Nelson - Laying back for a little bit

I know I've been slacking on posting lately, especially with pictures, so instead of going back and fixing all my posts in the past, I've decided to just do a new post with lots of Pictures! Yay! So this post will take us back to Africa a little, and I'll tell a few stories as I go along.


So, first just a few more pictures from Africa. I can't help myself with these pics because the Safari that I went on was so absolutely amazing, and I don't think I gave all you justice with the few that I did upload. One of my favorite pictures is the one of the cheetahs that you can see on the left. It is what is called a "steroscopic image" If you've ever heard of or seen those "Magic eyes" it is the same idea. As you can see, there are two pictures side by side of the same cheetah. Well, if you can cross your eyes you'll see two extra images form. If you can then cross your eyes far enough, you can make those two extra images merge into one image in the center. As you look at that image, you'll see a three dimensional cheetah! Good luck!

And now one of a Lion! This is probably the best lion shot I got. I just love it do to the open plains in the background. You can just tell that the lion is truly the king of his domain. (No seinfeld pun intended. . .) While I took this picture, there were two other female lions that were just beginning a hunt! I really wanted to follow them and watch, if nothing else, from a distance, but the driver was impatient and didn't believe that we could be patient enough to watch the hunt. So he drove off looking for other animals. Needless to say, I was a little bummed, but hey, what are you gonna do?

And then finally the crew that I went on Safari with. Not a bad turn out for only 4 paying customers huh? There is the cook, the driver, the camp host, the camp guard, and then I believe just some friends of the people there. The guard that accompanied us on the safari drives was a Masaii person. The area around the park is Masaii land, and these people are very interesting indeed. First of all, they know that tourists frequent the area, and due to the way they dress, tourists take a lot of pictures of them. For that reason, if you want to take a picture you have to ask permission right away, and usually they'll ask for money in return for the picture. That way you aren't "exploiting" them in the western world when you print their image in a magazine or something of that sort. Also, every time your car stops, they'll come up to the windows and try to sell you crafts that they've made. Finally, one last thing that stood out to me was their ears. They have a tradition of piercing their ears, but they make the piercing ridiculously large! And when I say large, I mean I could literally fit my arm through the piercing. And I didn't see them wearing any jewelry in these piercings, so in a sense, what you see is their ear lobe hanging on thier shoulder with a big hole above it and the rest of their ear. Very different culture indeed! Fascinating nontheless.

Also, because I told the buzzards they were going to be famous for letting me stay in their place, here is a picture of them. This is a formal "Thank you" to the Buzzards! I couldn't have done it with out you! From left to right there is Brendan who is Lucas' brother, then Lucas, Me, Candace and Bob. And just to tell you what I go through to get pictures. . .for this picture we had the cab driver take it. First he didn't know how to take it, then he took one without a flash. I turned on the flash for him, and when he tried to take another, the batteries in my camera died. So I had to root around in my packed bag for my extra battery, switch the batteries, and have the cab driver try yet again! All this when I had a plane to catch! You guys owe me! ;)

Well, from there I'm assuming you read my post about the situation with Air New Zealand, and what not, so I'm gonna skip that whole section. . .I don't have any pics anyway. . .

So Then I went to the Mt. Somers subalpine walkway. Kind of like the Africans, the New Zealanders apparently have no surveying equipment for trail maintenence. At least that's what this Hike felt like. So here is a picture of Dominic at the top of the first hill that we ascended. The trail went straight up for about 700 meters, and we thought we were makeing extremly good time. Well, we got to the top, and wouldn't you know it, we then descended about 500 meters! The whole trail to the first hut was like this! Up and down, up and down, over slippery boulders and crossing creeks. It was painstaking work, but worth it in the end!

And then a picture of the water caves that I was talking about. Unfortunately they were quite large, so therefore it's hard to get a picture that gives them justice. But more or less, as you can see the water is quite shallow. So at this point you take off your shoes and go wading. You wade up into that canyon you see there and it continues up under rocks for a couple hundred meters! The whole time you never get deeper than knee deep. There was even one section that you had to scramble up a waterfall about 4 feet tall, and squeeze under a rock that was only 2 feet off the ground! Hence, another reason I don't have pictures. . .if I brought my camera that far, there would be no more pictures for the rest of my trip due to a wet camera! hehe!

But that doesn't mean I didn't get pictures of us swimming! Here Dominic and I were looking for the "spa pool." Anyone that reads spa pool in a book though would think they were looking for something warm. Well, that isn't the case here. We never did find the spa pool, but we found this pool, that had something shiny on the bottom of it! I'm just like a bird in the fact that I can't leave shiny things behind. So Dom and I decided to go swim here. (The pic is of Dom diving in) But I did retrieve the shiny object nonetheless. Turns out, it was a useless piece of metal. :( Oh well, maybe next time I see something shiny it'll be something worthwhile.

From there I get to a place that you haven't read at all about. The day after I did the Mt. Somers subalpine walkway, I drove a long 6 hours up to Nelson to give Kris and Bruce a proper visit. Much better than the couple hours that I spent with them a month ago! Of course, I didn't want to drive completly on my own, so I went to a backpacker in Christchurch and they have billboards with people that are looking for rides. I luckilly found someone that was heading the same direction as I was so I gave her a lift to kaikoura. Sure makes the drive go faster being able to talk with someone! Her name was Diana, and she was from Germany. So then I arrived in Nelson, and so far I'm loving it here! I'm with good friends, there seems like there is going to be a lot to do around, and being here, I have a good base to try some work here in New Zealand.

Oh, and yes, I'll throw this in here too. Before I left the U.S. all the websites about traveling said that at some point during your travels, you'll get ripped off. Well, it has happened to me, and hopefully it's the worst that will happen. Well, the night before I left to Nelson I must've left my car unlocked or they were able to jimmy the lock or something. Regardless, some people got into my car and rooted around a little. Well, I could've been totally taken as, like an idiot, I had left my passport, credit cards, and even spare car key in the car! (I'm way too used to Bozeman!) Well, they rooted through, and for some reason didn't take anything except 1000 kenya shillings! Haha! They probably thought they'd get rich with 1000 kenya shillings or something! Little do they know, that's like 15 dollars. Plus, you can't change it anywhere in NZ anyway! So take that you robbers! Who got the last laugh now! But yeah, I guess I got lucky with them not taking any cards or my passport, or my car for that matter. From now on, I'm going to check and double check that the car is locked, and carry everything with me every minute of the day! (Those travel websites always said to do this, but I haven't to this point, and haven't had problems till that day. . .)

So with all that said, I'm about to go work on getting work now. But I have a hurdle to jump before I do. Yes, even in New Zealand, you have to pay tax and all that jazz when you work. So today I'm on my way to apply for some tax number that the employers need when they hire you. I still think I'm going to try a few days of picking fruit. Apparently the apple crop was late this year and is just coming out now. Since it was late, the travellers that usually show up to do it have moved on, so apparently they are short pickers! Which means, good money! We'll see though.

So, finally I've gotten some pics up, and I've gotten you updated on where my whereabouts are! Right now I am waiting for one of my best friends to come and join me in New Zealand. Pat is coming in the middle of May, just over 5 weeks from now, and so I am trying to think of things to do until then. I'm sure I'll get a skydive in at somepoint if not more. And I wanted to do some work. Other than that, who knows. . .I might jump up to Australia while I wait for him, however I might go to Australia when he decides to leave. So, as you can probably tell, my mind is still all over the place, and the world is open to me right now! Any suggestions to where I should go? I'm listening! Also, Keep those comments coming too! I know I don't necesarilly reply to all of them, but trust me, I read every single one and love them! Love ya all!