A Slow Day to Hide the Heat

So this morning I woke long before anyone else, and more because everyone else slept in than I got up super early. But, I spent the morning reading my book and checking up some random tie-bits online. When Martha joined me we had breakfast and coffee together, over which we talked about plans for the next few days.

Today we walked around a bit of town we hadn't been to before. We perused some book stores and picked up some guidebooks, I've discovered that I will be needing the next book in my series but was given an unfortunate discovery... the series here is in a different printing... so it wont match the other 9 and that will bother me. Secondly... the book costs about 8 buck back home and 25 here. Sadface. So that is a road I will cross when my current book is actually done.

Then we stopped into a HUGE cafe and the number of cakes was exceedingly tempting. However, instead of cake we each got ourselves "iced chocolates". In case I haven't described them before... they are basically milkshakes that haven't been blended. They're delicious!

After that we walked around a bit more and found ourselves at a movie theater. There we opted to see "The Tourist", and our reasons were twofold. First... it was another 100 degree day and we were hot. Secondly, we too are tourists, so it seemed appropriate. I thought it was a lot of fun.

Then we walked back to Martha's place, returning some movies and stopping by a vietnamese restaurant on the way. There we picked up "traditional Vietnamese dressing salads" ... which are basically just sadwhiches ... which we took with us back to her place, and they were very tasty. (Moreso then I expected).

The rest of the evening was pretty quiet. Martha had a frisbee league game, and while she had asked if I could play I could not. Instead Margaret and I used the time to finalize the next few days, and doing the bookings. Then when Martha returned we finalized our thoughts with her and that was that.

So, all said and done it was a quiet day, but nice to relax and nice to have some things finalized for the next few days.

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Where the Wild Things Are

A slower morning than the last few days. Were I going strictly for a pun I'd point out that the reason is that I opted not to go running. However, I also slept in more than I have been and got up about 8:30. I made some coffee and read my book until Martha came down, and then I ate with her. We finish morning by rousing Margaret and finishing the last 10-20 minutes of The Little Mermaid (such a great movie!).

Anyway... Martha headed out to work again and Margaret and I headed out for a walk to the train station. Pleasant sunrise... tickets were half off cause it was Sunday. Anyway, we hopped on the Upfield Line which took us north and out of the city, towards Royal Park... the home of the Royal Melbourne Zoo. (I meant to say at some point in this intro that it broke 100 degrees today.)

We got in with ease and planned to do a giant loop of the zoo... to see all the animals. We started out with some lucky timing as we got to see the Peccaries be fed. They look amazingly like warthogs, and are apparently rather fierce... so not even the zookeepers enter their pen. We then started walking around the lemur's "island" and enjoyed seeing the "big cats" exhibit. Yes, yes... I know that nobody is surprised that I loved seeing the cats... but they were soooo pretty. We saw snow leopards (my favorite)... 3 of them in different pens... and lions. Wherever the puma was he was well hidden... Anyway, the snow leopards looked unpleasantly hot, but sol cute. One was sleeping on its back near the cage wall... and I really wanted to go pet him (I refrained but bet he was soft...). Some of their positions looked like Kibo when he crashes. They were a highlight. (The lions looked more...prepared... for the weather, but were also sleeping).

We then went through the aquatic bit, which had a nice long refreshing indoor bit. We saw some pelicans, fur seals and little penguins. The seals were interesting and seemed to by unscathed by the heat. The interesting thing (as we watched them play) is that I think they were all rescues as they all had some pretty severe scarring. The penguins were all hiding under a rowboat together. It was nice to see them cause I think they were the same little blue penguins that we saw in New Zealand.

We then went through a number of tree climbing creatures... aka monkeys of carious kinds... they were what you'd expect. But I got some decent views of red pandas which are cute and i'm usually unsuccessful in heaving even the slightest view of them. There was also a pair of tree kangaroos, and they were pretty adorable.

We had a brief stint in the butterfly/insect exhibit... and, Margaret got extrema hereby jeebies. It was a bit funny to see, though she recovered in good time. We also saw a cute pair of otters, who we watched get fed. They seemed more clever than I thought they would be, as they each reacted when shown the empty feeding bucket. Apparently once one actually kicked a rock and sulked.

We ended the trip with the loop that saw us the kangaroos. They were all sleepy but we could get very close to them. This was followed up by a brief trip through the reptiles and snakes... and there were a lot of snakes... but they were not too exciting (though pretty).

Anyway, we returned to Martha's place where we hid in the air conditioning a bit to recoup. We munched on the leftover pasta salad for a while, and that turned out to be quite sufficient for dinner. When Martha returned from work we watched Beauty and the Beast (another great movie) while she had some pasta salad too. Then when the movie ended we headed out to "Little Creatures", a local bar for desserts and a drink. We had some doughnuts...and they were delicious.

Tomorrow should be hot too, but we'll come up with something...

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Nap Time

So it was another nice morning, warm and cloudless. I arose, and having felt good about yesterday... went out for another jog. This time I headed south from Martha's place to the Fitzroy Gardens, another park. While this park was bigger than yesterdays, and it was nice to not see the road from the center... I did not enjoy it as much. I felt that there were sadly few sculptures/gardens to run through/around/by.

So I returned to the apartment where I had some coffee and cereal, read some of my nook and chatted with Martha about how the day might proceed. She had work at Django Django again, so the plan was for me and Margaret to head south to the beech and meet up with Martha for dinner afterwards and then a Disney movie marathon (inspired by the museum from the other day).

Anyway, Martha headed out and Margaret and I hopped on a tram to take us south to St. Kinda... where a beech awaited us. It was about a 40 minute ride, but we got off right at the beech. The next 4 hours were not terribly exciting to describe. I lay in the sun... sometimes napping... sometimes reading... sometimes just watching... it was a nice slow day and sometime sitting and just listening to the sound of the water does wonders.

So we took the same tram back and met Martha around 6 or 7. We then rented a handful of Disney films and bought dinner of "Kebabs". Note... these are not meat and veggies on a stick... but rather more like a meat/veggie wrap. Delicious but not what the word kebab first brings to mind. We walked down to a small park/green area behind a town hall, with a great view of the sunsetting sky, as well as the clock tower or the hall. We were even greater by a pretty cute cat.

For the walk back I split off to by some cider to have as we watched our movies and all should have been a quiet day. But... as I rounded the corner back towards Martha's I head a huge crash! I took a look and saw that down the street a person was kneeling on the ground. As I got closer quickly I could hear/see that he was kneeling over another person and that person wasn't responding. Two girls were crossing the street nearby too and we all converged on the accident about the same time. The guy involved started saying don't call an ambulance (because the guy on the ground started making responses)...but I pushed until they called. I would have but did not know the number...

So they did and I think a good thing too. In short the two guys had been drinking for a while and had a bike race home, no helmets and collided. One flipped into a bush... the other onto the sidewalk. WEAR YOUR HELMET!!! Anyway, it brought back a lot of memories and I'd say that even after the guy started giving responses... he looked like a person going into shock. So, I was pleased that we got him enroute to the hospital. Thought it put a very exciting ending to an otherwise peaceful day.

We then watched a movie and offed ourselves to bed.

...wear your helmets!

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A Walk in the Park

Well, more like a run really... today I got up just before 7, and dug my sneakers out of my pack. I had been thinking about going for a run the previous day and thought I'd act on it. So, I headed across the street to Carlton Gardens, where the Melbourne Museum was located. Having walked by the gardens and through the museum I was well aware of the number of paths that crisscrossed through the rectangular park. So my jog took me back and forth through different sections of the park, in my attempt to run each trail. I say attempt because I likely missed a small bit here or there but I think I did most of them. I do wish I'd brought my pod so I could have music and a timer while running... but i'll get over it. It felt really good to run and there's another park I intend to run to tomorrow.

Anyway, I returned to the Hostel and took a quick shower. I made myself another toast breakfasts with coffee and read my book while I ate. After eating I confirmed with reception when checkout was (9:30), and since it was nearing 9 I went to wake Margaret and pack my bag. We were both packed and checked out on schedule. I headed to a common room to sip some hot chocolate, send some emails and watch over our bags while Margaret had some breakfast. Then we headed out on the short walk to Martha's place.

We got to Martha's where we took the apartment tour and put our bags down. Its a spacious 2 floor apartment that she shares with two other guys. (I've yet to meet them and 1 is away apparently). Anyway, she was heading out to help her sister, Eliza, at her studio, so Margaret and I headed down another few streets, to Smith St, where there were a lot of fun little shops. There were a few camping gear stores that were fun to walk through, just for looks, and many cheap, random, foreign pawn shop types of places. They were very interesting to walk through... just for the sheer diversity of items to see, ranging from intense to lawn gnomes.

Anyway, we headed to Eliza's (Martha's sister) studio, which it turns out used to be a taxi repair shop. I felt a bit sketchy knocking on the door but Eliza welcomed us in. We recognized each other from when I spent the 4th of July with their family in 2007, and that was nice. She showed us around the office, where there were half a dozen independent stations... all forms of art professions, all independent sharing the space. It was interesting. Eliza is working on photography, but others were in painting, graphic design, fashion design etc.

We regrouped with Martha and headed for a tram, and then into the Vic Market. In a way it is sort of a gigantic farmers market. At first we went down an ally where we got some food. Martha a bratwurst and myself and Margaret a type of meet/veggie/cheese wrapped in dough... they were good and called Borekes...or something like that... and they were delicious. We then walked through the many, MANY rows and tents of produce. Outside were all tents selling fruits and vegetables. Many shops were selling clothing ranging from t-shirts to Ughs to animal pelts. Others were selling random souvenirs, but the sheer number of vendors was great. Then we walked through an indoor section where there were cheese, wine, poultry, meats and seafood vendors. Outside there had even been a section seeking young poultry... alive... for eggs. They ranged from chickens to ducks to quails. They were pretty cute... anyway, at a couple shops we bought food for a picnic tonight and breakfasts for the week.

We took the tram back to Martha's place, where she headed down to help her sister at the studio a bit more. Margaret and I stayed back and did a bunch of cooking, her a pasta salad and myself some guacamole, which im very proud of since I mostly made it up. (I read a few recopies online... had very few of the called for ingredients, so mixed matched and simplified). I used 3 avocados, half a red onion, a bunch of cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, the juice of a lime, and some whole cumin seeds that I smashed up. Im very pleased with the result.

We're now heading out to an outdoor screening of the new Marnia film, where we will be picnicking on the foods we made... and some other random snacks, as well as some Aussie treats like Timtams and Sweet Chili Doritos (both have been given high praise by Mel... thanks Mel)

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Pictures on the Move

So, despite being awake for nearly 24 hours... it appears that I still cannot sleep beyond 6. Today I was able to force myself back to sleep for an hour, but then succumbed to the sunshine and got up. Our current hostel, The Nunnery, kindly provides free breakfast, so I had myself a toasted roll with jelly and some coffee. I also found some freely provided Vegemite... which I felt obligated to try during my stay in Australia. So, I toasted some bread and spread on a thin layer. I would describe my opinion as... every other bite was awful, while the remaining bites were... not as bad. Though, i've heard its an acquired taste and I can see it one day being tasty. I however, have now tried it thus do not feel obliged to again.

Around 10:15 we met up with Martha and headed by tram into the heart of Melbourne. Where we ended up is referred commonly as "the city" or the "CBD". From there we walked up into the center square where the ACME, Australian Centre for the Moving Image" is located. It is in short a museum about movies, and their current special exhibit is about Disney.

The top floor was fun. We walked through the evolution of television and films, from black and white with no sound to modern day special effects. Similarly we saw various tools of the trade and could see how they changed over time. While im not sure how they fit into the greater scheme, we watched some random Aussie commercials and they were very funny. At the end of the progression of film they had another (similar but smaller) section for the evolution of video games. It showed everything ranging from the original Pong system, to the modern motion sensing Wii, to a brief prediction of gaming interactions of the future. One of the systems displayed was the light sensing projector I mentioned was in the museum yesterday.

After this we headed downstairs to the matured Disney exhibit. The main sections were dedicated to Snow White, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Following these were two brief sections for Disney's new films, The Frog Princess and Tangled. Before I talk about the exhibits I do wish Aladdin was on display instead of Cinderella. I think that the selection of 4 would I think be a bit more diverse (before anyone claims I believe this solely because I'm a male and want a guy protagonist... but this point was mentioned by Martha before I said anything at all).

Anyway, through the exhibits we were able to see some original sketches of different ways certain characters were drawn, and it was interesting to see how sometimes multiple ideas were combined to form the final product. I also enjoyed reading a bit more in depth on the history of Walt Disney, as well as the stories that so many of the classics were based on. One of my favorite observations was that in discussing these different portrayals of characters (and talking about some not shown), it became very clear some of the features that describe certain character types. For example... villains tend to be tall, with sharp features and narrow pointy eyebrows. Now, those seem obvious, but where this all started was when I observed the hands. Villains all tend to have excessively long and honey hands. Martha and I noted Ursala as an exception, but we noted this as true for the Gillian in The Frog Princess, Jamar from Aladdin, the witch from Sleeping Beauty, the witch from Snow White and others. It was very fun to see and discuss these features that described characters. It was a great exhibit and now I really want to sit down and just watch like all of them in a row!

We left the museum and spent some time walking the city. Now, when Intent to Belgium my dad told me that I should walk around looking up, because certain beauties were just carved into random buildings. The city center had a similar effect. There are an astounding number of street corners with spectacular buildings on them. Some elegant but clearly modern brick, and some seem to be converted cathedrals. Others I have no ideal what they were but they were decorated with elegant arches and towers. It was really quite a site.

Anyway, we walked through a series of alleyways, where shops and restraints just crowd the narrow streets until we found our way to a mall, where there would be a burger place, Grilled, that we intended to eat at. The mall as build around a giant brick tower! It was an old pipe and shot factory, and rather than knock it down for the mall they just build around it. I thought that was awesome!

Since the weather was nice we headed back, changed and walked to the local pool. Unexciting but relaxing. On our way back we stopped by Django Django, the cafe where Martha works and had some "iced chocolate" which is a delicious sorta milkshake like things... afterwards she stayed to work and we headed back to the Hostel. We seem to be in for dinner soon and a quiet evening, but for now I'm sitting on the grass, in a park, in the sun, across from our hostel writing to all my loyal fans and readers!

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In a Land Where the Kangaroos Play

I'll be honest. I had meant to close yesterdays blog with some final thoughts on New Zealand... so i'll just toss those out now. First and foremost, it has got to be the most beautiful country I have ever seen! The ability for the landscape to change from smooth beeches and rugged coastlines to rolling hills into sharp peaks. In some cases we even skip the hills and fields and go straight from beech to mountains. Some mountains and hills are lush displays of hundreds of greens, while others are barren rock peaks capped by snow. To me the beauty and diversity of the landscapes was the best part.
Secondly, everyone is so friendly. Even when things got messed up... it was impossible for me to be mad about it. For example... we'd originally booked a full day hike on the Franz Josef glacier, but got mixed into the half day. And the group went practically out of their way to offer a refund. When I brought this up I was unable to not say that I still had a great time over and over again.
Lastly, the sheer variety of activities to do is overwhelming. When visiting Bruce he said it would be easy to spend 6 to 8 weeks on New Zealand alone. While I was skeptic at first... now i'm a believer. On that note if anyone is ever going and would like tips i'm happy to oblige.

Ok, moving on... today I woke up at 3:25 am to catch a shuttle to the airport. I will now note that that is a lame and not fun time of day. Time of day aside, the shuttle to the airport was smooth and checkin was easy. We debated getting coffee and breakfast but realized when when arrived in Melbourne it would still be before 9, so we might want breakfast then. So we waited and boarded and the flight went swimmingly. We arrived in Australia at 8:30, and were ready to enjoy a new country.

With the aid of some tips Martha (my friend from Kenyon whom I'm visiting here) gave me, we boarded a bus and headed into the main city, where we caught the tram to our hostel. We dropped our bags and began to explore to find some breakfast. We found a nice cafe and had a nice bite to eat. We were now approaching noon, and were both a bit tired to we opted for something easy to do.

Across the street from where we were staying is the Melbourne Museum and it had an imax theater as well. We spent most of the day in the museum and then took a load off our feet to watch Tron Legacy in 3D on imax. Just to get this out of the way... I feel a bit guilty about going to a movie but my excuse is it was advertised as I believe the 3rd largest tv screen in the world. Anyway... the movie was fun and now back to the museum...

The museum isn't huge, and had 5 distinct rooms. We started in the center, the Forest Gallery. There... it was actually local trees and wildlife in an open room (mesh ceiling only). We saw many trees and many pretty bird. My favorite looked like a chickadee, but instead of while it had bright blue. I don't recall its name. :( there were also tunnels to explore under the few steams they had running threw. Afterwards we proceeded through the body and mind exhibit and the science and life exhibit. They were, ugh like you'd expect. The first explores the progression of discoveries about the mind and body and tools and experiments related to the two. The latter was a display of dinosaur and prehistoric animal fossils, as well as gems and semiprecious stones. The coolest thing in this exhibit was a map of Melbourne, done by projection... where it was like a touch screen but based on light sensing rather than touch sensing. It was really cool.

The two unique galleries were about the aboriginal culture and the city of Melbourne. In a nutshell we found that not a whole lot is known about the aboriginals. There were some notes on pretty hideous attempts for integration, and displays of collected tools and weapons and clothes, but seemingly not a whole lot to tie everything together. The Melbourne gallery showed anythings, including some of their first movies, a scale model of a huge cruiser, a comparison of 2 early houses, one wealthy and a poor one. They also had a small portion of this room dedicated to a locally raised race horse from the early nineties. Its name is unfortunately escaping me. It was Phar Lap [Original text here: "Ph.. ... (if you replace each . with a letter) i'll try to edit this with the name later."]

After the museum and movie we had indian food for dinner and headed back to the hostel. More to come on the 'morrow!

Time to Say Farewell

So today began, and was, much like yesterday. I got up early, and went to check some things at the front desk. We were changing rooms for the night and I wanted to make sure what times we needed to move. I picked up our new keys and let Margaret sleep in until it was a more reasonable time to move. During my visit to the front desk I also scheduled a shuttle to take us to the airport tomorrow morning... at 4... ewwwww...

Anyway, during my morning I was watching a bit of English Premier League, Chelsea vs someone..., and experienced a bit of an aftershock (which Christchurch has been getting many of recently), and it was strong enough to shake the building. I'll admit... at first I did not think it was an aftershock. It happened to occur IMMEDIATELY after Chelsea scored their first goal of the match. My first reaction was that there were a lot of people celebrating. Common consensus in the room (and looking it up) showed that it was indeed an aftershock though. I felt a bit foolish...

Again, we explored Christchurch, walked around a park we'd not seen before and watched more acts in the ongoing festival. We watched a pair from LA, described as ... breakdancing comedians?... and they were amazing. I will admit, a common theme among many of the acts are that they all tell jokes. Now this at first seemed normal, but the common theme I noticed was that NONE of these jokes would fly as "PC" in the states. They were pretty funny though.

One comment I did enjoy was (actually from yesterday), was when a guy was juggling flaming torches. He was having a small kid in the front row rate him though. When he started he waves the torches ne'er the ground and the excess gas flies to the ground making two burning streaks. He goes "Look! Back to the future..." which was followed by a blank stare and the guy saying "You have no idea what im talking about...". Ill admit... it sounds less funny now that I write it but I swear it was. :)

Anyway, dinner was Thai. We've seen a lot of Thai restaurants and wont be visiting anywhere with it as the native food so we thought it'd be good. It was very tasty. We headed back early to do some laundry and cleaning and packing... followed by a very early bed for a very early morning.

Good night New Zealand! For the last time until I return some day far from now...

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A Walk in the Park

So we had a slow morning... I got up but since we did not have specific plans for the day I saw no reason to wake Margaret early. I watched some news, read some and went outside to check the weather. I continued to read and news watch until about 10:30 when Margaret arose.

The day started by perusing about the city. We started out by making our way to the city center, Cathedral Square. There, had you not guessed... there is a cathedral. We went in and explored, and it was quite nice. More the stereotypical cathedral as opposed to the cathedral we visit in Nelson which was very modern.

When we exit the cathedral, the town square was gathering around a street preformer. It turns out we are attending Christchurch during their Buskers Festival. For those who don't know... that is a festival for street performers. Anyway, this first act (for us) is a street painter. At first we thought he was a magician... but twice (including his finally), he started throwing paint on a black page. At first it seemed entirely random, but within 3 minutes it turned into a portrait of Mick Jagger. It was crazy.

This inspired us to see more acts of the festival so we went to Victoria square where there were two different stages and we tended to alternate between the two. First (second I suppose), we saw Campground Chaos. This was an aerial stage acrobatics act. We then saw a bicyclist who was at one point riding the bike by holding the handlebars and walking on the front wheel. We then saw another actor though i'm feeling weaker in describing his act in a nutshell, but it was mostly balancing and juggling. Then we saw a duet circus pair who were very funny.

All in all it was a blast. By this point we headed out for some water as we'd been in the sun for quite a while. We went back briefly but the acts going on were not as engaging. The whole thing is 10 days, from the 20th to 30th. It was a lot of fun.

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A Real City

Well, a real city by New Zealand standards. We got up the usual time and packed our bags. We made ourselves some coffee to drink with our breakfast pastries. We then headed out to the bus, and boarded without trouble.

With that we were on our way out of Franz Josef, the tiny town on the western coast. When I say tiny... it makes Gambler Ohio look equally the city. It had two parallel streets and about a block of building inbetween. I must have walked the whole town multiple times in my stay.

We drove north to Greymouth along the same route we'd taken down to Franz Josef. Once there we switched to another bus to take us east to Christchurch. On the road we passed by plains and mountains, mountains covered in trees and mountains that were barren from rock slides. I can't decide if I think that the clouds are all low in New Zealand or the mountains are far taller than they seem, but the tops of mountains are routinely hidden by the soft rolling clouds that pass by.

As we began to roll into Christchurch it actually felt like a city. Small outskirts and real buildings on the interior. It was interesting to see that there were many buildings that seemed recently torn down or recently closed. I later recalled being informed that Christchurch recently underwent an earthquake or at least some strong aftershocks. Then the closed buildings seemed to make a lot more sense.

As we drove through, there were a sunrising number of indian restaurants, so we found one to eat at for dinner. All in all a fairly quiet day, but its good to have some quiet days to relax and recoup.

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Walkin' on Water

At least in a way... this morning I didn't get up until about 7:30, an hour later than usual but still early enough to meet the morning sun. Last night the views had been obscured due to low clouds that were rolling over the mountain tops. This morning I went outside to watch the sun rise over the Franz Josef glacier as the sun rose over the nearby mountains. Without a cloud in the sky the view from where I stood rose from the empty street to green hills to the grey stone and white snow where the glacier now resides.

Breakfast consisted of walking down the street where I bought 6 eggs and hash browns and fried them up (Margaret scrambled two of them...). After breakfast we went to pack my mom's snowleopard pack with lunch, water and warm gear for the day. I also provided Margaret with and underarmor layer, which along with a coat was more than enough. We went to the base for the Franz Josef tours, where they gave us all wool socks and boots. They made me switch from my boots to theirs ... a fact of which I am a bit bitter because my boots were better... but that aside, they approved of all of my gear and that which I was carrying for the both of us, so we needed no more then their boots socks and crampons.

We took the bus to the glacier's valley, where we took a ...30 minute hike to the terminal face of the glacier. The sheer size of scale that existed made everything sen out of proportion. We could see a rough edge at the top of the glacier, but they were described to us as being the size of multi-story apartment buildings.

The hike was great. We were broken up into groups and Margaret and I joined to faster group, and started up by climbing up any number of switchbacks up a slate/gravel mound that made up the terminal face. (Sorry about all of the repeater words right there...) Here is where we reached the ice and stopped to pu on crampons. It may have been helped by what I was wearing, or the pack... or any number of things... but I made quite an impression with our guide when I was halfway throw putting on my second crampon by the time he started explaining how. When he came through to check everyone's he asked me what I'd done and I had quite a nice conversation with him.

We then started our assent of the glacier, and the shades of blue that are provided by the glacial ice are AMAZING! We went down some man-made stairs, and walked along trails with crevasses on either side. We would stop from time to time to be told about the movements of the glacier and the effects of the local waterfalls and it was amazing to learn how drastically much this particular glacier moved.

We continued up for about another hour, where we stopped for lunch. While we sat and ate (pita and humus for us) our guide worked on checking/filling a few places in a crevasse we would get to hike through to start our climb down. After lunch our guide had me how through, as he walked alongside to help. At the end he left me with instructions as to where to help people go and what to do as he went and helped people through his crevasse. Everything went smoothly and the color inside was beautiful.

We continued downwards with more views and traveling through new gorges as we went. The important point was when we steppe at a cave where we were allowed in... but just far enough for fun pictures, a massive echo, the deepest blue i've ever seen, and the ability to see how far a crevasse could continue. Then we continued out without much more excitement.

The day also did not stop there. Back at our hostel it was 65 and sunny with no wind. As such I sat outside in the sun for a few hours, until 6 when I had a bowl of free soup. After that we went to the glacial hot pools, which we had free entry to as a result of the glacier walk. I spent plenty of time sitting in 104 degree water as I listened to the birds of the local forests. After this we made a spaghetti dinner with some wine and felt very civil with ourselves.

That brings me to now and the end of an awesome day. The only thing left is I am on my way outside to try and find the southern cross.

P.S. this glacier is where they filmed the "lighting of the beacons" for Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, you cannot see the full extent of the range unless you take a helicopter view... which is a bit out of my budget. Sadface. But still, basically was on part of the set!

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To Another Climate

Well, I'll keep this brief. Partly because today was not very exciting and partly because I'd like tomorrow to be a surprise...ish...

Anyway, the day started early; I might even say before bright. While I've been waking up around 6 lately anyway, today I had little time to dally. We did some finishing touches on packing our bags and checked out. We headed south by bus out of Nelson, and getting on the road went smoothly.

The bus driver talked sooooo much. I was losing my voice just listening to him and it actually became difficult to figure out what was important and what was repetition. He also kept the air conditioning way to cold. But complaints aside... we did stop in a bunch of places along the way to stretch the legs. The only one of note was the town of Punakaiki. Here I took a 20 minute loop of a walk, but rushed through it since we were leaving again in 20 mind. The loop took me to some great views of "pancake rocks". While I didn't get much explanation on how they formed, they appear to be hundreds of thin layers upon layers. Whatever their cause, also made for a very steep, rocky and jagged coastline. There were also "blowholes" along the walk. Sadly there were no good views of these, as they were holes in the ground canceled by nearby brush... but what made them cool was that I could hear wind whipping through them and on occasion they uttered loud blasts.

Back on the bus we continued onward, and in an hour or so were seeing more new and spectacular views... though I choose not to say of what. The evening was also pretty simple. We checked into our new lodgings without any trouble and took a quick walk around the small town. We bought some groceries and made ourselves some dinner. That was all... if all goes well better details and more excitement should follow tomorrow!

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I'm on a Boat!

You guessed it. At some point in this entry I will find myself on a boat. I must however lead with an apology... there were many things today that I wish I had taken pictures of, but there were extraneous conditions that I'll explain in due time. When pictures are shown please forgive some of the missing things from this day.

Apologies aside, today started much like last... up at 6:15, but at 7:15 to Abel Tasmen, and very little excitement on the bus ride. Once we arrived at Marahau, our day began to divert from yesterday. Today we'd signed up for "freedom sea kayaking". In other words, we rented a tandem kayak and after some paperwork, lessons and ...approval... we headed out to sea. There had been some tips given, as the wind was strong and some of the swells were... huge (though they got even bigger when we landed in the afternoon).

We all (the group of kayaks doing this adventure) put into the water where a guide gave us all a practical. We were the first group released to go. (Steering is easier with a rudder...) Anyway, we headed straight for the first island on our list, Fisherman's Island. We made it to the small beach and landed. However it quickly came to our attention that we were about 15 mind before high tide, and this particular beech was about to we submerged. With all haste we hurried our way back out to sea. We turned the corner to the western side of the island where we found shelter from both wind and waves. Here we took a breather.

We then had a rough patch where we crossed between Fisherman's Island and Adele Island. Rough only in that the wind and waves were back, not that we had troubles. Once we made it to the island we were again sheltered and relaxed as we traveled up its coast. About halfway down we found a small triangular cave, just large enough for the kayak. We went in just enough (about a boat length) to see around the bend and that the cave continued. While holding our position I learned that the pull and push of the tides were VERY strong, so we quickly pushed ourselves back out. Our little adventure however got the attention and questions of a handful of other kayaks... none of whom braved the cavern even slightly. :)

Onwards to the northern end of the island, where rumor had it seals were hanging out. Upon rounding the turn we learned that seals were indeed hanging out. In total we passed I think... 6, all of whom were napping, cleaning or sleeping and one who went diving and swimming among the rocks. They were so cute! Sadly we were once again very exposed and turned around.

We headed back to the, mainland, but a beech we were unable to visit the previous day. We stopped for lunch, a break, and some time to hang out in the sun. Without too much pause we continued, but being almost two, we headed back towards where we'd turn in for the day. About halfway back, we spotter a bird in the water about 20 yards off. It was a penguin! While I do not know its technical name, its referred to as the "little blue penguin". It too was awesome.

That was our last site and it became a long haul back. Once we passed by Fisherman's island, the swells had to be ranging 3 or 4 meters from trough to crest. It was quite tiring to fight the back of the boat into line for them, and then back to an angle to cut towards the beech. I was able to get us past the beachhead, so that we could turn and ride the swells straight in. To my knowledge only one group flipped and it wasn't us. :) grinning aside I did then help them in...

The evening was pretty quiet. Some sleep while we waited for the bus, then more on the bus. We showered and went out to eat. We were back by 9 and Margaret went straight to bed. I'm down at the bar, swapping stories with a few people and writing to you. But, now i'm done and so I too will be off soon.

P.S. I have some pictures of the beeches and the cave, but none of the swells of wildlife. While I wish I could have, it took just about all my effort to keep us in live to get good views ourselves. So, sadface... miss everybody!

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A Walk in the Park

Well, today I got up at 6... which has sorta been the norm lately. Margaret and I had made plans to go to Abel Tasmen National Park for the day and she was still feeling a bit under the weather last night. So I packed and went out to find coffee for us both, and got back in time to make sure we made the bus.

The bus ride was really nothing exciting...so i'll just skip past all of that. We drove north past Kaiteriteri to Marahau (two of the main centers for tourist activities in the park). The schedule for the day was to take a water taxi from Marahau north along the coast to Anchorage. Then we would walk back to Marahau via a 4 hour trail, but we had about 6-7 hours and could stop by beaches pretty leasurely along the way.

As was planned we boarded the water taxi, but prior to taking us north, we traveled south just around the bend. There we were shown "Split Apple Rock", and just like the name suggests... it looks like an apple split in two. After that we were taken north where we were dropped off on the beech of Anchorage where we began our walk.

We began heading uphill along a mostly clay path. Being mostly clay there was fairly limited vegetation. Due to the small plant life and the vantage point of the ridge, we were provided with some spectacular views of the park. Our first detour led us to the "watering cove". It too was well named for what it appeared to be. I went for a short swim across part of the cove to a rock in the middle and the tide was stunningly strong. It did make however a good view of the sea, divided in two by a rock spire not too far off. We continued back up and continued to find ourselves with great views, warm suns and soft beeches.

I don't mean to sound blunt, but I fear typing out each beach we stopped at will be very repetitive, both to read and write. In a nutshell we had a great hike and ended at 3:30, and killed an hour before the bus arrived to take us back to Nelson.

Some random but fun moments along the way... at one point we were passed by a father and daughter (I assume). As they passed Margaret said "awww" just enough to muffle my comment of "what a cute backpack" in reference to the mini hiking pack the girl was wearing. Margaret commented that my priorities were out of place.

In terms of wildlife there were a couple of bird spotting's but nothing spectacular. At one point a bird was fluttering... literally between us... but never staying still long enough for a picture. Later again I passed beneath a branch and was nearly deafened by a ciccata (spelling?). I was very pleased when I was able to find it and hopefully our picture turns out.

The bus ride, much like the ride in was unexciting. We got off by a fish and chips spot we'd seen earlier. It was very tasty, though we were given an obscene number of fries. Either way, looks like another relatively early night for an early start tomorrow.

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A Quiet Day...

Well originally I was going to not say anything about today... but in retrospect what I learned from today may be useful to someone... someday... maybe.

It was a rainy day so right off it was a bit... unmotivating. But, we knew that we wanted to deal with some more bookings and do some other around town sites and activities. We had breakfast at a local bakery, which was quite tasty. I believe I had a "savory swirl"...basically a roll with onion bits and bacon bits and some other tasty treats. After breakfast...9ish... we headed over to the information/help center.

While there we perused a few more booklets that we did not have the night before and we thought we were ready to book. We went through our plan and it turns out there were a few details we had been unclear on. The woman helping us was very nice and patient which was great. We had to talk a hiatus to talk amongst ourselves again (again I omit the details so as to not give away the coming events) but finally got our plan cleaned up again. All in all, we were done with reservations... for almost the entirety of the next 8 days, payment too, by 1.

Point of this all is that I was mentally exhausted. Planning is really draining and its hard to do that much and then go see sites. It didn't help that it was raining, but I think it was an important lesson.

Long story short, it was a relatively quiet afternoon, but we made ourselves a pasta dinner and got an early bed to be ready for tomorrow.

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A Slow Day Down South

Our day started bright and early, as we had to head down to Auckland for our flight. We had coffee and toast with Bruce as we did some drying of a load of laundry. We did the final touches of packing and bid farewell to Louie (the dog), Big Kittie (one cat) and Little Kittie (the other cat). It turns out it was raining, but it was one of the more gentle rain's I've ever seen. Lucky for us our plans for the day were mostly travel...

Our drive to the airport was unexciting in terms of traffic, but the views (despite the clouds) continued to impress. As we arrived back at Auckland Airport, it had returned to being hot and sunny. The airport had to have been one of the easiest airports ever. We checked ourself in and walked a good hundred steps to the gate. No security or anything. A bit disconcerting, I'll admit, but nice in a way too.

The flight itself led to some good views of mountains and coasts, and with very little turbulence we landed ourselves down in Nelson. On our way out of the airport we picked but a bunch of guidebooks/pamphlets and took some time to make a general plan. People are so nice in New Zealand! While we sat talking a security personnel offered directions and tips. He gave us some local activities as well as a contact to shuttle around. Turns out something held up his friend who does shuttling and he offered us a ride, showing us where some of the sites were and dropping us off at the information center.

At the information center we booked ourselves into a hostel (technically a backpackers) and also got MANY more tips on how to spend our time on the south island. We checked in easy enough and then Margaret decided to repack. She looked though her bag to make some cuts of unnecessary things, and then we went and bought her a new bag while exploring the heart of Nelson. We had dinner at a 623, a local chain of...taverns? Anyway, we each had one of their house made beers and I had more Green-Lipped Mussels. Oh they are so tasty!

As we ate we finished up our plans for this island, but you'll have to keep reading to learn them. After dinner we tried walking up to the beach but discovered that the tide had come in and washed it all away. We went back and spent the evening in the hostel talking and playing cards with 2 guys from England and a girl from Idaho. A pretty fun group in all.

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Road Trip!!!

Saturday morning started out nice and relaxed. I helped bruce do some gardening and Margaret attempted to sleep the day away. After a light breakfast of coffee and toast, we set out on the two day version of Bruce's tiki tour of Northland.

First we headed north from Whangarei to Bruce's former home, known as the Bush Hut. It's located on a huge hill overlooking Helena Bay to the north. The views from where we stood were amazing, looking over a valley and into the ocean farther away. Claim has it that view from the property is even more scenic.

We continued north to Russell, a normally quiet town in the Bay of Islands. We had a short walk on the beach, but the town was a bit more busy that usual, courtesy of a cruise ship. We drove up to a lookout where we could see in every direction. There are some houses... they're just silly how impressive they are. We went to a local vineyard, Omata Estate, overlooking the entire bay. I shared a wine tasting with Margaret, including a chardonnay, summer merlot, merlot, syrah, a port, and a late harvest dessert wine. Meanwhile the three of us shared a cheese/bread/cracker/fruit plate. All in all I felt very sophisticated...

Our drive continued, crossing the bay by ferry to Opua, and then driving west. We continued with a stop or two along the way until we reached Opononi, which was very close to the pacific entrance of the Hokianga Harbor. As we crested the final hill leading into the town we were in full view of a MASSIVE sand dune. It was a self contained desert, the entire peninsula on the far side of the harbor. It still baffles me... We stayed in Opononi just long enough for a drink and to look into a dinner option, before continuing a few miles down the road on Omapere, where Bruce had a room at The Cop Thorne. We settled in, had a swim in the harbor, and a beer on the beech. We planned to go back to Opononi for dinner but it closed by the time we arrived, so we returned to the hotel for dinner...

Day Two (Sunday)...

The day opened with a 6:30 wake up (jetlag?) But it led to some terrific views of the harbor. A highlight of the day included Margaret approaching me and sheepishly asking for help opening a "childproof" pill bottle. ...good times... Anyway, breakfast downstairs was a wide selection of juices, fruits, cereals, eggs, hashbrowns and bacon. Delicious!

Our first stop was on plateau overlooking the harbor, right at it's entrance. We walked around with spectacular views and then scrambled down to the beech. The sand was soft, the waves were big and the sun was hot. We swam a bit, followed by hiking along south a bit. Climbing on some rocks as we explored the coast. We turned around and continued back the other way, making our way around and back inside the harbor. A personal favorite spot was a rock that seemed to have been naturally hollowed out into a perfect circle. The water was warm and a teal color, with soft smooth rocks layering its bottom. A mini hot tub!

For all that I could have stayed there forever, it was time to get back to the car where we left the sunscreen. We resumed our drive and in less than 30 mind found ourselves in the Waipoua Forest. It was hard to imagine we could go from such an open beech to a thick forest in so short a time. We stopped twice here to look at the Kauri trees. With fragile root networks, conservation groups have been making paths to protect these trees. They are the second largest tree species in the world, second only to Redwoods, and lived up to their size. We first saw Tane Mahuta, the largest of these trees and it was BIG. We enjoyed the walk so took one more to see the 4 Sisters, another of these trees a bit further along the road before continuing.

We continued south to Baylys Beach, the entrance to a beach highway. From here we drove ~15 miles south to Glinks Gully. All the while with wide open Pacific on our right and awesome rock faces on our left. Once there we continued back east to Whangarei.

We got back earlier than expected, so after a bit of a rest we headed out to the head of the Whangarei Harbor, and to Ocean Beech. We spent very little time on the beech but started to climb one of the many ridges we'd been seeing during the drives. This resulted in excellent views of ocean, beech, and inland. We climbed down and headed back for dinner, as we were all starving by now.

A few side notes... Bruce has got inland travel of NZ down to an art. With a small, high performance car for the exceedingly narrow and twisty roads, and to make quick cross country trips. Also, the landscapes were awesome. A friend of Bruce's referee to it as the land of many shades of green. Every time we passed through tree clumps I imagined Jurassic Park and every time we're on a coast I was stunned. My favorite perhaps though was the frequency that the land changed from rolling fields, to steep/sharp ridges, to dense forests to beech and ocean. And this was just Northland.

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Another Country Heard From!

Well, I'm now quite sure where Wednesday ended and Friday began. Thursday simply did not occur, but that's ok... who needs Thursday anyway. Well, in a nutshells the flights to New Zealand went pretty smoothly. We flew 11 hours to Fiji where we had a 3 hour layover, followed by a 2 and a half hour flight to Auckland NZ.

As it turns out, Air Pacific claims that they are the friendliest airline in the world. They were in fact really very friendly. When we landed in Fiji, they hand a r person band playing local music. It was pretty sweet. Also, the food was really quite good (considering it was airplane food...). What helped pass the time of the all the most was having sat with/met a girl Diana, who is currently living in Auckland. We talked a lot during the flight and a bunch during our layover about different countries of travel, and different outdoors activities.

Well, the next step in events (having now arrived in New Zealand) was finding our way to Whangarei, where we would meet Bruce. We had planned to take a bus, but were having trouble finding where to meet said bus. So, I buckled down and asked for help... WORST DECISION EVER! At the airport I was told to take one bus into Manakau City, and from there take the Intercity Service to Whangarei. This went smoothly until, in Manakau, we were told we needed to get to Auckland to catch the 4 o'clock Northliner to Bruce. We were told which bus to get on to get there, but were told the last stop. Had we gotten off 2 or 3 stops sooner it would have Benn perfect. Instead we had 10 minutes to get an unknown number of blocks back. I pulled out a map I'd found earlier and we started booking it. Luckily, the bus left about 5 ,inutues late AND a few people had canceled. We paid, got on and informed Bruce we'd see him in 2 hours.

Now, despite all this chaos... this country is soooo gorgeous! Everywhere you look there are rolling hills or ocean harbors, cattle fields or clusters of trees. In sections where trees were thick I felt like I belonged in Jurassic Park. Where there were jus rolling fields, I expected Hobbiton just up the road. When we neared the the coast, there were jagged island sticking up until you lost sight in the distance. This is where I met a second interesting person. Her name was Jutta (though I'm hazy on the pronunciation) and she's an older woman from Hamburg Germany. This was her fourth time traveling up to Whangarei from Auckland so gave me MANY useful tips and pointed out many things. She spend most of her time traveling and at home playing folk music, mostly either with the accordion or harmonica. She gave me her card and said if I need a place to stay in Hamburg, to give her a call.

We arrived in Whangarei just as Bruce arrived to pick us up. He drove us to his house where we met his dog and his cats. He gave us a chance to wash and change and then drove us to beach for a walk before dinner. This beach... i'm speechless. The sun was setting over the jagged islands further out in the bay. The sand was warm and smooth, but at either end there was a beautiful rocky outcrop. It had to have been one of, if not the most, beautiful beach scene I'd ever witnessed.

After the walk we went out to dinner in the Marina, where we started with an appetizer of green-lipped muscles (I'd been told they were a food local to NZ). They were SO green, and absolutely delicious! Then I had the fish of the day, I forget the fish but it was served on rice with a coconut curry cause. It hinted at indian food but was very tasty. Bruce had a pork belly and Margaret had an open goat-cheese ravioli. We shared a bit and all were good, but I think mine was best...

We then walked up the marina and back before driving home. It wasn't until I sat in the car that sleep hit me like a brick, and while I fought to stay awake... I remember very little of the drive home...and collapsed in bed.

The Day that Could Have Been a Blizzard

So I got up this day in what i've enjoyed calling "sunny California" to 65 degree weather with clear skies. I sat out front and chatted with Colin (Margaret's uncle...) for somewhere between 1 and 2 hours. When I finally did go inside with a plan to shower, I was certain that it was about noon. NO! It was about 8:30... silly jetlag...

Anyway, I showered and Margaret and I went to have breakfast at some little coffee shop. I had a coffee and probably the most chocolatey chocolate crescent I have ever had. It was delicious. After eating we sat in the sun, reading various bits of news.

This is when I was reminded of the blizzard back home. I read that 70 percent of the contiguous US was covered in snow. ... I proceeded to look around at the cloudless 68 degree sunniness...and I smiled. :)

Margaret and I walked around town a bit more but around noon Colin came and drove us into Santa Monica. Again, we walked around for a awhile and eventually found ourselves at the end of 3rd street... where we had walked into a mall. Now, at first it may seem surprising to unknowingly walk into a mall... but most malls have doors... and ceilings for that matter. This however, had no ceiling, no roof... no doors to mark the entrances. But it was defiantly a mall, escalators a and all. It was awesome and had some sweet views.

Tonight we returned to LAX where i had what must have been the fastest international check in and security i've ever traveled through. Now i'm sitting and clogging while awaiting my flight to New Zealand and I'M SO EXCITED!!!

P.S. ... some people were indeed complaining about how cold it was... silly people...

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Beatin the Storm

Well the day had a bit of a rocky start. While I finished packing and got to the airport (courtesy of my dad) things were seeming to move smoothly; with the luck of beating out the big storm. Yet, as my dad drove off to return to work I look at the board and behold that my flight has been canceled... a feeling I have been becoming unfortunately familiar with.

As is protocol I proceeded to ask the delta attendant what my options were, and she gave me ... nothing. "There are no flights from anywhere... to anywhere." ...great... I called my dad as a consult and then returned to the delta line to inquire about refunds. As I was explaining my situation to a new woman, she immediately offered to book me for a 7 o'clock out of Kennedy with standby on every earlier flight. Sweet.

Now I thank my dad who drove me through the hideous drive to JFK airport, where I smoothly made it to my gate and was accepted onto my first standby option; a 3 o'clock flight.

Now I have almost a full day to enjoy sunny California before another longer, but hopefully smoother flight to New Zealand!

Testing...

As it turns out I have gotten myself a druid (DROID!!! for all you people having fun making fun of me writing druid! I know I made a typo! I'm sorry! <<sticks out tongue at you... BROTHER!!!>>)...a dark day indeed. But, In more relevant news I may now be able to keep this blog somewhat updated. Now, that is not to say that I can promise any posts... but we shall see what happens. There will likely be many a typo so please forgive those. A do believe that this concludes my test from my druid and I must now go work on packing as I leave in two days...

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