Rainbows and Waterfalls... All in a Days Drive!

Queenstown, New Zealand

May 14, 2007

I don’t like repeating myself everyday, saying how beautiful and pristine everything in New Zealand is, but it really is. Everyday brings something new, even as we drive down the highway to our next destination.

Today we drove around two beautiful lakes—Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. The bright indigo lakes were encircled by golden hay colored mountains, splashed with grey shadows from the dense white clouds passing overhead. A few of the highest mountain peaks had a powdered sugar dusting of snow, other crests were still waiting for their first sprinkle, to prove that Winter was indeed on its way.

After an intense rain during a good portion of our drive, the clouds parted, allowing a glimpse of blue sky; revealing a massive rainbow that sank perfectly into the lake ahead of us. We quickly pulled over for a photo opportunity, but I think rainbows tend to be dreamlike and are best captured with memories, rather than cameras.

In the foreground, the rough shrubbery varied in shades of green from mint, to sea-foam, to a deep, dark green against the blue background of the lake. As we turned the corner, away from one lake and towards the other, the mountainside was burnt orange against the granite. We weren’t sure if it was shrubbery or a type of moss growing on the side of the towering mass.

Hawks floated over empty pastures, barely moving their wings, before diving down to feast on a piece of road-kill—usually the dreaded Australian possums. The hawk wouldn’t even look up from its meal as we zoomed by.

The rain came down hard at times, causing waterfalls to seeming sprout from the mountain side, but the weather didn’t prevent us from taking in the beauty at every single turn along the twisty highway. We continued to marvel all the way to Queenstown where we’ll spend the next three nights.

24x7x365:

It has been awhile since we’ve done a 24x7x365 update, but one thing hasn’t changed—we are still together. The holiday parks in New Zealand do provide us opportunities to do our own thing for part of the day. For example, since we use communal showers, we are separated during shower time.

One thing that has definitely changed in the past few weeks is the conversation. Since I’ve been having problems with the tube that’s was inserted in my ear a couple years ago I’m now deaf in my left ear, or pretty close. Marc now has to repeat almost everything he says, and since I already have to repeat everything I say for Marc at least once, we figure our conversation has increased threefold since my latest ear problem. The good thing is… I can read lips. “Whew, I am talked out,” says Marc.