tickets!

I bought my ticket to New Zealand the other day! I'm soooo excited, I'm not sure I can wait 6 months to go. I leave 24 January-9 February. I think I picked a really great time to go, as that is the height of my winter depression here in the Pacific Northwest, & work actually signed off on 18 days of vacation. YES.

So, I called Jenn, my bestie-almost-sister who lives in Wellington, & we started making itinerary plans already. She's thinking that she & her husband, Gavin, will drive up to Auckland to meet my plane, & that we'll camp around on the northern coast for a few days before driving back down to her town. I think that's amazing! She also recommended that I start composing a list of top things I can't leave NZ w/out doing, & things that I'd like to do, if we have time. So, here is a rough mix of ideas that I've thrown together:

+ swimming w/ the dolphins off Kiakoura Pinsula (South Island)
+ shoreline walk & seeing the seals (off Kiakoura)
+ 90 mile beach (from Ahipara to Scott Point, North Island)
+ rugby game
+ sea kayaking
+ Dunedin distillery (waaay South Island)
+ Hobbiton
+ whale watching (though I hear it's better to go after April)
+ Te Papa Tongrewa (Wellington museum)
+ WETA
+ cave rafting the Waitomo caves
+ parasailing
+ skydiving
+ geothermal day spa
+ Tongariro crossing (volcanic walk)
+ Auckland Maritime Musem
+ Tall ships tour!

I know that's a lot of stuff already, but I'm just throwing things out there, not taking into consideration price. They're will be plenty of time to stress about that later.

The good thing is that a few of the super-typical things to do in NZ, I've already done when I was there 13 years ago. (Kiwi farm, Aggrodome, Rotorua, Maori marae experience--though I'd do that again.) I just feel so lucky that I have the opportunity to go again. Maybe it's bragging, but I've been able to see some pretty amazing things in some amazing countries, & to be able to go back to one of my favourites & see it from another perspective is worth so much to me.