past much safer for travelers and also to take photos of the lupines. We arrived at Arthur's Pass just in time for a break in the drizzle to hike to the Devil's Punchbowl waterfall. Another spectacular walk - past rocky streambeds, all varieties of trees and birds, up to the impressive falls, with glimpses of the snowcapped Southern Alps in the distance. We ate lunch at a café and decided to keep moving since the weather was not looking promising for another hike. As we continued to drive east the rain cleared and we decided to be spontaneous and stop in the middle of nowhere near a suspicious number of cars parked along the road. What we found was the Kura Tawhiti - a conservation area with random massive boulders all over the place. Rock climbers' heaven! The size of the boulders was amazing - I scrabbled up a few with Mom calling out warnings from the ground below! Daisies were everywhere and the weather was perfect to enjoy the wonders of the park.

Moving on (how many things can we do in one day?), we arrived in Christchurch to make a quick evening tour of the town. We had less than 30 minutes before the Art Museum closed, so we did a whirlwind walkthrough. We toured the Cathedral downtown, ate pizza at my favorite pizza restaurant (now the third time I'd eaten there), walked around Christ's College (school with beautiful architecture) and the Botanic Gardens, then settled down to sleep at the YMCA. I shared the surprise I had for Mom telling her that the next morning we had to wake up at 4 am to get ready for our hot air balloon ride!!

So, that's the skinny on week one of Mom and Kelly Explore New Zealand. I wrote this before we left for Australia - obviously I didn't get it out.but now you can check out the photos on my NEW photo website with Kodak. The link should be coming. Enjoy!!