Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Things that happened while I was gone
A house blew up. Seriously. A house about two blocks from mine blew up a few weeks ago. Turns out there was a crack in the gas main under the sidewalk in front of the house and it leaked in and boom! Thankfully no-one was hurt as the homeowners were out, but their poor cat died.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Back Home
I'm home, and pretty much over my jet-lag. I'm going to be updating my travel diary over the next few days in chronological order, so scroll down (or check the blog if you're getting an RSS feed) and find them on the day I actually wrote them in my low-tech spiral notebook, now lovingly transcribed for posterity's sake.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Day 26
Wednesday Feb 20 - my longest Wednesday ever!
Woke up at 7:30 to find out that Jess had spent the night after her fall sleeping on the floor. I did final packing and then headed down to have the last breakfast of the tour: peanut butter and butter and nutella sandwich and a cup of tea. I'm really not eating healthily on this trip :) Ronnie, Norrie, and Andrea were also at breakfast and Ronnie gave Susan and me going-away presents. Susan got a paua shell pen and I got a sheep and sheepdog tic-tac-toe set. It's adorable. Ronnie is one of the nicest people I've ever met, with a wicked sense of humour once you get to know him. Norrie's a love also. I'm so glad they were on the tour with us.
When everyone finally emerged and ate we piled into the van to head for Auckland and the airport, where Susan and I would be dropped off for our flight to LA. Along the way Sarah M. Kier, and I were in the same row and ended up snuggled together under a beach towel. While we were chatting Steve-o turned off the main highway to go someplace special because I had been disappointed that since the itinerary changed I missed the Cadbury factory in Dunedin. We went to Candyland! It's a candy store/factory somewhere between Raglan and Auckland. The girls had fabulous time shopping for all sorts of sweets. I got lots of candy and lollipops, and Sarah M. stocked up on the local equivalent of pixy stix. We spent the remainder of the drive trying to make out tongues go different colours. She was blue, I was orange, and Susan was pink. The store was super cheap and I walked away with lots of candy for only 10 dollars. One last group picture and we were on our way. We pulled into the airport at about 2 and said goodbye to everyone as they were heading on to Auckland to disperse from there. Lots of hugs, and I think even a tear from Susan.
We were really early for our flight, which was at 6, but with Steve-o at the helm early is way better than the alternative :) We paid our departure tax (New Zealand charges $25 to leave the country - kind of like the toll to leave New Jersey) and then plunked ourselves down in front of the check-in counter to wait for the Air Pacific people to show up. A really nice security guy came by to make sure all our liquids were in a ziploc bag and at 3 the counters opened. Our check-in guy was really slow but nice, he gave us exit row seats and let our bags through even though they were slightly over the weight limit. We had three hours to kill but the Auckland airport is really nice with lots of stores, so we had fun. I was on a quest to get a free New Zealand baseball cap from the Regency Duty-Free store, since I had clipped a coupon for it when I arrived in New Zealand. The first Regency was out of stock but the second, past security, had two left. They had to go find them since evidently the promotion had been canceled and most stores were completely out of stock. So I bought some chocolate and got my hat. The flight to Nadi was only about half full, so Susan and I spread out and we got our own rows. Dinner was delicious - a fish filet stirfried with vermicelli and ginger sauce, cold rice salad, and a pavlova. When we got to Fiji (still hot and humid) we had about an hour or so and then onto an Air New Zealand flight to LA. If given the choice I would fly Air Pacific any day over Air New Zealand - the flight attendants are nicer, the food is better, and planes are better as well. We had a pretty dinky plane (2-3-2 seats) and only a large screen up front to watch "Balls of Fury" (again) on. And the flight attendants were snippy. Oh well, I managed to sleep for about 6 or seven hours, and since we crossed the International Dateline we landed in LA 4 hours before taking off in Auckland. Susan and I made it to the hotel, collapsed for a few hours, and then headed down to the fancy restaurant (because we couldn't be bothered to expend the energy to find anywhere else) for a nice dinner. Then back to the room to spread out on luxuriously sized (double) beds and both conked out by 7:30. Tomorrow we part ways and fly home.
Woke up at 7:30 to find out that Jess had spent the night after her fall sleeping on the floor. I did final packing and then headed down to have the last breakfast of the tour: peanut butter and butter and nutella sandwich and a cup of tea. I'm really not eating healthily on this trip :) Ronnie, Norrie, and Andrea were also at breakfast and Ronnie gave Susan and me going-away presents. Susan got a paua shell pen and I got a sheep and sheepdog tic-tac-toe set. It's adorable. Ronnie is one of the nicest people I've ever met, with a wicked sense of humour once you get to know him. Norrie's a love also. I'm so glad they were on the tour with us.
When everyone finally emerged and ate we piled into the van to head for Auckland and the airport, where Susan and I would be dropped off for our flight to LA. Along the way Sarah M. Kier, and I were in the same row and ended up snuggled together under a beach towel. While we were chatting Steve-o turned off the main highway to go someplace special because I had been disappointed that since the itinerary changed I missed the Cadbury factory in Dunedin. We went to Candyland! It's a candy store/factory somewhere between Raglan and Auckland. The girls had fabulous time shopping for all sorts of sweets. I got lots of candy and lollipops, and Sarah M. stocked up on the local equivalent of pixy stix. We spent the remainder of the drive trying to make out tongues go different colours. She was blue, I was orange, and Susan was pink. The store was super cheap and I walked away with lots of candy for only 10 dollars. One last group picture and we were on our way. We pulled into the airport at about 2 and said goodbye to everyone as they were heading on to Auckland to disperse from there. Lots of hugs, and I think even a tear from Susan.
We were really early for our flight, which was at 6, but with Steve-o at the helm early is way better than the alternative :) We paid our departure tax (New Zealand charges $25 to leave the country - kind of like the toll to leave New Jersey) and then plunked ourselves down in front of the check-in counter to wait for the Air Pacific people to show up. A really nice security guy came by to make sure all our liquids were in a ziploc bag and at 3 the counters opened. Our check-in guy was really slow but nice, he gave us exit row seats and let our bags through even though they were slightly over the weight limit. We had three hours to kill but the Auckland airport is really nice with lots of stores, so we had fun. I was on a quest to get a free New Zealand baseball cap from the Regency Duty-Free store, since I had clipped a coupon for it when I arrived in New Zealand. The first Regency was out of stock but the second, past security, had two left. They had to go find them since evidently the promotion had been canceled and most stores were completely out of stock. So I bought some chocolate and got my hat. The flight to Nadi was only about half full, so Susan and I spread out and we got our own rows. Dinner was delicious - a fish filet stirfried with vermicelli and ginger sauce, cold rice salad, and a pavlova. When we got to Fiji (still hot and humid) we had about an hour or so and then onto an Air New Zealand flight to LA. If given the choice I would fly Air Pacific any day over Air New Zealand - the flight attendants are nicer, the food is better, and planes are better as well. We had a pretty dinky plane (2-3-2 seats) and only a large screen up front to watch "Balls of Fury" (again) on. And the flight attendants were snippy. Oh well, I managed to sleep for about 6 or seven hours, and since we crossed the International Dateline we landed in LA 4 hours before taking off in Auckland. Susan and I made it to the hotel, collapsed for a few hours, and then headed down to the fancy restaurant (because we couldn't be bothered to expend the energy to find anywhere else) for a nice dinner. Then back to the room to spread out on luxuriously sized (double) beds and both conked out by 7:30. Tomorrow we part ways and fly home.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Day 25
Tuesday, Feb 19
Woke up at 8 am - Steve-o had just left to go surfing and get bread (I have no idea in which order). I had leftover BBQ pork and rice for breakfast, which was surprisingly delicious, and a feijoa smoothie. We loaded the van and waited to see where to next. We headed out to see Steve's dad's house, then to downtown to wander for about an hour. I window-shopped and found a card that was one of a set of pictures that I fell in love with in Wellington but didn't buy. So now I'll be able to frame this one. We then got on the road to Raglan, which was supposed to take 3 1/2 hours but ended up taking about 5 - partially road construction, partially having to change a tire on the trailer. Along the way we stopped at a place that Steve-o said that white people used to herd Maori and make them stampede over a cliff.
We got to Raglan, home of some of the best surfing in the world according to Steve-o, and went shopping for BBQ food as the lodge had a grill. Sarah w. and I split a box of burgers (I ended up eating 2, she had 4) and I also got a green salad as by this time my body is beginning to crave veggies. We all took turns grilling our food and I also had the last of my second bottle of smoothie. Sat on the deck and chatted, then back to the room to do final packing for the flight back to LA tomorrow. My biggest task - making sure that each bag doesn't go over the weight limit. Wandered back out about 10:30 and the drinking games were beginning - this one was called Ring of Fire. I headed up to take a shower instead. The showers here are weird. You have to have two taps going in order for the hot water to work, so if there's only one person in the shower you have to have the water running in one of the sinks as well or you'd only get cold water. I ended up back in the room chatting with Andrea and Susan then to bed on my cool loft bunk at about midnight. I woke up slightly at 3:30 to a loud thump. I thought Jess had tripped going up the bunk ladder so I went back to sleep, but it turns out that she actually fell completely off the top bunk onto her head so hard that Norrie two rooms away was woken up. Susan and Andrea got up to see if she was okay since she didn't move for about 5-10 seconds after the fall. Susan thinks she might have given herself a mild concussion (to go along with the Vietnamese water parasite worms - long story) and stayed up most of the rest of the night to make sure she was okay. Jess really does seem to have the worst luck, even though tonight was mainly due to her being amazingly drunk (again). The t-shirt she was given by Ronnie and Norrie really does epitomize her.
Woke up at 8 am - Steve-o had just left to go surfing and get bread (I have no idea in which order). I had leftover BBQ pork and rice for breakfast, which was surprisingly delicious, and a feijoa smoothie. We loaded the van and waited to see where to next. We headed out to see Steve's dad's house, then to downtown to wander for about an hour. I window-shopped and found a card that was one of a set of pictures that I fell in love with in Wellington but didn't buy. So now I'll be able to frame this one. We then got on the road to Raglan, which was supposed to take 3 1/2 hours but ended up taking about 5 - partially road construction, partially having to change a tire on the trailer. Along the way we stopped at a place that Steve-o said that white people used to herd Maori and make them stampede over a cliff.
We got to Raglan, home of some of the best surfing in the world according to Steve-o, and went shopping for BBQ food as the lodge had a grill. Sarah w. and I split a box of burgers (I ended up eating 2, she had 4) and I also got a green salad as by this time my body is beginning to crave veggies. We all took turns grilling our food and I also had the last of my second bottle of smoothie. Sat on the deck and chatted, then back to the room to do final packing for the flight back to LA tomorrow. My biggest task - making sure that each bag doesn't go over the weight limit. Wandered back out about 10:30 and the drinking games were beginning - this one was called Ring of Fire. I headed up to take a shower instead. The showers here are weird. You have to have two taps going in order for the hot water to work, so if there's only one person in the shower you have to have the water running in one of the sinks as well or you'd only get cold water. I ended up back in the room chatting with Andrea and Susan then to bed on my cool loft bunk at about midnight. I woke up slightly at 3:30 to a loud thump. I thought Jess had tripped going up the bunk ladder so I went back to sleep, but it turns out that she actually fell completely off the top bunk onto her head so hard that Norrie two rooms away was woken up. Susan and Andrea got up to see if she was okay since she didn't move for about 5-10 seconds after the fall. Susan thinks she might have given herself a mild concussion (to go along with the Vietnamese water parasite worms - long story) and stayed up most of the rest of the night to make sure she was okay. Jess really does seem to have the worst luck, even though tonight was mainly due to her being amazingly drunk (again). The t-shirt she was given by Ronnie and Norrie really does epitomize her.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Day 24
Monday, February 18
Turns out that yesterday Steve-o said to meet back at 1 pm (yesterday) and he'd take people around the city if they wanted. Well, Fran, Joe, and Sarah W. showed up at 1 (a little late) and no Steve-o. They waiting a really long time for him to show up, which he never did. Turns out he met up with some friends and spent the with them - then came back to the hostel much later on bragging about how much beer he'd drunk with them. Not impressive.
We all decided to come back to the hostel at 1 pm to see if Jess is back from the High Commission.Susan and I headed out to the shops - she wanted to go to the Billabong store and I wanted to go to a design store (Beckon) she had found the day before to get an envirosak. We wandered and windowshopped, stopping at Civic Square to see Fringe HQ (two little sheds). Got back to the hostel at i and Jess had her new passport. Susan and I ran accross the street to HK Barbeque to grab some lunch for the road (some kind of home-style noodle dish for her, fried rice and pork for me) and then back to the van to get on the road to New Plymouth. Including occasional bathroom break, it took a little over 5 hours. We got to New Plymouth and ended up at the Edgmont Eco-lodge - really far away from the centre of town, but cute. It's like summer camp - we have cabins with 10 beds each and the bathroom are in one seperate building and the showers are in another. The boys immediately started playing soccer (football) in the field outside the cabins. Kieran has actually spent his life playing semi-pro football, so he was in his element. The girl's were getting ready (including Vickie and Jess in full 80's flourescent getup) and after the game we drove into town for all-you-can eat Chinese buffet. I was still full from my lunch and just had tea and bits of Ed's dessert. It looked like pretty appalling westernized Chinese food so I don't think I missed much. We then headed off to Woolworths to stock up on chocolate (okay, the chocolate was just me). Steve-o, even though we asked for bread for breakfast, did not get any. Back to the lodge for a shower and a nice night in reading in bed. Ronnie and Norrie's snoring drove Kieran and Sarah into the other cabin - thank goodness for earplugs.
Turns out that yesterday Steve-o said to meet back at 1 pm (yesterday) and he'd take people around the city if they wanted. Well, Fran, Joe, and Sarah W. showed up at 1 (a little late) and no Steve-o. They waiting a really long time for him to show up, which he never did. Turns out he met up with some friends and spent the with them - then came back to the hostel much later on bragging about how much beer he'd drunk with them. Not impressive.
We all decided to come back to the hostel at 1 pm to see if Jess is back from the High Commission.Susan and I headed out to the shops - she wanted to go to the Billabong store and I wanted to go to a design store (Beckon) she had found the day before to get an envirosak. We wandered and windowshopped, stopping at Civic Square to see Fringe HQ (two little sheds). Got back to the hostel at i and Jess had her new passport. Susan and I ran accross the street to HK Barbeque to grab some lunch for the road (some kind of home-style noodle dish for her, fried rice and pork for me) and then back to the van to get on the road to New Plymouth. Including occasional bathroom break, it took a little over 5 hours. We got to New Plymouth and ended up at the Edgmont Eco-lodge - really far away from the centre of town, but cute. It's like summer camp - we have cabins with 10 beds each and the bathroom are in one seperate building and the showers are in another. The boys immediately started playing soccer (football) in the field outside the cabins. Kieran has actually spent his life playing semi-pro football, so he was in his element. The girl's were getting ready (including Vickie and Jess in full 80's flourescent getup) and after the game we drove into town for all-you-can eat Chinese buffet. I was still full from my lunch and just had tea and bits of Ed's dessert. It looked like pretty appalling westernized Chinese food so I don't think I missed much. We then headed off to Woolworths to stock up on chocolate (okay, the chocolate was just me). Steve-o, even though we asked for bread for breakfast, did not get any. Back to the lodge for a shower and a nice night in reading in bed. Ronnie and Norrie's snoring drove Kieran and Sarah into the other cabin - thank goodness for earplugs.
Day 23
Sunday Feb 17
Woke up at 8:45 to find that there was still no breakfast, even though Steve-o said that it would be there at 8:00. Got down to the kitchen at about 9:15 and there was some breakfast stuff there, but no nutella (boo!). I headed out to see Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand, but got distracted by a really nice farmer's market in the lot right next to it. After looking arund at all the nice fruit I headed to the grocery store to buy more feijoa smoothie and Timtams. After dropping stuff off back at the hostel I headed back to Te Papa, intending to have a quick look around. Instead I spent around 2 hours. It's a pretty great museum. I then wandered up Cuba Street and went to Satay Palace for roti chennai with lamb curry for dinner. Wellington is truly the city of authentic Malaysian restaurants. I then headed down Manners Mall and inadvertently across on Lambton Quay, ending up at Parliament. Then around and down the way I came. At one point I actually thought I had gotten turned around because all the stores started repeating themselves. Back to the hostel to get ready for the Wellington Fringe Festival show "Around the World on 80 Quid" I made a silly mistake and thought I had read the start time as 6:30, so that's what I told Norrie (who decided to go to the play too) and I said I'd meet him there. He got there at 6:05 and I got there and 6:10 and the play had started at 6:00. We both managed to get in and not miss too much. It was cute and Fringe-y and at times I could barely understand the performer, his Irish accent was so thick. It was only an hour long, so when we got back to the hostel in time to go for dinner. Andrea had suggested a Maori restaurant called "Kai in the City". Susan, Ronnie, Andrea, and I headed out to find the place (it was only a couple of blocks away) but when we got there we found out that it was closed for the night for some reason. We ended up at HK Barbeque - Ronnie and Susan to have bubble tea to go, and Andrea and I to sit down for dinner. Roast pork and duck over rice - yum. We had a nice chat and then bought charity chocolate at the till. When we got back we all decided that we all wanted to stay in Wellington as long as it took for Jess to get to the UK High Commission and get a new passport, or at least get the gears moving, even though Steve-o had told some people that he wanted to get on the road early. We didn't really care that he wanted to spend more time with his mates in the next place (that's what I heard he wanted to leave early for, anyway) - Jess's situation is more important, and if we're going to be delayed anywhere Wellington is a great place to kill some time.
Woke up at 8:45 to find that there was still no breakfast, even though Steve-o said that it would be there at 8:00. Got down to the kitchen at about 9:15 and there was some breakfast stuff there, but no nutella (boo!). I headed out to see Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand, but got distracted by a really nice farmer's market in the lot right next to it. After looking arund at all the nice fruit I headed to the grocery store to buy more feijoa smoothie and Timtams. After dropping stuff off back at the hostel I headed back to Te Papa, intending to have a quick look around. Instead I spent around 2 hours. It's a pretty great museum. I then wandered up Cuba Street and went to Satay Palace for roti chennai with lamb curry for dinner. Wellington is truly the city of authentic Malaysian restaurants. I then headed down Manners Mall and inadvertently across on Lambton Quay, ending up at Parliament. Then around and down the way I came. At one point I actually thought I had gotten turned around because all the stores started repeating themselves. Back to the hostel to get ready for the Wellington Fringe Festival show "Around the World on 80 Quid" I made a silly mistake and thought I had read the start time as 6:30, so that's what I told Norrie (who decided to go to the play too) and I said I'd meet him there. He got there at 6:05 and I got there and 6:10 and the play had started at 6:00. We both managed to get in and not miss too much. It was cute and Fringe-y and at times I could barely understand the performer, his Irish accent was so thick. It was only an hour long, so when we got back to the hostel in time to go for dinner. Andrea had suggested a Maori restaurant called "Kai in the City". Susan, Ronnie, Andrea, and I headed out to find the place (it was only a couple of blocks away) but when we got there we found out that it was closed for the night for some reason. We ended up at HK Barbeque - Ronnie and Susan to have bubble tea to go, and Andrea and I to sit down for dinner. Roast pork and duck over rice - yum. We had a nice chat and then bought charity chocolate at the till. When we got back we all decided that we all wanted to stay in Wellington as long as it took for Jess to get to the UK High Commission and get a new passport, or at least get the gears moving, even though Steve-o had told some people that he wanted to get on the road early. We didn't really care that he wanted to spend more time with his mates in the next place (that's what I heard he wanted to leave early for, anyway) - Jess's situation is more important, and if we're going to be delayed anywhere Wellington is a great place to kill some time.
Going offline, maybe
I'm about to leave Wellington, and I'm not sure what the internet situation will be in the next few places before I fly home, so this might be my last post until I get home and start updating the travel blog again. Have a great MLK Day, for those of you in the States!
EDITED: I mean President's Day. Evidently American holidays confuse me.
EDITED: I mean President's Day. Evidently American holidays confuse me.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Day 22
Saturday February 16
Today I am very angry. I woke up at 8 and there was no Steve-o telling us the swimming was on, so I went back to sleep assuming it was off because the weather was so crappy. I woke up again at 8:30 and bumped in Susan in the bathroom and asked her if she had heard anything. She said no, and I crawled back into bed. I was woken up by Susan about 15 minutes later saying that the swimming was on and that we were supposed to have been at the Centre 20 minutes ago. Turns out the Steve-o had left his phone in one of the bedrooms and proceeded to go out and get stinking drunk the previous evening, coming home at about 6:30 still drunk, and according to someone on the tour, still drinking. His phone had been ringing all morning but since he didn't have it he didn't answer it. And he was too drunk to wake up and check with the Dolphin people. Susan found him fast asleep at 8:40 and he said he lost his phone and made her phone the Dolphin Encounters people, who were very nice. They gave us 10 minutes to get down there - they had been trying to get a hold of Steve-o since 8:00. She went around and woke us all up and we all scrambled to get ready and packed (as the van was going to have to be loaded up while we were gone). Steve basically told Susan that we'd better get ourselves down there - he had no intention of driving us even though we had no idea where it was. He finally got into the van but was way to drunk to drive so Steve (Baby Whale) had to drive with Steve-o calling out half asleep and totally pissed directions from the back seat. We made it to the Centre with just enough time to get into our wetsuits snorkels and onto the buses, missing the training and safety video (Steve-o's only response to that when told later was "good thing you didn't have to watch the boring film"). When the buses pulled out to go to the wharf Susan noticed that the van was gone, so Steve-o must have driven it back to the hostel - good thing no-one else was in there with him. I tried to get over being angry because I wanted to enjoy the trip. We were split up into three boats with 13 swimmers on each, plus spectators. Then we cruised around for about 1/2 looking for dolphins. The ride was a blast - the water was really choppy, so the boat was bouncing all over the place, like an amusement park ride. We found a pod and jumped into the water. It was rainy and cool, but the water was surprisingly warm - about 17-18 degrees (Celsius). I found myself panicking a bit with breathing through the the snorkel, so that round was was more about me getting used to breathing and the mask than the dolphins. We got back on the boat and circled around to the front of the pod again and went back into the water. This time I really enjoyed seeing all the dolphins around me - we were supposed to hum or sing and entertain the dolphins so they would hang come to see us. After some random noisemaking I settled on "Mairsy Doats" for some reason and sung my little heart out. We went into the water four times and each time the dolphins came closer. At one point I turned around and there was a dolphin eye about one foot from my face. They move so fast in the water - they were gliding all around us. I wanted to touch them, but wasn't sure if it was allowed (see - watching the film would have been useful!). Norrie said later that he actually held on to a dorsal fin for a second. It was so cool being so close to dolphins (and snorkling was fun too). After our last swim we came back on board and stripped off our wetsuits and wrapped ourselves in warm blankets and had hot chocolate and gingernut cookies while taking pictures of the dolphins through the rain. They were leaping all over the place. Hopefully my underwater camera took good pictures.
We got back to the hostel (a fairly long walk in the rain as Steve-o was certainly not there to collect us)to find that the others on the tour had packed up the stuff people didn't have time to pack in the frantic rush of the morning and gotten everything loaded onto the trailer. Everyone was upstairs in the TV room watching "Coronation Street" (I think possibly the only show on the air in New Zealand). Steve-o was sacked out behind the couch. We were all pretty annoyed about how unprofessional he was that morning - being drunk, not being able to take a call he knew he was expecting almost making us miss an activity, making Susan do his job, not being able or willing to drive us there, and not even being in any way apologetic for his actions. Steve-o said we were going to head out right away for Picton, but even an idiot could see he was still drunk even though he said he was fine and was acting like nothing had happened. Sarfah M, Kieran, Norrie, and Ronnie and I were of the opinion that we did not want to get into a vehicle with him driving. Kieran told him he would drive and it didn't take much insisting to make Steve-o agree. Add that to something we were annoyed about - Steve-o not being able to to his job and one of us having to drive for him - now and earlier this morning. We all got in the van and Kieran drove off. We stopped at a seal colony (one seal) and then for lunch at a place called "The Store". I had had a peanut butter and jam sandwich when we got back because I was starving, so didn't need any lunch. Then we pushed on to Picton - Kieran was a great driver. By that time it was about 4 pm and Steve was sober, so he took over to get us to the ferry. We stopped at the town centre until it was time to board, and I passed Steve-o on the street at one point and he asked how I was and I told him I was annoyed and proceeded to tell him what I thought of his behavior that day. He tried to defend himself at first instead of acknowleging any error on his part. He said that he had gone above and beyond the call of duty plenty of times on the trip and that he's been working his ass off etc... and can't he get cut some slack for one mistake. I said yeas he had, but it doesn't excuse him not doing his actual job - which he was paid to do etc.... I also told him he was unprofessional that morning being too drunk to drive and making Susan do his his work and that an apology would be appreciated. He grudgingly said "Sorry Dena". I told him it would be nice to apologize to the whole group. I don't think he did, though. We got in line for the ferry, and since Andrea flew up to Wellington instead of coming with us to Kaikoura the ferry lady said he was due a refund of $45, which he didn't bother to take. We figure that would have been his payment for the crayfish right there, so oh well... The ferry was pretty small compared to the one we took south. Ronnie, Norrie, Fran, Susan and I sat on the top deck playing silly drawing games and watching Susan fold origami. The voyage was pretty rough and even I was feeling a bit queasy. Thankfully Ronnie had worked on cruise ships and was able to tell us where the best part of the ship was to sit to combat seasickness (the rear looking out past the ship).
We arrived at Wellington a bit after 9 and went to Base Wellington, which is the crappiest of the bases. A out-of-order elevator, some out-of-order toilets, and the last time we stayed there Fran and Jess had items stolen out the shower (underwear and money, respectively).Anyway, Jess was taking a shower before meeting up with a friend and someone stole her bag out of the shower with all her credit cards, money, and passport. I saw her running down the stairs to reception crying. Steve-o was doen there and basically said "Bummer" (well, the kiwi equivalent thereof). He told us what room he was in and that he'd probably be out all night with friends. Basically no help at all. The rest of us scoured the hostel looking in trashcans and bathrooms and around the outside to see if maybe the thief had dumped the bag anywhere (no). Jess called the police to file a report and her parents to help her cancel her cards and call the consulate. Not much more we could do tonight, and tomorrow is Sunday, so off to bed. All in all, a pretty downbeat day (except for dolphins!).
If it sounds like I'm being really hard on Steve-o, I was pretty mad today - mostly at him and also at the fact that his actions today made me take another look at how the trip's been run so far and the other times that we've been late for things or there's been no breakfast and such and re-evaluate how I felt about the trip, which really annoys me.
Today I am very angry. I woke up at 8 and there was no Steve-o telling us the swimming was on, so I went back to sleep assuming it was off because the weather was so crappy. I woke up again at 8:30 and bumped in Susan in the bathroom and asked her if she had heard anything. She said no, and I crawled back into bed. I was woken up by Susan about 15 minutes later saying that the swimming was on and that we were supposed to have been at the Centre 20 minutes ago. Turns out the Steve-o had left his phone in one of the bedrooms and proceeded to go out and get stinking drunk the previous evening, coming home at about 6:30 still drunk, and according to someone on the tour, still drinking. His phone had been ringing all morning but since he didn't have it he didn't answer it. And he was too drunk to wake up and check with the Dolphin people. Susan found him fast asleep at 8:40 and he said he lost his phone and made her phone the Dolphin Encounters people, who were very nice. They gave us 10 minutes to get down there - they had been trying to get a hold of Steve-o since 8:00. She went around and woke us all up and we all scrambled to get ready and packed (as the van was going to have to be loaded up while we were gone). Steve basically told Susan that we'd better get ourselves down there - he had no intention of driving us even though we had no idea where it was. He finally got into the van but was way to drunk to drive so Steve (Baby Whale) had to drive with Steve-o calling out half asleep and totally pissed directions from the back seat. We made it to the Centre with just enough time to get into our wetsuits snorkels and onto the buses, missing the training and safety video (Steve-o's only response to that when told later was "good thing you didn't have to watch the boring film"). When the buses pulled out to go to the wharf Susan noticed that the van was gone, so Steve-o must have driven it back to the hostel - good thing no-one else was in there with him. I tried to get over being angry because I wanted to enjoy the trip. We were split up into three boats with 13 swimmers on each, plus spectators. Then we cruised around for about 1/2 looking for dolphins. The ride was a blast - the water was really choppy, so the boat was bouncing all over the place, like an amusement park ride. We found a pod and jumped into the water. It was rainy and cool, but the water was surprisingly warm - about 17-18 degrees (Celsius). I found myself panicking a bit with breathing through the the snorkel, so that round was was more about me getting used to breathing and the mask than the dolphins. We got back on the boat and circled around to the front of the pod again and went back into the water. This time I really enjoyed seeing all the dolphins around me - we were supposed to hum or sing and entertain the dolphins so they would hang come to see us. After some random noisemaking I settled on "Mairsy Doats" for some reason and sung my little heart out. We went into the water four times and each time the dolphins came closer. At one point I turned around and there was a dolphin eye about one foot from my face. They move so fast in the water - they were gliding all around us. I wanted to touch them, but wasn't sure if it was allowed (see - watching the film would have been useful!). Norrie said later that he actually held on to a dorsal fin for a second. It was so cool being so close to dolphins (and snorkling was fun too). After our last swim we came back on board and stripped off our wetsuits and wrapped ourselves in warm blankets and had hot chocolate and gingernut cookies while taking pictures of the dolphins through the rain. They were leaping all over the place. Hopefully my underwater camera took good pictures.
We got back to the hostel (a fairly long walk in the rain as Steve-o was certainly not there to collect us)to find that the others on the tour had packed up the stuff people didn't have time to pack in the frantic rush of the morning and gotten everything loaded onto the trailer. Everyone was upstairs in the TV room watching "Coronation Street" (I think possibly the only show on the air in New Zealand). Steve-o was sacked out behind the couch. We were all pretty annoyed about how unprofessional he was that morning - being drunk, not being able to take a call he knew he was expecting almost making us miss an activity, making Susan do his job, not being able or willing to drive us there, and not even being in any way apologetic for his actions. Steve-o said we were going to head out right away for Picton, but even an idiot could see he was still drunk even though he said he was fine and was acting like nothing had happened. Sarfah M, Kieran, Norrie, and Ronnie and I were of the opinion that we did not want to get into a vehicle with him driving. Kieran told him he would drive and it didn't take much insisting to make Steve-o agree. Add that to something we were annoyed about - Steve-o not being able to to his job and one of us having to drive for him - now and earlier this morning. We all got in the van and Kieran drove off. We stopped at a seal colony (one seal) and then for lunch at a place called "The Store". I had had a peanut butter and jam sandwich when we got back because I was starving, so didn't need any lunch. Then we pushed on to Picton - Kieran was a great driver. By that time it was about 4 pm and Steve was sober, so he took over to get us to the ferry. We stopped at the town centre until it was time to board, and I passed Steve-o on the street at one point and he asked how I was and I told him I was annoyed and proceeded to tell him what I thought of his behavior that day. He tried to defend himself at first instead of acknowleging any error on his part. He said that he had gone above and beyond the call of duty plenty of times on the trip and that he's been working his ass off etc... and can't he get cut some slack for one mistake. I said yeas he had, but it doesn't excuse him not doing his actual job - which he was paid to do etc.... I also told him he was unprofessional that morning being too drunk to drive and making Susan do his his work and that an apology would be appreciated. He grudgingly said "Sorry Dena". I told him it would be nice to apologize to the whole group. I don't think he did, though. We got in line for the ferry, and since Andrea flew up to Wellington instead of coming with us to Kaikoura the ferry lady said he was due a refund of $45, which he didn't bother to take. We figure that would have been his payment for the crayfish right there, so oh well... The ferry was pretty small compared to the one we took south. Ronnie, Norrie, Fran, Susan and I sat on the top deck playing silly drawing games and watching Susan fold origami. The voyage was pretty rough and even I was feeling a bit queasy. Thankfully Ronnie had worked on cruise ships and was able to tell us where the best part of the ship was to sit to combat seasickness (the rear looking out past the ship).
We arrived at Wellington a bit after 9 and went to Base Wellington, which is the crappiest of the bases. A out-of-order elevator, some out-of-order toilets, and the last time we stayed there Fran and Jess had items stolen out the shower (underwear and money, respectively).Anyway, Jess was taking a shower before meeting up with a friend and someone stole her bag out of the shower with all her credit cards, money, and passport. I saw her running down the stairs to reception crying. Steve-o was doen there and basically said "Bummer" (well, the kiwi equivalent thereof). He told us what room he was in and that he'd probably be out all night with friends. Basically no help at all. The rest of us scoured the hostel looking in trashcans and bathrooms and around the outside to see if maybe the thief had dumped the bag anywhere (no). Jess called the police to file a report and her parents to help her cancel her cards and call the consulate. Not much more we could do tonight, and tomorrow is Sunday, so off to bed. All in all, a pretty downbeat day (except for dolphins!).
If it sounds like I'm being really hard on Steve-o, I was pretty mad today - mostly at him and also at the fact that his actions today made me take another look at how the trip's been run so far and the other times that we've been late for things or there's been no breakfast and such and re-evaluate how I felt about the trip, which really annoys me.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Day 21
Friday, Feb 15
We left early today to get on the road to Kaikoura. We're supposed to swim with dolphins tomorrow but the weather is cold and rainy with a strong Southwesterly wind., which make it look like the sea will be too rough. Steve-o threw out the idea of snorkeling with seals and spearfishing, or sea kayaking or ocean fishing instead. When we actually got to Kaikoura (which means "eat crayfish" in Maori) the weather wa such that all of that got tossed out except sea kayaking. Susan, Joe, Steve, Vicky, and I decided to do that. We had a few hours before we had to meet up, so I headed down to the main street. There are some cute art galleries and a library and some bars and shops, not a lot. I really liked some of the art prints and decided to go back the next day to get some. The walk back up the hill to the hostel was pretty strenuous as it was amazingly steep. We headed back down to the i-Site for 4:30 and took off for the launch site. We're using tandem kayaks, and the stronger paddler gets to go in the back, and that person is in charge of steering with the little rudder as well. I got to go in front of Matt, on of the guides. We had to carry the kayaks down to the beach and there had been large swells the past few days and there was seaweed washed up on the shore. This is massive , beginning to decompose seaweed. We had to walk over it in barefeet or socks and that was pretty gross. Once over, however, we set off towards some seals basking on rocks. We were in a protected bay, so even though it was pretty windy and the ocean was rough it was pretty smooth for us. I figured out how to cheat at paddling by putting my hands closer together on the paddle. It made my arms ache less while paddling, but also made the strokes less powerful. We had a good time and we saw a seal playing in the water just in front of the kayak and also a cormorant. I had my waterproof camera, so I hope the photos turn out okay.
After kayaking we headed back to the hostel to shower and change and then relaxed as Ronnie, Susan, and Steve-o made a dinner of crayfish and jambalaya and soup. We were all welcome to taste it. Turns out I don't despise crayfish as mich as other crustaceans, even though I think they look repellent. I don't mind the texture that much and they only taste vaguely of the ocean. Ronnie made a magnificent cream sauce dish that was delicious. The jambalaya was way too fishy for me.
And here begins the Steve-o drama. Earlier that day he had been talking about going spearfishing to get some butterfish for dinner and maybe find some crayfish in the ocean. He stopped in at a friend's fishing charter business and came out with a bag of crayfish which he said we could all try. After dinner Susan said that he was telling her that he wanted to be reimbursed for the crayfish (he actually got them for free , but they were payment for a $40 debt the fisherman had owed him). He also complained about spending lots of money on the sashimi at the salmon farm and not getting anything back. Now, he'd only complained to Susan and a bit to Ronnie that night. We all got together afterwards and discussed the fact that he had not once said that he expected or wanted to be paid. We had thought, and he gave the impression, that it was part of the tour. I think that if someone expects to be paid back, they should mention up front - if for nothing else than that way people can decide whether they want to take part in it or not. So hearing that he was complaining to just one or two of us, and not talking to all of us, made the evening end on a bit of a downer. He also told us that the Dolphin Encounter people would be calling him at 8 am the next morning to let him know whether the swim was on for the next day. Then the young'uns and Steve-o went out partying and Susan went to bed and Kieran and Sarah M. and I curled up and watched the John Cusack movie "Identity", which freaked Sarah out so much that she didn't want to go to the bathroom alone.
We left early today to get on the road to Kaikoura. We're supposed to swim with dolphins tomorrow but the weather is cold and rainy with a strong Southwesterly wind., which make it look like the sea will be too rough. Steve-o threw out the idea of snorkeling with seals and spearfishing, or sea kayaking or ocean fishing instead. When we actually got to Kaikoura (which means "eat crayfish" in Maori) the weather wa such that all of that got tossed out except sea kayaking. Susan, Joe, Steve, Vicky, and I decided to do that. We had a few hours before we had to meet up, so I headed down to the main street. There are some cute art galleries and a library and some bars and shops, not a lot. I really liked some of the art prints and decided to go back the next day to get some. The walk back up the hill to the hostel was pretty strenuous as it was amazingly steep. We headed back down to the i-Site for 4:30 and took off for the launch site. We're using tandem kayaks, and the stronger paddler gets to go in the back, and that person is in charge of steering with the little rudder as well. I got to go in front of Matt, on of the guides. We had to carry the kayaks down to the beach and there had been large swells the past few days and there was seaweed washed up on the shore. This is massive , beginning to decompose seaweed. We had to walk over it in barefeet or socks and that was pretty gross. Once over, however, we set off towards some seals basking on rocks. We were in a protected bay, so even though it was pretty windy and the ocean was rough it was pretty smooth for us. I figured out how to cheat at paddling by putting my hands closer together on the paddle. It made my arms ache less while paddling, but also made the strokes less powerful. We had a good time and we saw a seal playing in the water just in front of the kayak and also a cormorant. I had my waterproof camera, so I hope the photos turn out okay.
After kayaking we headed back to the hostel to shower and change and then relaxed as Ronnie, Susan, and Steve-o made a dinner of crayfish and jambalaya and soup. We were all welcome to taste it. Turns out I don't despise crayfish as mich as other crustaceans, even though I think they look repellent. I don't mind the texture that much and they only taste vaguely of the ocean. Ronnie made a magnificent cream sauce dish that was delicious. The jambalaya was way too fishy for me.
And here begins the Steve-o drama. Earlier that day he had been talking about going spearfishing to get some butterfish for dinner and maybe find some crayfish in the ocean. He stopped in at a friend's fishing charter business and came out with a bag of crayfish which he said we could all try. After dinner Susan said that he was telling her that he wanted to be reimbursed for the crayfish (he actually got them for free , but they were payment for a $40 debt the fisherman had owed him). He also complained about spending lots of money on the sashimi at the salmon farm and not getting anything back. Now, he'd only complained to Susan and a bit to Ronnie that night. We all got together afterwards and discussed the fact that he had not once said that he expected or wanted to be paid. We had thought, and he gave the impression, that it was part of the tour. I think that if someone expects to be paid back, they should mention up front - if for nothing else than that way people can decide whether they want to take part in it or not. So hearing that he was complaining to just one or two of us, and not talking to all of us, made the evening end on a bit of a downer. He also told us that the Dolphin Encounter people would be calling him at 8 am the next morning to let him know whether the swim was on for the next day. Then the young'uns and Steve-o went out partying and Susan went to bed and Kieran and Sarah M. and I curled up and watched the John Cusack movie "Identity", which freaked Sarah out so much that she didn't want to go to the bathroom alone.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Day 20
Feb 14 - Thursday
Slept in a bit this morning, which was lovely. After a leisurely wake-up Sarah W., Fran, and I headed out to Science Alive!, the hands-on science museum. It was a longer walk than anticipated, but we definitely saw some non-touristy parts of Christchurch. Actually the walk was only about 20 minutes, but it seemed longer. The weather was grey and spitting, but it cleared up nicely. We were some of the only people in the museum, so the attendants were very frequently asking up if we had any questions. I think the were bored. One girls who worked there was from Timmins, ON, working abroad for a while. We played with the exhibits and the Sarah went off to find lunch and Fran and I played a round of glow-in-the-dark minigolf. Well, we messed around with the balls and clubs, but I don't think what we were doing in any way involved golf of any sort. Good thing we were the only ones on the course. After whacking the golf balls around, we heading back upstairs to play on the vertical slide (the largest one on the South Island). It was pretty scary and lots of fun. It's like a mini Drop of Doom, and it's just you and a wooly blanket going down the drop. After the slide we climbed the climbing wall. I decided to put my sandals on because climbing walls in bare feet sucks. I made it though the easy and medium walls, and fell of the hard wall. Fran, who was just climbing in bare feet, found it too painful to get to the top. Whe we were done sliding and spinning (unfortunately the human gyroscope was out of order) we wandered back downtown. I stopped in at the Air New Zealand office and Fran carried on. I found out later that she got back to the hostel and realized that she had left her key at the museum, so had to walk all the way back to get it. I csrried on to Cathedral Square and browsed the market - I bought a "magic" hair clip and one of the skirts I'd been eyeing the day before. Then I sat and watched Kenneth Lightfoot, a street magician. His show culminated in him throwing a playing card on the roof of the information centre (very high up). The onwards to the Art Centre, which is actually the old University of Canterbury. It's now shops and galleries and workshops and studios. I saw some nice stuff visited the Fudge Kitchen which gave out a ton of free samples. I bought three different types of fudge - orange chocolate, manuka honey, and hokey pokey - the national ice cream flavour of New Zealand. It's caramel with pieces of sponge toffee swirled in. After walking around the Art Centre I visited (briefly) the Christchurch Art Galley, the Centre for Contemporary Art (COCA), and the public library. I also poked my nose in a few stores including Farmers, a department store with a great clearance sale on. Then back to the hostel and chatted with Sarah W. and Fran about books and TV shows. Out to the internet cafe and then back to teach Kieran and Sarah M. how to upload their pictures to Flickr. Susan, Ronnie, Fran, Steve-o and his friend Tika all went out to a Japanese restaurant called Ebisu. It was like a Japanese tapas restaurant - interesting food, but the service was pretty crappy. The back to the hostel to repack and then bed. Happy Valentine's Day!
Slept in a bit this morning, which was lovely. After a leisurely wake-up Sarah W., Fran, and I headed out to Science Alive!, the hands-on science museum. It was a longer walk than anticipated, but we definitely saw some non-touristy parts of Christchurch. Actually the walk was only about 20 minutes, but it seemed longer. The weather was grey and spitting, but it cleared up nicely. We were some of the only people in the museum, so the attendants were very frequently asking up if we had any questions. I think the were bored. One girls who worked there was from Timmins, ON, working abroad for a while. We played with the exhibits and the Sarah went off to find lunch and Fran and I played a round of glow-in-the-dark minigolf. Well, we messed around with the balls and clubs, but I don't think what we were doing in any way involved golf of any sort. Good thing we were the only ones on the course. After whacking the golf balls around, we heading back upstairs to play on the vertical slide (the largest one on the South Island). It was pretty scary and lots of fun. It's like a mini Drop of Doom, and it's just you and a wooly blanket going down the drop. After the slide we climbed the climbing wall. I decided to put my sandals on because climbing walls in bare feet sucks. I made it though the easy and medium walls, and fell of the hard wall. Fran, who was just climbing in bare feet, found it too painful to get to the top. Whe we were done sliding and spinning (unfortunately the human gyroscope was out of order) we wandered back downtown. I stopped in at the Air New Zealand office and Fran carried on. I found out later that she got back to the hostel and realized that she had left her key at the museum, so had to walk all the way back to get it. I csrried on to Cathedral Square and browsed the market - I bought a "magic" hair clip and one of the skirts I'd been eyeing the day before. Then I sat and watched Kenneth Lightfoot, a street magician. His show culminated in him throwing a playing card on the roof of the information centre (very high up). The onwards to the Art Centre, which is actually the old University of Canterbury. It's now shops and galleries and workshops and studios. I saw some nice stuff visited the Fudge Kitchen which gave out a ton of free samples. I bought three different types of fudge - orange chocolate, manuka honey, and hokey pokey - the national ice cream flavour of New Zealand. It's caramel with pieces of sponge toffee swirled in. After walking around the Art Centre I visited (briefly) the Christchurch Art Galley, the Centre for Contemporary Art (COCA), and the public library. I also poked my nose in a few stores including Farmers, a department store with a great clearance sale on. Then back to the hostel and chatted with Sarah W. and Fran about books and TV shows. Out to the internet cafe and then back to teach Kieran and Sarah M. how to upload their pictures to Flickr. Susan, Ronnie, Fran, Steve-o and his friend Tika all went out to a Japanese restaurant called Ebisu. It was like a Japanese tapas restaurant - interesting food, but the service was pretty crappy. The back to the hostel to repack and then bed. Happy Valentine's Day!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Day 19
Wednesday Feb 13
We woke up early and walked over to the Church of the Good Shepherd in Lake Tekapo, which is a really old (by New Zealand standards - 1935) church.Then on the road for a very long ride to jet-boating. Alpine Jetboat was in the middle of nowhere near a town called Springfield on the Waimak river. It was a relatively sedate 25 km trip up the river with truly magnificent scenery - sheer cliffs and jutting rocks coming right down to the river, with forested hills and wide sandbars (well, pebble bars). It looked like something out of a movie. Actually, although Lord of the Rings was not filmed there, the Narnia movie was filmed not far away. It seemed like the ride back was a lot faster and more fun that the other direction, and we did a lot of 360 degree jet spins. I think the general consensus is that it was worth it for the scenery, but the adrenaline rush was pretty low.
After the boating we went back to the van to meet up with the folks who didn't go on the boat - poor folds had to wait for us - and we headed out to Christchurch. Steve-o had been going on and on about how much of a shithole Base Christchurch was, but it's actually really nice. The counter people were friendly and the rooms were big and clean and the beds are really comfy. It's right on the North side of Cathedral Square, so it's right in the centre of everything. We had a nice view of the side of the cathedral from our room. We got there around 3:30 and Susan and I immediately headed out to the craft market being held in the square. Some nice stuff and I found a stand with really nice reversable wrap skirts which I decided to come back for the next day as they were busy getting ready to close up and I couldn't make up my mind. The market runs Wed-Sat from 10-4. We wandered the streets for a while window shopping. Susan peeled off and I got a kebab wrap from a truck in the square. It was really good - they put barbeque sauce and tzatziki on it and somehow the flavour worked. It was also really huge. I sat on a bench eating and chatting with other group people as they walked by. The back to the hostel to get online briefly and then back to the room, where Sarah W. and Fran were lying and reading. I picked up my book and when I glanced back up they were both fast asleep. I went for a shower at about 10 pm and when I got back they were just waking up. We chatted for a bit and then Sarah got dressed to go out and Kieran and Sarah M. got back and we all just chilled out reading (and playing Tiger Woods Golf on his PSP in Kieran's case). Nice low-key evening.
We woke up early and walked over to the Church of the Good Shepherd in Lake Tekapo, which is a really old (by New Zealand standards - 1935) church.Then on the road for a very long ride to jet-boating. Alpine Jetboat was in the middle of nowhere near a town called Springfield on the Waimak river. It was a relatively sedate 25 km trip up the river with truly magnificent scenery - sheer cliffs and jutting rocks coming right down to the river, with forested hills and wide sandbars (well, pebble bars). It looked like something out of a movie. Actually, although Lord of the Rings was not filmed there, the Narnia movie was filmed not far away. It seemed like the ride back was a lot faster and more fun that the other direction, and we did a lot of 360 degree jet spins. I think the general consensus is that it was worth it for the scenery, but the adrenaline rush was pretty low.
After the boating we went back to the van to meet up with the folks who didn't go on the boat - poor folds had to wait for us - and we headed out to Christchurch. Steve-o had been going on and on about how much of a shithole Base Christchurch was, but it's actually really nice. The counter people were friendly and the rooms were big and clean and the beds are really comfy. It's right on the North side of Cathedral Square, so it's right in the centre of everything. We had a nice view of the side of the cathedral from our room. We got there around 3:30 and Susan and I immediately headed out to the craft market being held in the square. Some nice stuff and I found a stand with really nice reversable wrap skirts which I decided to come back for the next day as they were busy getting ready to close up and I couldn't make up my mind. The market runs Wed-Sat from 10-4. We wandered the streets for a while window shopping. Susan peeled off and I got a kebab wrap from a truck in the square. It was really good - they put barbeque sauce and tzatziki on it and somehow the flavour worked. It was also really huge. I sat on a bench eating and chatting with other group people as they walked by. The back to the hostel to get online briefly and then back to the room, where Sarah W. and Fran were lying and reading. I picked up my book and when I glanced back up they were both fast asleep. I went for a shower at about 10 pm and when I got back they were just waking up. We chatted for a bit and then Sarah got dressed to go out and Kieran and Sarah M. got back and we all just chilled out reading (and playing Tiger Woods Golf on his PSP in Kieran's case). Nice low-key evening.
Photo issues
I'm having issues uploading my photos in Christchurch, so there might be a delay before any new ones get added. Sorry.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Day 18
Feb 12, Tuesday
This morning packing was the first time I've had to unzip the expansion on my suitcase due to shopping. Breakfast of toast, and then since we had some time to kill waiting for Andrea, Ronnie, and Norrie to come back from their flight and cruise to Milford Sound, Susan and I went back to Lick for second breakfast. I had a gelato toastie, which is a sweet brioche filled with a scoop of gelato (I had coconut marshmallow) and poached fruit and then toasted until the outside is hot and the inside is still frozen. Yummy. I shall be going on a diet when I get home because the food here is so delicious I cannot resist anything. Susan had a espresso with two scoops of gelato in it. Then into the van for the trip to Lake Tekapo.
Our first stop was at a farm stand (Sarita Orchards) for people to stock up on fruit and sweets. Andrea bought and shared dried kiwifruit, which is odd and candy-like. We then stopped in Cromwell for lunch (for some) and window shopping (for others). Back on the road again until our next stop, which was a Salmon farm. - we all had fun throwing the feed into the pool at the same time and causing a frenzy of salmon. Then Steve-o bought a box of sashimi to share. It was really good but not exactly what I was used to. The fish was firmer (a bit chewy) and tasted a bit of ocean. Very good, though. Susan bought a box for dinner ($20). One more stop, this time at Lake Pukaki, which is a brilliant blue. We got a group shot and were on our way again.
Lake Tekapo is tiny - Franz Josef was two streets big, and Lake Tekapo is one very small street. It's pretty much a rest stop on the way to Christchurch. I made some instant noodles (spicy thai coconut chicken flavour) and we all gathered around to watch DVDs of the various events people have done during the trip. Then off to bed in our primary colored bunk-bed dorms. It's like being in kindergarden.
This morning packing was the first time I've had to unzip the expansion on my suitcase due to shopping. Breakfast of toast, and then since we had some time to kill waiting for Andrea, Ronnie, and Norrie to come back from their flight and cruise to Milford Sound, Susan and I went back to Lick for second breakfast. I had a gelato toastie, which is a sweet brioche filled with a scoop of gelato (I had coconut marshmallow) and poached fruit and then toasted until the outside is hot and the inside is still frozen. Yummy. I shall be going on a diet when I get home because the food here is so delicious I cannot resist anything. Susan had a espresso with two scoops of gelato in it. Then into the van for the trip to Lake Tekapo.
Our first stop was at a farm stand (Sarita Orchards) for people to stock up on fruit and sweets. Andrea bought and shared dried kiwifruit, which is odd and candy-like. We then stopped in Cromwell for lunch (for some) and window shopping (for others). Back on the road again until our next stop, which was a Salmon farm. - we all had fun throwing the feed into the pool at the same time and causing a frenzy of salmon. Then Steve-o bought a box of sashimi to share. It was really good but not exactly what I was used to. The fish was firmer (a bit chewy) and tasted a bit of ocean. Very good, though. Susan bought a box for dinner ($20). One more stop, this time at Lake Pukaki, which is a brilliant blue. We got a group shot and were on our way again.
Lake Tekapo is tiny - Franz Josef was two streets big, and Lake Tekapo is one very small street. It's pretty much a rest stop on the way to Christchurch. I made some instant noodles (spicy thai coconut chicken flavour) and we all gathered around to watch DVDs of the various events people have done during the trip. Then off to bed in our primary colored bunk-bed dorms. It's like being in kindergarden.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Day 17
Feb 11 - Monday
Slept in 'til 9:30 - the latest so far. The bunkbeds in the dorm are really wobbly and whenever Norrie shifts in his sleep I can feel it up top. Not the most restful of nights. Susan and I went shopping in the morning (I bought a top and a hoodie) and then she went off on a winery and cheesery tour. I booked hang-gliding for 3:00 and lay in my bunk reading and napping until I had to leave. Got picked up at 3:00 by the Skytrek guys - I think I might have been the only hang-glider for they day with them. We ended up driving one of the pilots home, so I got a tour of suburban Queenstown. Evidently even thought the city only has a permanent population of 15 thousand, 30 thousand tourists come in each day. I truly believe that there are more tourists in New Zealand than actual residents.Because of the wind conditions the hang glidewould not be from Coronet Peak but from the Remarkables mountain range instead. We drove up the ski access road which is full of hairpins, unpaved, and with no guardrails. Probably one of the scarier parts of the adventure :) When we got to the takeoff point, some 2000 feet up, one of the guides popped me in my harness and took a few pictures while the pilot was putting together the hang glider. The glider was extremely light, about 70 pounds. After it was assembled we practiced the takeoff procedure - basically two steps and a run until the glider takes off. The takeoff is down a pretty steep hill, so it is pretty scary to contemplate the gilder not getting airborne and just falling headfirst down the mountain.We got hooked up, got clearance form the airport to take off, and the started the two steps leading up to the run. The glider caught the wind so fast it was like "Step, step, flight!" We launched upwards so fast I didn't have time to run. It waswindy enought that we got some good altitude . I think hang-gliding is the closest you can get to being a bird. It was so beautiful and peaceful and you could feel how the slightest shift of weight altered the course of the glider. I think we glided for about 15 - 20 minutes before we came in for a landing in a field of sheep (yes, sheep!). I like is better, I think, than the skydiving becuase I had more time to enjoy it, although the skydive was definitely more adrenaline filled. Argh, can't decide! $45 for a disc of pictures and video (Queenstown is not cheap) and then we drove back into town.
Right as I got back into the hostel, Norrie, Susan, and Ronnie were going out for a walk so I tagged along and we strolled about checking menus to see where we were going to eat later on and ended up at a gelato place called Licks for evening snack. Then back to the hostel to meet up with everyone to go ride the Skyline Gondola up the hill overlooking the city.
While waiting for everyone I called my sister , who told me how cold Edmonton was. Hee hee!
We headed up the gondola, which was scenic, and it turned out that the luge, which we all wanted to do, had closed at 7. We had missed it by about 1/2 hour which was annoying. We took in the view and took some pictures and shopped in the gift store (found another sheep on a leash) and then headed down. Susan and Ronnie and I headed to a Chicago gangster themed restaurant called Laurentio's. I had venison, which was magnificent. Then back to the hostel, where we had a whole group of people sitting in the hallway drinking and not moving an inch to get out of the way of people who needed to walk down the hall. I was so tempted just to step on all their legs on my way to my room. Evidently during the night a couple of Danish guys were screaming at each other on the balcony right next to our window. I didn't hear a thing, but I did get woken up every time Norrie rolled over.
Slept in 'til 9:30 - the latest so far. The bunkbeds in the dorm are really wobbly and whenever Norrie shifts in his sleep I can feel it up top. Not the most restful of nights. Susan and I went shopping in the morning (I bought a top and a hoodie) and then she went off on a winery and cheesery tour. I booked hang-gliding for 3:00 and lay in my bunk reading and napping until I had to leave. Got picked up at 3:00 by the Skytrek guys - I think I might have been the only hang-glider for they day with them. We ended up driving one of the pilots home, so I got a tour of suburban Queenstown. Evidently even thought the city only has a permanent population of 15 thousand, 30 thousand tourists come in each day. I truly believe that there are more tourists in New Zealand than actual residents.Because of the wind conditions the hang glidewould not be from Coronet Peak but from the Remarkables mountain range instead. We drove up the ski access road which is full of hairpins, unpaved, and with no guardrails. Probably one of the scarier parts of the adventure :) When we got to the takeoff point, some 2000 feet up, one of the guides popped me in my harness and took a few pictures while the pilot was putting together the hang glider. The glider was extremely light, about 70 pounds. After it was assembled we practiced the takeoff procedure - basically two steps and a run until the glider takes off. The takeoff is down a pretty steep hill, so it is pretty scary to contemplate the gilder not getting airborne and just falling headfirst down the mountain.We got hooked up, got clearance form the airport to take off, and the started the two steps leading up to the run. The glider caught the wind so fast it was like "Step, step, flight!" We launched upwards so fast I didn't have time to run. It waswindy enought that we got some good altitude . I think hang-gliding is the closest you can get to being a bird. It was so beautiful and peaceful and you could feel how the slightest shift of weight altered the course of the glider. I think we glided for about 15 - 20 minutes before we came in for a landing in a field of sheep (yes, sheep!). I like is better, I think, than the skydiving becuase I had more time to enjoy it, although the skydive was definitely more adrenaline filled. Argh, can't decide! $45 for a disc of pictures and video (Queenstown is not cheap) and then we drove back into town.
Right as I got back into the hostel, Norrie, Susan, and Ronnie were going out for a walk so I tagged along and we strolled about checking menus to see where we were going to eat later on and ended up at a gelato place called Licks for evening snack. Then back to the hostel to meet up with everyone to go ride the Skyline Gondola up the hill overlooking the city.
While waiting for everyone I called my sister , who told me how cold Edmonton was. Hee hee!
We headed up the gondola, which was scenic, and it turned out that the luge, which we all wanted to do, had closed at 7. We had missed it by about 1/2 hour which was annoying. We took in the view and took some pictures and shopped in the gift store (found another sheep on a leash) and then headed down. Susan and Ronnie and I headed to a Chicago gangster themed restaurant called Laurentio's. I had venison, which was magnificent. Then back to the hostel, where we had a whole group of people sitting in the hallway drinking and not moving an inch to get out of the way of people who needed to walk down the hall. I was so tempted just to step on all their legs on my way to my room. Evidently during the night a couple of Danish guys were screaming at each other on the balcony right next to our window. I didn't hear a thing, but I did get woken up every time Norrie rolled over.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Day 16
Sunday Feb 10
Today the full-day canyoners (Ronnie, Norri, Jess) left at 9:00, the guys flying planes (Ed, Steve) left early as well, and the rest of us had a leisurely morning before heading out at 10-ish (Steve-o time, so more like 10:20). We went to a place called Puzzling World - which has a bunch of illusion rooms and a huge two story maze. The three interactive illusion rooms were really cool and then we went into the Maze. Susan and I stuck together at the beginning but then it started raining and she decided to hide under shelter and then left via an emergency exit door. I decided that littl rain wasn't going to melt me so I stayed in the maze. The object is to find all four corner towers (in colour order if you're extremely logical and maze oriented, which I am not) and then find your way out. I managed finally to find all the towers, but that took 45 minutes and then as I was trying to find my way out I heard Susan yelling that the van was about to leave. I ended up cheating by dicking under a divider and then taking an emergency exit to get out in time. Oh, and the washrooms were really cools this a roman baths illusion.
Susan and I really wanted to go to a sheep farm while in New Zealand - me especially because I promised Liz that I would try to get a picture opf me with a sheep on a leash for her. The story behind that is that one of the New Zealand county books in her library has a picture of a little girl walking a lamb on a leash on the front cover. She's been going on about me walking a lamb in New Zealand ever since. Anyway, Steve-o mentioned a cruise from Queenstown to a sheep farm, so we booked it for 2 this afternoon. Now we just had to make it to Queenstown in time.
We made it to Queenstown at a bit after 1, and after checking in to the Base Discovery Lodge and dropping off our bags we had 5 minutes to make it down to the wharf. Good thing Steve-o took is there via a shortcut. The steapship we were going to cruise on, the T.S.S. Earnslaw, has been in service for 95 years, and it still has the original engines and boilers. To maintain top speed of 11 knots, it takes 1 ton of coal per hour being shovelled into the boiler manually. We cruised across Lake Wakatipu (gorgeous) to Waler Peak High Country Farm. It took about 1/2 hour, which I enjoyed while also enjoying a pesto, brie, and cucumber sandwich.
The farm looks like it belongs in England with it's genteel buildings and rose gardens and sheepdogs. We got taken down the display portion of the farm by Duncan, who first took us to feed lambs and deer and sheep. The deer had a little faun that we just beginning to lose it's spots, and the stag had quite an impressive set of antlers. The lambs were adorable. After feeding the animals were were shoen the original homestead, and then were served high tea - which neither of us were expecting and was delicious. The second half of the tour involved going into a pen of sheep (merino and other kinds) and petting and feeding them. Then we saw a sheepdog demonstration and then Duncan sheared a whole sheep. That was impressive. After the sheep shearing I asked if I could get a picture of me holding a sheep on a leash for Liz. Duncan went above and beyond the call of duty for me - he went and got a dog lead and manhandled it onto a sheep, then helped hold the rather irate sheep steady while Susan quickly snapped a picture. He was wonderful. Then Susan and I went into the gift store and bought a lot of stuff - Susan even bought a suprise to bring back home...
On the cruise home we had the cheesiest fun time. They held a singalong on one of the decks so Susan and I spent the 1/2 hour singing our little hearts out. After being dropped off we wandered around Queenstown for a while window shopping. Stores here are open very late, even on a Sunday night. Then back to the hostel to drop our stuff off and out again for dinner. We were pretty boring and went to Subway, but we did have a sandwich I can't get back home: Roast Lamb. After that it was off to the Internet cafe. It's really cheap here but godawfully slow - it took 2 hours to upload only 49% of 179 pictures.. Then back to the hostel and bed.
Today the full-day canyoners (Ronnie, Norri, Jess) left at 9:00, the guys flying planes (Ed, Steve) left early as well, and the rest of us had a leisurely morning before heading out at 10-ish (Steve-o time, so more like 10:20). We went to a place called Puzzling World - which has a bunch of illusion rooms and a huge two story maze. The three interactive illusion rooms were really cool and then we went into the Maze. Susan and I stuck together at the beginning but then it started raining and she decided to hide under shelter and then left via an emergency exit door. I decided that littl rain wasn't going to melt me so I stayed in the maze. The object is to find all four corner towers (in colour order if you're extremely logical and maze oriented, which I am not) and then find your way out. I managed finally to find all the towers, but that took 45 minutes and then as I was trying to find my way out I heard Susan yelling that the van was about to leave. I ended up cheating by dicking under a divider and then taking an emergency exit to get out in time. Oh, and the washrooms were really cools this a roman baths illusion.
Susan and I really wanted to go to a sheep farm while in New Zealand - me especially because I promised Liz that I would try to get a picture opf me with a sheep on a leash for her. The story behind that is that one of the New Zealand county books in her library has a picture of a little girl walking a lamb on a leash on the front cover. She's been going on about me walking a lamb in New Zealand ever since. Anyway, Steve-o mentioned a cruise from Queenstown to a sheep farm, so we booked it for 2 this afternoon. Now we just had to make it to Queenstown in time.
We made it to Queenstown at a bit after 1, and after checking in to the Base Discovery Lodge and dropping off our bags we had 5 minutes to make it down to the wharf. Good thing Steve-o took is there via a shortcut. The steapship we were going to cruise on, the T.S.S. Earnslaw, has been in service for 95 years, and it still has the original engines and boilers. To maintain top speed of 11 knots, it takes 1 ton of coal per hour being shovelled into the boiler manually. We cruised across Lake Wakatipu (gorgeous) to Waler Peak High Country Farm. It took about 1/2 hour, which I enjoyed while also enjoying a pesto, brie, and cucumber sandwich.
The farm looks like it belongs in England with it's genteel buildings and rose gardens and sheepdogs. We got taken down the display portion of the farm by Duncan, who first took us to feed lambs and deer and sheep. The deer had a little faun that we just beginning to lose it's spots, and the stag had quite an impressive set of antlers. The lambs were adorable. After feeding the animals were were shoen the original homestead, and then were served high tea - which neither of us were expecting and was delicious. The second half of the tour involved going into a pen of sheep (merino and other kinds) and petting and feeding them. Then we saw a sheepdog demonstration and then Duncan sheared a whole sheep. That was impressive. After the sheep shearing I asked if I could get a picture of me holding a sheep on a leash for Liz. Duncan went above and beyond the call of duty for me - he went and got a dog lead and manhandled it onto a sheep, then helped hold the rather irate sheep steady while Susan quickly snapped a picture. He was wonderful. Then Susan and I went into the gift store and bought a lot of stuff - Susan even bought a suprise to bring back home...
On the cruise home we had the cheesiest fun time. They held a singalong on one of the decks so Susan and I spent the 1/2 hour singing our little hearts out. After being dropped off we wandered around Queenstown for a while window shopping. Stores here are open very late, even on a Sunday night. Then back to the hostel to drop our stuff off and out again for dinner. We were pretty boring and went to Subway, but we did have a sandwich I can't get back home: Roast Lamb. After that it was off to the Internet cafe. It's really cheap here but godawfully slow - it took 2 hours to upload only 49% of 179 pictures.. Then back to the hostel and bed.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Day 15
Saturday, Feb 9
We actually left Franz Josef on time today - 9 AM. Steve was supposed to go skydiving over Fox glacier today but it was cancelled because of weather. It's beautiful in town, but I guess weather over the glacier is much different. There's actually a drought in New Zealand right now that is causing concern. Steve-o said that this is the first time that he's done this drive to Wanaka without rain in the summer. We started driving and stopped along the way at some scenic points. It's a really long drive, crossing the Southern Alps through the Haast Pass. At one of the waterfalls we stopped at people had made cairns and inukshuks out of th flat river stones that cover the river banks. Very cool. We stopped for lunch in a little town that I swear consists of two cafes and nothing else (except the gas pump in from of the cafe we stopped at). I had a very nice cranberry, brie, and pine-nut sandwich. New Zealanders sure are fond of brie. And meat pies. I've never seen so many meat pies on offer than in this country.
We made it to Wanaka at about three and Susan and I walked about town. It's very small and charming - like a ski chalet town, which it is in the winter. It also has very expensive clothing shops. I did get a very cute t-shirt, though :)
We got back to the motel and decided to go for a cheap curry for dinner with Ronnie and Norrie, as we were thwarted in our quest for curry the other day. We think the restaurant we went to was actually Nepalese, as all the pictures on the wall were of Nepal and the guy behind the counter was wearing a Nepalese t-shirt. I had a really nice Lamb Anarkali, which I've never heard of before. The mango lassi and naan bread was also delicious. Susan had the Lamb Rogan Jhosh, which was supposed to be mildly spiced but she thought was mild. To make up for that she then ordered another naan with the vindaloo sauce on it. Now that was spicy!
After dinner we went for a walk along the shores of Lake Wanaka, which was lovely. Along the whole sidewalk, to commemorate the year 2000, the city had installed tiles that listed important events in history going back 2000 years. Some of the facts were wrong (like the date of the Battle of Bannockburn) and some were reporting legend as fact (like King Arthur and Robin Hood), but it was really interesting nonetheless. I really liked that it did not focus mainly on European history, but incorporated Asian, Pacific, and African history as well.
We met up with the rest of the group at the hotel bar for a while and then off to bed. We have bunkbeds in the room with no ladders to the top bunk, so poor Ronnie and Susan have to kind of jump and hoist themselves up. I'm glad that I'm not in a top bunk tonight because I can see myself getting stuck up there.
We actually left Franz Josef on time today - 9 AM. Steve was supposed to go skydiving over Fox glacier today but it was cancelled because of weather. It's beautiful in town, but I guess weather over the glacier is much different. There's actually a drought in New Zealand right now that is causing concern. Steve-o said that this is the first time that he's done this drive to Wanaka without rain in the summer. We started driving and stopped along the way at some scenic points. It's a really long drive, crossing the Southern Alps through the Haast Pass. At one of the waterfalls we stopped at people had made cairns and inukshuks out of th flat river stones that cover the river banks. Very cool. We stopped for lunch in a little town that I swear consists of two cafes and nothing else (except the gas pump in from of the cafe we stopped at). I had a very nice cranberry, brie, and pine-nut sandwich. New Zealanders sure are fond of brie. And meat pies. I've never seen so many meat pies on offer than in this country.
We made it to Wanaka at about three and Susan and I walked about town. It's very small and charming - like a ski chalet town, which it is in the winter. It also has very expensive clothing shops. I did get a very cute t-shirt, though :)
We got back to the motel and decided to go for a cheap curry for dinner with Ronnie and Norrie, as we were thwarted in our quest for curry the other day. We think the restaurant we went to was actually Nepalese, as all the pictures on the wall were of Nepal and the guy behind the counter was wearing a Nepalese t-shirt. I had a really nice Lamb Anarkali, which I've never heard of before. The mango lassi and naan bread was also delicious. Susan had the Lamb Rogan Jhosh, which was supposed to be mildly spiced but she thought was mild. To make up for that she then ordered another naan with the vindaloo sauce on it. Now that was spicy!
After dinner we went for a walk along the shores of Lake Wanaka, which was lovely. Along the whole sidewalk, to commemorate the year 2000, the city had installed tiles that listed important events in history going back 2000 years. Some of the facts were wrong (like the date of the Battle of Bannockburn) and some were reporting legend as fact (like King Arthur and Robin Hood), but it was really interesting nonetheless. I really liked that it did not focus mainly on European history, but incorporated Asian, Pacific, and African history as well.
We met up with the rest of the group at the hotel bar for a while and then off to bed. We have bunkbeds in the room with no ladders to the top bunk, so poor Ronnie and Susan have to kind of jump and hoist themselves up. I'm glad that I'm not in a top bunk tonight because I can see myself getting stuck up there.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Day 14
Friday, Feb 8
Andrea decided not to stick around in Franz Josef since she can't climb the glacier as she twisted her ankle a while back so she took the bus to the next town, Wanaka, instead. The rest of us (mainly) headed out to Franz Josef Glacier Guides for our 1/2 Day hike up the glacier. After some confusion on how to check in, we were kitted out in boots, crampons (specially patented crampons called Ice Talonz), and for some people a gore-tex jacket. We weren't allowed to wear cotton pants as the don't dry very fast if they get wet and they don't retain any heat when wet. Good thing I went clothes shopping in Nelson :). I was given size 3 boots and they were still too big, but they didn't have any smaller sizes so I was given an extra pair of woolen socks to pad the boots. We then loaded up onto a few tour buses to get driven to the base of the glacier.After a bit of a forest hike we reached the plain and river at the base of terminal face of the glacier. Because the glacier is so huge, the persective of what you are looking at gets skewed. I guessed that we were about a kilometre away from the glacier, but it was actually 2.5 kilometers away. We split up into groups based on quickness - I chose to go with the ultra-slow group because I was not sure how I'd be on the 45 minutes of climbing stairs hacked into the ice. I turned out to be the fasted of the slow group - not hard as my competition was a buncg of senior citizens and a glacier guide with a torn achilles tendon and a fractured ankle :)
Because it had rained really hard a few weeks ago the river at the base of the glacier at rerouted, which meant that instead of an easy hike across a rocky plain to the glacier we had to climb the valley wall, climbing up and down four ladders along the way. That was actually the hardest part of the climb up. Once we got to the glacier we put on our crampons... I mean Ice Talonz... and proceeded up the steps hacked into the ice face. Because the glacier moves about a metre a day, the guides have to keep coming out every day to recut the steps and assess which routes to take up. Aside from the fact that my legs were too short for some of the steps, I made it up okay. As we got higher up (we climbed about 400 metres) it got colder, and at the top I put on my jacket. We stopped for a snack break at the top and looked around a while, and then headed back down. By then my feet were really hurting because even with the extra socks the boots were too big and the socks had bunched at the front so my toes were being mashed with every step. The 2.5 km hike back to the bas was long and tiring. We got back around 2 and after lunch with Susan (shepherd's pie at the bar, even though the original plan was a curry from the sushi/curry/noodle van, but they didn't open until 6) spent about two hours sitting in the hot tub at the motel with Norrie and a girl from Luton called Sharon who was taking the Magic Bus around New Zealand. This made me less sore but much more sleepy, so when I got out I barely made it through dinner (mango and bread - really not hungry) before crashing in my bunk with a book. One of the things that is really nice about the motel room is that we got a kitchenette. Another odd think is that there is no shower stall, just a corner of the room with a shower and a curtain to pull around. Suffice it to say that the entire floor got soaked when someone took a shower. That being said, it's one of the best showers we've had so far.
Andrea decided not to stick around in Franz Josef since she can't climb the glacier as she twisted her ankle a while back so she took the bus to the next town, Wanaka, instead. The rest of us (mainly) headed out to Franz Josef Glacier Guides for our 1/2 Day hike up the glacier. After some confusion on how to check in, we were kitted out in boots, crampons (specially patented crampons called Ice Talonz), and for some people a gore-tex jacket. We weren't allowed to wear cotton pants as the don't dry very fast if they get wet and they don't retain any heat when wet. Good thing I went clothes shopping in Nelson :). I was given size 3 boots and they were still too big, but they didn't have any smaller sizes so I was given an extra pair of woolen socks to pad the boots. We then loaded up onto a few tour buses to get driven to the base of the glacier.After a bit of a forest hike we reached the plain and river at the base of terminal face of the glacier. Because the glacier is so huge, the persective of what you are looking at gets skewed. I guessed that we were about a kilometre away from the glacier, but it was actually 2.5 kilometers away. We split up into groups based on quickness - I chose to go with the ultra-slow group because I was not sure how I'd be on the 45 minutes of climbing stairs hacked into the ice. I turned out to be the fasted of the slow group - not hard as my competition was a buncg of senior citizens and a glacier guide with a torn achilles tendon and a fractured ankle :)
Because it had rained really hard a few weeks ago the river at the base of the glacier at rerouted, which meant that instead of an easy hike across a rocky plain to the glacier we had to climb the valley wall, climbing up and down four ladders along the way. That was actually the hardest part of the climb up. Once we got to the glacier we put on our crampons... I mean Ice Talonz... and proceeded up the steps hacked into the ice face. Because the glacier moves about a metre a day, the guides have to keep coming out every day to recut the steps and assess which routes to take up. Aside from the fact that my legs were too short for some of the steps, I made it up okay. As we got higher up (we climbed about 400 metres) it got colder, and at the top I put on my jacket. We stopped for a snack break at the top and looked around a while, and then headed back down. By then my feet were really hurting because even with the extra socks the boots were too big and the socks had bunched at the front so my toes were being mashed with every step. The 2.5 km hike back to the bas was long and tiring. We got back around 2 and after lunch with Susan (shepherd's pie at the bar, even though the original plan was a curry from the sushi/curry/noodle van, but they didn't open until 6) spent about two hours sitting in the hot tub at the motel with Norrie and a girl from Luton called Sharon who was taking the Magic Bus around New Zealand. This made me less sore but much more sleepy, so when I got out I barely made it through dinner (mango and bread - really not hungry) before crashing in my bunk with a book. One of the things that is really nice about the motel room is that we got a kitchenette. Another odd think is that there is no shower stall, just a corner of the room with a shower and a curtain to pull around. Suffice it to say that the entire floor got soaked when someone took a shower. That being said, it's one of the best showers we've had so far.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Day 13
Thursday, Feb 7
We were able to sleep in (8 am) and leisurely pack. Our cabin was really nice and quiet (except for the extremely noisy cicadas, which are everywhere in the rainforest). We wandered down to the main group cabin for breakfast (peanut butter and nutella toast and milk tea. yum). The kitchens in these cabins are gorgeous - wood counters, clean, and lots of utensils, pots and pans, and dinnerware. I had an interesting conversation with Sarah (younger) and Ronnie, Norrie, and Ed (older) about recent immigrants and the rise of non-Christian religions (especially Islam) in the UK and it's impact on the status quo. It seems like the UK is 10-15 years behind North America in integrating and accepting minority religions (at least compared to big cities in North America).
We piled into the van and headed out to the Pancake Rocks, which are large rocks jutting out on the coastline that are layered and looks like pancake stacks from the side. We took the scenic path to see them, taking lots of photos along the way - it was so beautiful. I got back to the van first and sat with Steve-o chatting about the tour , our expectations, and how we were enjoying in. Fran said it best a few days ago when she described the tour as a road trip. We travel along stopping at interesting places as Steve (or any of the rest of us) think of interesting things to do. It took me a few days to get into the laid-back tone of the trip, but I'm really enjoying it now. Unfortunately I don't think the German lady, Andrea, is enjoying it that much - I think she was expecting something much more organized and regimented and focusing more on cities and culture. Anyway, we all piled into the van and headed out to where Ronnie, Norrie, Steve, and Jess were going to go heli-rafting in Whataroa. We were going to stop for possum pie for lunch, but were running late (big surprise) and spent too long at the Pancake Rocks. We got to Whataroa at 2, when we were supposed to be there at 1, and the rafters took off without lunch. We found out later that since they were so late getting started that they had about a kilometre cut off their journey to make it back down in time.
The rest of us headed into Franz Josef (population of the whole area - 360) to check into our motel and get lunch. Franz Josef is all of two streets big - all of it geared towards trekking to the Franz Josef glacier. We ended up at cafe and I had satay chicken pizza slice. Pizza here is odd - the dough is more like a thick dense bread than the pizza crust that I'm used to, so it feels like eating an open face sandwich. Then off to the internet place to upload pictures and update the blog, as I've been really slow about it - at least I'm being pretty good about keeping a travel journal, so I can catch up later on. The motel, Chez Franz, offers free soup every night, so dinner was soup and some bread that we picked up in Nelson and some chocolate biscuits. More on the chocolate biscuits - Tim Tams - later, but I feel that I'm becoming quite addicted to them :)
After dinner we headed out to a few bars. Jess is very down today because she found out that one of the little girls in her Vietnamese orphanage that she works in died the other day. Home at midnight (late by my standards, early by the standards of most of the group, who were still at the bar when we left - Ronnie and Norrie didn't make it back until 3:30)
We were able to sleep in (8 am) and leisurely pack. Our cabin was really nice and quiet (except for the extremely noisy cicadas, which are everywhere in the rainforest). We wandered down to the main group cabin for breakfast (peanut butter and nutella toast and milk tea. yum). The kitchens in these cabins are gorgeous - wood counters, clean, and lots of utensils, pots and pans, and dinnerware. I had an interesting conversation with Sarah (younger) and Ronnie, Norrie, and Ed (older) about recent immigrants and the rise of non-Christian religions (especially Islam) in the UK and it's impact on the status quo. It seems like the UK is 10-15 years behind North America in integrating and accepting minority religions (at least compared to big cities in North America).
We piled into the van and headed out to the Pancake Rocks, which are large rocks jutting out on the coastline that are layered and looks like pancake stacks from the side. We took the scenic path to see them, taking lots of photos along the way - it was so beautiful. I got back to the van first and sat with Steve-o chatting about the tour , our expectations, and how we were enjoying in. Fran said it best a few days ago when she described the tour as a road trip. We travel along stopping at interesting places as Steve (or any of the rest of us) think of interesting things to do. It took me a few days to get into the laid-back tone of the trip, but I'm really enjoying it now. Unfortunately I don't think the German lady, Andrea, is enjoying it that much - I think she was expecting something much more organized and regimented and focusing more on cities and culture. Anyway, we all piled into the van and headed out to where Ronnie, Norrie, Steve, and Jess were going to go heli-rafting in Whataroa. We were going to stop for possum pie for lunch, but were running late (big surprise) and spent too long at the Pancake Rocks. We got to Whataroa at 2, when we were supposed to be there at 1, and the rafters took off without lunch. We found out later that since they were so late getting started that they had about a kilometre cut off their journey to make it back down in time.
The rest of us headed into Franz Josef (population of the whole area - 360) to check into our motel and get lunch. Franz Josef is all of two streets big - all of it geared towards trekking to the Franz Josef glacier. We ended up at cafe and I had satay chicken pizza slice. Pizza here is odd - the dough is more like a thick dense bread than the pizza crust that I'm used to, so it feels like eating an open face sandwich. Then off to the internet place to upload pictures and update the blog, as I've been really slow about it - at least I'm being pretty good about keeping a travel journal, so I can catch up later on. The motel, Chez Franz, offers free soup every night, so dinner was soup and some bread that we picked up in Nelson and some chocolate biscuits. More on the chocolate biscuits - Tim Tams - later, but I feel that I'm becoming quite addicted to them :)
After dinner we headed out to a few bars. Jess is very down today because she found out that one of the little girls in her Vietnamese orphanage that she works in died the other day. Home at midnight (late by my standards, early by the standards of most of the group, who were still at the bar when we left - Ronnie and Norrie didn't make it back until 3:30)
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Day 12
Feb 6 - Waitangi Day
Today is Waitangi Day, which commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, where the Maori were pretty much screwed by the Europeans. Happy Waitangi Day!
I woke up to find my chocolate milk and last piece of pizza had been stolen out of the disgusting kitchen overnight. Grr. We got underway at 9 and drove towards Greymouth. About thirty minutes in, while stopped to drop off Steve-o's son's helmet, we realized that we had left all out breakfast stuff and our cooler behind at Fern Lodge. The last people to eat breakfast had not brought the box back to the van. We decided not to go back for it and continued on as going back would have added an hour to the journey. We headed on through New Zealand's second largest national park, Kahurangi Park. It's all native forest and is overwhelming. After a while of admiring the scenery I again fell asleep, waking when we stopped for a swim break. Well, it was supposed to be a swim break, but the bridge was way too high to jump off of, and it was virtually impossible to climb down the banks to the kiver. It became a scenic photo opportunity break instead, and Steve-o met some guys who were on their way to the starting line to compete in the Coast-to-coast race, which is a one-day triathlon of running, cycling, and kayaking from the west coast to the east coast of the South Island. Sounds gruelling - I'd love to see it on TV.
We dropped Fran, Joe, Steve, Jess, Ronnie, and Norrie of at "On yer bikes" for some 4-wheeling and the rest of us headed into town. We went to the Jade Boulder Trail - a greenstone museum. Well, it was actually a very large giftshop and cafeteria, along with a nice little museum, and two glassed in carving rooms. Noone was carving today, probably because of the holiday. By the way, when we stopped earlier of lunch we found out that because of the holiday the restaurant was adding on a 15% surcharge.
After the jade place, we headed out to the grocery store, and I peeled off the go to the "Warehouse" in hopes of cheap books, as I am running low. I found three I actually already wanted to read for %5 each, so I was happy. After all the shopping (we're doing a communal dinner tonight) we headed 40 minutes north to a retreat nestled in the rainforest called Te Nikei. It's gorgeous - little cabins placed throughout the forest. Susan, Andrea, and I are in Rata, along with some Swiss couples, a Japanese guy, an American woman, and an English girl named Hannah who's about to head over to Canada for three month working on organic farms across the country with the WWOOF program. We're upstairs in a loft area with six mattresses on the floor - surprisingly comfortable.
We headed down to the cabin with the most of the group in it to begin cooking dinner - the kitchens here are lovely. We made salad and burgers and sausages. After dinner we headed out for the beach. It's too dangerous to swim there, but it's the most amazing beach I've ever seen. It's all very small rounded pebbles which feel really neat, and the rock formations and waves crashing and sunset all made it so beautiful. We watched the sunset from the beach and then walked back up to the retreat. We missed the turnoff of the shortcut on the way back and ended up taking the long way, which is called the Truman Track - a native bush walk. It was gorgeous (I'm running out of superlatives). Susan and I relaxed in th upstairs lounge with Hannah, and Andrea was as happy as a clam chatting in German with th Swiss downstairs. So far this in my favourite place that we've stayed by far.
Today is Waitangi Day, which commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, where the Maori were pretty much screwed by the Europeans. Happy Waitangi Day!
I woke up to find my chocolate milk and last piece of pizza had been stolen out of the disgusting kitchen overnight. Grr. We got underway at 9 and drove towards Greymouth. About thirty minutes in, while stopped to drop off Steve-o's son's helmet, we realized that we had left all out breakfast stuff and our cooler behind at Fern Lodge. The last people to eat breakfast had not brought the box back to the van. We decided not to go back for it and continued on as going back would have added an hour to the journey. We headed on through New Zealand's second largest national park, Kahurangi Park. It's all native forest and is overwhelming. After a while of admiring the scenery I again fell asleep, waking when we stopped for a swim break. Well, it was supposed to be a swim break, but the bridge was way too high to jump off of, and it was virtually impossible to climb down the banks to the kiver. It became a scenic photo opportunity break instead, and Steve-o met some guys who were on their way to the starting line to compete in the Coast-to-coast race, which is a one-day triathlon of running, cycling, and kayaking from the west coast to the east coast of the South Island. Sounds gruelling - I'd love to see it on TV.
We dropped Fran, Joe, Steve, Jess, Ronnie, and Norrie of at "On yer bikes" for some 4-wheeling and the rest of us headed into town. We went to the Jade Boulder Trail - a greenstone museum. Well, it was actually a very large giftshop and cafeteria, along with a nice little museum, and two glassed in carving rooms. Noone was carving today, probably because of the holiday. By the way, when we stopped earlier of lunch we found out that because of the holiday the restaurant was adding on a 15% surcharge.
After the jade place, we headed out to the grocery store, and I peeled off the go to the "Warehouse" in hopes of cheap books, as I am running low. I found three I actually already wanted to read for %5 each, so I was happy. After all the shopping (we're doing a communal dinner tonight) we headed 40 minutes north to a retreat nestled in the rainforest called Te Nikei. It's gorgeous - little cabins placed throughout the forest. Susan, Andrea, and I are in Rata, along with some Swiss couples, a Japanese guy, an American woman, and an English girl named Hannah who's about to head over to Canada for three month working on organic farms across the country with the WWOOF program. We're upstairs in a loft area with six mattresses on the floor - surprisingly comfortable.
We headed down to the cabin with the most of the group in it to begin cooking dinner - the kitchens here are lovely. We made salad and burgers and sausages. After dinner we headed out for the beach. It's too dangerous to swim there, but it's the most amazing beach I've ever seen. It's all very small rounded pebbles which feel really neat, and the rock formations and waves crashing and sunset all made it so beautiful. We watched the sunset from the beach and then walked back up to the retreat. We missed the turnoff of the shortcut on the way back and ended up taking the long way, which is called the Truman Track - a native bush walk. It was gorgeous (I'm running out of superlatives). Susan and I relaxed in th upstairs lounge with Hannah, and Andrea was as happy as a clam chatting in German with th Swiss downstairs. So far this in my favourite place that we've stayed by far.
Day 11
Feb 5 (Tuesday)
Today teh group is supposed to go to Abel Tasman Park for the afternoon but Susan and I have decided to stay in town and shop. Steve-o took off for parts unknown with all the breakfast stuff still in the van last night, so it's leftover pizza for me! Susan had a n unopened litre of orange juice stolen out of the fridge sometime overnight. We headed into town about 9:30 and Susn decided to be touristy and brought along her little rolly luggage so we could put our purchases in it as we went. We were very dorky tourists - I even bought a bag and a skirt from a street vendor. We also went to the Nelson Provincial Museum as they had an exhibit of Da Vinci's inventions. It was pretty neat and you could actually play with some of the models, like the Archimedes Screw and the bridge made out of short logs. We found a Dutch Cheese shop and Susan stocked up on salty dutch licorice for her fiance, and I went to a bakery for a chicken, camembert, and cranberry panini. There's a lot of good food here :)
We also went to another grocery store to stock up on non-perishables and water for the next leg of the trip. Interesting note: In Nelson, Shopping carts are called trundlers.
We got back to the hostel and made dinner (butter chicken and a 1/2 pineapple for me). The rest of the group was back by then - turns out they didn't go to Abel Tasman, just to a closer beach, so I'm very glad that we stayed in town. Nelson is really nice - the architecture is a mishmosh of various European and old west American styles. Very odd and charming.
Jess and I talked about the fact that she's been working in a Vietnamese orphanage for the last few months (and is going back after this trip). It very depressing. She's working with little kids who have a variety of developmental problems, and the ones that don't will probably be sold into the sex trade when they hit 7 years old or so. Jess is an amazingly strong person (as well as the most energetic party girl in the group). We began talking about microloans and NGOs and by sheer coincidence I happened to have in my bag a book called "Banker to the Poor" which I picked up at ALA, written by a Nobel Peace Prize Winner that she had written in her notebook to research. She is now the happy owner of that book. To illustrate her other side, Ronnie and Norrie saw a t-shirt in the shops that they had to buy for her with the following slogan on the back: "In order to be old and wise you must first be young and stupid"
Today teh group is supposed to go to Abel Tasman Park for the afternoon but Susan and I have decided to stay in town and shop. Steve-o took off for parts unknown with all the breakfast stuff still in the van last night, so it's leftover pizza for me! Susan had a n unopened litre of orange juice stolen out of the fridge sometime overnight. We headed into town about 9:30 and Susn decided to be touristy and brought along her little rolly luggage so we could put our purchases in it as we went. We were very dorky tourists - I even bought a bag and a skirt from a street vendor. We also went to the Nelson Provincial Museum as they had an exhibit of Da Vinci's inventions. It was pretty neat and you could actually play with some of the models, like the Archimedes Screw and the bridge made out of short logs. We found a Dutch Cheese shop and Susan stocked up on salty dutch licorice for her fiance, and I went to a bakery for a chicken, camembert, and cranberry panini. There's a lot of good food here :)
We also went to another grocery store to stock up on non-perishables and water for the next leg of the trip. Interesting note: In Nelson, Shopping carts are called trundlers.
We got back to the hostel and made dinner (butter chicken and a 1/2 pineapple for me). The rest of the group was back by then - turns out they didn't go to Abel Tasman, just to a closer beach, so I'm very glad that we stayed in town. Nelson is really nice - the architecture is a mishmosh of various European and old west American styles. Very odd and charming.
Jess and I talked about the fact that she's been working in a Vietnamese orphanage for the last few months (and is going back after this trip). It very depressing. She's working with little kids who have a variety of developmental problems, and the ones that don't will probably be sold into the sex trade when they hit 7 years old or so. Jess is an amazingly strong person (as well as the most energetic party girl in the group). We began talking about microloans and NGOs and by sheer coincidence I happened to have in my bag a book called "Banker to the Poor" which I picked up at ALA, written by a Nobel Peace Prize Winner that she had written in her notebook to research. She is now the happy owner of that book. To illustrate her other side, Ronnie and Norrie saw a t-shirt in the shops that they had to buy for her with the following slogan on the back: "In order to be old and wise you must first be young and stupid"
Monday, February 04, 2008
Day 10
Feb 4, Monday
We woke up at 6:15 in order to be ready to go catch the Interislander ferry to Picton. Today we're leaving the North Island and heading South. Left late, as usual, but did make the 8 am ferry. The ferry is huge! It has 10 decks (including car decks) and a movie theatre, bar, a couple of cafes, and a cafeteria. I stood on the sundeck and watched Wellington disappear and then headed down to the reclining chairs and had a nice view of the sound in front of us. Of course, I then fell asleep for most of the three hour trip :)
When we got off the ferry we had the choice between a straight fast drive or a scenic windey drive to Nelson. Despite the motion sickness sensitive people in the van we went for scenic. We took off along the Queen Charlotte Drive and it was definitely windey. It was also beautiful, with amazing views of the Marlborough Sound. We stopped at a scenic hike. I did not go all the way up it as there were too many stairs. Instead I took pictures of plants, the very odd looking outhouse, and my knees. My right knee is starting to turn interesting colours from the bang it took during sledging.
After everyone got back we went to the Pelorus Cafe for lunch. They're really big into meat pies and quiches here. I had a venison pie and a custard slice. The pie was quite delicious - the first time I've had venison. The slice was interesting, it's got the phyllo layers like a napolean, but the inside is pudding and the topping is cream cheese icing. We took the food down to the riverside and had a bit of a picnic. As I did not have my bathing suit on I sat in the shade with my food and a book and watched some of the rest of the group hurl themselves off rocks into the water. Then it was on to Nelson. We arrived around 3:30 and checked into the Fern Lodge. We then walked into the town centre, only to find that it was Nelson Anniversary Day and most businesses were closed for the holiday. We did find an open pharmacy and I got some hair clips and more earplugs and one of mine disappeared in Wellington. I've discovered that earplugs are a very good thing to have when sleeping in noisy hostels. Susan and I found a Countdown (grocery store) and stocked up on food for dinner and then it was back home. The kitchen in the hostel is disgusting. Ther's no dishwashing liquid so you don't know if stuff is clean. There's not enough cups and mugs and cutlery. Flies everywhere and the fridges stink. I made (after waiting for free oven space) a smoked chicken pizza and I bought a fruit smoothie made with a fruit I know nothing about - Feijoa. I have no idea what it is, but it's delicious. Then I finished my book and went off to bed. This is my first time on a top bunk and it was kind of wobbly when I climbed up there, so I was a bit scared. Of course - Ronnie, who was below me - then decided that shaking the bed to startle me was quite alot of fun :)
Oh, and while we were walking about town Susan found a $20 bill on the ground!
We woke up at 6:15 in order to be ready to go catch the Interislander ferry to Picton. Today we're leaving the North Island and heading South. Left late, as usual, but did make the 8 am ferry. The ferry is huge! It has 10 decks (including car decks) and a movie theatre, bar, a couple of cafes, and a cafeteria. I stood on the sundeck and watched Wellington disappear and then headed down to the reclining chairs and had a nice view of the sound in front of us. Of course, I then fell asleep for most of the three hour trip :)
When we got off the ferry we had the choice between a straight fast drive or a scenic windey drive to Nelson. Despite the motion sickness sensitive people in the van we went for scenic. We took off along the Queen Charlotte Drive and it was definitely windey. It was also beautiful, with amazing views of the Marlborough Sound. We stopped at a scenic hike. I did not go all the way up it as there were too many stairs. Instead I took pictures of plants, the very odd looking outhouse, and my knees. My right knee is starting to turn interesting colours from the bang it took during sledging.
After everyone got back we went to the Pelorus Cafe for lunch. They're really big into meat pies and quiches here. I had a venison pie and a custard slice. The pie was quite delicious - the first time I've had venison. The slice was interesting, it's got the phyllo layers like a napolean, but the inside is pudding and the topping is cream cheese icing. We took the food down to the riverside and had a bit of a picnic. As I did not have my bathing suit on I sat in the shade with my food and a book and watched some of the rest of the group hurl themselves off rocks into the water. Then it was on to Nelson. We arrived around 3:30 and checked into the Fern Lodge. We then walked into the town centre, only to find that it was Nelson Anniversary Day and most businesses were closed for the holiday. We did find an open pharmacy and I got some hair clips and more earplugs and one of mine disappeared in Wellington. I've discovered that earplugs are a very good thing to have when sleeping in noisy hostels. Susan and I found a Countdown (grocery store) and stocked up on food for dinner and then it was back home. The kitchen in the hostel is disgusting. Ther's no dishwashing liquid so you don't know if stuff is clean. There's not enough cups and mugs and cutlery. Flies everywhere and the fridges stink. I made (after waiting for free oven space) a smoked chicken pizza and I bought a fruit smoothie made with a fruit I know nothing about - Feijoa. I have no idea what it is, but it's delicious. Then I finished my book and went off to bed. This is my first time on a top bunk and it was kind of wobbly when I climbed up there, so I was a bit scared. Of course - Ronnie, who was below me - then decided that shaking the bed to startle me was quite alot of fun :)
Oh, and while we were walking about town Susan found a $20 bill on the ground!
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Day 9
Had a great sleep in the lodge and then had toast and tea while sitting at the railing looking at the hills and waterfall. We got picked up for horseback riding at 9:45 and rode up to the top of the hill to the stables. It was 5 people on the trek - me, Susan, Fran, and two women from the Kiwi Experience Bus - Allison and Diane. I got a horse named Chestnut (very creative) and Denise got Turk. Chestnut is a follower and loves Turk, so if Turk was in front Chestnut would stick his nose right next to his ass and not move from that position. Since Turk didn't feel liek running and I was keen to take off, Janie (one of the guides) held Chestnut back until Turk got to the end of the meadow we were in and then then let him go and I was able to go really fast - up until the point when Chestnut reached Turk and then it was a full stop and back to the status quo. Eventually what we did was hold Turk back and get Chestnut in front of him and I was able to go a bit faster. As long as there was at least one horse in front of him, Chestnut was happy. So Susan on Gypsy and Allison on Buster and I cantered up a few hills, which was fun. At the top of one of the hills Pedro came trotting by without a rider. Turns out he has spooked and thrown off Fran and took off. Fram landed really hard on her bottom and arm, but she was otherwise fine. She got back on Pedro after Nicola (Janie's mom and another guide) caught him. Oh, there was also a little dog called Poppy who came with us for a run.
We got back to the lodge just in time, for it started pouring for about half an hour. We all curled up on couches to wait for the white-water rafters and I found a copy of "Monstrous Regiment" by Terry Pratchett which I grabbed from the swap library ( I did leave a book in it's place).
We headed out at about 1, and quite a few of us were getting carsick on the windey road back up. We stopped for lunch at the Flat Hills Cafe (chicken satay burger) and then off to Wellington. Napped again, of course, and woke up when we pulled into Wellington at 7 pm. We checked into the Base Wellington hostel and ended up sharing a room with some strange Canadian guy. I picked up a Fringe Guide as the Wellington Fringe begins on Feb 8th and we'll be back in the city on the way north later on in the tour. I'll try to catch something then. Susan (who hs a cold) and Andrea and I went to Malaysian restaurant called Satay Kajang and I had a really nice Nasi Lemak. Dinner conversation turned towards Germany and the war (again) and then what Japan did as well. After dinner we ended up at Artie Bee's, a used bookstore. I got a book of short stories called "Nights at the Embassy" because I figured that I should have at least one New Zealand book. New Zealand authors don't really write light fluffy books, I've found out, so not that much choice for vacation reading. Books here are amazingly expensive. A Mass Market (regular paperback) book might go for $25.00. Even my little trade paperback used book was $15.
Once back to the hostel I wandered a few floors looking fro a shower that wasn't out of order (very annoying). I was very paranoid as two people on the tour had already had things stolen out of the shower earlier that day. Nothing was taken from me, thank goodness.
We got back to the lodge just in time, for it started pouring for about half an hour. We all curled up on couches to wait for the white-water rafters and I found a copy of "Monstrous Regiment" by Terry Pratchett which I grabbed from the swap library ( I did leave a book in it's place).
We headed out at about 1, and quite a few of us were getting carsick on the windey road back up. We stopped for lunch at the Flat Hills Cafe (chicken satay burger) and then off to Wellington. Napped again, of course, and woke up when we pulled into Wellington at 7 pm. We checked into the Base Wellington hostel and ended up sharing a room with some strange Canadian guy. I picked up a Fringe Guide as the Wellington Fringe begins on Feb 8th and we'll be back in the city on the way north later on in the tour. I'll try to catch something then. Susan (who hs a cold) and Andrea and I went to Malaysian restaurant called Satay Kajang and I had a really nice Nasi Lemak. Dinner conversation turned towards Germany and the war (again) and then what Japan did as well. After dinner we ended up at Artie Bee's, a used bookstore. I got a book of short stories called "Nights at the Embassy" because I figured that I should have at least one New Zealand book. New Zealand authors don't really write light fluffy books, I've found out, so not that much choice for vacation reading. Books here are amazingly expensive. A Mass Market (regular paperback) book might go for $25.00. Even my little trade paperback used book was $15.
Once back to the hostel I wandered a few floors looking fro a shower that wasn't out of order (very annoying). I was very paranoid as two people on the tour had already had things stolen out of the shower earlier that day. Nothing was taken from me, thank goodness.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Day 8
Well, today I bowed to peer pressure. Our fearless leader Steve-o talked me into signing up for tandem skydiving. Now, I have absolutely no problem with heights or controlled descents like rapelling or such, but I have a deathly fear of falling. The hardest parts of the canyoning and caving were the parts when I had to jump off cliffs (even very small cliffs) into water. So why I agreed to jump out of a plane from 12 000 feet I have no idea. We got picked up at 8:10 for the drive to the Taupo airport and Taupo Tandem Skydive. I was pretty terrified but determined to face my fear of falling. I was paired with a German tandem master called Albert and asked him to take it easy on me because I was so scared. We got in the plane with Sarah, Kieran, Sarah 2, Ronnie and Jess and flown up to 12 000 feet (Ronnie went up higher to 15 000 feet, crazy man). Albert was really good about reassuring me all the way up, even though that part didn't scare me. Once we got to 12 000 feet the door opened and all the people in front of me started disappearing out the door. Finally it was our turn and after a quick exit photo we were out. Since I wasn't the one making the decision to scoot off the edge of the plane we actually did fall out. After a very brief moment of terror, I was fine. You're so high up that there are no real points of reference to tell you that you're faling to your death. The ground is s far away that it does not feel like an immediate threat and it feels like your floating, even though your going at about 200 kilometres per hour. We fell 7 thousand feet in about 45 seconds. At 5 thousand feet Albert deployed the parachute and we were suddenly jerked upright. At this point my left ear popped really badly. We were floating down over Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand. It was gorgeous. Albert scared the crap out of me by undoing one buckle and loosening the harness - thought he was going to drop me! Thankfully, I think it was just for comfort. We did some spins and banks and took all the scenery in. We came down fast at the end and did a nice three point landing (his feet and my butt). It was so much more fun than I expected and not at all as scary. There are photos, but I'll have to get them off Norrie at the end of trip to post.
After skydiving the group picked us up and we headed out to River Valley Adventure Lodge. We stopped for lunch just outside of Taurangi at a place called Licorice Cafe (yes, they sold lots of licorice). I had a bacon, brie, and avocado phyllo packet and a "melting moment" - two shortbread cookies sandwiching a passionfruit icing filling. It took a nap in the van (I keep falling asleep in this van - it's like the magic bus in Israel) and woke up when two stupid sheep wandered across the road in front of the van and startled us all. Along the way we passed the mountain that was Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings movie. Very cool.
Down a very narrow windy gravel mountain road is the River Valley Adventure lodge. A bit of a mix-up about who was horseback riding and who was white-water rafting led to only half of the horse trekkers going this evening, and the rest of us are going to go tomorrow morning. Instead, Sarah, Susan, Norrie, Ronnie, Joe, Fran and I went up to a homemade 9-hole golf course (pitch and putt - a really small gold course, but not mini-golf). We had to dodge sheep dung and play across the road and had an audience of somewhat curious sheep. It was a lot of fun. I did okay for a complete firt-timer, but still came in dead last in our little foursome of Susan, Ronnie, Norrie, and me. Norrie smoked us all.
Afterwards I worked on some postcards (yes, some of you will be getting postcards) and then went for roast dinner in the lodge. We had roast chicken, potatoes, and pumpkin (pumpkins have green skin here!) as well as stuffing and gravy and cranberry sauce. Spent some time chatting and then off to bed.
After skydiving the group picked us up and we headed out to River Valley Adventure Lodge. We stopped for lunch just outside of Taurangi at a place called Licorice Cafe (yes, they sold lots of licorice). I had a bacon, brie, and avocado phyllo packet and a "melting moment" - two shortbread cookies sandwiching a passionfruit icing filling. It took a nap in the van (I keep falling asleep in this van - it's like the magic bus in Israel) and woke up when two stupid sheep wandered across the road in front of the van and startled us all. Along the way we passed the mountain that was Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings movie. Very cool.
Down a very narrow windy gravel mountain road is the River Valley Adventure lodge. A bit of a mix-up about who was horseback riding and who was white-water rafting led to only half of the horse trekkers going this evening, and the rest of us are going to go tomorrow morning. Instead, Sarah, Susan, Norrie, Ronnie, Joe, Fran and I went up to a homemade 9-hole golf course (pitch and putt - a really small gold course, but not mini-golf). We had to dodge sheep dung and play across the road and had an audience of somewhat curious sheep. It was a lot of fun. I did okay for a complete firt-timer, but still came in dead last in our little foursome of Susan, Ronnie, Norrie, and me. Norrie smoked us all.
Afterwards I worked on some postcards (yes, some of you will be getting postcards) and then went for roast dinner in the lodge. We had roast chicken, potatoes, and pumpkin (pumpkins have green skin here!) as well as stuffing and gravy and cranberry sauce. Spent some time chatting and then off to bed.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Day 7
Taupo -
Susan, Ed, Ronnie, Norrie, Joe, and Fran left at 5:30 to do the Tongariro Crossing. This is a day hike that crosses Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings. It's supposed to be the best dayhike in New Zealand. Thanks to the earplugs I didn't hear anyone and had a fabulous sleep-in. This was a day off for me with no activities lined up, so Andrea and I went for a walk around Taupo's downtown. There are some great art galleries here. Andrea bought a beautiful bronze figurine of a girl sitting cross legged and reading. We asked the gallery lady to suggest some good New Zealand cuisine restaurants and she gave us a brochure for the Brantry Restaurant - which has gotten a ton of awards and just happens to be owned by her two daughters. We collected Susan after her hike (bone tired and hungry) and headed out there, stopping at the world's poshest McDonalds along the way so Susan could have an ice-cream cone. The restaurant was beautiful! It's one of those where the waiperson puts your napkin on your lap for you. I had a pumpkin soup and ostrich fillet with artichoke lemon mash. Andrea had the ostrich and a plum tart tatine, and Susan had baby squid and a lemon ice souffle. We skipped out on a sail on the lake to do the dinner and I think it was a fantastic choice. It was so nice to eat in a nice restaurant with phenomenal food. After dinner Susan and Andrea went to do email and such and I went off with some of the rest of the group to another hot pool. This one had a hot waterfall running into a small lagoon. Very nice. I also learned what the southern Cross looks like.
Afterwards we went possum hunting. Steve the tour guide asked if we wanted to see possums and we said yes. We found them all around the Taupo bungy jump site. They look like a cross between a koala and a racoon without the stripes or mask.Very cute, but a real pest in New Zealand. They're not indiginous and they're eating kiwi eggs and such, so New Zealand is trying to get rid of them.
Susan, Ed, Ronnie, Norrie, Joe, and Fran left at 5:30 to do the Tongariro Crossing. This is a day hike that crosses Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings. It's supposed to be the best dayhike in New Zealand. Thanks to the earplugs I didn't hear anyone and had a fabulous sleep-in. This was a day off for me with no activities lined up, so Andrea and I went for a walk around Taupo's downtown. There are some great art galleries here. Andrea bought a beautiful bronze figurine of a girl sitting cross legged and reading. We asked the gallery lady to suggest some good New Zealand cuisine restaurants and she gave us a brochure for the Brantry Restaurant - which has gotten a ton of awards and just happens to be owned by her two daughters. We collected Susan after her hike (bone tired and hungry) and headed out there, stopping at the world's poshest McDonalds along the way so Susan could have an ice-cream cone. The restaurant was beautiful! It's one of those where the waiperson puts your napkin on your lap for you. I had a pumpkin soup and ostrich fillet with artichoke lemon mash. Andrea had the ostrich and a plum tart tatine, and Susan had baby squid and a lemon ice souffle. We skipped out on a sail on the lake to do the dinner and I think it was a fantastic choice. It was so nice to eat in a nice restaurant with phenomenal food. After dinner Susan and Andrea went to do email and such and I went off with some of the rest of the group to another hot pool. This one had a hot waterfall running into a small lagoon. Very nice. I also learned what the southern Cross looks like.
Afterwards we went possum hunting. Steve the tour guide asked if we wanted to see possums and we said yes. We found them all around the Taupo bungy jump site. They look like a cross between a koala and a racoon without the stripes or mask.Very cute, but a real pest in New Zealand. They're not indiginous and they're eating kiwi eggs and such, so New Zealand is trying to get rid of them.
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