4 days… waaaaaaah!

anyway, since we spoke last I have done the following:

took the tranz-alpine train – it was like riding through the rockies. It was nice, and if I could have got pictures there were a few amazing views that I doubt I’d have seen from the road. The problem was the open air car was like a can of sardines, and the people along the rail wouldn’t give up their spots for anything. I snapped a few and then went back to my seat.

attended a rugby game – it was fun, but considering how good one team was and how bad the other was, I was really expecting it to be Crusaders get the ball, Crusaders score. repeat. The final score was something like 60-7, but it didn’t feel completely dominant.

drove to lake tekapo – a nice emerald blue lake with a tiny church beside it.. hopefully one of my pictures is good (I haven’t seen them on a computer screen yet)

visited mount cook – even for someone with the rockies essentially in his backyard, this area was impressive. hanging glaciers, rivers, lakes, and the big daddy, Mt. Cook.

had lunch in Twizel – I wasn’t expecting much, but the meal would have rivaled presentation in the best places calgary has to offer… and it was in Twizel (pop. 1000?)

arrived in queenstown. I think I’m in for some reverse culture shock when I get home. a town of 8500 seems big to me now, so how will I deal with a city of 1 million?

that’s about it… booking more stuff today for my final few days here and then off to Fiji.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/acallihoo

photos have been updated.

An even more brief update:

Greymouth was grey, so I only stayed in town 1 night.

FJ Glacier – very cool. very tiring.

onwards today to Fox Glacier and some clear sunny pictures of FJ as yesterday was a bit cloudy.

15th – Tranz-Alpine train + a rugby game in Christchurch.

I don’t like seeing the 15th, because that means only 6 days left in NZ.

booo!

hmm. so where did I leave off?

After Rotorua I went to a small town near the Waitomo Caves where I had an entire 14 or 16 bed hostel to myself… very strange, but a welcome break from the constant opening and closing of doors.

The next day, the caves!

http://flickr.com/photos/acallihoo/

I already commented on the previous post, but if people don’t read those things here it is again.

After the caves I decided I didn’t really want to spend another night alone so I headed back to Rotorua in time to catch a Maori cultural performance and meal and spend a night in that wonderful camper I took a picture of. I’m being serious, that was a surprisingly good night of sleep

Rotorua to National park village was a nice drive (via Taupo, the site of the largest lake in NZ), but largely uneventful. I found the people in the village hostel to be much more serious than anywhere else because they were either preparing to do the Tongariro Crossing the next day or were tired from completing it the day I arrived. this was my third night without alcohol of some sort… they were lame

The Tongariro Crossing (in pictures) is a beautiful hike, but I think they seriously overstate the fitness level required to do it. I had people look at me and go “you know, you have to be *really* fit to do this hike”. Talk about judging a book by its cover.. The devils staircase is the hardest part of the entire walk, and I’d have to say the approach to Mt. Baldy or Indefatigable (sp?) is on par or more difficult.

I chose Friday to do this, as the weatherman said without a doubt it would be sunny, and there was a high chance of rain on a day either way… The drive on Thursday was sunny, and the day after I woke up to a fantastic sunrise… but my hiking day was solid grey from one side of the sky to the other.

“It’ll break soon” I’m told as we load on to the shuttle… riiiiight.

Hiking in the clouds, then the wind, then the rain AND the wind, I had to use my imagination for most spots (and buy postcards when I was done to see what I missed). It was miserable, but I can now say I’ve done a “great walk” in New Zealand.

Next, I’m off to a little place just north of Wellington called Plimmerton, where one of my most expensive hostel bookings (a double bed to myself) reveals the best bed I think I’ll see all trip. a real double bed, with pillows, duvet, etc. It was awesome, and I lay on the bed for about 15 minutes when I first got there to remind myself that this is what a real bed feels like, no wooden frames digging in to my back, no creaky bunk beds. I could have stayed there a week, but I had to move on.

2 days ago I did the ferry crossing, and in Picton I had a decision to make… head to the east coast for a whale and dolphin watching tour or turn towards Abel tasman national Park. I couldn’t get in for that afternoon, so my decision was made… I’ll do the whale watching next time.

Yesterday I did sea kyaking in Abel Tasman National Park… and I don’t think I did that badly for someone who has never been in a kyak before. The tour itself was amazing, with a trip out to see seals, paddling in to lagoons, and a good running commentary from our guide.

When it said “lunch included” I expected a sandwich / juice box sort of thing. What we got was a cooked meal, and I can tell you that nobody was complaing about that.

My shoulders feel like someone put bits of glass in the joints today, but that is what advil was made for… right?

today.. who knows? I’m going to go to the geographic centre of the country (I’m a geography nerd, what do you expect?) and then turn towards Greymouth, the Franz Jozef and Fox glaciers. On the 15th I take the tranz-alpine train to christchurch and then catch a rugby match.

gotta go, see ya later

Unfortunately I’ve been so dang busy and internet is few and far between (and slow – at least in the north end) I’m going to have to resort to a brief summary for now to bring people up to speed, and then I can fill it out later on when I get a better chance to write (likely when I get home).

Day 1 – long flight from LA to Auckland.. I was a zombie when I landed, in NO condition to drive (so thanks to those that convinced me to move my reservation back a day), and my room wasn’t ready. wah. I had to wander around aimlessly for at least 2 hours before I could check in, and then I napped, walked some more to make me tired for “bedtime”… which was broken by me waking up at calgary time (so 3am here), and then garbage trucks at 5,6 and 7am.

Day 2 – picked up the car, and I’m on the road. I only realize once I hit the highway that I have 1/4 of a tank and no idea how far it is to the next gas station, or what 1/4 means in this car. so I pull off, have a minor accident (cosmetic damage), get gas, and get on the road.

Day 3 – Still not 100% right with moving on, I spend a day in Whangarei and wander around on some beaches, splash in the ocean for a bit and then have a great meal to end off the day.

Day 4 – Jet boat time! I go north to Pahia (my original goal from Auckland) and take the Mack Attack out to see some of the absolutely beautiful bay of Islands, it was quick, but it was worth it, and so much fun. Next, more windy roads up to Kaiteia and north to Cape Rienga where I wish I could have spent a month just listening to the ocean at what seemed like the end of the world. Slept at a hostel where there were people from Toronto and Denmark eating fish and the host was a talking encyclopedia on the history of the area.

Day 5 – Down from the north to see the Giant Kauri trees, the bottom of 90 mile beach (the top being Cape Rienga), and then… ? I was trying to decide how far to push it and then stop for the night, and I chose wrong. the town I stopped in will be forever referred to by me as the armpit of the trip, and I slept with one eye open the whole night.. leaving at 630am to put as many miles between me and them as possible.

Day 6 and 7 – Mt Mangonui with Ron and Marian – the best meals of the trip, the most relaxing part, and really good planning for the next 3 weeks.

Day 8 Rotorua – smellyville (from all the sulphur), lots of geysers, lots of pictures… and now more rain.

that’s it, my trip so far in a nutshell. I’ll update more when I get a chance

what the… how did it get to less than 2 weeks until I leave? wasn’t it just 4 posts ago that I was at 40?

I wish I could say that I have a solid plan in place, that I know all the landmarks that I want to see, towns / cities that I want to visit, hikes and activities I want to do…. but I don’t have a freakin’ clue.

I find stuff, bookmark it, and then before I have a chance to go back to it to see if it really is something I want to do I find something else and move on. I’ve got maps, guide books, input from a number of people, and it is all basically just a jumbled pile in the middle of my brain.

What I know so far is this:

I land early on February 25th, and I had originally thought I would instantly head off to the north to hit the most northern point in New Zealand open to the public… Cape Regina. Narrow roads, traffic circles, and what is sure to be total exhaustion are now making me think I should take at least a day in Auckland before jumping behind the wheel of a backwards car and drive on the wrong side of the road.

Leading the charge for this decision is the fact that there is a crapload of stuff to see and do in Auckland… including disc golf

hopefully this week yields better results… I’d like to have at least some idea of what I’m in for

slowly but surely the date of my departure is creeping ever closer. Once it seemed quite a long way off, but 40 days? that’s nothing!

On the plus side I have made some great progress on planning in recent days.

I examined my financial situation and found it to be good to great (the great part came when I realized my estimates for food and so on were a bit high, and that I was calculating them all out in Canadian funds – huzzah for favorable exchange rates!), looked at options for accommodation (anyone been to Fiji and want to recommend a place? they all look fantabulous), made lists, and made some purchases that allowed me to make checkmarks on said lists.

I’ve still got some work to do, but narrowing down choices, making decisions and investigating options have got the ball rolling, which means that I’m able to tackle this in much more digestible chunks rather than trying to plow through the entire trip in one sitting.

So seriously… Fiji, any input here? I’ve narrowed it down to Nadi (near the airport and the coast) but there are still over 20 to choose from.

It took a bit of internal debate and convincing (plus a phone call to my mom), but I finally clicked on “purchase this trip” today to make my travel plans official.

I will be leaving February 23rd for Auckland, NZ and I will spend the majority of March travelling around. The general plan is to travel from Auckland down to Queenstown, but I highly doubt it will be a straight line journey. I have a feeling it will fall more in to the category of ‘wherever the wind takes me”.

As of right now, I have no idea on how I’ll be getting around, where I’ll be staying, or what I’ll be doing… but I do know I’ll be doing it in New Zealand.

March 21st I board a plane in Queenstown, do a brief pit stop in Auckland, and then hop over to Fiji for 5 days before finally returning home. You know.. for that all important vacation after the vacation

March 26 I will board a plane at 1030pm, and after a stopover in LA I will arrive home at 810pm… on March 26. Stupid time zones.

There are still 6 spots open when I bought in… anybody interested?

Last week I got my passport in the mail, making my tentative vacation plans just a little bit more real.

To break it down as clearly as possible (because I tend to ramble from time to time):

Who? just me (anyone want to join me? )

What? 5 weeks outside of the country I call home.

Where? New Zealand… plus

When? late February to the end of March 2008.

Why? Because I can, and because I haven’t taken a real vacation since Jesus was a baby.

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