skydiving

I just jumped out of a plane at 12,000 feet. I don't have any pictures because it was like an extra $200... but I can assure you that it was INSANE.

ACHTUNG!

I was expecting New Zealand to be a very scenic country, but I am amazed at how beautiful it is everywhere. There has not been a single moment throughout this entire trip where I have not been completely blown away by the landscape.


We spent all day yesterday driving down the coast, stopping briefly at the Franz Joseph Glacier and doing a quick hike on a lake near Fox Glacier. Unlike most of the other places we've stopped, these towns were 100% tourist attractions and 0% residential.


We made it to Wanaka this morning, and while Daniel is off mountain biking I thought I would make a quick entry regarding the anti-American sentiment in this country. I guess it's not so much anti-American as it is disappointment that I'm not Canadian. They seem to love Canadians here for some reason.

Either way, the vast majority of the tourists in this country are German... not sure why but it's definitely the case. And we've come across several vans of German tourists blasting U2 at full volume. Fortunately for American tourists the Germans are drawing most of the negative attention. Here's a photo of the front page from yesterday's national paper:



Somebody caught this idiot in the act, took a picture, and sent it to the authorities and the newspaper. What an idiot.

Here's a photo of me trying to blend in with the Germans:


OK... I think that's it for now. We leave for Queenstown tonight, where we *might* go skydiving. Then onto Milford and Doubtful sounds. More coming next time I have internet access and some free time...

Lake Taupo, Wellington, and the South Island

Near Lake Taupo they don't bother cleaning up roadkill, and actually paint right over it:


In Wellington it is ok to smack your children around. Note the expression on the kid's face:



The ferry ride between island, while expensive and rainy, was beautiful:



We also did a long hike at Abel Tasman that was spectacular.



Last night we camped in an awful picnic area on the side of the highway. I slept in the car because it was raining. We are going to check out Franz Joseph and Wanaka today, and hopefully make it to Queenstown this evening where we will be staying with a Canadian couchsurfer.

The sun is out now, so I am going to get off the computer and on the road. The next time I write I will most likely be in Melbourne, Australia.

Digging out the car and driving to Lake Taupo

Black water rafting was a good time. I saw an eel. And lots of glow worms. And my rental wet suit smelled like somebody else's BO.



On our way out we got a tip on a good beach to camp at. It was a little out of our way but well worth it. Unfortunately we tried to drive our little car out on the beach (there were tire marks and a little bit of a path) and got the car stuck in the sand. The next morning we spent hours digging it out and managed to move it about a meter (that's right... I think in metric now) before getting it stuck again. With only 1 car driving by every hour, we were ready to give up. There are worse places to be stuck than a beautiful beach I guess.



Then a van full of kiwis drove up. We ended up digging it out again, jacking the car up (it was bottomed out) and ramming a big piece of wood under the tire. I got behind the wheel of a kiwi car for my first time and got us out of there. All said and done we were out by noon. Not so bad I guess.



So we got lunch and drove down to the rainbow trout capital of the world: Turangi. We stopped on the way to take some pictures and I got a nice shot of some kiwi graffiti.



When we got to town we were given another tip on where to camp right on the lake. We didn't drive out car out on the sand this time and managed to have a good time nonetheless. We are going to go for a hike today and then on to Wellington. We will be catching a ferry to the south island on Sunday morning. Until then...

the beach

NOTE: Do not drive your tiny car onto sand. It will get stuck. More on this later...

Raglan and Waitomo

After the first night in Auckland I managed to meet up with a Canadian mining engineer named Daniel. He was staying with a couchsurfer in Auckland that was nice enough to let him borrow a car for a month. I am not comfortable driving on the left side of the road so he will likely be doing most of the driving:



For our first day of driving we went to Raglan: a small surfing town with nice little shops and great beaches. We stayed with an older woman (couchsurfer) that allowed us (and two other Aussie couchsurfers) to pop our tents in her backyard. She cooked us dinner and good times were had by all. Here are some photos from her back yard, the town, and the beach:


Daniel has a "green" tent that didn't come with poles. It's meant to be erected using sticks:

I will be sleeping in my own tent.

Before I came here I had no idea what kiwi cuisine was all about. I still don't really know, but there seem to be these pies everywhere. Like chicken pot pies, but with all kinds of different fillings. We got a bacon and egg pie. It was kind of weird, definitely not healthy, but still pretty good:



Right now we are in Waitomo waiting to go black water rafting. Not because the water is black, but because your raft goes through dark caves with glow worms. Afterwards we will find somewhere to camp (Daniel has already collected his sticks for the evening) and probably continue on to Taupo tomorrow. Either way we will be in Wellington by Saturday night and taking the ferry over to Picton early Sunday morning. Until next time...

Auckland - best and worst hostel ever

Still feeling like a zombie, so other than a brief walk around town I've just been mostly hanging around the hostel. The top floor of the building has an open deck with a grill and really nice views:


After dinner I thought I'd take a shower. Having traveled Europe in hostels I learned
to always wear sandals in the shower, but I have never come across something like this:



Ironically there is a guy that looks just like Scott Palmer staying in my room. Coincidence? I THINK NOT! On that note I think I'm going to try and get out of here tomorrow. Auckland seems like an interesting city, but not really what I came to see.

February 16... or 18th I guess

After a few days in LA and a 10 hour flight, I have made it to Fiji. This place seems like a beautiful island from the window... unfortunately I probably won't see much beyond that. We arrrived at 4:55am and there were 3 guys playing music and singing. Lots of energy for that hour of the day. I got a short video of them that I will try and upload later.

I am pretty jet lagged and my brain is mush right now. Mom - good news. I don't think I got a blood clot! Nothing more to write for now. I will try to update this as frequently as possible. Until next time...