Travel's broadening influence
The big adventure is over! We have returned from New Zealand and washed and put away our gear. I have around 1400 pictures to go through and I've begun posting a few on Facebook. We left spring's lengthening days and returned to a cold snap in a Midwestern fall. It's all very disorienting! It was a fabulous trip! There were some challenges; I was worried I wouldn't be able to do the hiking but, with Rick's help and encouragement, I kept on keeping on. I will say, though, that the 6km round trip hike to a waterfall nearly killed me! As a resident of the Midwest, I'm not used to hills! There was one day trip to Milford Sound that we were not able to do, due to an avalanche blocking the road through the mountains. It was disappointing, but a couple of days later, I got to photograph the sunrise in the hills above Lake Wanaka and the disappointment (at least for me) faded. The new experiences more than made up for the challenges. A lot of the wildlife was unfam
