Camping in the Rain Forest

Eric's birthday was Wednesday, and he decided on Tuesday that he wanted to go camping for his birthday. Fortunately, we live in a place where we can go camping at the drop of a hat. (That is, of course, assuming our friends, Anne-Marie and Phil, will let us borrow their gear at the drop of a hat!) Fortunately, they did, so we went.

We headed down to the Catlins. We had driven through once before and gone on a quick hike, but we didn't really get to spend the time there that we wanted. We only went one night, but it was plenty of time to see some amazing sights, especially some really cool waterfalls. Not to mention the fact that I GOT TO HOLD A BRAND NEW LAMB!!!!!! (This was the highlight of my life to date.)

Anyway, here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Eric caught sight of some sort of water creature in the stream below McLean Falls.

A ten-second timer was barely long enough for me to get to Eric in this picture of us at McLean Falls.

Remember the surreal foliage in that post I linked to above? It's still there! It's still surreal!

Today was a bit cloudy and rainy, but it was still a gorgeous day!

These are the Matai Falls. Isn't New Zealand foliage amazing?

Here I am in front of Horeshoe Falls, which is located right above Matai Falls.

These are the Purakaunui Falls. It is the most photographed waterfall in the country.

In addition to this herd of sheep running down the road, we also got held up by a herd of calves. It was pretty exciting!

Eric got as close as he could to this male New Zealand sea lion at Surat Beach. There are signs at the beginning of the track that tell you to stay at least 10 meters away. Eric figures you can get about 5 meters away before they get annoyed.

I got to hold a brand new lamb! (Did I mention that already?) If you want the full story, throw out some comments, and I'll post about it later. (How's that for some comment-begging?)