Thoughts of New Zealand so far...

So far New Zealand and the Contiki trip have been awesome.

I knew New Zealand was going to be an awesome country, when I found out Sir Edmond Hillary was on the five dollar bill.

It seems like every drive is epic. The mountains, river, and lakes are beautiful. Everywhere I go, I think its a perfect picture. Here's an example:

(Hanging out in the Southern Alps)

The wildlife is pretty cool. Seeing penguins, seals, and the flightless Kiwi bird. Most people think the Kiwi people are named after the fruit, but they are actually named after the flightless bird the Kiwi. The reason why it is flightless is because there are no natural predators in New Zealand, so it stopped needing to fly.

New Zealand is an adventure paradise. Everywhere you go is bungy jumping, jet boating, rafting, etc, etc. There is also tons of hiking (called tramping in New Zealand). Some of the top tramps in New Zealand are considered the best in the world.

Everywhere you go, you see mountain bikers and road biking. I think it is a paradise for it. The people doing it are not just young males. You'll often be walking down the road, and suddenly see an older female ripping past you on a road or mountain bike. People are running (for fitness) everywhere.

All of the prices are multiples of 5, so you don't have to deal with pennies. I think it cuts down on the amount of chain you have.

Obviously the Kiwis themselves are super nice and always have a good attitude to everything.