Going to New Zealand!

So now that I've started a blog about traveling adventures, I think it's time for me to travel so that I can practice the whole blogging thing.  And voila, I'm going to New Zealand! How convenient. My dad is from NZ, and we go every so often to visit the many relatives we have scattered around the country. This will be my fourth time there, but I haven't been since 2003 and am so very excited. Such a great country, and I happen to know good people! We'll be on the South Island first, visiting Christchurch, called the Garden City, as well as the surrounding towns of Ashburton, Methven, and Darfield. We then fly to Auckland on the North Island, where there has been talk of a beach house being rented...

I'm also on a mission. I am to assess the beer and BBQ situation in NZ. My father has led me to believe that NZ beer is on par with Bud Light. Terrifying. I did though, get a six-pack of a beer (Steinlager) from there and it was truly awful, so he might not be totally exaggerating. But I'm better at finding good beer than he is, so we'll see how I do.  The BBQ part of my mission is related to the decided lack of pigs in NZ--in fact, ham is a delicacy there, much as lamb is one here.  Oh, how I would love to eat lamb on my sandwiches every day and never see ham again! 

And so I am off! This will be a great trip, but you should not have to take my word for it. There will be pictures and almost certainly some good stories.