Activities <<<<

Having Rob and Claudia here for this first week, its been a whirlwind of activities and seeing the town. Its a nice transition to have friends here during the first uncertain week. Familiar faces and comfortable friendships.

We decided to go river rafting on the Shotover River - an activity I've never done before and for some reason never considered it daunting. But as the moment loomed and we suited up, I must admit I was nervous. We boarded a small van with several other people from around the world and headed off on our journey through the mountains to the starting point. I've never in my life felt more unsafe in this van. We were literally on a one-lane gravel road hugging the side of a mountain. One side mountain, the other a steep and deep cliff edge leading to certain death should we somehow not make one of the many tight corner turns. One could literally look out the window and not be able to see the ground beneath the vehicle. My palms are sweaty just typing this. As we rolled along our guide started giving us a safety speech. Again, I wasn't really nervous about rafting as I know countless people who have done it, but this guy was giving us the safety instructions like we were all about to step into a raft of death. Guess that's part of the fun, eh? In any case, the rafting experience was spectacular. We rolled along through the most beautiful scenery and mountains and during the crazy rapids we held on for our lives! So fun.

We celebrated with a night out on the town. Notice how the girls and guys found themselves on opposite ends of the pub. Oh, and notice the polite and lovely girls, while the pesky boys make faces in the background. Classic.


My sweet Claude. I will miss you, dear friend!


Caitlin and Loren have this amazing house a couple of miles out of town. We played lawn games amidst amazing views and the wafts of delight coming from Caitlins cooking! One thing to note: I'm really enjoying the architecture here. Most homes are made from stone or metal and the design is typically very modern and clean.