Today’s Sentimental Snapshot required more digging around through the archives than any of the previous ones -even though its recent, it seemed relevant in light of all the wet and wild weather we’ve been having recently! It was taken back in 2005, on a Lineberry family trip to New Zealand.   My brother-in-law, Brent, had been living there for several months after graduating from college, so we all thought a Christmas visit was in order. We traveled all around the South Island – hikes, jetboats, bungee jumps, kayaks, glaciers, penguins, sea lions…It was an amazing trip filled with adventure! Oddly enough, one of the best surprises of the trip started out as a disappointment. We were in Te Anau, a small town in the fiordlands of the western part of the south island. We had scheduled a kayak trip on the Milford Sound, and the weather wasn’t looking too promising. We checked in with the guiding company and were told that rain or shine the trip would go on. We went to bed optimistic, but the clouds rolled in at some point during the night and we awoke disappointed to a steady rain that looked like it was gonna stay for a while. Our guide tried to cheer us up on the van ride down to the put in by telling us that although at first glance the weather seemed pretty crappy, wet and rainy conditions were actually his favorite conditions to guide in. We smiled and nodded, but of course we were all thinking that he probably said that to all the clients no matter the conditions.

The Lineberry Crew on Milford Sound, Te Anu NZ in 2005

What we didn’t realize til we got there, however, was that all that torrential rain caused hundreds of MASSIVE waterfalls to cascade over the cliffs and spill into the sound. It was truly an amazing sight to see! Our pictures sure do suck (and it seems like a remember someone’s camera receiving a mortal wound because of all the humidity), but we had an unforgettable day out there on the sound in the middle of all that rain. It gave us a unique perspective on the raw power of nature that we would have completely missed on a dry, sunny day! We ended our day soaked to the bone, a little bit cold, but with the sense of satisfaction that can only come from a long day playing around in God’s creation. On the way home we decided that perhaps that guide was telling the truth about his favorite weather conditions on the sound…What about you? Ever ended up with a great experience from unlikely circumstances?