well well well

So a lot has happened since I last left you.  Last time we talked, Sarah and I were in Queenstown.  From Queenstown, we drove towards the west coast and up towards Greymouth yet again.  We saw Wanaka with is puzzling house, Franz Jospeh Glacier, Fox Glacier, Hokitika, and up to pancake rock for a second time.  We witnessed a rescue operation at Fox Glacier which was pretty rad.  When we pulled into the car park, there was a helicopter and a nuch of fire and search and rescue people milling about.  Shortly a second helicopter arrived as well as a second helicopter.   The two helicopters took off and were seen landing on the glacier.  They brought a man back to the car park fully strapped to a back board to be loaded into the waiting ambulance.  We found out later that the man was on a guided walk on the glacier when a land slide took him down seriously injuring him.  Pretty crazy stuff.  

At Greymouth I headed east for about 15min towards Dave North's skate factory.  He hooked me up with a couple of decks, a pair of Indy's, which are almost impossible to come by in NZ, and some bearings.  Deane, the skate shop owner in Greymouth finally hooked me up with some wheels to complete my setup.  I am still in awe of the hospitality of the people over here.  Dave didn't make me pay a dime for any of the stuff.  After spending the night in Punekaki, we drove over Authurs pass.  We stopped at a place called Castle Hill which is basically a bunch of huge boulders on the side of the road.  It is a rock climbing mecca.  There were heaps of climbers around just playing on the rocks.  We then drove into a rock and back into Christchurch.  I should clarify that I drove into a rock as Sarah was not at the wheel.  There happened to be a huge rock the size of shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot at Castle Hill.  I'm really glad we opted for the extra full insurance on the car.  In Christchurch I have been going to a local skatepark everyday that has a super fun steep pocket.  Today we finally rented a flat.  Its really nice and the guy that owns it cooked us a steak dinner to welcome us into the house.  

The guy that owns the house, Rob, has some real promising leads for some bar-tending work for Sarah.  He seems to know tons of people and has heaps of contacts.  In addition to rental property he owns a construction company so I've got options when the park is done.  Its been a pretty rad day today.  Its the first time in three months that I have had some stability.  For once I don't have to wake up in time to vacate a camp site or move on in fear of a park ranger.  We can actually buy groceries for more than two days.  Its really nice to settle down after months of being nomadic.  Christchurch is a really rad place and we are looking forward to being able to call it home.