Missives to Moose

After a couple days exploring Tokyo, and a week skiing in Hokkaido, we started our working holiday in New Zealand. We spent our firet  week in New Zealand beaching and birding all the way from Auckland to Akaroa to Rakiura. Now we begin our South Island hike or "tramp," as the kiwis say.  Both of us had the dream of visiting before we turn 30 and it’s coming true! My 30th is fast approaching this May 30th so I made it just in time! One of the questions I am asked most is why New Zealand? As a kid I remember looking in a coffee table book of 100 most beautiful places in the world. There were several photos of New Zealand that caught my attention, but I really became interested when I heard there was a long distance trail going through the South and North island called the Te Araroa. We will be hiking the South Island portion which is about 800 miles and it will take us around two months to hike if all goes according to plan. Once the snow falls, I hope to work on ski patrol at...

Katie and I are, in fact, uprooting ourselves and leaving the U.S. It has felt strange for me to hear it described as “moving to New Zealand”, though, because we do intend to return. In the meantime, this blog will be our way of keeping family and friends updated on our travels. Ask anyone who has tried to keep in touch with me via text or social media and you will find that I’m no good at it. Katie is better, but a blog seems like a more streamlined approach to sharing updates with all the people who may want them. We intend this blog to be the central repository of not just news from our lives, but also lessons learned, tidbits of wisdom gathered, and questions unanswered. We also encourage our readers to leave comments and questions: engage with us, push us to expound and explain. This will be a casual blog: we will not stand on ceremony. We may alternate authors, we may write some posts together, and our timing will also vary. Our first couple of months in New Zealand will be spent...