Hello. I have been back home since Tuesday night. The whole trip was awesome, not a single mishap (ok maybe one or two).  I have finally got around to uploading all of the pictures from the trip to my online photo album. To check them out, go here: http://photos.ruin.net/v/NewZealand2011/

I recently completed an all-day bicycle tour of the Marlborough wine region. It was clear and sunny but also very windy! I think I did tastings at 8 wineries and one brewery. Yep, a brewery! It is called Moa and all of the beers (lagers, pale ales) were very good. As for the wine, the region produces mainly white wines. They tasted great but I prefer red wines. Each winery did have one or two reds to taste but they always stressed the region isn’t best suited to producing reds. I thought they tasted great but I’m no wine connoisseur. But I had a great time and got wasted, so it was all worth it.

I recently drove to the fat south of the South Island, to a town known as Bluff. Bluff is the gateway to Stewart Island, which is a smallish island just south of the South Island. However I didn’t go to Stewart Island. There’s a walking trail at Bluff that goes to the southernmost point of the South Island, and that’s what I walked.

I also went to a town called Akaroa, near Christchurch. This town is unusual due to the fact it was originally settled by the French, so all of the street names begin with “Rue” and such. Pretty cool views.

Kia Ora! I hope everyone is doing well. I have just returned from a long hiking/camping trip in the South Island. I haven’t been updating because of lack of Internet access. I am now in Queenstown enjoying such luxuries as a hot shower.

The hiking trip was quite eventful, to say the least, and it included mountain climbing, nearly getting blown off a mountain due to heavy rain and gale force winds, a meal cooked in the traditional Maori manner underground with hot rocks, and a hike on a glacier, among other things. I’ll post a few photos here.

Don’t think this is the end of the NZ trip. There’s still more to come!