What it's like to be back

4-29-2014

     When we landed in San Francisco we felt awesome. Back in the US! Boy did it feel good to be home. We walked around the city, drinking in the sights and sounds. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed getting ice-cream at the wharf, eating crab chowder in a sourdough bread bowl for lunch at a place along the boardwalk, and walking through the major shopping centers and china town. I even enjoyed the metro, with all it's squealing and scraping noises. It felt good to be in an American city. Too soon it got dark and we headed back to the airport to board the next plane. 10:45 take-off time, 6:30 landing. 

     Only when we got back to Michigan did I feel strange. This is my home. I know all the ins and outs of Michigan and yet I feel like I'm in a foreign country. It's weird to walk up to the driver's-side door of a car and get in the passenger's seat. It's weird that everything is so cheap. It's like there's a big sale everywhere for no apparent reason. But what really throws me off is not understanding what people say when they talk to me! I never noticed before how much Michiganders slur their words! 

     I'm quickly getting used to it. It's even starting to feel normal to drive in the right lane again. And it sure is nice to go to the grocery store and know what I can find and where to find it. Even so, life still doesn't feel back to normal. The odd moments are dwindling, but I still don't feel like I'm home. 

Last Full Day

27-4-2014

     Last day. We have everything packed up. We've weighed our bags and we have everything arranged within a few grams of the weight limits. It's close, but at least we fit it all into our two bags. We only get one per person, and it's $150 per extra bag. The US may allow two bags per person for international flights, but New Zealand doesn't. Thank goodness we can get by without it.

     We've said our goodbyes. We finished work on Thursday, since Friday was Anzac Day. It's almost the equivalent of Veterans Day in the US, only Anzac Day seems like a bigger deal. Every business closes down like it's Christmas. 

     Like Veterans Day, Anzac Day celebrates all veterans. But it also celebrates the day the Kiwis, Aussies, and Brits invaded Gallipoli, Turkey in WW1. It was very bloody, and it was the first of all the casualties for Australia and New Zealand in the war. Today it's one of the few things the Kiwis and Aussies share feelings of camaraderie about. Otherwise they seem pretty competitive. There's even a huge ceremony in Turkey for it every year, and thousands of people go to it, even more watch it on TV. It's pretty interesting. 

    Despite the holiday, I still managed to finish all my gift shopping this last weekend. I had to ship a few things home right from the store, since I can't carry any more in my luggage. 

    I'm all set now. Totally ready. Now I just have to manage my small amount of ridiculous stress about possibly missing the plane. Not having a van anymore does have it's downsides, and I don't completely trust intercity transport (aka our bus) in this small town. However, I know we have a few other options if that falls through, so I'm attributing my shaking nerves to excitement about going home. 

     I sure miss home. The food here is similar but it doesn't taste the same, and I find I'm homesick for things that taste how my mind thinks they're supposed to. Like hamburgers with beef and only beef, and juicy beef at that. Mmmm. 

      Not to mention I can't wait to see my family. Only two more days. (The flights are really long). 

What We're Doing Now

18-4-2014

    Right now the sky is sunny and beautiful. It's a little over 70' and there's a slight breeze. It's lovely, just lovely. But it won't be for long. According to the weather radar there are four storms converging on Hamilton, one from each direction, and they're all going to hit at the same time. This could get interesting. 

     We're back in Hamilton area again, working at the blueberry farm again for a few short weeks before we leave. We came back to say hello and goodbye to all our friends here, since we were sent to the South Island in a rush and hardly even got the chance to tell people we were leaving, yet alone say goodbye. Since we're here anyway we decided to work some more, because there isn't much else to do anymore. There are a few places we haven't seen but we have a couple long weekends in a row to see them. Basically we're just working and making money while we wait to go home. 

     Luke sold the van already, the day after he posted it on TradeMe for sale. That was the last thing we needed to do before we left and it's done, so we are totally ready to leave. Now we have just over a week to enjoy the last bits of New Zealand, hanging out with friends and maybe traveling just a little bit more. We have permission to borrow a car if we need it, we just make sure to reimburse the gas if we do. 

     Now, you may be wondering where we're staying since we sold the van. We have a very beautiful house we are staying in, looking after it until we leave. We appreciate the opportunity so very much, and are very grateful. Because of it, we have a place to stay near the blueberry farm, and we have nothing left to worry about. 

     One week left! 

Zorbing

18-4-2014

     Zorbing, what a weird name. Even weirder is OGO, the same thing as zorbing but it's in a course rather than just down an open hill. Both activities were created by the same person, and they're both within 10km of each other, so we set out to go zorbing but stopped at the OGO place instead. It was raining, as it had been for days, and I was a little worried it was going to be freezing cold, but the promise of a free dip in the hot-tub afterwards convinced me. At least if I was going to be wet and cold it would only be temporary. My worries were wrong, however. It turns out that they put warm water in when it's cold, and cooler water when it's hot. Genius.

     Perhaps I should explain what zorbing (aka OGOing) is before I go on. It a fun activity that involves climbing inside of a ball that's inside of another ball, attached to each other by hundreds of stiff, rubbery rods (or so it looks like) that maintain about a 2 foot gap between the balls at all times. The ball rolls down a hill with you inside, completely safe because you're literally in a bubble. There are different kinds of zorbing. The dry version includes getting in a full body harness and rolling every which direction with the ball. The wet version means you climb in with a few gallons of water and slip and slide around while the ball moves around you. You can sit and enjoy a tame ride, or you can flip and roll and slide as high up the walls as you can and make it really interesting. We, of course, made it interesting. We also chose to go together in one ball, to make it a little more interesting. Plus it was cheaper. I got splashed in the face, squashed, and smushed, and I was laughing so hard I almost couldn't breathe. 

     As I said, OGOing is in a course, a lot like snow tubing. The course was a big stack of zig-zags down the hill, with every corner banked up nice and high. We did our best to bank as high as we could on every corner and go as fast as we could, but we really couldn't see so it was hard to tell. Between the splashing water and two layers of plastic bubble, the outside world was just a foggy blur. We had no idea where we were once we were pushed off at the start, and we couldn't see what was coming up next. We could only feel when we were on a corner, and sometimes that was deceiving because the ball was constantly turning and spinning. 

     It might sound dizzying but it's not. It's incredibly fun. I think it was the most fun thing we did in New Zealand. Skydiving is close, maybe even tied, but zorbing didn't hurt my ears. We laughed the whole time, and kept on smiling for hours afterward. If it wasn't so expensive we might have spent the whole day there. I highly suggest it to anyone and everyone who has the opportunity to try it, no matter what age! 

The Best Experience Ever

7-4-2014

     Skydiving! The best thing we've done in New Zealand, I think. It was incredible! I can't decide if it's better than skiing or not, it may be a close call. I love to go fast. I can go fast when I ski, but this was something else. Surprisingly similar in the floating sensation and the cold wind in the face, but still a lot different. Maybe it was the uncomfortable knowledge that there was a chance the chute wouldn't open. But then again, when I go skiing there's a chance I'll hit a tree, or the chair will swing too much and fall off the lift, or I'll get run over by someone totally out of control. But then, those are survivable. Dropping from 15,000 feet...not so much. But I have to say, if my shoot hadn't deployed, that would be a heck of a good way to die. It was so peaceful, yet it was thrilling too. It was thrilling when we jumped out of the plane and it felt like I was being sucked down. We fell so fast that we were up to our terminal velocity, about 200km/hr (about 125mph), in a few short seconds. 

     It was thrilling when we flipped just after we jumped out of the plane. (I say "we" here because I jumped tandem, but I know Luke's experience was very much the same as mine.) I wasn't sure we wouldn't just keep flipping, but we didn't. Unbeknownst to me there was a small chute that was pulled just after we jumped out of the plane.  I think it helped keep us horizontal to the ground. It also slowed us down enough for the camera lady to be able to catch up to us for the video. I couldn't tell there were any extra chutes until we saw the pictures, though. 

     It was also thrilling once we reached terminal velocity and were just flying through the air. It wasn't really like flying, though, at least not how I imagine it. It wasn't like falling, either. Falling is scary because  you know the ground is very quickly coming at you. The ground does not seem to come at you quickly when you skydive. It feels more like driving fast, or skiing fast...only not.  You're going really, really fast but there's nothing to hit. It's not scary in the least. It's fun. The ground is so far below that it's not even worrysome. Well, at least not for a good long while. 

     The drop fall only lasts for one minute from 15,000 feet, but that one minute feels like ten. Think about all the things you've done really, really fast and think about how long you dared to keep your speed up. One minute actually is a long time.

     There were other factors, too, that made that one minute seem like ten. Slightly unpleasant things like a cold, dry mouth because my smile was being blasted by air traveling at 200kph, and my ears were hurting and aching all the way down my neck until I managed to equalize them. Little things, though, compared to how awesome the view is, and the sensation of fearless speed.

     Soon enough the chute was pulled. My legs swung up from the jolt, but nothing hurt. I watched the camera lady wave as she kept falling and I waved back, but I don't think she saw me. We soared over her and I lost her from view behind us. I looked around for her chute but I never saw it. I have no idea where she landed, or even that she did for sure. I only saw Luke's chute, far below me. (He jumped out before I did.)

     Gliding around with the chute pulled is the part that felt like flying. That was the peaceful part. It was beautiful. We soared and banked corners, spinning in circles both large and small. The smaller ones were fun. I imagined we were like a hawk, circling in the air. I bet hawks get that same soaring feeling, they just also have the feeling of being attached to their wings from shoulder to fingertip, as opposed to the hips, shoulders, and back. Eh, but what do I know. 

     I watched Luke land below me. The parachute laid down behind them like a living creature that knew what it was supposed to do. Meanwhile, me and my jump-buddy spun and circled the landing area, lazily making our own way down. A few minutes later I was told to hold my legs up as we came in for our landing. I held them up high as we glided to the ground. Just like a bird, we slowed down a lot just before hitting the ground and we landed smoothly. When we came to a stop I quickly put my legs on the ground and stood up. My jump-buddy and I wobbled a little bit as we balanced ourselves out, and then I was unclipped and free to walk around. Walking even felt a little strange after flying. 

     Of course we took one last picture, and then that was it. We thanked our jump-buddies, walked back inside, and returned our jump suits. Then we got our pictures, videos, and free t-shirts and left. We went and had a beer to celebrate, but it didn't feel like we were celebrating being alive, although that's what we joked. I think we were celebrating such an awesome experience. 

     I highly recommend skydiving to everyone, even if you're afraid of heights. You don't get the chance to be afraid, you just do it. There is no standing at the door looking down, waiting to jump. You just slide up to it and go. The most nerve-racking part is getting on the plane to go. And I'll tell ya', it's worth it. 

Hiking in an Active Volcanic Zone

5-4-2014

     Tongariro National Park is a very cool place on the north island of New Zealand. For one thing, it's home to a few tracks that lead right through an active volcanic zone. We walked the Tongariro Crossing, a day track about 20km long that winds around a few volcanoes and right through the middle of the active volcanic zone. There are active steam vents, volcanic lakes and springs, and volcanic craters to walk through and around. It's really neat. There are side trails up to the peak of Mt Tongariro and a side trail (although really it's more of a suggested route up a scree slope) up to the peak of Mt Ngauruhoe, aka Mt Doom, which is the other reason this park is so cool. You can climb up Mt Doom! The main trail goes around it and passes over towards Mt Tongariro about half way up Mt Doom, so even without doing the side trail, hikers get right up close to it. We decided against going to the top because our calves were already burning, and a half mile or more of very steep scree slope just didn't seem that appealing. Especially not in trail running shoes. 

     Even without summiting anything, the trail was still really neat, and lots of fun. Thomas and Carrie had walked this trail a few times already so they knew where all the best lookouts and picnic spots were. Plus we got to hear Carrie's first hand account of what it was like to be on the trail when an eruption occurred. She was at the closest point on the trail to where it erupted as she could get, too, when it happened. Luckily, the eruption was all smoke and ash, with no boulders flying through the air as per normal. And no lava, which is good because when lava does flow, it sweeps down fast and there's no escaping it if you're in a lava flow area. 

     Of course, I learned all this on the trail, as certain features piqued my interest and I asked questions and read signs. Carrie is a school teacher and she's taken the kids to learn about the volcanoes, so she was a wealth of information. She pointed out a bunch of black boulders and rocks that were more recent additions to the slopeside. She said it was cool to see just after it had happened because there was snow on the ground and all the black rock debris really stuck out. 

     There used to be a hut open to stay in overnight on the Tongariro Crossing but a few of those boulders smashed right through it and now it's closed. Deemed unsafe, because it's in an active volcanic zone. No kidding. Luckily it was winter when it happened, a far less busy time, and no-one was in the hut. One rock had smashed through the ceiling, the top bunk, through to the bottom bunk, and through the floor. Another one had smashed through the ceiling and floor in the common room, and another in the entryway. It was a small hut. There were only 3 bunks and the common room was small. It was a good thing nobody was in there. 

    I tried taking pictures of the wreckage but getting a good perspective with the camera was hard. I took a lot of pictures of the steam vents, the Emerald Lakes, and Mt Doom. I also tried to take as many pictures of us as a group as I could, since the boys were both wearing orange and both me and Carrie were wearing a bright maroon color. We accidentally matched, it was pretty funny. 

     Now we're staying with Thomas and Carrie again for a few days, visiting one more time. 

Napier and Hastings

4-4-2014

     Wine Country. If you ask anyone in New Zealand where to go for wine tasting, they will answer, "Napier and Hastings." There are at least 50 wineries in the area, probably more. The i-site in Napier hands out color coded maps of the clusters of wineries, each with its own micro-climate and all with different growing conditions. Some grapes are grown on hillsides, others in gravel riverbed, others in flat-land soil, and blah blah blah. Point is, each little area produces different flavors just with the grapes' growing conditions, not to mention differences in the way each winery decides to make the wine. There are a lot of options. 

     We studied our map and eventually picked the southwest region because it had a winery that also brewed beer, and that sounded good too. That winery was Abbey Cellars, and they had some seriously delicious wine. They also had a delicious craft beer, the first true craft brew we've managed to find, despite all the talk that New Zealand has a wonderful selection of craft beers and small breweries. Abbey Cellars has been the only place we've found who makes their own beer and isn't owned by a bigger company who's owned by a corporation in Asia. This was true craft beer. They named it Fat Monk, and it was gooooood. Hats off to them. Beer and wine, both delicious. They had the first Rose wine that I've ever liked, and a really nice Chardonnay that was both buttery and fruity. Delicious. 

      I could have happily bought at least three bottles of wine there, but I resisted. It was the first of many wineries, and I didn't want to end up buying three bottles at each place! We moved on down the road, literally, about a quarter mile. The next place was pretty good too. Not as good as Abbey Cellars, but still good. We used the free-wine-tasting slips that we'd picked up at the i-site and didn't end up buying any wine there, but we did buy a few small chocolates. They looked good and tasted better. 

     We left there and went down a different road toward a handful of other wineries. The first one we came to was closed, for some unknown reason. The second one was also closed, but they were only open on weekends. The third one was open, so we stopped there. It was a very small place with sub-par wine. Their niche was organic wine, but it all tasted flat and dull to me. We didn't buy any wine there either. We quickly moved on to the next place.

     The next place was Silvare Estate, just down the road. There was a restored classic car in the small parking area in front of the big, open barn, and an old yellow lab napping in the shade of the building. We walked up to the counter and saw a large platter of cheeses, salamis, crackers, breads, and a dozen different kinds of spreads. They also had a selection of olive oils on display for tasting, as well as a half dozen bottles of wine for tasting. We started with the wine, but we were really hungry and pairing wine and food is always tasty, so we got a platter too. It was all delicious. There was something called dukkah, a middle eastern dish consisting of nuts and spices all ground together, which you dipped olive-oil soaked bread into and ate with your fingers. Very good. So was the apricot chutney, and the yellow mustard that had a strong, but not overwhelming, taste of horseradish to it. So good. But the best thing on the plate was the garlic and herb, soft, white cheddar cheese. I could eat that by itself, all day long.

     Still, the best part was the wine. They had a pretty good Chardonnay too, but they had the best Merlot. It was fruity, with hints of plum, but it wasn't too sweet or heavy. It wasn't full of tannins like most Merlots, either, because it didn't leave my teeth all fuzzy. I know this for sure because we tried the Merlot before even eating, so I know the food didn't change anything. It was quite good.

     We finished off the evening tasting the olive oils. Some were good, some were just okay. The best were the vinaigrettes made with the olive oil. The balsamic vinaigrette was amazing, so was the red wine vinaigrette, and even the chardonnay mustard vinaigrette. So good! They all were. 

     We bought a few things there and called it a day. For one thing, everyone was closing or closed. For another, we didn't want to drive if we drank any more, so we quit. 

     We drove to the coast, to Hastings, which is like a sister town to Napier. They're so close they almost overlap. We thought about finding a hostel or holiday park to stay in so we could shower, but they were all way overpriced for their crappy accommodations with few amenities. It seemed like finding a shower was a hopeless goal, until Luke had a stroke of genius and pointed out that the hot pools along the ocean front would likely have showers. The only question was wether or not they were still open. Almost all of New Zealand closes at 5:00, and it was just past 7:00. Lucky for us, they were still open. We donned our bathing suits and headed for the pools. Hot pools (in this case the term meant heated pools), some as hot as a hot-tub, and with a view of the ocean. 

     It was pretty nice. I managed to ignore the idea of how gross public pools are because there wasn't an overwhelming smell of chlorine, and everything looked clean. Even when an entire pro rugby team showed up and invaded every pool (and no, they didn't shower ahead of time) I still managed to ignore the thoughts about sitting in human grossness. It was still fun. I was even entertained, watching girls giggle stupidly as they asked for pictures with the rugby team. I have no idea who they were, but they must have been somebody. Just not the all blacks, since they were in all orange. They were all really nice, and they made better company than the stupid gigglers and mohawked boneheads that were the only other people there. One guy even had "never back down" tattooed in large calligraphy across his chest. Yes, I'm judging. But to be fair, you sir are the one who marked yourself permanently with an attention grabber like that large black stamp of stupidity. I'm not against all tattoos, just the stupid ones. Some really are art. That one was not. 

     Anyhow, enough with my rant. The pools were nice. A wonderful idea. We got a nicer shower for a lot cheaper than we could have gotten anywhere else in town, and a better experience, I'm sure. It was brilliant. 

     We left town after that and headed toward Tongariro National Park, home to Mount Ngauruhoe, known to the rest of the world as Mount Doom. We would have had a great head start if I hadn't left my swimsuit at the pool, but as it was, we had to turn around and get it. Even so, we have arrived at our destination well ahead of time. We didn't have to be here until tomorrow morning, but we're here now. We lazed about in the sun and worked on our tans. They're sadly lacking since the bugs are so bad on the South Island we hardly ever dared to wear anything but long sleeves and long pants, especially if we were standing still. Here it's no so bad, so I put on my swimsuit and laid out in the sun with my book. I have a handful of bug bites now, but over a couple hours time, that's not bad. 

      Now the rain has moved in, so we've settled into the van for the night. The rain is pattering on the roof but it's not so loud that I can't still hear the wind in the scrubby trees and the water lapping against the shore of Lake Rotoaira, ten feet away. Behind the bushes the sun is setting and all the colors are trapped beneath the clouds and turning the whole sky orange, pink, and purple. It's strange and beautiful. Like the mountain itself. I'm looking forward to hiking around it tomorrow. 

Wellington

2-4-2014

     Once we docked we found a place to make dinner, then a place to sleep, just outside of Wellington. We went back to the center of the city the next day. We found parking right in the middle of downtown and walked around for a couple hours. We went to the i-site but didn't learn anything new. We walked around the huge public library and through the plaza behind it, and all around downtown. There wasn't much to see that we hadn't already seen before, so we drove to a different part of town. We drove to Wellywood, or at least that's the nickname. It's where the movie studio is that helped produce movies like The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Narnia, Avatar, Master and Commander, and a whole slew of other movies that have fantastic special effects. This studio, called the Weka Cave, was responsible for things like costume and design, sound effects, miniatures for filming... all sorts of cool things! So, we took a tour. I still maintain that I'm not a film nerd, far from it, but this was cool. We got to see all sorts of props from a lot of movies, especially The Hobbit, and meet people who designed them. It was fascinating. Totally worth the twenty bucks. It was an hour long, and over too soon. I took some pictures of the trolls out front and eventually left. 

      Mount Victoria Lookout was said to be a worthwhile detour from downtown, so we headed there next. The road up to it wound around a residential hillside, and each house had a heck of a view. The road itself was chaotic, though. Cars were parked on both sides, narrowing the whole road down to a single lane. It was so curvy that it was just a succession of blind corners, although that's pretty standard in New Zealand. But the combination of the two is what made it really scary, plus the heavy traffic. Tourists and locals both crowded the streets, and garbage trucks barreled their way along, regardless of the havoc they seemed to be aiming for. They didn't slow down for anyone, no matter how unsafe or rude it was. Luckily we got to the top without any incidents, and the view was great. The view we had of Christchurch was better, but the cool thing with this view was the ability to watch planes land and take off at a fairly close, birds-eye view. That was neat. We ended up spending at least a half hour up there, if not a full hour. We left because I had to pee, and there were no toilets available. Oh yeah, they call them toilets here, not bathrooms. I'm afraid that's a term I might accidentally bring back with me. 

      Anyhow, we went back to the main part of Wellington, but this time we parked over in the business section. Lawyers offices in tall buildings lined the streets, and there were parking garages at every block. However, we parked on the street again because there was plenty of parking. We walked toward the big dome building which I recognized as their central government building, which I was sure would have a public bathroom. There turned out to be one out front. 

      Next, we hooked back around on the parallel street just below the one we parked on. This street was lined with classic, old buildings with fancy trimmings and even a few roman columns. Some were brick, some were stone. Most stone buildings were yellow but some were white, swirled with grey. I was fascinated, but I'm a nerd for art and architecture. 

     The shiny lawyers towers could be seen behind the older, shorter buildings, which made for a really cool looking city-scape from the street. And unlike the street above it, this street was packed full of shops, restaurants, and a few street vendors. We bought a few amazing cookies, still warm, from one shop that smelled too good to pass by. I ducked into more than a few shoe stores, drooling over all the boots, and Luke didn't even seem to mind. He even encouraged me into a clothing store because there was a sweet, fuzzy, zebra face sweater on display in the window. It was so cool. Unfortunately, it looked ridiculous on me (my wide shoulders make it hard for me to pull off the petite look, and by hard I mean impossible), but I almost bought it anyway. My anti-spend-money mindset saved me. 

     We got sick of shopping about the same time the stores started to close, conveniently enough. We settled on a place to eat dinner and talked about wether or not we wanted to stay another day. I was  craving more of a city setting after all this time camping, and I love cities, but we both felt we had seen most everything worth seeing so we decided to move on. I can only take so much shopping, after all. 

The Last of the South Island

1-4-2014

     Hangdog is a climbers' campground just outside of Nelson, and it's where we spent the last couple days. It sits next to a long line of cliffs that overlook a small, twisting river next to the main road. It's a neat place, with some interesting features like a long-drop castle built on the side of a huge old tree stump with wooden shelves laid into the side to climb up it. There's also a slack-line set up among the tents, a stone baking oven, a large fire-pit and patio combo, two refrigerators, and one shower. 

     The shower was nice, but we weren't there for the amenities. We stayed for the climbing. We got a climber's guidebook and set out to use the equipment we brought with us: harnesses, climbing shoes, one rope, and six quick draws. Some of the climbs had more bolts than we had draws, but those tended to be above our climbing level anyway. We stuck to the 13's and 14's, which is the equivalent of a 5'6 or so. That's as easy as it gets, but personally, I think they were rated too high. Or maybe it's just been too long since I climbed last. Or, maybe it's because I hadn't done much lead climbing before, climbing the rope to the top instead of having it secured up there already. Lead climbing is a little more unsettling. If I fell, I would have fallen double the distance I was from my last clip-in, aka bolt. I didn't fall, though, and neither did Luke. We challenged ourselves, and we certainly improved, but we were cautious. Even so, we had so much fun the first day, and met so many cool people, we just had to stay another day. 

    The next day we climbed some more, even a little more challenging. I learned how to "clean a route", which means I learned how to climb up and come back down without leaving any gear behind. It was so fun, and it was a nice change of pace. I wanted to stay for a week, as most campers were doing, but we decided not to. We made plans for Saturday, and on the North Island, so we had to move on. We consoled ourselves with the thought that we could climb more around Lake Taupo. We'd be there in another week or so, no later. We only have three weeks left! They're going to fly by. 

      We left for Nelson the next day. I don't know what I was expecting but there wasn't much there except orchards and vineyards. We kept driving through, all the way to Picton. We left on the afternoon ferry and that was it. No more South Island. It felt a little strange, but it felt good too. One step closer to going home. 

Missing Pieces

24-3-2014

      Over the last couple weeks we've had some cool experiences, which I'll write about now to fill in the gaps. 

      After Queenstown we drove up to Wanaka, which is a neat town on Lake Wanaka, and nearby Lake Hawea. We weren't there for very long. We had arrived in the morning and found there was a big fair going on. There were horse shows, sheep shows, cattle competitions, tractor, boat, and housing displays, and lots of tents set up for an art fair that was easily half the overall fair. The whole thing took up about 4 blocks, maybe 6. We meandered around all morning and then made our way into the town itself. In town we ran into Markus and Tina, friends from the blueberry farm, at a public bathroom of all places. We laughed about where we had found each other and asked what each other's plans were. Turns out, we both had movie tickets to the same little theatre for the same movie, at the same time. It was a few hours away so we parted ways and met up later. We dawdled around at the marina and walked along the boardwalk in town, then left for the movie. We watched American Hustle, which sounded interesting and had a star-studded cast, but it wasn't that great. It was not a feel good movie. But it was fun nonetheless. The movie theatre had couches to sit on rather than chairs, and some old cars with no tops to sit in too. You could order popcorn or soda to snack on from the front counter, or sandwhiches, pizza, muffins, meat pies, or any number of desserts. It was really neat. 

    After the movie we left town and made our way up to Mount Cook, where we hiked to the Mueller Hut, which I wrote about. When we left the Mount Cook area we went back to Wanaka. We found free wifi and I checked my email for the first time in two or three weeks. I had missed a lot! Including the contact info for a friend of my godfather, who's a pretty cool dude, so of course his friends must be cool too! I called her up immediately and we got an invite to stay there that night! Not only that, she invited us to dinner with other friends of theirs who were visiting from Scotland, who would be returning from their trip to Dunedin the next night. I felt bad adding myself to her guest list so last minute, but she and her boyfriend seemed not to mind. In fact, they only encouraged us to stay. They were wonderful, gracious, fun people. I will always be grateful for their hospitality. We had a wonderful couple of days with some really fantastic people. It was way over and above anything we could have hoped for. 

     We had only intended on staying one night, but we ended up staying a few nights. On the third day we moved on, not wanting to overstay our welcome any more than I felt we already had. We said our goodbyes, exchanged contact info, and headed to Dunedin, on the Southern East coast. 

     Dunedin was a really cool, old city. We took a bus tour around for the commentary and history of the awesome old buildings. Turns out Dunedin was settled, built, and designed by the Scott's, with a few Catholic exceptions, so the city has a lot of European character to it. Neat stone buildings, a big old clock tower, an epic train station, a few old churches with a whole lot of character, a big Catholic cathedral, a couple really awesome boys and girls schools that reminded me of Harry Potter and Hogwarts, and an intriguing old prison, which we also toured. We also toured Speights Brewery, which is the Kiwi equivalent of Busweiser beer. They have a few award winning beers, like the Triple Hops Pilsner that won a class 1 gold metal for lagers at the 2013 International Brewing Awards (apparently a big deal, worldwide), and I can vouch for how deserving it is. The Distinction Ale was my other favorite, but it hasn't won any awards (yet). 

      Also worth finding in Dunedin was a Turkish restaurant right down the road from the i-site (information) and Speights Brewery. It was so good we went twice, once each day. We had Doner Kebabs, falafel, and baklava. Yum. I really can't wait until the day the US gets on board with Doner Kebab chains. They're the Turkish version of Qdoba or Chipotle, only better. Way better.

      Anyhow, we had a great time in Dunedin, in spite of not getting to see any Albatross or Yellow Eyed Penguins up close. At least I saw the Albatrosses flying overhead, and I've seen my fair share of Blue Penguins, but I guess seeing a rarer penguin is just not going to happen. Either way, I left Dunedin fairly happy. It really is a cool city. 

     We made our way to the West Coast after that, stopping in the Northeast quadrant of Mount Aspiring National Park to hike the Young Track past Mount Awful. 

     Once we left there we drove through Haast Pass, which was supposed to be really cool but we didn't drive between any rock walls or rock pillars like we heard about from other people. I have no idea what they were talking about. The town of Haast was even more disappointing, as there was nothing there but a few hotels and tourist centers run by mostly unfriendly people. We kept going. We drove to the Fox Glacier and walked up to the viewing point, sore calves and blistered feet be darned. We watched the crowds of guided groups walking over the dirt and silt and ice and congratulated each other on not falling for that tourist trap. Don't get me wrong, walking on a glacier would be super cool, but paying hundreds of dollars to walk on a glacier so tracked out you don't even need crampons or an ice axe, surrounded by hundreds of tourists, is not the way I want to experience a glacier. I'd rather hike the 30 miles in to explore something a little more pristine. And a little quiter. Helicopters growled overhead constantly. Cloud-cover or no, people were still paying for helicopter tours.

     In spite of the crowds at the Fox Glacier, we still drove up to the Franz Joseph Glacier. It was just up the road, and even if it is a tourist trap, it's a free tourist trap if you stick to the boardwalks, and it's still a rare opportunity to get to drive up to a glacier.  

      Franz Joseph Glacier was much the same as the Fox Glacier, with helicopters flying everywhere, only it was even more hidden in clouds. We didn't stay long. We headed for the next town and just kept driving until we found an actual town. We ended up in Hokitika, I think. It was a nice town. We bought fish and chips, ate too much, and then bought a small amount of groceries to round out our meal plans for the next few days. Mostly we just bought some fresh meat and milk- things that would have spoiled if we'd bought them before our hike. 

      We didn't stay there long. We left for Arthur's Pass, which leads to Christchurch, back on the East Coast. It was starting to get dark when we turned onto the Arthur's Pass Road so we didn't want to drive very far because we didn't want to miss much. We'd heard from travelers  and locals alike that this road was awesome, and not to miss. We drove about a half an hour without finding a good place to stop and sleep. Finally we came upon a holiday park, where we ended up staying for the night. The showers there were really nice, as was the common room. It was well taken care of, by far the nicest holiday park we've seen so far. We took long, hot showers and then went to bed. 

      The next morning we woke up late. It had started to rain even before we had finished our showers the night before, poured all night, and was still raining the next morning. We cooked our breakfast in the common room (which was surprisingly empty given the weather and the amount of guests there), taking our time in hopes that the rain would clear off. Check-out was 10:00. Luckily, the clouds started to clear off around 9:00 so we left at 9:30, right after breakfast. 

     The further into the mountains we drove the cloudier it got again. They were rising up and away but we were driving higher and higher. We still saw some beautiful sights, but the pass itself was completely clouded in. All I know is that we came upon a big, long bridge. It appeared to be a bridge into the sky, because we couldn't see the end, couldn't see off the sides. It was just a bridge through clouds. It was so cool. After a few minutes of floating on a bridge in the clouds our tires hit pavement, and we were in the mountains again. We turned a corner and voila! Sunny, blue skies as far as we could see. We started to descend, so I'm guessing the cloud bridge was Arthur's Pass. 

      On the other side of the mountains we came upon some cool things. We stopped at a roadside park labeled, "Cave Stream Scenic Reserve."  A group of kids and chaperones were walking around in wetsuits, so Luke approached a chaperone and asked about these apparent caves. She said it was really easy, and it was about an hour's worth of walking total. We looked at what we had, what we could wear (because we don't have wetsuits), and decided to do it. We put on our swim trunks (I bought these shorts at a thrift shop in the women's section but I'm pretty sure it's a men's swimsuit), long sleeve non-cotton shirts, old sneakers, and donned headlamps. Then we set off down the trail, following signs for the cave.

     The trail wound down a hill to a very small river, more of a stream. We walked downstream about 100 feet until another stream popped up on our left and ran into the stream we were following. Looking up, we saw the cave entrance. Walking upstream now, we entered the cave. I turned my headlamp on but Luke used his super awesome police-duty-quality flashlight. We followed the twists and turns deeper, and deeper into the cave. The water actually got shallower, gradually. I didn't even get my shirt wet. The turns stacked up a little tighter, and the high walls got a little narrower, but it never got closed in or tight. It only got better. 

     A ways in we ran into a narrow area with water shooting through, and falling towards us. It proved easy to get over. Then it got deeper. It looked like I was going to get my shirt wet when I noticed a funny amber glow to the water up ahead. I could see it when Luke wasn't shining towards it (he was ahead of me), and I wondered if it was an interesting refracted reflection. Turns out it was daylight filtering through. The next corner we came around we were confronted with a big waterfall, at least 10 feet, and some bars in the rock that formed a ladder up. We climbed up, then crawled the narrow ledge out. If we fell, which seemed very unlikely, we only would have gotten wet. Above the waterfall, and between it and the exit, was a deep pool of water. The waterfall was caused by the excess water spilling overtop a natural thin wall that created a natural dam, so the pool of water was very calm. It was beautiful to look at. 

     When we got back to our van the parking lot was full of busses and more school children. We had only been gone maybe 45 minutes total, but the crowd had exponentially multiplied. We left and drove down the road, finding privacy under a large bridge to change. Then we kept driving.

     About an hour down the road the scenery changed again. There were rolling green hills covered in standing stones and boulders. It looked like some mythical giant had sat on top of the nearby mountains and thrown stones at the hills. Neat rock towers and piles were everywhere, just begging to be explored. It was the world's best adult playground. Of course we stopped and ran around. The rock was limestone, even though it was almost black on the surface, and perfect for barefooted gripping. I climbed up onto one rolling, swooping formation and ran around. I ran over arches and atop boulders, from one to the next. They just kept going. When the formation ended I hopped down and climbed up the next one.

     We were there for a couple hours, I think. We only left because we were hungry. I'd noticed a place on the map, just up the road, labeled "yummy homemade food cafe" and I wanted to find it. So, find it we did, and it was yummy. I had a vegetarian dish, a vegetable quiche of sorts that was totally amazing. Luke had some sort of curried chickpea pasty-like thing, I can't remember the exact name of it, but it was really good, too.

     We continued on, and before we knew it we were in Christchurch. We drove around again, and again we were confused. The traffic signs and visitor signs are all wrong. They haven't been updated to fit all the construction and demolished buildings since the earthquake in 2011, so trying to figure out where to go or how to get around is challenging, to say the least. It felt almost the same as it did the first time we drove through. The only difference was this time there were far more people around. 

     We found a United Video store and rented some movies, then we found a place to eat dinner. It was very busy, and it looked good, but it was just okay. We gave up on town and headed for Mt Vernon, on the outskirts of town. We drove through neighborhoods filled with beautiful houses, passed a number of cyclists, and ended up on a side road on a steep slope looking over the city. When we found a parking area we turned off so we could enjoy the view. The road itself was too narrow to stop, or look over at the view safely. At the parking area we found that it also looked out over a lake and a very small town on the bay of it. It was gorgeous. Since it was already getting dark we decided to stay there for the night. As it got darker the moon rose, big and yellow, and the city lights of Christchurch shimmered below. On the other side small lights turned on and off, and occasionally car lights snaked around the town through the dark and then disappeared.

      We got ready for bed, still marveling at the sights, then watched our movies. Surprisingly, we kept getting interrupted. Cars would come screeching up next to us, a couple came very close to hitting our van and we weren't in the way at all. They were careless with their headlights and we'd end up blinded. Most cars only had two people in them, some would sit in their car and do nothing (though I'm pretty sure they were sitting there getting high), some would get out and talk to people in another car that would pull up, then they'd both leave. At one point, a couple boneheads on scooters came roaring up, accompanied by a dude in a van. One scooter stopped, and the man got off and circled it, all sorts of agitated. I could tell just by the way he moved. The other was cursing at his scooter. When we smelled burning rubber we figured out that he'd hit the rock border to the parking lot, and the other bonehead, the one who was circling his scooter, was apparently stuck. Idiots. They made a scene for a while and then they must have fixed it, because they tore off in the direction they had come from. I think they were drunk. And the reason I'm pretty sure the people sitting in their cars were doing drugs is because if we got out of the van and made our presence known, they'd quickly start the car up and drive off. Who knew that such a beautiful, peaceful, middle-of-nowhere place by day could be such a sad place in the dark. We watched 3 movies by the time it finally quieted down. I think it was well after midnight by the time we went to sleep. 

    The next day we parked by the i-site, Christchurch Museum, and botanical gardens. We decided to take another bus tour to get a feel for the city. The way everyone talked about it, it was very much alive and happening. But when we drove through it, especially after 5:00, it seemed to be a ghost town. When we toured around on the bus we saw that the buildings that had previously appeared totally abandoned were busily being worked on during the day. We found out from the bus drivers commentary that some buildings were scheduled to be deconstructed and just not started yet. Others survived just fine and had only required a few minor fix-ups before reopening in the last year or so. Others still were mostly fine, but there was construction going on to build up the foundations, or other structural features, so they wouldn't have to be torn down. The city then seemed alive, with an optimistic population rebuilding, confident the city would be functioning again, better than before. They looked at the destruction as an opportunity to organize and rebuild the city to fit everyone's needs, and unlike before there would be more parks, and districts for shopping, or museums, or whatever. Far more organized than before. The city council was even looking at the locals' drawings, from preschooler  to professional, for building ideas. It seemed really cool. 

     Once we got off the bus we walked around a bit. We walked through the container mall, this time bustling with people. We rode on the trolly, all the way from one end to the other. We walked through the museum a bit, and through the botanical gardens. It was a beautiful day. And finally, I could see the life in Christchurch that everyone else talked about. 

     We ended up sticking around one more night, and leaving late the next morning. We came here, to Hanmer Springs, where we scheduled ourselves a nice trip to the hot pools and spa. It was absolutely lovely. The town is lovely, too. It's a semi-posh little town nestled in at the bottom of the mountains, and I've enjoyed walking around it. I wouldn't mind staying even longer, but we've already spent two nights here and we're ready to move on. On to Lewis Pass, back to the West Coast!

The Awful, Dreadful Hike

18-3-2014

    It started out in the rain. That should have been our first sign, but it was very light rain and it was supposed to clear up for the next few days so we decided to start ASAP. We had to ford a river at the beginning so we wanted to start before it rained harder and the water rose too high to make for an easy crossing. I wore my rain jacket but not my rainpants. I had on my Teva sandals and my new zip-off pants that I'd just bought in Queenstown. I took the bottom parts off so I could cross the river in shorts, then zipped them back on once I reached the other side to protect me from sandflies. Very handy, but the river was deep enough to get my shorts wet so I got wet anyways. I looked silly at first, but soon enough I was soaked anyways because of the rain. I didn't mind. 

     We hiked six hours to the Young Hut and stayed there for the night. When we got there I was feeling smelly, so Luke and I went down to the river and found a good swimming hole to jump into. It was freezing cold. The coldest water I've ever been in. I had intended on getting my hair wet but I got in up to my waist and that was enough for me. Within seconds my feet hurt because the water was that cold. We very quickly washed off, dressed ourselves in the cold rain, then went back to the hut. I put on every warm layer I had and eventually felt better. 

     We hung all our wet stuff outside under the porch roof, hoping it would clear up a bit and dry overnight. Just before we went to bed it was still raining, so I transferred my rain jacket and pants inside. They were sort of dry the next morning. Everything outside was even wetter than when we had hung it up. It had not cleared up overnight. It was still raining. In fact, it was raining harder. I put my damp zip-off pants back on, thinking it would be worse not to and get my only dry clothes all wet. I packed up the wet stuff, put on a new shirt, along with my rain jacket, and we headed out. 

      Luke wore his wet pants, too. It was supposed to get nice out so we figured they'd dry out as we went. It didn't get nice out. In fact, it rained and then rained harder. We hiked up and up towards the saddle we had to cross to get to the next hut, and the closer we got the steeper it got. It got so steep that I frequently looked back the direction we'd come from, not see further down than the immediate twenty feet below us, and wonder how in the heck we'd gotten up there so easily. Although, it really wasn't too easy. Everything was wet, slippery, not to mention steep, and the further up we got the windier it got. Sometimes it gusted so heavily we hunkered down into whatever crevice we could find and held on. The rain felt like sleet against our faces. Maybe it was. 

      Ridiculously, I was having fun. I thought we were half crazy for being out there, crossing over mountains (although a saddle is, by definition, the lowest point between mountains) but it was fun. There were waterfalls everywhere on the surrounding mountainsides, thousands it seemed. The clouds covered up a lot but they also thinned out in spots and we could see the silhouettes of the surrounding peaks, and all the waterfalls. And besides the view, it was nice to have a different experience, even if it meant foul weather. I really, oddly, had fun. Plus, I thought it was hilarious that we passed the army group (who had gotten up at dawn to leave, and we left late in the morning), and I was still wearing my Teva sandals. To be fair, I'm pretty sure they were carrying absurdly heavy packs, with way more than they knew they'd need, because it was a training exercise for the officers. Still, I got a chuckle out of it. 

     By the time we reached the Siberia Hut we were again soaked. Although, honestly, we had been soaked within an hour of leaving the Young Hut. For most of our hike our pants clung to us, and water squished around with every step, and every turn. Unlike the day before, we were soaked through this time. Either from sweat or rain, even my rain jacket was soaked inside and out. So was my pack, in spite of the rain cover on it. The wind had driven the rain in around the sides, and that's not easy to do. It had pooled at the bottom and thoroughly soaked my pack. Good thing I was smart and packed everything in water proof stuff sacks, or zip lock bags. They both worked. Everything inside my pack was still dry, including my change of clothes. I was relieved. 

     Luckily Siberia Hut had a warden, who had started a nice, warm fire in the wood stove, and we were able to hang our clothes on the ceiling rack nearby to dry them out. We changed into our dry clothes and settled in for the night. Mostly we just played chess until we went to bed. 

     The next morning when we woke up it was still grey. It was misty, and gloomy, so I slept in. The plan had been to hike to Lake Crucible, a six hour hike in total, off the main track. It was supposedly the most beautiful part of the whole track to see. But there was no point in hiking back uphill to see something that was covered by clouds so we nixed that plan. Instead, we were slow to get up, slow to make breakfast, and slow to pack up. 

     Halfway through breakfast the fog started to burn off. Within an hour it was a beautiful, sunny day. The grass still had dew on it, so it was still a bit wet outside, but it was drying quickly. Finally, a nice day. We thought about changing our minds again and going to Lake Crucible after all, but we ended up not doing it. Luke looked at the weather and the next day was supposed to be worse than anything we'd seen so far. Gale force winds were expected. We didn't want to spend another two nights at the hut, so we decided to hike all the way out that day. We had to cross the same big river to get out that we had to cross to get in, only 6 kilometers downstream of where we'd crossed to go in. In those 6 kilometers, more rivers had run down from the mountains and valleys in between and converged with the main one, making it even deeper and swifter than before. Not to mention all the rain we got, but that shouldn't make much of a difference by the time we got to it. It was estimated to be a 7-9 hour hike. And thanks to the weather forecast, it was a last minute plan, so we didn't start until noon. I made it my goal to get there and get across the river before dark. 

      Turned out the hike out wasn't so bad. The parts of the trail that we followed were a huge pain in the butt, but we quickly solved that problem by just walking on the gravelbar of the river instead. The trail followed it closely, and the only times we had to use it were when the river butted right up against the woods. We made it out in about 5 hours, I think. But by "made it out" I mean "made it to the big, main river". The one we had to cross. We looked at the river where it was marked to cross, and the fields beyond. We were so unmotivated to cross yet. I just didn't want to. We thought maybe we could find a better place. Besides, we still had to walk back to our car, so we figured we might as well walk up the river towards it and cross in the best spot we could find.

      We walked forever. Or at least it felt like that. I had chosen to again wear my Tevas, but because they were still soaked and my feet had been dry, I had rubbed my skin raw in a few places and it hurt to walk. We were both tired, and very sore. Each step got harder. The river only seemed to get worse, so we kept walking. We figured we'd eventually get to the spot where we had crossed before and have to back-track only a little. That didn't happen. We walked as far as we could before the river butted up to woods again, and we were left with two choices: either we scramble up, around, and through the woods, or we just cross there. The spot actually looked like a really good spot to cross. As good as it was going to get. So, we decided to just cross there. We found big sticks to help us, and in we went.

      The water was cold, and swift. It started off easy but then it got deeper. The water crept up past my waist, soaking the waist-straps on my pack, and my shirt way up past my belly button. I leaned forward on the stick for support and found that all that did was help the river sweep my feet out from underneath me. I started to slide, and wobble. The current kept pushing me sideways but somehow I managed to righten myself out again. I tried not to think about how much I didn't want to fall and have to swim in such cold water, with a pack on my back (because it wasn't so bad that I felt I had to unbuckle it). I concentrated on moving my feet and staying balanced, so much that I hardly even noticed the cold. Right in the middle of the river I got stuck for a few seconds. It seemed no matter how hard I tried to move, as soon as I started to shift in the slightest, I felt I was going to be swept away. I told Luke I was stuck, and he stopped. I think he talked me through it but I don't really remember. I was concentrating on not swimming. I got through it, but from then on I followed behind Luke. He broke the current for me. I don't know if it was that, or the fact that it was getting shallower, that made it easier. Probably both. Either way, we both made it across just fine. That was the deepest river crossing I'd ever done. Until then, I'd always been able to find some other means of crossing. Like a boat, or a fallen tree. 

      We still had a few kilometers to walk before we were back to our van. We walked through another field, and some thorny bushes, trying not to scare the cows. Finally we got to the road. From there we walked another two kilometers, I'd say. Hitch hiking was not even possible because the road had closed at 6:00 for construction on a slide area on Haast Pass. But once we were to the road it got easier.

      When we finally reached our van we were done for the night. It was almost dark, time to find a camp spot anyway, the road was closed...might as well just stay there. Plus, we saw at least 4 fire trucks, 2 police cars, 2 ambulances, a news car, and 2 helicopters whizz by, heading toward the pass. I don't know where the accident was but I know there was one. Probably a bad one. We decided it was best to stay off the closed road and out of their way. We didn't even drive the 2 kilometers back into town that night, we just crashed there at the trailhead (if you could call it that). It was a widened shoulder area big enough for about 4 cars, and surrounded by sheep, but we weren't picky. We were just tired.

     Supposedly, we hiked over the saddle on a ridge-line of Mount Awful, and also hiked past Mount Dreadful, but I couldn't say. It was too rainy and cloudy to see for sure, so I'll just have to trust the map. We joked about how appropriately the mountains were named, since they were prone to constant foul weather like we'd experienced, and we decided to name this blog post after them. The hike wasn't that awful, certainly not dreadful, but man was it trying. 

Mount Cook Area

Mueller Hut

10-3-2014

     Frankly, the "walk" to get here was a pain in the butt. It was more of a climb. The majority of the trail was stairs, and then the top quarter was all scrambling. However, it was worth it. It's beautiful up here. The view is incredible. We're on Mount Oliver looking out across a deep valley, and on the other side is an enormous ridge shaped like a crescent moon. To the side is Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand. It is where Sir Edward Hillary practiced his mountaineering skills before he and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mount Everest, the first ever to do so. Like Mount Everest, it's a very dangerous climb. One of the most dangerous in the world, apparently, because of unpredictable weather and snow conditions combined with a very technical climb. I want to explore it, but I think I'll hone my mountaineering skills first. As in: I'll get some. This is not the place to start, and besides, this is not the time of year to climb Mt Cook.

    I'll have to be content with Mt Oliver, by the hut here. It's only a half an hour from here to the top and doesn't even require crampons or an ice axe. The plan is to go do it tomorrow. Right now we're pretty tired from our clamber up this mountain.

    In fact, everyone here but me is asleep already. I just couldn't help but write, because this is so cool. The moon is a little over half full and pretty bright, the starts are out, and outside it's quiet except for the thunder. It's like a thunderstorm only it's not; it's avalanches. Huge chunks of snow on the mountains across the way are hardening now that it's cooled down for the night, and they're breaking off and hammering down into the valley below. It's incredible to hear, and I wish it was light enough to see. I can't wait until light tomorrow morning, when it will warm up again. 

Queenstown

7-3-2014

     After the Routeburn we returned to Queenstown. I love Queenstown. It reminds me of a mountain village in Colorado, but not as ritzy as Vail. There's so much to do here! We hung around the area for a few days because we did a lot. 

     The first day we went to the racetrack. We drooled over some fancy fast cars and then they handed us the keys. Yep, no joke. I drove a Ferrari around the track, 4 rounds, with an instructor in the passenger seat. He told me what cones signaled for me to slow down, and speed up, and said things like, "Yep, keep accelerating." I smiled so big my face hurt. When my turn was done the instructor told me I managed to get all the way to 4th gear on the straightaway, and it felt like a short distance. 

    Luke got to drive a Lamborghini. I hate to say it, but I think his car was cooler. But the Lamborghini was a manual car only and since I didn't feel like ruining their really nice, really expensive cars, I stuck with the auto/semi auto Ferarri. Mine had the option to shift using the paddle shifters, and it would override the automatic shifting, but I didn't have to use them. Perfect.

     Luke was grinning pretty big when he stepped out of the car, too. It's hard to tell from the sidelines, but I think he was ripping around the rack too. 

      I don't know that it was a really big learning experience, other than the fact that I now know for certain I should never be allowed to own a car that fast. I couldn't be trusted to always drive the speed limit. No way. It's so fun not to! Although, there's a huge element of safety on the track that disappears when you involve public streets and have civilians running around. 

    After we drove ourselves around the track we got to do a "hot lap" in a Porsche. I wish it was a Porsche Carrera but we were in a Porsche Cayenne. Still pretty awesome. We both felt like pansy little girls after the Stig drove us around. That lap was fun. 

     The rest of that day we spent driving around the nearby hills touring vineyards. We had some seriously delicious wine, and some truly amazing food. Nutty, buttery chardoneys, sweet yet light reislings, savory lamb salad with beetroot and feta cheese, some fancy poached plum cake dessert that was moist but not heavy, with caramel drizzled over it and vanilla ice cream on the side. I tell ya' I could live here and die happy. 

     We finished our night off by splitting a burger from Fergburger in downtown Queenstown. It's a great locals' favorite, with great character, and some really great burgers. There's always a crowd, it's always busy, because it's always good. I'm glad Luke and I split one because we got The Big Al, and the thing was huge! I was full eating only half of it.

     The next day we started off strong. After all, we had to burn off that burger. So we rented some bikes, bought a half day pass to the gondola, and set off. The gondola is only a few blocks away from downtown, and right up the hill from the bike shop we rented from, so we walked there. Plus, we had 4 hour parking in a town where finding 30 minute parking is a pretty good. 

     I've never downhill mountain biked before. I've taken my bike on the trails around Marquette, which is darn close. I've even demoed a Specialized full suspension bike on those trails, but I've never done only downhill and not had some uphill too. This was all downhill. The bike park around the gondola was the dirt version of a ski hill. There were even "runs" that were rated by green circle (beginner), blue square (harder), black diamond (advanced), and double black diamond (experts only). 

     I stuck to the greens. Even the greens were hard. The first run down I was so nervous that I was on the brakes almost the whole time. I felt like a kid who just learned how to ski who was thrown onto the hill barely even knowing how to stop. After all, I knew that if I crammed on the brakes I'd just fly over the handlebars. I wished there was a bunny hill. I knew just enough to not die, like keeping my feet even when coasting, and using the back brake more than the front.

      Each run took about 45 minutes. On the other hand, with each run I got a little faster, a little more confident. Still, every banked corner made me nervous, because they looked to me like big ramps into the trees and off cliffs. But I did get better. I made it my goal to get better at the banked corners (which was every corner), and I don't know if I did, but at least I feared them a lot less by the end of the day. 

      We even did a blue square run for our last run. It was fast and scary, and fun. I survived! I went fast, I even got some air off the tiny jumps, I cornered just fine, and I didn't fall all day! I think I even like the sport, although I will continue to wear body armor. Yes, Mom, don't worry, we were in full face helmets, elbow pads, and a knee pad / shin pad combo. I may not have done it otherwise. 

     It was incredibly fun. More fun, I think, than bungee jumping. 

     Because we only got a half day pass, we had to return our bikes at 2:00. I'm glad we did, though, because by dinner time it was raining. We were lucky enough to have some warm weather and clear skies when we were on the trails. Biking in the mud is fun, but I'm glad my first downhill mountain biking experience was a little more stable. We returned the bikes and all the gear, then got ready for dinner.

     Dinner, it turns out, was also on the mountain. At the top of the mountain the gondola is attached to a big building that houses a cafe, bathrooms, a huge souvenir shop, a jelly belly outlet, and the whole bottom floor is a really nice restaurant with really nice food. It looks out over the gondola, all of Queenstown, the bays and peninsulas, and the Remarkables (mountains) beyond. It's really cool. 

     It's expensive to eat there, but we figured of all the places to spend money eating out, this was probably one of the best. We weren't wrong. The food was phenomenal. It was so good we ate way too much, and I think we were more stuffed than Thanksgiving and Christmas combined. We finally got to try the local dessert Pavlova, which I thought was a cake but it turns out it's more like merengue. It looks like angel food cake. 

     We also got to see the Kiwi Haka dance. Not the All  Blacks one (unfortunately it's not rugby season here, or I would have bought tickets to a game) but the native one. It was really neat. I used to hula dance in college. It was fun, something to do during my spare time other than drink, like everyone else seemed to want to do. It was very similar to that. I even learned a Haka (war dance), but it was different. I learned to dance with Poi Balls, too, but that was also way different. It was cool to see. 

     By the end of the night we were pretty darn happy, and tired. It was a fantastic day. One of the best so far. I really love Queenstown.

Routeburn Day 3

Routeburn, Day 3/ Actually Caples Track

4-3-2014

Mid Caples Hut

     The Caples Trail is less of a walking trail and more of an actual backcountry trail. It goes up and over a saddle, just below the snow line, and then follows the Caples River down a long valley to the car park (that's the Kiwi term for parking lot).

     It's very pretty. Parts of the trail are in the woods along the valley meadow and the river, parts are through the meadow. Snow dusted mountain peaks are visible on all sides. 

     This morning it was still misting and chilly, but it cleared up and turned into a beautiful, warm sunny day. Whereas yesterday we dawdled in snow, today we dawdled in warm grass.

     We still made it to our hut by 3:00 in the afternoon. We picked our spots in the bunk room (right by a big window with an even bigger view) and chatted with the three older ladies we met and friended last night. They arrived just after we did. 

      After that, we walked  around and explored a bit. We found the coolest slot canyon right by the hut. The river is wide open and flat until it corners around the hill the hut is on, and upon investigation, there turned out to be some really neat waterfalls and a really sweet canyon that the river runs through. It gets really deep in a couple spots, and looks like an awesome spot to cliff jump. It also looks like it'd be the coolest spot to kayak if there wasn't a log jam right in the narrowest part. Instead, I had to be content with just walking around looking at it from all different angles. Still, it was a fantastic evening adventure.

     Now it has just gotten dark. One planet is shining bright, preceding the rest of the stars. We had all been chatting away with everyone in the common room about bears, elk, deer, the US and New Zealand, but now we're ready for bed. We all are.

     Tomorrow we hike out. It's only about 5 kilometers away, I think we'll do it in an hour and a half. Then I plan on hunting down laundry and a hot shower. 

Routeburn Day 2

     It's snowing! I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to see snow. It's just the best thing ever! The temperature is pleasant, the snow is lovely, and it even smells good! 

     The wind picked up once we crossed over Harris Saddle, so we ended up putting our hats and gloves on. It made me very glad that I packed them, and my long underwear. I wish I had packed my tent booties, even though it's (supposedly)summer here.

    Someone said today at the McKenzie Hut, where we stopped for lunch, that Mark Twain was quoted saying, "The coldest winter I ever experienced was summer in New Zealand." For me that is not true, but it has been much colder than I expected. It has rained a lot, cold rain, and been cold every single night so far. Then I think about how cold it is in Michigan and I laugh, because this is not even close to cold, comparatively. This is probably shorts weather for a Michigander.  It's not even snow, but rain, at lower elevation places like the McKenzie Hut.

    I'm a little sad we're not staying at the McKenzie Hut because we met a few really neat ladies there who were a lot of fun to talk to. Two of the three are from the US, and one even from Washington. She hikes in the Olympics all the time. We exchanged contact info, helped them start a fire in the wood burning stove (which was actually a great deal of fun), and then we continued on to Howden Hut, where we are staying for the night. 

     When we first got here it was very quiet and almost gloomy. Everyone was sitting in small huddles, separate from each other, at opposite ends of the three tables that are placed in the shape of a T, only the top line is longer. Since there was only space left in the middle that's where Luke and I sat, and it seems we were the missing link between communications for all the groups. Now we're chatting with everyone on all sides, dinner is cooking away on the side counter, and the four behind us have started to play Euchre. They're all native Kiwis and I grew up thinking this was a Michigan game, so I'm excited. I'm finishing my writing now in hopes that I can join in.

Routeburn Day 1

2-3-2014

      I'm sitting here in the Routeburn Falls Hut. It's only 2:00 in the afternoon and we've already arrived at the hut we're staying at tonight. It's cold and pouring down rain outside. We made it here just before the rain got really heavy, and it's supposed to only get worse. It's supposed to get cold enough to turn to snow all the way down to 700 meters. We're at 1000m here, where the snow level was two days ago (keep in mind it's late summer here, and 1000m is only about 3000ft).

      We just have good timing. We made it here before the weather got too bad. We're a little wet but not soaked, as the newcomers are now. Our luck now is due to our luck this morning, since we wouldn't be here this early otherwise. We parked at the Greenstone Trailhead, 28km away from the Routeburn Trailhead, because that's where we're ending. In case you don't hike very often let me put this into perspective: most people hike 8-10 miles, or 10-12 kilometers, in a day and then they stop and make camp. As a ranger I typically hike 16-20 miles in a day. My longest day was 28, for a Search And Rescue. So that translates to a long day being (16-20mi) around 25km. To do 28km would either be a very long day, or two days, and that isn't including the 8.8km to the hut we're in now. My whole points that we needed a ride, and it seems everyone does this loop the other way around so the shuttles' times were off. That left us with only one option left: to hitch-hike. Very common in this country, but we were fairly remote. I mean, we drove through rivers to get to this parking lot. I figured our best bet would be to get a ride from someone coming off the trail, and I wasn't at all sure that anyone would even come off the trail today. I really, really didn't think it likely that anyone would come off the trail in the morning; it'd likely be afternoon before we could hitch a ride. We knew the weather was only supposed to get worse as the day went on, so we got up and ate breakfast at 8:00 anyway, hoping for a break. 

     We had just zipped our packs up and locked the van when a van with a trailer pulled in. A group of people got out, ready to hike the Greenstone Track, who were very friendly and talkative. We talked to the driver and found she transported people to trailheads for a living, and she was willing to give us a ride to the Routeburn right then, and her price was half of anyone else. We accepted right away! 

     For anyone who may be traveling to the Queenstown area in New Zealand (which I highly recommend) in the future, if you find you need a ride somewhere within a few hours of the area, I suggest Buckley Transport. The lady who does it is excellent, very friendly, a very good driver, and she even gave us some tasty ginger fudge candy thing when she dropped us off. She said it was for energy on the trail. I think she was just ridiculously nice.

    Now I'm sitting in the hut, after few hours later. Dinner has been made and eaten. Tea has been made, twice. The hut warden gave his speech to all of us (all 48), which was both informative and humorous.  He warned us about the possums and the kea birds, and about how mischievous they get. When it's quiet they're up to something, and they get quiet at night. So, keep the doors closed and keep our stuff indoors. Kea birds in particular are very curious about anything new, and they will pick things apart. 

     The warden also talked about cleaning up after ourselves and other hut etiquette, as expected. Most  impressively, he left everyone in a good mood. Now everyone is playing cards and talking in small groups. One person is playing guitar, another ukulele, and someone else is singing. Some people are reading, others (like me) are writing. Here and there we're all looking at this giant poster on the wall behind me that says, "Welcome to Routeburn Falls, Merry Christmas!" in 25 different languages.  We're all collaborating, trying to guess at least 20 because if we do, the warden has promised a large Cadbury chocolate bar. I brought my own for this trip (yes, I have an unhealthily large sweet tooth) so I'm just in it for fun. I recognize Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Hawaiian Polynesian, Italian, Thai, Russian, Hindu, Maori, and I think that's it. Oddly enough, English is missing. 

     It's a lot of fun. Everyone seems to feel more comfortable and settled now, including me. I'm also starting to feel very tired, so I'm signing off now and going to bed. 

Goodnight

-Carolyn