Admittedly, I'm a terrible blogger.

So it's safe to say that I, Mel, am the worst blogger out of the 5 of us. I don't believe I've updated the blog since January. Here-go's trying to recap the past couple of months (spoiler: I'm actually writing this from my uncle's house in Los Angeles).

Our grand, wild Australian adventure ended on a sad note because Christy and I had to bid farewell to our beloved other third, Megan. It's hard to part from someone who is within three feet of you at most times throughout the day. Shortly after our re-entry into NZ we were joined by Christy's 'special friend' Justin (had that one coming Dunbar). The three of us spent a wonderful couple days at Hang Dog (I won't elaborate, check older posts to do the place justice) where I fell even more in love with rock climbing and they got warmed up for their two and a half week rock climbing extravaganza around the South Island. ExtravagaNZa. What a fun word to type.

The three of us parted ways in Blenheim; located on the northeast tip of the South Island, it will probably be my first and only stab at unskilled manual labor. Australia seriously drained my already dwindling funds, so I decided to work in the Marlborough wine country while Christy and Justin went hitch hiking around for a couple weeks. I stayed at a backpackers hostel that linked us with local contractors in the area. Most of the work available was on the vineyards pruning and picking the grapes. The work was intense folks. We would wake up at 5:45am and be working by sunrise, and the days were long and hot. Although the work was physically draining, it was our treatment as workers that made the job so bad. The contractors and our managers would drive around in 4WDs and shout at us for not doing our jobs fast enough or well enough. We would get threatened to get fired most days when we got off work. It was very humbling to know that this is what some people do day in and day out year round.

I also became mildly socially retarted in Blenheim. The one friend I did have, Daniel, put it well "Yea, sometimes I wonder where you are and then remember, oh yea, she's just in her bunk watching movies...". I think this resulted from the personal space deficit I had been accumulating on the trip, and also from feeling lost without the other members of the WolfPack. I filled my non working hours riding my new best friend, little Anne on long rides out in the wine country, hiking around the hills, wandering around the city. I set up a video and a library account; I watched more movies and read more books in those 2 1/2 weeks than in the previous 6 months combined. It was fabulous. But BOY was I excited to see Christy and Justin when they came back.

Justin deserves his own paragraph. What a great guy. Here are my two favorite memories of him: Christy and I were in the ladies' loo for awhile one day, and when we came out she commeneted that Justin might be getting impatient. We look across the street and here comes Justin, blading enthusiastically across the street in the rollerblades I'd just bought at the Salvation Army. He then put on around a ten minute 'blade show that included him falling straight on his ass in oncoming traffic. The 16 year old gaggle of girls nearby loved it. A few days later we were in Tauranga with Danielle, and we noticed an orange construction cone on top of a fairly tall tree. The conversation transitioned to a new topic, and 5 minutes later Christy asked "Guys, where'd Justin go?" We look over to the tree, and he was swinging like a monkey from the branches, making his way to the top. I think some of you might enjoy hearing that all three of us slept in Connie for a couple nights, Mel Sandwich style.

Auckland. Out with the old, in with the new. I welcomed two members of the Estes clan on the morning I had to say goodbye to Christy and Justin. It was an unexpectedly soon goodbye, but we made it quick and easy (another spoiler, I will see her in 4 days). The Estes boys (Ben, my middle brother, and Brian, my dad) and I had a great time; my dad was here for a week and Ben for two. We started out in the Bay of Islands where we went kayaking and hiking, and stayed a few nights in Piha. We camped on the beach in Rarewa and checked out Cape Reinga and the sand dunes on 90 mile beach. The weather was fabulous and we were lucky enough to go swimming every single day. They were both overdue for a vacation and had a blast. I'll still try to get my dad to update the blog a la Scott Martin, but no promises. Another highlight of our trip was making a Happy Birthday video for Mike, the eldest Estes child; he turned 28 while we were here, so we put together some funny clips for him on Ben's Flip Camera he got for Christmas (they are great for documenting a trip). I will try to post the video on here at some point.

After we dropped Dad off at the Airport, we headed down to Tauranga so Ben and Danielle could be reunited (they hadn't seen eachother since high school) and then spent a few days in the Coromandel Peninsula, which was beautiful. The forecast was rainy in the Peninsula so we headed towards the Waitakere Scenic Reserve, which is west of Auckland. The three days we spent there turned out to be some of the best I had in New Zealand- there are over 250km of trails along cliffs, by rivers, in the bush, you name it. It was magnificent. Ben and I enjoyed filming another Birthday video for our dear friend Joel, a highlight being the scene where Ben attempts to blade a half pipe at a local skate park, to the great amusement of a couple 7 year old Kiwi kids.

Wheew that's all the blog I've got in me for the night. More to come.