Tuesday night Ann and I went out for free beer (we booked more than $300 at the travel desk in the hostel) and a vegetarian pizza, which we added italian sausage to :P. I had booked a horseback ride through some of the Lord of the Rings shooting locations for the next day, supposed to be instead of doing the bungee, so it was an early evening and up before 8 for my shuttle out to Glenarchy, about 20 minutes away, and the stables. My morning horse's name was Bombey, a nice thoroughbred, about 15.2 hands high. I rode english for the first time since selling Yukon 8 or 9 years ago! I had to laugh at myself at how I had to actually concentrate on my form and posting correctly and all of that, since in western riding you sit everything. My guide, Laura, and the other girl, Flora, a make up artist working on The Hobbit, and I had a good time since we were all experienced riders- we got to canter! Bombey, and Eden, Flora's horse, were both ex-track and so, had a bit of a race a few times, but once we realized that Bombey should go in front, it was smooth sailing! The scenery was amazing too! I galloped past the Misty Mountains, and trod through that river Arwyn uses her elf magic on in the first movie. It was awesome! Then the weather kicked in and, since I was dressed only in a tshirt and my raincoat, I got pretty chilly. I was happy when the roughly 3 hour ride had ended, said bye bye to Bombey, and we went for lunch at the creativley named Glenarchy Cafe before my next ride through even more scenery. This was a much bigger ride, and I got to ride Elvis, one of the horses used in The Return of the King! He was a gentle fellow, I let him pick his own way, basically I just sat on his back and snapped photos. We rode past the place where the Fellowship is stopped in the elf queen's forest in the first movie, and where Borromir died, and also the plain where Sauromon's tower is! The area has been used for other movies too, including Willow, Wolverine, and The Lovely Bones. Also, we rode past a part of The Hobbit set they were getting up to snuff to start filming there the next day! I can't legally say anything more than that, so I will leave it there... Orlando Bloom was actually in QT for filming too, and Flora had informed me that the whole Hobbit crew was going out on Saturday night, which was exciting to learn about. Anywho, that ride was a bit shorter, only about 2 hours, but still, so worth it. I'm really glad I did it. I love horses. I love the feeling of being on their back, of flying with them; you're free. It's something I need to get back into for sure, I will definitely look into getting work with them in Australia.
There's the most amazing busker in QT: Mathias the Piano Man. What busker has got a piano as his instrument, on a trolley/wagon?! And he plays so beautifully, I don't know why he isn't making music for commercials or video games like Final Fantasy or something. You people should check him out, I think he's on Facebook and Youtube.
Besides a bit more partying, that's pretty much me in Queenstown. I really enjoyed my time there and I know I want to go back, when I get my working holiday visa for New Zealand, hell maybe get a job at that stable! Come Sunday morning, Ann and I parted ways as I am headed to Samoa on Wednesday for 12 days and she's staying to explore more of the South Island. I'm excited to get some solo travel experience under my belt, but it feels strange to be alone, after being with the same person for the last two and a half months, pretty much constantly. I'm actually quite, pleasantly, surprised at how well we get along, seeing as I didn't know her that well before we came on the trip; I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into. But I'm glad how it's all worked out :).
Samoa will be very interesting and new, for sure. It's still retained much of it's tradional polynesian culture, and as a backpacker, it's surprisingly affordable- $400 return airfare? yes please and thank you!- with their budget accommodation being similar to what I pay here in NZ. I have made a bit of an itinerary for my 12 days, but I don't know that I'll stick to it all even, so we'll see! I have a Lonely Planet book, so that will help me out, but I also think I will get input from locals and that. It's going into the rainy season, so I don't really expect it to be a sunny, and tropical paradise, at least not all the time. It's not a big deal if it's not because it's just as much a part of life there as the dry season, and plus, I won't get sunburned! Although I do have loads of sunscreen with me anyways :). And that's all I have for now! I will post once I return from the South Pacific!
Monday 21 November 2011
Taking the Plunge
Wow! Well Tuesday was spent mostly hungover, but that night Ann and I had some vino and a Big Al (so huge!) from Fergburger, and she and this Irish chick that worked there started talking about the Nevis Bungee that Ann was due to do the next day, and I said "Fuck it! I'm going to do it!" I was pretty terrified when I woke up the next morning, but you know, once you say you're going to do something, you'd better do it (right mom?)... So, tail between my legs, I headed down to the travel desk and booked the same package Ann had, not that I told her that of course- I told Ann that they would only let you book the day before, and so I was coming to watch her jump and act as a moral support. My plan would have succeeded too if the bungee guy, while we were waiting to take the, er, gondola/cage thing out to the bungee pod, hadn't asked who was jumping and who wasn't; I had a ticket to jump of course, so he was confused as to why Ann was telling him I was only watching. I gave him some razz, more so in an attempt not to think about the fact that I was going to jump off a suspended platform 134 meters high into thin air. How insane does a person have to be to pay money to be utterly terrified? I know I say that I'm a bit crazy, but sometimes I wonder if I really am...
The ride out to the pod isn't very calming. Though you're clipped in by your harness, the thing sways in the wind, and you can see right down to the valley bottom courtesy of a grated floor and railing! Once we were inside the pod-again, not calming; glass floor- you were stuck in this very uncomfortable state of anxietyand HOLY SHIT, WHAT AM I DOING?! while all the other jumpers go ahead of you. Unlike the Auckland bridge, there weren't that many people, so I was only waiting for maybe ten minutes, but man, did it feel like ages! And then it couldn't be long enough, once your turn comes up. Poor Ann, hers was the last one!
They sit you in this chair while the jumper jumps, and literally, my hands were shaking like a polaroid picture. I told the guy "You have to tell me when to stop shuffling forward, because I'm not looking down!" And that, my friends, is the secret of bungee: don't look down. Because once you do, you're hooped; you've given your brain that millisecond of time it needs to process the fact that this isn't natural, and you need to GTFO now! But I didn't look down! I just looked out, and on the countdown, I thought 3, 2, 1, BUNGEE! and leapt off into nothing. And fell. And continued falling. It was only 8.5 seconds of free fall, but I can sure tell you it felt longer than my 65 seconds with skydiving. Then I bounced baaaaaaack up, and then plummeted back down towards the earth. Oh yes, I was screaming at the top of my lungs the whole way, you can hear it in the video. I was reeled in upside down, uncomfortable, but such is life when you mistime pulling the cord that brings you up rightside up. I could hardly stand up when they got me back in the pod, my legs were shaking so bad and I was so relieved to have the whole thing done and over with, plus the adrenaline high I hadn't experienced with the Auckland bridge was hitting me full force! It was amazing, I actually contemplated paying for another jump.
Then it was Ann's turn, poor Ann. She was actually nervous as well, which suprised me since she's the adrenaline junkie out of the two of us. But she did it, she jumped! We highfived and cajoled and such afterwards, relief and adrenaline- mostly adrenaline- driving us forwards to do the Nevis Swing, aka the biggest swing in the world! That wasn't scary, it was just fun! The guy getting us strapped in was a Canadian too, so that was kind of cool. He'd even heard of departures! I was wearing my t-shirt ;). We got harnessed in together, and upsidedown!, annnnnnnd then we swung! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D And that was that. That's bungee jumping. I think I prefer skydiving, it's a bit more scenic, less pants-poopingly scary, and lasts longer, but I would say that it was definitely worth it and I would probably do it again. Moreover, I'm quite proud of myself for doing it because I knew I would be terrified and I had the chance to back out (I could've actually paid the money to just watch),and I really didn't think I would actually jump, especially not on the first countdown, but I didn't and I still did it; I conquered a bit of fear that day, kicked it right in the arse, scored a million tries against it; I won against myself.
The ride out to the pod isn't very calming. Though you're clipped in by your harness, the thing sways in the wind, and you can see right down to the valley bottom courtesy of a grated floor and railing! Once we were inside the pod-again, not calming; glass floor- you were stuck in this very uncomfortable state of anxietyand HOLY SHIT, WHAT AM I DOING?! while all the other jumpers go ahead of you. Unlike the Auckland bridge, there weren't that many people, so I was only waiting for maybe ten minutes, but man, did it feel like ages! And then it couldn't be long enough, once your turn comes up. Poor Ann, hers was the last one!
They sit you in this chair while the jumper jumps, and literally, my hands were shaking like a polaroid picture. I told the guy "You have to tell me when to stop shuffling forward, because I'm not looking down!" And that, my friends, is the secret of bungee: don't look down. Because once you do, you're hooped; you've given your brain that millisecond of time it needs to process the fact that this isn't natural, and you need to GTFO now! But I didn't look down! I just looked out, and on the countdown, I thought 3, 2, 1, BUNGEE! and leapt off into nothing. And fell. And continued falling. It was only 8.5 seconds of free fall, but I can sure tell you it felt longer than my 65 seconds with skydiving. Then I bounced baaaaaaack up, and then plummeted back down towards the earth. Oh yes, I was screaming at the top of my lungs the whole way, you can hear it in the video. I was reeled in upside down, uncomfortable, but such is life when you mistime pulling the cord that brings you up rightside up. I could hardly stand up when they got me back in the pod, my legs were shaking so bad and I was so relieved to have the whole thing done and over with, plus the adrenaline high I hadn't experienced with the Auckland bridge was hitting me full force! It was amazing, I actually contemplated paying for another jump.
Then it was Ann's turn, poor Ann. She was actually nervous as well, which suprised me since she's the adrenaline junkie out of the two of us. But she did it, she jumped! We highfived and cajoled and such afterwards, relief and adrenaline- mostly adrenaline- driving us forwards to do the Nevis Swing, aka the biggest swing in the world! That wasn't scary, it was just fun! The guy getting us strapped in was a Canadian too, so that was kind of cool. He'd even heard of departures! I was wearing my t-shirt ;). We got harnessed in together, and upsidedown!, annnnnnnd then we swung! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D And that was that. That's bungee jumping. I think I prefer skydiving, it's a bit more scenic, less pants-poopingly scary, and lasts longer, but I would say that it was definitely worth it and I would probably do it again. Moreover, I'm quite proud of myself for doing it because I knew I would be terrified and I had the chance to back out (I could've actually paid the money to just watch),and I really didn't think I would actually jump, especially not on the first countdown, but I didn't and I still did it; I conquered a bit of fear that day, kicked it right in the arse, scored a million tries against it; I won against myself.
Queenstown!
I've fallen in love with the place, that much was clear after Ann and I booked a room and stored our luggage at Nomad's Hostel around 10:30am, pretty much right downtown Queenstown, and then took a walk about until we could get into the room at 2pm. It's breathtakingly beautiful here: the snowy tips of the Remarkables mountain range rise like the spine of some ancient dragon from Lake Wakatipu. Queenstown is nestled between the lake and mountains, and it really does offer everything else that New Zealand does, only it's all conveniently in one place! There is so much to do here, it's ridiculous! And expensive... I'm fairly certain it would break my bank if I was here any longer than a week! Anything that you could think of wanting to do- hiking, adrenaline activities (obviously, it's not nicknamed the Adventure Capital of the World for nothing!), drinking, fine dining, partying, historic tours, fishing, camping, etcetera, etcetera.
Ann and I grabbed a coffee and some free wifi at Patagonia Chocolates (I'm such a caffiene addict...), and browsed the local crafts market that was on while we waited to get into our room. We had a Fergburger for lunch, which if you haven't heard of it, it's simply the best burger. In the world. Everything about it is perfect, and it's not just a meal, it's an experience.
First off, the thing is massive, and the bun is everything a hamburger bun should be- fresh, toasted but still soft, and tasty. Then, depending which Fergburger you ordered (there's quite a range, from the classic 'Fergburger' to the 'Tropical Swine' to the 'Big Al'), the fillings they put in are spot on; the lettuce is proper and crisp burger lettuce, the tomatoes are juicy, the cheese is melted to just the right degree. The garlic (?) mayo (called aioli here) and their special sauce do nothing but compliment the features and the main star of the whole show: the patty. This isn't any pathetic Macka's (McDonalds) hunk of mystery meat, this is the epitome of a fast food patty, if you could even class Fergburger as fastfood; it's real ground beef, seasoned just right, and prepared fresh each day. Aside from the burger, the staff jovially bounce along to the cool alt-techno-pop-dance tunes blasting just over the din of the crowd gathered (there's always been one every time I've walked past and enjoyed a burger), a perfectly oiled machine of team work that keeps this essential Queenstown experience going. Simply put, if you come to New Zealand, you have to come to QT, and you've got to have a Fergburger, you would have a very lame experience if you didn't.
Saturday night saw us out on the Big Night Out pub crawl (I love how organized these things are here, prizes, bands, "free" drinks and pizza!). We took one of our new roomies, Myles from England, out with us, and boy did we have a great time! He's a real sport, and we danced and laughed and made fun of eachother, eventually getting Fergburger for our late-night-drunken-munchies. We headed back to the hostel at 3, played pool (I lost), and then PTFO'd. Sunday was nice and relaxed, we got ice cream, sat on the beach, skipped stones, booked bungee and skydiving (!), went for a hike and played EXTREME SKINNY, SKINNY, WAKA at the top. In general, just hung out for the day and night, settling down for a Kill Bill marathon in the evening.
Monday was the skydiving. I wasn't terrified at all, in fact, I was just P-U-M-P-ED the entire time! We had to wait ages (we booked the 2 o'clock jump, didn't end up jumping until after 4:30), but man was it worth it! I opted for the photo and DVD package, which I know is a money grab, but whatevs, pretty worth it I think. It was an absolute beaut' of a day, not a cloud in the sky, sun glinting off the lake, completely picture perfect scenery to look at on the ascent to the heavens. I was laughing and smiling, so excited to jump out of the plane at 15 000 feet. I will admit, though, I did get nervous when the door slid open and I wrapped my legs under the edge- you have to make yourself like a banana- "Am I ACTYULLY going to jump out of this plane?" I thought before one rock, two rock, four rock and we were out! Your mind doesn't quite know what's going on for the first 3 seconds after jumping out of the plane, or rather being pushed out by your tandem guy. [Handsome] Greg was my tandem instructor. It's so surreal, being up in the air watching the earth race towards you in slow motion. I know that's a paradox, but that's really how the 65 seconds of freefall felt! When the parachute went up, it yanks up upwards, the harness wrenched up so that part of it was, er, obstructing my inspir-and-expiration. That's what happens when you are on the smaller side of human height, and your tandem is on the other I suppose. It was fine though, Greg pushed it down so that it wasn't choking me so much, and I enjoyed the cruise down to the landing site; Greg wheeled us in tight circles, I stuck out my arms like a bird, simply reveling in the experience. Touching our bums down, or rather sliding, left me with an amazing feeling, it was just awesome. Definitely in the Top 5 Best Experiences of My Life, probably in the Top 3. I know I'm going to have to go again, it was over all to quickly. Skydiving is defiitely going to be a thing of repetition for me! Good thing I work in mining :P... Though who knows, maybe I'll be that person who takes the photos one day ;).
Monday night, we went out on the Nomad's Bar Crawl, Tramp, tacky, and/or bad taste themed. Out of 130 people, Ann and I were the only ones who dressed up, but what ev's, we had a ball, especially with our new friends, Myles and Danielle, his travel buddy, also from England. They're so much fun, and they're going to be in Sydney when we are, so we'll definitely meet up then too! We went to five bars, and inbetween our 3rd and 4th one, they had a contest, 2 for 1 bungee, and the winner was the first person into the lake from the start of the pier, clothes optional. The girls, or rather girl, that girl being me :D, had a sooner starting line than the boys, and I made it to the railing first, but slowed down. A few boys jumped in, before I said "Ah fuck it!" and jumped in anyways. That water was COLD AS. I ran back to the hostel to change before heading to the next bar and carrying on with the evening, which was grand! Called 'er a night around 3 am, happy with the night's random and awesome and drunken string of events.
Ann and I grabbed a coffee and some free wifi at Patagonia Chocolates (I'm such a caffiene addict...), and browsed the local crafts market that was on while we waited to get into our room. We had a Fergburger for lunch, which if you haven't heard of it, it's simply the best burger. In the world. Everything about it is perfect, and it's not just a meal, it's an experience.
First off, the thing is massive, and the bun is everything a hamburger bun should be- fresh, toasted but still soft, and tasty. Then, depending which Fergburger you ordered (there's quite a range, from the classic 'Fergburger' to the 'Tropical Swine' to the 'Big Al'), the fillings they put in are spot on; the lettuce is proper and crisp burger lettuce, the tomatoes are juicy, the cheese is melted to just the right degree. The garlic (?) mayo (called aioli here) and their special sauce do nothing but compliment the features and the main star of the whole show: the patty. This isn't any pathetic Macka's (McDonalds) hunk of mystery meat, this is the epitome of a fast food patty, if you could even class Fergburger as fastfood; it's real ground beef, seasoned just right, and prepared fresh each day. Aside from the burger, the staff jovially bounce along to the cool alt-techno-pop-dance tunes blasting just over the din of the crowd gathered (there's always been one every time I've walked past and enjoyed a burger), a perfectly oiled machine of team work that keeps this essential Queenstown experience going. Simply put, if you come to New Zealand, you have to come to QT, and you've got to have a Fergburger, you would have a very lame experience if you didn't.
Saturday night saw us out on the Big Night Out pub crawl (I love how organized these things are here, prizes, bands, "free" drinks and pizza!). We took one of our new roomies, Myles from England, out with us, and boy did we have a great time! He's a real sport, and we danced and laughed and made fun of eachother, eventually getting Fergburger for our late-night-drunken-munchies. We headed back to the hostel at 3, played pool (I lost), and then PTFO'd. Sunday was nice and relaxed, we got ice cream, sat on the beach, skipped stones, booked bungee and skydiving (!), went for a hike and played EXTREME SKINNY, SKINNY, WAKA at the top. In general, just hung out for the day and night, settling down for a Kill Bill marathon in the evening.
Monday was the skydiving. I wasn't terrified at all, in fact, I was just P-U-M-P-ED the entire time! We had to wait ages (we booked the 2 o'clock jump, didn't end up jumping until after 4:30), but man was it worth it! I opted for the photo and DVD package, which I know is a money grab, but whatevs, pretty worth it I think. It was an absolute beaut' of a day, not a cloud in the sky, sun glinting off the lake, completely picture perfect scenery to look at on the ascent to the heavens. I was laughing and smiling, so excited to jump out of the plane at 15 000 feet. I will admit, though, I did get nervous when the door slid open and I wrapped my legs under the edge- you have to make yourself like a banana- "Am I ACTYULLY going to jump out of this plane?" I thought before one rock, two rock, four rock and we were out! Your mind doesn't quite know what's going on for the first 3 seconds after jumping out of the plane, or rather being pushed out by your tandem guy. [Handsome] Greg was my tandem instructor. It's so surreal, being up in the air watching the earth race towards you in slow motion. I know that's a paradox, but that's really how the 65 seconds of freefall felt! When the parachute went up, it yanks up upwards, the harness wrenched up so that part of it was, er, obstructing my inspir-and-expiration. That's what happens when you are on the smaller side of human height, and your tandem is on the other I suppose. It was fine though, Greg pushed it down so that it wasn't choking me so much, and I enjoyed the cruise down to the landing site; Greg wheeled us in tight circles, I stuck out my arms like a bird, simply reveling in the experience. Touching our bums down, or rather sliding, left me with an amazing feeling, it was just awesome. Definitely in the Top 5 Best Experiences of My Life, probably in the Top 3. I know I'm going to have to go again, it was over all to quickly. Skydiving is defiitely going to be a thing of repetition for me! Good thing I work in mining :P... Though who knows, maybe I'll be that person who takes the photos one day ;).
Monday night, we went out on the Nomad's Bar Crawl, Tramp, tacky, and/or bad taste themed. Out of 130 people, Ann and I were the only ones who dressed up, but what ev's, we had a ball, especially with our new friends, Myles and Danielle, his travel buddy, also from England. They're so much fun, and they're going to be in Sydney when we are, so we'll definitely meet up then too! We went to five bars, and inbetween our 3rd and 4th one, they had a contest, 2 for 1 bungee, and the winner was the first person into the lake from the start of the pier, clothes optional. The girls, or rather girl, that girl being me :D, had a sooner starting line than the boys, and I made it to the railing first, but slowed down. A few boys jumped in, before I said "Ah fuck it!" and jumped in anyways. That water was COLD AS. I ran back to the hostel to change before heading to the next bar and carrying on with the evening, which was grand! Called 'er a night around 3 am, happy with the night's random and awesome and drunken string of events.
Headed South
We have made it to the South Island! Albiet a bit later than we intended to, but I'll admit I am rather pleased with how things have turned out. The ferry ride over was a bit of an ordeal- I lost my adaptor, bought a new one, lost it in the hour it took to walk to the train station, buy groceries, and get to the ferry terminal >.<, not to mention our 2 o'clock sailing was cancelled and we were put on the 6 o'clock [read: 7 o'clock because the Interislander is apparently always late...] crossing, which of course they inform us of at the 'reasonable' hour of 8:30 am (pfft, when you're a backpacker, the day doesn't really start until 10:00am, 12 if you went out the night before; everday is a weekend!). The point is, we did make it to Picton, around 11pm, and us, being the seat-of-our-pants travellers that we are, of course didn't have a hostel booked or nothing. I was expecting, and rather hoping, to just pitch a tent on any available stretch of grass, but the nice shuttle lady ensured we had a hostel room for the night, a 6 bed dorm all to ourselves!, by calling the nice hostel lady to let us in. Picton's a small town, it actually quite reminded me of Smithers, very quaint, very nice, and when I come back to NZ, I will be sure to spend some time there!
We ventured forth in the morning for internet before catching our train, the Tranz Coastal, to Christchurch at 1:30. What a train journey! You have the Kaikoura Range on one side, and the sea on the other! Unfortunately for us, our train ran over a sheep (or a large rock, but a sheep sounds cooler, and really, how the hell would a big rock end up on the tracks? There was a large thud! in any case), so we had to stop for about half an hour/forty five minutes while they took out the broken down carriage (an air hose was broken on the brakes apparently). After that it was smooth sailing- I really do love train journeys, plus Ann let me play the happy photographer with her camera- until our arrival in Christchurch. We saw some of the devestation of the February earthquake- their still in the process of taking down unstable buildings, mostly old, architecturally interesting churches and the like. In fact, one nice man, who was helping us get to the grocery store, was a bit frustrated with the whole process as he had been transferred down from Wellington to help rebuild the roads and since his arrival four days previous, had done literally nothing as his boss wasn't the most, er, go-getter of types. It's too bad, really. All in all, it was pretty staggering to see that kind of destruction; buildings, half torn apart, their innards just there, for the world to see, not sure if it's from the earthquake or the cranes standing still beside them. The whole Central Business District is cordoned and fenced off, which of course, there are no signs saying what street is a closed off/a dead end >.<.
We left ChCh, as I've seen it referred to, on the Tranz Alpine train, "One of the Greatest Train Journeys of the World", on the Saturday. It's not hard to see why it's called this, really; the scenery takes a dramatic and simply breathtaking turn as you move westward across the South Island to Greymouth. It is a lot like BC here, with the snow capped peaks and that, but it just doesn't seem real, it seems like a card board cut out. The mountains rise sometimes like jagged teeth, at others like an oblong pregnant woman's belly, from the idyllic river valleys, sometimes from canyons carved out over the aeons. You can't help but feel small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, a great reminder that you are, in fact, still a mere mortal with an expiry date. It's refreshing. Unfortunately Ann's camera had died, probably from my overenthusiasm of the previous rail trip, so I took mine out. It's not that it doesn't take good pictures or anything like that, it's just slow, and by the time you've turned it on and gotten the settings set up, your photo-op has already raced by. Ah well, it's shock proof, water proof, dust proof, cold proof, and best of all, BEER proof! We got to Greymouth around 1:30pm, and fortunately caught a free shuttle to our hostel, Noah's Ark. The rooms were animal themed (not surprisingly), we got the sheep room, and after perusing the interwebs on our complimentary data (I <3 free internet!), we met up with a couple Canadian boys from back home that Ann knew. Well really, they're from Haida-Gwaii, but it's all the same when you're that close, relatively speaking. We enjoyed a good tea, and contemplated doing some karioki that night, instead opting to play a Kiwi game called "Skinny, Skinny, Waka" and have a jam session. Basically you roll 3 beer caps in your hand, calling out what you think it's going to be, Skinny standing for the S on a Steinlager cap (writing up), and waka being the Maori word for canoe, so cap upside down. You have to call it exactly, or else you have to drink. It was a good night, with many laughs, and we called 'er around 2am, after I spun some fire poi that one of the guys had- WICKED!
Ann and I left Greymouth the next day, intending to, gasp!, hitch hike to Franz Josef, a town about 180kms south. I know you wont be thrilled to hear that, Mom and Dad, but it did work out okay :). We started walking from the town center around 10:30am, down the highway to get to a good hitch hiking place. We then came up with the insane idea to just walk the 40kms to the next town. Normally, with out the ~80lbs of gear and food between us, not a big deal, but oi, that was a mission and a half! We stopped for lunch around 1:30 at a bus shelter just outside city limits, I'm guessing we walked around 4-5kms, then resumed our march. Shortly afterwards, we stuck out our thumbs and it wasn't long, relatively speaking, before a nice elderly couple stopped and gave us a ride to the Kumara Junction, probably about 15kms down the road. We walked another kilometer after that, probably, before taking a rest (hey the sun was out), and waved at all the drivers passing by before a young Aussie couple stopped and took us all the way to Franz Josef, luckily where they just so happened to be going. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I won't ever hitch by myself, but it just goes to show that it can be okay to do so if you've got a buddy!
We had thought we were going to go for a glacial hike, but it was a bit steep and really, we can go up Hudson's Bay if we reaaaaally want to walk on a glacier, so we took the bus to Wanaka the next morning, Monday. Wanaka was really quite nice, we ended up staying there until Friday. Situated right on Lake Wanaka, this pretty little town is very relaxed and easy going, with a quaint little street that quite reminds me of Main Street. I will say I was taken a bit aback upon walking into the book store to see Christmas garland and bobbles bedecking the ceiling on the bright, sunny, and green day. We did a kayak and a hike and went to Puzzling World over the course of the four days we were there, Puzzling World was very enjoyable, there was a big maze and optical illusions rooms, and tables with puzzle games on them- all in all, a great way to spend a very sunny and hot afternoon (unfortunately I got a wee bit of heat exhaustion).
From Wanaka, we went to Cardrona for a night- Ann has a friend in Canada who's parents own a resort there, so we got a good deal on a really nice room for the night. In the morning, we packed all our stuff out to the road and stuck out our thumbs, once again, and after only 5-10 minutes, got a ride with a nice lady and her young daughter to... Queenstown!!!
We ventured forth in the morning for internet before catching our train, the Tranz Coastal, to Christchurch at 1:30. What a train journey! You have the Kaikoura Range on one side, and the sea on the other! Unfortunately for us, our train ran over a sheep (or a large rock, but a sheep sounds cooler, and really, how the hell would a big rock end up on the tracks? There was a large thud! in any case), so we had to stop for about half an hour/forty five minutes while they took out the broken down carriage (an air hose was broken on the brakes apparently). After that it was smooth sailing- I really do love train journeys, plus Ann let me play the happy photographer with her camera- until our arrival in Christchurch. We saw some of the devestation of the February earthquake- their still in the process of taking down unstable buildings, mostly old, architecturally interesting churches and the like. In fact, one nice man, who was helping us get to the grocery store, was a bit frustrated with the whole process as he had been transferred down from Wellington to help rebuild the roads and since his arrival four days previous, had done literally nothing as his boss wasn't the most, er, go-getter of types. It's too bad, really. All in all, it was pretty staggering to see that kind of destruction; buildings, half torn apart, their innards just there, for the world to see, not sure if it's from the earthquake or the cranes standing still beside them. The whole Central Business District is cordoned and fenced off, which of course, there are no signs saying what street is a closed off/a dead end >.<.
We left ChCh, as I've seen it referred to, on the Tranz Alpine train, "One of the Greatest Train Journeys of the World", on the Saturday. It's not hard to see why it's called this, really; the scenery takes a dramatic and simply breathtaking turn as you move westward across the South Island to Greymouth. It is a lot like BC here, with the snow capped peaks and that, but it just doesn't seem real, it seems like a card board cut out. The mountains rise sometimes like jagged teeth, at others like an oblong pregnant woman's belly, from the idyllic river valleys, sometimes from canyons carved out over the aeons. You can't help but feel small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, a great reminder that you are, in fact, still a mere mortal with an expiry date. It's refreshing. Unfortunately Ann's camera had died, probably from my overenthusiasm of the previous rail trip, so I took mine out. It's not that it doesn't take good pictures or anything like that, it's just slow, and by the time you've turned it on and gotten the settings set up, your photo-op has already raced by. Ah well, it's shock proof, water proof, dust proof, cold proof, and best of all, BEER proof! We got to Greymouth around 1:30pm, and fortunately caught a free shuttle to our hostel, Noah's Ark. The rooms were animal themed (not surprisingly), we got the sheep room, and after perusing the interwebs on our complimentary data (I <3 free internet!), we met up with a couple Canadian boys from back home that Ann knew. Well really, they're from Haida-Gwaii, but it's all the same when you're that close, relatively speaking. We enjoyed a good tea, and contemplated doing some karioki that night, instead opting to play a Kiwi game called "Skinny, Skinny, Waka" and have a jam session. Basically you roll 3 beer caps in your hand, calling out what you think it's going to be, Skinny standing for the S on a Steinlager cap (writing up), and waka being the Maori word for canoe, so cap upside down. You have to call it exactly, or else you have to drink. It was a good night, with many laughs, and we called 'er around 2am, after I spun some fire poi that one of the guys had- WICKED!
Ann and I left Greymouth the next day, intending to, gasp!, hitch hike to Franz Josef, a town about 180kms south. I know you wont be thrilled to hear that, Mom and Dad, but it did work out okay :). We started walking from the town center around 10:30am, down the highway to get to a good hitch hiking place. We then came up with the insane idea to just walk the 40kms to the next town. Normally, with out the ~80lbs of gear and food between us, not a big deal, but oi, that was a mission and a half! We stopped for lunch around 1:30 at a bus shelter just outside city limits, I'm guessing we walked around 4-5kms, then resumed our march. Shortly afterwards, we stuck out our thumbs and it wasn't long, relatively speaking, before a nice elderly couple stopped and gave us a ride to the Kumara Junction, probably about 15kms down the road. We walked another kilometer after that, probably, before taking a rest (hey the sun was out), and waved at all the drivers passing by before a young Aussie couple stopped and took us all the way to Franz Josef, luckily where they just so happened to be going. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I won't ever hitch by myself, but it just goes to show that it can be okay to do so if you've got a buddy!
We had thought we were going to go for a glacial hike, but it was a bit steep and really, we can go up Hudson's Bay if we reaaaaally want to walk on a glacier, so we took the bus to Wanaka the next morning, Monday. Wanaka was really quite nice, we ended up staying there until Friday. Situated right on Lake Wanaka, this pretty little town is very relaxed and easy going, with a quaint little street that quite reminds me of Main Street. I will say I was taken a bit aback upon walking into the book store to see Christmas garland and bobbles bedecking the ceiling on the bright, sunny, and green day. We did a kayak and a hike and went to Puzzling World over the course of the four days we were there, Puzzling World was very enjoyable, there was a big maze and optical illusions rooms, and tables with puzzle games on them- all in all, a great way to spend a very sunny and hot afternoon (unfortunately I got a wee bit of heat exhaustion).
From Wanaka, we went to Cardrona for a night- Ann has a friend in Canada who's parents own a resort there, so we got a good deal on a really nice room for the night. In the morning, we packed all our stuff out to the road and stuck out our thumbs, once again, and after only 5-10 minutes, got a ride with a nice lady and her young daughter to... Queenstown!!!
Tuesday 1 November 2011
Auckland, Cape Reinga, Paihia, The Final, and Beyond
Well the last two weeks have been busy, busy, busy! Also, I am going to be much less detailed in my posts as something Jim said to me really hit home: By putting my stories up on the internet for you, I'm letting you know what's going on, but then I won't have any stories to tell when I get back because you'll already know them all...
Anywho, so after Jim and Marcia's for that one night, we were off to Auckland to stay with Keri Dias, a girl from Smithers who now lives here. That night we went on an international pub crawl, 4 bars, 4 drinks, for $10. It was a lot of fun and quite the way to break Auckland in; there were games they put on, much drinking and dancing, and in the group of us that went, we had a bucket list for the night that involved things like getting peoples' numbers and writing them on our bodies or getting drinks bought for you. I, in true Cavallin fashion, crossed off quite a few of the tasks, and I am pretty sure I won! Not surprisingly, we spent Friday hungover.
Saturday was the first Semi Final, between France and Wales. Ann and I painted our faces, or rather I painted our faces, saying WALES across our cheeks, each letter in the colour of the Welsh flag. I shall just say there's always a problem when you paint your face looking into a mirror... The atmosphere on the way to the match was good, though during was a bit boring as our section wasn't very cheery, and they stopped selling beer at 10:30, wtf?! That's okay, I got a yummy hamburger and took many ketchups and some tartar sauce from the canteen. Hey, I'm a backpacker, and it was free. Plus the lady at the till thought it was hilarious. The Welsh unfortunately didn't pull through, but ah well, can't do much for that, stupid French, you can blame 'em for everything! :P
Afterwards, we went out with Terrence, an Irishman we met in Raglan, and a met up with a bunch of other Raglan people at this bar called Degree. It was pretty happening, so we stayed there for the entire night, Ann calling 'er a night earlier than I (who knew I was such a party animal?), and me eventually sneaking away with this hombres awesome tophat! It's black with a white fern, but it's a legitimate fabric tophat. Score! There was a group of dudes dressed in black jackets and these hats, most of them super wasted, so I used my ninja skills and got it off one of the guys, who then found another one by the end of the night, so I just kept it. They probably brought extras because they're such legit kit, you could never have too many AB hats! I ended my night around 5am that night, and basically spent all of Sunday in bed/being a bum before heading down to the Fanzone at Cooks Wharf to watch the AB-Australia semi around 7ish. It filled up by 8, the game started at 9; it was pretty packed. It was amazing when the All Blacks scored, EVERYBODY jumped up and started screaming/cheering and hugging and high fiving. Ann and I went out afterwards, back to Degree, but it was wayyy too crowded, so we decided to make the ridiculously long walk to the Ponsonby district to meet up with our Wellington friend, Michael, and his brother. It took us about an hour, we both considered going back, but stuck it out, which was good because it was a reletively decent night. The bar was cool, good vibe, and the drinks good and legitimately made; none of this shot of x, press the button for the mix crap; the bartender took lemon, mashed it with a pestal in the glass, added ice, then shot, then mix, then sugar (?), then garnish and straw. Legit.
Monday saw us meet up with Terrence, whom had decided he also wanted to head up to Northland and Bay of Islands to scuba dive, so we rented a car, Irma. Oh man, driving on the left side of the road is a bit of a headache, honestly I felt like I was learning to drive all over again! Basically, I'd try to turn on the turn signal, but instead would get the windshield wiper! At least the gas pedal was on the same side as back home... Terrence knew i was a bit nervous of driving, so he drove us all the way to Paihia, which was a super windy drive. I'm just going to say it because it has to be said, but their road engineers are terrible over here! Also, their speed limits are ridiculous! They change very frequently, so as soon as you've sped up, you have to slow down, and then as soon as you slow down, you have to speed up -_-. Eugh!
Anywho, so we got up to Paihia, a super nice and chilled out town for the week. On Tuesday, we went up to Cape Reinga, the northernmost point in New Zealand. It's quite beautiful with the lighthouse and you can see where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean merge, although I honestly thought the wind was going to blow me away! Pictures are on their way, although Ann has posted some on her Facebook. After we had our fill of the Cape, we went sandboarding on this massive dune! 90 Mile Beach was somewhere in the vicinity, which is actually only about 70 miles long and famous for it's sand dunes, but we never got there. It was a bit of a hike to the top of the dune, this thing was huuuge! And at the top, it was a bit gulp!-enducing. My first run was hilarious, I ended up falling off the boogie board about halfway down and rolled, rather ungracefully (my MO, it seems), all the way to the bottom. It was fun, and funny to watch I'm sure, sand got EVERYWHERE- my mouth, ears, eyes, nose etc.- but I got up and did another run, albiet slowing myself down with my feet quite a bit. We called 'er a day soon after, and barely made it back to civilization as poor Irma was running on fumes, but thankfully we were able to eek it to a gas station, and back to Paihia.
Wednesday, Ann and I just hung out in Paihia, poked around a local market that had been set up for the cruise ship patrons that were in town for the day and explored. That night, we went out for dinner for the first time, aside from buying drunk McDonalds or what have you, to a rib place. Yum! Of course, not as good as home, but it was such a good meal: a big plate of ribs, a platter of assorted finger foods ie. kebabs, battered fish, wings, samosas, two drinks each, dessert, and a glass of port (ooo la de dah! :p). Talk about thoroughly satisfied! Thursday, Ann and I took a boat tour around the Bay of Islands, over the course of which we learned some of the history of the area- it's where white man first established a colony, where NZ's first capital was, and the first white man was born in NZ. We got to see dolphins, so cool!, and the Hole in the Rock, which is a tunnel through an island that's the last bit of land before the Pacific Ocean. That was neat, we also saw some interesting lava flows- straight up and down- which got me thinking about rocks, damn you geology! That night, Ann and I made a large pot of sangria, which I more or less drank half of, and as a result, was rather witty and hilarious; "As a backpacker, sangria kills two birds with one stone: you get drunk, and you don't get scurvy!" We went out to a sports bar for karioki and rocked the house down! The next morning, however, I did not feel like such a rockstar...
We had planned to go see the Kaori Forest and the Father of the Forest, the oldest tree in NZ, approximately 120km away in the morning, but didn't really get on the road until about 1. It was a great day for a drive, even if the roads are super windy and annoying to drive on. As it turns out, we couldn't find it. The forest wasn't very well marked, there might have been two of them or something, and we wanted to be back to watch the bronze final at 8/8:30, so we said "Screw it!" and drove back to Paihia, stopping for 1/2 an hour at some natural hot pools, perfect for my tired little body. We watched the game at a bar across the street, then headed to bed for an earlyish start the next morning to get back to Auckland.
Saturday night was tame, didn't go out in preparation for Sunday night and the Rugby World Cup 2011 Final, which was INTENSE! I seriously considered splurging for a ticket, but thought the better of it thankfully, and predrank at Keri's- I am the facepainting master, apparently- then went to a fanzone down the street. It was the most amazing thing when NZ scored, EVERYBODY got up screaming and shouting and hugging. The last ten minutes were so incredibly quiet and tense, but oh man, when the end whistle blew, to see the tears of joy down some Kiwi's faces and the general jovial atmosphere, the cheering, hooting, hollernig, "ALLLLLLL BLAAAAAAACKS!", high fives, smiles, laughter, everything, it was AMAZING. Of course, we went out and got liquored, had a great time, stayed out 'til the cows came home, and were super tired and hungover, but happy, the next day.
We had thought to leave on Monday, but that didn't happen due to our state, and so spent the night in Auckland again [partying], this time on a yacht, as one of Ann's hostel roomies from Wellington had made some sweet as connections the week before! First time I've ever been on a boat like that, man it was cool! I wished we could have sailed it, but then that was probably not the greatest of ideas. Tuesday, we got out of Auckland and headed to Rotorua. Once there I discovered I had left my wallet at Keri's house (damnit!), but thankfully I still had my passport and a decent amount of cash. Wednesday saw us go ZORBing, which is basically rolling down a hill in a hamster ball, adding water to the mix if you like. Only a Kiwi would think of such a thing! On top of being so much fun, it was a bit special to me because in departures, thebesttvshowintheworldthatIcouldgoonforeverandeverandeverabout, they go ZORBing at the same place. On Thursday, we went to a place called Paradise Valley, which is a nature reserve, only slightly more bad ass because there are [native New Zealand] lions there! Ha who ever would have thought that my first encounter with the large cats would be in NZ? We got to pet the cubs, and then watch the adult ones feed- their roar is scary, and super loud! That night, we went to a hangi (Maori feast, where food is cooked in the ground) and Maori concert. The food was delicious, I loooove mussles!, though because of a gas leak we weren't able to see the hangi :(. There were a bunch of people at our table, a few from OZ, a couple from Spain on their honeymoon, and a British guy. We had good conversation and a few laughs during dinner. The concert was cool, they had such beautiful voices, and they did poi and at one point, got some ladies up to try it, and some men up to haka. After, it was back to the hostel to get our stuff as Ann was headed to Taupo (toe-poe) and I, back to Auckland to grab my wallet and some other stuff we had forgotten.
Friday was a long, long, looooong day, spent mostly on the bus. I left Rotorua at 8:30 am, got into Auckland at 12:15, caught a cab to Keri's to grab my stuff, and was back on the 12:45 bus to Taupo, which arrived at 5:45. -_-. I slept much of the way, but of course, it's never a restful sleep on a bus, so I was pretty blah for the rest of the night. The next day, with two other people from our hostel, we went sailing! I got to get a bit hands on, hoisting a sail and helping to jibe (move the back sail from one side to the other), and even manning the helm for a bit! It pretty much confirmed to me that I definitely want to get more experience on a sailboat. We sailed out to this big Maori carving which is actually only 30 years old, a gift to the people of Taupo from two Maori brothers. It's a beautiful piece of art. After, we went to Burger Fuel, an amazing burger joint, for some post-sailing munchies, then back to the hostel to hangout, playing two games of RISK (which me, being a ninja, I totally kicked ass at!) inturrupted by a very difficult game of Trivial Pursuit- the Canadian version is hard enough, but the New Zealand version?! It's tough. After I conquered most of the world, but alas due to Mission Cards didn't secure the win, we called 'er a night, Ann and I planning on catching the bus back to Wellington so we can get to the South Island ASAP!
Thursday 13 October 2011
Surfing in the R-A of GLAN (Raglan)
We got up around 8ish, to be ready for our shuttle with Bill, and needless to say, I was hung over. We packed up our stuff, and were on our way by 9:30, although perhaps due to my poor state of mind, I had forgotten to grab our loaf of delicious bread and tea that we had bought. Mer :(. Oh well. We were on the bus to Hamilton, only about an hour, around 10:20, then hung out in the bus depot until about 3:30 or 4 to catch transit out to Raglan, a super laid back surfing town about an hour away.
We got off the bus, and I was disoriented as all get out; I wasn't able to orient myself on the map or anything, but luckily it's so small, and we're so smart, we asked for directions et voila! We checked into the hostel, and for only a dollar more than an 8 bed dorm, we got into a 3 bed! Our next mission was food, so I cooked pasta while Ann went to the store and bought bread and wine (did I mention you can buy beer and wine in the supermarkets?!). Pasta a la Watties is what it is, we chuckled with an Englishman who was eating something similar, but it fills the hole. Then we just hung out. It's a cosy, quaint hostle, everything is centered around a courtyard with a hot tub (in kiwi: spa) and sauna- free to use!- a small lawn with flower beds and a big table. Hammocks are strung up between posts too. Chill night :).
The next day, Ann and I paid $25 each and we rented surf boards and wet suits for four hours. The front desk guy gave us a five minute low-down on surfing, which I mostly remembered when we were out on the water, then we drove (well the English fellow from the night before drove) down to the beach. Thankfully the wet suits were dry this time around, though its always a struggle to get them on it seems. We headed down a hill to the beach, which I correctly predicted I would hate walking up on the way back, figured out a meeting place, then strapped on our leashes and headed out into the surf.
The first wave Ann and I caught, well body boarded, was so much fun! After that it was the huge and lasting challenge of trying to stand up. I was able to get onto my knees okay, but trying to get my feet in the right positions was hard! I'll admit I thought it would be easier because of all the snowboarding I've done, but I suppose you have to be standing up on the board in order for that to be true. I think I was able to get about a second of standing time in the whole 2 1/2 hours we were in the water for- it's a very defeating excercise (also addicting), to try and try and try again so you have to know when to just call it quits.
Back at the hostel, we sat in the spa for twenty minutes: so glorious! Then we played some touch rugby on a field about a five minute walk away. I didn't play the greatest, but I can sure tell I am not as tenacious as I used to be due to my knee. I'm constantly worried about buggering it again (the grass was slippery), but I still really want to play... I know it would be stupidity to play again, but still... I suspect the saying "Those who can't play coach" might come into play at some point.
Anywho, after that, while all of you back home were enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner, I barbequed steak for the first time. One thing that you have to make due with as a backpacking hobo, I'm finding, is that you just don't have the same spice collection you do as at home. I minced garlic and luckily the hostel had salt for use, but no pepper. Ah well. There just so happened to be a chef cooking at the same time as us, so he gave me a few pointers, and to the 'que I went, fearless, returning triumphant! Steak and salad, and beer (I drank half of my 12 pack that night), for dinner, then just more hanging out with people. I started talking to this nice Irish fellow, Terrence, then we moved outside to the courtyard and table, and we met a German guy, and the three of us had a nice chat. Apparently I am accentless, I don't sound Canadian (Terrence thought I was Scottish when he first heard me talk :S) or American or European or Kiwi/Aussie. We had to move inside after 10pm though because that's quiet time, which turned into a hilarious event of trying to play UNO, but we've all different rules, and we were all a bit smashed. Ann and I called 'er around midnight because the next day we were going to take a bone carving workshop!
This was a very neat, hands on activity I am so happy we did, and lucky us, it was just us two! The guy leading the workshop is a master carver, and probably considered one of NZ's best; his work is displayed in both Wellington's and Auckland's museums. There were 8 designs, already cut out of the [bovine] bone, we could choose from, and both Ann and I chose the symbol representing new beginnings and continuity of life. It's a spiral with the tail connecting to it. We had to file the edges round, which is actually pretty tricky in the inner parts (I broke the tip off my file), then we sanded it with a few different grains of sand paper, and Rangi put some Maori designs of waves, again with the continuity theme, in it with his micro sander. We polished them once more with sand paper, and then attached them to black plaited cords. The neat thing about them is that to give them a shine, you rub it on your face for the oils. We finished up just before one, and then we returned to the hostel to wait for Jim and Marcia Bowater, Uncle Chris's friends, to pick us up to take us to stay with them for the night, which is about an hour south-east of Auckland.
We got off the bus, and I was disoriented as all get out; I wasn't able to orient myself on the map or anything, but luckily it's so small, and we're so smart, we asked for directions et voila! We checked into the hostel, and for only a dollar more than an 8 bed dorm, we got into a 3 bed! Our next mission was food, so I cooked pasta while Ann went to the store and bought bread and wine (did I mention you can buy beer and wine in the supermarkets?!). Pasta a la Watties is what it is, we chuckled with an Englishman who was eating something similar, but it fills the hole. Then we just hung out. It's a cosy, quaint hostle, everything is centered around a courtyard with a hot tub (in kiwi: spa) and sauna- free to use!- a small lawn with flower beds and a big table. Hammocks are strung up between posts too. Chill night :).
The next day, Ann and I paid $25 each and we rented surf boards and wet suits for four hours. The front desk guy gave us a five minute low-down on surfing, which I mostly remembered when we were out on the water, then we drove (well the English fellow from the night before drove) down to the beach. Thankfully the wet suits were dry this time around, though its always a struggle to get them on it seems. We headed down a hill to the beach, which I correctly predicted I would hate walking up on the way back, figured out a meeting place, then strapped on our leashes and headed out into the surf.
The first wave Ann and I caught, well body boarded, was so much fun! After that it was the huge and lasting challenge of trying to stand up. I was able to get onto my knees okay, but trying to get my feet in the right positions was hard! I'll admit I thought it would be easier because of all the snowboarding I've done, but I suppose you have to be standing up on the board in order for that to be true. I think I was able to get about a second of standing time in the whole 2 1/2 hours we were in the water for- it's a very defeating excercise (also addicting), to try and try and try again so you have to know when to just call it quits.
Back at the hostel, we sat in the spa for twenty minutes: so glorious! Then we played some touch rugby on a field about a five minute walk away. I didn't play the greatest, but I can sure tell I am not as tenacious as I used to be due to my knee. I'm constantly worried about buggering it again (the grass was slippery), but I still really want to play... I know it would be stupidity to play again, but still... I suspect the saying "Those who can't play coach" might come into play at some point.
Anywho, after that, while all of you back home were enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner, I barbequed steak for the first time. One thing that you have to make due with as a backpacking hobo, I'm finding, is that you just don't have the same spice collection you do as at home. I minced garlic and luckily the hostel had salt for use, but no pepper. Ah well. There just so happened to be a chef cooking at the same time as us, so he gave me a few pointers, and to the 'que I went, fearless, returning triumphant! Steak and salad, and beer (I drank half of my 12 pack that night), for dinner, then just more hanging out with people. I started talking to this nice Irish fellow, Terrence, then we moved outside to the courtyard and table, and we met a German guy, and the three of us had a nice chat. Apparently I am accentless, I don't sound Canadian (Terrence thought I was Scottish when he first heard me talk :S) or American or European or Kiwi/Aussie. We had to move inside after 10pm though because that's quiet time, which turned into a hilarious event of trying to play UNO, but we've all different rules, and we were all a bit smashed. Ann and I called 'er around midnight because the next day we were going to take a bone carving workshop!
This was a very neat, hands on activity I am so happy we did, and lucky us, it was just us two! The guy leading the workshop is a master carver, and probably considered one of NZ's best; his work is displayed in both Wellington's and Auckland's museums. There were 8 designs, already cut out of the [bovine] bone, we could choose from, and both Ann and I chose the symbol representing new beginnings and continuity of life. It's a spiral with the tail connecting to it. We had to file the edges round, which is actually pretty tricky in the inner parts (I broke the tip off my file), then we sanded it with a few different grains of sand paper, and Rangi put some Maori designs of waves, again with the continuity theme, in it with his micro sander. We polished them once more with sand paper, and then attached them to black plaited cords. The neat thing about them is that to give them a shine, you rub it on your face for the oils. We finished up just before one, and then we returned to the hostel to wait for Jim and Marcia Bowater, Uncle Chris's friends, to pick us up to take us to stay with them for the night, which is about an hour south-east of Auckland.
Into the Black Abyss
We left Phillip's house early on Saturday morning to take the 7:15 bus to Otorohanga, a small town about ten minutes away from Waitomo. As there is no grocery store in the Villiage of Waitomo, we stocked up on supplies (which are going to last us a while!) before heading out. The bus doesn't go to Waitomo, which is about 10kms from the highway, so we had organized a shuttle earlier in New Plymouth. Our driver's name was Bill, an oldish fellow who was full of commentary on the area as we drove out to Waitomo [why-toe-moh]. Free tour!
Bill took us into the villiage before dropping us off at our hostel for the next two evenings, Juno Hall Backpackers, which is about 1km outside the villiage. It's a small place, though because they get about 600 000 visitors a year, including (apparently) the likes of Katy Perry, Snoop Dog, and Bob Marley, there is some pretty well developed infrastructure ie. a few hotels, a general store, a couple bars.
We got settled in, mainly getting our tents set up and everything important put in The Box (behind the reception desk, it gets locked) before heading down the drive and across the road for our cave tours. Online, we had booked a tour for each of the caves that are operated by the Blackwater Rafting Co. plus a meal afterwards, though when we showed up, the ladies at reception did what they do, and switched our tours around because I guess the one we were supposed to start off on was full? Anywho, so we hopped in the shuttle and we were dropped off at the start of Riakuri, meaning Den of Dogs, and walked down a very cool, forested path to the first cave we toured, called Aruini, named after the Maori who discovered it I believe. It was a big cave, some neat limestone formations, but other than that not really too exciting. After, we walked back up the path to Riakuri and waited for about 45 minutes for the start of the next tour, singing and being ninjas while we waited (moreso I than Ann).
Ruakuri was a neat cave, it went for a long way, and the tour lasted for about an hour and forty five minutes. We saw a few glow worms, some fossils, and more limestone formations. I was pretty hungry when we were done, as was Ann, but we still had our last tour, the Glow Worm cave, to finish. This was amazing. First we walked into the cave, learning some history and interesting geological features of the cave, then it we hopped in an alumminum boat and floated along the river, passing under a glow worm filled ceiling that pretty much just took my breath away. It's like star gazing, when you're eyes get so screwed up from looking at the tiny lights, but you just can't look away because it's so beautiful. Their light is an aquamarine-tealish kind of colour, which they use to attract insects into viscous strands of [poisonous, apparently] thread- you can certainly understand why the bugs would be drawn to them! After our tour was done, Ann and I headed up to the cafe to get our meal, which our stomachs were telling us they definitely needed, only to find it closed and that we had no way back to our hostel. We were lucky and one of the ladies in the gift shop gave us a ride back as she was done for the day and heading our way anyways.
We ate a half sandwhich and made pasta a la Watties, which again didn't disappoint, drank wine and watched the Wales-Ireland and half of the France-England matches before crawling into our tents and getting a good sleep (wishful thinking, damn rooster!) before our blackwater rafting adventure to be had the next day.
Blackwater rafting is probably the coolest adventure thing, probably the only adventure thing, I've ever done! It was a blast! Ann and I got to the reception/meeting point and had some extra time after we'd gotten our meal ticket organized (we were able to get it after all) and rafting waivers signed. I bought the SWEETEST T-SHIRT EVER from the gift shop. It's plain grey, but it says "80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection...Wanna Ruck?" Bahahaha! At first I thought there was only XXL's left, but Ann found a small for me :). Thanks Ann! Anywho, so our one guide, Jah (like jar but don't say the r) got our group together, and we went down to put on our boots, socks, wet suits, and jackets, all of which were wet, making the wet suit especially trying to get on. Suited up, and harnessed, we got a couple group photos taken, and our other guide, Matt, showed up. Everybody ready to go, we piled into a shuttle van and headed out to the start of our adventure!
Before we started the abseiling (rapelling), we were instructed on how to go down in a controlled fashion and practised going backwards down a hill, slow and fast and stopping. After that, we were good to go down the hole into the cave! They call it the Hourglass because you go through a narrow funnel and then it opens up again, like an hourglass. I was near the front of the line, but I was too nervous to go first; I wanted to see it done first. Jah was at the bottom whistling "Don't Worry, Be Happy", which was comforting I suppose. Ann went first, champ! I went second, and boy was that a long 37m down! I wasn't scared, it just took longer than I thought it would to get down to the bottom. We had to wait for everybody to get down which took about fifteen/twenty minutes, so we joined in with the whistling, which of course progressed to singing. Everybody there, we walked along a narrow walkway through a tunnel, spotting a few glow worms along the way, and stopped at the start of a Flying Fox (zipline) which disappeared into the dark. Eek! Waiting my turn was the worst part as of course the anxiety builds up and everybody before me was screaming Bloody Mary. I was buckled in and then away I went! "Jeronimo, jeronimo, jeronimo, POCHAHONTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!!" I screamed. I got some applaus and a laugh from Jah who had harnessed me in.
Once everybody got down, we had a break for some hot Milo (chocolate malt powder) and a granola-bar-square-thing, which was perfect timing! After, we all got an inner tube and had to jump in the COLD water (from facebook, you can see I was really not excited to do this), which of course for me, I hit the water and overbalanced in my tube or something and fell in completely :(. Ah well. We pulled ourselves along a rope up the river until we got to a part where there was a bunch of glow worms! We had to turn our head lamps off, though Ann's wouldn't shut off so she let go of the rope to figure it out, then I let go of the rope to help her, and away we drifted from the group, actually a bit of a way. It was funny, we found our way back, and then we were linked up feet-under-the-person's-in-front-of-us-arms to get back to where we had gotten the tubes from.
It was walking/swimming from here on in, mostly walking. We slid down a 'totally natural man-made slide' before we had a pee break; if you pee in a wet suit, it starts to stink, so we pretty much had to strip down to pee (soo worth it though!). Business taken care of, we embarked on the Drunken Stumble. The riverbed there is really uneven, so there's lots of stumbling, even falling, occuring for mere mortals, though because I am a ninja, I did fairly well :). We continued down the river until we took a sharp right hand turn, almost a u turn, up into a smaller passageway, where upon we came across a pool that had a 2 foot long eel in it! Jah started teasing it, and it bit him actually, so we got out of there ASAP, stopping when we arrived at a waterfall. The only way through was up, so up I went! I gladly went first, scrambling up the slick rocks like Gollum (it's the ninja skills), showing 'em how it's done, like a boss. Sidenote: Climbing in a wetsuit is kind of difficult! After that waterfall, it was only another twenty or so meters through a winding passage until another waterfall! Again, I shimmied up, and after walking probably another thrity five or so meters, we entered the light of day!
That evening, Ann and I walked into town to watch the second half of the Aussie-Bokke game (go Wallabies!) and then the NZ-Argentina game at the tavern, Curley's. They had a special on at their on-site liquor store ($15/6 pack), so Ann and I bought it and went and had one outside at this picnic table that was out of the way. There were some fellow Canadians doing the same thing, so we chatted with them before heading in to watch the game. Wallabies won! First half of NZ-Argentina: All Blacks not playing so good 1st half, Argentina putting pressure on them. To the picnic table for our last beer. Second half: Argentina still playing phenominally, but the All Blacks pull it together for the win.
Our guides had showed up for the start of the All Blacks game, so we mingled after. Ann wasn't feeling the night, so she went home around 11:30pm. Matt's friends were there, fun guys, had some laughs. They taught me what "doug-ey-ing" was (some dance from North America), laughed at me for not knowing what it was. Also got comments on my shirt, of course. The night was called around 1:30am, as that's when the bar closed, so I headed back to the hostel and crawled into my hovel.
Bill took us into the villiage before dropping us off at our hostel for the next two evenings, Juno Hall Backpackers, which is about 1km outside the villiage. It's a small place, though because they get about 600 000 visitors a year, including (apparently) the likes of Katy Perry, Snoop Dog, and Bob Marley, there is some pretty well developed infrastructure ie. a few hotels, a general store, a couple bars.
We got settled in, mainly getting our tents set up and everything important put in The Box (behind the reception desk, it gets locked) before heading down the drive and across the road for our cave tours. Online, we had booked a tour for each of the caves that are operated by the Blackwater Rafting Co. plus a meal afterwards, though when we showed up, the ladies at reception did what they do, and switched our tours around because I guess the one we were supposed to start off on was full? Anywho, so we hopped in the shuttle and we were dropped off at the start of Riakuri, meaning Den of Dogs, and walked down a very cool, forested path to the first cave we toured, called Aruini, named after the Maori who discovered it I believe. It was a big cave, some neat limestone formations, but other than that not really too exciting. After, we walked back up the path to Riakuri and waited for about 45 minutes for the start of the next tour, singing and being ninjas while we waited (moreso I than Ann).
Ruakuri was a neat cave, it went for a long way, and the tour lasted for about an hour and forty five minutes. We saw a few glow worms, some fossils, and more limestone formations. I was pretty hungry when we were done, as was Ann, but we still had our last tour, the Glow Worm cave, to finish. This was amazing. First we walked into the cave, learning some history and interesting geological features of the cave, then it we hopped in an alumminum boat and floated along the river, passing under a glow worm filled ceiling that pretty much just took my breath away. It's like star gazing, when you're eyes get so screwed up from looking at the tiny lights, but you just can't look away because it's so beautiful. Their light is an aquamarine-tealish kind of colour, which they use to attract insects into viscous strands of [poisonous, apparently] thread- you can certainly understand why the bugs would be drawn to them! After our tour was done, Ann and I headed up to the cafe to get our meal, which our stomachs were telling us they definitely needed, only to find it closed and that we had no way back to our hostel. We were lucky and one of the ladies in the gift shop gave us a ride back as she was done for the day and heading our way anyways.
We ate a half sandwhich and made pasta a la Watties, which again didn't disappoint, drank wine and watched the Wales-Ireland and half of the France-England matches before crawling into our tents and getting a good sleep (wishful thinking, damn rooster!) before our blackwater rafting adventure to be had the next day.
Blackwater rafting is probably the coolest adventure thing, probably the only adventure thing, I've ever done! It was a blast! Ann and I got to the reception/meeting point and had some extra time after we'd gotten our meal ticket organized (we were able to get it after all) and rafting waivers signed. I bought the SWEETEST T-SHIRT EVER from the gift shop. It's plain grey, but it says "80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection...Wanna Ruck?" Bahahaha! At first I thought there was only XXL's left, but Ann found a small for me :). Thanks Ann! Anywho, so our one guide, Jah (like jar but don't say the r) got our group together, and we went down to put on our boots, socks, wet suits, and jackets, all of which were wet, making the wet suit especially trying to get on. Suited up, and harnessed, we got a couple group photos taken, and our other guide, Matt, showed up. Everybody ready to go, we piled into a shuttle van and headed out to the start of our adventure!
Before we started the abseiling (rapelling), we were instructed on how to go down in a controlled fashion and practised going backwards down a hill, slow and fast and stopping. After that, we were good to go down the hole into the cave! They call it the Hourglass because you go through a narrow funnel and then it opens up again, like an hourglass. I was near the front of the line, but I was too nervous to go first; I wanted to see it done first. Jah was at the bottom whistling "Don't Worry, Be Happy", which was comforting I suppose. Ann went first, champ! I went second, and boy was that a long 37m down! I wasn't scared, it just took longer than I thought it would to get down to the bottom. We had to wait for everybody to get down which took about fifteen/twenty minutes, so we joined in with the whistling, which of course progressed to singing. Everybody there, we walked along a narrow walkway through a tunnel, spotting a few glow worms along the way, and stopped at the start of a Flying Fox (zipline) which disappeared into the dark. Eek! Waiting my turn was the worst part as of course the anxiety builds up and everybody before me was screaming Bloody Mary. I was buckled in and then away I went! "Jeronimo, jeronimo, jeronimo, POCHAHONTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!!" I screamed. I got some applaus and a laugh from Jah who had harnessed me in.
Once everybody got down, we had a break for some hot Milo (chocolate malt powder) and a granola-bar-square-thing, which was perfect timing! After, we all got an inner tube and had to jump in the COLD water (from facebook, you can see I was really not excited to do this), which of course for me, I hit the water and overbalanced in my tube or something and fell in completely :(. Ah well. We pulled ourselves along a rope up the river until we got to a part where there was a bunch of glow worms! We had to turn our head lamps off, though Ann's wouldn't shut off so she let go of the rope to figure it out, then I let go of the rope to help her, and away we drifted from the group, actually a bit of a way. It was funny, we found our way back, and then we were linked up feet-under-the-person's-in-front-of-us-arms to get back to where we had gotten the tubes from.
It was walking/swimming from here on in, mostly walking. We slid down a 'totally natural man-made slide' before we had a pee break; if you pee in a wet suit, it starts to stink, so we pretty much had to strip down to pee (soo worth it though!). Business taken care of, we embarked on the Drunken Stumble. The riverbed there is really uneven, so there's lots of stumbling, even falling, occuring for mere mortals, though because I am a ninja, I did fairly well :). We continued down the river until we took a sharp right hand turn, almost a u turn, up into a smaller passageway, where upon we came across a pool that had a 2 foot long eel in it! Jah started teasing it, and it bit him actually, so we got out of there ASAP, stopping when we arrived at a waterfall. The only way through was up, so up I went! I gladly went first, scrambling up the slick rocks like Gollum (it's the ninja skills), showing 'em how it's done, like a boss. Sidenote: Climbing in a wetsuit is kind of difficult! After that waterfall, it was only another twenty or so meters through a winding passage until another waterfall! Again, I shimmied up, and after walking probably another thrity five or so meters, we entered the light of day!
That evening, Ann and I walked into town to watch the second half of the Aussie-Bokke game (go Wallabies!) and then the NZ-Argentina game at the tavern, Curley's. They had a special on at their on-site liquor store ($15/6 pack), so Ann and I bought it and went and had one outside at this picnic table that was out of the way. There were some fellow Canadians doing the same thing, so we chatted with them before heading in to watch the game. Wallabies won! First half of NZ-Argentina: All Blacks not playing so good 1st half, Argentina putting pressure on them. To the picnic table for our last beer. Second half: Argentina still playing phenominally, but the All Blacks pull it together for the win.
Our guides had showed up for the start of the All Blacks game, so we mingled after. Ann wasn't feeling the night, so she went home around 11:30pm. Matt's friends were there, fun guys, had some laughs. They taught me what "doug-ey-ing" was (some dance from North America), laughed at me for not knowing what it was. Also got comments on my shirt, of course. The night was called around 1:30am, as that's when the bar closed, so I headed back to the hostel and crawled into my hovel.
Wednesday 5 October 2011
On The Road Again
We didn't get home and into bed until 6am, then it was up at 7am to pack up all of our stuff so that we could meet Kieth at the railway station around 9:30. I was still pretty drunk and my hands were stained red from handling my suspenders, but no matter, everything got taken care of on time and Simon gave us a ride down to the station. We transferred our packs and said our goodbyes to Simon, then it was almost on our way out of Wellington. Kieth had to stop at a DoC office to talk to somebody or whatnot, and I got to go in and meet some of his coworkers, which was pretty fun, they're a good group of people. Then we were lucky and stopped at a cafe to grab a coffee and a sandwhich/breakfast before getting on the road to Palmerston North. Uncle Chris' friends in Auckland have friends there, so that's whom Ann and I were going to stay with- oh important note! Hilary had decided to start her WWOOFing early (Willing Workers On Organic Farms), so she was onto Mangawaka with Kieth.
On the way up to PN, I sat in the front seat, chipper (read: drunk) as a squirrel, keeping Kieth entertained, while Hilary and Ann passed out in the back seat. We stopped at a couple of Kieth's friends house, one to drop off some traps, the other to have a tea with, before Ann and I got out near the library in PN. Another important note I've forgot to mention: on Saturday morning, I noticed my right ankle really start to hurt, then by this time the pain had transferred to my left foot. I believe I've pulled a muscle, probably from playing touch, but man oh man, I am not inclined to do any walking right now :/. Ann's foot is also bothering her. Anywho, so we got to the library around 1pm and set up shop, staying there for about 3 hours until we were both so hung over and tired that we had to get to the Peterson's house or else we weren't going to leave our spot. We called a cab, because our feet just weren't up to the task of walking what's actually a decent walk.Their house is a big, old one probably from the early 1900's, and Ann and I had the top floor room, each getting our own little bed. Ann passed out for about an hour, while I stayed up, like a ninja, and chatted with the kids, James, 14, and Christie, 10. It was a bit awkward because they were a bit shy (but apparently, I am not so bad at making conversation!), but it was fine. Sam is a rather funny guy who works at the Massey University with livestock, trying to figure out how an ewe's condition during pregnancy affects the lambs, particularely their mammory glands, and what he called 'fetal programming'. It's kind of exciting research because I guess what you learn from sheep can be applied to humans as lambs and babies weigh the same, among other things (and obviously you can't experiement with people, so they've got to do it somehow!). His wife, Catriona, also works with sheep at the University I believe. We stayed there for two nights, Monday night and Tuesday night, enjoying relaxing days to catch up on sleep and writing. Sam took us around the country side on Tuesday afternoon to look at his property outside of the city (it sits on a hill, breathtaking view) and also to see some of the only tracts of native New Zealand bush in the area. We saw HUGE trees, I can't remember the names just now, but Sam said "just wait until you see the Kaori trees in Northland (north of Auckland), they make these ones look like jokes!" The river that runs through the city is also an interesting geological feature in the world as it runs through the mountain range into the sea; most rivers run down from the mountains, not through to the other side of them. I also got my iPhone unlocked! Hurrah! Now all I have to do is get a SIM card, et voila, I will have a working phone!
We decided to leave PN on Wednesday afternoon on the bus (both Ann and I have bought ourselves Flexi Passes) and head to New Plymouth to see Mount Taranaki, an active volcano that is more or less the only giant mountain around. Both Ann and I have couchsurfing, so we are staying at a really, really posh house by the sea with a man named Phillip Grant, his wife and his son. Seriously Mom, you would like a lot of the things in this house! He picked us up from the bus station, and then we dropped our stuff off and went for a walk along the beach, snapping photos of surfers and waves and sunshine. We got hungry as we walked, so we stopped at a cafe and grabbed a small snack. On the way back to Phillip's house, we were caught in a bit of a downpour, but that was okay as I geniunely like being outside in the rain. We got back to the house, dried off, then went upstairs and chatted and watched TV with Phillip and his partner, having a glass or two of wine and a cup of tea, before calling it a night around 10ish.
On the way up to PN, I sat in the front seat, chipper (read: drunk) as a squirrel, keeping Kieth entertained, while Hilary and Ann passed out in the back seat. We stopped at a couple of Kieth's friends house, one to drop off some traps, the other to have a tea with, before Ann and I got out near the library in PN. Another important note I've forgot to mention: on Saturday morning, I noticed my right ankle really start to hurt, then by this time the pain had transferred to my left foot. I believe I've pulled a muscle, probably from playing touch, but man oh man, I am not inclined to do any walking right now :/. Ann's foot is also bothering her. Anywho, so we got to the library around 1pm and set up shop, staying there for about 3 hours until we were both so hung over and tired that we had to get to the Peterson's house or else we weren't going to leave our spot. We called a cab, because our feet just weren't up to the task of walking what's actually a decent walk.Their house is a big, old one probably from the early 1900's, and Ann and I had the top floor room, each getting our own little bed. Ann passed out for about an hour, while I stayed up, like a ninja, and chatted with the kids, James, 14, and Christie, 10. It was a bit awkward because they were a bit shy (but apparently, I am not so bad at making conversation!), but it was fine. Sam is a rather funny guy who works at the Massey University with livestock, trying to figure out how an ewe's condition during pregnancy affects the lambs, particularely their mammory glands, and what he called 'fetal programming'. It's kind of exciting research because I guess what you learn from sheep can be applied to humans as lambs and babies weigh the same, among other things (and obviously you can't experiement with people, so they've got to do it somehow!). His wife, Catriona, also works with sheep at the University I believe. We stayed there for two nights, Monday night and Tuesday night, enjoying relaxing days to catch up on sleep and writing. Sam took us around the country side on Tuesday afternoon to look at his property outside of the city (it sits on a hill, breathtaking view) and also to see some of the only tracts of native New Zealand bush in the area. We saw HUGE trees, I can't remember the names just now, but Sam said "just wait until you see the Kaori trees in Northland (north of Auckland), they make these ones look like jokes!" The river that runs through the city is also an interesting geological feature in the world as it runs through the mountain range into the sea; most rivers run down from the mountains, not through to the other side of them. I also got my iPhone unlocked! Hurrah! Now all I have to do is get a SIM card, et voila, I will have a working phone!
We decided to leave PN on Wednesday afternoon on the bus (both Ann and I have bought ourselves Flexi Passes) and head to New Plymouth to see Mount Taranaki, an active volcano that is more or less the only giant mountain around. Both Ann and I have couchsurfing, so we are staying at a really, really posh house by the sea with a man named Phillip Grant, his wife and his son. Seriously Mom, you would like a lot of the things in this house! He picked us up from the bus station, and then we dropped our stuff off and went for a walk along the beach, snapping photos of surfers and waves and sunshine. We got hungry as we walked, so we stopped at a cafe and grabbed a small snack. On the way back to Phillip's house, we were caught in a bit of a downpour, but that was okay as I geniunely like being outside in the rain. We got back to the house, dried off, then went upstairs and chatted and watched TV with Phillip and his partner, having a glass or two of wine and a cup of tea, before calling it a night around 10ish.
Canada vs New Zealand
Let me start this out by saying wow. And wow again. We started out the day getting our costumes and such ready, then took the bus into town around 1ish to grab some grub from the grrocery store then head to the stadium. I had yet to eat anything, so Ann and I bought a loaf of bread, and because beer is $7.50 each at the stadium, we bought a six pack of Tui tall boys for $13. We sat in the trainstation and wolfed down the bread, then headed to the bathroom to be the classy, classy ladies that we are to skull (aka shotgun) our beer. This was Accomplishment #1 of about 3 of the night, as I have just barely begun to enjoy beer, let alone be able to down it like a boss. After about two and a half for me and 2 for Ann, we put our third one behind the garbage can in the hopes it might still be there after the game, and headed, somewhat drunk, to the stadium.
It was a great walk there, everybody was so jovial and happy! Got some pictures with All Blacks and Canadian fans (note: our costumes were AWESOME!), and even the newspaper people wanted pictures of us! We went to Ann's and Hilary's seats first, which turned out to be only one row and a couple seats apart, then I headed to mine across the stadium, stopping at the beer station along the way ;). I thought I might be able to find them in the crowd, so that we could all wiggle our bums at the camera at the same time, but I wasn't. No matter, I ended up sitting beside this Kiwi dad and his 7/8 year old son, whom I had a friendly cheering match with. I was a lone spec of red in a surrounding sea of black, which was a bit comical when they sang the anthem as I was the only person in about three rows to be belting it out. I stayed in my seat, which was actually a really good seat, for about half of the first half, until Ann came and got me as there was an empty seat beside hers. So away we headed, both pretty toasted at this point, back to her seats. It was a ridiculous time, the two of us, cheering at the top of our lungs, for our team. I've already decided that I'm going to every World Cup after this one, and following Canada around, because cheering for YOUR team is just the best, you're so much more intense, so much more enthusiastic. It was great! I'm actually pretty proud of the boys because we got points on the board, and FIRST at that! Also, I've decided that I am going into physio, so of course I will be following the Canadian team around because I'll be one of their physios! :D
We left the stadium, and on the way out met up with some of the people we'd played touch rugby with. Ann and I were eager to get to the train station bathroom and see what had become of our beer (sadly it was gone), and get to McDonalds to ensure we would be able to last all night, so we said we'd meet up later and headed on our way. McDonalds was deliciously greasy and gross, just like it ought to be, and after, we headed to a pub called Betty's to meet up with our friend Tony, whom we had met on Matui-Sommes Island the week before. We watched the Rugby League Final there and drank water (pacin' ourselves, Accomplishment #2!). For those of you that don't know, Rugby League and Rugby Union are two different sports, Union being the Rugby World Cup game. This was the first time that the NZ Warriors had made it to the Final, so of course they turned off the RWC match to watch it. Unfortunately the Warriors didn't win, but it was still a good game to watch. It's a much quicker game than Union, it seems, and you need to have more of a head for the game I would say. After that, we said good bye, and headed over to The Establishment- oh The Establishment :)- as that's where Hilary and the other Canadians were.
Mom, you've always told me that timing is everything, and boy, are you right! Ann and I show up there, get ourselves a drink and head back to the table, then what do I see when I look out the window, but the Canadian Team Bus and all the Canadians getting out of it! :O! Talk about turning into a 14 year old girl! So I elbowed my way to the front of people at the door, and saw them come in! Kleeburger came in and Hilary, Ann and I got a picture with him, which due to the drunken state of the photographer turned out blurry.
Before we parted, I asked "May I please touch your beard?"
He looked at me. "Go ahead," he said.
And oh man, I sure did! I got both hands in there and HANDLED it, and it was GLORIOUS!!! Surprisingly soft too. Accomplishment #3, and the pinnacle of my Rugby World Cup experience 2011, DONE, like a boss!
So all the Canadians went upstairs, and to get there you had to have a special band, which only special people got, so I went into the throng of people on the dance floor to shake what my momma gave me. I tried to talk to the bouncer, who was a good looking Maori. I felt bad for him because he had started doing bouncer stuff at 9am and wasn't off until 2am so I bought him a Redbull. Due to the nature of our costumes, my bum was slapped quite a few times, though apparently the beard was the most drawing thing about the outfit. I ended up dancing on this chair, and then giving out these maple leaf tatoos to many people in jovial Canadian fashion, trying to stick them onto people's cheeks, first by using beer then as my drunkeness progressed, licking them to their faces. At this point, some of the Canadian players came down, and I laugh at myself to say that I was licking one of their faces, trying to get this tatoo to stick. He was like "Eww gross!" But I thought it was hilarious, who wouldn't? Anywho, so a little while later I ended up talking to this chick who had a band, and she got me upstairs! Kleeburger was gone at this point, so I couldn't get a better photo :(, but I still had a blast! My costume was a huge hit, and I boogied for about an hour I'd guess up there, until I was bored. I didn't ask most of the players for pictures because I didn't want to be that person who's flakey and that because, sadly, I don't know who most of them are (though I do know they're all really good looking!). I ended up talking with the forwards' coach for a few minutes, which was cool to get a different perspective of the game. I also saw the bus driver and gave him many accolades for his good driving skills :P.
I headed back down stairs, and started partying it up again. The rest of the night is a blur, I have some photos, but the rest of it was a lot of dancing and more drinking and more bum touching. Ann and I stayed until 5am, or when the bar closed, both of us really happy and stoked on an amazingly awesome and wonderful night.
It was a great walk there, everybody was so jovial and happy! Got some pictures with All Blacks and Canadian fans (note: our costumes were AWESOME!), and even the newspaper people wanted pictures of us! We went to Ann's and Hilary's seats first, which turned out to be only one row and a couple seats apart, then I headed to mine across the stadium, stopping at the beer station along the way ;). I thought I might be able to find them in the crowd, so that we could all wiggle our bums at the camera at the same time, but I wasn't. No matter, I ended up sitting beside this Kiwi dad and his 7/8 year old son, whom I had a friendly cheering match with. I was a lone spec of red in a surrounding sea of black, which was a bit comical when they sang the anthem as I was the only person in about three rows to be belting it out. I stayed in my seat, which was actually a really good seat, for about half of the first half, until Ann came and got me as there was an empty seat beside hers. So away we headed, both pretty toasted at this point, back to her seats. It was a ridiculous time, the two of us, cheering at the top of our lungs, for our team. I've already decided that I'm going to every World Cup after this one, and following Canada around, because cheering for YOUR team is just the best, you're so much more intense, so much more enthusiastic. It was great! I'm actually pretty proud of the boys because we got points on the board, and FIRST at that! Also, I've decided that I am going into physio, so of course I will be following the Canadian team around because I'll be one of their physios! :D
We left the stadium, and on the way out met up with some of the people we'd played touch rugby with. Ann and I were eager to get to the train station bathroom and see what had become of our beer (sadly it was gone), and get to McDonalds to ensure we would be able to last all night, so we said we'd meet up later and headed on our way. McDonalds was deliciously greasy and gross, just like it ought to be, and after, we headed to a pub called Betty's to meet up with our friend Tony, whom we had met on Matui-Sommes Island the week before. We watched the Rugby League Final there and drank water (pacin' ourselves, Accomplishment #2!). For those of you that don't know, Rugby League and Rugby Union are two different sports, Union being the Rugby World Cup game. This was the first time that the NZ Warriors had made it to the Final, so of course they turned off the RWC match to watch it. Unfortunately the Warriors didn't win, but it was still a good game to watch. It's a much quicker game than Union, it seems, and you need to have more of a head for the game I would say. After that, we said good bye, and headed over to The Establishment- oh The Establishment :)- as that's where Hilary and the other Canadians were.
Mom, you've always told me that timing is everything, and boy, are you right! Ann and I show up there, get ourselves a drink and head back to the table, then what do I see when I look out the window, but the Canadian Team Bus and all the Canadians getting out of it! :O! Talk about turning into a 14 year old girl! So I elbowed my way to the front of people at the door, and saw them come in! Kleeburger came in and Hilary, Ann and I got a picture with him, which due to the drunken state of the photographer turned out blurry.
Before we parted, I asked "May I please touch your beard?"
He looked at me. "Go ahead," he said.
And oh man, I sure did! I got both hands in there and HANDLED it, and it was GLORIOUS!!! Surprisingly soft too. Accomplishment #3, and the pinnacle of my Rugby World Cup experience 2011, DONE, like a boss!
So all the Canadians went upstairs, and to get there you had to have a special band, which only special people got, so I went into the throng of people on the dance floor to shake what my momma gave me. I tried to talk to the bouncer, who was a good looking Maori. I felt bad for him because he had started doing bouncer stuff at 9am and wasn't off until 2am so I bought him a Redbull. Due to the nature of our costumes, my bum was slapped quite a few times, though apparently the beard was the most drawing thing about the outfit. I ended up dancing on this chair, and then giving out these maple leaf tatoos to many people in jovial Canadian fashion, trying to stick them onto people's cheeks, first by using beer then as my drunkeness progressed, licking them to their faces. At this point, some of the Canadian players came down, and I laugh at myself to say that I was licking one of their faces, trying to get this tatoo to stick. He was like "Eww gross!" But I thought it was hilarious, who wouldn't? Anywho, so a little while later I ended up talking to this chick who had a band, and she got me upstairs! Kleeburger was gone at this point, so I couldn't get a better photo :(, but I still had a blast! My costume was a huge hit, and I boogied for about an hour I'd guess up there, until I was bored. I didn't ask most of the players for pictures because I didn't want to be that person who's flakey and that because, sadly, I don't know who most of them are (though I do know they're all really good looking!). I ended up talking with the forwards' coach for a few minutes, which was cool to get a different perspective of the game. I also saw the bus driver and gave him many accolades for his good driving skills :P.
I headed back down stairs, and started partying it up again. The rest of the night is a blur, I have some photos, but the rest of it was a lot of dancing and more drinking and more bum touching. Ann and I stayed until 5am, or when the bar closed, both of us really happy and stoked on an amazingly awesome and wonderful night.
Friday and Saturday
So the past few days have been decent. Friday saw us having a relaxing day, going into town around 10am to run some errands ie. picking up some last minute things for the Canada vs All Blacks game on Sunday. We also played touch rugby again, with more Canadians this time, which was fun, though a bit more competitive. Afterwards, we headed to The Establishment for a beer with our new friends, then to the grocery store to buy some chicken and celary for the stir fry we were going to make for dinner. We got home around 7:30ish, having a late supper, though a good one. It was to bed earlyish that night, I tried to figure out my iPhone business, but alas, I got too frustrated, and gave up around 11.
Saturday morning, we went into town early because the All Blacks, or some of them, were going to be at a Telecom shop. Telecom is a communications company, I think one of the biggest ones in New Zealand. Anywho, so we got there and waited in line for about an hourish, during which time, Telecom employees came down the line asking for two females to do a push up contest. Hilary and I of coure volunteered, and in the end we both got a black Telecom/All Blacks beanie! Saweet! So after that, we just went back to Simon's to get our costumes for the Canada vs NZ game ready; some components needed shapes drawn and painted in. We got home and internetted a little bit, I tried to get my iPhone figured out, but alas no dice, then worked solidly on the awesomeness that was to become our outfits for the next day's game. Saturday's game started at 6:30pm, so we showed up around 5:30ish. I ended up sitting beside, again, a really attractive Kiwi fellow, and a couple of his friends. He made me laugh, and actually explained the rules of cricket to me once it was clear that Tonga was going to win (also, he referenced quidditch while doing so, I gave him a high five). I got pretty drunk during the game, and after Kiwi Sam invited me to a couple house parties, but alas he went one way in the crowd and I went another to find Hilary and Ann, so I am not so sure I shall see him again. Sigh.
Ah well, Ann had met up with Roxy, a fellow player from PG, and we all walked to the bar together. Em phoned me along the way, which was very great to talk to her, on Ann's cell phone- speaking of phones, Roxy mentioned calling Rogers and getting them to unlock my iPhone for me! It was a pretty tame night, we called 'er in to take the 11:30 bus back to Simons in order to save ourselves for the sure awesome that was to be the next night. So mote it was.
Saturday morning, we went into town early because the All Blacks, or some of them, were going to be at a Telecom shop. Telecom is a communications company, I think one of the biggest ones in New Zealand. Anywho, so we got there and waited in line for about an hourish, during which time, Telecom employees came down the line asking for two females to do a push up contest. Hilary and I of coure volunteered, and in the end we both got a black Telecom/All Blacks beanie! Saweet! So after that, we just went back to Simon's to get our costumes for the Canada vs NZ game ready; some components needed shapes drawn and painted in. We got home and internetted a little bit, I tried to get my iPhone figured out, but alas no dice, then worked solidly on the awesomeness that was to become our outfits for the next day's game. Saturday's game started at 6:30pm, so we showed up around 5:30ish. I ended up sitting beside, again, a really attractive Kiwi fellow, and a couple of his friends. He made me laugh, and actually explained the rules of cricket to me once it was clear that Tonga was going to win (also, he referenced quidditch while doing so, I gave him a high five). I got pretty drunk during the game, and after Kiwi Sam invited me to a couple house parties, but alas he went one way in the crowd and I went another to find Hilary and Ann, so I am not so sure I shall see him again. Sigh.
Ah well, Ann had met up with Roxy, a fellow player from PG, and we all walked to the bar together. Em phoned me along the way, which was very great to talk to her, on Ann's cell phone- speaking of phones, Roxy mentioned calling Rogers and getting them to unlock my iPhone for me! It was a pretty tame night, we called 'er in to take the 11:30 bus back to Simons in order to save ourselves for the sure awesome that was to be the next night. So mote it was.
Thursday 29 September 2011
Napier: Canada vs Japan
The next morning (Tuesday), I was up around 7 to catch some free brekky and pack up my tent and my backpack. I was happy that I had enough time left when I was finished to hop in the shower as I didn't know what my accommodation for the night would be and was starting to become a smelly individual. Mike showed up just after 9 o' clock, and as soon as we got our packs into the trunk, we were off!
He's a really funny guy, this Mike. He's 32ish, with a wife and two young kids, but still a very fun guy to be around. The drive was good, a bit long (four and a half hours to travel 300km) and we had to go through the really windy stretch again, our stomachs (especially the next day!) weren't too happy about it. We made a few stops along the way, including the Tui brewery, but we made it to Napier around 2, enough time to try and find accommodation at a hostel, which there wasn't any, no surprise. We checked out this campsite in the middle of town, where they did have room, but it was $27/night, and I, for one, didn't really plan on sleeping too much and I was able to keep my stuff in the trunk of the car, so I backed out. Ann and Hilary decided to spend the night there, and after she got her tent set up, Hilary, Mike and I went to go find a park for the car, and see if we could get into this Irish pub that had gone "loonie" so to speak. Ann had wanted a shower, so she stayed behind at the campsite and we were going to meet her at the pub. However, it was much too crowded, and so we just decided to go to the stadium.
There were heaps of people, many dressed up in costumes, walking there, fans bantering at eachother, I photobombed some people, it was fun. After we'd gone through bag check, Hilary and I headed to the merch' tent to pick up a Canadian jersey. I was in line first and unluckily, there was only one game jersey, the one we both wanted, left! Because I was already wearing my '03 RWC Canada jersey and she only had a red tank top, I let Hilary have it. They have them at stores and will be at the Canada vs NZ game, so I didn't mind giving it to her. I bought some beer- Heinekin tastes awful out of a can- on the way to our seats, and we painted faces while we waited nervously for Ann to show up as we knew she wasn't going to be a happy camper; there was a communication breakdown re: cell phones, so Ann didn't know to go straight to the stadium. Anywho, she arrived, before kick off, I painted her face, and we both got right into the game, her unhappiness very soon forgotten in our chanting and screaming. She had also procured a Canadian flag, which we drew a beard on with black face paint.
It was a great game to watch, a close game, and the best thing ever to be cheering for the home country. I was yelling at the players, taking so many photos on Ann's camera, being an entertaining and happy drunk, supporting Canada, openly admiring KB's beard (it's seriously so magnificent, even Santa Claus would be hard pressed to replicate a beard of that magnificence!). Our boys played well, with heart, but they couldn't sneak the win, finishing the match with a 23-23 draw. After the end whistle blew, the Canadians walked around the field, and so Ann and I, jumped up and down, waving our bearded flag at them. They all pretty much smiled and waved (some of them were soooo hot!) and took a team photo, then walked to the other side of the field and mingled with the Category D fans. Mer :(. Ah well!
The walk back to the car after the game was just as fun and jovial as getting there; people were laughing and cheering, although boisterously drunk (or more so)! We got back to the car, and drank some Tui, bought earlier at the brewery, on the beach and BS'd until we were ready to go out. First we went to that Irish pub, The Rose, but it was PACKED and we had to wait in line for ever, where we met some guys from Williams Lake, of all places. Luckily Mike knew somebody who was on the patio, so we just waited until the bouncers weren't looking and woop! snuck in! Like I said, it was packed, so we chatted with some Frenchies, then peaced to The Blue Water, a bar/hotel(?), about an hours walk away- which you can bet we cabbed! We went there because we heard that that's where the Canadians were. They were, but they were upstairs, which you weren't allowed to go to because of that fact. No matter, we met more Canadians hanging out, and Phil Mackenzie, the #13 (Inside center), came down. I couldn't work up the courage to talk to him, parce que je suis un petit poulet, but I did eventually say hi, after Steve, one of the new Canadian guys we were with, started talking to him. It was just a hello, but no matter, we were enjoying ourselves. It was hilarious: so Mike had ordered a big bottle, 750 mL aka a two-six, of Speights, but the bartender had given him a little glass, a sippy cup really, to drink it with, whereas I, a small, blonde girl, ordered a giant mug of Tui. Hehe!
After we were done with The Blue Water, we headed to the Thirsty Whale, a bar/club about ten minutes walk away. It was a good atmosphere, and it was here that I met more Canadian players, and some Japanese players as well. I was fairly drunk when we got there, but somehow, magically almost, people just kept buying me beer. Sidebar: I drink so much beer, like pretty much every day I have at least one. Beer gut is forming, must do some preemptive excercise! Eventually the four of us had split up, Ann and Hilary having gone home around 1/1:30am, and Mike and I were off doing our own things respectively, though we had agreed to meet at the door when the bar closed. Anywho, so during the odd hour and a half, I ended up bumping into Matt Evans, the Canadian fly half (#10) who has a very Cary Elwes-esque handle bar moustache, though I was a bit rude and said "What's with the 'stache?" Obviously he didn't like that, and cut our conversation short. I continued on my way and ended up hanging out with some really tall Canadian gents (not players) who were props. They picked me up a la scrum, and then we got some more people in on it, possibly-probably some Japanese players (I was pretty intoxicated) and had a scrum in the middle of the dance floor! Ha ha! Good sports! Then the Japanese guys were trying to get me to do a shot, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stomach it, so I cheersed them with my beer, or rather, "Kumpai!"d. After that, I probably went to the bathroom, and then made my way back to the bar, trying to find Mike. I ended up talking with a couple Canadian players, Jamie Mackenzie (the other brother) scrum half, and the number 22- sorry man can't remember your name- who came in for Pritchard during the game. After we finished our conversation, I continued on my search for Mike, who I correctly thought had left, then returned to the bathroom- apparently this is the most calm place in a bar- where I met this other Canadian chick who was very kind and said I could catch a ride with her to wherever I needed to go (which I didn't know where that was!). I can't wait until I get my iPhone situation figured out, having the maps will be invaluable in situations like this! Anywho, I returned for one last look around, then found Steve whom I caught a cab back to the waterfront with around 3am. Mike was in the car, thankfully, and so he and I BS'd for a few minutes before we both PTFO'd. It was a ridiculously fun night, and in the morning I was in definite need of some coffee before we drove the 4 hours back to Wellington.
Mike dropped us off at the Te Papa museum. After all our stuff had been expelled from the trunk (passers by wondered how it all could fit in the trunk), we said our goodbyes and thank yous, and parted ways. The girls and I headed to the library to get on the internet, which unfortunately didn't work on our laptops because the connection sucked. When we were done, Kieth picked us up and we headed to his house to spend the night.
We picked up some steak, and I bought a new adaptor, which I am happy to say does not fall out of the wall and my plugs stay in. Once home, I plugged in my computer, then went down to the kitchen to help prep dinner, peeling potatoes, chopping onions, etcetera, etcetera. I was feeling pretty grungy and gross, and also majorily hungover, so I hopped in the shower before we ate. When I came back down, I was pretty surprised to learn that I was in charge of cooking the steak- I know, right?! For those of you that know me, my prowess in the kitchen doesn't equate to much. It turned out to be a pretty swell evening, good food, good wine, good people. Matt, the ranger from Matui-Sommes, stopped by for a few minutes too. After dessert, we headed upstairs to watch some Leonard Cohen before calling 'er a night around 10 to get some very much needed sleep!
Thursday, well today, was a very relaxing day, up around 9, and we had bacon and eggs for breakfast! They cut their bacon in circles over here as opposed to strips, but it still tastes the same, so yum! Heh I whisked the eggs this time, and they didn't drop! I seemed to have redeemed myself! Although later, I spilt tea all over myself, so maybe not... Ranger Matt came over for breakfast which was nice, after which Ann and I headed out for a walk along the beach in the sunshine and suprisingly gentle wind! It was glorious, I snapped some great photos, and we collected some shells to make necklaces out of. After about an hour, we headed back to Kieth's to pack up our things before heading out to Simon's house. We met Simon on Saturday at Kieth's, and he lives closer to Westpac Stadium than Kieth, so we've decided to bunk here for the weekend. Once we got here, we got internet figured out, and Ann and Hilary went to the grocery store to buy some food while I opted to just chill out and get some much needed catching up done on my writing! I guess they got side tracked by a Dollar Store because they came back with a ton of red and white stuff for the Canada-NZ game! I can't wait, it's going to be so much fun!!!! And that's all I have for now! I will update all on Monday morning with plans and such, as that's the day we're planning on starting the trek up north to Auckland and beyond!
He's a really funny guy, this Mike. He's 32ish, with a wife and two young kids, but still a very fun guy to be around. The drive was good, a bit long (four and a half hours to travel 300km) and we had to go through the really windy stretch again, our stomachs (especially the next day!) weren't too happy about it. We made a few stops along the way, including the Tui brewery, but we made it to Napier around 2, enough time to try and find accommodation at a hostel, which there wasn't any, no surprise. We checked out this campsite in the middle of town, where they did have room, but it was $27/night, and I, for one, didn't really plan on sleeping too much and I was able to keep my stuff in the trunk of the car, so I backed out. Ann and Hilary decided to spend the night there, and after she got her tent set up, Hilary, Mike and I went to go find a park for the car, and see if we could get into this Irish pub that had gone "loonie" so to speak. Ann had wanted a shower, so she stayed behind at the campsite and we were going to meet her at the pub. However, it was much too crowded, and so we just decided to go to the stadium.
There were heaps of people, many dressed up in costumes, walking there, fans bantering at eachother, I photobombed some people, it was fun. After we'd gone through bag check, Hilary and I headed to the merch' tent to pick up a Canadian jersey. I was in line first and unluckily, there was only one game jersey, the one we both wanted, left! Because I was already wearing my '03 RWC Canada jersey and she only had a red tank top, I let Hilary have it. They have them at stores and will be at the Canada vs NZ game, so I didn't mind giving it to her. I bought some beer- Heinekin tastes awful out of a can- on the way to our seats, and we painted faces while we waited nervously for Ann to show up as we knew she wasn't going to be a happy camper; there was a communication breakdown re: cell phones, so Ann didn't know to go straight to the stadium. Anywho, she arrived, before kick off, I painted her face, and we both got right into the game, her unhappiness very soon forgotten in our chanting and screaming. She had also procured a Canadian flag, which we drew a beard on with black face paint.
It was a great game to watch, a close game, and the best thing ever to be cheering for the home country. I was yelling at the players, taking so many photos on Ann's camera, being an entertaining and happy drunk, supporting Canada, openly admiring KB's beard (it's seriously so magnificent, even Santa Claus would be hard pressed to replicate a beard of that magnificence!). Our boys played well, with heart, but they couldn't sneak the win, finishing the match with a 23-23 draw. After the end whistle blew, the Canadians walked around the field, and so Ann and I, jumped up and down, waving our bearded flag at them. They all pretty much smiled and waved (some of them were soooo hot!) and took a team photo, then walked to the other side of the field and mingled with the Category D fans. Mer :(. Ah well!
The walk back to the car after the game was just as fun and jovial as getting there; people were laughing and cheering, although boisterously drunk (or more so)! We got back to the car, and drank some Tui, bought earlier at the brewery, on the beach and BS'd until we were ready to go out. First we went to that Irish pub, The Rose, but it was PACKED and we had to wait in line for ever, where we met some guys from Williams Lake, of all places. Luckily Mike knew somebody who was on the patio, so we just waited until the bouncers weren't looking and woop! snuck in! Like I said, it was packed, so we chatted with some Frenchies, then peaced to The Blue Water, a bar/hotel(?), about an hours walk away- which you can bet we cabbed! We went there because we heard that that's where the Canadians were. They were, but they were upstairs, which you weren't allowed to go to because of that fact. No matter, we met more Canadians hanging out, and Phil Mackenzie, the #13 (Inside center), came down. I couldn't work up the courage to talk to him, parce que je suis un petit poulet, but I did eventually say hi, after Steve, one of the new Canadian guys we were with, started talking to him. It was just a hello, but no matter, we were enjoying ourselves. It was hilarious: so Mike had ordered a big bottle, 750 mL aka a two-six, of Speights, but the bartender had given him a little glass, a sippy cup really, to drink it with, whereas I, a small, blonde girl, ordered a giant mug of Tui. Hehe!
After we were done with The Blue Water, we headed to the Thirsty Whale, a bar/club about ten minutes walk away. It was a good atmosphere, and it was here that I met more Canadian players, and some Japanese players as well. I was fairly drunk when we got there, but somehow, magically almost, people just kept buying me beer. Sidebar: I drink so much beer, like pretty much every day I have at least one. Beer gut is forming, must do some preemptive excercise! Eventually the four of us had split up, Ann and Hilary having gone home around 1/1:30am, and Mike and I were off doing our own things respectively, though we had agreed to meet at the door when the bar closed. Anywho, so during the odd hour and a half, I ended up bumping into Matt Evans, the Canadian fly half (#10) who has a very Cary Elwes-esque handle bar moustache, though I was a bit rude and said "What's with the 'stache?" Obviously he didn't like that, and cut our conversation short. I continued on my way and ended up hanging out with some really tall Canadian gents (not players) who were props. They picked me up a la scrum, and then we got some more people in on it, possibly-probably some Japanese players (I was pretty intoxicated) and had a scrum in the middle of the dance floor! Ha ha! Good sports! Then the Japanese guys were trying to get me to do a shot, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stomach it, so I cheersed them with my beer, or rather, "Kumpai!"d. After that, I probably went to the bathroom, and then made my way back to the bar, trying to find Mike. I ended up talking with a couple Canadian players, Jamie Mackenzie (the other brother) scrum half, and the number 22- sorry man can't remember your name- who came in for Pritchard during the game. After we finished our conversation, I continued on my search for Mike, who I correctly thought had left, then returned to the bathroom- apparently this is the most calm place in a bar- where I met this other Canadian chick who was very kind and said I could catch a ride with her to wherever I needed to go (which I didn't know where that was!). I can't wait until I get my iPhone situation figured out, having the maps will be invaluable in situations like this! Anywho, I returned for one last look around, then found Steve whom I caught a cab back to the waterfront with around 3am. Mike was in the car, thankfully, and so he and I BS'd for a few minutes before we both PTFO'd. It was a ridiculously fun night, and in the morning I was in definite need of some coffee before we drove the 4 hours back to Wellington.
Mike dropped us off at the Te Papa museum. After all our stuff had been expelled from the trunk (passers by wondered how it all could fit in the trunk), we said our goodbyes and thank yous, and parted ways. The girls and I headed to the library to get on the internet, which unfortunately didn't work on our laptops because the connection sucked. When we were done, Kieth picked us up and we headed to his house to spend the night.
We picked up some steak, and I bought a new adaptor, which I am happy to say does not fall out of the wall and my plugs stay in. Once home, I plugged in my computer, then went down to the kitchen to help prep dinner, peeling potatoes, chopping onions, etcetera, etcetera. I was feeling pretty grungy and gross, and also majorily hungover, so I hopped in the shower before we ate. When I came back down, I was pretty surprised to learn that I was in charge of cooking the steak- I know, right?! For those of you that know me, my prowess in the kitchen doesn't equate to much. It turned out to be a pretty swell evening, good food, good wine, good people. Matt, the ranger from Matui-Sommes, stopped by for a few minutes too. After dessert, we headed upstairs to watch some Leonard Cohen before calling 'er a night around 10 to get some very much needed sleep!
Thursday, well today, was a very relaxing day, up around 9, and we had bacon and eggs for breakfast! They cut their bacon in circles over here as opposed to strips, but it still tastes the same, so yum! Heh I whisked the eggs this time, and they didn't drop! I seemed to have redeemed myself! Although later, I spilt tea all over myself, so maybe not... Ranger Matt came over for breakfast which was nice, after which Ann and I headed out for a walk along the beach in the sunshine and suprisingly gentle wind! It was glorious, I snapped some great photos, and we collected some shells to make necklaces out of. After about an hour, we headed back to Kieth's to pack up our things before heading out to Simon's house. We met Simon on Saturday at Kieth's, and he lives closer to Westpac Stadium than Kieth, so we've decided to bunk here for the weekend. Once we got here, we got internet figured out, and Ann and Hilary went to the grocery store to buy some food while I opted to just chill out and get some much needed catching up done on my writing! I guess they got side tracked by a Dollar Store because they came back with a ton of red and white stuff for the Canada-NZ game! I can't wait, it's going to be so much fun!!!! And that's all I have for now! I will update all on Monday morning with plans and such, as that's the day we're planning on starting the trek up north to Auckland and beyond!
Wednesday 28 September 2011
Paradise Found
It was a bit of a rough morning, I was tired as all get out, and there was a particularely windy stretch of raod through some mountains that made me feel a bit queasy. We took the South Highway 2, which goes up towards Napier (on the east coast), to Masterton, where we bought some food to have a picnic: salami, ham, cheese, bread, butter, juice, bananas, and some chocolate covered almonds. Masterton is a quaint little town, in the east and middle of the southern part of the North Island (heh say that five times fast!), famous for it's wine and vineyards, my kind of place. We joked about tasting some wine, but we moved on as we still had another hour and a bit before we would arrive at our destination. It was down a twisting gravel road that passed through some massive sheep stations. Maa'aan those sheep were everywhere! At one point, there was even one running down the road, scared for it's life. We sang songs (The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Disney, etc.) and listened to Kieth's stories to keep ourselves entertained on the drive, stopping for lunch at an old station house/shack. I managed to snap a quick picture of the door, turquoise paint peeling, before, rather unfortunately, my camera died. There was a stream running through the property we were on, which Kieth's friend owns I guess. It was a great little stop for lunch, and I saw some wool hanging off a bush across the creek, and me, being ever a collector of odd mementos, jumped across and retrieved it.
We packed up our picnic and jumped back in the van for another twenty odd minutes, until (at last!) we rounded a bend and laid eyes upon the most breath taking place I have ever seen: Gropu-Pahau. I will try to use words, but I feel pictures are probably the best way to understand what I'm talking about. The sunlight glinted off the waves crashing onto the sandy beach that stretched between two outcrops of limestone (?) rock. Due to tectonic movements, these rocks had been thrust up through the sand, and there they sat, like a poorly stacked deck of cards, absorbing the sheer and awesome power of the sea. Like kids, we ran down to the water, then tried to sprint away from the foam that washed up with every wave. It was a hopelessly fun excercise, to say the least. I got to play photographer while Ann climbed the rocks further away, and from where we were standing she looked about an inch tall, while Hilary opted for the rocks closest to us. They were able to see a seal out in the water from their respective vantage points, although I was able to catch glimpses of its head. I went for a wander down the beach and found a sweet piece of dried seaweed that I seriously contemplated taking home to use as a beard when we dressed up to support the home team. However, I wasn't sure if you're allowed to take things from beaches, or if I really should be removing it from the environment, so I left it. Ah well, I took some pictures to remember :). So yeah, we just hung out at this beautiful spot and took in the beauty of it; the blue water, the white sand, the bleached driftwood (there were massive piles of it), and the green of the hills behind us was so intense, I almost thought we should be in Ireland! Of course there were sheep there too. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to talk about the fishing! I took a few casts, but we didn't end up catching anything, not that it mattered because just to have been there, to have seen it, was enough.
We left around 3pm and made it back to Wellington by about 5:30 or 6pm. On the drive home, both Hilary and Ann passed out, so besides their snores (especially Ann's!), it was a quiet one. Kieth invited us over for dinner, however we decided to decline because we had to get our poop in a group to be ready to leave early the next morning for Napier, and the Canada-Japan game. After a couple loads of laundry, a sandwhich, and waiting for my camera to charge while pratiquer mon francais avec une fille qui vient de france, I called 'er a night around 1am.
We packed up our picnic and jumped back in the van for another twenty odd minutes, until (at last!) we rounded a bend and laid eyes upon the most breath taking place I have ever seen: Gropu-Pahau. I will try to use words, but I feel pictures are probably the best way to understand what I'm talking about. The sunlight glinted off the waves crashing onto the sandy beach that stretched between two outcrops of limestone (?) rock. Due to tectonic movements, these rocks had been thrust up through the sand, and there they sat, like a poorly stacked deck of cards, absorbing the sheer and awesome power of the sea. Like kids, we ran down to the water, then tried to sprint away from the foam that washed up with every wave. It was a hopelessly fun excercise, to say the least. I got to play photographer while Ann climbed the rocks further away, and from where we were standing she looked about an inch tall, while Hilary opted for the rocks closest to us. They were able to see a seal out in the water from their respective vantage points, although I was able to catch glimpses of its head. I went for a wander down the beach and found a sweet piece of dried seaweed that I seriously contemplated taking home to use as a beard when we dressed up to support the home team. However, I wasn't sure if you're allowed to take things from beaches, or if I really should be removing it from the environment, so I left it. Ah well, I took some pictures to remember :). So yeah, we just hung out at this beautiful spot and took in the beauty of it; the blue water, the white sand, the bleached driftwood (there were massive piles of it), and the green of the hills behind us was so intense, I almost thought we should be in Ireland! Of course there were sheep there too. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to talk about the fishing! I took a few casts, but we didn't end up catching anything, not that it mattered because just to have been there, to have seen it, was enough.
We left around 3pm and made it back to Wellington by about 5:30 or 6pm. On the drive home, both Hilary and Ann passed out, so besides their snores (especially Ann's!), it was a quiet one. Kieth invited us over for dinner, however we decided to decline because we had to get our poop in a group to be ready to leave early the next morning for Napier, and the Canada-Japan game. After a couple loads of laundry, a sandwhich, and waiting for my camera to charge while pratiquer mon francais avec une fille qui vient de france, I called 'er a night around 1am.
SCOOOOOOTLAND vs Las Pumas!
So as I mentioned previously, Ann and I had these yellow tartan blankets with us. We turned them into kilts, then painted our faces the blue and white Scottish flag. Also, we wore fleece pants, and I had the absolutely BRILLIANT idea of wearing bright coloured undies to flash the camera with! :D. This was the only game we had sitting all together, and it was unfortunate that Hilary didn't have a blanket, but it was the most fun I've had at a game yet! Our seats were about halfway up, and halfway in on the side of the oval. The crowd was a good mix, though let me tell you: those Argies sure know how to cheer for a team! They had drums and whistles in the stadium, and had a good chant that they'd all sing. I would say one of the best, and rather key, components of RWC is the fans and costumes; we create the atmosphere, and it's a very peaceful gathering of boisterous and drunk and LOUD people. It's great :).
Anywho, so we got to our seats, and looking over our right shoulders, who's sitting there but the Scottish players who weren't playing that evening! And they were so attractive! Ann and I were brave enough to go over and snap a quick picture, and I don't even know who they are or what positions they were playing, but I got start struck! They were good sports about it and smiled for the camera. My hands were shaking and my legs felt like jelly as we walked away! We watched the first half, laughing at the two bickering Scottish and Argentinian fans a few rows below us, and actually at one point, it looked like it might get a bit sour, so when the crowd quieted down a bit, I bellowed "Oi! Boys, settle down!" in classic keeping the peace Canadian fashion :). So after the first half, Ann and I, both anxious to get on the jumbo tron, moved to the near empty Category D seats behind the Argentinian try zone. It was raining like a SOB and windy, but those seats were just great; it was like you could reach out and touch the players. The camera man situated behind the try zone turned the camera on us, though I don't think we got on the jumbo tron. Ah well, points for a valiant effort though, as we stayed behind for half an hour, hoping we'd get on screen with all the cheering Argentinian fans. After the game, it was back to the hostel for a supposed change, then out on the town, still dressed in our game attire. It was a fun night, though we had to get up early the next day because Kieth was going to take us fishing by the sea, near the Kapiti Coast (or so we thought, turns out we were on the opposite coast!).
Anywho, so we got to our seats, and looking over our right shoulders, who's sitting there but the Scottish players who weren't playing that evening! And they were so attractive! Ann and I were brave enough to go over and snap a quick picture, and I don't even know who they are or what positions they were playing, but I got start struck! They were good sports about it and smiled for the camera. My hands were shaking and my legs felt like jelly as we walked away! We watched the first half, laughing at the two bickering Scottish and Argentinian fans a few rows below us, and actually at one point, it looked like it might get a bit sour, so when the crowd quieted down a bit, I bellowed "Oi! Boys, settle down!" in classic keeping the peace Canadian fashion :). So after the first half, Ann and I, both anxious to get on the jumbo tron, moved to the near empty Category D seats behind the Argentinian try zone. It was raining like a SOB and windy, but those seats were just great; it was like you could reach out and touch the players. The camera man situated behind the try zone turned the camera on us, though I don't think we got on the jumbo tron. Ah well, points for a valiant effort though, as we stayed behind for half an hour, hoping we'd get on screen with all the cheering Argentinian fans. After the game, it was back to the hostel for a supposed change, then out on the town, still dressed in our game attire. It was a fun night, though we had to get up early the next day because Kieth was going to take us fishing by the sea, near the Kapiti Coast (or so we thought, turns out we were on the opposite coast!).
Camping in the City
The walk back into the city and to our new hostel, Rosemere Backpackers, was a lot easier for me because we had eaten a lot of the weight that was bogging me down, plus the way I had packed it to get out to Matui-Sommes was a bit silly: I had my backpack, my tent strapped to the bottom of my backpack, and my daybag with cans strapped to it. It was a much longer walk to this new hostel from Queen's Wharf, and there was a hill at the end of it, making it a bit exhausting. We got here to find that there is no secure locker for our things, which was a bit of a concern for me as we're not sleeping in the building. Also, we are paying $30/night on the weekends and we were told there was only room for two tents , so I definitely wasn't impressed. However, now that I've been here for a few days, it's actually pretty decent. It's only four blocks to Courtney Place, which I can't remember if I've mentioned is the happening part downtown part of Wellington, and also their lawn isn't somewhere people generally notice. The first couple days I carted my computer and other things everywhere with me, but like I said the gate is pretty inconspicuous, so I don't think anyone hardly notices the lawn. There's also free breakfast, and free 1/2 hour internet, so all in all, I'm not to surplussed that we're paying to sleep on somebody's lawn.
So Friday night was the USA vs Australia game! I cheered for the Wallabies, who kicked ass, when I was watching the game. I say that because I ended up sitting beside a petrolium engineer from Calgary. He has one heck of a skookum camera, a Canon S-LR with a nice lense, I had some definite and clear camera envy for sure. He gave me a quick lesson in photography, and even let me take some pictures, and furthermore, it came up in conversation that he had 3 tickets to the Canada-Japan game on September 27th in Napier for sale, and for only $40+free ride up to Napier (4-5 hour drive). This of course, intercepts our Catchpool Valley plans, but I'm here for World Cup, and you have to take these opportunities when they come! Ann and I went out Friday night while Hilary stayed in as she had developed some blisters on her toes from walking with our heavy backpacks I guess. Ann and I took it easy, though at this time I can't exactly remember the details of the night- this weekend has just kind of melded into one big, long stretch of time. Saturday saw us hit the hot tub at the local pool to soak, and then *drum roll pleeeease!* I PLAYED RUGBY! Well just buggers, on the beach, but it's the first time I've touched a ball and ran around with it since I buggered myself. And man, let me tell you, that was my favourite day of the whole trip up until then. We met up with Serena, the Canadian girl from the Fanzone at the Canada-Tonga game, and some of her new friends, all of them having no rugby playing experience. There was a good ten of us, so we were able to divide up into even teams and start playing. Our game attracted a small audience and more players. It was super fun, and at the end of it, we were all definitely ready for some beer! I was super proud of myself for getting out there and still managing to play with the same passion and tenacity, though perhaps a bit more caution, as I used to. I did twinge my knee slightly, but after a couple minutes making sure I was okay, I was right back into the game. I am thinking I might be able to play tackle at a leisure level again someday, as long as I'm taped right up, maybe get one of them fancy braces. It was just the greatest.
So Saturday night. I'm not sure how it worked out, but we were invited to Kieth's house for dinner and to watch the All Blacks-France game. He picked us up and was teasing us that he had a tiny caravan filled with rats and possums, hopefully they would have vacated by the time we got there. Not really knowing the man, I believed him, and of course to my surprise, we arrived to 71 Dundin Street, Seatoun (a suburb of Welly). He built his house himself, out of recylcled materials which came from old buildings they had to demolish or renevate to make earthquake safe. He has loads of stories, so we traded some, enjoyed a beer or wine, then his other guests arrived. Rob, one of Kieth's coworkers/boss, and his wife and their two boys, Fraser and Levon, showed up first, then Simon, whom I think is Kieth's cousin?, then Kenneth and another fellow, can't remember his name, then his sister and her grand daughter arrived. Rob's wife and I prepped fruit salad for dessert, while Hilary was on top of salad making. We had some good conversations, the meal was great, and then the rugby afterwards totally topped off the evening, making it a true Kiwi experience; good food, good people, good rugby. As I said, the match was between New Zealand and France, who typically knock the All Blacks out of the quarter finals. It was a good match, and thankfully, the home team took it for the win! The girls and I caught a ride back to the hostel with Kieth's sister, and headed to bed so that we could get up early to go out to Catchpool with Kieth, whom had kindly offered to take us out there and show us around for a few hours since he had to go out there anyway to grab something.
It's a bit bizarre to be on the left hand side of the road, especially if you're sitting in the passenger seat; I'm not so sure driving here would be a good idea until I get more driving-places-in-a-car experience under my belt! Anywho, we got out to Catchpool just in time for the rain. We walked around for about an hour and a half, of course getting soaked, but I think it was much more beautiful in the rain than it would have been if it was sunny out; everything is always greener when it pours. Kieth pointed out animal tracks, plants, and a few different bird species us to snap pictures of along the way, in between listening to his stories about the place and tell him about ourselves. He's a really funny man, full of P&V and a shithead (I mean that in the best possible way); he's always pulling your leg and cracking jokes. Besides that, he's just one of those truly beautiful people in the world, so genuine and kind hearted, and always up for a laugh. I would liken him to a godfather or great uncle, or a really young [hearted] grandpa.
So after we had our nice walk in the rain, Kieth took us for coffee at his friends Pat and Ruth's house. Again, Kiwi hospitality just keeps blowing me away, and you can be sure it is one of the few things I hope to take away from this trip and pass along to others. Pat gave us warm, dry clothes, made us coffee and a hot lamb sandwhich (first time having lamb!), and let Ann and I borrow a couple tartan blankets to take for the car ride, and then let us take them not only to the game, but out on the town as well! Furhtermore, they offered us a room if we would ever need or like one. Back at Kieth's, we ate some ___ fish and again shared stories around the table- the man not only has a ridiculous amount of them, he sure can tell 'em too! Then it was back to the hostel to prep for the game!
So Friday night was the USA vs Australia game! I cheered for the Wallabies, who kicked ass, when I was watching the game. I say that because I ended up sitting beside a petrolium engineer from Calgary. He has one heck of a skookum camera, a Canon S-LR with a nice lense, I had some definite and clear camera envy for sure. He gave me a quick lesson in photography, and even let me take some pictures, and furthermore, it came up in conversation that he had 3 tickets to the Canada-Japan game on September 27th in Napier for sale, and for only $40+free ride up to Napier (4-5 hour drive). This of course, intercepts our Catchpool Valley plans, but I'm here for World Cup, and you have to take these opportunities when they come! Ann and I went out Friday night while Hilary stayed in as she had developed some blisters on her toes from walking with our heavy backpacks I guess. Ann and I took it easy, though at this time I can't exactly remember the details of the night- this weekend has just kind of melded into one big, long stretch of time. Saturday saw us hit the hot tub at the local pool to soak, and then *drum roll pleeeease!* I PLAYED RUGBY! Well just buggers, on the beach, but it's the first time I've touched a ball and ran around with it since I buggered myself. And man, let me tell you, that was my favourite day of the whole trip up until then. We met up with Serena, the Canadian girl from the Fanzone at the Canada-Tonga game, and some of her new friends, all of them having no rugby playing experience. There was a good ten of us, so we were able to divide up into even teams and start playing. Our game attracted a small audience and more players. It was super fun, and at the end of it, we were all definitely ready for some beer! I was super proud of myself for getting out there and still managing to play with the same passion and tenacity, though perhaps a bit more caution, as I used to. I did twinge my knee slightly, but after a couple minutes making sure I was okay, I was right back into the game. I am thinking I might be able to play tackle at a leisure level again someday, as long as I'm taped right up, maybe get one of them fancy braces. It was just the greatest.
So Saturday night. I'm not sure how it worked out, but we were invited to Kieth's house for dinner and to watch the All Blacks-France game. He picked us up and was teasing us that he had a tiny caravan filled with rats and possums, hopefully they would have vacated by the time we got there. Not really knowing the man, I believed him, and of course to my surprise, we arrived to 71 Dundin Street, Seatoun (a suburb of Welly). He built his house himself, out of recylcled materials which came from old buildings they had to demolish or renevate to make earthquake safe. He has loads of stories, so we traded some, enjoyed a beer or wine, then his other guests arrived. Rob, one of Kieth's coworkers/boss, and his wife and their two boys, Fraser and Levon, showed up first, then Simon, whom I think is Kieth's cousin?, then Kenneth and another fellow, can't remember his name, then his sister and her grand daughter arrived. Rob's wife and I prepped fruit salad for dessert, while Hilary was on top of salad making. We had some good conversations, the meal was great, and then the rugby afterwards totally topped off the evening, making it a true Kiwi experience; good food, good people, good rugby. As I said, the match was between New Zealand and France, who typically knock the All Blacks out of the quarter finals. It was a good match, and thankfully, the home team took it for the win! The girls and I caught a ride back to the hostel with Kieth's sister, and headed to bed so that we could get up early to go out to Catchpool with Kieth, whom had kindly offered to take us out there and show us around for a few hours since he had to go out there anyway to grab something.
It's a bit bizarre to be on the left hand side of the road, especially if you're sitting in the passenger seat; I'm not so sure driving here would be a good idea until I get more driving-places-in-a-car experience under my belt! Anywho, we got out to Catchpool just in time for the rain. We walked around for about an hour and a half, of course getting soaked, but I think it was much more beautiful in the rain than it would have been if it was sunny out; everything is always greener when it pours. Kieth pointed out animal tracks, plants, and a few different bird species us to snap pictures of along the way, in between listening to his stories about the place and tell him about ourselves. He's a really funny man, full of P&V and a shithead (I mean that in the best possible way); he's always pulling your leg and cracking jokes. Besides that, he's just one of those truly beautiful people in the world, so genuine and kind hearted, and always up for a laugh. I would liken him to a godfather or great uncle, or a really young [hearted] grandpa.
So after we had our nice walk in the rain, Kieth took us for coffee at his friends Pat and Ruth's house. Again, Kiwi hospitality just keeps blowing me away, and you can be sure it is one of the few things I hope to take away from this trip and pass along to others. Pat gave us warm, dry clothes, made us coffee and a hot lamb sandwhich (first time having lamb!), and let Ann and I borrow a couple tartan blankets to take for the car ride, and then let us take them not only to the game, but out on the town as well! Furhtermore, they offered us a room if we would ever need or like one. Back at Kieth's, we ate some ___ fish and again shared stories around the table- the man not only has a ridiculous amount of them, he sure can tell 'em too! Then it was back to the hostel to prep for the game!
Matui/Sommes Island
So wow. This little island, in the middle of the harbour, is pretty neat. It was historically a quarantine island for animals, including Canadian elk, then an TB quarantine, then an internment camp during WWII, and now it's a scientific and nature reserve.
We got there on Monday, around 10:30 am, and had to go to the "Rat Shack" to look through our bags to make sure we weren't bringing in any pests like rats or possums or seeds. There were another ten or so people getting of the ferry who didn't have massive backpacks or tents, so they got out first, while the ranger, Matt, kept us behind to have a good look through our tents. The weather left something to be desired for, windy, grey, a bit rainy, just your standard spring Welly weather it seems, but we hiked thorugh it up the hill from the wharf to the camp site to set up our tents beside one of the old shower buildings. There are about 30 sheep on the island, used to keep the grass down and as a meat source, that get to eat anywhere there's grass on the island, including where we were to put our tents. I can't say I was thrilled at this, but, you know, such is life, you just deal with it. I was glad to have my tarp to lay down on the ground before setting up my tent, which didn't take too long to get everything sorted, before we had time to explore the island.
We each went on our own as Hilary is pretty speedy at doing things, then Ann is next fastest, and then me, as I am just a slow person, especially when it comes to doing things like packing or getting ready. The other two walked around the island, while I stuck around camp and poked my head in the old animal quarantine building. It was a little bit creepy, just a vacant building; the clang of the steel grates on the floor or the echo of your footfalls was immense; the silence was deafening. There were still some papers in the vets office from the times it was used, I took some pictures as I really like tangible history- it's so much more comprehendable when you can see and touch it for yourself. I am thankful that it was clean in there, however, can't say smelling between 30-130 year old poop is the kind of tangible history I'm talking about! I spent about 45 minutes/an hour wandering about the smallish building, I came across the skeleton of a small, maybe baby, bird in the boiler room at one point, poor guy. It looked like he had just kind of given up on life in that one spot. After I was done with teh building, I went outside and sat at a picnic table and just took it in, wind, rain, and all.
I returned to my tent to chill, ended up having a nap for a couple hours, then we made rice in chicken soup for dinner. As this was cooking, the ranger popped by the window and said that the ten other people, all part of a work group from the Interislander Ferry***, had invited us over to their house (there's a few houses you can rent out for a night or two on the island) for a barbie (aka BBQ) around 6. So we show up, and the first people we saw outside the house were kind of looking at us like we weren't supposed to be there, which was a bit like "Uhhh, the ranger said we were invited over?" We were sent inside to Ray, who as it turns out was the boss of everyone there and he was the one who had invited us over. We sat down with him, made introductions, then we got to to talking about our plans, and he basically wrote us an itinerary for the South Island that hits all the places, and more, that we want to go to! They gave us wine, they gave us food (steak, grilled chicken, bratwurst, and salad), they gave us good talk, hopefully we gave them some as well. The ranger stopped by for some grub too. After dinner, Ray got us talking to one of the Tonys (there were two, also would that be 'ies' or 'ys', it's a name so I'm a bit confused) who is an adventure guide, mostly around the North Island. He gave us a bunch of places to stop and check out here, though he did tell us to avoid the East Cape because it's apparently not the most safe (then the ranger Matt told us that's not really the case, it's just remote, but okay to go to). It's taken a bit of a load off, to be quite honest, what with us scratching our heads and trying to decide where to and how we're going to get there. Now we just have to decide how, which is a toss up between bus and car, though we're thinking bus for cheapness. The thing about the car is the freedom if offers though. Harumph. Anywho, so we were chatting with these people, started trading stories, eventually it was myself, the other Tony, some other people, Ann, and Hilary, sipping wine, having laughs. Around ten, ten thirty, Ann and Hilary went to bed, leaving me to chat with Tony and Johnson. Tony is a 64 year old Englishman from London who's been in NZ for 25 odd years, and Johnson is a 50-something half-Maori fellow. We stayed up until about 4ish, talking about a wide range of topics: government in Canada and NZ, Maori-First Nations, life, sports, food, beer, so many things. It was great! I felt a bit that I had over stayed my welcome, but they kept offering me more wine (I think I polished off 3 bottles by myself, the amount of booze they had, all for one night!) and asking me to stay. It was a great night, I was pissed drunk, but the happy wine drunk, the fuzzy and warm all over drunk, which considering the storm that was HOWLING and BLOWING (seriously, I have never experienced wind that bad; my tent was moved, and the tarp blew away!), it was very much so needed! So I spent the night inside, on a loveseat that was too small (how does this happen with me?), and consequently said "To hell with it!" and crapped out on the tenting and just slept inside for the three nights.
The second day turned out to be amazing weather wise. I walked to the top and around the island, snapped some great photos of the sheep and lambs. It was a super relaxed day, all in all, which I finished off with "A Bug's Life". Oh Disney :).
The morning of the third day, we volunteered patching up some pot holes and uneaven pavement with gravel, which the ranger, Matt, was really stoked about. There was also a group of about 15-20 people from the Australian-New Zealand Bank who were there to volunteer as well. We had thought we might mix up with them, but then it just didn't work out that way. In the afternoon, after the patching was finished, Ann and I decided to chill out at the summit and just appreciate the view and the sunshine, while Hilary, still keen to help out, went and pruned some vegetation along a path. Later, we passed a rugby ball around with Matt, who invited us over to make dinner, drink some beer (homebrew!), and just hang out. Which we did, of course. We looked in his fridge, and seeing he had many eggs and lots of veggies to be eaten, decided on an omlette with mushroom rice (this was our addition). Ann was in charge of chopping veggies, Hilary, the rice, and myself, the omlette mixture. Of course, in classic Alivia fashion, when I set the eggs on the counter to turn on the element, it fell to the floor, leaving a sad, slimy pool of former to-be-dinner. It was a laugh, though I felt silly obviously. Ah well, cleaned it up, and just chucked the veggies in with the rice and mushroom sauce. It was pretty delicious, and we sat by the fire place and traded some stories, and he gave us some more ideas of places to check out, looking at the map. He is a super chill guy, 34 years old, has dreads, and quitting his job as a Department of Conservation ranger to travel around NZ, and then I believe he's headed to North America for an undetermined amount of time. It's cool to see people travelling at all stages of life, keeps me positive that I can be on the road any time I wish :). Anyways, it was about 11:30ish by the time we said good night and headed to bed.
The next morning, I was up around tenish, and had to pack up all my things, which my backpack had vommited up. During this time, Matt brought around Kieth, an older Kiwi fellow who also works for DoC. Matt had told us the previosu night that if we were lucky we would get to meet him, which I've realized is so true over this past weekend. He's a short man, lots of stoires, easy going and extremely kind hearted; because he works at Catchpool Valley, the gent offered to give us a ride out there instead of us having to take transit (which, as it turns out would have ended up in probably 5km of walking with all of our crap!). Just to illustrate how kind this guy is Kieth had said he would try to set us up in a hut for free at Catchpool, and this was within ten minutes of meeting the man! He exchanged numbers with Hilary so we could get that organized when the time came. And then, it was back to the island after a rushed brunch of probably the most oatmeal a la PB&J anybody could ever eat in one sitting before we got down to the ferry and onto the ferry and back to the city.
We got there on Monday, around 10:30 am, and had to go to the "Rat Shack" to look through our bags to make sure we weren't bringing in any pests like rats or possums or seeds. There were another ten or so people getting of the ferry who didn't have massive backpacks or tents, so they got out first, while the ranger, Matt, kept us behind to have a good look through our tents. The weather left something to be desired for, windy, grey, a bit rainy, just your standard spring Welly weather it seems, but we hiked thorugh it up the hill from the wharf to the camp site to set up our tents beside one of the old shower buildings. There are about 30 sheep on the island, used to keep the grass down and as a meat source, that get to eat anywhere there's grass on the island, including where we were to put our tents. I can't say I was thrilled at this, but, you know, such is life, you just deal with it. I was glad to have my tarp to lay down on the ground before setting up my tent, which didn't take too long to get everything sorted, before we had time to explore the island.
We each went on our own as Hilary is pretty speedy at doing things, then Ann is next fastest, and then me, as I am just a slow person, especially when it comes to doing things like packing or getting ready. The other two walked around the island, while I stuck around camp and poked my head in the old animal quarantine building. It was a little bit creepy, just a vacant building; the clang of the steel grates on the floor or the echo of your footfalls was immense; the silence was deafening. There were still some papers in the vets office from the times it was used, I took some pictures as I really like tangible history- it's so much more comprehendable when you can see and touch it for yourself. I am thankful that it was clean in there, however, can't say smelling between 30-130 year old poop is the kind of tangible history I'm talking about! I spent about 45 minutes/an hour wandering about the smallish building, I came across the skeleton of a small, maybe baby, bird in the boiler room at one point, poor guy. It looked like he had just kind of given up on life in that one spot. After I was done with teh building, I went outside and sat at a picnic table and just took it in, wind, rain, and all.
I returned to my tent to chill, ended up having a nap for a couple hours, then we made rice in chicken soup for dinner. As this was cooking, the ranger popped by the window and said that the ten other people, all part of a work group from the Interislander Ferry***, had invited us over to their house (there's a few houses you can rent out for a night or two on the island) for a barbie (aka BBQ) around 6. So we show up, and the first people we saw outside the house were kind of looking at us like we weren't supposed to be there, which was a bit like "Uhhh, the ranger said we were invited over?" We were sent inside to Ray, who as it turns out was the boss of everyone there and he was the one who had invited us over. We sat down with him, made introductions, then we got to to talking about our plans, and he basically wrote us an itinerary for the South Island that hits all the places, and more, that we want to go to! They gave us wine, they gave us food (steak, grilled chicken, bratwurst, and salad), they gave us good talk, hopefully we gave them some as well. The ranger stopped by for some grub too. After dinner, Ray got us talking to one of the Tonys (there were two, also would that be 'ies' or 'ys', it's a name so I'm a bit confused) who is an adventure guide, mostly around the North Island. He gave us a bunch of places to stop and check out here, though he did tell us to avoid the East Cape because it's apparently not the most safe (then the ranger Matt told us that's not really the case, it's just remote, but okay to go to). It's taken a bit of a load off, to be quite honest, what with us scratching our heads and trying to decide where to and how we're going to get there. Now we just have to decide how, which is a toss up between bus and car, though we're thinking bus for cheapness. The thing about the car is the freedom if offers though. Harumph. Anywho, so we were chatting with these people, started trading stories, eventually it was myself, the other Tony, some other people, Ann, and Hilary, sipping wine, having laughs. Around ten, ten thirty, Ann and Hilary went to bed, leaving me to chat with Tony and Johnson. Tony is a 64 year old Englishman from London who's been in NZ for 25 odd years, and Johnson is a 50-something half-Maori fellow. We stayed up until about 4ish, talking about a wide range of topics: government in Canada and NZ, Maori-First Nations, life, sports, food, beer, so many things. It was great! I felt a bit that I had over stayed my welcome, but they kept offering me more wine (I think I polished off 3 bottles by myself, the amount of booze they had, all for one night!) and asking me to stay. It was a great night, I was pissed drunk, but the happy wine drunk, the fuzzy and warm all over drunk, which considering the storm that was HOWLING and BLOWING (seriously, I have never experienced wind that bad; my tent was moved, and the tarp blew away!), it was very much so needed! So I spent the night inside, on a loveseat that was too small (how does this happen with me?), and consequently said "To hell with it!" and crapped out on the tenting and just slept inside for the three nights.
The second day turned out to be amazing weather wise. I walked to the top and around the island, snapped some great photos of the sheep and lambs. It was a super relaxed day, all in all, which I finished off with "A Bug's Life". Oh Disney :).
The morning of the third day, we volunteered patching up some pot holes and uneaven pavement with gravel, which the ranger, Matt, was really stoked about. There was also a group of about 15-20 people from the Australian-New Zealand Bank who were there to volunteer as well. We had thought we might mix up with them, but then it just didn't work out that way. In the afternoon, after the patching was finished, Ann and I decided to chill out at the summit and just appreciate the view and the sunshine, while Hilary, still keen to help out, went and pruned some vegetation along a path. Later, we passed a rugby ball around with Matt, who invited us over to make dinner, drink some beer (homebrew!), and just hang out. Which we did, of course. We looked in his fridge, and seeing he had many eggs and lots of veggies to be eaten, decided on an omlette with mushroom rice (this was our addition). Ann was in charge of chopping veggies, Hilary, the rice, and myself, the omlette mixture. Of course, in classic Alivia fashion, when I set the eggs on the counter to turn on the element, it fell to the floor, leaving a sad, slimy pool of former to-be-dinner. It was a laugh, though I felt silly obviously. Ah well, cleaned it up, and just chucked the veggies in with the rice and mushroom sauce. It was pretty delicious, and we sat by the fire place and traded some stories, and he gave us some more ideas of places to check out, looking at the map. He is a super chill guy, 34 years old, has dreads, and quitting his job as a Department of Conservation ranger to travel around NZ, and then I believe he's headed to North America for an undetermined amount of time. It's cool to see people travelling at all stages of life, keeps me positive that I can be on the road any time I wish :). Anyways, it was about 11:30ish by the time we said good night and headed to bed.
The next morning, I was up around tenish, and had to pack up all my things, which my backpack had vommited up. During this time, Matt brought around Kieth, an older Kiwi fellow who also works for DoC. Matt had told us the previosu night that if we were lucky we would get to meet him, which I've realized is so true over this past weekend. He's a short man, lots of stoires, easy going and extremely kind hearted; because he works at Catchpool Valley, the gent offered to give us a ride out there instead of us having to take transit (which, as it turns out would have ended up in probably 5km of walking with all of our crap!). Just to illustrate how kind this guy is Kieth had said he would try to set us up in a hut for free at Catchpool, and this was within ten minutes of meeting the man! He exchanged numbers with Hilary so we could get that organized when the time came. And then, it was back to the island after a rushed brunch of probably the most oatmeal a la PB&J anybody could ever eat in one sitting before we got down to the ferry and onto the ferry and back to the city.
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