Sorry for the Absence

Hello friends and family. All is well on the travel front. Sorry I have not kept you up to date for the last four weeks. A lot has happened since my last update. I have gone sailing on Lake Taupo, gone on many beautiful day hikes over mountains, around volcanoes, through gorgeous New Zealand bush, and hikes up to glacier faces. Robert has already come and gone. We had a great Christmas with plenty of sun and good food. I am currently in Queenstown and have been here for ten days now. There was six days of straight rain and it was pretty cold as well, not quite what I was expecting for summer weather but what can you do. I am currently looking for a job so I can keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach every day. Considering how little I spend on food I am eating quite well, I am hungry quite often but that is because of all the activity hiking, cycling, and having to walk everywhere for things. I have picked up a few recipes along my travels and I am constantly looking for new meals to prepare. I am in the kitchen every day and am preparing fresh food more than I ever have in all my life so my coulinary skills broadening beyond what I pick to put on a Chipotle burrito. Besides friends and family, of course, it is the Chipotle burrito that I miss most. It is hard to believe I have been gone for almost two and a half months. The backpacker lifestyle has become second nature to me and it is hard to leave a backpackers every three to four days. I broke a personal record in Queenstown for consecutive nights spent in one destination since I set off from Auckland and I am booked for my tenth evening. I am planning to head back to Wanaka, which is about an hour north of here where I plan to work for a month and a half and set off again to some more traveling. My major travel plans after working are to do as many of the multi-day walking tracks that will take me through what I am hoping will be the most breathtaking landscapes that I will encounter on this trip. So if you think that my pictures thus far have been really impressive just wait!

Well I look forward to more updates with some more depth of detail about my adventures. Until then farewell!

P.S.
I am still intending to complete my full cycling trip from tip to tip of both islands!

-Matthew