Hey From New Zealand

I got into Christchurch on 2/25. I cant even begin to describe to you what I was seeing and smelling, but it was amazing. In Antarctica, all you see are the colors of the buildings (which are all pretty much the same colors), the brown dirt, white snow, Red and Orange vehicles, and the blue sky (sometimes). Well These colors aren't in any way the brilliant colors that I saw when I got off the plane. Colors that we take for granted every day of our lives, but after not seeing them for so long it is incredible to get to see them again. Next, the smells... Everything green, everything growing has an amazing smell that you don't smell on a daily basis until you are not exposed to them for a while. When the door opened on the plane you start to smell these smells, but they become stronger as you walk between the airport and the CDC as you walk past grass and flowers and bushes. Hearing the wind blow through the leaves, listening to the river flow past you, seeing a water fountain on the building side, these are all things that you see, hear, and smell. The best way I can express the way I felt with all of this was that I was experiencing all of it for the first time, I felt like I was 5 years old, getting excited about everything that I came in contact with. You slowly begin to not notice the smells as much, but the sights and the sounds are still new and exciting. I petted a dog and all I wanted to do was keep rubbing its sweet little head, it didn't matter if it was one of my dogs or not, it was a dog... Little kids are the same way, you don't see little kids and so when you see them or hear them, you want to play with them, well I haven't done that yet, I will wait do to that until I get home,

On Tuesday I booked the rest of my trip home with a week lay over in Auckland and then flying into Fresno, which I will just miss that flight, for the same day (that way I wasn't charged any money, otherwise it would have been $90). After I got my ticket booked I met up with a few people that I knew that were headed south... They were going to Dunedin, a town on the beach, 5 hours south of Christchurch. I stayed at a campground on the outskirts of town, near the beach, I had a few things that I wanted to do in Dunedin, well actually on the peninsula, there is a Royal Albatross rookery (the only one that is located on a mainland), and see the yellow eye penguin (the rarest penguins around). These two birds are both amazing and when I get a chance I will post some pictures. I hired (rented) a car in order to get out there, well actually the car I hired needed to get back to Christchurch by today so I didn't have to pay for a rental, just the fuel for it. I drove back to the city today and I will be here or around doing different things and traveling different places until 3/15 when I fly up to Auckland.