On the rocks.

Franz Josef, NZ. We ate PB&J at the nose of the Fox Glacier today, watching the icy runoff and listening as it dumped rocky debris and split apart.

Jason & Sarah

Sweet as.

Franz Josef, NZ. The Tasman Sea is warmer than expected. We spent yesterday driving the southwestland, which is marked by rocky outcrops that crumble into the ocean. The Tasman is not for swimming as it pounds unrelenting. The water is an inviting Caribbean aquamarine, a clean blue like the glacier water that runs beneath the bridges that span the highway's ceaseless river crossings.

New Zealand is a perpetual national park, with every view and vista scenic and every 100 meters a new preserve. If all of America's national and state parks sat back to back along a highway, that would approximate our road trip here, thus far. The landscape possesses spectacular variety.

We're camped at the base of the Franz Josef Glacier, and will hike the nearby Fox Glacier today as soon as the weather breaks. All that is available is an ancient computer, so we'll post pictures later.

Jason & Sarah

82 kilometers done. And done.

Karamea, NZ. We just finished the Heaphy Track, a Great Walk that runs along the northwest coast of the south island. We have been hiking 15 - 27 kilometer days for the past four days, tent camping on mountain saddles and river deltas, and crashing in huts when the rain and cold drove us indoors.

The Kiwis like their tramps uphill and fast. We had trouble from the start meeting the time estimates for each leg of the track. A five hour section took us eight, even if we booked it. We thought this tramp, marked as a casual, easy trail, would be just that, but it turns out tramping in New Zealand requires a brisk pace we're just not interested in. We like to stop and see the scenery, take a few pictures, soak it all in.

Which we did, but the long hikes wore us way down, as we spent twice as long on the trail each day as everyone else. No training, perhaps, played a role in this. But Christmas dinner at a delta on the rough Tasman Sea, even if it was a freeze-dried chicken and rice concoction, and the late-night sunset on that rocky coast is unbeatable. Excellent first Christmas and 6-month anniversary. And we got the chance to try out our gear. Our best "kit item" - as a fellow hiker from Wellington put it - would have to be the super compact cook set, used every morning and night, and the water filter, used several times a day for some of the best tasting water we've ever had.

We are beat up. Sore and sand-fly bit. We're recovering at the Last Resort hotel in Karamea at the southern end of the trail before heading back to Nelson by bus tomorrow to retrieve our brightly painted van and then head farther south to shorter trails. The place has a green roof, sod and plants hanging off the top, and edible landscape out back where they let me grill up my own 17-ounce T-bone steak. Sarah had what she'd been craving: a mountain of salty fries (chips).

And they had Old Dark on tap.

Jason & Sarah

PS: Merry Christmas!

Not a single damn Hobbit.

Nelson, NZ. New Zealand is amazingly beautiful, constantly. We got out of Auckland fast at the suggestion of everyone we met after landing: We landed on the last day of work and school for New Zealanders before they take a long holiday. However, traffic New Zealand style seems to just mean there are other people on the road driving the speed limit, just like you. I'm not sure what they would make of Los Angeles.

Our plan was to spend a few days on the north island before heading south for our first big tramp. However, we found that we needed to book a ferry passage between the islands ahead of time, again because of the holiday, so all we could get was 3 a.m. the morning of Dec. 21, basically a day after landing. So we spent our first afternoon and the day after on a leisurely drive to Wellington (distances are short here, despite the Kiwis thinking a few hours drive is a quite a long one). The north island is green like Scotland. Sarah says it is like all the best parts of California in one place. All the Kiwis have told us, "Just wait till you get to the south. It's really beautiful there." Maybe it's because we're from out of town that we can't tell the difference between one bit of beautiful and another.

We knew it would be our kind of country when shortly after we landed we saw a sign that read "Earth before politics." Also, all the food is excellent and seems to be organic or locally grown. The bread is great. I had one of the best burgers I've ever eaten last night at the Pheasant Plucker Pub, one of the oldest in the south. We discovered a brilliant beer called Hearty Black there. Night before last in Wellington we visited the Backbencher Pub (at Mark's suggestion - thanks, Mark), and there we found another great beer, Old Dark. Kiwis know how to brew. Their only shortcoming seems to be that they are all tired, dangerously so based on the road signs every 100 meters that warn people to pull over and take a nap, that yawning is a sign of fatigue, and that driving tired is the same as driving drunk. They're not afraid to illustrate in graphic detail what happens to those who get sleepy behind the wheel. We haven't noticed New Zealanders to be any more sleepy than anyone else.

Anyway, great time so far. We just finished finalizing our plans for the Heaphy Track, which we will leave for this afternoon and be hiking for the next five days. With roadsides so picturesque, it is hard to imagine what the back country will be like.

Jason & Sarah

7 to the 28.

After much delay on our part we were finally able to reconnect with Stan and Jeannette and pick up our full set of pictures from the wedding — all 1,386 of which are amazing. We've enjoyed sorting through them during the past week and being reminded of our wedding days.

Actually, the timing is great. Flipping through the pictures and re-experiencing the wedding is the perfect send off for our upcoming honeymoon.

Which we leave for in seven days. While we're in New Zealand we'll post a few notes and pictures here — so check out the blog for updates. Four weeks should be just enough time to re-invigorate us for the spring remodel: Despite finals, during the past week we managed to fit in getting a new garage door, and we took delivery of our new kitchen cabinets. Two massive pantries now stand in our living room, and the garage is half-filled with stacked base cabinets.

But before that all takes shape, back country tramping. Lots of it.

Jason