Sunday, February 26, 2006

No Penguins

Before I explain why I didn't see any penguins check out my favorite picture from the bungy:


That's the view from the cable car about five minutes before I jumped.

Ok back to the penguins. After Dunedin I got back on the bus and headed to Curio Bay. On the way to Curio Bay we stopped at a beach and walked around. We turned this corner and all of a sudden there were sea lions no less than 20ft from us just chillin on the beach. Our driver told us that there was no worries as long as we didn't get between the lions and the water. Also if they started moving around or roaring at us we should really move away since they can run faster than us any day of the week. Here's one pic from that excursion (no zoom was used either, this was how close I was to them):
I was really amazed at how calm everything was. I would never had imagined that I would be able to get this close to wildlife outside of a zoo. And that's part of the beauty of New Zealand. They respect their animals and they want to protect them and they understand how to cohabitate with them without either side being caged in.

After we got back on the bus we drove for a little bit until there was a traffic jam,


hahah it was bound to happen in NZ. We had to share the road with the sheep and slowly make our way through them. It definetly put a smile on my face.

After the sheep fiasco we made it to Curio Bay. Curio Bay is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It's on the bottom of the South Island which means that it's close to Antartica. That means that despite the fact that Curio Bay is a beach it is freezing! Swimming in the bay were Hector's dolphins, the smallest in world. If you braved the cold water you could go in and they would swim around you. I didn't go in because I was on a mission to see the Yellow-Eyed Penguins which had a colony about a five minute walk from where we were.

The thing with nature is that it is not on a very strict time schedule. I got to Curio Bay at 5 and was told that the penguins could come ashore anytime between now and dusk, which is around 9. So I decided to just hang out at the colony and wait. The only problem was that a Southerly was coming in. A Southerly is like a Noreaster for us. There was wind, hail, and rain to be expected. So here I was standing in the mist of the rain, freezing waiting for the penguins when a rainbow appeared and I decided to take a picture of it:


When I was done taking the picture, my camera crapped out. The cold and damp conditions made it just shut off and refused to turn back on. So I sat there in the cold thinking if it was worth it to wait out here for possibly another 2 hours to see penguins that I would have no hope of capturing in a picture. The idea of a hot shower won and in I went so no penguins. I figured that I would probably see them at Milford Sound which is where I was going the next day.

Milford Sound is not actually a sound but rather a fjord. The difference is that a fjord is carved out by a glacier and that a sound is carved out by an eroding river bed. Anyway Milford Sound is located in the fjordland national park which is a huge park in which nature is untouched. Milford Sound is the most accesible fjord and the most touristy. I was staying here for two nights at the local(and only) hostel which operated on a generator that turned off every night at 11p and didn't turn back on until 6am. I was pretty much as far away from civilization as i ever have been. The first day at Milford I took a cruise around the sound. To see all of these cliffs rising out of the water and tower over you and to see all of the waterfalls is a very humbling experience. It made me feel very small in the grand scheme of things and I was in awe of how nature by itself can create such phenominal things. During the cruise some bottlenose dolphins swam around the boat and were doing jumps and flips. I also saw more seals, but the penguins were no where to be seen. it was still a great cruise. Here are some of the pics.





























The next day I went back onto the Milford Sound but from a different angle. I tried kayaking for the first time. The weather was just as beautiful as the day before and the whole experience was really relaxing. We kayaked for about two hours and then went ashore in the sound and had lunch. The wind was picking up so our guide had us hold our kayaks next to each other and we put up a sail and sailed our back to where we started. Then we just kayaked around some more and enjoyed the beautiful day. Milford Sound gets about 8 meters of rain a year so the fact that I had two beautiful days in a row is pretty lucky. Also the more rain it gets the more waterfalls sprout out so next time I am in NZ I will def come back and hope that it's raining so I can see more waterfalls.

Retelling this to everyone I realize that I have done a lot in a week. I guess that's why I feel so tired. This is the kind of pace I am going to have for the rest of this trip. I am back in Queenstown right now for a day and then I am heading to Christchurch. I think I am going to stop there for four days. There is a really good rugby game that is being played on March 4th. I want to go to it so I am going to try and get a ticket.

I hope everyone had a good week and enjoys the pics!

Sunday, February 19, 2006

After the bungy

Since my last post I have hopped back onto the bus and made my way to Dunedin. The bus ticket I am using right now is the one that I bought off of a girl for $200 less than what it was selling for. We ran into some problems with the transfer of the ticket though so for the next week I am Natalie Roper (which is fine because it makes me think of Threes Company). Anyway, on the way to Dunedin we stopped at a place called Tunnel Beach. Basically in the 1800s this guy owned the land. The beach was and still is surrounded by sandstone cliffs, making acces to the beach impossible. So the guy carved a 10m tunnel through the sandstone to get to the beach. He then gave the beach to his daughter for her birthday so she would have her own private beach (Daddy'll do it). The beach is now public and even though there is a tunnel it is still pretty hard to get to. It's a 20 minute walk downhill to get to the beach and then to get back up the hill it takes about another 40 minutes. Crazy.

After the tunnel beach walk our driver took us to Baldwin St. Baldwin St is in the guiness book of world records for being the worlds steepest street. It didn't look that steep but I didn't try to walk up it since I had just walked uphill for the past 40 minutes. After Baldwin St. I went to the Cadbury factory and took a tour. I enjoyed free chocolate and I got to see all of the cadbury chocolates that we don't get in the US. I had no idea that they made more than the eggs that I get at Easter. It turns out they make loads of chocolate but they only sell certain types where there is no competition. So since in the US we already have Mars bars we don't Cadbury's Moro's (which I think are better).

Yesterday I went to the Speights beer brewery for a tour. Speights is THE beer in the south and it was cool to get a tour and some free samples. They are very proud of their beer here. The great thing is that both the Speights brewery and the Cadbury factory are only a five minute walk from my hostel.

Dunedin is the third largest city in NZ and it contains the University of Otago, which is the largest Uni in NZ. It's got some really cool architecture and things like that. I'll post pics soon.

Tomorrow is the day my family has been waiting for. I will be seeing penguins. And if the weather is nice I will be able to swim with some dolphins. I am heading to a place called Curio Bay. It's population is 11 people (no lie). After Curio Bay I am heading to Invercargill which is as close as I am going to get to Antartica and the southernmost point that I am travelling to. By the end of the week I will be in Milford Sound. Milford Sound is actually a fjiord and is supposedly something that you have to see when in NZ. My plans are to stay there for a couple of days and kayak the sound. Then it's back to Queenstown.

I don't think I will have cheap internet access until I get back into Queenstown about a week from now so yet again this is goodbye. But don't worry I will have tons of pictures to share!

Thanks for all the comments about the bungy jump. They all made me smile and made me realize that I can't wait to come home and see everyone!

Friday, February 17, 2006

Molly's Right!

When I was in Auckland for the Big Day Out I bought a ticket for the Nevis Bungy jump in Queenstown. I bought it in Auckland because I knew that if I waited until I was in Queenstown to buy it I would chicken out. Up until about a month ago the Nevis Bungy Jump in Queenstown was the tallest bungy jump in the world at 134m(440ft). It was created by the guy who created the whole idea of bungy jumping AJ Hacket. In fact bungy jumping was created in Queenstown so what better place to do it. And since my motto is go big or go home I had to do the biggest.

So to get to the place where I jumped we had to hop in a car and drive 45 minutes into the mountains. You actually jump from a cable car that is suspended between two cliffs and you get to the cable car via a gondola. I was so nervous last night that I had to have a few drinks which turned into a lot of drinks because it turns out that everytime we told the bar tender that my Kiwi bus driver has big boobs we would get free beer until the keg runs out. I booked the jump for 8am because I wanted to get it over with. Anyone who has waited in line with me for a roller coaster knows how anxious I can get so I didn't want to spend a whole day worrying about the jump. By 9:30 I was harnessed in and in the cable car. Let me tell you, 134m is HIGH. We were suspended over a river that was so clear you could see the rocks at the bottom. I knew no one in the cable car with me but that didn't stop me from freaking everyone out. I started mumbling to myself how stupid this is and asking myself why I was doing it and then I turned to the other people and asked them if they realized how stupid we were all being right now. I was about to chicken out when the bungy guy chose to tell me that there were no refunds. So I was jumping.

I was third to go and the first girl. They have you sit down and they start strapping you ankles together and hooking everything up(oy I am getting anxious just writing this down!). They asked me if I had ever done this before and I laughed and said no and I will never do it again. Everyone was looking at me and I could tell by their faces that I must have had a very worried look on my face. Then I stood up and hobbled(because my ankles were now connected to bungy cord) over to the edge. Some choice expletives escaped my mouth and then I made the mistake of looking down. I stopped dead in my tracks and said there's no way I can do this it is too guy. Luckily the guy told me to just look straight ahead which helped. I hobbled to the edge and started bugging out because I wanted to hold onto something as I jumped. I had a shoulder harness on and asked the guy if it was ok if I held onto it for dear life as I fell. It was all a go and then the countdown from five began. The thing is at this point, even if I didn't jump I would have been pushed. They don't mess around. So as they said one I jumped. Albeit I didn't jump gracefully with my arms out. I jumped with my arms gripping my harness like they grip the shoulder pads of my backpack and my legs never fully unbent. It looked like I fell sitting.

Yes I did scream and it was loud. The freefall lasts for about 8 seconds and you actually bungy twice since the nevis is so high. You rebound back up about 40 m after the intial 134m drop and then you fall the 40m again (the first bungy was only 43m fyi). By the end of the 8 seconds my scream of fear had turned into a "whoo hoo!" scream. The fun wasn't yet over. Because the Nevis is so high they can't lower you down. Instead after you jump you have to be raised back up to the cable car. So here I am hanging upside down. There is a cord that you can pull so your legs are released and you get pulled up in a sort of sitting up position. But my hands were firmly glued to my harness so I just hung there spinning around repeating to myself "pull me up pull me up pull me up." At this point I had to keep my eyes closed because all of the spinning around was not helping my stomach. Finally I was pulled back up the 134m upside down and deposited back onto the cable car. I immediately went over to the trash bucket and thought I was going to throw up. The fact that the cable car swings after every jump wasn't helping things either so they put me onto the gondola and I arrived safely onto land where I watched my dvd and finally felt relieved that I had did it and that it was all over.

I will never bungy again. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I loved but will never ever do again. I got my free t-shirt and I splurged on a cute sweatshirt and that's it. 8 seconds of freefall is a loooong time.

On a completely different note, before I left Wanaka I went to this place called Puzzle World. It is full of optical illusions but the best part is that the cafe had all of these mind games that we could do. So I sat there with my cup of coffee and played all of these great games. It reminded me of going to Northhampton and playing in the toy store there. Good times.

ps...I bungy jumped!!! Who would have thought I would ever do that? No worries. The rest of this trip will be spent with my feet planted on the ground (until I fly to Fiji).

Monday, February 13, 2006

Wanaka update and random pics

There really isn't much to do in Wanaka besides sit by the lake and enjoy the view. I did a walk around the lake which was nice. Another thing that I have done is go to the local movie theater. It is called cinema paradiso and is great. There are no movie seats, just couches and they back cookies that you can buy at intermission. That's right. Each movie has an intermission where you can chug on some free water or buy a beer. Me I just stick with the cookies. They are delicious.

There is another girl that got off of the Kiwi bus and is leaving tomorrow. Her name is Beatrice. We were talking in the kitchen today when one of the receptionists walks in and asks if either of us wants to work for accomodation today since they are understaffed. I said sure but that I had to finish my coffee first. Before she left the reception just asked my name and I told her. Then i turned to Beatrice and said that it wouldn't be the first time I worked for accomodation, I had done it in Wellington at Base Backpackers. Beatrice's eyes lit up and she said "So you're the Elyse!" I was a little confused. She explained that she had worked for accomodation at Base right after I left and that everyone had kept on asking her if she knew me. Apparently they talked about me and told her my plans and everything. And every time she met someone knew they asked if she knew elyse. Hahah it even turns out that when we were in Franz Josef someone asked if she knew me! In Germany there is a drinking song that has the chorus "Who the F* is Alice?" Beatrice is German and as she was relaying to me how popular I was she ended by singing the chorus of the song. We both laughed a lot and then I thanked her for giving my ego a huge boost. We then started talking about the people back in Wellington and it turns out my window war guy is still in Wellington and still closing the window every night.

I leave Wanaka tomorrow and head for Queenstown. Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world so use your imaginations to figure out what I am going to there! (Hint: I haven't done it before). After Queenstown I will see penguins and take lots of pictures I swear. Here are just some pics from the last couple of months. Peace out!





My Christmas Card for next year.







Ed and Kirstee

The view from my tent at the first camp site that I stayed at for a night.

My tent at my campsite in Napier where I stayed for two weeks

The beach in Napier where I soaked up the sun

Mike from the tent pegs story

The first Mainfreight truck that gave me a free ride to Auckland for the Big Day Out

Me feeling very excited and wicked cool that I am going to ride in the front of a truck

Sunday, February 12, 2006

A glacier in a rainforest

Before I could walk on the glacier I had to get to it. On the way from Greymouth to the Franz Josef glacier there is a place called Cape Foulwind. After about a 20 minute walk around the cape not only did I find a sign letting me know that I am never really that far from home but I also found a fur seal colony. This is just one of the pics I took but it gives you an idea. The seals just chill on these rocks that are surrounded by beach and the Tasman Sea.

After we saw the seals just chillin by the sea we (the bus) got jealous and decided to chill out on a little alcove beach for a bit. It was pretty nice and basically epitomizes my trip, I walk and I sit on beaches.



Once we were on our way past the fur seal colony we stopped for a night at Lake Mahinipua. There is nothing at this lake besides a pub with an 80 year old named Les who loves the Kiwi bus and for the past 20 years has let them stay there and cook them a bbq. Every night is a different theme for the bar. Our theme was guys in drag girls in trash bags. Needless to say the whole point of the night was to take advantage of the great drink deals (I got a free pitcher for doing the dishes after the bbq). It was pretty fun. I met these three girls while there and we had a good time. Belinda, the girl that has low cost written all over her, did the glacier hike with me.

Still not to the glacier yet. Before we got to Franz Josef we stopped at a place called the Bushman's Center. It's basically a place dedicated to honoring the hunters of NZ. NZ has no native mammals. All mammals that are here currently, like deer, were introduced by the English settlers in the 1800s. Deer are actually a pest in NZ since they eat the natural vegetation and destroy the balance. So it became legal in the 70s to openly hunt deer. After awhile the bushman realized that there was money in deer meat and decided to start deer farms. Now instead of killing the deer they just had to capture them. Before net guns were invented they captured the deer by chasing them with a helicopter and having the passenger in the helicopter jump out of the copter and onto the deer. It sounds a little barbaric but it was also really braveto jump out of a copter. Anyway at the center they have a wild boar. He was pretty tame but his teeth are wicked sharp.

Now onto the glacier. I was very nervous about doing a glacier hike. The full day hike takes 8 hours with about 6 hours of ice time. The extent of me actually walking for 8 hours straight is nil so I was a little worried if I could do it. But the motto for this trip is go big or go home so I signed up for the full day hike. It was completely worth it. The interesting thing about the franz josef glacier is that it is one of only three glaciers in the world that is situated in a rain forest. Fox glacier is another one, which is only 26km from franz and the last one is somewhere in South America so this hike was very unique. Franz Josef is also moving at its fastest rate in 10 years. So basically I walked on this moving thing and I paid for my guides to carve out steps so we could climb up it. When I get home I can explain better how a glacier winds up in a rain forest. The gist is that since the Southern Alps are on the west coast of NZ they cause the clouds to have to move over them to get into the middle of NZ. For clouds to get higher they have to dump rain, hence the rain forest. When the get even higher the rain turns to snow and this snow gets compacted into the valley causing the glacier to be created and sustained for thousands and thousands of years. So basically you look to one side and there is this huge block of ice and when you look to the other side there is this huge beautiful rain forest. This oddity made it possible for me to hike a glacier in shorts. When we were starting out it was hot and by the time we made it to the highest we were going to go, which turned out to be around 450 meters, it was cold and windy. And by the time we started to walk back down the glacier the wind had turned warm again. It was definetely a surreal experience.

Once we were on the glacier our guide took us to these narrow crevices. We all climbed in and shimmied along and then climbed back out. It was amazing to realize that I was completely surrounded by ice. And when I say these crevices were narrow I mean that we had to turn sideways to get through them.

I have lost a little weight since I have been in NZ. Because of this, my pants started to droop as we were walking along. At one point my shorts, which at first ended at my knees, were now ending at mid shin. I didn't have time to stop and fix them so I just kept going. Well to get out of one of the crevices you had to basically stradle the hole and take a big step up with your right leg. I did it and heard a rip. Yep that's right. I tore a hole in the crotch of my pants while on a glacier. No it wasn't breezy. Luckily no one noticed since we were all too busy worrying about falling on the ice and subsequently down

deep crevices. Walking on the glacier was definetly on of my top experiences while in NZ. Theres so much more to write about it but I think it will be conveyed better when I am at home and explain it in person.

I am now in Lake Wanaka. I am going to spend a

few nights here since there are some walks around the lake that I want to do. Also I am planning on letting my legs rehab from the climbing of the glacier for a couple of days and just enjoy the lake by way of the beach. Since I found a place that can post pics I will post some pics from the past couple of months too. So enjoy the glacier pics and look foward to some random pics. I miss you all!!

Monday, February 06, 2006

Nelson and beyond

The only thing semi productive that I did in Nelson was to call Tania. Tania is the sister of one of the truck drivers that I got a ride with. He gave me her number before I left him. When I called I just asked Tania if she had any suggestions of what I should go see. She wound up picking me up and showing me some beaches that I wouldn't be able to see without a car. I then went back to her house and had a bbq with her and her family. I am consistently amazed at the friendliness of Kiwis. I am also amazed at how I didn't hesitate to call Tania. Back home I would have never called. It's just too random and awkward and she would have been suspicious of why I was calling. But traveling on my own I am looking for any chance to meet more people. And even though I am traveling alone, I never really am alone. There are always people around and it's just whether I choose to talk to them or not.

Anyway, the next day I hopped on the Kiwi bus. The first stop was the Abel Tasman National Park. I laid on the golden sand beach and watched the speed boats and kayekers. I have been on a lot of beaches lately and for good reason. The farthest point between land and beack in NZ is 130km. Since I have been traveling around the coasts I am always within walking distance of a beach. After Abel Tasman we stopped for the night in Westport. Since I have the time I stayed an extra night there. There isn't too much to do in Westport but I did walk to where the Buller Gorge River meets the Tasman Sea. It was a pretty great view. There were beach and mountains all in one view.

Mountains. The thing about mountains is that the bus has to drive up and over or around them. That means the trip is full of windy roads. That views are amazing but my stomach isn't impressed. It feels like a prolonged roller coaster (minus my screaming). I thought I had finally outgrew my motion sickness but I think I got it for life. I might actually have to break down and buy motion sickness pills. I do not want to be the girl who threw up on the bus.

Today I got back on the bus and left Westport. We did a walk on Cape Foulwind which has a natural fur seal colony. So at around 10 this morning I got to see seals in there natural habitat. Pretty cool. (Man I have the life). And if you are wondering where the pics are, the comps I am using lately can't upload them so it looks like you'll have to wait a bit.

The south island mentality is kind of like the mentality of the south of the US. Everything is a little slower and the towns are a lot smaller. Mullets are in abundance and their accents are different from the North Island. NZ has 4 million people total. Of that only 1 million live in the south so things are really spread out.

I hopped off the bus again to stay a night in Greymouth. It's basically the last stop before I hit the boonies of the South Island. The next stop is Lake Manipua, which has an 80 year old ex pro rugby player and that's about it. The kiwi bus riders are the only people that visit it. After a night there I am heading to the Franz Josef Glacier. That's right, within three days I will be walking on a glacier! I am very excited because I can basically guarantee that walking on a glacier will be a once in a lifetime experience. After Franz Josef I head to lake Wanaka. There are some walks that I want to do there so I am planning on spending a couple of days. After Wanaka is Queenstown. I am pretty sure that I won't have internet access until Wanaka or Queenstown. (Don't worry mom I am pretty sure my phone will have reception).

So this is good bye for a week or so, this time not self imposed but location imposed. Feel free to comment amongst yourselves while I am gone!!

Friday, February 03, 2006

And another thing about the wine tour...

New Zealand doesn't believe in screens for their windows or doors. It is perfectly normal for birds to be walking and flying around shops and such. Well at one of the wineries we were about to leave and I felt something in my hair. My hair is down past my shoulders now and I am still getting used to it so I thought it was just a bug. I could feel my hair moving around around a lot so I put my arm up and shook my hair...no lie...out flew a bird! It was a small bird but a bird nonetheless and me being in a wine induced mood just started saying a "a bird just flew out of my hair," in a high pitched voice. It was pretty funny and I can't believe I forgot about it last time I wrote.

I leave Nelson tomorrow. The hostel I stayed in was real nice. It had free breakfast and coffee (instant but I'm learning to love it). It also had a pool, sauna, and hot tub. It's like club med for backpackers. I talked to a lot of different people too. It's nice that I have been traveling for four months because now I can share my stories with the other travelers. Before when I first started out I listened a lot and I was jealous of the stories that I didn't have yetm but now I think I have some pretty good ones that I love to share.

Tomorrow I go back on the Kiwi bus. The first stop is a place called Westport. I know nothing about it except that it is an old mining town. I am going to stay there for a couple of days and check it out.

This weekend is Waitangi weekend. The Waitangi treaty basically was the treaty that had the indigienous people, the Maoris, sign over the land to the British. The treaty is much desputed because the treaty that was sign by the Maori was written in there native language, Maori. But when the treaty was translated to English some key words changed and gave the Brits more control (total control). The way the Maoris are portrayed to the tourists and the way that the Kiwis I have met think of the Maoris are completely different. There is an underlying racism that most non Maori kiwis have of the Maoris. I would love to write more but my time is up and the space bar is acting funny, mainly its running off on its own. Peace out