Hello from Nelson Lakes New Zealand!!

Things here are still going really well! We have been traveling around New Zealand in a campervan and staying in National Parks, Mountain Lakes, etc... all have been extremely beautiful, but don't offer much connectivity ... feel lucky to get a hot shower :) We are in route now to the West Coast of the South Island and found an internet cafe in a small town called Westport. It's been a while again since we've updated and there's so much to tell so we'll just give you some highlights for now and continue working on the pictures to give you more detailed descriptions... cool?

Thailand:

We ended up extending our time in Khao Lak so we could spend Christmas there, attend the Tsunami Memorial and attend the New Year's party at the Orphanage. Our last few days there were really special! Christmas didn't feel like Christmas at all, but it was a ton of fun. We had gotten the girls from the Orphanage a gig to perform their Thai Dancing at the Le Meridian during Christmas Brunch, but when we showed up there was barely anyone there so they went and danced at at Memorial celebration instead ...because they are Budhist they celebrate the death/new life of their loved ones. We took 3 of the girls back to our hotel, fed them lunch and took them swimming. We had sooo much fun and such a treat for the girls... they never get to go swimming so they were pretty excited. After they left we took a walk on the beach to see sunset... was beautiful, but we ended up walking too long and got stuck on the beach in the dark. It's completely safe except for the attacking mosquitos and the rocks that break Rachel's toe... yes I said broke Rach's toe! It was really dark and we were hauling you know what to get back to the hotel when there was a big rock that jumped up and picked a fight with Rach's right foot.. unfortunately the rock won and Rach was left with a broken toe :( That night we met up with a bunch of friends we made in Khao Lak and had a huge Christmas dinner consisting of Spicy Thai Salad, Lab Kai (spicy chicken), and some cheap wine (it's all you can find in Thailand). It was a really good night and a great distraction from missing our families during the holidays.

The next day was the Tsunami Memorial... we knew this was going to be a tough day. We spent most of the day at the orphanage helping the girls get ready for some more Thai Dancing and then watching them dance at another Memorial. We then sat in a HUGE line of traffic (and there's never traffic in Khao Lak) trying to get to the big Memorial at the beach. We were so worried we weren't going to make it, but we got lucky and ended up being able to follow some crazy locals that drove down the other lane and then ended up behind the Princess so they moved us even further along. We got close enough where Steph could walk and Rach could hobble along side her :) On our way down we ran into a girl who works at the Le Meridian and that we'd gotten to know from our visits there. She used to work at a hotel that was completely destroyed so she lost a lot of her friends. She was there on her own so we stayed with her through the ceremony. The Memorial itself was really spectacular. The princess gave a nice speech and then they let off 5000 huge lanterns that float up into the sky... was really the most beautiful thing we've ever seen and it was like you were sending people off into Heaven. After the ceremony we headed down to the beach to find all of our friends! There was a lot of crying, but overall it was a really positive time and people were really happy to be there remembering their loved ones.

The New Years Party was at the orphanage was the next day.. it was a huge success. Over 200 kids came and you could just tell they were having the best time. Each kid got a New Years Present and we had wrapped them ahead of time to make it more fun for the kids... many of them had never opened a gift before. It's very different than at home...they were just cheap toys and many kids got something that wasn't even for their age or their gender, but they were still really excited. We also did a big shop down in Phuket to buy a bunch of clothes (many of them even needed underwear) and handed those out. We've never seen people so greatful just to get a new t-shirt! That night after everyone left, Rotjana, several of the kids, and her entire staff gave us a send off we'd never forget. Rotjana started crying as did several of the kids as they were hugging us goodbye. Steph held it together pretty well because she knew we were going back, but Rach completely lost it. We all basically cried, thanked eachother, and promised we'd meet up again in March or April. It was so hard to leave even knowing we are going back.. we can't imagine how it's going to feel leaving next time.

On a positive note, we have some GREAT news on the volunteering! We raised enough to build the house, buy Christmas (really NewYear's presents) for all the kids, and sponsor atleast 9 kids for a year!

We bought Bai's land and managed to get it filled before we left and now have some good friends that are going to make sure it gets built. Our last update told us the concrete was poured yesterday. We had wanted to have it happen before we had to leave, but with theTsunami Anniversary.. it just couldn't happen.

While we were there we also spent a lot of time helping Rotjana with the business side of things. The orphanage really needs money to build a real orphanage (it's currently a tent) and for basic necessities so Steph and I put our business skills to work. We created flyers and donation boxes and then pitched every hotel, grocery store, internet cafe, etc. and convinced them to help us by putting our donation boxes and flyers on their counters. It ended up being a huge success. Not only did we raise money for building the orphanage, but people also took our flyers and brought food, toys, washing machines, fans, and more directly to the orphanage. Was really an amazing experience to be able to see the direct effects of our efforts. Every day Rotjana had a new story about something that happened as a result of the advertising :)

We ended up staying in Khao Lak for over 3 weeks and it felt like we had a full time job the entire time, but we loved every minute of it. Leaving Khao Lak was sooo hard (we shed many tears), but we can't wait to go back to volunteer a little more, see our friends, and of course.. see the finished house for Bai. We are sooo excited!

Australia :
There's not a whole lot to say about Australia just yet because we were only there for a few days over New Years, but we can tell we are going to ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! It was gorgeous and sunny the whole time, the people are really friendly and there's lots to do :) We will be going back to do more, but in the short time we were there we went down to Sydney Harbour for a good dinner with a view of the bridge and drink with a view of the Opera House. We then spent New Years at Darling Harbour and had a blast. We hadn't been out partying in a while so we did it pretty big. Steph's brother has a few friends there that hooked us up with tickets to a hot spot on Darling Harbour. We first went to a house party with some friends we met a few nights prior (they are also now currently in NZ so we've been able to have some locals show us around here too!) and then met up with Steph's brother's friends and danced the night away. Steph even made a guest appearance on stage with the DJ.. it was hysterical! We were then at the airport a day later and were stopped by a few people who said "Were you at Cargo on New Years? You were the one dancing all night on stage weren't you?" And she was famous :) We didn't get to see the fireworks at Sydney Harbour, but there was also a show in Darling Harbour that we watched from the deck of the bar. We were going to go and watch the big fireworks, but fighting a million people wasn't so appealing.

New Zealand:
We are in NZ now and have been for a few days. It's absolutely GORGEOUS here, but the weather isn't so great. It's been sunny somedays, but still cold and windy. We rented a campervan which has been really cool, but haven't been finding many people our age... we are hoping now that we are on the S. Island we'll find more. We started up North and hit some really cool little beach towns, but it wasn't beach weather. We then headed to Rotorua to sit in some natural hot mineral pools and see the huge steaming geysers. We then headed to a town called Ohakune to do an 8 hr. hike on the Tongariro volcano with the friends we met in Sydney... it was an amazing experience. We've never gone across so many different types of terrain and through so many weather conditions in one day.. it felt like we did 3 separate hikes. Wait until we get the pics up and you'll see what we mean. It was blue sky and sunny when we started and then FREEZING cold, super foggy, and blowing harder than we've ever felt towards the top. We were walking in a volcano though so it was still really cool.. just felt pretty dangerous because the wind was litterally blowing you over and it was sooo cold you couldn't feel your fingers. Once we started down it all changed though.. turned into more of a national park type scenery.... views of lakes, lots of mountains, trees, etc. It was still windy, but warmed up quite a bit.You ended on a path that felt like you were in the jungle walking next to a river. It was crazy.

We just spent a few days in Wellington and absolutely loved it! Between Rach's friend Rob's parents, our new friend Shane (who we met in Sydney) and Jill (a new girl we just met when we pulled into town) we were completely hooked up! We didn't even need to go to the campsite to hook up because we had a place to camp along the beach, gym passes so we could work out and shower, and tourguides to show us the city.. it was a blast! We've been hiking almost every day, but having a gym for a few days was really nice!

We took the boat the the South Island two days ago and are now headed to the West Coast. We stayed one night in Blenheim. It just happens to be the main town in New Zealand's biggest wine region, Marlborough, so we, of course, did some wine tasting! Our new friend Craig (another one we met in Sydney, but is from NZ) met up with us yesterday to show us the good vinyards and now is making the trek with us to the West Coast. Went to about 4 vinyards and bought a bottle to have a picnic.. the picnic ended up being in the van though because it was raining.. wine was still yummy :) We spent last night at the Nelson Lakes at a campsite that had a view of the Alps... stunning! We were going to hike the alps today, but the weather isn't cooperating... rainy, cold and windy :(

So we have to sign off because we have a long drive ahead of us. Sorry we didn't get the pics of New Zealand up yet... we'll do so soon.

Miss and love you all.
Rach and Steph