Coming Clean

This is almost three weeks past due, but better late than never!

I think a good majority of you realize this by now, but for those of you still in the dark: my last two blog posts were complete lies. I never found a job in Whangarei, Alexa and I left New Zealand on June 30th and traveled around Australia for 16 days before flying back to Auckland for a quick stopover. On the evening of July 18th we landed in Reagan National Airport and we've been back since then.

Why the deception, you ask? In early June Alexa and I picked July 18th as an arbitrary date to return home, and when I told my parents I realized July 19th was my niece Madison's birthday/party. And what could be a better surprise than Uncle Eoin and Alexa randomly showing up on the doorstep?

We decided to keep our return a secret from the entirety of my sister's family, and since they read the blog I had to make a few fake posts.

Anyway, the surprise ended up being a bit more exciting than just showing up on the doorstep. My dad had jokingly promised Madison a horse for her birthday, so my mom set about creating a fantastic two-person horse costume. Obviously I was the brains of the operation so Alexa pulled up the rear (literally), and after confusion ensued for a couple minutes we popped out of the costume and surprised everybody! I think the look on my sister's face was the most priceless, but unfortunately we didn't get a picture. We did, however, get these two pictures:

Awwwww.

And yes, the costume did have a mask. Once Alexa's back in town we'll have to don the suit again just so we can get a full picture of the brilliant costume my mom made.

So that's that. Now that I'm back in the States you may be worried that you'll never have the fortune of reading my blog ever again, but don't worry. I still have 3 or 4 posts to write about our fantastic journey along Australia's east coast before I retire the blog.

I apologize to the many, many people I haven't gotten in contact with yet. I don't know how 3 weeks have gone by already, but I've been insanely busy--cleaning, selling junk on ebay, trying to find a real job and all that other fun BS. More on that later. Keep an eye on your inbox for my updates about Oz-Trail-Yer.

Homecoming

Yeah. It's been a while. But you guys should be used to that by now, right?

Once again, there hasn't been much to report on. There really aren't many touristy, fun things to do here in Whangarei, and besides that we're trying to save all our money for the upcoming trip to Australia... which we have finally purchased tickets for!

We leave New Zealand next Friday, the 24th for Sydney. From Sydney we'll fly up to Cairns and then begin our 16 day journey down the east cost, from Cairns to Sydney. Along the way we'll see the Great Barrier Reef, rainforests, opera houses, and probably lots of Kangaroos, Koalas, and all those other crazy Australia-exclusive animals. Once we're finished up in Sydney, we'll fly back to Auckland for a brief 2-day stopover to pick up our excess baggage (we're going to store the stuff we don't need for Australia so we don't have to haul everything around) and then board our final flight back to the States on August 12th. The flight leaves at 2:30 pm and gets in at 9 pm on the same day, even though it's over 24 hours of travel time. Time zones are so fun!

So there's the big news for the day. This could be my last post until I'm back home. Internet connections at hostels are always sketchy and/or expensive, so I'm not sure if I'll be updating on the go.

If not, I'll see you all sometime after August 12th! Now I've got Australia-trip-planning to do.

Pictures Galore

It's been a while, but there hasn't been too much to report on.

In my last post I promised pictures of the famed shark and other underwater beasties, but as it turns out my underwater photography skills are not up to par. No shark picture came out when I got the photos developed. A few pictures were actually missing from the set, so I guess the guy didn't bother developing those that came out too dark. A few decent underwater shots came out, though, and you can find them in one of the new albums on the right-hand sidebar. I've addded Albums Nine, Ten, and Eleven, which span from our trip to Doubtful Sound in late March all the way through the present, so you'll find more pictures of Franz Josef, Abel Tasman National Park, and Fiji.

In other news, I've acquired a very part-time job, just doing odd work around Plunket, a child care agency's office for a few hours every week. It's not much, but it's enough to pay the rent and keep me floating for the next month Sometime in late July we'll be heading off to Australia for a trip from Cairns to Sydney and then we'll be back in the States in mid-late August.

I guess that's about it for now. Even though I don't have much to say, though, I'm sure you'll find plenty of entertainment in the new albums. There's something like 150 new pictures between the three albums. Knock yourselves out!

Bula!

We're back from Fiji! It was a great trip, even though we had two days of rain. The other three days were perfect and sunny, and even the rainy days weren't so bad since the rain mostly came at night time and it stayed warm during the day.

Over the course of our trip we explored Nadi, took a day trip to a private island, snorkelled, spent plenty of time relaxing by our hotel's pool, and endured a combined total of over 24 hours in airports. Yep, over 24 hours. Thanks to our early flight, the bus schedule from Whangarei to Auckland, and our not wanting to pay for a hostel room for only a few hours, we slept in Auckland airport both before our departure and after our return. Good thing they have padded benches!

The best day was definitely Friday, when we went out to the island. Beaches on the mainland are pretty dirty and covered in trash (near Nadi, at least). Fiji is another of those countries where most of the locals live in poverty while tourists come and live in luxury. Fortunately, the indigenous Fijians had some foresight when they became a British colony and kept some rights to themselves. Over 80% of Fiji's land is owned by the indigenous people, and it can't be taken away. Instead, they lease out the land at high cost. So all of the big fancy resorts have to pay the indigenous Fijians for the use of their land. The money goes straight back to the villages, so the Fijians in those lucky villages don't have it quite so bad.

But back to the island. The pristine, white sand beaches are found on the many smaller islands such as South Sea island. This is where we spent the day:



For a ridicuously-cheap price (especially after the exchange rate) we were ferried out to the island for the day. With less than thirty in our group, it wasn't a crowded trip. We had a huge lunch buffet, as well as all we could drink (water, beer, wine, soda) for the entire day, unlimited access to snorkelling equipment, kayaks, two snorkelling trips off a boat, and two trips in this semi-submersible boat (like glass bottom, but glass sides instead). Basically, we spent eight hours in an all-inclusive paradise.

Snorkelling made the trip for me. Apart from the two boat trips, they had a large roped-off area where you could snorkel by the beach. It turns out the reef starts only 10-15 feet away from the shore, so there was plenty to see. On the second trip out I even saw a shark! It was about 5-6 feet long and was just swimming around about ten feet below me. Only four others were out on the trip, and I swam up to the boat and said, "Uh... I just saw a shark. Is that okay?" The guide said it was probably just a reef shark and it was perfectly fine. So I swam back and found the shark again and took a picture before he disappeared into the deeper water. Very cool.

Even aside from the shark, snorkelling was great fun. I think I spent a combined three or so hours snorkelling, getting my back sunburned and my arms and legs chewed up by sea lice. Yes, sea lice. Apparently these are microscopic little nasties whose bites feel similar to a mild jelly-fish sting, but the pain only lasts for a few minutes. Seeing the many varieties of multi-colored fish in every shape and size made it all worthwhile. It certainly has gotten me excited for seeing the Great Barrier Reef when we head to Australia--as long as the mean sharks keep their distance.

Sadly, Mr. Shark and our other snorkelling pictures will have to wait. We bought a waterproof camera that uses this weird stuff called "film." And you have to "wind" this weird knob after every picture, and when it's all finished you have to get it "developed." There's not even a screen on the camera. Crazy, I know. At any rate I will try to get the pictures "deveoped" as soon as possible so you all can have a look.

We also took a half day bus tour of the Nadi area. Alexa and I ended up being the only people on the tour that day, so we more or less had a private drive around Nadi. We saw a Fijian village, a downtown fruit market, a large Hindu temple, and the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, which lies at the base of the Mountain of the Sleeping Giant:


The far left is his head, the radio tower is his belly, and the mound on the right are his feet. Actually fairly proportionate, huh? Except he has super short legs.

Here's the open air market in Fiji:


Downtown Nadi is a sketchy sort of place. We learned one lesson really quick: if a slick-looking dude comes up to you and says, "Bula!" and starts asking you a bunch of friendly questions, he isn't just being nice. He will walk and talk with you for about twenty feet, until suddenly you find yourself at the entrance to a dingy shop and your way down the sidewalk is blocked by two or three of his friends. At this point you're supposed to feel compelled to enter the shop, where they offer you Kava, show you pictures of their village, and then ask you for donations for said village while urging you to buy crappy, over-priced trinkets. We only fell for this once, but quickly left the shop after glancing at a few price tags.

We spent the rest of our time in Fiji hanging out at our hotel's pool, venturing into downtown Nadi for souviniers, and checking out a local beach. Not much else too exciting. Like I said before, the highlight was our day on South Sea Island.

Upon returning to New Zealand, we had to resume our job hunt. Boo. It actually got so bad we were seriously considering just going to Australia next week and then coming home early. But just as we'd resigned ourselves to this, Alexa got a job! She's nannying for a family with two little girls 4 days a week, with an optional extra day depending if the parents' shop is busy. Sweet. With any luck I too will find some means of employment.

Here's hoping that by my next post I'll be a working man!

Anti-bula! (Good bye in Fijian, obviously)

An inviting hammock on South Sea Island:

The view off our hotel room's balcony:

Nadi's huge Hindu temple, as seen from the front:

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.