Pictures

So, one of our good friends on our island, Mandy, does an amazing blog. She is so much more creative than Ry and I and she takes WAY better pictures. She has a great post talking about Cyclone Ian with pictures of the island that was hit hard here in the kingdom. She also has some great pictures of our group at training this past week. You should totally check them out!

http://beneathabalconyofstars.blogspot.com/

Hello again!

Fun Fact: On a list of the 25 least visited countries in the world, Tonga ranks #19. So if you feel the need to spend large amounts of money, come on out and tell us hello!

http://www.garfors.com/2013/01/the-25-least-visited-countries-in-world.html

Tomorrow, Abby and I will board the The MV 'Otuanga'ofa for a 24-28 hour boat ride back to Vava'u. We will pass by the island of Ha'apai, Tonga's third largest which was completely devastated by Cyclone Ian. This will be sad to see as we are all praying for Ha'apai. The Peace Corps Volunteers who were assigned there have been pulled out as the island is 80% destroyed.

The positive side is we could not be more excited to get back to our home, school and Lucky. We have been on the road since December 17th and are so ready to be home! We will resume your regularly scheduled blogging soon.

'Ofa Atu!

PS~The positive side of being in the capital today was watching the Donkeys beat up on Brady and the Pats. Apologies to our dear friends in Seattle, Nick and Liz, and all my Chiefs brothers, but I love Peyton so we are on the Broncos bandwagon :).

Heli Hiking

So, the last big thing Ry and I did was heli hiking in Franz Josef Glacier. We were supposed to do this with our friends Ted and Jess, but the day we arrived it was POURING. So, we couldn't hike for obvious safety reasons. Ry and I chose to sit in this small little town in hopes the weather would clear in the next couple of days. What do you do in a small town where all activities are geared toward being outside? Well, according to Mr. Kloberdanz, you eat donuts. Three days and God knows how many donuts later, we finally got our chance to heli hike. Heli hiking is taking a helicopter to the base of the glacier, which is still really high up! Then, we spend the next few hours trying to hike up it as far as we can go. we then had to hike to another helipad to get lifted out. Pretty much one of the coolest things I have ever gotten to do.

Ryan promised me a heathy breakfast before our big hike. He took me here, to the local donut shop. Fanstastic work.

Sitting in the cockpit of the helicopter!

The ice was unreal!

Our guide had to cut us a trail through the ice.

New Zealand- Part 2





Well, Ryan and I finished up our New Zealand trip and we are back in Tonga. I know most of you are living in a deep freeze right now, but I cannot describe how HOT it is here! Yikes! After almost three weeks in the cool



New Zealand weather, I totally forgot how uncomfortable such heat can be. Hopefully we adapt quickly :) Here is just a smattering o f

pics from our trip. We will get more from our friends later to share!









View of Wellington, from our hotel.

 









We visitied the national museum of New Zealand called Te Papa in Wellington. Housed in there is the world's largest giant squid, which could be categorized as Uber cool! 





Here are some pictures of our sea kayaking trip with Alexe. We were able to see tons of seals on small outer islands. Alexe took way better pictures of this, but here are some of ours for now:

Here is the boat we slept on after a day of kayaking. The next day we woke up to hike Abel Tasman National Park. What a beautiful and well kept place!





We sea kayed in, slept on a boat and then hiked out the next day. Abel Tasman is truly one of the most gorgeous national parks in the world.

Ryan and I chose to hike Ben Lomond Peak in Queenstown. Everyone we were hiking with had a ton of gear, and we couldn't figure out why. The peak was actually a TON higher than we thought. It was soooo windy and cold! We were so unprepared, but it was a beautiful hike.

After hiking, Ryan and I treated ourselves to a luge down the mountain. I totally beat him!