New Zealand Skies

New Zealand Skies

Today my friend Inbal and I were driving in our rental car to a little surf town on the west coast of the north island of New Zealand called Raglan and saw the most spectacular rainbow. I think the most fabulous one I have ever seen…no kidding. Oh course a photo could not capture the brilliance of it but I’ll include it in my photos anyway. Truly I have found the skies here to be some of the most amazing of any of the places I’ve visited.

I should really fill you in first on the south island. After leaving the ashram, I spent two nights in Nelson to re-group; do laundry, catch up on emails. I did a couple of runs as well as explore the small city of Nelson. I also managed to get to a yoga class which I enjoyed. I met some friends of my friend Pam and had a wonderful dinner with them. When leaving Nelson I connected up with two of the girls from the yoga retreat, Jess and Inbal, and drove down the west coast of the south island. The weather Gods were smiling upon us and gave us some incredible days of sunshine to enjoy the many sights along our route. We walked along a seal colony in Westport, saw the pancake rocks and blowholes, Franz Joesph glacier and Fox glacier as well as Lake Matheson which is know for its reflective lake views.

One of my favorite places was Wanaka and the backpackers we stayed at was great. It overlooked the lake and was nice and clean. We went to this great cinema where they have mostly couches to sit on and you can get glasses of wine and fresh cookies right out of the oven during the intermission. Yum!

Next we went to Queenstown which is known to have just about anything that an adrenaline junkie might want….for bungi jumping to sky diving to glacier flights. Needless to say I did none of these since the cost is high and the weather was cold and fairly wet. It was nice to see the town again since I had been there 20 years ago. Queenstown seems much more touristy but still beautiful. The rest of NZ seems pretty much the same; very relaxed lifestyle here.

From the south island Inbal and I flew from Queenstown to Auckland, rented a car and headed south on the north island. Raglan is a great coastal town on the west and known for its surfing. We stayed at a youth hostel in little cabooses on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Today we are moving on to Rotorua.

I just wanted to get a blog out and some photos since I was able to borrow a computer charger. I left mine in Wanaka at the backpackers…oh well! I must be ready to get home if I’m starting to forget things. I’ll be back in the US on the 8th of June so just about a week to go! I plan to enjoy every moment.
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