Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Hey folks,

The South Island of NZ was amazing. First, the ferry ride itself was pretty magnificent as we coasted by dozens of inlets before arriving in Picton. The plan was to carry on to Abel Tasman NP but we didn’t really feel like driving so we just booked a room in Picton. The next day was beautiful and sunny so we hiked the Queen Charlotte Track, which had some spectacular views. Incredibly, we ended up hiking about 14 miles (~24 km). Our feet were killing us by the time we returned, but uckily we got to soak in the hot tub later that evening. The previous evening Jason chatted with an older male kiwi who’d been all around and had a crazy tale about Cairo, Egypt; after arriving in the middle of the evening, he (never got his name) and his wife got harassed by a cabbie who tried to scam them by taking them to a shady hotel. Having spotted something they recognized on the way, they had the driver drop them off at a different place, the entrance of which was down a dark alley. Upon arriving at the front door, they discovered it was locked. As they walked back, a “police officer” accosted them and demanded cigarettes or money. While trying to talk their way out of a confrontation, the man grabbed his wife’s breast. She screamed and then he shoved the scumbag and they fled down the alley, fully expecting to be shot in the back! That’s basically the end but it could easily have been much worse. Hopefully our time in Cairo isn't quite so harrowing.

Back to the trip, the next day we took a short jaunt to Renwick, which is in the heart of the Marlborough wine region. We "hired" (=rented) bikes for the day and went to about eight wineries. The region is apparently famous for their Sauvignon Blancs and most of the wines we tasted were whites and generally justified the high praise they’ve been receiving in recent years. We weren't even fans of Sauvignon Blancs but we are now. It was a perfect day for biking and the scenery was beautiful. Also, the staff didn’t pressure us to purchase anything, which was nice considering almost all of the tastings were free. Our favorite place was called The Villa, but sadly they don’t export any of their wines to the US. We joined up with a couple Brits, Ben and Graham, who were doing geological research in Kaikoura. Interestingly, during the course of our discussion, the absurdity of the official story of 9/11 came up. Apparently the British public is very skeptical and most are convinced that there was a cover up of some sort. If only the American public were that well-informed.

Unfortunatley, our plans were disrupted again by inclement weather. I think I forgot to mention but we had planned to visit Tongariro NP (home of Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings) but it was closed. This time, we were going to take a helicopter ride up to Fox glacier to see ice caves and due some ice hiking. The weather was only getting worse so rather than try to wait it out we just left for Queenstown. What should have been a scenic drive down the west coast was anything but as it was pouring rain the entire drive and stuck around the first two days we were in Queenstown. There was a small respite when we stopped in Wanaka, another ski town. We stopped at the wacky world of puzzles that housed many illusion exhibits along with a giant maze.

Our first night in Queenstown we again hung out with the Nebraskans. We went and saw some Reggae music, which is the big thing there, so Jason was in his element. The following day, while it poured, we were finally able to find an internet café that had a good connection and were able to download all of our pictures. This was a huge relief as we were beginning to fear that we would never have sufficient time to download them. The weather cleared the following day so we took an insanely steep gondola ride and at the top rode these go-cart like contraptions called luges. They were propelled by gravity, meaning you could pick up some serious speed. There were many hair-pin curves so they were also designed not to flip over; rather, brake pads slowed them down if the rider lost control.

The locals were saying the weekend rain/snow had resulted in the best conditions of the entire season so we figured it would be fun to give it a go. What a great decision as the snowboarding was awesome! We went to the Remarkables and despite some annoyances getting there, including getting our windshield chipped and realizing the snow tires provided by the rental agency were too small, we had a blast. In the morning we joined one of their beginner classes but there were too many people and it seemed a big waste of time. So, in the afternoon, Jason upgraded to get a lift pass. In just 2 ½ hours he had about 10 runs and was the last person off the mountain, mostly because he spent most of the time on his bum. We have a feeling we’ll be taking many more trips to Flag when we return to Arizona.

The next day we were set to leave Queenstown to head down to Milford Sound, one of the iconic tourist destinations of NZ. Before we left, we took a jet boat ride around one of the nearby lakes. The jet boat ride itself was pretty cool, we did a bunch of 360s and he drove so close to the shoreline that we're still not sure how we didn't wreck. We wish we’d have brought our camera because the reflection of the mountains off of the lake were stunning. It was also really cool to see two rivers meeting, as we could actually see where they met due to differences in the color of the waters. On of the rivers was just six inches deep. Jason had planned to go bungy jumping at Nevis, a whopping 134 meters. However, he was informed the night before that there is actually a larger bungy in South Africa; supposedly it’s 200 M! Considering bungying is all about facing his fears (i.e., ego), he decided to hold out for the biggest in the world. Apparently, NZ is working to reclaim the title of the highest bungy jump but have yet to begin building it.

We drove to Te Anu and stayed in an actual motel. It was a big relief considering for the past four days we’d been forced to leave our building just to use the bathroom. Milford Sound itself was pretty spectacular; we took 130 pictures in one day! (Many are redundant so our apologies). There was this one stopoff on the way called Mirror Pond which was the setting for about 15 of them. Because we hold the camera differently to get taller shots, Priti and I were taking mirror image shots of a mirror image…far out! Ironically, the wettest spot in NZ had not a cloud in the sky which allowed for some great pics but meant we didn't get to see the hundreds of waterfalls it is known for. Because the boat we were supposed to take was unavailable, they gave us free passes to the underwater exhibit, which was nice considering we were going to do it anyway. Thus, we were able to get underwater pictures without doing a photography dive. The divers had displayed this rope that was from 30 M deep and it had all these funky coral on it, very cool.

Our drive to Christchurh was looooong. We tried to break it up by stopping in Dunedin to see penguins but that was a whole side trip and so we just passed through. Our hostel was pretty crappy but it was centrally located so we decided to have a night on the town. The following morning, we groggily attempted to go swimming with Dolphins in Akaroa but once again the NZ weather gods were having none of it. Three meter high waves meant the boats weren't going out that day. Since we’d saved some money by losing out on the swim, we decided to splurge on dinner at Dux de Lux, which was right across the street from our hostel. Priti ordered a tasty dish of rata (some white fish), and Jason's salmon dish was divine. It was so tender it nearly fell through his fork (a la sting ray). We went to an Irish pub and drank some Guiness and danced some jigs before returning home on our last night in NZ.

Monday, August 13, 2007

New Zealand - North Island

Hi everyone! Our apologies for the long delay in posting from New Zealand. Internet connections here are not the quickest so downloading all of our pics has been a challenge. And frankly we've just been too busy! NZ is like one big adventure park for adults, coupled with some of most spectacular landscapes we've ever seen.

Our krazy kiwi adventure began al
most immediately, during our bus ride from the airport into downtown Auckland. The driver was a gregarious old lecher and asked every female rider if she wanted to come home with him. He had a big gulp and we grew increasingly suspicious that he was inebriated. Over the course of our 1/2 hour bus ride, he managed to hit something (and just kept going, exclaiming “that wasn’t me was it, nah that wasn’t me”), forgot to drop a woman off at her stop, and took us to the wrong car rental agency. Fortunately, we managed to track it down without too much trouble. NZ has about 4 million people and 1.5 million of them live in Auckland. Since they get about 2 million visitors per year, they are extremely helpful to tourists, and on several occasions people have literally stopped their cars to see if we needed any assistance. In general, kiwis have got to be just about the nicest people on earth. We could probably live here except for the weather. It rained nearly every single day we were on the North Island, a pretty radical climate change from the AZ desert.

Driving on the left has been an adventure. Jason managed to get us nearly killed when he pulled into a roundabout right in front of an oncoming SUV. The hardest tasks to master were the turn signals (up=right) and keeping to the center. And of course the bloody roundabouts! Another bizarre rule of the road in NZ is that when two cars going in the opposite direction are turning onto the same road, the car turning right has the right-of-way, despite being further away from the road. The equivalent would be if a car turning right in America had to yield to cars turning left. We have made it a rule that we both drive at least once each day we use the car in order to keep our skills sharp. Even after getting comfortable with the driving, it is very easy to revert to old habits, particular early in the morning or late in the evening.

We hung around for a bit in the posh Parnell district in Auckland. We had some tasty fish n chips (Snapper, yum!) before contacting Zak, who I’d met online through Couchsurfing.com. He looked a bit like Ricky Gervais and his British accent made the resemblance more striking. His father was a rock manager and he said there are pictures in his family album of him sitting on David Bowie’s lap! He was extremely fun, cooked us a couple tasty meals and took us out clubbing all night at Spacebar. There was a contest for best costume and Zak, donning all-green shiny pants, dreads, fairy wings and wand, won 1st prize—a bottle of absinthe. It was a great night and something we never would’ve experienced sans a local connection. In fact, we had such a good timehanging out with Zak that we ended up forgoing a trip to the Bay of Islands in the far north; instead we opted for a couple day trips to Piha (top picture), Bechtels Beach (pictured here), and Orewa, all of which were great.

Our next destination was Rotorua, which is the smelliest city we’ve ever been in due to the sulfur. It would be one thing if it was ubiquitous so that we could get used to the smell; however, the sulfur smell came in waves so that it was impossible to acclimate ourselves to the smell. Despite the odor we stayed for several days. We were hoping to go whitewater rafting on the Kaituna River, a class five famous for its seven meter fall. Unfortunately, it remained closed due to heavy rains. We ended up rafting the Rangataiki, which was not as extreme but was a longer trip and thus able to take up most of a day. There were a few scary moments but mostly it was just good fun. Tim, our guide, was quite the energetic fellow, and spent everyday doing some kind of activity. After rafting we spent a nice and relaxing evening at the Polynesian Spa, which had a bevy of mineral pools at various temperatures (in Celsius of course).

Another evening in Rotorua we went a Maori hangi. It was pretty interesting learning some of the history and what the facial tattoos symbolize.
There are four birds: the owl, the bat, the parrot and of course the kiwi. Also, their dances were fascinating, particularly the warriors who’s facial expressions were terrifying (bulging eyes, tongues out). We also learned that the national symbol, the silver fern, was used by tribes who were traveling at night to guide each other. So the person leading would flip a silver fern over so the others would know where to follow, then the last person in the group would flip it back down so no one else would know they had been there. The following day we went zorbing—rolling down a hill in a big plastic ball…an activity that could have been invented only in NZ. We both went down together and they threw in some hot water so that we just laid on our backs after falling down about 3 seconds into the ride.

We also spent one evening hanging out with a German woman who was hanging out in NZ waiting to have her visa extended so she could return to Australia. She was dating an Indian guy back there. She was pretty interesting and we had a good time chatting, although we never even learned her name. That is a fairly common phenomenon among the traveler set; many interactions are so brief that trying to learn names is just a pain. However, when you end up hanging out with someone for awhile it’s unfortunate to not even know their name.

Our next step was Taupo, another nexus of adventure in the Kiwi landscape. On our way there we stopped at Wai-O-Tapu, which is essentially NZ’s answer to Yellowstone sans the wildlife. Geysers, mudpools, and wacky colorful rock formations dominated the landscape. The rust, lime green, and white moss that covered the trees also provided some surreal scenery. Jason's attention got sucked into this one area called The Devil’s Palette and he kept taking pictures as the mud formations changed shapes, some of which will likely end up on our walls.

We found our way to the Rainbow
Backpackers Lodge in Taupo, Jason's favorite hostel thus far. The people were all very cool and the location was within walking distance to lots of stuff. The main reason for stopping in Taupo was so that Jason could go skydiving. They advertise as the cheapest place to do it, although the price quickly adds up as they talk you into jumping from a higher altitude and purchasing a DVD of the experience. Thus, I opted for the 15,000 ft jump with it’s minute plus freefall. My tandem diver JK was pretty cool and a former world champion freefaller. He explained that there was virtually no sponsorship for the sport, necessitating his becoming a tandem skydiver to make a living. But what a way to earn income! It all happened so fast that there are few words to describe the experience. AWESOME pretty much sums it up. The freefall portion is so radically different from any other experience I’ve had in my life that it took a good ten to fifteen seconds just to get my brain to begin processing the sensory input. Once I got my bearings, I began to truly enjoy it. Of course I had to ham it up a bit for the cameraman. I’m not sure if it was the Maori hangi or what, but afterwards I realized I had my tongue sticking out almost the entire freefall. Once JK opened the chute, we went from pure adrenaline to total peacefulness as we floated back to the landing spot.

Once on the ground, my entire body was literally buzzing from the adrenaline, and my fingers and feet were frozen due to the rush of blood to my internal organs. My right ear also was hurting from rapid pressure fluctuation. Another girl in my jump group had a panic attack on the way down, so she couldn’t even stand on her own. It was a bit annoying that I had to spend the next half hour or so listening to her reliving her terror, whereas for me there was very little fear, especially after JK told me on the way up that he’d jumped over 17,000 times. Before the jump I assumed I would do one jump and then be over it. Perhaps that might still be the case, but at this point I can’t wait to do another jump, probably in Namibia. Highly recommended. More pics are coming once we get around to sending them home.

The four Nebraskans

No, this isn’t some two-bit gunslinger tale but rather one of our experiences in Taupo. Back at the hostel after the skydive, we met Nan from Taiwan. He was studying economics and told us some interesting things about Taiwanese politics. Most entertaining was the fact that their president (or prime minister?) had staged an assassination attempt and blamed it on the opposition party.

Later in the evening, a young woman approaches and is clearly ready to party it up for the night. It turns out that Nikki and her two friends Micheal and Ashlee were native Nebraskans! Considering we’ve only met a few Americans thus far the chances of meeting three other Nebraskans in Taupo was astronomical. Nan got drunk so quickly off a few beers and was all over the dance floor, and managed to headbutt several of us over the course of the evening. It would've been annoying if it wasn't so damn entertaining. Ashlee and Nikki grew up in Grand Island but Ashlee is currently living in NZ on a work visa. She is also passionate about music and travel and seems to have found a new home down under. Nikki has plans to move to Taupo some time next year. We also met an an Irish bloke named Clark, who had some incredible stories to tell, including his best friend being killed by a mine in Northern Ireland.

Our final stop in the North Island was the capital city of Wellington, which is where the ferry departs for the South Island. Despite being fairly small, it has an amazing array of great restaurants and we ate some excellent Indian and Chinese food. We saw a great sunset but there but Tucson still has the title.

We're on the South Island now and will be leaving for Australia next Saturday. Hopefully we'll have another update soon. Take care folks!