Backblogging: New Zealand August/September 2013

I almost did one big post to sum up the last six months, but have decided to "back-blog" them instead. Basically there's just no way to squeeze these particular six months into one post. Also, I don't really care what rules there may or may not be about that. I figure if it works for me and the four people who read this blog then that's what's happening...so here we go.

Right after our trip home in late July we flew back to Singapore for about one week before our long awaited trip to NZ. We have packing down to a science, but this was exciting because not only were we packing for two weeks of backpacking in winter weather, but also for one week of summer back in America directly afterwards. Of course we flew America-Singapore-New Zealand-America-Singapore in one month's time. Totally normal. Luggage zipped up we headed to our home away from home: Changi Airport!

I have to mention this because I was beyond excited about this: I GOT TO TURN LEFT ON THE AIRPLANE!!! Cody surprised me with Business Class tickets for the long flight to Christchurch and I just couldn't even contain my excitement. (I also broke a glass and spilled my water bottle....the seats recline REALLY far) Needless to say I totally fit in and was in absolute heaven!

An even fancier lounge than we usually go to

When we arrived in Christchurch we proceeded to pick up our rental car and just kept telling ourselves that, "we could do it!" Remember, NZ drives on the "wrong side of the road" with the steering wheel on the, "wrong side of the car". It was actually easier than we thought, but the passenger always felt a little close to the shoulder! We drove about 5 hours to Mt. Cook where we stayed the night at the Aoraki Court Motel, but not before stopping for some beautiful pictures at Lake Tekekapo and grabbing some groceries for the trip!

The essentials 

Church of the Good Shepard

Lake Tekekapo

We woke up early the next morning for a hike around Mount Cook and tried out our new GoPro. We were able to see some large glaciers before driving 3.5 hours to Oamaru where we stayed at Chillawhile Backpackers.

Side of the road-Lake Tekekapo

We woke up early since we had about a five hour drive to Te Anau via Dunedin. On the way there we stopped at the Moeraki Boulders and had our morning quiet time. They were a pretty interesting thing to see! Huge, round rocks just smack dab in the middle of the surf. 

Otago Peninsula 

Incredible Reminder of God's Promise 

Beautiful Sunset- almost to Te Anau

We spent the next two nights at the YHA Te Anau hostel. Highly recommended! Our first full day there we had booked a kayaking trip at Milford Sound so we had an early morning pick up and were all too ready for bed when we got back. The next morning we were up early again for the drive into Queenstown. Majestic is the word for Milford Sound. Absolutely Majestic. We kayaked for about 4 hours all around in a group of 3 and loved every minute! God's creation is wondrous to behold. 

The drive to Queenstown was about 2 hours from Te Anau and we stayed at the YHA Queenstown for the next two nights. The highlight of our time there was the Nevis Bungy jump. 134m high and 100% adrenaline!!! We were also able to visit Freedom Church on Sunday evening and really enjoyed connecting with fellow believers in this corner of the world. 

Bigger people had to go first... 

Cody screamed, but loved it

I had to wait a long time for my turn: Nervous

Didn't make a peep, but Isaiah 26:3 was going through my head at the end! 

We did it!!! 

We left Queenstown after lunch because we decided to squeeze in a morning snowboard run at The Remarkables before making the 8 hour drive to Hokitika (On the West side of the South Island). We arrived after almost running out of gas to sleep at Birdsong Backpackers. This place was amazing! Our room had heated blankets and we could hear the ocean nearby; it was a much needed restful night of sleep. The next morning we started our journey North towards Westport via Greymouth with a stop at the Punakaiki Rock Formations. They're also known as the pankcake rocks and were really cool to see. New Zealand has some incredible geography. When we arrived in Westport we were able to visit the local brewery for some tastings and hung out with some locals before staying the night at the TrippInn Hostel- this really cool Victorian era house that had been outfitted to several rooms with a huge kitchen and was the perfect place for us to spend the night. 

Our next two nights were spent in Nelson at the Warwick House bed and breakfast. Our cozy room was the perfect accommodation after a week + of backpacking hostels. We had a wine tour set up in advance and really enjoyed getting to visit several local wineries and taste some of New Zealand's best! We even brought some home with us. 

We rounded out our vacation back in Christchurch where we stayed in an actual Jailhouse for one night...Don't think I ever want to go to prison for real. Christchurch was still very much affected by the 2011 Earthquake and most of the buildings downtown seemed abandoned. We still had a lovely time there finding a great place for dinner and were in a good location for our departing flight.

New Zealand was truly the trip of a lifetime! We saw the wonders of God's creation right in front of us; specifically with the sheep. Did I mention NZ has sheep everywhere? We couldn't help but see why the Bible's use of sheep as an example for believers was so perfect. We really do need our Shepard. We loved our time together and have been thankful for the ways in which God has been faithful in our lives. Thanks for checking up on us! 

Love,

Christie & Cody

God Bless the U.S.A.

We are at the very tail end of our three week USA visit; it's bittersweet as I'm typing this at the Chicago airport. I'm excited to head back overseas and I'm feeling encouraged and refreshed after having good conversations and time spent with friends and family, but you just can't replace people and we are going to miss those close to us! At least we get to sit at the United Club.

We arrived in Houston on July 24th, just in time to get ready for Matt Murray's Wedding. Matt and Cody have been friends since high school and Cody was honored to be a groomsman. Being as jet-lagged as we were, Cody and I were able to spend some quality time together between the hours of 3:00am and 7:00am when the rest of the world wakes up. On our first morning there I had, basically, the best idea in the world..."Let's go get in line and be the FIRST PEOPLE AT SHIPLEY'S DONUTS!!" This idea was communicated at around 3:30am; I was awake, Cody was not, but once he heard donuts he was into it. In case you didn't know, Shipley's is kind of a big deal in Houston, the donuts are great the kolaches are better and both of those are best when HOT! To save you all the trouble, the original location is open 24hrs and the hot donuts don't get made until 5:30am...we had an hour in the car waiting on them, but it was totally worth it. We were also able to go run Memorial Park; ironic as that sounds after the donut story...but we had never done it when we lived in Houston. It's a 3mile trail and we were able to bring our sweet Vizsla, Lauren, with us. Matt and Liz had a beautiful wedding weekend and we were so thankful to have been included and able to attend all of the festivities!

We spent the next four days in Austin. Cody, Lauren, about 38bags, and I all crashed into Christina's welcoming home. Cody had to work at the Austin office, but I was able to spend the most amazing quality time with Christina during the day. It's amazing to think that we've been best friends since our junior year in high school. We drove to College Station for our regular dinner at Christophers and lunch at La Bodega. These were places that we frequented while at Texas A&M and it was fun to relive all of those memories. We also tried to eat as much Mexican food and Chickfila as possible and I'm pretty sure we did. There were a few pureBarre classes in there as well so we tried to balance it all out!

Tyler, Texas to see my mom, Katelyn's wedding, and a Grace Girl's Reunion were next on our agenda. This was our 4th annual weekend to get together and I am so, so glad that my friends were flexible and planned it on a weekend that I could attend!! I know how rare it is to still call these women (we're totally old enough to call each other women, weird) some of my closest friends. Most people can't wait to get out of high school, but with friends like these; I could have stayed forever! My cousin, Katelyn, also got married the first weekend that we were there to Tyler Sullins. Their ceremony was an uplifting reminder of what marriage is about and an encouragement to me and to Cody to continue, "fighting the good fight".  Beautiful couple! We were able to stay with my mom, Julie, and had such a good time catching up and hearing about all that she's working on and doing. We are really proud of her. (Can kids be proud? We are.) She also took us out to eat all of the Tyler favorites including Don Juans and Shoguns... it's amazing how much you miss food!

West was the direction that we drove from Tyler, towards the town of Hico, Texas. My Dad and Amanda recently moved back to Texas from Colorado and purchased a property close to GrandBoo's ranch. We spent five whole days playing with two dogs, two cats, and two precious little brothers. William and Jackson turn 3 & 4 this month! My dad and Amanda thoughtfully planned their birthday party for a weekend that we could attend and we just had the best time. Snow cones, a bouncy house water slide, and cake...what's not to like?! I'm also a, "velcro daughter" so it's great to have closeness with them.  Newt and Lorie, Blake and Amanda Rae were able to come, as well as Doug and Shirley and three of their grandchildren. We had a great time with our family! Cody and I were even able to practice parent for a whole 24hours- we LOVED it. Cody even learned how to give a spanking...he, apparently, was a perfect child and has only just been introduced to Farrar genetics. Good practice, because when we have kids, they will be 1/2 mine! haha! I was able to have so many great conversations with my family and am beyond blessed to have prayer warriors and women of wisdom around me.

We turned the car around and headed back to Houston for some quality time with Ricky (Cody's Dad) on Tuesday, packed on Wednesday, and flew to  Chicago on Thursday. Cody's Mom and Dennis drove to meet us last night and we were able to have a wonderful dinner and breakfast with them before heading to the airport today. What a labor of love to deal with the traffic and come all the way from the Milwaukee area to see us!

Our hearts and our tummies are so full! (I had Whataburger no less than 5 times) We're so grateful for the time we had with those that love us and will just draw on those memories as we embark on our journey back "home" to the Far East. We will be in Singapore for 9 days and then we'll be going on a BUCKET LIST TRIP to New Zealand's South Island. We've gone through some trials recently (That's life) and we are excited to have some time where it is just us and where we will be able to pray and listen to the Lord and what His plan for our life is. I think looking up at the mountains and glaciers is a perfect place to do that! We will update during or after that adventure. Thanks for checking up on us. We love you!

Christie & Cody  

Suzhou, China & Seoul, South Korea

A few weeks ago Cody had a work trip to Suzhou and Seoul; I got to tag along. It was our first trip to South Korea! Here are pictures of all the cool stuff we did! WE'RE COMING BACK TO TEXAS NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!