Fjordlands Ahoy!

Today was a day trip to Milford Sound (cool fjordlands). On the way we went through a valley with a few waterfalls, that apparently is amazing in the rain. Every single little ledge all over the valley walls turn into a waterfall, and there are tousands of them. I'd like to see that.

The sound was cool, we went on a ferry. Lots of little (well, far away) waterfalls, and really awesome rolling clouds.

On the way there and the way back, our bus driver kept whispering "...fergburger..." under his breath. It made me want to chow down on one when we got back to Qweenstown.

Elastic Can Be Your Friend

Today I went bungy jumping at Nevis Highwire Bungy. It's basically a 20-ish-person pod suspended over a valley (ravine? What's the difference?) on big wires, really big wires. Unfortunately for me, bungy jumping is a bit of a let down after skydiving. The first few seconds are awesome. It's still-air freefall, just like if you jumped off a building (at least, what I imagine it would be like), the rush from that was pretty amazing. Then the cord starts slowing you down, and it gets boring.

In other news, I left a battery in a charger at the hostel in Franz Josef, fortunately the camera I bought in Auckland uses the same stuff, but I was planning to give the camera to my folks if they wanted it, so I was trying to find camera stuff today. It's all ridiculously expensive. I never thought a battery and charger could cost so much. Needless to say, I skipped that particular purchase.

Hmmm, what else... I bought too many groceries. The hostel kitchen's fridge failed, and there wasn't much room in the room fridge, and didn't seem like it was keeping anything very cold. I survived.

It's a Puzzling World

On the way out of Wanaka we stopped at a place called Puzzling World. All manner of optical illusions and small puzzles littered the inside. I tried to bend my mind around some of the puzzles, got a few. I couldn't unsolve one of them. After that, on to Queenstown. There was an awesome burger place (I only had the veggie options) in Queenstown called Fergburger. They had a delicious tofu burger they called "Holier Than Thou", and a falafel burger branded "Bun Laden".

The Ground Isn't the Place for Me

I think I should have been born with wings or fins. I feel more at home in the sky and water than I ever really have on land. And I certainly drink like a fish (as many a friend will attest to). I went on my second skydive (in two days) today; it was awesome, again. Side note: one of the disadvantages of skydiving with a big stupid grin on your face (like I did both times) is that your teeth get really really cold, and are sensitive for a few days afterward. The skydive today was to 15,000 feet, a full minute of freefall. I went with the option where a second person jumps at the same time as you and records everything. It came out pretty well. The people at this skydiving place felt a little more professional than the ones by fox glacier. The office was nicer too.

A Cold Wind Blows

Helihike canceled! !!! The place where the helicopter lands gets winds funneled through it and it's dangerous for them to land when it's windy. Bah! And the day was so beautiful, I didn't think there was even a chance of the hike being canceled. The front desk person at our hostel was really nice and planned a mini hike up close to the glacier so we could at least get a good view of it. Fortunately my skydive came to the rescue. No, we didn't skydive onto the glacier, but it was super fun, the best rush I've had in a while, and made the day a success in spite of the failure of the helihike.

I really liked skydiving. A lot.

Heli-Deer-Tackling

Yes, you heard right. We went to the Bushman's Centre, and as part of the admission price, they showed us a video all about deer hunting/control in New Zealand. At one point, there were guys who rode helicopters right up next to the deer, and then jumped onto them, bringing them to the ground. It was pretty cool to watch. They also talked about the other live-capture methods that the kiwis came up with, some of which were used in America to reintroduce animals to some areas. There were also some possums and a really big wild pig.

Were staying tonight and tomorrow night in Franz Josef, a town right by the Franz Josef Glacier. I'm planning on doing a helihike and a skydive tomorrow. I'm pretty psyched.

Pancakes, Rock and Otherwise

I almost missed the bus yesterday. I really wanted some breakfast, but I didn't really have time for it, but I tried for it anyway. Egg on avocado on toast. It was good, despite the fact that I ended up having to eat it out of a plastic bag. After breakfast we stopped at the Pancake rocks (they weren't terribly exciting), and a seal colony (I think I saw maybe 1 seal, must have been an off day). I had some pancakes at a cafe nearby and they were good.

Next on the agenda was a stop at Greymouth for shopping to create costumes for the night's bad taste dress-up party. I went as overly-holiday-themed-when-it-isn't-even-the-holidays guy. Sunglasses, holiday hat with antlers, red shirt with blinky Christmas tree on it, green striped thermal undershirt, musical blinky holiday tie, board shorts, and flipflops. I made the Christmas-tree shirt myself. I later found out that a kiwi experience ahead of us had a holiday theme for their party. I must be on the wrong bus! Also, I didn't win the contest (oh, I didn't mention the party was also a contest? Sorry...). I think I definitely did better than the second place guy, maybe not first place, but definitely second. Oh well... It was fun to hang out with everyone.

Dogs on Rye

Did a hike around Lake Rotoiti, a lake in the Nelson Lakes National Park. Jet boated down the Buller River. It was pretty cool, except it wasn't quite as fast as I was expecting/wanting. I am a G-force junky though.

We stayed the night at Bazil's (a YHA hostel in Wesport. I found some Sanitarium veggie hot dogs for dinner, but there were no buns, so I had them with rye bread instead (it was actually pretty good). I did some laundry (just in the nick of time). The wireless didn't work for me, again. It hadn't worked in the YHA in Auckland or Christchurch either. The really unfortunate thing is that I think it might have something to do with the fact that I'm using Linux and/or Firefox.

Watched The Cooler (starring M. C. Macy and Alec Baldwin), and I thought it was really good, talk about bad-luck-good-luck, jeez. Note: the movie isn't about refrigeration.

Bye Bye, LJ

Made avocado and eggs for breakfast (didn't have enough time for toast). A quick stop to see some seals, I got some good pictures. We stopped at Picton to drop LJ and Bernie off, and pick up a new driver (a guy named Jamie) and a bunch more people. After the bus filled up, we continued to Nelson. A quick stop on the way to do some wine tasting (yay... I get to feel left out...), but I did buy some delicious desserts, chocolate cake thing and some banoffee pie (both, but especially the banoffee, were soooooo good). Right by/in Nelson is the exact center of New Zealand, I walked up the hill to it and took some pictures.

They had Talisker in the bar at the hotel/hostel we were staying at! I tried to find someone that wanted a glass of it, but no takers. It was kind of expensive too, NZ$10.50 or so.

There was a big hullabaloo about the "backpackers" dinner, bangers and mash. A bunch of people got 3 sausages, but my friends only got 2, and theirs were cold. One of them complained, and it took forever for the kitchen to get it right. I had to get the veggie option, spaghetti with marinara. It was too watery. On the upside, I bought some delicious garlic bread and potato wedges. On the downside, even after giving a lot of them away, I still ate waaaay too much...

An Early Start

I took a shower the night before, because I had to meet the Kiwi Experience bus in front of the hostel at 7:30 AM. After I got on, the bus had to drop off two people that had gotten on the wrong bus a day too early. The bus stopped at a coffee shop for breakfast, I had some eggs and toast (yum!), and met a few of the girls (Zoey, Katie, and Amy). The destination was Kaikoura, and the activity choices were whale watching, dolphin watching, dolphin swimming, and seal swimming. I went with dolphin swimming, and it was awesome.

They kit you out in a wetsuit, hood, booties, mask, snorkel, and fins. I really wish that they had given me gloves. After they show a short video, it's into a bus, then into a boat and out to sea. There were lots of dolphins. Hundreds, probably. I had cold hands, sooo cold. The video gave you tips on how to entertain the dolphins into interacting with you, but they mostly swam right by me. After the last swim, the boat found dolphins to take pictures of, and I took lots and lots of pictures. Only a small number of them turned out.

Kaikoura is an amazing place. There are mountains with snow on the peaks, and in the same frame, you can see the town and waves crashing on the beach. It's scenes like that that make me want a better camera, and a panoramic lens. I think someone said that the ski lodge is only about 50 kilometers from the town, it only operates in winter though.

We hung out at the hostel for a bit, then the bus took us to the grocery store, but I couldn't find any vegetarian stuff (where are you when I need you, Sanitarium?), so I went for takeaway (that's take-out to the yanks) pad thai when we got back. It was pretty good, but not really spicy enough. After dinner was drinking. Lots and Lots of drinking. I had a good time getting to know some of the people better. I met three girls from the Stray bus (they were hanging out with us that night): Amy, Lee, and Lisa. On the Kiwi Experience bus there's John, Sam, Anthony, Anna, Natalie, Katie (another one), Bernard (but he's going to the north island today), and the three I met before. I hear we're going to have a full bus today with all the people coming from the north island. I'm curious to know exactly how full is full. I went to bed at about midnight, I was too sniffly to keep going, and it was frickin' cold on the deck.

Finding a Hat...

Made breakfast with Friedi, but I had (as per usual) gotten a late start. We had to rush a little near the end, and I was a little worried I wasn't going to make the flight. Don't worry, this story has a happy ending, I made it in time, and the plane was 10 minutes late, and I flew to Christchurch in business class!

It had been cold in Auckland, and was cold in Christchurch, so I figured I would need a hat. I never imagined how hard it would be to find a hat like the the one I left at home (at least, I hope that's where it is). I managed to spend at least a few hours walking around town searching in vain for a hat I could buy. Nothing was the style I wanted, they had those turn-up edges or some sort of embroidery (I frickin' hate embroidery on my hats/bags, I'm not generally a fan of being a walking billboard for anything) or both. When I finally did find something that was acceptable, I looked at the composition, and it had possum fur in it. I asked the lady (already knowing the answer), "Do they have to kill the possums to use their fur?" "Yes," she said. Sigh. All of the wool hats in Christchurch have possum in them. Eventually, I reached the breaking point, and settled on an acrylic one. It's kinda funny looking, it's a beanie that that dips down a little so it can cover ears. It wins on the most important thing though: it's warm.

That was a bit of a pain, but I had found an Indian restaurant on the way, and I went there for dinner. It was good, really scratched my Indian food itch. Good. On top of that, the public library has free wireless. Plusgood.

Met a New Friend

I bet you can't guess where she's from...

...that's right, Germany!

I met Friedi when she was checking in at the front desk. We got to talking and decided to hang out for the day. We went to Devonport and ate chips (fries to all you Americans) at the top of Mt Victoria. Then more walking around and finally dinner at Pizza Nicolino, a Greek pizza joint. I had some warm chocolate mud cake for dessert... it was sooooooooooo good. After that, we rode the ferry home and picked up some food to make breakfast with tomorrow.

I also picked up a SIM card, a new camera (my current one started making loud clicking sounds when the lens zoomed in or out) and booked my travel arrangements, I'm flying into Christchurch tomorrow (the 8th), and then catching a Kiwi Experience tour the next day. I went with the "Southern Round-Up" tour, which hits most of the spots in the south island, and has a minimum travel time of 10 days.

New Zealand!

Getting out of bed in the morning was really hard. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but it was at least partially the time that I went to bed (1 AM) combined with the time I tried to get up (6:30 AM). After giving up on a shower, I finally dragged myself to my feet at 8:30. I managed to get to the airport and through security in time to catch my flight, which is always a plus.

It was an "international" flight, but it didn't really feel like it, considering my flight from Darwin to Sydney was over twice as long. They did have personal entertainment centers, and I got to watch a movie, unfortunately the selection was poor. To give you an idea, the movie I went with was Evan Almighty. It was incredibly mediocre. That's sad considering how much I like Steve Carell. Tonight in Auckland I finally got to see Resident Evil: Extinction (no friends to give me something better to do). It was good, not great, and pretty much exactly what I expected. Tomorrow I try to figure out what I'm going to do with my time in New Zealand. I'm thinking about a tour, either from Auckland down to Christchurch, or just around the south island. Well see what the YHA Travel Desk recommends.

On another note, It's kinda depressing for me to be in a country where I don't know anyone. I'm really missing all the new friends I made in Australia, and all the old ones I've left behind in the states (hi everyone!). I'm glad my next stop is going to be in Hawaii with my best friend in the whole wide world David. On the flipside, I really don't think I be in New Zealand long enough to do it any sort of justice. I guess only time will tell.

Sydney in Half a Day

I arrived in Sydney at 6:20 AM local time. I mulled around the airport, and finally took the train to Central Station, a few blocks from Sydney Central YHA, where I'm staying tonight. I was planning on using the whole day to see Sydney, but I hadn't slept well on the plane, and ended up napping for a good chunk of the day.

As a side note, I think there was some sort of developmentally disabled people convention, and a lot of them were staying at the Sydney Central YHA.

I planned to meet up with Susannah (a friend from SF who's living in Sydney for a while) at 9 PM, and left my hostel at about 6 PM. I walked up through Darling Harbor, up under the Harbor Bridge, and around to the opera house. I took a few photos along the way. Overall it was a good day, but I don't think I shouldn't be as tired as I feel. Maybe I'm sick...

Last Day in Darwin

Sadness. I'm leaving all of my new friends behind. At least I'll be able to keep up with a bunch of them on Facebook (you should join if you haven't, and friend me if we're friends). I'm curious as to how well we'll keep in touch. Only one way to find out... wait.

Darwin was pretty incensed at the sheer audacity I had in leaving, and showed this by giving me a lightning storm as my shuttle drove to the airport. It was pretty cool, actually. There was lightning all over the sky, and the clouds made it really dark.

Oh my, was it cold in Sydney. I was shivering as I waited for my bag (inside!) so I could pull out a long-sleeve shirt to put on. I'm really, really glad I decided to wear jeans and shoes.

Soccer, Oh How I Love Thee

Yesterday more of the same, beating the heat, surfing the net. At night we watched a soccer game (yeah, they call it soccer here too). It was Manchester United vs Arsenal. It ended in a 2-2 tie (I love soccer...), but the company was good. Many rounds of Madge-Madge-Harold were played, much was drunk by everyone but Mary. That experience proved to me that I can feel just as bad after drinking a pitcher of Coke as I can after drinking a pitcher of beer, maybe worse.

After that bar closed down, we were trying to meet up with Jenny, but we tried the Vic and she wasn't there. There was a live band, and Tim and his friends were upstairs. Oh, also, Andy got in with thongs, and I can't help but think that having Mary on his arm helped out a little. I decide to hang out with Tim & Co. because the others were being boring, and then they (Tim, etc) got kicked out, that was pretty funny. I hung out with them outside for a while, went back in to try to find Andy and Mary, but didn't, and when I can back outside I ran into Adam and Shannon. They were both pretty drunk (Shannon very much so), but I hung out with them anyway. We went back to the hostel, chilled on the pool deck, then Adam and I crashed (he used a spare bed in my room). I don't know what happened to Shannon.

A Walk Around

I walked around the park in Darwin yesterday. I managed to avoid sunburn even though I didn't use any sunscreen (I'm just that good). Unfortunately, the weather here really isn't good for walking, it's way too hot and humid. I was sweating like a waterfall. There wasn't really too much to see, but the park was nice enough.

Later I ran (well, walked quickly) to take some pictures of the sunset. The sun was down by the time I got to a good spot, but the clouds were still amazing. Gorgeous pinks and purples.

That night, I poked around, trying to find someone to hang out with. Found Tim and some of his friends, played pool (my team lost 2/2 games). Then they all went to the Vic, and I was feeling super tired, and decided to take a short nap. The short nap turned into a very long nap, but I finally got up the energy to get to the Vic, but then they wouldn't let me in with thongs (flipflops). Then I was all like: "F that noise" and went to sleep.

A Long Night

Not particularly long in terms of time, just in terms of hassle and how I felt at the end.

The day was largely unremarkable, like many that have come and gone. I had some breakfast, got my internet fix, hung about for most of the rest of the time. One strange thing did happen. While I was sitting with some of my new-found German friends, one of their Australian friends (a cool guy named Tim) was sort of assaulted by a scary-looking very-drunk fellow. This was while we were hanging out on the pool level of the hostel. It seemed like the drunk fellow was really mad at Tim for some reason, but I don't think we really ever found out what it was had him so incensed. He grabbed Tim's hand and slammed it down a couple of times, but Tim said later he was mostly hitting his own hand. I got up to try to deflect some of the anger to me, and it worked, kind of. But he also got more angry and hit me open-handed in the throat. Eventually the hostel staff diffused the situation, and I think some of his friends took him to his room to sleep it off.

That night held its own brand of excitement. It was the Swiss girls' last night, they were flying to Cairns in the Morning, so we all went out for drinks and dancing. The night started at Shenannigans (an Irish pub) and there were a bunch of people there that were connected through various tours. Things started to go south when security or the bar manager or someone reacted badly to one of our group dancing near/on some benches. He got kicked out for the night. A couple of people tried to round up everyone to go somewhere else (we eventually decided on the Vic), but it was like herding cats. Once we finally got everyone (or at least, most of the people) out of the pub and to the Vic, the doorman denied entry to two of the girls on the grounds that they were "too drunk". After alternating sitting around, pleading with the doorman, and generally being frustrated, we decided to go back to the Irish bar. One of the other guys (I didn't catch his name) switched shirts with Terry (the Irishman that got ejected from the pub before) in a vain attempt to get him back in. It didn't work. The night ended with our group seriously split. I think some of the people stayed at the Vic, a couple of people left with Terry to go somewhere else, and a few people stayed at Shenannigans. I wasn't feeling the dancing too much that night, so I went home early, probably around 1 AM, and went to bed soon after. I hung out with Tim for a little while, but kept falling asleep.

Halloween, Kinda.

Woke up at about 1:30 PM yesterday. A good 8 hours of sleep. Showered, had some egg on avocado on toast. Did some laundry, note: I hate laundry, someone needs to invent clothes that clean themselves, maybe using nanobots (I mean, really, what could possibly go wrong?). By the time all that was finished, it was already pretty late. I hung out for a bit with some friends, and went to dinner with some others, then to Roma Bar for my daily internet fix.

When I arrived back at the hostel, Mary and Neil were about to go out to meet some people they had toured with earlier. I wasn't super keen on the idea of going with them, but decided to anyway. I ran into Maik (A German I met in Exmouth, and ran into again in Broome), and when we got to the bar (Duck's Nuts or something...) I ran into a couple more people I had met in Broome. Later on, the Swiss sisters (Nadine and Sandra) showed up, fresh off of their Kakadu & Litchfield tour. After a few more drinks, we went to a club (The Lost Ark, maybe?) and ended up at the Vic until 4 AM. Jesus, Europeans smoke a lot. That's one thing I'm really not going to miss about coming back to the states. My throat hurts just from being around them.

In spite of all that, I had a good time. I'm starting to warm up to dancing a little. I think it's all about what kind of people you're out with. Fun people = good time. People do some interesting things when they're super drunk though. I enjoyed watching everyone, but I had definitely had enough by the end of the night.