Well, here it is on the 30th, and Eric has officialy flown into this country to meet up with me. Well, this is quite a big country as we didn't entirely understand when we were making our plans to meet. Well, do to a little miscommunication (or lack of communication) between Pat, Eric, and me, Eric is now about a 20 hour drive north of Pat and I, and we were not able to pick him up from the Airport like I had originally planned to do. So, thus begins the adventure of trying to meet up! I think that'll be fun in itself!
In the mean time, Pat has been trying to figure out what to do with his remaining days here. He's constantly hitting himself for not spending more time here, as 3 weeks just wasn't enough! Like I said, Australia is a big country! Anyway, pat and I have been debating whether or not to B-line it up to Cairns to meet Eric, or if we should continue our "slower" pace up the coast. Then we stopped in Coffs Harbour, where it has all begun to spiral out of control!
Coffs Harbour is a really fun city with loads of Ocean things to do! Well, pat and I went into a dive shop to see if we could get a dive in. One Discover Scuba course for Pat turned into a full fledged open water certification for the next 4 days. So, while I was trying to convince pat of going further north so we could meet eric, it has turned into being stuck here for 4 days! But we do have a dive planned for friday which I'm pretty excited about!
In the meantime, Pat and I drove through Dorrigo natl. Park and saw some really intersting things. When one thinks of Australia, they generally think of the Outback. Well, as I recently found out, Australia is home to many other climates then just Desert. In fact, we spent two full days exploring Rain forest! The Flora and Fauna was unlike I have ever seen! Giant Eucalyptus trees being strangled by vines. Birds with beaks as long as my forearm. Ants with pincers the size of my fingernail. And spiders that would give anybody a spook! (In fact, we tried feeding one of the spiders with one of the ants! They fought a lot, and it turns out that the Ant won! Kind of, it just didn't get eaten, but it was still stuck in a web!)
Another great thing is the amount of camping we've been doing! Sure enough, it is car camping, but nontheless great fun! And a whole lot cheaper than paying for Hostels every night. If you've been reading eric's blog at all, then you'll see that he found it was cheaper to drive 10 mins to a place where no one is there, and just camp! Well, pat and I have found the same thing, except here, we just find beaches or beautiful lookouts, pitch a tent and call it good! It is quite an experiance, literally living out of a car!
And once again, my excuse. I haven't found my camera yet, but went camera shopping today. Didn't find anything to my liking quite yet, but trust me I'm working on it! What is terrible is all the pictures from Sydney with Pat and me, are gone! Plus a few extras from New Zealand. So sad.
Till next time! Miss you all!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The New England Highway - Good times and Bad
So Pat and I have decided to get out of Sydney. Sydney was a fantastic city with lots and lots to do. Well, we looked into the best way to travel up the coast, and by comparing buses to renting cars to buying cars to trains to hitching, the obvious solution presented itself. Buying a car IS the cheapest option. Buying a car cost exactly the same amount as renting it would've been. And it only cost a little more than taking a train or a bus, but now we have the option of going where ever we please. It is quite nice! And no, we haven't given this car a name yet. We're working on it though.
So, instead of going all the way up the coast to Brisbane, we decided to go inland a little bit and check out some of the "off the beaten track" areas of Australia. We started off by going to the blue mountains which are an absolutely gorgeous national park. There are sandstone cliffs that are hundreds of feet tall and perfectly vertical. And lookouts all over the place! I wish I could show you! (That story a little later. . .)
So from the Blue Mountains we traveled up the Old Western highway, and turned onto the New England Highway. These highways pass through some really fun small towns as well as some larger Bozeman sized towns. Right now we are in Armidale which is about the size of Bozeman, and has the University of New England. So really, it has a Bozeman feel to it.
Plus, by getting out of the city, we've been able to save quite a bit of money on sleeping costs! In fact, we have become "vagrants" over the past few days. Living in the car, and when we need to sleep, we've just been finding rest areas to pitch the tent in. It has been quite fun! The problem is finding showers though! :) Oh yeah, and it's been really cold. For Pat at least. He didn't bring a sleeping bag with him so we've been fashioning sleeping bags out of blankets, switching sleeping pads, and slept in the car. Finally we went shopping for a bag!
Also on the New England Highway we saw our first kangaroos! Funny little creatures and surprisingly agile. Instead of jumping over a wire fence, they'd jump through it! Quite impressive.
The Kangaroos were in wine country, so we stopped and did some wine tasting. We went to a GREAT winery called cruikshanks, that makes the best port wine I've had. (In fact the only port I've had until now) I suggest you look them up if you want wine, and maybe order some!
And finally, that day we drove to Tamworth and looked at a giant 12 meter tall golden guitar. Of course it was such a tacky touristy thing that I had to take a picture. Well, that is the point that I found out that I couldn't find my camera. I had thought I left it in my polar fleece. Not there. Maybe in the pants I changed from at the first winery. Not there. We tore apart the car. Not there! So I tried calling the first winery we went to to see if I had dropped it there. Well, I ran out of credit on my phone. So I had to go top up and buy a new sim card for Australia. Well, after stopping at about 10 different electronics stores and gas stations, I finally found the sim card I needed. So I tried calling the winery, but had to activate my sim card to use my phone. And guess what! When I tried activating the card, the phone companies system was down. So I tried on the Internet. System still down. Everything I did from that golden guitar onwards went terribly awry! And I still don't know where my camera is!
So, I only have a couple minutes left, so I should get going. But as soon as my camera reappears (hopefully) I'll get some pictures up that I've been promising for about the last month now! See ya!
(And I only got 2 comments on my last post. . .you all are slacking as much as I am! Thanks though to the two people that did comment. ;) )
So, instead of going all the way up the coast to Brisbane, we decided to go inland a little bit and check out some of the "off the beaten track" areas of Australia. We started off by going to the blue mountains which are an absolutely gorgeous national park. There are sandstone cliffs that are hundreds of feet tall and perfectly vertical. And lookouts all over the place! I wish I could show you! (That story a little later. . .)
So from the Blue Mountains we traveled up the Old Western highway, and turned onto the New England Highway. These highways pass through some really fun small towns as well as some larger Bozeman sized towns. Right now we are in Armidale which is about the size of Bozeman, and has the University of New England. So really, it has a Bozeman feel to it.
Plus, by getting out of the city, we've been able to save quite a bit of money on sleeping costs! In fact, we have become "vagrants" over the past few days. Living in the car, and when we need to sleep, we've just been finding rest areas to pitch the tent in. It has been quite fun! The problem is finding showers though! :) Oh yeah, and it's been really cold. For Pat at least. He didn't bring a sleeping bag with him so we've been fashioning sleeping bags out of blankets, switching sleeping pads, and slept in the car. Finally we went shopping for a bag!
Also on the New England Highway we saw our first kangaroos! Funny little creatures and surprisingly agile. Instead of jumping over a wire fence, they'd jump through it! Quite impressive.
The Kangaroos were in wine country, so we stopped and did some wine tasting. We went to a GREAT winery called cruikshanks, that makes the best port wine I've had. (In fact the only port I've had until now) I suggest you look them up if you want wine, and maybe order some!
And finally, that day we drove to Tamworth and looked at a giant 12 meter tall golden guitar. Of course it was such a tacky touristy thing that I had to take a picture. Well, that is the point that I found out that I couldn't find my camera. I had thought I left it in my polar fleece. Not there. Maybe in the pants I changed from at the first winery. Not there. We tore apart the car. Not there! So I tried calling the first winery we went to to see if I had dropped it there. Well, I ran out of credit on my phone. So I had to go top up and buy a new sim card for Australia. Well, after stopping at about 10 different electronics stores and gas stations, I finally found the sim card I needed. So I tried calling the winery, but had to activate my sim card to use my phone. And guess what! When I tried activating the card, the phone companies system was down. So I tried on the Internet. System still down. Everything I did from that golden guitar onwards went terribly awry! And I still don't know where my camera is!
So, I only have a couple minutes left, so I should get going. But as soon as my camera reappears (hopefully) I'll get some pictures up that I've been promising for about the last month now! See ya!
(And I only got 2 comments on my last post. . .you all are slacking as much as I am! Thanks though to the two people that did comment. ;) )
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Sydney - Too freaking fun!
Hey there everyone! It's been a while, and that's just because I've been having way too much fun here in Sydney, Australia! This town rocks! Well, at least it is the best big city I've ever been to in my life. There are tons of fun Museums, beaches, and lots of places to drink beers! In fact, as I got here and met up with Pat, we immediatlely booked three nights in a Hostel. The hostel itself is kind of a dive, but by booking three nights, you get 15 free beers at 15 different bars around the city. At first, we looked at the map of the where the beers are located, and sure enough, they are spread ALL OVER the place. So at first we were pretty bummed about that, but once the scavenger hunt began it begun to get really fun! We have been all over Sydney now looking for our free beers and in the mean time, we've seen most of what the city has to offer. I could really spend a lot more time here than I think we have though. We've been to the Opera House, been over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, been to the Maritime Museum, Been to Bondi (Pronounced Bond-ee) beach, and seen some of the best Architecture and art and fountains of my life. There is one fountain that emulates a whirlpool. It is one of the strangest effects that I've seen water do. Now, I realize I don't have pictures on this blog (as per my usual excuse in these blogs) but I am on free internet right now. . .(who can complain about that?) and they don't have a USB port to do the picture thing. So, I'll hopefully find the time to post some photos of this wonderful city later!
On another note, this city would be a parkour persons dream! Don't know what parkour is? Do a Google search! It is more or less free style walking. Or, it could also be a Unicycler's dream! There are all kinds of walls to balance on, buildings to climb, rails to balance, fountains to play in, and people to watch here! I suppose if I were to move to a big city, so far Sydney would be it! (Don't worry though, I still don't want to move to a big city.)
Other than that, I think I'll talk on the pluses of traveling with a companion. So, I met Pat two days ago here in Sydney, and I've just been loving every minute of traveling with him so far! Normally I'd be more or less bymyself exploring the city and looking at museums and walking the city streets gets awefully boring by yourself rather quickly. Every now and then you can meet someone in a Hostel and spend a few hours with them, but hardly ever do you spend a whole day with someone let alone a few weeks. (Yes, I think I got lucky meeting Martin a few months ago!) But now that I have Pat to travel with, we are laughing and talking and joking all day, at the same time as doing the touristy things! It just brings a smile to my face being able to hang out in the Sydney Aquarium, looking at sharks and being able to point out certain things to someone else! So, yeah, In the end I would say that one shouldn't be afraid of traveling by themselves if that is the only option they have, but traveling with someone sure makes things fun!
Well, I wish I could put up some pictures, because I think I've gotten some really fun ones, but alas, you'll have to wait until I'm not having SO much fun doing other things, that I can find a Internet Cafe and spend some quality time blogging! hehe. Till next time!
On another note, this city would be a parkour persons dream! Don't know what parkour is? Do a Google search! It is more or less free style walking. Or, it could also be a Unicycler's dream! There are all kinds of walls to balance on, buildings to climb, rails to balance, fountains to play in, and people to watch here! I suppose if I were to move to a big city, so far Sydney would be it! (Don't worry though, I still don't want to move to a big city.)
Other than that, I think I'll talk on the pluses of traveling with a companion. So, I met Pat two days ago here in Sydney, and I've just been loving every minute of traveling with him so far! Normally I'd be more or less bymyself exploring the city and looking at museums and walking the city streets gets awefully boring by yourself rather quickly. Every now and then you can meet someone in a Hostel and spend a few hours with them, but hardly ever do you spend a whole day with someone let alone a few weeks. (Yes, I think I got lucky meeting Martin a few months ago!) But now that I have Pat to travel with, we are laughing and talking and joking all day, at the same time as doing the touristy things! It just brings a smile to my face being able to hang out in the Sydney Aquarium, looking at sharks and being able to point out certain things to someone else! So, yeah, In the end I would say that one shouldn't be afraid of traveling by themselves if that is the only option they have, but traveling with someone sure makes things fun!
Well, I wish I could put up some pictures, because I think I've gotten some really fun ones, but alas, you'll have to wait until I'm not having SO much fun doing other things, that I can find a Internet Cafe and spend some quality time blogging! hehe. Till next time!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Christchurch - Playing the Waiting game
Hey all, I've arrived back in Christchurch for the last time on this particular voyage of mine. And a few things have happened since, that I deemed worth blogging about.
First I had to say good bye to Kris, Bruce, and Ayva. This was an especially sad time for me since I had such a good time staying with them. So thank you very much Kris and Bruce! It was a blast, and I'm looking forward to August when you come visit in Bozeman! Remember my home is your home!
So, on my way to Christchurch, I found out that the fastest way to get here from Nelson is to travel through Lewis Pass. Lewis pass is one of the roads that my mother and Linnea and I didn't have time to drive on during their time here. And it's too bad, because it was a absolutely stunning drive. Although, it didn't seem that there were many places to turn off from to wander off the road. There was this pull off though where I got this picture. Notice the snow in the mountains. Yes, it is actually starting to get cold down here in New Zealand. I haven't put on a pair of shorts in the last month actually.
(Another reason I'm looking forward to Australia) But this turn off was quite beautiful, and made me realize once again what I am about to leave behind. It made me sad that I'm leaving New Zealand, and anxious to come back some time down the road to do the things that I ended up missing. Such as spending more time at the Milford Sound area, and making it to Dunedin and Invercargill. I never saw any penguins down here either, so I'll have to come back for that. But in the mean time, I'm happy to be leaving! It's time now. I have plenty of life left to make it back! :) (Speaking of which. . .I thought of a saying that really bothers me. Everyone says "it's a once in a lifetime opportunity" Well, I don't think that's ever true! If you don't want it to be once in a lifetime, don't make it once in a lifetime. You can always do something twice if you put your mind to it.)
And finally, I have broke down and sold Larry. This is the final parting shot I got of my friend as I walked away! Sure enough, I had to cut my sale price by about a third of what I wanted for him, but in the end, I think it is O.K. The person I sold him to said he was going to get him all fixed up before trying to sell him to someone else during the busy season. So, Larry is in good hands! I hope he's happy with his new owner.
So now, I'm just hanging out in Christchurch till I fly to Sydney on Wednesday! It's a short post, but it'll do for now! See ya!
First I had to say good bye to Kris, Bruce, and Ayva. This was an especially sad time for me since I had such a good time staying with them. So thank you very much Kris and Bruce! It was a blast, and I'm looking forward to August when you come visit in Bozeman! Remember my home is your home!
So, on my way to Christchurch, I found out that the fastest way to get here from Nelson is to travel through Lewis Pass. Lewis pass is one of the roads that my mother and Linnea and I didn't have time to drive on during their time here. And it's too bad, because it was a absolutely stunning drive. Although, it didn't seem that there were many places to turn off from to wander off the road. There was this pull off though where I got this picture. Notice the snow in the mountains. Yes, it is actually starting to get cold down here in New Zealand. I haven't put on a pair of shorts in the last month actually.
(Another reason I'm looking forward to Australia) But this turn off was quite beautiful, and made me realize once again what I am about to leave behind. It made me sad that I'm leaving New Zealand, and anxious to come back some time down the road to do the things that I ended up missing. Such as spending more time at the Milford Sound area, and making it to Dunedin and Invercargill. I never saw any penguins down here either, so I'll have to come back for that. But in the mean time, I'm happy to be leaving! It's time now. I have plenty of life left to make it back! :) (Speaking of which. . .I thought of a saying that really bothers me. Everyone says "it's a once in a lifetime opportunity" Well, I don't think that's ever true! If you don't want it to be once in a lifetime, don't make it once in a lifetime. You can always do something twice if you put your mind to it.)
And finally, I have broke down and sold Larry. This is the final parting shot I got of my friend as I walked away! Sure enough, I had to cut my sale price by about a third of what I wanted for him, but in the end, I think it is O.K. The person I sold him to said he was going to get him all fixed up before trying to sell him to someone else during the busy season. So, Larry is in good hands! I hope he's happy with his new owner.So now, I'm just hanging out in Christchurch till I fly to Sydney on Wednesday! It's a short post, but it'll do for now! See ya!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Selling Cars - Not as easy as buying them. . .
Well, as my stay in New Zealand comes to an end, I have decided that it is time to get rid of the oh so reliable Larry. At least I decided this about 2 weeks ago, in the middle of my skydive training. So what would anyone do that wants to sell their car in two weeks do? Well, they'd post fliers at every single hostel in town, 14 of them to be exact. They'd put up ads online, 2 backpacker sites to be exact. And they'd even go to a few dealers in town to see how much money they could possibly, at a last resort, get from a car. Oh, and they'd wash and clean the car, of course.
Now, with that said, I've found that the most effective way to sell a car is to sell it to unsuspecting Hitchhikers! I've done all the above things, and for the past two weeks, I have only just now gotten a reply on someone that may be interested! But also, in the past two weeks, I have picked up three hitchhikes, and two of them were interested in buying. One of those two is following through and looking at the car this Friday. So, forget the fliers, forget the internet, and instead pick someone up that is looking for a lending hand! They may be able to return the favor!
Also, in my endeavor to sell my car, I have learned a few things about Larry that I never knew, and am glad I never had to find out! First, I'll start with the Dealer that I brought Larry to. The dealer took one look at the car, and more or less said "you'd have to pay ME to take that off your hands!" I was gutted! Larry is worth more than that! Well, he took a little closer look, and noticed that the front tyres (yes, that is how they spell tires in NZ. Actually in Thailand and Kenya too for that matter. Oh and they call Math maths. But that is a different story) are in not the best condition! He then told me that if I had a spare, I should slap that on right away, because if I got in an accident with those tyres, even if it wasn't my fault, I would be blamed. So, he was nice enough to loan me his garage and jack to put on my nice looking spare tyre. The spare was a little low on air, so I just drove to the petrol station across the street, and filled it up. No problem, right? Wrong. . .
Enter the next day. I get up to start working on making my car even more presentable to potential buyers that are consistently not calling me. Today is the day that I go to find a car wash. So, I go outside to jump in, and during my daily walk to the passenger side of the car (I walk to that side every day because I still insist that the driver should get in on the left hand side of the car!) I noticed that the spare had gone flat overnight! Doh! It had a slow leak that I was unaware of! So, I open the boot (trunk) of the car to get the jack to start changing the tyre back. Lo and behold, no jack! SWEET! So, I borrow a jack from Kris' car, and jack up my car. Then I try to take of the lug nuts. Sure enough, my tyre yron (get it? Tire Iron) is the wrong size! I try Kris' Tyre Iron. . .also the wrong size. I look more in my boot, and find, you guessed it, my foot! Oh, wait. . .I looked in the trunk and found another Tire Iron. Finally, this one fit the lug nuts.
So I removed the "new" tire, put on the old one, and let the car come to a rest again. Now, I can finally take Larry to the car wash! So, I'm not going to lie. Larry has what I like to call "character." Meaning he has a lot of duct tape holding him together. Well duct tape doesn't make for very good weather sealing as I demonstrated today! Sure enough, here I am in the car wash, taking a shower! Not intentionally of course. I went to one of those hands free car washes, and as I'm sitting there cleaning the ash tray in the car, water is spraying into the door at mach 3! Water is dripping from the windshield right on to my lap! You should've seen me holding my hands at all the cracks and seams of my car trying to keep the water from spraying into my face! I'll bet the car behind me was laughing it's head off at larry! :)
So hopefully when I show Larry, it'll be a bright sunshiny day! And hopefully I can either sell it to another backpacker who is looking for adventure in their car, or some type of boy racer that wants a fixer up! Ahh, good 'ole larry! My hat is off to you my old friend! Now good riddance! :)
And yes, I do realize that there are once again no pictures on this blog. Have you ever noticed when you become "local" in a particular place, the magic of everyday things seem to disappear, even though it still exists? Well that is exactly what has happened to me this past month. I've been in the same location where I haven't felt it important to carry my camera. But then I'll see something fascinating, or experience something bizzare, and have no way of sharing the images with you all! So I feel really bad about that, so I'm gonna work on improving my style in these next few days. On that note, I saw a lady that had 8 great danes on the dog beach the other day. 6 of them were spotted like Dalmations. I really wish I had my camera with me that day! Oh well.
Now, with that said, I've found that the most effective way to sell a car is to sell it to unsuspecting Hitchhikers! I've done all the above things, and for the past two weeks, I have only just now gotten a reply on someone that may be interested! But also, in the past two weeks, I have picked up three hitchhikes, and two of them were interested in buying. One of those two is following through and looking at the car this Friday. So, forget the fliers, forget the internet, and instead pick someone up that is looking for a lending hand! They may be able to return the favor!
Also, in my endeavor to sell my car, I have learned a few things about Larry that I never knew, and am glad I never had to find out! First, I'll start with the Dealer that I brought Larry to. The dealer took one look at the car, and more or less said "you'd have to pay ME to take that off your hands!" I was gutted! Larry is worth more than that! Well, he took a little closer look, and noticed that the front tyres (yes, that is how they spell tires in NZ. Actually in Thailand and Kenya too for that matter. Oh and they call Math maths. But that is a different story) are in not the best condition! He then told me that if I had a spare, I should slap that on right away, because if I got in an accident with those tyres, even if it wasn't my fault, I would be blamed. So, he was nice enough to loan me his garage and jack to put on my nice looking spare tyre. The spare was a little low on air, so I just drove to the petrol station across the street, and filled it up. No problem, right? Wrong. . .
Enter the next day. I get up to start working on making my car even more presentable to potential buyers that are consistently not calling me. Today is the day that I go to find a car wash. So, I go outside to jump in, and during my daily walk to the passenger side of the car (I walk to that side every day because I still insist that the driver should get in on the left hand side of the car!) I noticed that the spare had gone flat overnight! Doh! It had a slow leak that I was unaware of! So, I open the boot (trunk) of the car to get the jack to start changing the tyre back. Lo and behold, no jack! SWEET! So, I borrow a jack from Kris' car, and jack up my car. Then I try to take of the lug nuts. Sure enough, my tyre yron (get it? Tire Iron) is the wrong size! I try Kris' Tyre Iron. . .also the wrong size. I look more in my boot, and find, you guessed it, my foot! Oh, wait. . .I looked in the trunk and found another Tire Iron. Finally, this one fit the lug nuts.
So I removed the "new" tire, put on the old one, and let the car come to a rest again. Now, I can finally take Larry to the car wash! So, I'm not going to lie. Larry has what I like to call "character." Meaning he has a lot of duct tape holding him together. Well duct tape doesn't make for very good weather sealing as I demonstrated today! Sure enough, here I am in the car wash, taking a shower! Not intentionally of course. I went to one of those hands free car washes, and as I'm sitting there cleaning the ash tray in the car, water is spraying into the door at mach 3! Water is dripping from the windshield right on to my lap! You should've seen me holding my hands at all the cracks and seams of my car trying to keep the water from spraying into my face! I'll bet the car behind me was laughing it's head off at larry! :)
So hopefully when I show Larry, it'll be a bright sunshiny day! And hopefully I can either sell it to another backpacker who is looking for adventure in their car, or some type of boy racer that wants a fixer up! Ahh, good 'ole larry! My hat is off to you my old friend! Now good riddance! :)
And yes, I do realize that there are once again no pictures on this blog. Have you ever noticed when you become "local" in a particular place, the magic of everyday things seem to disappear, even though it still exists? Well that is exactly what has happened to me this past month. I've been in the same location where I haven't felt it important to carry my camera. But then I'll see something fascinating, or experience something bizzare, and have no way of sharing the images with you all! So I feel really bad about that, so I'm gonna work on improving my style in these next few days. On that note, I saw a lady that had 8 great danes on the dog beach the other day. 6 of them were spotted like Dalmations. I really wish I had my camera with me that day! Oh well.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
I've become "local"
O.K. so the title isn't entirely true. I haven't become a local in the sense that I still have a crazy "Canadian" accent, but if you take a look at myspace, you'll notice a few new additions. One of which is my world travel map. As you can see, over Nelson there is now a little yellow arrow saying that I've lived here.
Well, it's true. When I arrived I had only planned on spending a week or so with Kris and Bruce, and from there I was going to head to queenstown to work on my skydiving certification. Well, when I found out that Skydiving here was about half the price as it was in queenstown, I was sold. So I asked if it was O.K. with Kris and Bruce, and they said sure! So I don't know how long you have to be in one area to say that you've lived there, but I think a month is about good. So I've officially lived in another place!
Now, I also LOVE putting up these blogs. It's a great way to keep in touch with everyone. However, I've been aching because I know I have a video of me Skydiving that is just waiting to be finished up and given to me. I've been just DYING to put this video online for all of you to see, but alas, since the weather has literally rained for the past week nonstop, I haven't been to the drop zone, meaning I haven't been able to finish training, meaning no video for me yet, finally meaning no video for you yet! :) Funny how that works isn't it. Our lives are so dependent on the weather. So, since I haven't gotten the video and not a whole lot of exciting NEW things are happening in my life, I've been slacking on the whole Blog thing.
I do have to admit though that this month in Nelson has done wonders for my psyche. Before coming here I was just getting off the plane from Africa. Now, I don't know if you all remember what I was going through there, but I went to Africa at the 3-months of traveling, and I got back at about the 4-months of traveling. Well, all the traveling websites say this is the time that you will be most homesick. Stick with it, and it will get better. I agree with that whole heartedly! So going to Africa, I was DYING of homesickness. While in Africa, I was DYING of homesickness, and as soon as I got back to New Zealand, the feeling hadn't gone away. I realize now that the feeling was largely due to the fact that I was sick of figuring out where I was going to sleep a particular night, what I was going to eat a particular night and I was definitely sick of telling my life story to every new person I met! So, enter skydiving, and the oh so wonderful Kris and Bruce. Since Skydiving has started, it has given me a reason to stay in one place for an extended amount of time and recharge my batteries. Plus, since I was so homesick, I decided on a date to be home by. So those two things combined have more or less gotten rid of my homesickness. I mean, don't get me wrong. I still miss Bozeman like no other, but now that there is a date that I have in mind for getting back, I have something to look forward to, and it doesn't seem so far away!
On a side note, for your viewing pleasure, I thought I'd post this video on my blog since one of my jump masters was one of the people in this jump! It's pretty incredible!
Also, during my recharging time, I've met some of the best people I'll meet on my adventures. Given, you meet interesting people every day of traveling, but the ones you meet you don't necessarily get to KNOW! Since I've been skydiving, I have really gotten to KNOW and truly befriend my jumpmasters and fellow students! In fact, I can't wait to meet up with them again to see how we have all progressed with skydiving a few years down the road!
This break has been exactly what I needed, and I am so happy to have friends here that I was able to take a break with. And to add to that, I have gotten a girlfriend while I'm here! :) No, don't be frightened...She's about 1 year old! It's little Ayva! It is absolutely hilarious how Ayva acts around me now! She is always showing off, and whenever she does something cool, she looks for me and smiles! This morning, when Kris brought Ayva over to say hi to me, Ayva practically leapt out of her mothers arms into mine! It was priceless! Unfortunately for her, I have to break up with her in 2 weeks time, when I am off on the next leg of my journey!
So, I know there aren't a lot of pictures, and not a lot of exciting "new" things to talk about, but I guess in the long scheme of things, a month is nothing really, and I'll be back out soon enough! Until then, you can just look forward to my skydiving video, and maybe a few more posts with nothing more but words of traveling wisdom. . .or something along those lines.
P.S. It's official. Eric has purchased his ticket to come visit me now, so I'll be traveling with him from May 30th until I decide to come stateside. Yay! I have somewhat of a plan! It's nice!
Well, it's true. When I arrived I had only planned on spending a week or so with Kris and Bruce, and from there I was going to head to queenstown to work on my skydiving certification. Well, when I found out that Skydiving here was about half the price as it was in queenstown, I was sold. So I asked if it was O.K. with Kris and Bruce, and they said sure! So I don't know how long you have to be in one area to say that you've lived there, but I think a month is about good. So I've officially lived in another place!
Now, I also LOVE putting up these blogs. It's a great way to keep in touch with everyone. However, I've been aching because I know I have a video of me Skydiving that is just waiting to be finished up and given to me. I've been just DYING to put this video online for all of you to see, but alas, since the weather has literally rained for the past week nonstop, I haven't been to the drop zone, meaning I haven't been able to finish training, meaning no video for me yet, finally meaning no video for you yet! :) Funny how that works isn't it. Our lives are so dependent on the weather. So, since I haven't gotten the video and not a whole lot of exciting NEW things are happening in my life, I've been slacking on the whole Blog thing.
I do have to admit though that this month in Nelson has done wonders for my psyche. Before coming here I was just getting off the plane from Africa. Now, I don't know if you all remember what I was going through there, but I went to Africa at the 3-months of traveling, and I got back at about the 4-months of traveling. Well, all the traveling websites say this is the time that you will be most homesick. Stick with it, and it will get better. I agree with that whole heartedly! So going to Africa, I was DYING of homesickness. While in Africa, I was DYING of homesickness, and as soon as I got back to New Zealand, the feeling hadn't gone away. I realize now that the feeling was largely due to the fact that I was sick of figuring out where I was going to sleep a particular night, what I was going to eat a particular night and I was definitely sick of telling my life story to every new person I met! So, enter skydiving, and the oh so wonderful Kris and Bruce. Since Skydiving has started, it has given me a reason to stay in one place for an extended amount of time and recharge my batteries. Plus, since I was so homesick, I decided on a date to be home by. So those two things combined have more or less gotten rid of my homesickness. I mean, don't get me wrong. I still miss Bozeman like no other, but now that there is a date that I have in mind for getting back, I have something to look forward to, and it doesn't seem so far away!
On a side note, for your viewing pleasure, I thought I'd post this video on my blog since one of my jump masters was one of the people in this jump! It's pretty incredible!
Also, during my recharging time, I've met some of the best people I'll meet on my adventures. Given, you meet interesting people every day of traveling, but the ones you meet you don't necessarily get to KNOW! Since I've been skydiving, I have really gotten to KNOW and truly befriend my jumpmasters and fellow students! In fact, I can't wait to meet up with them again to see how we have all progressed with skydiving a few years down the road!
This break has been exactly what I needed, and I am so happy to have friends here that I was able to take a break with. And to add to that, I have gotten a girlfriend while I'm here! :) No, don't be frightened...She's about 1 year old! It's little Ayva! It is absolutely hilarious how Ayva acts around me now! She is always showing off, and whenever she does something cool, she looks for me and smiles! This morning, when Kris brought Ayva over to say hi to me, Ayva practically leapt out of her mothers arms into mine! It was priceless! Unfortunately for her, I have to break up with her in 2 weeks time, when I am off on the next leg of my journey!
So, I know there aren't a lot of pictures, and not a lot of exciting "new" things to talk about, but I guess in the long scheme of things, a month is nothing really, and I'll be back out soon enough! Until then, you can just look forward to my skydiving video, and maybe a few more posts with nothing more but words of traveling wisdom. . .or something along those lines.
P.S. It's official. Eric has purchased his ticket to come visit me now, so I'll be traveling with him from May 30th until I decide to come stateside. Yay! I have somewhat of a plan! It's nice!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Spending too much time on the Internet
Hey all! I just figured that I'd throw another post up since it has been a decent amount of time since my last one. Although I don't really have much new news to talk about. So, I'll just kinda blabber on for a couple paragraphs, maybe try to throw some words of wisdom in here and there, and then let you all get back to what ever else it is you should be doing instead of reading my super entertaining blog! :)
Anyway, so as you know I've been doing the skydive training. It is taking just a bit longer than was expected, and to make it worse the weather hasn't been cooperating for the past few days. So I haven't gotten to jump for 4 days now! But I am super close to finishing. I can smell the liscence! So, in the meantime, while I wait for good weather, and openings on the plane, I have been spending a lot of time with the oh so wonderful people, Kris and Bruce. In fact, I've spent enough time in one place now, that it seems like I've "moved" here. So, in a sense, I'm getting itchy feet again. For that reason, I have decided to get on the move again (after skydiving of course. . .)
Well, I know I'm going to be talking about the future here, but plans for me have changed a little since I originally decided to leave last November. So I just thought I'd give all of you an update on to what my plans are for the next few months and that way you'll have more exciting posts to look forward too! (I'm sure you are all getting bored with hearing about New Zealand, right?)
So, Pat is graduating from college here in about 2 weeks. And of course, he has decided to travel some. And he has decided to come travel with me for a bit! Originally the plan was for him to come down to New Zealand, but since I had already taken a lap around the south island, and have spent quite a bit of time down here, I talked pat into flying to Australia instead. So now, I'm going to Australia in about 2.5 weeks time. So that gives me 2.5 weeks to finish skydiving and sell Larry. Needless to say, I'm hoping the weather holds so I have lots of time to sell Larry!
As of now, it sounds as if I'll be spending till about the middle of July or so traveling Australia, then I'm hoping to fly to L.A. to visit my brother for a week or so. (He's going to find out about that by reading this blog :) ) And from there, I may be heading back towards the Bozone for the remainder of the summer. So not too long till I'm home! Hehe.
Like I said, I'd also offer some words of wisdom for this blog, so just for your enjoyment, and for no other reason, I'm going to bring your thoughts back to Thailand for some hilarious "Engrish" quotes that I got there. . .Keep in mind, these are not typos. . .
"Brings your monotonous home interior decoration into live." - On a refrigerator magnet
"Cinnamon is used as a spice on doughnuts, candies, yellies, and fruit jams." - What are Yellies???
"For guest you must pay fee for support local 1% of price follow the law fix of kanchanaburi provincial industry administration organization for develop local. Thank for cooperation" - Wow, they were trying WAY too hard!
"Disclaimer: Using the computer and internet can cause serious problems that may require you to do a lot of thing. We cannot guarentee that problems can be solved. Try any provided at your own risk." - Uh oh. . .I wouldn't want to have to do a lot of thing!
"Food, Dink, Music too!" - Could I get one more dink with that music?
"All soups are served with galic bread" - Sweet! They import their bread from Ireland eh?
"Please do not drop butt into toilet bowl." - Well, good thing it's attached to me then!
Hope you enjoy! Only a little more time till I'm on the road again with exciting posts! Bear with me!
Anyway, so as you know I've been doing the skydive training. It is taking just a bit longer than was expected, and to make it worse the weather hasn't been cooperating for the past few days. So I haven't gotten to jump for 4 days now! But I am super close to finishing. I can smell the liscence! So, in the meantime, while I wait for good weather, and openings on the plane, I have been spending a lot of time with the oh so wonderful people, Kris and Bruce. In fact, I've spent enough time in one place now, that it seems like I've "moved" here. So, in a sense, I'm getting itchy feet again. For that reason, I have decided to get on the move again (after skydiving of course. . .)
Well, I know I'm going to be talking about the future here, but plans for me have changed a little since I originally decided to leave last November. So I just thought I'd give all of you an update on to what my plans are for the next few months and that way you'll have more exciting posts to look forward too! (I'm sure you are all getting bored with hearing about New Zealand, right?)
So, Pat is graduating from college here in about 2 weeks. And of course, he has decided to travel some. And he has decided to come travel with me for a bit! Originally the plan was for him to come down to New Zealand, but since I had already taken a lap around the south island, and have spent quite a bit of time down here, I talked pat into flying to Australia instead. So now, I'm going to Australia in about 2.5 weeks time. So that gives me 2.5 weeks to finish skydiving and sell Larry. Needless to say, I'm hoping the weather holds so I have lots of time to sell Larry!
As of now, it sounds as if I'll be spending till about the middle of July or so traveling Australia, then I'm hoping to fly to L.A. to visit my brother for a week or so. (He's going to find out about that by reading this blog :) ) And from there, I may be heading back towards the Bozone for the remainder of the summer. So not too long till I'm home! Hehe.
Like I said, I'd also offer some words of wisdom for this blog, so just for your enjoyment, and for no other reason, I'm going to bring your thoughts back to Thailand for some hilarious "Engrish" quotes that I got there. . .Keep in mind, these are not typos. . .
"Brings your monotonous home interior decoration into live." - On a refrigerator magnet
"Cinnamon is used as a spice on doughnuts, candies, yellies, and fruit jams." - What are Yellies???
"For guest you must pay fee for support local 1% of price follow the law fix of kanchanaburi provincial industry administration organization for develop local. Thank for cooperation" - Wow, they were trying WAY too hard!
"Disclaimer: Using the computer and internet can cause serious problems that may require you to do a lot of thing. We cannot guarentee that problems can be solved. Try any provided at your own risk." - Uh oh. . .I wouldn't want to have to do a lot of thing!
"Food, Dink, Music too!" - Could I get one more dink with that music?
"All soups are served with galic bread" - Sweet! They import their bread from Ireland eh?
"Please do not drop butt into toilet bowl." - Well, good thing it's attached to me then!
Hope you enjoy! Only a little more time till I'm on the road again with exciting posts! Bear with me!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Hangin by the Hangers
Hey hey! I'm still alive everyone! Yay! And I've officially gotten my AFF certification. Although that is not A-license yet, so I am still working on that. Only a few more days though, and I'll be able to jump out of Airplanes anywhere in the world!
So, as you've all gathered, I've been jumping out of airplanes for the last week. And my oh my, it just gets more and more fun each time you do it! For those of you that have taken tandem rides, you've gotta try the courses! The freedom that you have in the air is unparalleled to that of a tandem jump! For example, I've always dreamed of doing a double backflip. Well, skydiving, I've done a quadruple backflip, then a front flip, then some barrel rolls, then a couple three sixties, all in one jump! That's way more than I could ever do on a pair of skis!
So, for some more amusing stories about Skydiving too. I am a man of firsts apparently. First of all, there are three other students learning to skydive with me. Now, the jumpmasters used to talk about one student years ago that finished his AFF certification in 5 days. They were super proud of him being able to do it that quickly. Guess how long it took me and the other 3 students! yep, 3 Days! Needless to say, the jumpmasters have all been dumbfounded at how quickly we are jumping, and how good we all are this soon in the game!
Now, there are 9 levels that need to be completed in each stage of the AFF certification. Each level being a jump where you practice some type of new skill. Such as 360's or backflips. After you complete level 6, you are cleared to jump out of an airplane completely on your own if you'd like. Most people do their first solo jump at that point. Some however will go through the rest of the stages before doing their first solo jump. Well, I was different. As I showed up to the Drop Zone on my B-day, just after have finishing my AFF-certification, I was asked if I wanted to do a 5 way. "Of course" I say. So, it is me, two other students, and two jumpmasters. We go through the jump before hand, and then in at 13,000ft above sealevel, execute, more or less, a perfect 5-way round. Falling at 120mph, we were all holding each others arms to make a big 5 person circle in the sky. Once we all got to the ground, I reiterated the fact that I still hadn't done a solo jump to my jumpmasters. They were flabbergasted that I had just been a part of a 5-way before I had ever jumped on my own! This was my 10th jump too. So, I had half the number of people in my group as I had jumps. The Jumpmaster was talking to some other sport skydiver and asked him how many jumps he had. The other skydiver said 220. The Jumpmaster then told him he'd have to do a 110-way round to rival what I had just done! :)
Well, I don't have a TON to talk about unless it has to do with skydiving, but I promised I'd get some pictures and video done. Well, it turns out that the jumpmasters did a rough editing job of all of us students and our first few jumps. Problem is I haven't quite gotten a copy of that video yet. So, in the meantime this post was mainly to get some pictures up of the drop zone as seen from the ground. These pictures were taken by "Frenchie," one of my fellow students. (His real name is Amadee, but we all got nicknames. Mine is Bendi-boy. Apparently I'm really flexible or something. . .)
And on a side note, some things I've been able to see while I've been skydiving.
-A full circle rainbow
-Skydiving through clouds during sunset. (ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!)
-A stunt plane flying in barrel rolls around our skydive plane with the pilot waving to us.
-The southern alps
-The end of the Leslie-Karamea track
-The Abel Tasman walkway.
Things scientists used to believe about skydiving. . .
-If you touched someone while in freefall, you'd both explode.
-If you open your mouth while falling through clouds, you'll explode.
-During free fall, you don't have to breath, because the air just gets pushed through your skin! :)
Oh, by the way, thanks everyone for all the B-day wishes you sent my way! I had a blast on my B-day, but it sure wasn't the same without you. Turns out I'm the youngest one at the dropzone though! So, my party consisted of hanging out with the people at the Dropzone. They did a fantastic job of surprising me infact. One jumpmaster brought me into the back room to "try different parachutes" and when I came back into the main room, there were about 15 people waiting there and they sang Happy birthday to me, and gave me a delicious chocolate cake. So, yeah, I still got to make a wish and what not. That night we then went to the only bar in Motueka, and played some darts. So, it was still good, but definately not the parties I'm used to! :)
So, as you've all gathered, I've been jumping out of airplanes for the last week. And my oh my, it just gets more and more fun each time you do it! For those of you that have taken tandem rides, you've gotta try the courses! The freedom that you have in the air is unparalleled to that of a tandem jump! For example, I've always dreamed of doing a double backflip. Well, skydiving, I've done a quadruple backflip, then a front flip, then some barrel rolls, then a couple three sixties, all in one jump! That's way more than I could ever do on a pair of skis!
So, for some more amusing stories about Skydiving too. I am a man of firsts apparently. First of all, there are three other students learning to skydive with me. Now, the jumpmasters used to talk about one student years ago that finished his AFF certification in 5 days. They were super proud of him being able to do it that quickly. Guess how long it took me and the other 3 students! yep, 3 Days! Needless to say, the jumpmasters have all been dumbfounded at how quickly we are jumping, and how good we all are this soon in the game!
Now, there are 9 levels that need to be completed in each stage of the AFF certification. Each level being a jump where you practice some type of new skill. Such as 360's or backflips. After you complete level 6, you are cleared to jump out of an airplane completely on your own if you'd like. Most people do their first solo jump at that point. Some however will go through the rest of the stages before doing their first solo jump. Well, I was different. As I showed up to the Drop Zone on my B-day, just after have finishing my AFF-certification, I was asked if I wanted to do a 5 way. "Of course" I say. So, it is me, two other students, and two jumpmasters. We go through the jump before hand, and then in at 13,000ft above sealevel, execute, more or less, a perfect 5-way round. Falling at 120mph, we were all holding each others arms to make a big 5 person circle in the sky. Once we all got to the ground, I reiterated the fact that I still hadn't done a solo jump to my jumpmasters. They were flabbergasted that I had just been a part of a 5-way before I had ever jumped on my own! This was my 10th jump too. So, I had half the number of people in my group as I had jumps. The Jumpmaster was talking to some other sport skydiver and asked him how many jumps he had. The other skydiver said 220. The Jumpmaster then told him he'd have to do a 110-way round to rival what I had just done! :)
Well, I don't have a TON to talk about unless it has to do with skydiving, but I promised I'd get some pictures and video done. Well, it turns out that the jumpmasters did a rough editing job of all of us students and our first few jumps. Problem is I haven't quite gotten a copy of that video yet. So, in the meantime this post was mainly to get some pictures up of the drop zone as seen from the ground. These pictures were taken by "Frenchie," one of my fellow students. (His real name is Amadee, but we all got nicknames. Mine is Bendi-boy. Apparently I'm really flexible or something. . .)And on a side note, some things I've been able to see while I've been skydiving.
-A full circle rainbow
-Skydiving through clouds during sunset. (ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!)
-A stunt plane flying in barrel rolls around our skydive plane with the pilot waving to us.
-The southern alps
-The end of the Leslie-Karamea track
-The Abel Tasman walkway.
Things scientists used to believe about skydiving. . .
-If you touched someone while in freefall, you'd both explode.
-If you open your mouth while falling through clouds, you'll explode.
-During free fall, you don't have to breath, because the air just gets pushed through your skin! :)
Oh, by the way, thanks everyone for all the B-day wishes you sent my way! I had a blast on my B-day, but it sure wasn't the same without you. Turns out I'm the youngest one at the dropzone though! So, my party consisted of hanging out with the people at the Dropzone. They did a fantastic job of surprising me infact. One jumpmaster brought me into the back room to "try different parachutes" and when I came back into the main room, there were about 15 people waiting there and they sang Happy birthday to me, and gave me a delicious chocolate cake. So, yeah, I still got to make a wish and what not. That night we then went to the only bar in Motueka, and played some darts. So, it was still good, but definately not the parties I'm used to! :)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
It's official!
Hey there, first of all, I realize that all of you can't check on my blog every day. . .so with that said, you should really scroll down a couple blogs because I've been updating a lot lately!
So, I left my last post saying something about how I had more stories to tell. Well, do to recent events I'm gonna kind of blur through those stories so I can get to the good one!
The day after the Hike with Martin, I was able to see a few more sights of New Zealand. Since I was in the area I checked out three pretty cool areas of the golden bay. The problem with doing all this was I had no one to enjoy it with. It's amazing how much more fun things are when you can share the experience with someone. Instead of taking in the incredible views, I spent the time thinking about how I miss home or what not. When I'm with people, I can push those thoughts back a bit at least and it's not quite as bad. But, that's enough of that negative stuff. . .Let's get back to the sights and sounds of NZ.
So I went to what is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in NZ. It was called something like Whariki beach. (Remember, WH is pronounced with an F sound. So Fariki beach. . .) This beach was great because I showed up at low tide, and there is a group of baby seals that play in a pool that forms at low tide! Probably three babies that would allow you to get right next to them to take your photos! And they'd play and have fun! (No, the seal in this picture is not dead!)
But besides the Seals, there were also some REALLY cool rock formations just off the beach. If you remember that post about the hole in the rock in northern new zealand, Well, these holes were much better! Just take a look! And these formations were everywhere!
From there, I was only a few kilometers from Farewell spit. So I just drove over there to take a quick look. Really not that interesting at all in fact. A few sand dunes, but it would be much cooler to take a look at it from the sky. If you don't know what Farewell Spit is, just take a quick look at a map of NZ. On the very north of the south island there is this really large spike that sticks out to the east. That is the spit. But more or less, not worth visiting, except to say that you've been there.
Then it was off to Pu Pu springs. Yes, you read that right. Pu Pu. (Sounds like poo poo) Actually the full name of these springs is way too long to remember since it is some Maori word, but even the signs pointing to it call it Pu Pu springs. Well, the thing about these springs are they are the cleanest water that I will probably ever see! Truly. In fact, The only cleaner water in the world is the water directly under the Ross Ice Shelf. I don't know if they've been to every body of water to measure it's cleanliness, but they say this one is in second place! And wow, could you tell! It was gorgeous. The sun was setting though, so the pictures have tricky reflections on the surface of the water, but more or less, you get the idea!
So, that night I spent the Night in Motueka, a little town just north of Nelson. And the next day, I was up bright and early and had a HUGE smile on my face. For that was the day that I began my official SKYDIVE training!!! Boo yah! Actually, it didn't come out that easy though. I showed up at 8 in the morning, and we had 10 hours of ground training. (could've been done in about 4, but the teacher was always going outside to assist with skydives. . .) And unfortunately the weather was pretty crummy for a first skydive. There were clouds above our heads. Well, during that first 10 hours, we learned that we need pretty perfect conditions to jump our first couple times. So, we'd have to wait till the next day. . .
The next day comes, and I've been dreaming of my jump. Going through steps through my head constantly, over and over. I have it down pat! I show up that day ready to go, and guess what! Crummy day again! Doh! I ended up sitting around at the drop zone for a few hours hoping weather would clear up, but in the end decided it wouldn't. So, I came back to Kris and Bruces and wrote that other phenomenal blog since I wasn't jumping. By this time, I've gone through the jump so many times in my head that I don't even have to think about it anymore.
Then today came. The skies were clear, the wind was low. It was perfect weather! So, after doing a little rock, paper, scissors with my fellow jump students, we decided that I was jumping first out of the four of us. Now remember, I've been through this jump about 800 times in my head, so I jump into the plane and I am as calm as a Hindu cow! I had no worries, no adrenaline, nothing! It was incredible. The plane began to climb, and I went through the jump in my head a couple more times just to be sure. And after reaching 12,000ft, the door to the plane was opened and it was FINALLY my time to shine!
Now, remember, this is a solo jump. Not tandem. However, there are two jump masters on either side of me holding on to me the whole way to make sure things go well. After the parachute is pulled though, I'm on my own. Kind of, but I'll get there. So, I climb out of the plane, hang on, make sure the jump masters are ready, and then jump! And it was phenomenal! I took two deep breaths, and a huge smile appeared on my face! I enjoyed the free fall, no, LOVED the free fall, ran through my exercises, checked my Altitude, reached a certain height and deployed my parachute. From there the jump masters book it to the ground while I hang out under the canopy and wait for them to give me directions over a walkie-talkie. But, in the end, I got to the ground no problems whatsoever.
After the jump, you get debriefed. You tell the Jumpmaster how you think the jump went, and they then tell you how they think it went. I'll bet you'll never guess what the criticism they had for my jump was! Guess what. . .I was TOO relaxed! hehe! Apparently, when I decided to pull my parachute (at 6000 ft) I was too slow doing it and they were almost wondering if I was going to do it! They almost pulled it for me! I probably had an extra second before it was pulled for me. Then I asked my jump master if he gets many people that are "too relaxed." "Nope, sure don't" he says. "In fact, your the only one I've ever told that to. Man, you ARE weird!" :) And remember, this jump master has something like 10,000 jumps under his belt!
Whew! Getting long, I know, but bear with me!
So, we then get briefed on our Stage 2 jump. And this time, they tell us what to do, and more or less stick us in the plane. Remember, I had 2 days to learn about my first jump, and then about 2 hours to learn about my second. So, I climb into the plane a second time, and now I'm freaking out! The Adrenaline is pumping hard! Now, just thinking about it I'm getting adrenaline! We flew up to 12,000 feet again, and this time I was the second one out of the plane. I'll tell you one thing, watching those first people jump gets you amped even more! There they are in the door of the plane, then POOF! they're gone! Then my turn. I climb out, again and this time when I jump out I actually see the plane. It's incredible how quickly it just shrinks away after your jump! Then I worked on keeping stable in the air. And I got to try a couple turns in the air too. This stuff is fun! Plus I had really good altitude awareness (at least I was looking at my altitude, not necessarily registering what it said though) but when I looked and finally registered that I was at 6000 ft, I pulled my parachute and floated safely to the ground once more!
And now just for a little bragging. My jumpmaster is saying that I am a natural at this! (I wonder if they just say that to everyone. . .) but he is saying that I'm doing everything very well, and so far, passing with flying colors! :) Let's hope it stays that way!
So, yeah, I don't know if you can tell how happy I am currently! I was so excited to come blog about it! And I have many more jumps to go! Woot! Now, you're probably wondering where all the photos of the jumps are. Well, here's the deal. I have a few ground shots but I'll be getting those up a little later. As far as in air shots go though, it is quite expensive to get them since you more or less pay for another jumper to go up. Now, as Jon Wixson said, I HAVE to get the filming/photography done. So I was about to get it, but then the jump masters suggested that I wait until I've gotten a little better at jumping so I can actually show off to the camera a little instead of just running through exercises while in free fall. So, with that said, they talked me out of it for the first few jumps, but I will get some photos done at some point during the training! Have no fear!
So, I left my last post saying something about how I had more stories to tell. Well, do to recent events I'm gonna kind of blur through those stories so I can get to the good one!
The day after the Hike with Martin, I was able to see a few more sights of New Zealand. Since I was in the area I checked out three pretty cool areas of the golden bay. The problem with doing all this was I had no one to enjoy it with. It's amazing how much more fun things are when you can share the experience with someone. Instead of taking in the incredible views, I spent the time thinking about how I miss home or what not. When I'm with people, I can push those thoughts back a bit at least and it's not quite as bad. But, that's enough of that negative stuff. . .Let's get back to the sights and sounds of NZ.
So I went to what is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in NZ. It was called something like Whariki beach. (Remember, WH is pronounced with an F sound. So Fariki beach. . .) This beach was great because I showed up at low tide, and there is a group of baby seals that play in a pool that forms at low tide! Probably three babies that would allow you to get right next to them to take your photos! And they'd play and have fun! (No, the seal in this picture is not dead!)
But besides the Seals, there were also some REALLY cool rock formations just off the beach. If you remember that post about the hole in the rock in northern new zealand, Well, these holes were much better! Just take a look! And these formations were everywhere!From there, I was only a few kilometers from Farewell spit. So I just drove over there to take a quick look. Really not that interesting at all in fact. A few sand dunes, but it would be much cooler to take a look at it from the sky. If you don't know what Farewell Spit is, just take a quick look at a map of NZ. On the very north of the south island there is this really large spike that sticks out to the east. That is the spit. But more or less, not worth visiting, except to say that you've been there.
Then it was off to Pu Pu springs. Yes, you read that right. Pu Pu. (Sounds like poo poo) Actually the full name of these springs is way too long to remember since it is some Maori word, but even the signs pointing to it call it Pu Pu springs. Well, the thing about these springs are they are the cleanest water that I will probably ever see! Truly. In fact, The only cleaner water in the world is the water directly under the Ross Ice Shelf. I don't know if they've been to every body of water to measure it's cleanliness, but they say this one is in second place! And wow, could you tell! It was gorgeous. The sun was setting though, so the pictures have tricky reflections on the surface of the water, but more or less, you get the idea!So, that night I spent the Night in Motueka, a little town just north of Nelson. And the next day, I was up bright and early and had a HUGE smile on my face. For that was the day that I began my official SKYDIVE training!!! Boo yah! Actually, it didn't come out that easy though. I showed up at 8 in the morning, and we had 10 hours of ground training. (could've been done in about 4, but the teacher was always going outside to assist with skydives. . .) And unfortunately the weather was pretty crummy for a first skydive. There were clouds above our heads. Well, during that first 10 hours, we learned that we need pretty perfect conditions to jump our first couple times. So, we'd have to wait till the next day. . .
The next day comes, and I've been dreaming of my jump. Going through steps through my head constantly, over and over. I have it down pat! I show up that day ready to go, and guess what! Crummy day again! Doh! I ended up sitting around at the drop zone for a few hours hoping weather would clear up, but in the end decided it wouldn't. So, I came back to Kris and Bruces and wrote that other phenomenal blog since I wasn't jumping. By this time, I've gone through the jump so many times in my head that I don't even have to think about it anymore.
Then today came. The skies were clear, the wind was low. It was perfect weather! So, after doing a little rock, paper, scissors with my fellow jump students, we decided that I was jumping first out of the four of us. Now remember, I've been through this jump about 800 times in my head, so I jump into the plane and I am as calm as a Hindu cow! I had no worries, no adrenaline, nothing! It was incredible. The plane began to climb, and I went through the jump in my head a couple more times just to be sure. And after reaching 12,000ft, the door to the plane was opened and it was FINALLY my time to shine!
Now, remember, this is a solo jump. Not tandem. However, there are two jump masters on either side of me holding on to me the whole way to make sure things go well. After the parachute is pulled though, I'm on my own. Kind of, but I'll get there. So, I climb out of the plane, hang on, make sure the jump masters are ready, and then jump! And it was phenomenal! I took two deep breaths, and a huge smile appeared on my face! I enjoyed the free fall, no, LOVED the free fall, ran through my exercises, checked my Altitude, reached a certain height and deployed my parachute. From there the jump masters book it to the ground while I hang out under the canopy and wait for them to give me directions over a walkie-talkie. But, in the end, I got to the ground no problems whatsoever.
After the jump, you get debriefed. You tell the Jumpmaster how you think the jump went, and they then tell you how they think it went. I'll bet you'll never guess what the criticism they had for my jump was! Guess what. . .I was TOO relaxed! hehe! Apparently, when I decided to pull my parachute (at 6000 ft) I was too slow doing it and they were almost wondering if I was going to do it! They almost pulled it for me! I probably had an extra second before it was pulled for me. Then I asked my jump master if he gets many people that are "too relaxed." "Nope, sure don't" he says. "In fact, your the only one I've ever told that to. Man, you ARE weird!" :) And remember, this jump master has something like 10,000 jumps under his belt!
Whew! Getting long, I know, but bear with me!
So, we then get briefed on our Stage 2 jump. And this time, they tell us what to do, and more or less stick us in the plane. Remember, I had 2 days to learn about my first jump, and then about 2 hours to learn about my second. So, I climb into the plane a second time, and now I'm freaking out! The Adrenaline is pumping hard! Now, just thinking about it I'm getting adrenaline! We flew up to 12,000 feet again, and this time I was the second one out of the plane. I'll tell you one thing, watching those first people jump gets you amped even more! There they are in the door of the plane, then POOF! they're gone! Then my turn. I climb out, again and this time when I jump out I actually see the plane. It's incredible how quickly it just shrinks away after your jump! Then I worked on keeping stable in the air. And I got to try a couple turns in the air too. This stuff is fun! Plus I had really good altitude awareness (at least I was looking at my altitude, not necessarily registering what it said though) but when I looked and finally registered that I was at 6000 ft, I pulled my parachute and floated safely to the ground once more!
And now just for a little bragging. My jumpmaster is saying that I am a natural at this! (I wonder if they just say that to everyone. . .) but he is saying that I'm doing everything very well, and so far, passing with flying colors! :) Let's hope it stays that way!
So, yeah, I don't know if you can tell how happy I am currently! I was so excited to come blog about it! And I have many more jumps to go! Woot! Now, you're probably wondering where all the photos of the jumps are. Well, here's the deal. I have a few ground shots but I'll be getting those up a little later. As far as in air shots go though, it is quite expensive to get them since you more or less pay for another jumper to go up. Now, as Jon Wixson said, I HAVE to get the filming/photography done. So I was about to get it, but then the jump masters suggested that I wait until I've gotten a little better at jumping so I can actually show off to the camera a little instead of just running through exercises while in free fall. So, with that said, they talked me out of it for the first few jumps, but I will get some photos done at some point during the training! Have no fear!
Monday, April 16, 2007
Wetness, Wilderness, and Wekas continued.
O.K. So I think I finally have some good time to work on this blog! And I hope it's a good one! It's only 12:30pm right now, I'm listening to the White Stripes, no one is home, and I have Internet for as much time as I need it! So, that should be the correct recipe for a good blog!
So, now that I'm here, where do I start? First, I'd like to mention that I have officially walked over 100 miles in "one" go. The two tramps combined was 168km. The only stop was for a rest day and packing up of food. Not too shabby if I do say so myself! So now to start. . .Ah yes, of course. The Heaphy track. Like I said earlier, the Heaphy is a NZ great walk. NZ has 10 walks that have made great walk status. These walks need to be booked in advance, you have to pay for your camping, and generally they are more crowded. But the trails are very neatly manicured, and they are easy walking with great views.
So, the day is Monday, and I drive the two hours to meet up with Martin. I picked martin up at this fabulous little backpacker called the Innlet. Well immediately the adventure began. As I was going through the food that I had purchased for the tramp, I noticed I forgot to pack the Tea! Heaven Forbid! No Tea? (Uh oh, I'm becoming kiwi or something. . .always needing tea) But I brought the sugar and the instant milk. Everything but the tea! I was immediately thrown into a state of panic! Running around waving my arms above my head and screaming "what do I do?" Luckily Daria was there. Daria is the owner of the backpacker, and she came to my rescue. She gave me about 20 tea bags, just enough for the long trip ahead! Whew! Close call!
Martin and I then drove to the trail head. It was about another half hour from the backpacker, complete with mud bogging and three fords! Apparently when it rains, these fords become unpassable, so at this point I was praying for the next days that we wouldn't get rain on the last days of our tramp. It'd suck not to be able to get good ole Larry out of there! So, on the way in though, Larry did phenomenol! No problems whatsoever with the fords or the mud! Good job larry!
By this time it is one 'o clock in the afternoon. Martin and I know that we have a 5 hour day in front of us. So we begin the hike with the hope of making it to the campsite by 6. It gets dark about 6:30 now. So we our heads down and started tramping! The first day was pretty hard. All uphill, and the scenery wasn't good at all! But we were rewarded with a fantastic sunset once we got to the campsite! That night I had my cup of tea, and some pasta, and then slept like a baby! Now, get ready for the routine. . .
For the next days the routine went a lot like this. Wake up early (early being relative of course. We were waking up around 7 every day) We'd then pack up camp, walk for anywhere from 2 hours to 6 hours, find camp, then set up again! We did that for 11 days straight, and it was nothing else but fantastic! So, now that I have that over with, I can just talk about what we saw and did!
So, the Heaphy has every right to be a great walk. Normally it is done in 5 days, but that was with a 3 hour day and a two hour day back to back. So Martin and I combined those two days and made it a four day trip. Day one - all uphill, bad views and stuck in the forest the whole time. Day two - A fabulous walk through the most beautiful section of Forest I have ever seen! Given though, the forest section was only about 100 meters long. And I don't think the picture on the right does it justice, sadly. But as soon as we walked out of the Forest, we walked into the Gouland downs. Here is where we got our first real views!
By the way, the next days were all downhill, so that made the hiking easier. The next day, we did a 27 km hike in 5 hours. We saw a lot of beautiful forest and finally made it to the coast, where I met my favorite bird! The Weka! Favorite should be read with a sarcastic tone too. So, the Weka is a flightless bird only found here in New Zealand. Sure, it makes for a cool sight, but these things are pesty to campers. During the night I caught one of these buggers under my tent flap trying to open my plastic bag carrying my wallet and book and other things of that sort. So, at one in the morning, here I am half way out of the tent waving my arms like a crazed maniac trying to get this Weka to leave me alone. The Weka would just jump away about 10 feet, then come up close again till I waved like a dang monkey! I think the Weka was playing with me. It did this about 10 times before it finally went to our neighbors tent and started pestering them! (I wasn't up to getting all the way out of the tent to warn the others. . .oops! :) )
And finally we woke up for the last day of hiking which was on beautiful coast. 4 nice easy hours. And since they were nice and easy, I had to stop to climb this pretty rock carrying a huge pack! The Hike just wasn't enough. You should of seen my on the rock though. I walked up to it like I was all that! Super confident. Then I got on the rock and immediately a wave came crashing into it making me scramble up even faster. I just didn't get wet, but realized I was now "stranded" on the rock. I'd have to downclimb, at just the right time and then book it out of the way of the next incoming wave. It must've been a riot to watch. But, I made it with out getting wet! And sure enough, there was Martin, shaking his head going "crazy americans!"
Now Martin and I get out of the Heaphy track, and we hitchhike to this great little backpacker called Rongo. Rongo had it's own community radio station in the garage, it had rainbow painted walls, and it had fish hanging from the ceiling! Crazy place! Total hippy feeling to it though, and so much fun! I of course had to buy a huge chicken bacon and avacado sandwich and the celebatory beer for completing the first of the two tramps on the itinerary. Unfortunately, Martin doesn't drink beer, so I had to cheers him with his glass of apple juice. I don't know. . .it's just not the same! The next day was a rest day dedicated to planning our food for the next tramp too. So we spent a total of two nights at Rongo.
So then we were off to do the Leslie-Karamea track. And we immediately could tell that we were no longer on a great walk. (I think Mike talked about this exact same phenomenon in one of his posts.) The trail is no longer manicured. It is just through forest with orange markers stuck to trees! So if you lose the orange markers, well your S.O.L. Start relying on your map! But within the first hour of hiking, the little bit of trail that was there had slidden into the river. So we had to do a detour around a cliff. And the detour was climbing up what you see on the right. I should also add that I heard that the Karamea river supposedly has some of the best fly-fishing in New Zealand. So I also have been carrying the rod that mike left with Kris and Bruce. Well, on this detour, the rod was nothing but trouble! Getting caught in the vines on every step! Argh! I was wishing I was back on a great walk! But that wish didn't last very long at all. After the first day on the Leslie-Karamea it begun to get super beautiful!
So more and more hiking. We hiked over a saddle the next day at about 1000 meters where we got our best view. We then hiked and tried to make it to the Trevor Carter Hut that night. Well, the trail markers were not very good in the vicinity of the Hut. (Oh, before I get ahead of myself, the NZ department of Conservation has over 900 backcountry huts in place, complete with mattresses, and usually some type of fire place. So a tent isn't entirely necesarry here.) So as we're looking for the hut, it begins to get dark. We pull out our map, and realize we think we've gone too far. (of course we haven't) so we start back tracking. We then find these markers that go right across the river. So we have to do our first river ford. Even though there is supposed to be a bridge nearby. But we haven't seen anything! So we walk across the river, and luckily find a sign that points to the Hut. So we walk in that direction. We then finally find the bridge that we should've crossed, and by this time it is completly dark. The sign says the hut is only 10 minutes away. So after 15 minutes of walking in the dark, we think we're lost again! Then lo and behold, another sign saying the hut is 2 minutes away. 10 minutes later, we FINALLY make it to the hut. Exhausted. So, after my celebratory cup of tea, we went to bed!
The next day (or the day after, time is merging for me now. . .) It started raining. Not hard. But it's the first rain we'd seen for the entire hike. So we waited out the rain, and then during our short day, I saw this, and had to take a picture of it. I think it is to date the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in the forest. Now, for me, I just had to stop and stare at the scene before me, in awe. The sun was at just the perfect spot, the trees were in just the perfect spot, the mist was in the air, and there was just something magical about it. It was weird, just standing there with a heavy pack on staring at the forest for a good 10 minutes. It was pure bliss! (I got the best picture I could, then Kris helped me photoshop it a little to make it better, but the picture STILL doesn't do the real thing justice!)
And then from there, it rained, and rained. We saw the sun only one more day out of the next 4. Still not bad though. I finally made it to the point where all the books were saying the good fishing is. So I pulled the rod out and wet a line. Well, I've also heard that fish here in NZ spook quite easily. Well, I had a bright red raincoat on, and was pretty tired from hiking, so I can't say I put my FULL effort into fishing, but nontheless, I was skunked. But I'm going to blame it on my raincoat scaring all the fish away! So, I carried this fly rod around with me for 11 days just to get skunked! Oh well, it was fun casting again I guess. :)
The remainder of the hike went more or less without a hitch. I found a kauri tree with a big hole in it, and what do we do when we find cool things with holes in them? We play of course! So go press play on the video below to see me playing in the Kauri tree! We then got out of the hike a day later hiking through beautiful forest and higland plataues for the rest of the journey, and went to dinner. I had to buy a fish since I missed out on all of them in the Karamea river, and it was divine!
Whew! So, I'm only just now finishing with the hikes. This IS a long post! Sorry! :)
After hiking, Martin and I hitched our way back to the Innlet to pick up larry. Luckily, the day that we were hitching became sunny again, so all those fords had let up. Larry started right up again too! He was so happy to see me after those long days in the forest all alone! When I got larry back to the backpacker, I checked my phone messeges and got quite a surprise! The police had actually noticed that Larry had been at the end of the Heaphy for about twice the amount of time than people normally leave their cars there. So they had called me making sure not to send out Search and Rescue. I suppose If I had been one or two days later, Search and Rescue would've been after us! So, I called them back to tell them I was O.K. and sure enough, they didn't have any record of calling me! Sweet! I don't know if I should trust the police or not now!
Whew! I'm not going to lie, I'm getting kind of tired of blogging at the moment, but I do have a few other quick stories to tell. So I will be publishing those in another blog either later tonight, or tomorrow. So keep in touch still. Also, since I am putting so many blogs up in such a short amount of time, be sure to scroll down to make sure you haven't missed one! For the time being, peace out!
Also, in the mean time, while you are waiting for my next post, you should click here
It should be a map of my tramp that you can explore on your own! Have fun!
So, now that I'm here, where do I start? First, I'd like to mention that I have officially walked over 100 miles in "one" go. The two tramps combined was 168km. The only stop was for a rest day and packing up of food. Not too shabby if I do say so myself! So now to start. . .Ah yes, of course. The Heaphy track. Like I said earlier, the Heaphy is a NZ great walk. NZ has 10 walks that have made great walk status. These walks need to be booked in advance, you have to pay for your camping, and generally they are more crowded. But the trails are very neatly manicured, and they are easy walking with great views.
So, the day is Monday, and I drive the two hours to meet up with Martin. I picked martin up at this fabulous little backpacker called the Innlet. Well immediately the adventure began. As I was going through the food that I had purchased for the tramp, I noticed I forgot to pack the Tea! Heaven Forbid! No Tea? (Uh oh, I'm becoming kiwi or something. . .always needing tea) But I brought the sugar and the instant milk. Everything but the tea! I was immediately thrown into a state of panic! Running around waving my arms above my head and screaming "what do I do?" Luckily Daria was there. Daria is the owner of the backpacker, and she came to my rescue. She gave me about 20 tea bags, just enough for the long trip ahead! Whew! Close call!
Martin and I then drove to the trail head. It was about another half hour from the backpacker, complete with mud bogging and three fords! Apparently when it rains, these fords become unpassable, so at this point I was praying for the next days that we wouldn't get rain on the last days of our tramp. It'd suck not to be able to get good ole Larry out of there! So, on the way in though, Larry did phenomenol! No problems whatsoever with the fords or the mud! Good job larry!
By this time it is one 'o clock in the afternoon. Martin and I know that we have a 5 hour day in front of us. So we begin the hike with the hope of making it to the campsite by 6. It gets dark about 6:30 now. So we our heads down and started tramping! The first day was pretty hard. All uphill, and the scenery wasn't good at all! But we were rewarded with a fantastic sunset once we got to the campsite! That night I had my cup of tea, and some pasta, and then slept like a baby! Now, get ready for the routine. . .For the next days the routine went a lot like this. Wake up early (early being relative of course. We were waking up around 7 every day) We'd then pack up camp, walk for anywhere from 2 hours to 6 hours, find camp, then set up again! We did that for 11 days straight, and it was nothing else but fantastic! So, now that I have that over with, I can just talk about what we saw and did!
So, the Heaphy has every right to be a great walk. Normally it is done in 5 days, but that was with a 3 hour day and a two hour day back to back. So Martin and I combined those two days and made it a four day trip. Day one - all uphill, bad views and stuck in the forest the whole time. Day two - A fabulous walk through the most beautiful section of Forest I have ever seen! Given though, the forest section was only about 100 meters long. And I don't think the picture on the right does it justice, sadly. But as soon as we walked out of the Forest, we walked into the Gouland downs. Here is where we got our first real views!By the way, the next days were all downhill, so that made the hiking easier. The next day, we did a 27 km hike in 5 hours. We saw a lot of beautiful forest and finally made it to the coast, where I met my favorite bird! The Weka! Favorite should be read with a sarcastic tone too. So, the Weka is a flightless bird only found here in New Zealand. Sure, it makes for a cool sight, but these things are pesty to campers. During the night I caught one of these buggers under my tent flap trying to open my plastic bag carrying my wallet and book and other things of that sort. So, at one in the morning, here I am half way out of the tent waving my arms like a crazed maniac trying to get this Weka to leave me alone. The Weka would just jump away about 10 feet, then come up close again till I waved like a dang monkey! I think the Weka was playing with me. It did this about 10 times before it finally went to our neighbors tent and started pestering them! (I wasn't up to getting all the way out of the tent to warn the others. . .oops! :) )
And finally we woke up for the last day of hiking which was on beautiful coast. 4 nice easy hours. And since they were nice and easy, I had to stop to climb this pretty rock carrying a huge pack! The Hike just wasn't enough. You should of seen my on the rock though. I walked up to it like I was all that! Super confident. Then I got on the rock and immediately a wave came crashing into it making me scramble up even faster. I just didn't get wet, but realized I was now "stranded" on the rock. I'd have to downclimb, at just the right time and then book it out of the way of the next incoming wave. It must've been a riot to watch. But, I made it with out getting wet! And sure enough, there was Martin, shaking his head going "crazy americans!"
Now Martin and I get out of the Heaphy track, and we hitchhike to this great little backpacker called Rongo. Rongo had it's own community radio station in the garage, it had rainbow painted walls, and it had fish hanging from the ceiling! Crazy place! Total hippy feeling to it though, and so much fun! I of course had to buy a huge chicken bacon and avacado sandwich and the celebatory beer for completing the first of the two tramps on the itinerary. Unfortunately, Martin doesn't drink beer, so I had to cheers him with his glass of apple juice. I don't know. . .it's just not the same! The next day was a rest day dedicated to planning our food for the next tramp too. So we spent a total of two nights at Rongo.
So then we were off to do the Leslie-Karamea track. And we immediately could tell that we were no longer on a great walk. (I think Mike talked about this exact same phenomenon in one of his posts.) The trail is no longer manicured. It is just through forest with orange markers stuck to trees! So if you lose the orange markers, well your S.O.L. Start relying on your map! But within the first hour of hiking, the little bit of trail that was there had slidden into the river. So we had to do a detour around a cliff. And the detour was climbing up what you see on the right. I should also add that I heard that the Karamea river supposedly has some of the best fly-fishing in New Zealand. So I also have been carrying the rod that mike left with Kris and Bruce. Well, on this detour, the rod was nothing but trouble! Getting caught in the vines on every step! Argh! I was wishing I was back on a great walk! But that wish didn't last very long at all. After the first day on the Leslie-Karamea it begun to get super beautiful!
So more and more hiking. We hiked over a saddle the next day at about 1000 meters where we got our best view. We then hiked and tried to make it to the Trevor Carter Hut that night. Well, the trail markers were not very good in the vicinity of the Hut. (Oh, before I get ahead of myself, the NZ department of Conservation has over 900 backcountry huts in place, complete with mattresses, and usually some type of fire place. So a tent isn't entirely necesarry here.) So as we're looking for the hut, it begins to get dark. We pull out our map, and realize we think we've gone too far. (of course we haven't) so we start back tracking. We then find these markers that go right across the river. So we have to do our first river ford. Even though there is supposed to be a bridge nearby. But we haven't seen anything! So we walk across the river, and luckily find a sign that points to the Hut. So we walk in that direction. We then finally find the bridge that we should've crossed, and by this time it is completly dark. The sign says the hut is only 10 minutes away. So after 15 minutes of walking in the dark, we think we're lost again! Then lo and behold, another sign saying the hut is 2 minutes away. 10 minutes later, we FINALLY make it to the hut. Exhausted. So, after my celebratory cup of tea, we went to bed!
The next day (or the day after, time is merging for me now. . .) It started raining. Not hard. But it's the first rain we'd seen for the entire hike. So we waited out the rain, and then during our short day, I saw this, and had to take a picture of it. I think it is to date the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in the forest. Now, for me, I just had to stop and stare at the scene before me, in awe. The sun was at just the perfect spot, the trees were in just the perfect spot, the mist was in the air, and there was just something magical about it. It was weird, just standing there with a heavy pack on staring at the forest for a good 10 minutes. It was pure bliss! (I got the best picture I could, then Kris helped me photoshop it a little to make it better, but the picture STILL doesn't do the real thing justice!)
And then from there, it rained, and rained. We saw the sun only one more day out of the next 4. Still not bad though. I finally made it to the point where all the books were saying the good fishing is. So I pulled the rod out and wet a line. Well, I've also heard that fish here in NZ spook quite easily. Well, I had a bright red raincoat on, and was pretty tired from hiking, so I can't say I put my FULL effort into fishing, but nontheless, I was skunked. But I'm going to blame it on my raincoat scaring all the fish away! So, I carried this fly rod around with me for 11 days just to get skunked! Oh well, it was fun casting again I guess. :)The remainder of the hike went more or less without a hitch. I found a kauri tree with a big hole in it, and what do we do when we find cool things with holes in them? We play of course! So go press play on the video below to see me playing in the Kauri tree! We then got out of the hike a day later hiking through beautiful forest and higland plataues for the rest of the journey, and went to dinner. I had to buy a fish since I missed out on all of them in the Karamea river, and it was divine!
Whew! So, I'm only just now finishing with the hikes. This IS a long post! Sorry! :)
After hiking, Martin and I hitched our way back to the Innlet to pick up larry. Luckily, the day that we were hitching became sunny again, so all those fords had let up. Larry started right up again too! He was so happy to see me after those long days in the forest all alone! When I got larry back to the backpacker, I checked my phone messeges and got quite a surprise! The police had actually noticed that Larry had been at the end of the Heaphy for about twice the amount of time than people normally leave their cars there. So they had called me making sure not to send out Search and Rescue. I suppose If I had been one or two days later, Search and Rescue would've been after us! So, I called them back to tell them I was O.K. and sure enough, they didn't have any record of calling me! Sweet! I don't know if I should trust the police or not now!
Whew! I'm not going to lie, I'm getting kind of tired of blogging at the moment, but I do have a few other quick stories to tell. So I will be publishing those in another blog either later tonight, or tomorrow. So keep in touch still. Also, since I am putting so many blogs up in such a short amount of time, be sure to scroll down to make sure you haven't missed one! For the time being, peace out!
Also, in the mean time, while you are waiting for my next post, you should click here
It should be a map of my tramp that you can explore on your own! Have fun!
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