Mt cook!

,m gonna write this post just as fast as I can because I wrote one two days ago that got deleted when the phone froze. So hopefully time, powwers of the universe, and lance Armstrong will be on my side this time. As per the title, we are at the base of Mt cook, new zealands highest mountain. I'm actually looking at it this exact moment! And boy oh boy is it big! We are here with a special guest, Mr August Caimi, who has joined us here. We have had a lovely time today, taking a walk throug hooker valley and over some precarious bridges. I do believe that mr caimi and the girls might have even forded a river today, during a period of activity afectionately dubbed 'daddy adventures.' These adventures often include singing marine corps songs, coming home in need of a band aid and are generally character building. Needless to say, we're into it. Since mr caimi has been here we have been doing lots of fun things like going to the cookie factory, playing a TON of cards, he and the girls went on a horse riding trip, taking hot showers and being otherwise taken care of, including the luxury of not driving (which is quite a luxury, as they drive on the other side of the road here. We have so far been pretty safe and managed to avoid such quintessentially new zealand road hazards as herds of sheep and loose cattle). Today, after the trekking and river fording, we went on a little dingy across a glacial melt lake. There were HUGE icebergs and we drove almost right up to the face of tasman glacier, the longest one in new zealand. Glaciers, it has been officially decided by the group, are way cool. Several days ago, at the begining of our time with mr caimi, we did another conceptually similar (in a cold, Antarctic sense) activity, one which was for Jess the fulfillment of a life long dream. We were driving from christchurch and were headed to dunedin, when we realize we just had to stop in oamaru. Not because it was the home of a big cheese factory(thoug it was), but because...omg!... It is home to two colonies of penguins! Yellow eyed ones and little blue ones! So we went and we saw and were awed by cuteness. Oamaru itself reminded Me of the old mining towns in Colorado, down to seedy bars with cheesy wall paper and bar tenders with big mustaches. We met somelocals who invited us to act in a TV commercial. We declined due not to lack of interest, but lack of time, and went instead to see the penguins and then to a hear some atrocious cover bands at the Penguin Entertainment Club, where Laura (rightfully dispointed with the quality of her bottled beer) was gruffly refused a fresh drink after the barman sampled and returned her flat and now sullied beverage. The real highlight of the evening, next to the penguins, was the awesome old dude playing the harmonica. He shredded! I'm talking a rival to the greats. We will be in new zealand until the tenth, when we take an oh so early flight to Melbourne, australia. We are excited. Mr caimi is here for 6 more days. So we will continue to make the most of it!