New Zealand

I had this idea that I'd somehow be able to write all about our six week trip to New Zealand when we got back home, but as the days go on and life falls back into a more familiar pattern, I realize that it's a rather daunting task.  We visited so many places, and experienced so many things that it was more of an expedition than an extended vacation. As an artist, I was visually overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the place, and felt that anything I tried to photograph or sketch to be inadequate by comparison... And now, as I sit down, looking at my notebooks stuffed full of scribbles and oddments found in various pockets -- phone numbers, shells, sea-worn stones -- I think, "How in the world can I describe it all, much less even a part of it?"  We climbed volcanoes; we explored caves; we walked across boiling thermal pools and stood on top of a glacier. We hiked a 33 mile wilderness track, drove over 2900 miles, and encountered some of the rarest birds and animals in the Southern Hemisphere.  It was, in short, amazing.















Hopefully over the next few weeks I'll be able to share more scans and photos, as time allows.  Who knows? I might even find a way to express what I experienced in paint...