Escaping the City

It doesn't take too long to hit the country two-lane highway heading west outside of Christchurch. And country is a good way to describe it. It's all flat, and you first hit several small wine vineyards. After that it turns into a landscape similar to Scott, AR...wide open farm fields. Instead of cotton, though, you have sheep. Having spent so much time in the city, I thought they were making up the 15 sheep to one person ratio, but no, they do exist.
Less than 30 minutes after leaving the city and driving through eastern Arkansas, out of the flatness rises a mountain range that makes the Tetons look like foothills. It's a 150 degree view of the Southern Alps. It really does look like Lord of the Rings.
We had a weekday holiday last week, so some guys from class and I went to a place called Cave Stream and Castle Hill. I don't have pictures of Cave Stream, but basically we put on some we suits and walked through this cave that has a stream running through it. It was pretty amazing the way the stream carved the cave and rocks. I may go back and take some photos, so I won't go into it that much now. As you'll see below, Castle Hill is this area with lots of large boulders scattered around. It's a popular place for climbing...yes those boulders are large enough for climbing, hard to tell without a person standing there. You'll also see a pig that was roaming around that area. So, all-in-all with pigs and Scott, AR, it's pretty much like being back home...all that and a bag of chips (that was for Bill).