April Adventures, Part 3

Here we go! The final segment of our April Adventures!

Wellington - Taupo - Rotorua

We got away from Wellington later than intended and started the five hour drive to Taupo, where I was planning on doing an awesome 15,000 foot skydive! An hour into the drive, the weather began to cast doubts on whether I would actually be doing any skydiving. Skydive companies only operate in near-perfect weather: low winds, clear blue skies with maybe a cloud or two. Rainy, cloudy days are a no-go. But since the weather had turned in our favor for Franz Josef and Abel Tasman, I remained cautiously optimistic.

The rain hadn't relented by the time we pulled into our hostel in Taupo, and the next morning we woke to a sullen, grey sky. No skydiving that day, so we carried on to Rotorua. We planned on spending three nights in Rotorua, and it's only an hour from Taupo, so I figured I could easily drive back to Taupo should the weather clear up.

It never happened. It rained all three days. Fortunately rain wasn't enough to ruin our good time in Rotorua.

Sunday we went to quiz night at Hennessey's, the Irish pub Alexa and I first went to back in September. In honor of Wellington's icon, we named our team Blanket Man, and finished 7th place out of 11. Woo hoo! Some controversy: One question asked, "What's the largest predator in North America?" We wrote grizzly, but then I remembered hearing polar bears are the largest predators in the world. Furthermore, I was almost positive they lived in North America, thanks to Sarah Palin. The animal-hating witch wanted polar bears taken off the threatened species list to legalize their habitat's destruction in the name of oil-drilling in Alaska. For the first time in her meaningless life, Sarah Palin served a mildly-useful purpose: my memory was jogged and we changed our answer!

Unfortunately the "correct" answer ended up being grizzly bear. Back at the hostel I checked wikipedia, and sure enough, polar bears are the largest land predator in the world and they do live in North America, therefore polar bears are the largest predator in North America. Not that one point would've done so much as bump us up to 6th place, let alone make us the winners. As a side note, the wicked witch of Alaska didn't have her way, and polar bears are indeed a protected species.

While in Rotorua we did a handful of touristy activities. It turns out Rotorua has a gondola and luge just like Queenstown, except there are three luge tracks totalling 5 km in length, much longer than Queenstown's measly two 800 meter tracks. The luge carts themselves weren't in tip-top shape, though, so the brakes and steering didn't always work properly. Adding to that, the tracks were freshly-wet with rain, which made the rides quite interesting! We all made it down alive, don't worry.

We also went Zorbing again, since we couldn't let Mike come to New Zealand without trying the crazy sport. If you don't remember from when Alexa and I Zorbed in December, Zorbing is the where you climb into a big plastic water-filled ball and roll down the side of a hill.

Lastly, Alexa and I finally made it to a Maori cultural show/hangi. Basically you go to a Maori "village" where a bunch of Maoris await in traditional costume and they put on a show. I went in with very low expectations. I thought it would be a really cheesy sort of thing. You know, "Hoo hoo hah hah, look at us dance for the white man!" kind of deal. But it wasn't. It was actually really informative and the performers seemed genuinely interested in preserving their culture.

The best part came after the performance: the hangi.

Hangi is the method Maoris traditionally used to cook their meals. It involves heating a bunch of huge rocks on a fire for several hours, then placing those rocks into a large hole in the ground. The food (typically meats and root vegetables) goes on top of the rocks, then the food is covered with damp cloth to lock in the heat and create steam. This is left to sit for another couple hours until the food is ready. Our hangi consisted of lamb, chicken, potatoes, and kumara, along with non-traditional foods like stuffing, scalloped potatoes, a few different salads, and dessert.

Our last full day in Rotorua we just chilled out and went to the Waikite Valley thermal pools, a welcome period of relaxation after all the rushing around we did during our trip. Once finished in the geothermal capital of New Zealand, we hit the road for the last leg of our journey with Mike.

Auckland

We spent our first hour in Auckland trying to find our hostel. It was on Owens road, but what Google Maps failed to tell us is there are two Owens roads in Auckland, and the incorrect one is located across a bridge on the other side of the harbor. And of course our directions were for the incorrect one.

We finally made it to our hostel, Yaping House, quite the dirty little joint. The rooms seriously needed cleaning, and the mold growing around the windowsills and skirting boards meant Alexa had to pop Claritin whenever we were inside. Fortunately we didn't spent much time at the hostel.

Our first day was X-Men Origins: Wolverine's opening day (2 days before it came out in the US, what!) so we went to the cinema to check it out. The movie was pretty good, but the best part was seeing all the familiar scenes from Queenstown/Glenorchy. If you've seen the movie, or plan on seeing it, whenever they're in the "Canadian Rockies," they're actually in Deer Park Heights or Glenorchy. Thanks to this, there's a fantastic goof-up. About half an hour into the movie, a farmer is driving over a bridge in the "Canadian Rockies." In New Zealand it's not uncommon for arrows to be painted on the road, indicating to drive in the left-hand lane. It sounds silly, but south island roads often have no traffic. Without other cars passing by as reminders, tourists can lapse and slip into the wrong lane. Maybe by accident or maybe just for fun, one of these arrows is clearly visible as the farmer crosses the other side of the bridge--on the wrong side!

After the movie we had dinner at an awesome Japanese restaurant and walked around to take in Auckland by night.

The next morning we headed out of town a few kilometers to the Tip Top Ice Cream Factory for a tour, which ended up being my most awkward experience in recent memory. Upon arrival we realized the rest of the tour group consisted of a bunch of school kids. Picture it: Mike, Eoin, and Alexa crammed into a colorful meeting room with a bunch of uniformed tweens and their teachers (who gave us a few odd looks). If there could've been just one other small group, or a couple, or even just one individual who wasn't part of the school group it would've been okay. But nope, just us. The three American weirdos field-trip crashing. If we weren't conspicuous enough, I screwed up by taking a picture at the beginning of the tour. Just as the flash was going off, our tour guide shouted, "Sir! No pictures, please!" Whoops.

To make matters worse, our tour guide was insane. From the way she lectured the tour group, you'd think we were delinquent Tip Top employees. For example, at one stage of the tour she was discussing the process of cooking fruit ripple for the ice cream. "If you cook it too long," she ranted, "it becomes jelly! And we don't want to make jelly at an ice cream factory, do we? So it all has to be thrown out and the whole day is wasted, and that's why it's important to work carefully!" I don't know about the kids, but I sure as hell was frightened.

At least we got free ice cream.

After the tour Mike wasn't feeling so hot, so Alexa and I headed to the Auckland Museum while he rested. The Museum isn't as impressive as Te Papa, but it had several interesting exhibits. The volcano exhibit was the best. It had a simulation of one what would happen if one of Auckland's volcanoes decided to erupt. Basically, it would be Bad. They also had a replica of a giant moa, birds that roamed New Zealand before Maori and European settlers wiped them out:

The museum with Sky Tower in the background:

Later that night, Mike and I produced the greatest picture to come out of this entire trip. It took a lot of planning: First, we had to polish off the bottle of whiskey he'd bought for our night out in Wellington. Next, we had to decide it wasn't enough and surely we must go out in search of more. After that, we had to wander the outer-suburbs of Auckland (our hostel wasn't quite in city center) in search of some place, any place selling liquor after midnight. Mike's first attempt, a gas station, had him shouting through the window at the attendant, "Hey! Can I buy liquor from you?" Obviously not. Still unsatisfied, we continued into a larger shopping area where we eventually found an open bar. A girl outside told us we couldn't come in because it was a pajama party and we didn't have pajamas, but the bouncer let us in anyway. Finally, we had to make our way to the second floor, where we spotted a flashing, colorful dance floor. Only one person was dancing. A lone young man in his flamboyant pajamas. And then Mike did what he does best:

Later he would insist he was "following the lights," not dancing with the pajama dude. But we all know the truth.

Our final day in Auckland I was feeling a little under the weather for some reason, so we just sort of wandered aimlessly. At some point we found a $2 shop and went inside. I don't know what made us head to the toy section, but I'm very glad we did. We probably spent close to an hour looking at the toys. What made the toys so intriguing, you ask?

Special for you of children design. It will give you infinite pleasure!

They were all cheap knock-offs made in China. Other gems include "Pursue the Vogue," a bratz-style doll, a "4-D Reptile Puzzle" (yes, 4-D. "Three dimensions + details!" as the box explained), and a number of Spiderman-themed toys, including a set with handcuffs, badge, and gun that inexplicably had the Spiderman 2 logo attached to it.

Eventually we had to take Mike to the airport and bid him farewell. The two and a half weeks went by really quickly, but I think we all had a great time during Mike's visit. Especially dancing pajama man.

Whangarei - Kerikeri - Whangarei

After depositing Mike at the airport, Alexa and I fought Auckland's horrible traffic congestion for over an hour before finally making it on the road to Whangarei, our next stop.

It didn't take long to assess Whangarei isn't a very exciting place. Sure, it's a bigger city than Queenstown and has a larger variety of shops, but it lacks severely in the "things to do" department. Noting this, we continued on to Kerikeri the next morning. Kerikeri is an even smaller town. One grocery store, one McDonald's, one video rental shop... and not much else. If we stayed in Kerikeri, fruit-picking would be our only option for work. And the way it works out isn't that great: you stay at a hostel, and they help you find work and drive you to and from work each day. Staying at the hostel would've run us $260/week because they were out of the "cheap" rooms (cheap being relative, at $240/week). After paying the hostel, we probably would've made less than $200/week each. No good.

So we turned down the work offer (we could've been packing kiwi-fruit into crates that very day) and drove back down to Whangarei, checking out a few smaller towns along the way. The smaller towns, like Pahia, were situated on lovely little beaches and seemed really nice, but didn't have any work available.

We've been in Whangarei for a little over two weeks now, and I can assuredly say it is the ugliest little city I've seen in New Zealand. Whangarei Harbor is disgraceful. Nowhere else in New Zealand have I seen such dirty water. Even Wellington and Auckland, the two largest ports brimming with boats, have clean, clear water. But for whatever reason, dingy little Whangarei Harbor is murky and filled with floating rubbish.

BLECH.

On a redeeming note, Whangarei isn't too far from the prettier parts of Northland, and boat trips leave frequently to the Poor Knights' Islands, which Jacques Cousteau rated as one of the top ten diving spots in the world. Time and money permitting, I just may have to go and try out an introductory diving lesson.

So far we've had no luck with jobs, despite applying for many. Fortunately we secured cheap accommodation. We're staying in a room in a house owned by three Filipino guys. They're all really nice and the common areas are kept clean. So while it's not the same as having our own place like we did in Queenstown, it's still a lot better than the situation in Wellington.

In two days we're heading to Auckland to catch a plane to Fiji! Remember the holiday we booked back in February? Well, time has flown right on by and we'll be in the tiny island nation this time on Thursday. Excellent.

Anyway, I think I've written more than enough for now. I'll update again once I'm back from Fiji, and I'll be sure to fill the post with jealousy-inducing images of beautiful beaches and crazy Fijians yelling "Bula!" (Don't ask me, that's just what they do in all the Fiji tourism commercials here).

April Adventures, Part 2

Well, I'm still unemployed and have plenty of free time, so here's the next part of our April Adventures!

Abel Tasman Coast Track

Where I left off last time we were en route to Marahau, and it was probably raining. For whatever reason it rained pretty much any time we were on the road in the south island. Rain was in the forecast for the next three days as well, which meant our three-day trek on the Abel Tasman Coast Track would not be as pleasant as we'd hoped.

When we arrived in the sleepy beach-side town of Marahau, though, we found the forecast had changed! Three days of clear, blue skies and warm sun awaited us.

In the way of background information, the Abel Tasman Coast Track is another of New Zealand's 9 Great Walks. It's generally considered the easiest, and therefore the most visited. The ascents on the hike are sudden and steep, but few and far between. Most of the walk consists of easy, flat walking through coastal forest with bountiful opportunities to stop along at the many beaches with pristine sand, stunningly-turquoise water, and fantastic limestone rock formations and caves for exploration.

All told, the track is 51 km long, taking 3-5 days to complete depending on how many hours you let yourself get sidetracked by the beautiful beaches. As we were a little pressed for time on this trip, we opted to hike the first 3 days, or 33 km.

Conveniently our hostel was located just 1 km from the start of the track, so we took our time in the morning to have breakfast, finish packing our bags, and stow the car in a special car park before making our way to the track.

The first day was incredibly easy. We stopped at three or four beaches along the way and still made it to Anchorage Bay, our first campsite, well before sundown. Mike and I had a little excitement at one of the beaches. Inside a small, dark limestone cave I saw the light from a solitary glow worm. I'm not sure what it was doing all alone, but I tried to take a picture. Flash fully illuminated the cave for a split second, and when I looked down at the camera to review the picture I realized Mr. Glow Worm and I weren't alone.


Creepy cave weta! At first I thought they were spiders so I got the hell out of there, but later on I realized they must've been New Zealand's most darling little insects. And by darling I mean disgusting, and by little I mean frickin' huge. They're generally about 4-5 inches long, sometimes longer depending on leg and antennae length.

At the campsite we tried our best to make a fire, but the wind was relentless. On the bright side I learned how to chop wood, adding another valuable life skill to my repertoire.

Early the next morning Mike and I set out on an hour sidetrack to Pitt Head, a promontory which was supposedly the site of an old Pa (Maori fortification). As it turned out, it was only the site of the Pa indeed, as we could find no evidence of the fort itself. We were rewarded for our efforts, though, with great views out across the Cook Strait. We could even see the hazy outline of the north island in the distance.

Back at camp I dragged Alexa from her sleep so we could breakfast and pack up our gear for the next section of the height. From Anchorage we had an option of an easy low tide route (ten minutes) or a long, uphill high tide route (1.5 hours). It was low tide so we could have crossed the estuary easily, but we wanted to see Cleopatra Pools, a series of fresh water pools, so we had to take the high road.

After our stop at the pools we noticed we were running parallel to the low-tide track, so we took a shortcut down a ten foot embankment and crossed the estuary. Thousands upon thousands of empty clam shells littered the sand and under every piece of soaking rotted wood were dozens of miniature crabs. It was like walking on the ocean floor, which made it one of the cooler parts of the hike.

Clam shells scattered across the sand. These are all empty, dead shells. I'm not sure what living clams do when it's low tide. I guess they can burrow?



We eventually made our way to Bark Bay, our second campsite. At Bark Bay a thick line of trees sheltered the fire pit from the wind, so we thought we might have better luck with the fire. Wrong. All but two-three small chunks of the wood provided were too wet to burn, so once again we found ourselves nursing a pitiful flame. Later on, a large group of European travelers happened by. Daniel Boone himself strolled up, smirked at our would-be fire, and with broken English said, "I fix it?"

Not ten minutes later he had the fire going, through some mystical combination of shaving off small pieces from the wet wood, blowing, and flapping air into the coals. With smoke flooding the campsite and our egos crushed, we decided to head into Mike's tent for a few rounds of rummy before bed.

The final day presented us with two gruelling uphill segments and a few pretty beaches to explore. Mike and I found another cave, so we grabbed the flashlight and headed in. This time we kept an eye out for cave weta and spiders. After about twenty feet we came to a large chamber and the only way to continue would have been to crawl on our stomachs through a small gap near the ground. No thanks.

Eventually we made our way to Awaroa Bay, our final beach, and laid out in the sand to wait for our water taxi back to Marahau. Here are a few more pictures from the hike:

Sea birds sitting on a sign in Marahau:



Alexa and I standing at the start of the track:



All three of us standing on a cool limestone formation:



Just a pretty beach from the first day:



Scenic view near Anchorage Bay:



Awaroa Bay, where we lounged and waited for the water taxi.

Picton - Ferry - Wellington

After returning to Marahau and repacking our very, very smelly car (by then the garbage bag of dirty laundry had reached tremendous proportions), our first order of business was getting some warm food in our aching stomachs. We made a fast food stop in Motueka. Alexa got herself KFC, while Mike and I took a more piggish route. In New Zealand, McDonald's offers family meals after 5 pm, so Mike and I ordered the $20 "Family of Four" meal consisting of two cheeseburgers, a McChicken, a Big Mac, two large fries, two small fries, and four drinks. Delicious (not really, but it was cheap).

From there we drove the 2.5 hour voyage to Picton. After an awesome shower to wipe off layers of sweat, sunscreen, and insect repellent from the past three days, we headed straight to bed. The next morning we caught the 8 am ferry to Wellington and drove to our friends Jason and Tammy's flat. Once again they were awesome enough to let us crash at their place.

Over the next couple days we toured Wellington, spending plenty of time just walking around the city, but also made stops at the Botanic Gardens and Te Papa. Since Wellington is known for its night life we planned on having a big night out Friday. Unfortunately, our plans were cut short by ANZAC Day (similar to Veterans' or Memorial Day) being on Saturday. On public holidays employers are required to pay employees time and a half, so many restaurants and bars will either close or charge a 15% surcharge to make up for the difference. We hadn't counted on this starting at midnight until all but three bars closed at 11:59 and the rest started packing on the surcharges. Fortunately Burger Fuel (the best burger chain ever) hadn't started with surcharges yet, so we had a nice midnight snack before heading back to Jason and Tammy's.

Saturday morning we had to pack up and bid Jason and Tammy farewell. With less than a week until Mike had to be in Auckland for his flight home and lots to see and do, we had to get on the road.

Next stop, Taupo. I'm going to end this post here because once again I've written too much! Next time I'll finish up our trip with Mike and get on to what Alexa and I have been up to for the past week, promise.

April Adventures, Part 1

Yes, I'm still here. I almost posted a blog entry back at the beginning of April, but I'd barely gotten halfway through when I realized I had to head to the airport to pick up Mike and our rental car. After that, April stormed by in a whirlwind of crazy adventures and I haven't had time since. A thorough, detailed account of everything we did would prove too taxing for me to write and too long for you to read, so instead I'll try to summarize our trip keeping to three to four paragraphs per city/area.

Here we go.

Doubtful Sound

Before Mike arrived, Alexa and I took an overnight trip to marvelous Doubtful Sound. The trip started with a three hour coach ride to Manapouri, a small town on a large lake called, cleverly enough, Lake Manapouri. From there we rode a shuttle boat across Lake Manapouri to the Manapouri Power Station. It's a hydroelectric plant where all the action takes place underground in large tunnels. Another set of coaches were waiting for us at the power station, and these took us over the mountains to the Doubtful Sound Wharf and our vessel, the Doubtful Sound Navigator. The Navigator is a decent-sized ship with sleeping room for about 70 plus crew, several observation decks, a large dining room, and an array of tender craft and kayaks for exploration.

After cruising around for a while in the rain (this is Fiordland National Park, where it rains 200 days a year), we stopped in one of the sound's three arms for activities. Alexa choose to go out on one of the tender craft, but I went kayaking instead. Although I've canoed plenty of times, I've never kayaked before and it was quite different. I'm not sure if I was paddling correctly, but I was moving in a generally forward direction. That's a plus, right? We explored for an hour and then rejoined the boat for one final activity: swimming. Only four of the seventy passengers braved the 11 degree Celsius (which in American means really, really cold) water. Who would be so stupid, you ask? The same person who bungy jumped three times in two days, probably.

We spent the rest of the day sight-seeing around the sound, eventually coming to the Tasman Sea and two massive seal colonies. Anyone who reads this blog knows how many times we've seen god damn fur seals, and so can imagine our excitement. But wait! This time it was in the evening, which is apparently when fur seals get off their lazy butts to hunt, so they were moving. We were able to see them in all their splashing, barking, flopping glory. Awesome!

The day ended with a huge dinner and dessert buffet. This included one of New Zealand's many gifts to the world, pavlova. Pavlova is a meringue-like dessert covered in whipped cream and fresh fruit (strawberry, kiwifruit, and mandarins in this case), named after Anna Pavlova for her airy lightness. Australia tries to take credit for the dessert's invention, but keep in the mind the Aussies also try to claim Peter Jackson and Lord of the Rings. Plus, how can you trust the descendants of convicts?

After dinner there was an interesting nature talk, the highlight of which was the discussion of Moose Man. Apparently moose were once introduced to Fiordland National Park but they died out shortly after. Unless, of course, you ask Moose Man who is convinced moose still roam the park and devotes his life to searching for evidence--fur, droppings, footprints, whatever--to prove they still exist. After that craziness it was off to bed. We woke early the next morning to gloriously clear weather and explored the sound for a few hours before returning to the wharf and being shuttled all the way back to Queenstown the same way we came. And because I made a promise, here's a plug: Real Journeys is an awesome tour company, and if you ever find yourself in the south of New Zealand, choose them as your guides for Milford and Doubtful Sounds and beyond! Seriously. It was pouring rain back in Queenstown, so the coach driver took Alexa and I all the way to our flat. It's pretty far out of the way and I don't think many other coach companies would've been so generous.

Anyway, here's a few shots of the sound in her many moods:

Mike's Arrival/Queenstown

My good friend Mike arrived in Queenstown on Tuesday the 14th, jet lagged and as short as ever. I grabbed him and the rental car from the airport, then we headed back to Queenstown. Over the next two days we plowed through as many of Queenstown's touristy offerings as possible, making trips to the luge, Deer Park Heights, Fergburger, several bars, and Fresh Choice. So incredibly exciting. Alexa and I also had to hunker down and do some cleaning. Apart from wanting our bond (deposit) back, we really liked our landlady and wanted to leave the flat just as nice as we'd found it. And so after a fond farewell, we packed our car to the brim, leaving just enough space for Mike to squeeze into the back seat, and drove northward to Franz Josef.

The only worthwhile shot from Queenstown. Our racing turned a little aggressive on the luge, with plenty of side-to-side slamming in a fierce competition for first place. As we came towards the photo finish, we both ignored the "slow down" signs and yelled loudly. Me, yelling in triumph, and Mike in the anguish of defeat. A little kid was in front of us, but fortunately we made it past without incident. I think he was a bit startled, though. The resulting picture, with his head turned back to see what's coming/just went past, is priceless.

Franz Josef Glacier

The drive started off on a strange note. Just outside of Queenstown we were passed by sign-yielding trucks telling us "PULL OVER, WIDE LOAD." And they meant it. Soon after we pulled over, a truck pulling an entire house came chugging down the road:

Crazy.

After an hour of sunshine and beautiful scenery the weather turned to complete shit and we spent the next four hours navigating through heavy rain and dense fog. As an added bonus, the rental car's CD player didn't work (it would only play the first 2:49 of the first track) and the radio wouldn't pick up a station for more than five minutes at a time.

The morning after we arrived in Franz Josef, however, the sky had cleared just in time for our full day glacier hike. We started off at the Franz Josef Glacier Guides office in town, stuffing ourselves into waterproof trousers, wool socks, boots, jackets, and red bags containing crampons, hats, and mittens for later on. After a quick bus ride and a brief tramp through the woods, we came upon our first view of the glacier.

The glacier is currently about 11 km long, and this view only shows about 6 km of it. Also, Franz Josef is unique in that it's currently in a cycle of advancing/retreating (growing/shrinking), unlike most other glaciers which are currently only retreating.

It took us about 45 minutes of hiking across the rocks, and then up through the bush and back down again, to get to the bottom of the glacier. Here we were broken up into groups of ten and given a chance to spike-ify our feet by strapping on crampons. Here's Mike and I showing off our sweet new footwear:

For the next six hours we climbed up steep "staircases" carved out by our fearless guide Daniel, shuffled down icy banks, and slid through neon-blue ice tunnels. For now we'll go into storybook mode and I'll let the pictures guide you along. You don't need me to tell you how beautiful it was when you can see it for yourself, right?

A cave where the water is flowing out from under the glacier terminus:


Here I am climbing out of one of first ice caves, with Mike peering creepily over my shoulder:


Mike and I climbing up an ice "staircase" carved out by Daniel. This was one of the steeper climbs, hence the rope.


Alexa passing through one of the beautifully-blue ice caves.


And now she's climbing up and out the other side of the cave:



Mike's small stature paid off in this tight tunnel we had to crawl/slide through on hands and knees:

Alexa swears this picture is a coincidence, but I think it looks like she's contemplating our guide's butt. What do you think?


As you can see, hiking Franz Josef was a spectacular experience filled with beautiful sights. And it really made us feel pretty adventurous, too. Several of the cracks we had to step or jump across surely could've lead to serious injury if we've lost our footing, and even with the crampons and ice staircases, a few of the climbs were a little scary. Not to mention the omnipresent threat that chunks of the glacier could collapse at any given moment. Lastly, our guide may have been slightly insane. He had a soft spot for randomly destroying things. Towards the end of the hike he noticed this arch:



Apparently part of it was in danger of collapsing, so he climbed to the top and proceeded to hack away at the thing he was standing on with his pick-axe. Later, as we were descending the glacier, he wandered about twenty feet off the track and lay on his back beside a large boulder. Just as we began to wonder what he was doing, he rolled back, lifted his legs, and kicked the boulder down a hill. Bear in mind this was nowhere near the track. Lastly, he stopped right in the middle of the track and chucked a few random stones off to the side before resuming the hike without comment. Was there a method to his madness, was it all for show, or was he just crazy? The world may never know.

Eventually we made it down off the glacier, removed the crampons from our sore feet, and hiked back to the bus. About eight hours after we left, we were back at the Glacier Guides office in Franz Josef and duly exhausted. Unfortunately there's no rest for the wicked, and we had to pile back into the car to continue along to our next destination. We hadn't been on the road for five minutes when the rain started again. I guess we should be grateful that it held off during our hike.

Greymouth

The rain lead the way to Greymouth, "The Dark Hole," as it's known for its horrible weather. We checked into our hostel, had a quick but replenishing dinner, and were in bed by 9:00. After all, we needed our rest for the next morning's awesome activity.

Drinking in the morning!

Uh, I mean the Monteith's Brewery tour.

Monteith's is kind of like the Sam Adams of New Zealand, in that it's a high-end, flavorful beer with several different varieties. Except that it's better than Sam Adams, and it's cheaper. Monteith's is my favorite beer and is one of the many things I'll miss dearly when Alexa drags me kicking and screaming back to the States in a few months. Although the guide told us they've started exporting to a few cities in California because it's popular there, so maybe the east coast will catch wise and start importing as well.

The tour was brief, but it was cool because beer was actually brewing that day so we saw more than just empty vats. They do their own bottling, so we also had a look at the bottling line, which was pretty neat. But who am I kidding? The real reason we went was for the samples, of course. And they gave us plenty. Unlike other brewery tours, Monteith's seemed intent on getting visitors drunk. After sampling half-glasses of all seven varieties, we each poured one final beer of our choosing from the tap and downed that as well. Fortunately for Mike, Alexa doesn't really like beer and I had to drive soon, so he got most of Alexa's beers as well as those I'd already tried.

Oh, and check this out. Keg urinals.

After a quick lunch at Greymouth's very own Fresh Choice, we crammed back into the car and headed northward to Marahau, starting point for our three-day trek on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track.

I'm afraid I'll have to leave you in suspense for now, though. This entry is way too long despite my best efforts to keep each section to a few paragraphs. Next time I'll pick up where we left off with the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, our journey to and through the north island, and what Alexa and I have been up to for the past week.

The exotic wildlife of Deer Park Heights.

Looming 600 meters above the city lies Queenstown’s best kept secret, Deer Park Heights. Scratch that. It’s not really a secret at all since they play ads for it on the radio every five minutes, promising spectacular 360 degree panoramic views of the Wakatipu Basin and encounters with “exotic wildlife” such as sheep, horses, pigs, goats, deer, llamas, and alpacas. I suppose calling llamas and alpacas exotic isn’t too much of a stretch, but they’re going to have a hard time convincing me with the sheep. Fun fact: New Zealand has an impressive population of 40 million sheep to its 4 million people.

Still, we thought we’d give it a gander and drove on up. For the cost of $20 per car we were allowed to roam the dusty roads of the 800 hectare working deer farm. I think that’s something I haven’t mentioned yet. Here on the south island, there are numerous deer farms and venison can be bought in the supermarket just like beef, pork, or chicken. There could be deer farms in the US as well, but I’ve certainly never seen any. It would be a bit silly, since we have such an overabundance of deer that they routinely chuck themselves in front of cars speeding down the highway.

For the low price of $1 coin we filled up a large tin with “animal nuts,” which essentially looks just like the pellets you find at any petting zoo and set off to drive around feeding crazy animals. Here I am with a few alpacas:

Alexa, as you may know, holds a special hatred for any non-human animals. Fairly recently she made an exception in the form of her mom’s dog, Shuggy, but otherwise fears/hates animals. Yet she volunteered to feed a baby piglet and, with some persuasion, even an alpaca.

Cost of admission to Deer Park Heights: $20
Bucket of animal nuts: $1
The look on Alexa’s face after having alpaca eat from her hand:

Priceless.

Apart from its animals, Deer Park Heights’ main appeal is the stunning views of Queenstown and its rugged terrain. The latter made it an ideal filming location for several scenes from LOTR: The Two Towers. Most of them were spots that only super nerdy film-buffs would recognize, but we found one that looked familiar. Remember the scene where Aragorn is fighting an orc on the edge of a cliff and then he falls off into the river below? Here’s the spot:

And that’s me hanging on for dear life! Oh no. Actually there isn’t a river far, far below, but just another ledge and then a gradually-sloping hill. For the movie they superimposed the Kawarau River (the one we traversed on a jet boat) into the shot. It isn’t too much of a stretch, since the Kawarau River is visible from parts of Deer Park Heights. Deer Park Heights also served as the filming location for a 1986 Disney movie called The Rescue, and a movie set (a Korean Prison) still remains. The farm is also being used for the upcoming movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, so maybe we'll recognize some of the scenery when that comes out.

For those of you coming to visit us in the coming months, you’ll be thrilled to know that you’re flying into the largest, most state-of-the-art airport in the world. Behold, Queenstown Frankton Airport:

On the bright side you won’t have to worry about it being a terribly busy airport.

As we left Deer Park Heights, we passed by this fellow:

Hugest deer I’ve ever seen in my life. For perspective, check out how big his head is when he decided to come closer to our car to investigate. Fortunately Alexa closed the window just in time.

So that's about it for Deer Park Heights, and about all there is to say for this entry. Until next time... go see a dentist if you have teeth like that deer. Gross!

Milford Sound and Brick Bread.

Hey all! Remember me? I'm Eoin, your favorite person in the world and this here is The Eoin Zone, your favorite blog. It's all coming back now, right? I apologize for the gap in time since my last post (I know you all look forward to my blog so much), but that's what happens with a full-time job. FreshChoice pretty much owns my life now. Still, if I complained about not getting enough hours in Wellington, I can't rightly complain about having too many now. Around the Christmas and New Year period my schedule was kind of flimsy, but I've had the same schedule for the past two weeks and the upcoming week, so I think they have me set into a fixed roster now. I work 4 hours (from 4-8 pm) Sundays, and 9 hours Monday-Thursday (12-9 Mon-Wed, 10-7 Thurs), coming to a grand total of 38 paid hours a week (they don't pay for breaks--what is this shit?!) Really, it isn't all that bad. Believe it or not, working checkout at a supermarket is not incredibly taxing work, mentally or physically. It can be very, very dull at times, but that's my only complaint. I am at least blessed with fun and interesting coworkers.

Still, all work and no play drives Eoin to drinking and hard drug use, so we have been having fun on my days off. Last weekend we went to Milford Sound. Milford Sound is perhaps New Zealand's most famous tourist attraction. If you've heard of anything in New Zealand (apart from Lord of the Rings), it's probably Milford Sound. A sound is a large body of water/valley carved out by rivers over thousands and thousands of years. Milford Sound is actually a fiord, though, which is a body of water/valley carved out by glacial melt over thousands and thousands of years. Apparently there was no (and still isn't) an equivilent english word for fiord, so explorers inadvertantly gave it the misnomer Milford Sound, and the title has stuck. Does it really matter? Probably not.

Anyway, Milford Sound is famous for its beauty. It's surrounded on all sides by rainforest-covered mountains. They aren't your typical tree-topped mountains, though. Since the valley was carved out by glaciers, the mountains are sheerly rock, no topsoil. The trees grow in a thin layer of lichen and moss. Somehow the lichen is able to hold up the weight of the massive trees. Unsurprisingly, though, this arrangement doesn't last indefinitely, and once a tree gets too heavy it falls down the side of the mountain, tearing down the trees below in its wake in a pyramid shape (think of how knocking down the front pin in bowling causes the others behind it to topple). Apart from pretty trees, there's also a wide array of wildlife including countless varieties of fish, dolphins, seabirds, penguins, and fur seals. Yes, once again we were lucky enough to bear witness to the stunningly majestic (or just fat and lazy) fur seal. We also saw a few seagull chicks. No dolphins or penguins this time around though, sadly.

Mitre Peak in Milford Sound:

Once again we bear witness to a colony of majestic fur seals:

The drive to Milford Sound was just as scenic as the boat ride itself. The drive from Te Anau to the Milford wharf is only a little over 100 km, and yet the brochure said the drive would take three hours. Thankfully this wasn't the fault of overly-windy and mountainous roads, but rather the never-ending display of beautiful mountains, glaciers, forests, rivers, and waterfalls. We literally pulled over every 5-10 minutes to get out and have a look. We easily passed 300-400 waterfalls, ranging in size from garden-hose trickles to massive cascades of water.

At a parking lot/lookout point along the way, we had an interesting encounter with a group of kea. Kea are a species of New Zealand parrot. Unlike the kaka we saw at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington, the kea are not shy. They landed on cars, hopped around the parking lot, and swooped at tourists without care. One even graced us by landing on the roof of the Corona. Check it out!

As you can see, it's quite a large bird. So when the call of nature struck a few seconds after this picture was taken, it's no surprise the shit dripping down the roof of our car was equally collosal. Thanks, kea. Thanks a lot.

In summary, Milford Sound is great. Waterfalls, glaciers, huge mountains, lazy fur seals, and giant bird poops. If you're ever in New Zealand, don't miss it.

Also on the fun side of things, some group or other have been putting on outdoor movies in the Queenstown gardens. Tuesday we went to check it out and sprawled out on a sleeping bag in front of a large inflatable screen to watch Lars and the Real Girl. I was expecting it to be mostly a comedy, but I should have known better. Ryan Gosling. Duh, Eoin: it's a chick flick. Still, it wasn't all bad and it definitely had its funny moments. And the experience of watching a movie out under the stars was nothing to complain about.

Turning to the mundane aspects of life, we've experienced two recent failures. Yesterday we took the Corona to get its WOF (Warrant of Fitness) renewed. The WOF inspection basically determines if the car is road-fit, testing things like oil leaks, seat belts, windshield wipers, tire alignment, etc. Unfortunately, our car failed on two minor issues that alone would have been passable, but in conjunction warranted a failure. Some metal axel thingy or another on the back tire is bent out of shape, and there's a minor exhaust leak. That would explain the weird smell! Fortunately it's not going to cost us much to fix.

Yesterday I also attempted to bake a loaf of bread from scratch, as per my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. As Alexa so gently put it, I "made a brick." Thanks sweetheart. She's right, though. If it'd been more spherical in shape my bread could've passed for a bowling ball. Despite a hard exterior, though, the inside (what little there was) did taste like bread. I later discovered that I failed to proof the yeast properly so the dough didn't rise anywhere near what it was supposed to. My second attempt is in the oven as I'm writing, so let's keep those fingers crossed. Rise, rise, rise, damnit!

In closing, here's a few more pictures:

A waterfall in Milford Sound:

Water falling down the side of a tree-covered cliff along the road from Te Anau to Milford:


The Mirror Lakes, another sight along the way from Te Anau to Milford. The DOC (Department of Conservation) is so clever!



That's all for now. Hopefully my next entry will be more timely.

Greetings from Hamilton!

It's raining, it's pouring, Alexa is snoring... well, not really, but she is taking a nap, and it really is raining here in Hamilton. We're in Hamilton, New Zealand's largest inland city (Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch are all on the coast). It wasn't a part of our planned travel itinerary, but we changed our plans around quite a bit and saw some pretty interesting things.

On Friday we left Wellington as planned and drove to Turangi, a small town bordering Tongariro National Park. The drive was absolutely beautiful. It's the same drive we made before when we first came down to Wellington from Rotorua, except this time it wasn't rainy, cloudy, and miserable. Oh, what a difference the weather can make. Last time it had been so foggy we didn't even realize that Mount Ruapehu was in sight.

We spent the night at a holiday park. The next morning we woke at 5:20 to be on a shuttle by 6:30 and we were at the beginning of the Tongariro Crossing a little after 7. For the next 9 hours we hiked the 18.5 km trail (with a few necessary breaks). It started with a scenic jaunt through a barren desert littered with massive chunks of volcanic debris, followed by a grueling series of climbs up Mt. Tongariro: the Devil's Staircase, a 45-minute hike up to the brim of an ancient crater; the climb up red crater, a hazardous journey up a path of scree (loose rock and volcanic ash that slips away under your feet) with a plummeting death only 2-3 meters away on either side; and lastly the optional side-track (an extra 3 km added to the 18.5) up to the snow-capped summit of Mt. Tongariro. Alexa opted out of the final ascent, but I hiked up through the snow to the very top. By that time some low clouds had settled over the area. It was completely surreal. I could only see the rocky outcroppings and patches of snow 4-5 meters around me. Beyond that, I was inside a cloud and cut off from the world. Completely still and completely silent.

After the summit we began our descent. At some point along the way Alexa mysteriously injured her ankle. She can't pinpoint the exact moment it started hurting, but the last two hours of the hike were pretty miserable for her, unfortunately.

Once we've settled in some place where I'll have more internet time I'm going to devote an entire blog post to the crossing, complete with beautiful pictures and a play-by-play (rock-by-rock, maybe?) account of the hike. For now, just know that it was awesome.

Back at the holiday park we soaked our feet in the spa--I had a blister thicker than Angelina Jolie's lower lip!--and changed our plans for the next few days. Originally Sunday would've been the day I went skydiving, but we decided to head up to the Coromandel Peninsula instead. There are many scenic beaches and parks on the peninsula that are best seen during the summer, and as we're headed to the south island for the next six months, this is our only chance. Skydiving I can do pretty much anywhere, and I'll probably end up doing so in Nelson with Abel Tasman National Park as my in-flight scenary.

So on Sunday we drove to a holiday park near Hahei, a small coastal town on the peninsula. Along the way we went Zorbing in Rotorua. Basically you climb into a human-sized hamster ball filled with water and roll down a massive hill. It's as insane as it sounds, but it's great fun.

The drive to Hahei was also beautiful although a bit hairy at times. Several sections of the road were marked by signs with squiggly lines for "Next 7 km." They might as well have just put one sign that said "The whole damn highway is like this" and saved themselves the trouble. Crazy turns around sharp bends past steep valleys with no guard rails, and of course the local Kiwis are zipping by at 80-100 kph without care. It makes the roads in Ireland look tame.

Still, we made it up to Hahei without incident. Overnight rain came, and on Tuesday we found that the beautiful, sunny weather we'd been expecting had turned to clouds. Despite this we went to a couple beaches. First we went to Hot Water Beach, a beach famous for its natural subterranean geothermal springs. Supposedly you can dig into the sand at a certain section of the beach and hot water will come bubbling up from the ground. Maybe the springs were broken Monday, because out of the thirty or so eager tourists with shovels, not a single one of us dug up any hot water. I hit some that might've qualified as lukewarm compared to the stuff rolling in on the surf, but certainly no hot water. Hot Water Beach was also home to some tremendous jelly fish. I'm not sure if they were man-of-wars, but they were varying shades of maroon, pink, and purple, and some were larger than dinner plates. Needless to say we didn't go for a swim at Hot Water Beach.

Disappointed but not discouraged, we then headed to Cathedral Cove, a beach known for its enormous limestone formations. I really need more synonyms for beautiful, or maybe the ability to upload photos. I don't want to keep repeating myself.

Here's something different: beech wuz very pwetty lol :)

I swam for a while, even though the water was pretty damn cold. I wasn't alone in my craziness, though. A handful of high schoolers were standing, shivering, in waist-deep water and shrieking with great surprise each and every time a wave crashed against them every five seconds.

It was only a little past noon when we left Cathedral Cove. We had planned on spending our whole day at the beaches, but the weather didn't agree with that. Instead of spending another night near Hahei, we headed down off the peninsula to Hamilton. It's another rainy day, but we were able to do a bit of exploring. Hamilton has a few points of interest. Not only is it New Zealand's largest inland city, but it also has New Zealand's largest (fake) Christmas tree!!! Oooh. Ahhh. It also has an indoor mall that could fit in perfectly in just about any mid-sized US city, complete with a seasonal calendar shop and a mall Santa. Weird. The only differences are the store chains and the food court selections (sushi, curry, and kebabs instead of Cholesterol King and McObese). The rain let up for a couple hours today and we headed to Hamilton Zoo. Tonight we might check out the indoor waterpark just outside of town.

Tomorrow morning we're headed south to Waitomo Caves for our black water rafting adventure, and then we're headed further south still to Taumaranui where we'll leave for our two-day canoe trip down the Whanganui River before returning to Wellington for the weekend. On Sunday we catch the ferry to the south island.

Anyway, I guess that's enough about all the awesome things we've been doing for now. You'd better quit reading this and get back to your jobs. Hahahahahaha!

It's okay. I'll be picking fruit, cleaning rooms, or doing whatever other menial tasks I can for money in a few weeks. Just let me get my cheap shots in while I can.

Pictures will come as soon as I get a chance!

Wellington!

We're in Wellington! This is our fourth day here. We arrived Monday, spent two nights in a hostel, and yesterday we moved into our semi-permanent accomodation.

The drive from Rotorua to Wellington was long (about six hours or so), but scenic. Despite it being incredibly rainy the whole way down, it was very cool seeing such a diverse variety of ecosystems in a relatively small span of time. We started off in the thermal rainforests of Rotorua, then drove past the massive Lake Taupo. After that we passed through Tongariro National Park, home to Tongariro Crossing (one of New Zealand's Great Walks), Mount Ngauruhoe, and Mount Ruapehu (both mountains used to represent Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films). This was the hairiest section of the drive, which involed zipping around incredibly sharp bends, often without any guard rails between the Corona and certain death in the form of a multi-story drop. Fortunately I'm an awesome driver and we lived through it. As we came out of Tongariro National Park we found ourselves in the midst of a vast stretch of desert-like plains, which eventually turned into grassy grazing land with a spectacular view of some snow-capped mountains. The last part of our trip took us along the coast of the Tasman Sea (the body of water between Australia and New Zealand) and ended in Wellington.

Now that we're in Wellington, the rainy trend has continued for the past three days. The weather seems almost identical to Galway's. Wind and rain, wind and rain--hey, is that the sun?--wind and rain, wind and rain, etc. Other than that, it's been great. It's a unique city, narrowly wedged between a mountain range and a harbor. The downtown area is very compact, and the suburbs sprawl over and through the mountains. When we get a chance we're going to drive to the opposite side of the bay to get a better view of the city, and then I'll be able to show you guys some awesome pictures.

As I mentioned, we found accomodation in the form of a room in a shared apartment building. Shared accomodation is fairly common around here, and it involves us having our own bedroom, but we share a bathroom, living room, and kitchen with the other tenants. Apart from the crazy and loud domestic dispute I just heard a few minutes ago, it's not bad!

We also started our job hunt today. Alexa was more successful than I was, picking up a couple promising leads at two clothing stores. Most of the places I wanted to work weren't hiring. All I found were two places that might hire me around Christmastime, and a "I don't know if we're hiring, but I'll give your resume to the manager!" I don't think I've heard the word "no" this much since I was six and asking my parents for drug money.

I'm not too discouraged, though. I only checked in book shops, so I just need to broaden my scope a little. I sent in online applications for Westpac Stadium, the local rugby stadium, and BP2GO, a chain of convenience stores attached to BP petrol stations. Ooooh. Aaaah.

Anyway, I think I've written enough. On with the pictures!

A lonely tree on the shore of Lake Taupo:




The deserted plains we came to after exiting Tongariro National Park:


A nice view of a valley full of grazing fields with snow-capped mountains in the distance:



My next post will go into more detail about Wellington, including pictures. Hopefully they'll be bright, sunny, rain-free pictures. And hopefully I'll be employed.

Also, here's a link to the online photo album I promised so you can see even more pictures. I'll link to my current albums in every post, so you don't have to worry about keeping track of it. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021490&l=499de&id=49800204

A new car, hotsprings, and a brief but insightful look at the Maori language.

Spooti tahooti rama rama ding dong. That’s Maori for absolutely nothing.

So, a lot has happened since my last update. We acquired our used car. It’s a Toyota Corona, like the beer. It’s 1990. 18 years old, baby. No anti-lock breaks, no airbags, no power steering, and certainly no CD player. Let me back up to the third item, though. No power steering. Some of my older readers are probably familiar with this, but for the rest of you let me explain what that means: it means you have to steer a two ton hunk of metal with nothing but your own arm strength and a greasy steering wheel. Yes, it’s as awesome as it sounds.

It took about an hour to get comfortable with driving on the left, and as for the lack of power steering, it will probably take about the whole year to get used to that. Other than that, driving here is actually quite fun. The speed limits are high and the views are amazing. I literally wanted to pull over to take pictures every 2-3minutes. If I did that, though, we’d never make it anywhere.

Now we’re in Rotorua, a town on the way to Wellington. We realized that we weren’t spending our money fast enough so we decided to come here and spend it on all sorts of wonderful things like parks, hot springs, and petrol (that’s gas). Petrol is really expensive. Really, really expensive. I don’t want to hear any complaining about gas prices in the States as long as I’m here. What I do want to hear is, “Hey Eoin, here’s some money for petrol!”

But seriously, Rotorua is a cool area. The geothermal activity has made the landscape unlike anything I've seen before. The area is filled with geysers, hot springs, lakes that are unusual colors due to their chemical composition, and other things like that. As an added bonus, the whole area has the delicious sulphury smell of rotten eggs.

I’ll let pictures do the rest of my talking for me. Tomorrow we’re continuing on towards Wellington. Until then, take care. Or as the Maori say, “Rahiti rahiti smell my feety.”

Okay, they don’t really say that. Anyway, on with the pictures.

Mount Tarawera, the volcano that erupted in 1886 and buried the town of Te Wairo:



A couple cool pictures from the geothermal park we went to, Wai-O-Tapu:




(Once I have more online time I’ll create an online photo album, so there will be a lot more of these. I just don’t want to bog down my blog with a bunch of photos).