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