jersey does new zealand

the end is coming.

2009-03-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

and we are still being hit with bad weather. i know i sound like a broken record, but seriously. from picton, headed towards kaikoura, and though the day started off nice enough, it got cloudier, windier and cooler. please, gods of new zealand, one nice day! stopped at dusky lodge to pick up the stuff we had left there so we wouldn't have to cart it all over the north island.

unfortunately, it was not meant to be my day.

my canvas kiwi bag was there, and the paintings we had purchased. however, my wine was gone. WTF. i was so irritated, mainly because i had such a pit in my stomach that something would happen to it. i hate when you don't listen to your gut and go with your instincts. i knew i should have taken the wine with me, even said so when we first went to the north island. leah and meg (two other lodge workers that steph knew) felt really badly, and leah especially had remembered seeing them very recently. it seems that mikey - the little irish fellow - was the likely culprit, however he was too cowardly to admit it, and snuck out the back door on a supposed "errand". yeah, right. the worst part was that they were special wines, and you couldn't buy them in the liquor stores, only from the vineyards. well, thanks mikey. wherever you are - you owe me 2 bottles of wine!!

anyway, steaming, got back in the car and continued our drive south towards christchurch. and what a surprise, it began to rain. we made it to the rental car place in time, and they were very friendly (as the locals have been the entire trip) and even gave us a ride to our final hostel, coachman backpacker. it was really a beautiful building, the wood paneling was exquisite. walked around the town center again, managed to pick up a few more souvenirs i had been looking for (including that kiwi shirt for jeff i had wanted). got our final meal, mine of course was lamb. was not about to leave the country of a gazillion sheep without that.

parted ways with steph, as she was meeting up with friends for her last hurrah. theresa & i walked around the botanical gardens and art center. and wouldn't you know my camera stopped working properly. friggin' day. thankfully, theresa took the close up shot of the charles dickens rose that i really wanted. so pretty. one last night of ice cream despite the now cold temps (we got our hokey pokey bars), and back to the hostel to pack. which is always a pain, but since i didn't have to worry about where to put the wine..

next AM began leisurely enough. we were able to store our luggage and walk around christchurch a while before needing to leave for the airport. the open air markets were setting up and there was plenty to browse and window shop. found our way to a cafe steph had recommended, and got the black currant hot juice. very different, but very good. the funniest moment of the morning, however, was when we read the paper - every single city in NZ had a sun over it in the weather forecast. EVERY ONE. except christchurch. which had a big ol' raincloud. hmpf.

finally it was time to say goodbye. theresa & i were on different flights, so i left her in christchurch. she had a night layover in aukland, so at least she was able to see some of that city. in the airport terminal i managed to spend my final 5 NZD, i was very proud of my purchases. eventually time to board, and oddly enough steph and i were on the same flight to LAX. the plane was booked solid, so there really wasn't much of a chance of us switching seats around to sit by each other.

and here's where i wish i wasn't a nice person. because we are usually the ones that get screwed over.

i had noticed that there was an empty seat next to me (i ALWAYS fly in the aisle seat, especially on long distance flights). and i noticed that there was an empty seat in the middle of the center aisle, one row behind me. and i had another sinking feeling in my gut that this was too good to be true. sure enough, an announcement was made that the flight was indeed fully booked and they were just trying to figure out some last minute seating arrangements. immediately afterwards, a couple boarded the plane and started walking our way. closer and closer they came, until they were standing next to me. and with a pleading look in their eyes, they asked me if i would be willing to sit in the middle of the 4 person row so that they could sit together.

what could i do?

i actually tried to stick up for myself, however meekly. i explained that i booked this seat months ago, so that i would have an aisle. that i don't sleep on planes, no matter how long or time of the flight, and that i need access to the aisle to walk around because of this. but they kept asking, and kept saying please. at one point they actually started begging me. and everyone was watching. i could not be a jackass, no matter how much i wanted to be. so, i got stuck in the middle of the 4 person row. the worst part was that the lady on the aisle in my new row blatantly said to me that she takes pills so she can sleep the whole time. so when i asked if she would mind switching with me, i was shocked when she flat out said 'no', because she 'might' need to use the toilet at some point, so she wanted to make sure she had that option. might?! WTF again - i told you i don't sleep so you can just ask me to move! so here i was, stuck in the middle, in seats so narrow you can barely stand up and do ankle pumps. i couldn't get out because the large woman next to me did indeed sleep the whole time, plus the kid in front of her had reclined his seat all the way that it was nearly on her lap, and there was no way to get out unless i wanted to literally climb on the armrests. AND the couple that took my seat also slept the entire time. i was so exhausted that i was close to tears by the end of the flight.

i then completely forgot that steph was on the flight, because after we got off the plane i had to literally run to catch my flight to newark. so i felt badly that i didn't get to say goodbye to her. plus, stupid continental charged me another $15 to check my luggage. even though i was coming from an international flight, because the flights were booked separately, they didn't really care. fortunately, i got my aisle back to NJ, and and empty middle seat next to me.

ah, NJ. my home sweet home. traveling can be exhausting, and it is indeed good to be back. for now..

east coast represent

2009-03-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

need to mention the road sign to indicate cattle xing. it featured a cow on what appeared to be a skate board. not entirely sure, but it gave us a good laugh. wish i could have snagged a photo.

on the road by 9, as we had 6-7 hrs of driving ahead of us. talk about a whirlwind. but you take what you can get. drove the pacific coast highway to te araroa and somehow managed to miss the main tourist attraction, the largest pohutukawa tree. oops. tikitiki was next (i love these town names, especially when i can pronounce them), home to quaint st. mary's church and a cloud covered view of mt. hikurangi. mt. hikurangi is the highest non-volcanic point in nz and is the first spot on the planet to be touched by the sun each day. pretty neat.

next up, ruatoria, which LP says has "a couple of cafes". we found one. and it was closed. on to waipiro bay, where after 7ks of loose road (though not as much motion sickness this time) we came to what i think was my favorite viewpoint of the day. the ocean is so calming. i can literally stand watching and listening to the waves breaking all day. we stopped at tokomaru bay next, which LP says is the most beautiful. while lovely, i enjoyed waipiro more. though tokomaru did have surfers.. haha.

along the drive a little more was anaura bay, surrounded by maori campsites. we saw 2 people fishing and a couple walking along the beach. it's always amazing how isolated everything is out here. found one more bay view point, the name of which escapes me, primarily because we got attacked by at least a dozen bees. thank goodness for the bravery of steph - jumping into the car and pulling it forward enough for us to get in. a stung allison does not equal a happy allison, more like one that needs benadryl and a hospital asap. phew. at least the views were spectacular, and we have sun!

reached grisborne about 1pm, and of course made our way into a cafe. i don't know what i'll do when i get home and can't have hot chocolate or tea every day. walked to the ocean, saw a statue of captain james cook - and a group of kids that stole my idea of climbing on it. skipped the rest of the town due to lack of time, we had places to be. napier, to be precise.

ah, napier. i think it might be my 2nd or 3rd favorite town we visited in nz. it was art deco to the extreme, and we arrived for the final evening of the annual art deco festival. all around us were people - from all walks of life and all over the globe - dressed up in roaring 20s garb and swagger. i felt like i was in the great gatsby. and i really really wished i had a flapper costume in my backpack. i also really really wanted to sneak a photo of the cutest old women i've ever seen. they were sitting at a cafe table, dressed in headbands, feathers and beads, drinking who knows what and having a grand time. i hope to be like that one day.

walked around the town to get a sense of the art deco as well as spanish missionary style architecture. and got our almost nightly ice cream. there were so many cute shops, all themed of course, and a bit out of my price range. had wanted to buy a hat, but my left brain just couldn't justify it. silly left brain.

unfortunately didn't sleep much that night, thanks to spotting a giant flying buzzing gross bug that resembled a cockroach on steroids. i kept hearing it buzz while flying then a thud when falling to land. i was petrified that it would fall on me during the night, so i covered myself completely with the sheets. nearly sweated to death, but it was better than the possibility of the bug landing on me. i shudder just thinking about it.

the next AM, the hostel owner of archie's bunker was fabulous, and despite a growing line behind me at checkout, he took his time to ensure he explained and mapped out everything we should see on our way back down to wellington. and i didn't mind, considering the guy behind me was ridiculously attractive and had a killer accent. haha. checked out, packed up the car, and wandered around napier for a bit to see it in the day light hours. then in the car to see the sights that came highly recommended.

first up was the mission (said in a semi-pretentious accent). it is nz's oldest winery, founded in 1851. read a bit about its history, which was interesting. the wine was okay, but didn't like it enough to purchase. the grounds were beautiful, and i can see why it's worth a stop. next up was silky oak chocolate company - glorious! and we realized that yes, this would indeed be a self-indulgent food day. bought a few chocolate items from the gift shop before heading to the cafe - mistake. should have gone to the cafe first, because i probably would have eaten less. the 'must' at the cafe is a hot chili chocolate. a bit afraid of the spicy factor, i went all out and tried it anyway. so decadent. the whipped cream on top was sprinkled with chili powder (i picked off the biggest chunks), and the under layer was pure, thick liquid chocolate. felt a bit sick afterwards, but it was totally worth it.

made our way to hastings next, where we went straight to the lookout of te mata peak. the drive up was really scary, as the road really only fit 1.5 car widths though it was a 2 way road. and there were no railings or fence posts guarding the steep cliff edge. the view was a very impressive panorama. i will miss this country. stopped off at the arataki honey visitors center, where we learned about the honey making process and got to sample all kinds of honey. i learned i'm definitely a mild-honey person. who knew how many flavors honey could have? finally made our way to te mata cheese co, where we got a platter of hard sheep, strong blue and strong brie. i don't think i could fit any more in my stomach after that.

back on the road again, straight to wellington as we were pushing the clock to board the ferry. we made it in time, and said our goodbyes to the north island. sad. because i feel we didn't even touch the north island. and sad because our trip was coming to a close.

bay of plenty

2009-03-09T20:40:00.001-07:00

oh roto-rooter (as theresa says). if only you were sunnier, how we would enjoy you. we were able to walk around the lake and thermal areas, which are a bit like yellowstone - sulfur smell and all - but a bit stinkier if you ask me. the sun did manage to peak out temporarily, but unfortunately it started to drizzle a bit more than we were comfortable with, so we cut our trail short. we had a lot of driving a head of us, anyway.

first up, a town called turanga where we were able to climb mt. maunganui to get a nice view of the bay and watch a few surfers catching waves (always a pleasure..). the hike started out okay, though again, wearing flip flops - not the greatest traction on rocky and loose gravel pathways that lead to jagged cliffs to the ocean.. we did fine, until it started to sprinkle a bit - and again we had to make a call; press on and risk a downpour, or turn around now to be safe. we turned around. i think the previous week took all risk taking out of our systems.

so back to the car we headed, and hit up a town called te puke, which is the self-proclaimed "kiwi capital of the world". we walked around the town, but didn't find anything particularly kiwi related. hmm. so off to the primary tourist attraction, the kiwi 360, which was basically a gigantic souvenir shop. i did get my kiwi cutter though, a bargain at $0.50. the most disappointing thing however was that they advertised kiwi ice cream on a giant sign with arrows guiding your way to the cafe. so, with great anticipation we followed the arrows, only to come to the cafe that said "closed for private function". way cool, te puke. way cool. though i must admit the 'clever kiwi..' road signs were indeed, clever. foreign countries always have much more interesting PSAs than we do in the states.

peaced out of the non-kiwi capital, and drove to whakatane, where we officially entered the bay of plenty. named because of the abundant sunshine and miles of glorious sandy beaches, our fingers were crossed that finally we would see some nice weather. while it wasn't miserably raining, it wasn't sunny either. oh well - it can always be worse! walked around the town, which was pretty cute, and found our way to NZ's finest fish and chips, which unfortunately was closed and has since been bought out. Now wally's on the wharf, we still got a good meal. mmm. was surprised by the fact the woman working the counter couldn't tell me the difference between the tarakihi and hoki fish. the only description she had was, "they are both white fish". amateur.

drove drove drove along some pretty coast line for about 3 hrs to our next and final destination for the day, hick's bay. the distance itself wasn't too bad, but the roads are windy and you can't pick up any real speed. we stayed at mel's place, and after getting lost a couple times, finally found our way there. turns out mel and joe are maori and they basically rent out their home to travelers. it was definitely a unique and interesting experience. again, touched by the friendliness of the new zealand people. as well as the fact we needed a flashlight to see in the outhouse (yes, i said outhouse) and shower/sink stall. the plan was to wake up at 5am to make it to the east cape lighthouse to catch the first sunrise in nz, but none of us had the energy to complete the task. the sunrise over the bay was just as nice =)

holy north island batman

2009-03-06T09:08:00.001-08:00

and so begins our whirlwind tour of the north island. our plan was from wellington to go directly north up the center, then head east along the coast and back to wellington. we originally wanted to do the trip in reverse, however there was no accommodation to be found in napier - turns out the week we wanted to go happened to be their art deco festival and everything was booked. but luckily when we reversed the trip, we were able to see the last day of the art deco festival but still get accommodation.

the first town we drove through was shannon, home to "owlcatraz" (i am not joking), an aviary for owls, who are given names such as 'owlvis presley' and 'owl capone'. i think it would have been funny and quite possibly the cheesiest tourist attraction i've seen, but limited time calls for limited sights. made our way further up, and stopped in palmerston north, a college town. there was a little main street with shops and cafes. we stopped at cafe on george to relax a bit and write our thank you cards to the people of reefton. further along the drive, came to a town called bulls. now, this is a very interesting place, if only b/c of their amazing marketing skills. the town would be like any other, EXCEPT every store, every office, you name it - had "a-bull" after the name. as in the medical center was "cur-a-bull". the market "veget-a-bull". the police "const-a-bull". even the public toilet (my favorite) "reliev-a-bull". HAHA. what a photo-op there!

westward from there, came to wanganui, the main town in that area. again, it was filled with shops and cafes on the main street. we cut over to see the less than impressive park. then back in the car, which would soon become my enemy. instead of going a more direct route to the taupo area, we took the scenic drive along the whanganui river. it started out very nice, with beautiful views of the river and hilly landscape. unfortunately the road quickly turned into a gravel (or loose) road and things just went south for me. the constant bumping in the back seat and the quick twists and turns of the road gave me instant car sickness. i got a bad headache, a unrelenting pulsing in my right ear and was very nauseated. plus, there was so much dust in the car from the road it was almost hard to breathe. finally made it out of there and into the town of ohakune, the carrot capital. our plan to get carrot cake here failed miserably; despite LP stating you can get carrot everything (from drinks, to pizza, to deserts) - there was not one carrot cake to be found in the entire town, nor was there anything carrot-y on any menu. i was too sick to eat anyway, but LP you really let us down on this leg of the journey.

got a glimpse of mt. ruapehu, the highest and most active volcano in tongaririo national park, and hit the road again. drove along desert road (thru which i pretty much slept) to turangi, home to the self-proclaimed trout fishing capital of the world (NZ is really big on titles), but i was too sick to even think about fish and chips here. managed to get down half a PB&J and apple, and the shower to get off all the grime really helped too, so felt a lot better by the time i went to bed.

next day again cursed with bad weather. turns out that a cyclone had just passed over the northern tip of NZ and we were getting the remnants. great. not sure how, but we are literally following every storm that comes across the island. it rained all day long. so took our time getting ready in the AM since our plans to go hiking through the thermal areas and volcanoes would have to be forgone. drove along lake taupo, but couldn't see much thanks to the weather and cloud coverage. spent the whole day putzing around trying to find indoor activities, and there aren't much in taupo! went to several cafes, theresa & steph got haircuts while i walked around, then went to a movie. finally on the way to rotarua, passing several hot springs and huka falls - all of which we had to pass on b/c of the rain.

checked into our hostel in rotarua (spa lodge), and wouldn't you know the sun actually poked its head out while we were eating and doing laundry. it's like a cruel joke. oh well. wanted to watch the rugby game - dunedin highlanders vs wellington hurricanes - so headed into town to see if we could find a sports bar. the first we came to had the game on, but no sound and the music was so loud you couldn't hear yourself think. but found our way into a totally townie bar and had a great time! stuck to ourselves at first, but kept being approached by locals (mostly men with a few women, all at least in their 40s), and eventually struck up conversations with them and learned a bit about the game. they even had us participate in their betting pools (tho we had no clue what we were actually betting on), and later one of them bought us all a beer. new zealanders are all so nice and friendly, it continues to amaze me. wellington won (yay!) and then we headed back to our hostel for the night.

windy welly

2009-03-03T15:55:00.001-08:00

so we finally made it to the north island. i really wasn't convinced we would, but things are at least working out as well as they could have.

woke up about 2am in picton to quite possibly the loudest snoring i've ever heard. it was literally almost shaking my bed, and i wasn't even in the same bunk as the perpetrator. couldn't fall back asleep after that, so didn't get much shut eye since we had to be at the ferry to the north island at 530am. the ferry was freezing! (tho not quite as cold as refrigerator bus). theresa bought us tea, so that helped to keep us warm. the ride was long, but just glad to finally see wellington.

disembarked with our rental car, and after a few mishaps of trying to find our way, eventually made it up to victoria peak to get an overview of the city. must note the looming storm clouds in the distance, but at least they were held at bay for most of the day. oh - also need to mention the ride up.. so the roads were extremely narrow, and keep in mind you are also going around hairpin turns up the mountain. plus they had completely unnecessary street parking, leaving barely enough room for 1 car to squeeze through. and it was a 2 way road. ah, new zealand traffic patterns. we were nervous only b/c we so did not want to imagine ourselves getting into another accident (luckily that didn't happen). also need to mention the construction site where we witnessed the workers lifting a very large mystery metal box with a crane, and proceeded to almost drop it at one point, and almost hit a runner with it at another. it was fascinating to watch, like when you can't take your eyes off a train wreck. and after that incident i'm not too sure of my confidence in nz construction crews, haha.

back into the city to find our hostel (worldwide backpackers), find parking (always a chore in cities), and check in. turns out you can buy a parking ticket for $5/day, and usually the hostel sells them, but the owner was out - so he sent theresa & i to go buy them for him. he handed us $100 and asked for 3 booklets of tickets. unfortunately the booklets cost $50 a piece - so we could only buy 2. i was really nervous that he would think we stole $50 from him, and felt guilty for no reason when he questioned "are you sure i didn't give you another $50". but when he was taking our money for the accommodation and couldn't make change without our assistance, he commented "no wonder i thought i gave you another $50, i can't even count correctly

now." so that made me feel better. imagine - allison the thief. seriously? the girl with the guiltiest conscience in the world stealing. now that would be funny.

walked down to the city center to see what we could of wellington, including te papa - the national museum of new zealand. the displays were quite impressive and the museum was very well done. unfortunately it was so massive that we got museum-ed out by the 3rd floor. funniest part? they had a "junk shop" that came alive. it was called a "must see" in the brochure, so we checked it out. it showed the most random videos that really cannot be described (people pushing baby carriages, the atomic bomb, old photographs - i mean random!). during video segments (many of which related to NZ history) animated contraptions in the room would move to supplement the video. the one i can't forget - a video of a cow being slaughtered. seriously - so did not need to ever see that. what did it have to do with anything? nothing. however, this is the funny part, i was so delirious from fatigue that when that video was shown and an animated cow head mounted on a wall came "alive" and moooo'd at us - i could not stop laughing. tears were streaming down my face.

needing food, found a bakery, then made our way to parliament, which is a very pretty building. saw the famous beehive as well. then made our way to the waterfront and walked along there for a while. saw some b-boys breakdancing. some were actually pretty talented. got a picnic lunch and ate while watching the dancers. theresa accidentally dropped a pea on the ground and within 2 seconds we were engulfed by pigeons. it was hilarious. where did they come from?! what was even funnier was that each pigeon would try the pea and spit it out, then the next would try. come on guys - don't you know if the 1st 50 birds hate it you probably will too? one bird did eventually get the pea down. we can only guess what his fate will be..

back to the hostel to bring in the rest of the stuff from our car, and book the remaining nights we had on the north island. no sky diving for us :( then back into the city later at night, where we were once again lured into mcdonalds (the worst place on earth) by very tempting $1 ice cream sundaes. mmmmm.

traveling by bus stinks after you've had a car..

2009-02-27T11:03:00.001-08:00

seriously. the next sandfly i see is dead meat. i know i keep complaining, but when you can't sleep b/c your feet itch so bad you are crying, you begin to get a little cranky. and a little worried when your toes are double in size, extremely red and shiny. thank goodness we were on our way to christchurch (aka civilization) and i could find a pharmacist to help before my toe falls off!

after a quick shower and breakfast at our hostel, made our way to the garage to pick up the rest of our belongings that we had left in the car, but the mechanic told us his wife was actually going to be coming down to the bus stop to deliver our things there, so made our way towards the ever-popular I Site to wait for her. we waited for a while and began to worry when she didn't show up as we were so not about to miss the bus (and our only way out of middle-of-nowhere doom) again. but alas, she did arrive with minutes to spare. only thing is she forgot our food that was in the car and only grabbed the sleeping bags. at first i was like oh well, lost a brand new box of cheerios and peanut butter and some other random stuff, but then later realized my special souvenir food was also in that bag! so so sad. lost my plum spread and my onion marmalade. and the accident claims another victim..

having had our anxiety relaxed after we finally received our sleeping bags, it was only to build again when the bus that was supposed to arrive at 0845 still wasn't there. and i only wish i could have seen the look on our faces when our bus did actually pull up. it was a 10 seater mini van. grrrrrreat. we were going to be stuck in that for over 4 hrs. i really wish we still had our car. anyway, the ride was uneventful thankfully. made a couple pit stops and also picked up a few stragglers along the way. unfortunately however the driver kept the air conditioning on full blast the entire time, and we were nearly frozen solid when we eventually arrived in christchurch. to quote theresa, who put it quite aptly, "what did he think we were? heads of lettuce?!" in all honestly, i had a difficult time walking because my muscles were in a state of clonus from shivering so much. and of course it was misting rain. no matter what steph says, i'm convinced the sun doesn't shine on the east coast.

checked into our hostel (vagabond backpackers), then made our way back into town to find some food, a pharmacy (thank the lord!) and to begin to pick away at the mountain of tasks we needed to complete thanks the the accident. we were successful in the first two, but began to hit a roadblock when it came to dealing with car issues. our first stop was to state insurance, who despite being incredibly friendly, was not able to help us much as they were just a sales office and didn't deal with claims. however, they were able to get us farther than we were on our own, so at least we got some more information out of it, if not actual assistance. turns out that yes, we have to deal with the rental insurance directly (state won't help) and that we can't process any claims until the couple returns from their vacation and fills out the paperwork. nice.

so we made our way to the wendekrisen rental company, thinking we would get further in person than on a phone. we tried to be pleasant but firm in our demands. spent about 3 hrs there waiting for the girl to have time between customers to help us, which in the end really got us nowhere. we were able to fill our our portion of the paperwork, and the girl was as helpful as she could be. but all she could really do was reiterate the fact that we had to wait until the couple returned their vehicle to file the claim. and tell us we would likely only get the blue book value (prob around $300) for the car despite having put $1000 into it the day before for the inspection. and despite having a buyer who already gave us $500. but the real kicker and final slap in the face was that wendekrisen said we would be responsible for the tow b/c we requested it. which is total BS. we never requested it - the police is the one who called for the tow b/c he said it was illegal to leave it there. WTF.

back into town (yet another bus ticket..just put it on the tab of unanticipated expenses), met up with steph's friend giselle for dinner, then theresa and i headed back to our hostel while steph went to meet up with friends. defrosted with a cup of tea and desperate housewives (funny, i've never even watched that show at home). and we talked about our options, the only logical one being that if we wanted to salvage any of our time in the north island, we should rent a car.

so that's what we did. next morning began our plethora of phone calls, which included getting prices for rentals, canceling our old bookings in the north island and making new ones to fit our new time table, calling home to tell the parents, calling the mechanic in reefton to sort out the payment issue (turns out he'll keep the car as long as we need him to if we send him the title with no dates on it - so it will still be in steph's name so she can get the accident claim money), and finally calling simon the insurance man for wendekrisen, who fortunately at least appears to be on our side and understanding of our plight.

found a car for $40/day from scottie's, not too shabby. it's actually a great deal since we'd be spending triple that if we had to pay for buses everywhere. and the amount of time we'll save if we manage our own transport..that is more precious than anything at this point. picked up the rental, then back to the hostel to pack up and ship out. made a stop in kaikoura (bought another wooly shirt) so steph could use the fax/internet for free at dusky lodge. left some souvenirs there so we wouldn't have to carry them all around the north island, including my 2 bottles of wine and our paintings. then made our way to picton - finally. checked into our hostel (the atlantis), made dinner and walked around so we could see at least a bit of the cute nautically themed town. and had the best ice cream bars ever! they so hit the spot after our day of stress. finally to bed, we have quite a day a head.

being stuck in reefton is not fun

2009-02-25T20:08:00.001-08:00

have to keep reminding ourselves that cars and money and things are replaceable. our health is not. but seriously, of all places to be stuck.. reefton would not top my list. the town has a population of about 1000, though the one thing we did have in our favor was that it at least made the lonely planet guidebook (can't say that about a few other places we visited..). and, we learned a lot that we never would have had we arrived in picton as planned.

here are some fun facts about reefton:
- it was the first place in nz and the southern hemisphere to have electricity, hence called "the town of lights"

- it was named for the abundance of gold-infested quartz reefs
- it is home to the southern hemisphere's largest skate park

- its main industries are coal mining and dairy farming
- tourism is quickly catching up; the town can accommodate almost 300 people. crazy!
- there is a bearded mining company, where you can talk to, well, bearded miners
- there are 5 cafes (we went to all of them)
- the most popular hangout for the kids is the I-Site info center

and that's all i got.

but wow, keeping ourselves occupied for a few hours was difficult, let alone a couple days. and to make matters worse, it was the weekend, so most things were closed anyway. including the pharmacy - so no medical supplies for my now increasingly swollen and painful feet. i swear, if sandflies make my feet go gangrene and need to be amputated, i will not be a happy camper..

while steph made some phone calls to insurance people (which, of course, are closed on sundays), mechanics and the like, theresa and i scoped out the best way to bust out of reefton. turns out there is only 1 bus that leaves the town, and it leaves at 9am. so we had already missed it on sunday, and would be here at least one more night. grrrrreat. steph got no where fast on the phones, so back to the hostel to book another night, then back to a cafe for food/drink and a place to hang out that wasn't the hostel. hung out there reading as long as we could, then walked the entire town of reefton, which unfortunately didn't take up as much time as we needed.

hung out at the I-Site for a while longer, checking internet which was mega expensive ($2 for 10mins). though this is were we found out I-Site is apparently THE place to chill for the local hoodlum and ruffian children. witnessed some kids try smoking cigarettes for the first time. fun times. then some kids riding bikes and knocking down all the signs outside the info center and not picking them up. and some kids not wearing helmets and getting the "death finger" from our pal taye the cop. and it was barely noon! went back to the hostel to make some lunch, then back to town.

as we sat at a cafe across the street from the I-Site, watched a group of kids - let's call them a gang - get into a fight with another group of kids. it was all trash talk at first, but then there was some threats of physical violence. namely throwing their bikes onto the ground and pumping out their chests like they were tough 10 year olds. when things started to escalate, the owner of our cafe came out with a phone in her hand and shouted "break it up or i'll make a call". one of the ruffians belonged to her, and came over to tell what was really happening. we got an earful about so-and-so doing something to another so-and-so. it was very entertaining.

but it wasn't over yet! about an hour later, our friendly copper taye showed up. i really would hate to have his job. apparently he had been called to investigate a sugar robbery or something of that nature. so he was questioning the worker at the I-Site and the owner of the grocery next door, as well as all the hoodlum children. about an hour or so after that, he was gone, and we again got an earful from the cafe lady shouting across the street to the grocer man, both shaking their heads in a "what has this world come to" and "i can't wait for monday so they're back in school" sort of way. the kids may be crazy, but at least all the adults are incredibly kind and helpful.

we'd have enough excitement for one day, so back at the hostel to make dinner and do some more reading. what else could we do? got online there (a bit more reasonable then the I-Site) and got to bed early, considering we wanted to make sure we made that 9am bus the next day. there was no way we were staying in reefton one more night!

the tide turns

2009-02-22T10:37:00.001-08:00

so, just to start off, everyone is okay and no one got hurt. thank goodness. but yeah, things could have been a lot worse..

so our car got totalled. or more specifically stephanie's car that she's had since october. as i said, we are all alright. but seriously? after the entire fiasco of having to put nearly $1000 of work into it for it to pass inspection, and getting a down payment on the car from the buyer, all LESS THAN 24hrs PRIOR?! no joke. timing really couldn't have been worse.

i'll start at the beginning.

after staying with phyllis and her husband, who were really funny and cute and nice and every bit the stereotypical western kiwi folk, mosied my way the 4 blocks to the main strip to watch the runners come into town. it is the most exciting thing that westport sees every year, and the town was (supposedly) packed! in all honesty, though, by our standards it was still a bit of a ghost town, so i really wonder what it must be like the other 364 days of the year.. the morning started off chilly with misty rain. no surprise there. but the sun did come out and it turned out to be a great day for the marathon. cheered theresa & steph as they each ran by, then walked to meet them at the finish. they both did as well as they were expecting, so that was good. they hobbled and i walked with them back to phyllis's, showered and packed, and said our goodbyes to the lovely host. then drove back towards town to get some drinks (the world's best smoothie, i'm convinced, is in westport) before making the drive back northeast to picton, where we would spend the night before catching the ferry to the north island in the morning.

or so was the plan.

about 45 mins after we left westport, the unthinkable happened. we were sitting behind a white car at a yield sign to a one-way bridge. now, let me assure you, these are incredibly common in

the south island. we must have driven over at least 50 by now. but we were on the yield side, so we waited while 2 cars from the opposite direction crossed the bridge. they were significanly spaced apart, so we waited for a while. after they both passed, it was our side's turn. the white car pulled out and onto the bridge, and we followed closely behind. and here's where things just go bad. the white car finished crossing the bridge, and we were about 75% of the way across ourselves, when a car - no not a car. a CAMPER VAN rental, aka ROAD MAGGOTS for TOURISTS - decided to enter the bridge from the opposite direction without checking to see if the bridge was clear. he completely did not see us until it was too late. steph saw it coming and slammed on her brakes, and we were at a full stop, when the camper hit us. in fact, when i took photos afterward, you can see his tire skid marks on the road and see how close we were to being fully across. and had we been a bit further back, the camper may have had time to see us and stop.

theresa was in full bracing position, arms crossed across her chest and face. steph unfortunately was driving, so had really tensed up pushing both brake and clutch, and stiffened her arms on the wheels. she was definitely sore for a few days afterwards. i was in the back, on the driver's side. and just watched the whole thing take place in slow motion. i really couldn't take my eyes off it, however i do know i closed them when i thought the impact would happen; when it didn't, i opened them right at the second we were hit. i don't think i realized it was scary until after. i mean, really - we were on a one-lane bridge, over a pretty sizable river. not a good situation.

so the guy driving the camper put his car into reverse, and we continued the remaining 3 meters or so off the bridge and pulled off to the side of the road. unfortunately, when the camper also tried to pull off the road behind us, he hit us again on the back side. bloody genius. our car was literally spewing radiator fluid. it looked like a mini waterfall, and soon had made a huge puddle on the ground. and the front looked a bit like an accordian. poor silvia. we were shaken, but thankfully not hurt, and neither was the couple in the camper van. and looking back, no matter how much the rest of the situation sucked, at least there were no injuries.

unfortunately, the iron bridge was in the middle of nowhere. meaning no cell phone reception, and very little traffic. by the grace of something, the only tourist bus of the day came by about 10 mins later. theresa & steph flagged it down and hitched a ride about 20ks to the nearest "town" we had passed, if you can even call it that. well, at least it had one cafe, which meant there had to be a phone around somewhere. and i had the fun job of staying with the car and waiting with the couple until help arrived. i made myself memorize their license plate, b/c what would i do if they just drove off? i was pretty convinced they wouldn't, as the woman kept asking if i was okay, but still. i went into ncis mode, and tried to gather as much info as i could.

the iron bridge had another name. or at least i'm giving it a new name. sandfly alley. at first i could feel the buggers every time they would bite. but it got to be so many that i eventually stopped feeling them. i tried pacing up and down in the little shade i could find, as movement tends to keep them at bay. i also tried to sit in the car, but they were all over that too, so that was actually worse. when you're waiting for 2 hrs for help, there was

little i could do besides look up to the sky and yell "really?! SANDFLIES?!" so back to pacing i went, keeping one eye on the camper van, and the other searching for suitable ditches i could go to the bathroom. i really really had to pee.

finally theresa showed up, after hitching a ride with someone from the "town" they found (hey, at least she accomplished one of those 'must dos' while in nz). and about 10 mins later steph arrived in a police car. yay, help was here! constable taye was the nicest person, and would be our first real introduction to the generosity of strangers in this country. he took down all the appropriate info from the camper van, and assessed the situation, taking notes and whatnot. actually, he wasn't originally going to come b/c there were no personal injuries, and i guess the law in nz doesn't require a police report for accidents. but steph insisted, and i'm glad she did as later our insurance situation would have gone from bad to worse.

a little while later the fire brigade pulled up. i'm not joking. 5 firemen climbed out of their truck (5 were not needed, but i'm sure it was the only action they were seeing that day so they all came). it was almost as funny as a slow motion bay watch video.. picture this: doors open, hunky men (or at least they thought they were hunky) climbing out. 2 light cigarettes. 2 others begin to strip off their outer jackets revealing the ever-so-flattering jumpsuits underneath. all the while making their way towards us. remember i said i had to go to the bathroom? i nearly peed myself laughing at this site. i guess they were called b/c there was radiator fluid leaking, but since it had taken so long to reach us, it had nearly all dried up - so they really weren't needed after all. but before they left, they helped to push the car to a more suitable location until the tow man could come and get it. they then proceeded to offer us all a lift in their truck. let me assure you - there was barely room for all of them. i don't know where we would have sat, unless it was on their laps. and i think that constable taye saw exactly where this was going, and told them, politely, that no, he would take care of us and we wouldn't be needing their services. hahaha.

so eventually we took all the valuables out of our car and whatever else we could carry, loaded up the stuff in taye's car, and climbed in ourselves. the camper van was to follow us to reefton, the closest 'actual' town, which was nearly 100ks away. i can now say i've ridden in a police car. it was actually fascinating. i watched the radar working, saw all the buttons to make the sirens and lights go off. it brought me back to the days i wanted to be a nypd blue officer.. ha. quite some time later, we arrived in reefton (which we would soon come to know very well). hung out at the police station while taye sorted out things with the camper van people. about an hr later they were done and left. then taye went out of his way helping us find housing. he

took us to one hostel, and went in personally to ask for accommodation, but it was booked. he then drove us to another, and again went in. free rooms! he completely did not have to do this for us, but again - the kindness of the people here amazed me.

so that's how we came to be in reefton, a small town in the middle of nowhere. and now we had to figure out how we could salvage the rest of our trip sans transportation. oy vey.

pancake rocks & blowholes

2009-02-20T11:17:00.001-08:00

it has been a day, and i'm discovering life is like a roller coaster ride. but things are looking up, so i guess that's the good thing.

woke up to an email from my dad saying that my beloved sassy (my car, for those of you that don't know) was going to need $800-900 dollars worth of work and parts to fix the leaking roof. prior to my trip i had dealt with keeping a steady supply of towels and a very large bucket in the front passenger seat for about 2 months, trying to wait out when i could actually bring it into the shop. my car perpetually had about 1-2cm of water in the passenger side floor, and i wouldn't let anyone ride in it unless it was a sunny day and they had to sit on plastic. as much as i loved this car, there was no way it was worth putting that much money into it.

so i had asked for the alternative solutions. and the answer was fine by me. for a mere fraction of that cost, they could just disconnect the sun roof (not a big deal, b/c i rarely used it as i tend to live in cold, non-sunny climates) and put a sealant around it. leak problem solved! and no sign of mold, which was my main worry. and the car would be drivable again. YAY!

down and up.

so we headed off to the grocery store to pick up some things and stopped at the mechanic across the street to check on steph's car. it had a new WOF sticker - good news! - but it came at a cost. a very big cost, it turns out. it was going to cost steph $1000 nzd (about $500 usd) to pass inspection. so much more than any of us could have anticipated. steph was completely shocked, i'm not sure she even could speak at that point. my worry was that they guy was ripping her off, but when we researched what individual parts cost and then looked at his receipt, it turns out he wasn't. he actually didn't seem to charge her for one of the repairs (clean the headlight). but still. talk about sticker shock. theresa & i did the shopping while steph tried to gather herself. her main worry was that meg would no longer want to buy it from her, since that significantly raised the price tag.

and down we go again.

back at the hostel, picked up the car and packed it while steph tried to contact meg. huge relief - meg still wanted the car, despite the increase in cost. and she was in blenheim, and would give steph a $500 nzd deposit today. total score! steph was pretty much elated, and really couldn't ask for anything more.

up up up.

hung out in the town center with meg at a cafe, and bought the paintings we originally eyed a few days prior. eventually we had to get going, since it was getting late and we had quite a bit of driving ahead of us. stopped at whither hills winery to pick up a wine for me - the spicy white. i was already starting to think what i could pair it with. and off to the west coast we went.

arrived in the tiny town of westport early enough for theresa & steph to pick up their packets for the 1/2 marathon, and then hit the road to visit the pancake rocks and blowholes. i do not make this up. that is what they are called. we were running very low on gas, but steph was pretty convinced there would be a petrol station in punakaiki. unfortunately there wasn't. though there was an info center, cafe, pub and post office. we asked the info center where the nearest station was - and it was basically westport. the info people sent us to a cafe that sometimes has emergency petrol and while they did, the cafe wasn't about to give us any. they insisted that we would be fine - "just go slow and take it easy on the turns" was their exact advice. great.

so we walked around the rocks which were interesting, didn't see any blowholes. too bad. ha. then we made the nervous ride back to westport, hoping that the "empty" light wouldn't come one. i wasn't convinced it would, it was only 30ks away and the indicator floated quite a lot, but i'm not sure theresa was so thrilled with the possibility of running out of gas. we did make it back, thankfully, and filled up the tank as soon as we got there. funny, there was a sign facing the opposite direction saying "last petrol station for 100ks" or something like that. too bad it wasn't facing the other way too so we could have seen it on the way OUT of town. oh well. found our way to a cafe to grab a bite to eat (theresa & steph needed some pasta), before finding our way to phyllis's house.

phyllis was an older westport resident who opens her house every year to help with the accommodation shortage during the marathon. she proudly told us she was the first one to do so, and soon recruited her friends to do the same. so instead of staying in the "no vacancy" hotels, we got to experience first hand how a kiwi lives. and she was funny, telling us various stories about her life and the town and the history of the marathon. she kept going on about how crowded the town will be tomorrow and how you can barely get around. wow, i thought, this will be a site to see! anyway, chatted a bit, then headed out to find a cafe and get some tea. finally, the thriving metropolis of westport was getting sleepy, and so were we, so off to bed.

wine and (more) rain

2009-02-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

so don't think i've mentioned this yet, but steph had found a buyer for her car (yay!) which was meg at the lodge. all that needed to be done was get it inspected (warrant of fitness or WOF) and an oil change. steph hadn't been anticipating much needing to be done, but unfortunately when she took it to the mechanic, it failed on 6 things. most of which were minor, but still a major pain in the butt. that kaikoura mechanic couldn't do anything until friday (it was wednesday now) - when we were supposed to be leaving blenheim for the marathon on the west coast, so steph called a few places in blenheim and made an appointment there, hoping it could be fixed while we were sightseeing. she found one that could have the repairs done by friday afternoon, so it would be a late drive that night to the other coast, but we needed to have it done. the kaikoura mechanic said the only stipulation was that the repairs had to be done in 28 days. no worries there..

..or so we thought. got to blenheim, after a long and boring drive up the coast, since, once again, the weather was even crappier than the day before. you could barely make out the ocean or the seaside cliffs. oh well. arrived at our hostel (the grapevine) and there happened to be a mechanic across the street, and it turns out that they were able to take a look at it that very day. YAY! however, we then found out that while the kaikoura mechanic was correct in the fact that the repairs had to be done within 28 days, he failed to mention that it was illegal to drive it during that time. so we definitely broke the law, unknowingly of course. had steph been pulled over for any reason during our drive, or there had been an accident, she wouldn't have been covered by any insurance policy. and not only would she have been fined for whatever violation BUT she also would have been issued a green sticker that meant when she got the repairs for the WOF done, she would have had to pay double what they would have cost. so thank goodness she is a responsible driver!

anyway, left the car there with a sigh of relief, and hit the thriving metropolis of blenheim. i'm not joking. compared to the other towns we've been in recently - this was down right nyc. and though cloud covered, the sun was now poking thru! there were a lot of little shops. we hit a cafe that had some fun (and affordable!) paintings. will have to think on that.. found the supermarket and went back to make dinner. met up with another one of steph's friends meg (a different one than the one at the lodge) for a pint, then just relaxed that night in preparation for our wine tour the next day.

which wasn't meant to be. what a friggin' day. seriously haven't been able to catch a real break with the weather. blenheim, lonely planet tells us, is a city where the sun shines nearly all the time. except of course when we're there. it bloody rained all day long. funny at first (notice a pattern here?) and got old quickly. our wine tour was supposed to be on bicycles, and since the car was in the shop, we really didn't have a choice unless we called a wine tour company (read: pricey and doesn't go where we want it to go). we waited out some of the AM, hanging out in a cafe in town. and despite the earlier downpours we woke up to, the rain seemed to be clearing. we were also reassured by the hostel owner that the weather was supposed to improve throughout the day, so we thought the odds were in our favor. we hit the road on our bikes anyway, and once again kept our fingers crossed.

apparently we needed to cross our toes, and legs, and eyes too. we made it to the first winery, Lawson's, which was small and nice. the woman at the counter was very kind and took her time explaining all the wines to us. my favorite was the gewurztraminer, a type of reisling, which surprised me since i don't typically like reisling. the woman also gave us tips on other wineries and the best places to get a cheese platter. as i said, very nice, considering we were clearly poor backpackers and she probably knew we had no intention of purchasing anything, at least at that time.

just as we were about to leave, the rain started. damn the rain! we waited for a bit, and it got heavier. crap. but then eventually slowed down to a fine mist. so we donned our ponchos (thank goodness for the dollar store we found earlier that morning!) and mounted our bikes to begin the ride to the next winery. and wouldn't you know, it stopped just as we pulled into the second winery, Wither Hills. ah well, we thought, we only got dribbled on, so no worries. Wither Hills was bigger, and fancier with a pleasant set up. i really enjoyed the Rarangi sav blanc. it had a bit of a spicy kick to it. it's on my list of possible purchases for sure.

and like clockwork, as we started to leave, the rain started again. seriously?! so we waited. and waited. and waited. for about 30 mins. and this time, unfortunately, there was no sign of it letting up. friggin a. so on came the ponchos again. the rain really wasn't bad. but riding a bike in it was. by the time we reached the third winery, Villa Maria, we were pretty wet, though still willing to push on. they had a sav-merlot, which i very much enjoyed. most merlots grapes on grown on the north island (as these were), so it was a rare find in the south. also, on my maybe purchase list, though i kinda want a white, since that is what this wine region is known for.

the rain persisted, but back on the bikes we went. still determined to try to salvage our wine tour. and this is the point it went from funny to absolutely miserable. we were all very grumpy. we tried to hit another winery, but were so disheartened that we just gave up. and rode for 2 plus more hours home in the rain, all the while getting splashed by cars and mud on the side of the road. by the time we were back at the hostel, we were thoroughly drenched. i had light tan pants on that became see-thru. nice huh? at least i wasn't wearing brightly colored underwear! we were also chilled to the core, and really had a hard time warming up despite whatever food and multiple cups of tea we consumed. ah, but tim tams saved our lives (inside joke).

after a few hours of trying to warm up, and doing laundry and whatever else we could do to keep ourselves occupied, the rain stopped. hallelujah. though it would have been nice about 6 hours earlier. frustrating, but what could we do? nothing, except walk to meg's house and have her feed us hot chocolate of course. so that's exactly what we did..

whale watching and nose touching

2009-02-15T22:25:00.001-08:00

finally got a good night sleep. the bites calmed down enough to allow that. the weather, as we've come to expect, was not looking so nice. but we are on the east coast (where the sun is supposed to be) so it makes sense it would be cloudy and misting rain. again. had our fingers crossed our whale watching boat ride would not be cancelled, and thankfully it wasn't. it did, however, give a warning of sea sickness when we checked in. great. just what i need, since i get motion sick on calm waters and car rides. bought a ginger pill (which they convienently sold at the desk) and crossed my fingers.

we were definitely stuck on the old people's tour. 930am will do that, i guess. as theresa & i leisurely strolled to the pre-tour movie, and the bus, and later the boat, the 65+ crowd all fought and elbowed their way to the front of the line and feigned various old person's ailments so they could board the boat first. the best was one lady, who upon being told we would be sitting inside for the bulk of the ride, immediately began panicking: "how can they make us sit inside?! how are we going to be able to see anything?! we won't get to see the whales! we NEED to get a window seat!" and then proceeded to rush the entrance when the guy began to collect tickets. holy cow people - chill out. it actually turned out best for theresa and me, since all the supposedly best seats were taken, we ended up in the front row - which was a great exit strategy when it came time to go outside to actually see the animals. take that grandma! people are funny.

a brief bus ride to the other side of the peninsula, and we boarded the boat amongst the elbow punching. kaikoura canyon drops off to 1000m almost immediately off shore, which is why we are able to see such abundant marine life and deep dwelling creatures so close to land. the water was incredibly rough and it was also incredibly windy; fun at first, since our somewhat large boat was basically skipping on the waves, but it got old quickly. i'm sure if we hadn't seen as many animals i would have felt much much sicker.

we got to see a sperm whale almost immediately. he was hanging out on the surface preparing for his deep dive, and he showed his tail as he went down, which was amazing to actually watch. the whale spotters told us that he was the only whale in the area today (usually tours see 1-2 a day), so it was off to see the dusky dolphins. on the way, saw several great albatross and a rare and strange barracuda feeding frenzy. also saw a fishing boat taking advantage of the barracuda's - since they are used for bait. at the dolphin area (more shallow waters), were literally surrounded by them. so cute - and so fast! it was really hard to capture them on film, though managed to get a few shots of them jumping out of the water. guess they are known as the acrobats of the ocean. next headed over to some rocks where fur seals and some pups were hanging out. it's funny to think that as awkard as seals seem to move, they are actually great climbers. by this point, it was really cold and windy and misting rain; my nose wouldn't stop dripping snot and my eyes wouldn't stop tearing. so i was glad when the boat ride was over. my stomach was too.

were able to make a quick exit off the boat - again, take that grandma! - and i re-promised myself i would never go on a bus tour again that caters to old people, especially old americans. (though i must admit, it was likely the best way to see germany with my mom and grandma, not that they're old - they probably could have handled a more independent tour). ran back to the lodge for a quick bite of our leftover thai, then it was off to the maori cultural tour.

our guides were maurice and tanya, and they gave us a very nice introduction into their culture. there were only 7 of us on the tour (plus 2 little kids) so it was much more personal than any other tour we could have taken. we learned about maori welcoming customs (the nose touch, or hongi) and recieved maori names that we used for the rest of the tour. tho steph had a bit of a hard time remembering hers! also learned about their culture of warfare, fortifications, what happened when the europeans came, their creation story, and gender roles. we got to see a meeting house (whare nui) and some of their wood carvings which are kinda similar to totem poles in the US. we were given a laminated sheet of paper with a maori song on it, that we practiced throughout the day. it was a little hard on the ears at first, but we got better as the day went on - or at least we told ourselves that!

drove to maurice's home next, all the while weaving our flax (like palms) into woven flowers. some where better than others.. met his wife and grandchildren, where we were greeted by the hongi and gave our introduction (my river, my mountain, my canoe, my name). also had some really nice finger foods with hot chocolate/coffee. finally went for a walk thru the bush to learn about how maoris used various plants and trees for medicinal purposes (one cured TB), to make shelters and canoes, clothing, etc. the dropped us off directly at the lodge when it was done, and gave us little gifts of a woven bag, with info on what our maori names meant. turns out he numbered us, but before they created the tour they decided to associate the numbers with their 9 highest values. i was first in line, so first to be number/named; i was given the number 3 (or toru) and they associated that with the word aroha, or love. nice day overall, and i would definitely highly recommend that tour.

the weather was pretty much crap all day, so we weren't able to go for the seafood bbq on the beach. oh well. we did manage to go out for a pint and wedges with leah, so at least it broke up the night, and we were exhausted by then!

it's off to kaikoura we go

2009-02-14T18:06:00.001-08:00

seriously, these sandfly bites are the bane of my existence right now. i've never experienced something so chronically annoying before, and my patience is wearing low as i'm not sleeping at night thanks to the irritation. grrr.

anyway, had a leisurely morning at mountain house YHA, and then hit the road, making some random roadside stops to admire the southern alps that were surrounding us. our first real stop was at a lake whose names escapes me, where we spied a few rare birds, whose name also escapes met (only about 250 left). next up was cave stream cave. we didn't actually go caving (though that would have been completely awesome i think) as we were not prepared for that, but did do the short trail to see both the entrance and exit of the cave. my favorite stop of the day was definitely castle hill though. out of nowhere, these incredible limestone rock formations just emerged on the hilly landscape. several lord of the ring scenes were filmed here. we climbed around on the rocks - though me naturally being in flip flops had a bit of a hard time keeping up with the sneaker'd theresa and steph. eventually i just went barefoot. and how i so wanted to go rock climbing! it would have been amazing there - great face climbs and a few crack climbs too.

stopped for lunch in a town called springfield, since it is apparently known for its pies. got venison, in honor again of the deer park sans deer. and it took me a while, but there was a giant pink frosted sprinkled donut sitting in the middle of a field. my first thought was "funny, that's my favorite kind of donut". then, b/c i always think of this next, "that's homer simpson's favorite kind of donut". then, "oh wait - we're in springfield!". duh, er i mean doh.. it was a monument (as in all the other springfields around the world) to the simpsons movie.

bypassed hanmer hot springs, as theresa and steph both didn't have bathing suits. i had 2, but that wouldn't help 3 of us. oh well. the drive was really long, or at least felt that way, and the steady stream of sunshine (our first in a while!) was really making us hot and tired. stopped briefly in a town called cheviot to refresh with some iced coffee and chocolate (definitely not as good as the theatre in wanaka), and finally arrived to the coastline of kaikoura.

it was beautiful. i love the ocean, and really miss it during times like these. arrived a bit earlier than expected, so checked into our residence for the night - dusky lodge - where steph used to work. we also got to meet some of her co-workers including meg, leah and and irish fellow named mickey. walked around the town and got another woolly item - a really nice merino wool shirt (which i can say now i've already worn at least 5 times here as it's been so cold!). found my key chain after a long search, and had some thai food at the lodge before hitting the bed.

bed broken, have to sleep on floor. mind your step!

2009-02-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

yep, definitely had an interesting night at glow worms cottages. first of all, they gave several free vouchers for free shots and 2-for-1 drinks at a local bar. we passed, and thank god, because had we come home tipsy from the bar - the following could have been much worse. or funnier. or both.

i was in the bathroom, washing up for the night, when i heard a burst of continuous laughter coming from across the hall. and after a few seconds it was pretty obvious it was indeed theresa & stephanie. so i walked in to find stephanie barely hanging onto her bunkbed, which was tilted a bit more than comfortable. turns out, when she went to climb into her top bunk the bed actually came apart. it was missing a very vital screw and when i inspected it more closely, i found i could actually pull the main support rails and therefore entire bed apart, and the bottom began to fall towards the bed underneath. had she slept there and moved ever so slightly, she could have squashed the girl under her. danger! so we pulled the mattress off the bed, and rearranged the room slightly to make room for her mattress on the floor. and posted a sign warning the other roommates of the predicament. and of course, caught it all on video - which i cannot wait to upload. maybe you had to be there, but we hadn't laughed that hard in a while.

the following morning, the girl who slept under the broken bed quietly asked me what, exactly, happened to the bed. i demonstrated the issue, and needless to say she was very happy that steph decided not sleep on top. and the guy working reception's only comment? "great. that's just what we want to hear". there's also a slight possibility i got bitten by bed bugs here, since it was the only place i didn't use my sleep sheet. however, given the sandfly encounter, i really can't distinguish. though i know it's making me lose tons of sleep as i've been up for hours itching my legs and rapidly swooshing them around in the bed.

made our way to franz josef glacier, which was much more impressive than fox. had to feel the water streaming from the glacier - and as expected, it was ice cold. didn't need a photo of my feet standing in that water!

back in the car, steph decided she had had enough of driving for 10 days, so it was theresa's turn to try the wheel. after a close call with a car (need to readjust your sense of position as the driver now has a lot more room to account for on the left side), and a few uses of the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal, we were on our way. stopped at okarito beach, and could have stayed there all day listening to the waves. well - at least until the sandflies started to attack. took a nature walk through a kiwi habitat. no kiwi's though.

next up was hokitika, a small town (as is every town here), where we ate our picnic lunch and watched an overly territorial sea gull claim his post - and all the land surrounding it. god they can be nasty birds! the beach had just had a contest involving making sculptures out of driftwood. some were very clever and creative; others we couldn't really grasp the concept. finally finished up with fudge at sweet alice's! thank goodness they weren't closed like every other store.

back in the car, steph's turn to drive again as we were going thru arthur's pass. stopped at a few view points, which included "death's corner". lovely name, eh? got to see our first kea in action - beginning to investigate another car. the owners of the car were laughing, but i'm sure that would soon end when he began to tear away the rubber stripping. accidentally drove by the town we were

supposed to stay in for the night, so kept our fingers crossed that the YHA had 3 open beds - and they did! the last ones, phew. so spent the night in arthur's pass town, taking a walk up to punchbowl devil waterfall and then hitting up the local pub (the wobbly kea) for a pint after dinner where we tried and failed to decipher the game of cricket.

fire in my mouth, sandflies and glaciers - oh my!

2009-02-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

funny how in the adventure capital of the world we got to relax more than elsewhere on the trip. took our time leaving queenstown, after stopping for the obligatory cop of coffee - or hot chocolate for me - at a cafe called bob's weigh. stopped to fuel up the car and steph forgot to replace the gas cap, which went flying from the roof the second we pulled back onto the road. definitely gave us a laugh, trying to retrace our steps as to where it could possibly have fallen off.

first stop out of queenstown was arrowtown, who's claim to fame was that it was an old mining town and still has some original buildings. aka tourist trap, walked the 5 mins down the main strip, poked into a few stores all with western themes. then made our way to the other must-see, the chinese settlement, which was mostly a re-creation.

back on the road, i liked our next stop best. perfectly timed for a lunch break (though by chance), we came up on gibbston valley winery, which not only had an ample wine taster for $5, but a very good cheese platter. so we gorged ourselves on wines, mainly pinot noir as that is the predominate wine in the area, and gouda, cheddar, feta & brie, with yummy plum spreads, hummus, olives, bread and various crackers. ended up getting a bit tipsy (thanks to being a lightweight) though i must say steph was driving and isn't the biggest wino, so theresa & i helped to finish her wine. couldn't let it go to waste, can we?

ended up buying a bottle of pinot noir to bring home, as well as some of the plum sauce and an onion marmalade. then unfortunately tried a ginger chocolate for dessert, though it was more like fire in my mouth. i really thought i would cry. thank goodness i only took a small nibble. theresa's palate was more inclined to the spicy factor, so gave her the rest of mine. ugh. thank goodness also for listerine tongue strips, which helped ease some of the pain.

stopped at another smaller winery up the road, called aurum wines, and the lady there was so nice and took the time to explain everything to us. i actually liked their pinot noir better, so i bought another bottle - and decided i would donate the gibbston valley to the woman who we would be staying with in westport for the marathon.

arrived at wanaka next, our destination for the night. checked into our purple cow hostel and then wandered around the town. it was so windy! we braved what we could, but eventually gave up and returned home to cook our meal. headed out again after to find a cafe, which were all closed (a recurring problem in nz, things all close early or are open "til late", whatever that means). so made our way to the cinema earlier than our actual movie time, and hung out there for a couple hours drinking the most fabulous iced chocolate i've ever had and reading our books. wanaka cinema is a proper tourist attraction, complete with old 70s couches and knick knacks that can only be described in photos. saw 'burn after reading', which theresa & i had already seen, but got a few laughs, and steph thoroughly enjoyed it. that night got our first glimpse of the southern cross, as the clouds finally cleared enough to see some stars, and we were far enough away from any light pollution.

peaced out of wanaka and headed north the next a.m. towards rainforests and glaciers. the scenery of this land continues to amaze me daily. AND it was actually warm enough to wear our short shorts! yay for a change from cool weather clothing! this was not to last, however. we had the unfortunate problem of also being in the land of sandflies, which are the most evil creatures in this country. my feet now look diseased, it's gross. and the bites itch uncontrollably. worse than any mosquito bite i've ever had. so, at the first rest stop we came to, we had to change back into pants to give us some protection from the ankle biters.

stops this leg included fantail falls, thunder falls, a ghost town (practically) of jackson bay where we ate lunch on a pier and looked at the tasman sea, hapuka estuary, ship creek, knight's point & lake moeraki with a walk to monro beach. each of these stops was blissfully beautiful and peaceful, except for the fact they were all marred by sandflies. seriously? you couldn't enjoy the scenery at all with those things crawling and flying and biting you every 30secs. grrr.

the drive and walk around fox glacier was much better, as there weren't any sandflies to deal with. the glacier was so impressive, and it was interesting to see the markers of where it had been in 1750 and then in 1935. it had retreated a lot! trampled along the trail of stones to get as close as we could without being on a guided tour. though we did get stuck behind one tour of older folks, humorously all with number hiking boots - a bit like bowling shoes at home. i can't imagine renting hiking boots since i'd like them to be molded specifically to my feet. but it made for a sight, which we got on video thanks to theresa's fantastic subtlety skills. the best was when they - in full on hiking gear, boots, and walking sticks, marvelled at how the young folk were managing in flip flops (or thongs, as they call them here). gave us a chuckle, for sure.

i'm glad i'm not a kiwi. bird, that is.

2009-02-07T00:54:00.001-08:00

so, there was some farting from the old lady, but not as bad. or as bad, but i had my ear plugs in this time, so i didn't notice it as much. though teresa did when she got up to go for her run in the AM! packed up and shipped out of the deer park sans deer, and checked out the town of te anau, since we didn't spend any time there yet. walked around the main street shops. walked around the lake. did laundry. went to a wild life preserve, which was full of empty cages, though we did manage to see a kaka bird (haha), a kea, and one of the fattest pigeons i've ever seen. it might now sound like it, but holy cow that was exciting!

after our fun filled morning, headed to queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. home of the original bungy jump and all sorts of action packed crazy things. and finally hit some nice weather! i was really really beginning to doubt we would ever see the sun. and though i know i was getting burned, i couldn't help but at least soak it up a *little* bit. it had been so long since we've seen it! checked into our hostel (bungi backpackers) and headed into town to explore and get some more info on the goings-on of the town.

eventually found our way to fergburger, which was the most MASSIVE burger i've ever eaten. it was literally about 3 times larger than my entire hand. can't wait to upload a photo of that one. i got a sweet bambi (venison, if yo

u didn't gather), and teresa got a lamby something (lamb, just in case you couldn't figure out). we switched part way. steph got an osama bin laden (apparently kiwi's aren't too fond of vegetarian options and make fun of it whenever they can). couldn't actually finish it, but definitely gave it a valiant effort. walked around lake to try to get rid of the overly stuffed feeling and made some good purchases for souvenirs (got my woolly item - a winter hat). saw some really funny tee shirts, that i still wonder if i should purchase if i see them elsewhere. finally had walked around enough there was room for gelato to squeeze in, so finished off the day with that before heading back to the hostel to relax in the hammocks.

the next day, theresa and i split from steph, as she had already done what we were about to do - ride up the gondola to the top of the foothills of ben laden (not a joke about osama this time) for some pretty spectacular views of queenstown. and who would know, we had another beautiful day! sunshine, and cooler temps. but sunshine. it was a bit hazy still as it was early yet and the clouds hadn't quite burned off, but we had great views of the summits of cecil, walter, the remarkables and double cone, plus lake wakatipu. could really just sit and look at it all day. watched some paragliders taking off for their flights and walked around the short 30min trail with some (fake) southern men cutouts. watched the slowest lawn mover EVER (another inside joke). and after watching the people having a blast on the luge, decided to try it also. after all, we were in the adventure capital of the world; we had to do something! and it was a blast. i felt like a little kid smiling the whole time even on the beginners track. back at the viewing platform, watched the first bungy jumpers of the day take leaps off the original. i easily could have done it after watching tho - they strap you at your hips (not your feet) and it's only about 40m of a jump. and looked incredibly fun. maybe another time :)

rode the gondola back down to meet steph at the kiwi & wildlife sanctuary at 1300. and it was perfect timing, as there was a kiwi feeding at 1330, plus we stayed long enough for the conservation show at 1500. got to see 2 kiwi's in the 1st house and 1 at the feeding in the 2nd house (since the male was sitting on the egg in the burrow). this is when i thanked god i wasn't a kiwi bird. at least a female kiwi. she lays an egg that is roughly 1/3 her body wt - i will upload a photo when i can. that would be like a human giving birth to a 30+ lb child. ugh. shudder. no thank you. we had audio guides for the rest, and it gave us interesting info on all the birds. NZ was originally inhabited only by birds and one lone reptile (the tuatara) that was actually around with the dinosaurs and has a third eye. we got to see many of these birds (including some of the rarest in the world) and also a few tuatara. it was pretty cool. then walked thru a replica of a maori village. the conservation show was also interesting; got to see some trained birds that nearly took off our heads when they flew by, as well as a possum (there only to demonstrate the sometimes disastrous effects mammals are having on the natural fauna of the island) that was super cute. though the new zealanders play games to try to run them over on the roads ("look, there's a possum.. get it!").

finished off the day with browsing some more shops and another walk around the lake to watch the sun set. and of course, another stop at the award winning gelato shop. mmm.

sheep gone wild

2009-02-05T00:58:00.000-08:00

so, new zealand is the land of sheep. this i knew before i came here. but until you actually experience and see how many sheep there really are, you will never fully grasp it. here is a country where sheep out number people 10 to 1. yes, there are 40 million sheep here, and about 4 million people. we literally see thousands of sheep daily. but nothing, NOTHING, compares to the first time (and hopefully not last, b/c i can't imagine it ever getting old) we were stuck in the middle of a sea of sheep.

we were on our way to te anau to get some petrol and food before heading to milford sound - one of the candidates for the 7 new natural wonders of the world. got into town earlier than anything really opened, so hung out a while until the gas station owner decided he felt like opening. the weather was yucky, but by that point we were expecting it. after getting our petrol, we continued our drive out to milford and at one point became surrounded by hundreds - and i mean HUNDREDS of sheep. a true 'southern man' (ha. inside joke.) was herding his sheep literally up the middle of the road. sheep aren't the brightest of creatures, but most knew to stay to their left and out of the cars way, however a few were nearly suicidal and leaped in front of us. at one point we had to just stop b/c we were laughing so hard we were crying. theresa was smart enough to get it on video, as pictures could not do it justice. i really hope i can put it on here, or at least a link on you tube. they took up the entire road once they passed the cars! oh, so classic and definitely a highlight of the trip.

the remainder of the drive to milford was not nearly as eventful. made a few stops (at mckay creek and knobs flat) along the way to get our first glances at the mountains through the hazy fog and clouds. took a short walk around cascade creek and saw the red beech trees. hit the divide - the lowest pass on the southern alps where the foliage was supposed to change, though i didn't notice anything as drastic as i was expecting. made a detour to gunns camp & museum where we were reassured by the shop owner that once we crossed the tunnel the weather would be 100% better. it wasn't. ah well. last stops included humboldt falls and a chasm, where we got our first real taste of the tourist traps.

at the sound itself, the parking lot was nearly full. thank goodness we arrived a bit later, since most of the tourist cruises leave around noon. we booked a small boat for around 1500 and only had about 15 people on it, plus it was longer and cheaper! whoo hoo. in the mean time, we ate lunch, walked around a bit and hung out at a cafe reading and writing until time for our tour. brrr it was cold, but the 3 of us were the only ones to stay on the top deck for the entire 1st half! even the tour guide lady was impressed. but again, we were determined to fight the cold temps and relentless wind. warmed up inside with a cup of tea for the 2nd half, and saw some stunning scenery even though it was cloudy. waterfalls, fur seals, tree slides & plenty of birds. what a nice ride. and no motion sickness!

still managed to get a nice sunburn despite 30spf and clouds and long sleeves/pants. boo for mega fair skin. ha. oh, and i have a new title. "allison, the eradicator of bugs". never would have guessed that one, would you? we had opened a bag of fruit and it just exploded (gross, i know) with fruit flies. as we fought them off, they were joined by their nasty, evil cousins the sandflies. so the entire ride in the car i spent killing bugs.

back at the deer park without deer, made up our dinner and settled in. we all needed a good night's sleep and kept our fingers crossed for no farting this time!!

to the southland

2009-02-03T14:27:00.000-08:00

woke up early for another full day. this time, though we had a mission.. to find some new tires for steph's car. well, not new exactly. "secondhand". you see, they do that in NZ. i guess some people just want brand new tires on their cars before their current ones are fully worn, so they will sell them back to tire companies for others to purchase used. so on the hunt we were for a pair for the front, as our current ones were all the way worn down, and we had a LONG trip ahead of us. steph called bunches of places, and finally found one selling the size she needed. only one! so no bargaining for us. but we now had a set of new, err, used snow tires.

the other eventful news of the day - we were determined to wear shorts. come hell or high water. and this mission we also accomplished, though by the end of the day we were quite chilly. either way. we did it! stupid cold, windy summer weather (steph swears it's not normally like this.. riiiight.)

back into the car and on the road again. making our way further south towards the catlins area, but made plenty of stops along the way. our first being kaka point. yes, we are 7 years old. but we don't care. there's no way we were passing up that photo opportunity. next up was nugget point, with (surprise!) beautiful vistas all around. we walked up to the lighthouse that dominates the stop, and were so lucky that the sun came out enough to allow for some really nice photos. and the misty rain stopped long enough to allow us to eat our lunch. we could see sea lions, and of course, sheep. back in the car just as the rain started to pick up again.

next up was roaring bay, a nice view of the beach but no penguins. and after the letdown of the last penguin encounter, we were not about to wait around all day for these. drove a bit more down the southern scenic route to come to matai falls, where we got our first glimpse of fern trees. yes! ferns actually become trees here. maybe this is common knowledge or something, but i've never seen anything like it at home. walked the short path to get a look at the falls, which were pretty, but probably would be more spectacular after a heavy rain (tho i was not about to wish for that). met a woman who needed some assistance climbing down the path. she was from NZ, however after some conversation learned she spent 3 years in ithaca where her husband was doing post-grad work in animal studies at cornell. small world! and back on the road we went.

definitely hit the most interesting stop next, the lost gypsy gallery. the man lives in his trailer and literally builds automated things all day. it's so hard to describe, you really have to just see it. from simple hand cranks that make penguins dance to elaborate keyboards where each key makes a different object move, it was just unreal. only in NZ i guess.. we reached the petrified trees next at curio bay, and fortunately we made it at the correct tide time (missed the cathedral caves as you can only see it during low tide). and the sun finally came out! which was nice as we were still determined not to put on pants. could have sat listening to the ocean forever. waves crashing on the shore makes such a peaceful relaxing sound.

made the long, pretty unexciting drive to invercargill (where not much happens) and then to bluff (where even less happens). at bluff saw stirling point which tho not the actual southern most point in NZ it's often given credit for it when measuring the distance from north to south. and even more exciting than that - we got to use fully automated toilets for the first time. it was an event, let me tell you. you push a button for the door to open and close. the toilet talks to you and plays music for you while you do your thing (i got "what the world needs now is love, sweet love. thank you jackie deshannon). it also only gives you 10 mins (so no funny business!), and apparently gives you a 1 min warning. i did not stay in long enough to hear it, although i wanted to. toilet flushes automatically when you begin to wash your hands (way to encourage sanitary behavior, nz). then you push a button to open the door again. very entertaining.

last few stops included mccracken's point (what a photo op there!) and a suspension bridged dubbed "the longest span in the land" despite it's very short distance. passed thru a town which named itself "the sausage capital", tho nothing was open so we couldn't test any out. finally continued the drive up towards te anau, where we would spend the night at a deer farm (but didn't see any deer. liars.). however it was not well marked so we drove by it once and had to totally backtrack. and to make matters worse, we were in a cabin where one of the other tenants farted all night. and of course it was the one next to me. gross. funny thing tho, i thought it was a man (sure sounded like it), but when we saw them the next day, it turns out it was actually 2 older women. HA. ah well. such is life as a backpacker!

so, spent the first night in NZ in jail..

2009-01-31T12:06:00.001-08:00

i'm not joking. but fortunately we were sprung the next day. haha, fooled you! but in all honesty, we did spend our first night in a jail, though it stopped functioning as a proper jail in 1999 and was promptly converted to a hostel. a very nice one, i'll add. probably one of the best i've stayed in (tho the best will always be reserved for ginger monkey in zdiar, slovakia). anyway, it was an experience. next day, walked around christchurch for a bit, not a full tour of the city - but we were on a mission - to find hats! the sun is so strong here, that even on a cloudy day we're likely to get burned. after hunting through the dozens, literally, of tramping and outdoor stores that line the streets of chch, we were successful. next up was finding a supermarket, which we also were successful at doing. yay for things going well.

back at the hostel, i really started to realize how lucky we were to have a personal car around. we didn't have to worry about how much we were carrying - just throw it in the trunk or the back seat! it really makes things a lot easier. began our long journey (about 4-5 hrs) south from chch to dunedin, although we made plenty of stops along the way to break up the trip. one of our first was called bushy beach scenic reserve, where we staked out penguins for several hours. both the guide book and a lady at a rest stop told us we should be able to catch them coming ashore, which happens around 2 hrs prior to sunset. so we waited. and waited. and waited.

where the hell were these penguins!

but since we had already waited for so long, i knew (as did theresa & stephanie) that if we were to leave, that is when the penguins would appear. luckily we had a bit of a shelter to cover us from the misty rain and wind. and low and behold, 2 appeared! not as dramatic as i was picturing in my head - this mass exodus of penguins coming out of the ocean. but still. and we caught glimpse of a seal as well. whoopee. somewhat disappointed we made our way back to the car, but stopped off at one more point, and glad we did, because one little penguin managed to climb up all the rock and was just strutting for the visitors. that made my day. so cute, and so close. okay, we are now satisfied.

back in the car, made another stop off at moeraki boulders, which were very otherworldly. out of no where on this remote beach, round rocks (that LP quite accurately describes as marbles scattered about) just appear. so of course we took our obligatory photos standing on top. i found the easiest one to reach, and stephanie definitely found the hardest. but very cool, and very hard to describe!

back on the road, arrived in dunedin somewhat late. however, since it is still light out until like 2200, you forget how late it actually is. and one thing we are quickly discovering is that things close early. even on a saturday night, we tried to make it to a restaurant LP said was open "lunch til late", it closed by 2100. actually they took the sign in as we approached it. tried a few more stops and finally found an indian restaurant that was still open. and i had the most delish lamb korma i've ever had. and had i not filled up so quickly i probably would have ate it all, but at least i had lunch for the next day. finally back to our hostel (called "backpackers on top" - wonder why they say "inappropriate for children" HA!) for a good nights sleep. or at least theresa & i crashed; steph managed to make it out with friends who were in town and only got about 3 hrs or so of rest. she was definitely a trooper the next day!

next AM, walked around dunedin and made our way out to the peninsula. stupid cold weather! we all had shorts on initially, but after making our way to the cafe (steph really needed some coffee) down the street

we soon realized we would have to go back and change into pants. too windy. quick change and then toured around. first headed down to the tunnel beach. got a little lost since we didn't have the most accurate map. actually, we had about 4 maps that were all half good, so combined we got where we needed to go. got our first close up of sheep that we see everywhere. actually we thought one might be dead until at the last minute he wiggled his ear, as if he knew were were concerned. the walkway said 20mins down & 40 up, but it was exaggerating a bit. the vistas were spectacular, farm land on one side and sheer cliffs on the other. so gorgeous.

our next stop was a sandy beach. too sandy, we soon figured out. b/c of the winds, we pretty much got stuck in a sandstorm. and despite our best efforts to just enjoy it, the pain of sand all over wasn't worth it. but our next stop led us to a playground, which was fun. and apparently the only areas you can swim in are right next to a "life rescue station". i guess if you're going to brave the surf, that's the place to do it. funny tho, they put out flags to mark where you can and cannot swim; and the swim flags only allowed you about 20ft. so good luck!

made our way back into town, since we had places to be! the cadbury chocolate factory - cadbury world - does tours, so of course we had to do that. though the main drawing point (besides free chocolate) was the chocolate waterfall. which was somewhat disappointing also. i was literally expecting willy wonka. and instead we got a ton of chocolate dropped at once in a giant silo. ah well, still funny.

walked back into town to check out the octagon, the central area of dunedin, lined with shops and cafes. stopped briefly for coffee for steph (who was still hanging in there despite no sleep) and had probably the strangest encounter we will have on the trip. were invited over to another table by 3 guys who were from ireland and scotland and were already sitting at the table with 2 suspiciously young girls. who knew, though maybe they just looked young like i do. well, actually they were only 16. and the guys were at least in their early 30s. classy. the girls left a bit after we arrived, and then we were left to manage the following awkward conversation. two of the guys seemed relatively normal, asking us where we were from, what we were doing here, etc. talked about the weather. the city of dunedin. normal, small talk. then the third chimed in. and though i will leave out the details (what happens in NZ stays in NZ, or at least this part of the trip does) let's just say that the conversation went along the lines of how well endowed we three were and how good we were at a certain skill set. somewhat entertaining at first, then just incredibly painful and awkward to sit through. luckily that third guy left - either to get another drink for his drunk ass, or to use the facilities - and that was our way out. pleasure meeting you. goodbye. and run!

back to the hostel, b/c we didn't want to run into them again, and ate our leftover indian food. yummy! then headed our for our speights brewery tour, which was by far one of the best i've been on. the guide keithe was a hoot, and though we were stuck on a tour of about 12 other americans, 2 couples from australia, and few other randoms, it was good times. the americans were students that were going to be studying in australia, and i guess were traveling before their studies began. and they weren't too obnoxious, thankfully. the best part of the tour is that the final 1/2 hour they give you free range of the tap. so i tried at least a couple sips of each of the 6 beers offered, and drank a full 2 quarter pints. and it's so funny to think that this is their "cheap" beer, that uni students drink. certainly beats our beast or bud light any day!

headed over to the speights alehouse for some very good chips (french fries, to the rest of you), paired with sweet chili and sour cream. very tasty. and of course, we got a proper pint. i tried their pilsner, since they didn't have it at the tasting earlier. very good. we had a great time in dunedin. what a day. filled with chocolate and beer. what more could we want?

virgin, you may have some competition..

2009-01-30T12:31:00.001-08:00

so i've arrived in new zealand. and by the powers that be - my backpack did too! you never know when you have multiple connections and major layovers and crossing time zones/date lines..

that said, i have no idea what day it is. actually i'm pretty sure it's saturday in new zealand. keeping track of this and what time it is at home will be somewhat difficult i feel. thank goodness for ipod. i've had my ipod for about 2 years now, thanks to brother jeff. and i've only just discovered on my 13hr plane ride from LAX to AKL that my ipod has games! although solitare is a pain to try to play. and i also discovered that it has a clock. so the genius that i am - i programed a NYC clock and a Wellington clock, so i'll always know what time it is. however the date feature doesn't quite work. so that's why i'm so confused. oh well.

the trip over was relatively uneventful. thankfully. however, of course something funny has to happen. this occurred during my EWR - LAX flight. i had the pleasure of getting put in an exit row aisle. score! more leg room for the short person who probably doesn't really need it. but i wasn't about to complain. nor was the lady that sat in the aisle seat of my row - who was approximately half my size. and no one in the middle. so we could sprawl as much as we wanted. however, to sit in this exit row, in case of emergency, you cannot be a child. aka you must be over 15. so what happened? wait for it... yep, the flight attendant came by and asked "are you 15?" thinking this was a silly question, i answered, "yes, 15F" as that was the seat i was in. she began to walk away, then stopped and returned with a confused look on her face. "i meant, are you 15 years old?". stunned, i said "yes", however i wish i had been quicker with a "no", since i am not 15, but 26. seriously? i thought i finally graduated to looking like i was at least out of high school and in college. i know this by how my patients treat me. they no longer ask if i'm a HS student, but a college one. i can take that. but really, i think i look at LEAST 18..

had a 4 hr layover in LAX, accompanied by 4 screaming children running around the airport and running into me about every 5 mins. these 4 children also had another sister that was a newborn and also screaming. thankfully i had bought 3 magazines (the atlantic - for my political and scientific side; conde nast traveler - since there was an article about NZ; and finally glamour - needed something that didn't take much concentration) to keep me busy. boarded the plane to NZ, and sat next to a very nice, very pregnant woman who was traveling with her 3 other children (who were very well behaved, mind you, unlike the banshee children that now sat 3 rows up from me). and the plane was nearly empty, so i thought we might get to sprawl a bit more. unfortunately, at the last minute there was an announcement that we were waiting for one more connecting flight to arrive, since there were so many people on that flight that needed to be on ours. and bummer - the empty aisle seat in front of mine was now filled. i just felt bad for the pregnant lady since i knew she felt bad to keep asking me to get up as since needed to use the toilet. though i did notice she tended to wait for when i got up first.

so virgin, you do have competition. quantas was wonderful. the staff was perhaps nicer, as virgin staff, while exuding coolness and being totally hip, can be a bit stuffy. maybe it's all that hairspray and gel in the guys hair. either way, i very much enjoyed flying on quantas, and will fly them again when i have the chance.

finally arrived at AKL, and went through customs. actually they almost didn't let me into the country. i'm not joking. i guess it's NZ regulations that you need to have your return tickets already printed to show proof you do indeed plan on leaving the country at some point. well - quantas, this is the only time you may have screwed up. no one printed those tickets for me. thank god i had my itinerary printed to show the customs official that i did have a return flight at least planned, even if i didn't have tickets to prove it. and after much hubbub and different officials discussing the options, they let me in. but then they gave me the wrong stamp in my passport and then it was another ordeal to correct. ah, finally they let me in! and i thought british immigration officers were bad!

had an 8 hr layover. yes, 8 hrs. i was planning on heading out into the city, since i had so much time. but they way they make you recheck in and recheck your luggage after the international flight, it was a pain. plus i was exhausted and didn't have the energy to try to figure out where i wanted to go and how to get there. oh well. theresa arrived, so at least it was company, apart from wandering the incredibly small terminal about 50 times and sacking out on various benches and seats around, reading my magazines. i was a bit worried about T since i knew her first flight from philly was delayed, i didn't know if she'd make the others. but it turns out they were all delayed, so it worked out. and not to be out done, our final flight to christchurch was also delayed. they were replacing a part, so they said. but every 1/2 hr they kept announcing various excuses about fixing it, replacing it, needing confirmation from sidney to fly. finally they made a gate change announcement - conveniently after another aircraft had landed. so they were switching our planes. guess the new part didn't quite cut it. but hey did serve us meals and hand out headsets for only a 1.5 hr flight. that would never happen in the states. thanks again, quantas.

finally arrived in ChCh, poor stephanie was waiting for hours for us. we were supposed to land around 1630, but didn't get there until 1920. ah well. we are here!

hello new zealand, i look forward to getting to know you better.

here we go again..

2009-01-07T04:34:00.000-08:00

seriously, i can't get enough of traveling. it really is, by far, my favorite thing to do. and i've been given loads of advice by people much older and wiser to "take advantage of it while you're young & single, because once you settle down, it's all over". said like a true doomsday expert. though i'm not quite sure i'll ever settle down, i can at least appreciate what they are trying to say. traveling for me is more than just seeing really cool places (although, that is a great part). for me it opens my eyes even more so to our world and all its joys, troubles, wonderful cultures.. and makes me realize how truly lucky i am.

okay, enough of the serious talk. because china in june wasn't enough - i'm off to new zealand! i absolutely cannot wait. i leave 28 january, and return 25 february. or at least that's the plan. you never know.. i may just wind up liking it so much i decide to stay :)