A week of Friends.

This week has seen the most socializing I've done in a long time.  It's exhausting!  When you make friends you don't sleep, moral of the story.  I've done something every night this week - Monday basketball, Tuesday bike ride and hang out at Lindsay and Anna's place, Wednesday soccer, Thursday karaoke and then guitar at L & A's till late, Friday hike with Lyn and fall asleep early.

Best week ever.  Lyn and I have discussed this a lot - how glad we are to part of this group of people who care about each other and the Earth and being outside and good food and gardens and crafts and being together.  Everyone's got such an infectious enthusiasm for life and I find it rather wholesome.  Tim said it's quite like being back at uni but without the exams, and I think he's right on the mark.  That was what I loved about college, living in such a close to vicinity to so many friends with similar interests and goals and feeling so welcomed by them.  It's nice to belong.

So if you can't guess, things in Te Anau are swell.  Work is going well - I'm learning new things all the time but every day feeling more and more competent with questions and answers.  I've met a lot of people in my job, of course, and quite a few from the States - who always look at me strangely when I start to talk and somewhere in our conversation they can't resist mentioning that I don't sound like a Kiwi.  Some people turn out to be pretty inspirational - like the couple from Montana who sailed here on a boat from Florida and are waiting out hurricane season in NZ before sailing off to wherever they go next, or the Kiwis who are walking the whole of the Southern Alps from south to north.  There's the hut ranger on the Routeburn Track who started collecting money from walkers to fund stoat traps in the area since he's noticed a big decline in birdlife over the years, and the hut ranger on the Milford who's going to be the next face of DOC in a promo deal with Air New Zealand.  So many do-ers out there!

Even Lyn, bless her heart, is serious about getting out and about as much as possible - since we have the same days off until January, we've hatched a million and one weekend plans, which actually come to fruition because we're both keen to actually make things happen.  I wouldn't have seen half as much of the area as I have without her.

I've really come to love this area, as much for its people as for the incredible landscapes around.  The lakes are cool, the rivers are cool, the forests are cool, the birds are cool, the mountains are double cool. And there's so much of it to explore.  And so much of it to share with people.  My first visitors will be a couple friends from CC, Max and Lindsay, who are coming to Fiordland around New Years.  Woo!  Hopefully I get to show some other friends or family around too (hint, hint: come visit!)

And speaking of visiting - I'll be heading up to Taupo on the north island for a week in January to visit Cory!  He's been working as a kayak/bike/raft guide and at an outdoor store there - busy, happy, and far away.  We've already got more ideas for things to do than we'll have time for, which I'm excited about - Taupo seems to have lots of cool activities and I look forward to checking them out.  And yes, I'm taking this vacation on paid leave days from work.  Reason #2461 why I love my job.

Sending love from almost halfway between the South Pole and the equator.