Skippers Canyon, Milford Sound and Castledowns

12/2/2010
The next morning we left the DOC site and tried to leave the Canyon. On the way up I began to compile a list of treacherous traps that we had to circumvent or just triumph over. There was sandy pits which consisted of huge sand traps that would spin out our tires if we didn't skirt along the edges and over the rocks. We met triple bumps which was an area with three huge bumps with three deep gaps in between. Our timing wasn't right the whole time and the undercarriage might have been a bit scarred by the second 2 bumps. We were basically on a 1 lane road the whole time so meeting other cars was terrifying. There was one horrible car that went zooming by with no regard to our safety. We were a bit pissed off after that encounter. Since Gordon drove down the Canyon, I drove up it. There was a huge hump and there were more, but I can't recall them at the moment. 7-8 tour vans passed us near the top and that wasn't fun, but after the third one we managed to find a safe place to pull off. Then we went climbing. It was a ridiculous half hike half climb to get to the climb area. Gord freaked me out by trying to climb a ridiculous grade 20. He fell so many times that I started hoping that he would give up and come down. I told him that I wasn't going to belay him anymore on climbs that are too far out of his range. I even used the nylon webbing, but it was still ridiculously scary. He thought it might have been a grade 23 which would have explained a lot. Later that day we spent a solid two hours trying to find a LOTR site called Dee Park Heights. It has about 5 places that were used in the film. We couldn't find it and ended up asking about it the next day only to find that it was closed down and people couldn't visit it anymore. Talk about frustrating. That evening we ended up driving to the Remarkables Ski Field to find the LOTR site, Dimrill Dale. There's a picture in my book where Aragorn is walking through pools and rocks. I walked through the same pool. We got a nearly identical picture next to Lake ?. That night we slept at 12 Mile Delta in our car because we didn't feel like setting up the tent. This is maybe the third or fourth time we've slept in the car. It's just so convenient and while it's a little uncomfortable, we don't have to set up a tent and can literally sleep on the side of the road. Though we always try to park so we can't been seen from the road.

13/2/2010
12 Mile Delta was actually the LOTR site where Sam, Frodo and Smegol had the cooking with coneys scene. We headed back to Queenstown for another sneaky shower. We walked into X-Base (a backpackers) and both headed for the showers. It was a bit easier than sneaking into the Holiday Park. Then we had more Ferg Burgers while we did our laundry. I had a cockadoodle oink burger. It was DELICIOUS. I'm writing this blog right now while in Alexandra and we're pretty close to Queenstown. I'd almost head back right now for another one of those bad boys. After spending several days in and out of Queenstown we decided that it was time to head out to Milford Sound. Originally we had been keen to tramp the Milford Track, but apparently you have to book the huts half a year in advance. Milford is such a popular track that the DOC only lets a few people a day leave for the tramp. I hit a bird on the way to Milford. Gooey bird brain and innards hit the windshield, it was very unpleasant. We got to the Milford area in the evening so we camped at one of the sevenish sites on the road to Milford. We pitched the tent under a tree.

14/2/2010

When we woke up, it had rained so we left up the tent in case we ended up spending the following night at Milford. We got to Milford and found out that the ferry to the Underwater Conservatory had been discontinued so we ponied up and paid for a Milford cruise tour and extra for the Underwater Conservatory. I ended up being rather disappointed with the Underwater conservatory stop and was glad that I took a Milford cruise. My camera died after the first 20 minutes on the cruise. So I missed out on taking a bunch of great pictures of the Sound and the sea life. There were seals and one of the crew even pointed out a baby seal. I might have seen two penguins while we were on the boat, but they were already in the water in front of the boat and once they saw the boat they dove and I lost sight of them. Milford Sound was beautiful. Now I know what all the fuss is about. I was standing alone at the front of the boat and a huge wave hit me with spray. Gordon was standing a few meters back in the boat and watched the whole thing. He thought it was hilarious. I was relieved that I was wearing quick dry pants and my rain coat. We spent about 2 hours on the cruise boat and about an hour at the conservatory. Some people see dolphins and sharks in the underwater conservatory, but we only saw fish and a few things of coral. You walk down stairs and get to be 10 meters under the surface surrounded by windows of incredibly thick glass. The conditions outside the window are special because they mimic waters that are normally about 100 meters below the surface. We saw black coral and red coral which are extremely rare and slow growing corals. There's an enormous fine if you're caught in possession of these corals. Black coral is only black after it dies. On the whole we were both disappointed with the sea life that we saw in the conservatory. The Milford Sound cruise was beautiful and serene. If you go to the South Island, you can't miss this place, it's beautiful to the tenth power. I would recommend kayaking it even though I wasn't able to. I think the experience would be even better. Then we left Milford and headed to the Mavora Lakes with a stop at the LOTR site Fangorn forest. This is a forest that Aragorn went running through. Needless to say, I too went running through the forest. Then we set up camp near the South Mavora Lake. We met Ranger Ruth and paid for our first DOC site, but only because she was such a nice lady.

14/2/2010
Woke up to a brisk morning next to Mavora Lake. Then we drove to the North Mavora Lake. We found the area in the woods where Merry and Pippin were hiding from the orcs behind a tree stump. I know I'm a geek, but these places are beautiful and totally worth it regardless of their LOTR connections. The North Mavora lake was also the filming location for the final scene in the first movie. It's the scene where Frodo tries to boat off alone and Sam comes swimming and half drowning after him. After a bit of car trouble, we were able to recreate that scene with me as Sam and Gordon saying Frodo's lines. Gordon locked the keys in the car and then ripped off a piece of metal in the trunk keyhole. He walked off to get some tools from the adventure scouts who were kayaking in a nearby section of the lake. While he was gone I pulled a MacGyver and opened the car with my GPS unit. Yes, that's right. I can fashion a phone out of gum, a shoelace and a tire. Once we were in the car we got the filming equipment and reenacted LOTR. Then we headed off to Castledowns. This is an awesome climbing area on a really nice farmer's land. He doesn't mind if people climb and there's a paddock to park your car. When walking to the climbing areas you have to walk around cow pies and cross a stream is definitely full of farm run off. Once you've crossed this hurdle you reach some really fun climbs. I led a grade 15 with 3 stars called the Castledown Classic. I had trouble with an overhang and was able to circumvent it by traversing around it. Then I went on to fall into a patch of stinging nettle, my first experience with the stuff and hopefully my last! Then I slipped on a slippery rock and cut open the middle of my foot. By the time I was belaying Gord on his more difficult climbs, I was grumpy and angry, but I pulled through eventually. Gord told me to put water on my nettle stings which helped for a sec, but then the pain returned. Later it was constant pins and needles in my leg and hand. That night we slept in the car for lack of a better place to stay. Castledowns is in the middle of nowhere and most of the roads are gravel. Even though the farmer lets you climb there, he doesn't like people staying there over night. So we drove to Mossburn and pulled off into an alcove of gravel and were asleep by 7 pm.

15/2/2010
We spent the next morning at Castledowns. I got to climb something called Womb with a View. I had to climb it simply because of the name. I also made it up a ridiculously slopey/slabby climb called Never Say Nevis Again. I ended up pumping my forearms out on a climb called Hauler. The beginning was the crux and just dominated me. Then we drove to Invercargill and stocked up for the Stewart Island tramp. We stayed in a backpacker hotel at Bluff and left our car there for safe keeping. While driving around Bluff we say a strange lady at Sterling Point and she was wearing jeans and a jacket with silvery patterns on it. She had Kayne West glasses, silver teeth and cool hair. She was also speaking next to one of those signs that tells you where you are in relation to places that are far away, like other countries. She also had a tricked out silver and black scooter/wheelchair. Somebody was filming her rap (we couldn't hear what she was saying) with a professional tv camera.

16/2/2010
We toted our back packs to the Stewart Island Ferry and were on our way.

LOTR and bathrooms with locks that work

9/2/2010

Camping at Lake Paringa. 1) My bathroom stall didn't lock and I was walked in on by some random dude, but oddly enough I wasn't mortified. Don't get me wrong, I was embarrassed, but not as much as I would have been a few years ago. I must be growing up or something. The black flies at were horrific and cooking dinner was nearly impossible. I fled to the car before it was finished. We had teriyaki veggies with rice. It was delicious and we ate it in the car.

10/2/2010

I woke up around 8ish. Gord had thought the sand flies wouldn't be so bad if we slept in and waited til late morning. I thought it was raining when I woke up and started whinging in my head about having to break down the tent in the rain again. Then I opened my eyes and realized there were about 30 sand flies flying between our rain fly and the tent. I took a deep breath, packed my taun taun, rolled up my sleeping pad and made a mad sprint to the car. Then we drove to Wanaka. Gord went to find nylon webbing so I could anchor myself to trees and rocks when belaying him. If I anchor myself to other things when I belay him, I won't go flying 10 feet in the air when he falls. We ended up going to the same place for nylon webbing at different times and both talking to the same guy working at the outdoor store. Turns out Gord asked the wrong questions or something because the guy told him that they didn't carry what he was looking for. I'm not really sure what happened, but when I walked in, I saw the webbing next to the climbing ropes and bought 4 meters and walked out. There was a LOTR (Lord of the Rings) spot in Wanaka. It's a backdrop used when Gandalf is riding around on his horse. Then we went to look at Mt. Aspiring on a scary bumpy gravel road and Gord hit a bird (more about birds later because it turns out that NZ birds are STUPID). We didn't spend that much time in Wanaka, but there was another LOTR spot where the fellowship was South of Rohan and were passing by some ruins on a high set of hills. I spent a really long time taking pictures and trying to figure out which was the correct hill. When you watch the scene in the movie, it's clearly shot from a helicopter so it's a bit difficult to pick out the location from a road that is lower than the top of the hills. The ruins were CGI, but the location is clearly set in those hills. Since there wasn't much to do in Wanaka we left and drove to Arrowtown which is extremely close to Queenstown. We arrived in Arrowtown 5 minutes after the Holiday park had closed it's reception desk. It was 9:05 pm and we were ready for showers and sleep. So we did what any travelling youth would do, we parked outside the holiday park and snuck in. We decided to take illegal showers in their facilities, but it turned out we needed $1 coins to operate the showers and neither of us had them. We both ended up walking in and out of the bathrooms looking for the other and just missed each other several times. I didn't want to risk walking to the car to try and find a $1 coin and then have to walk nonchalantly back into the park so I just tried turning on the shower as a last ditch effort. Turns out you pay $1 for a hot shower. So I took a fireman's shower and jumped under the icy stream of water, jumped out, soaped up and then tried to rinse off as a quickly as possible. Not really sure why I called it a fireman's shower. In the end I was clean and eventually warm. It took Gordon a bit longer to figure out the shower because I was already back at the car when he came walking up to do something. He mentioned that he just figured out that the showers work without coins and was about to go back to take one. After our super sneaky showers we drove away from the Arrowtown Holiday Park and parked next to a helipad off of a gravel drive by the main road.

11/2/2010

The next morning I went to Kawarau Bridge and bungy jumped. Please see the previous entry about the Bungy. I was so excited after the Bungy that I had to blog about it, even though it was out of chronological order. After my bungy we drove to Arrowtown to LOTR it up a bit. Half of the Ford of Bruinen was filmed in Arrowntown. The Ford of Bruinen is the scene when Liv Tyler and Frodo are being chased by the black riders. The scene by the river when Liv Tyler uses the power of the elves to make the river rise was actually filmed in two places. The side where the black riders waited while Liv Tyler called the river up was in Arrowtown, but Liv Tyler's side was filmed in Skippers Canyon. This is a picture of me pretending to be a black rider (one of the 9 Kings who fell victims to the rings). We also took a picture in Gladden Fields which is a rather unexciting LOTR spot. Arrowtown was a cute little town that apparently is a good spot for tour buses to stop for a little walk around break. It reminds me of Souther Seasons when the old people buses drop them off. Then we sped off to Queenstown for a lovely visit to the adventure capital of NZ. We found the chocolate shop with free wireless. Free wireless might be common in the USA, but it's nigh unheard of in NZ. We heard about Patagonia from a girl we met in Takaka and low and behold it was true, free wireless. Though every time we used it, I bought something because I felt it was only right. Also their ice cream, drinks and food were delicious so it wasn't difficult to patronize the shop. We also went to the famous Ferg Burger. If you ever go to Queenstown, you have to get a Ferg Burger. They are a true famous institution here. Burgers start off at about $10, but are huge and can be two meals. We went there for two different lunches and I ate half my burger for the following dinner both times. The first time we went I got a normal Ferg Burger and Gordon got something huge and monstrous. They were amazing.

Note: We try to sleep in DOC (Department of Conservation) camp sites because they are cheap/free, it's an honesty system. Gordon found one on Skippers Road and it was the closest one to Queenstown. Note 2: I really wanted to go to the LOTR scene where Arwen (Liv Tyler) has Frodo on the horse and is riding away from the black riders and has the confrontation by the river. I really wanted to see where it was filmed, it's called the Ford of Bruinen. The side of the river that Liv Tyler is on was filmed in the Canyon. Unfortunately, we had talked about it and already decided that it wasn't feasible given our car being a tiny Mazda 323 GLX Hatchback. The scene is located down a place called Skippers Canyon and it's 14 - 26 km of torturous driving. Skippers Canyon has a sign that says you need 4 wheel drive and it needs to be your car i.e. no rental cars down the canyon. So after all the warnings Gord had put his foot down because it's a road that sounds like it would completely dominate our little Mr. Collins. Back to the story though, we started down Skippers road and the road became more and more steep and the conditions worsened. There were huge patches of thick sand and lots of large bumps and dips which made our car pop up and crash the underbelly on large rocks. Gordon ignored the warning signs at the beginning of the road because he was determined to get to the DOC site. After a few kilometers we realized that Skippers Road was Skippers Canyon. I was secretly delighted because this meant I would get to find the Ford of Bruinen, but I was little apprehensive because I wasn't sure Mr. Collins would be able to get out of the Canyon. We barely made it down to the DOC site. It was slightly surreal because the DOC site was right next to a historic miners town that had two buildings and was clearly being restored. Also the bathrooms at the DOC site had water! This is highly unusual because most DOC sites have bathrooms, but the toilets are just holes in the ground. So to find bathrooms where the toilets flush was surprising especially after a ridiculous drive into a Canyon that not many people drive down. There are $200 tours that people take to get into the Canyon to visit the LOTR site, there is rafting in the Canyon river and there is a bungy jump there. So people do drive down there, but normally only on tours. If you can't tell, I was very excited about the bathroom. It was a little creepy because we were all alone deep in Skippers Canyon, but then we went on a mini walk away from the historic town and our DOC campsite and we saw a Ranger truck and tent.

More anecdotes from Fiji

I forgot to add some stuff in my Fiji blog. While in Fiji I had my first massage. It was a lomi lomi massage. They used oils, you listened to music or the sound of the ocean and you get massaged while in the nude. No underwear, nada. They said you could leave on your underwear if you'd wanted to, but the massage technique uses the weight of your body or something like that. So I went the full monty. I figured since I'm getting a massage in Fiji, I might as well get it the way it was meant to be had. I did get a towel to cover the nether region and one to cover the upper region. I started it on my stomach, face down on the table with my face in a hole in the table. There was a bowl full of water and flowers beneath my face. I guess this is supposed to be a  soothing visual. She put on calming music, but then the cd began to skip and she just turned it off. I nodded off a few times while listening to the sounds of the sea. It was a interesting technique, a lot of a rolling pin motion with her forearms. It was a little strong and I guess it might have been closer to a deep tissue massage. I felt really strange getting covered in oil. I also was always on the verge of laughing. I'm a bit ticklish and I couldn't stop thinking about the Friends episode with the nontraditional massage. I kept imagining my massage lady using a rolling pin, Tonka trucks and wooden spoons, but I bit my lip and didn't laugh. By the end of the massage I was extremely proud of my reserve and ability to keep from laughing. My mom also got a massage one room over. I can't say that I'm a fan of massages, but I'm a fan of experiences, so I'm glad I got to try it.

Also the perfect shell that the chief gave me was not so perfect. It turns out there was a creature still alive in it and it ended up dying inside the shell. So the Bure smelled like death for awhile and mom eventually cleaned out the shell so it would stop scaring the lady who tidied up our Bure everyday.

My Kawarau Bridge Bungy

This morning I went Bungy Jumping in Queenstown. This is the original bungy jump. It's 43 meters into or just above the river.

My bungy video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo9d9aSYxaM

We woke up early because we had slept in the car the night before and I had to go to the bathroom. So I drove us to Arrowtown to the public restrooms. Then instead of walking around and finding the nearby LOTR scenes we headed to the Kawarau Bridge Bungy. Since they opened at 9 am and we were there right on the dot, it looked like I wasn't going to wait in a line. I paid my money, got weighed and then got sent out to the bridge. Let me note that this is the Anduin river from Lord of the Rings. I got to the bridge and chatted with one of the workers while we waited for the second bungy man to arrive. I was going to be the first jump of the day. I also elected to do it barefoot. He said that I was number 1, but only because I was the first jump. You have several choices on your fall, you can stay dry, just touch the water, hit it chest deep or waist deep. I wanted chest to waist deep, but they warned me it might not work. Since I was the first of the day to jump that meant the cord was a little taut and might not stretch as far as it would later in the day. They did say something about using the super bungy, but I was a bit freaked out at that point. In the video you can hear music playing and it's not something they dubbed over the movie with because you can hear my voice and the bungy dude's voice. As they were strapping me in they asked if I wanted some classic rock. I said sure so they turned it on and then put me on the ledge. Right before the countdown he asked me if I was ready and I said no. Then he said do it anyway. 3 2 1 and I jumped. Those first few seconds were terrifying because your stomach drops, but it's over almost before you realize it. I made it into the water and then my shirt flipped down exposing my stomach. At first I was self-conscious and then I was flooded with adrenaline and didn't care. Once the 2 raft bungy dudes pulled me into the raft, they told me an anecdote from the day before. They had asked a Malaysian man how he'd liked his bungy and he said "it's like chocolate, you don't like it, but you (eat) do it anyway." We all agreed that bungy jumping was nothing like chocolate. Then I sprinted up the rocky road and Gordon brought me some dry clothes. I bought my pictures and video to commemorate my jump. I also got a t-shirt and a certificate for the bungy. It had been weighing on my mind the last few weeks. I'm glad to have done it, but I'm also glad it's in the past.

Leaving Hang Dog

After climbing on 6/2/2010 = Feb 6th, we went to the site where the Hobbits and Aragorn were filmed fleeing from Bree. This scene was filmed on Takaka Hill, LOTR location: Chetwood Forest. We found the spot using my GPS unit: S40 degrees 57.707' - E172 degrees 53.062'. It was a lot of fun and then Alice found me a stick so I could pretend to be Gandalf. We ignored the fact that he wasn't in the scene. It was as LOTR as we could be, given the surroundings. The next day we left Hang Dog.

7/2/2010 = Feb 7th was our last day at Hang Dog camp. There was a cool sign at the front that said "No Chewee You stay here Good Girl." Chewee is the dog owned by the proprietors of Hang Dog. We were planning on going directly into our kayaking trip at the Abel Tasman, but circumstances did not allow this. 1) Gord climbed to hard the day before and his arms were sore. 2) A south easterly was blowing in. (bad weather). Since we didn't want to hang around and wait, we decided to just come back on the tail end of our trip. We also wanted to get singles, but I hadn't eskimo rolled in awhile and Gord had never. So we're going to try it later and get some experience back in Christchurch. It's hard to say what the weather will do and know that it can seriously change our plans. So we're trying to roll with the punches, but it's still a little disappointing. Though, it will all be worth it when we get to kayak in the sun instead of the rain. 

We bailed and headed down to Hokitika. We spent the better part of the day driving and stopped off at Pancake Rocks. They are a unique formation of rocks off the Western Coast of the South Island. Everyone was staring at the rocks in quiet and contemplative manners. It was an interesting stop, but later, you didn't find yourself wishing that you could have spent more time there. We drove through a mining town called Ross. Are mining towns always so depressing? I might have been biased because the weather was cloudy, but it seemed like the life had been sucked out of the town along with whatever was mined. As the day came to an end, we spent about 40 km looking for a Hokitika campground that Gord had stayed at while working with the grad student. We couldn't find it so we drove back to town and paid $12.50 a person to camp at a Holiday Park. There was a kitchen and we made noodles, beans and tomato sauce for dinner. It was a hearty and warm meal that we practically inhaled. When setting up the tent, Gord hadn't been sure if we should lay down the tarp and I hadn't been sure if we needed to put up the rain fly. We ended up setting up both and it's a good thing because it ended up raining and the grass became super dewy by morning. That night we went to the Glow Worm Den. It was magnificent. Those little critters are really bright and there were hundreds of them enclosed in an area no bigger than 30x 30 ft. I took a picture, but it didn't come close to doing them justice. I think part of it is the novelty. We have lightning bugs back at home, but we don't have glow worms, at least not where we live. To be honest it makes me think of the glow worm from James and the Giant Peach. Gordon thought that he saw a really bright patch of glow worms and got really excited, but it turned out to be a house in the forest. It was raining that morning which surprised me because I had gotten up in the middle of the night and seen a mostly a starry sky with only a few clouds. We had a brief respite from the rain which we judiciously used to break down and pack away the tent. Since everything was wet, we threw it all into a trash bag. We're actually quite quick at breaking down the tent. Gord is a bit slow when it comes to putting away his sleeping pad and sleeping bag. I'm glad that I'm faster at packing up because it means I can sleep longer while he's up and putting his stuff away. The following morning we were up at 6 am and on the road towards Okarito by 7 am. When we turned on the radio, it was classical music and reminded me of home. It's almost the only music that my mom listens to in the car and there's always a classical station playing somewhere in our house. On a sad note, the reason we listen to the radio is because our tape deck is busted. We have been using an Ipod and cassette adapter to listen to music in the car, but then it just stopped working one day. It works fine for 3 seconds and then it plays at 80% less volume for 3 seconds and then the cycle repeats. It's extra annoying. Everyday I try it anyway, hoping that if my heart is pure and I want something badly enough that it will happen. 

We drove from Hokitika to Okarito on 8/2 = Feb 8th. I slept almost the entire way to Okarito and woke up as we pulled up to the Okarito Lagoon Kayak Company. Once at the Kayaking Co, we rented a double and then got a quick run down on the route to take while kayaking in the lagoon. Gordon walked away to look at the bird pictures on the wall while the fellow was giving us the talk and had to be called back. He's such a silly guy. We spent 4 hours paddling about the lagoon and at one point we were almost stuck backwards down a little stream path that zigzagged through the marsh. Paddling was fun, but we had trouble getting into a steady rhythm. Gord likes to sprint paddles in short bursts while I prefer to keep a slightly more moderate pace for long periods of time. I like getting into a steady rhythm and just keep paddling. There were tons of birds and beautiful plant life along the lagoon. It was mostly cloudy and the sun popped out from behind the clouds just as we were heading back. My spray skirt was super loose around my middle so I was sitting in a bit of water the whole trip. It was a little uncomfortable, but I was wearing my quick dry pants so it wasn't terrible. If you like kayaking, I would definitely recommend the lagoon especially if you're keen on birds. We saw tons of oystercatchers, a Royal Spoonbill, a Heron and many other birds. After getting back, we both changed and  they served us complimentary tea and I ate wheat bix instead of cookies. The people that ran the kayaking company were really nice. While helping the lady clear away our dishes, she called me a legend. Maybe it's a kiwi thing, but I still found it strange, nice, but strange.

Following the kayaking we decided to go on some walks to the Franz Josef Glacier and afterwards, the Fox Glacier. They were really epic and the glacial melt was freezing (duh). The melt ended up creating a river with insanely fast and rough rapids. Both glaciers were in valleys with huge mountains, rocky walks and long waterfalls. Franz Josef is where they filmed the lighting of the beacons in LOTR when Gondor called for aid from Rohan. Originally they were going to film it in the Mountains near Queenstown, but it turns out there was a fire ban because it had been so dry that summer in the Central Otago region. The walks to the glaciers were easy and just looking at the glaciers was fun, but it made me wish I could book a glacier ice climb. We don't have the time or the money and they are expensive-as. At Franz Josef there was the coolest bathroom ever. On the outside there are two doors and a few buttons in between the doors. They blink green next to the adjacent door if it's vacant and blink red if it's occupied. Then you press a button to open the door and another to close and lock it. It would be a little scary if you were claustrophobic. The bathroom talks to you and explains how the buttons work and if you don't press the unlock and open the door button after 10 minutes it will automatically open. There was a button for toilet paper, a button to flush the toilet and the soap, water and hand dryer were all operated on a motion sensor. Then you pushed the door button and walked out. I may have broken the door because after I left it appeared to get caught open and shake as it tried to close itself. It also made a really loud grinding noise as I walked quickly away. 

Other note: they use a term fossick which means rummage or search. Like we had to fossick for wood in the forest to build a fire.

After Franz Josef, I decided I wanted to get a look at Mt. Cook because it's close as the crow flies, but there isn't a road that directly connects it to the Franz Josef area. You have to go hundreds of km out of your way if you're driving from Franz Josef. This turned out to be a bad idea as I ended up driving us 12 km down a windy and rough, gravel road to Gillespie Beach when I was trying to find the Mt. Cook viewing area. You live and make errors, especially when traveling. It was really annoying because I had to drive really slowly so I didn't jostle the car to pieces. The beach turned out to be a black sand beach chock full of stones. At the edge it looked like the beach just stopped and fell into the water, but on closer inspection you find that it's a steep slope of rocks. The water was chilly to the touch, but not too cold considering it's the South Island.

Then we drove towards Wanaka and ended up camping at Lake Paringa. Fun sand fly stories in my upcoming blog. Not many photos yet because the internet connection is wicked slow right now.

Takaka - Hang Dog - Paynes Ford

The first picture was taken at the top of a climb called Franklin's Tower on the Sea Grass wall in Pohara. It was about 27 m up and right over the ocean. Someone made a bell out of an old fire extinguisher and once you made it up the climb, you got to make a victory ring.

At Takaka (the town), Hang Dog (the camp) and Paynes Ford (the climbing): I made a lot of new friends, climbed a lot, ate really well every night and destroyed my feet. We camped at Hang Dog with tons of other climbers. It's a cool camp for climbers with a shower, bathrooms, a bunkhouse (if you want to pay more), camping areas, places for you to park your car and sleep, a fire pit and fridges. It's really close to Paynes Ford. Paynes Ford is the climbing area and the entrance is about 20 meters away from the camp. Most days we were up by 7:30 am, eating breakfast and getting ready for the day's climbing. Then we'd head out with a packed lunch and climb for hours. We'd get back to camp from early to late afternoon, depending on how hot it was and how tired we were. Once we got back to camp we'd all jump into our bathing suits and go for a swim in the river at one of the several water holes. Afterwards, we'd mosey back to camp and cook up a large and healthy dinner. Most of our days followed that pattern.

The climbing was intense and really pushed my abilities. I was climbing with people who were stronger, had more experience and climbed higher grades. So I'd end up top roping those higher grades more often than leading the lower ones. I did my first solo climb, a few days ago, which means no rope and no clips, just free climbing. John and I started a new game called rock walking. The river is so clear that you can see underwater so we decided to take rocks to weigh us down and run along the bottom of the river. It is very similar to what they did in Blue Crush or the Guardian. This later prompted us to wish that we could breathe underwater so we tried to devise a super long snorkel out of tubing and empty bottles. This didn't work at all. The depth of the water was so great that it caused a extremely strong suction through the tube. This made it impossible for me to draw a breath and pull the needed oxygen down the length of the tubing. One night we tried to find the cave system that exists in the nearby forest. We failed to find it and I'm not sure why we thought we needed to look for it at night. We ended up finding glow worms on one of the tracks on the way back to camp. At camp I ran into a girl who grew up in Asheville, NC. Then I ran into a girl named Mallory that went to UNCA, a year behind me, and was in the Math Program. Then one night when we were at the famous Mussel Inn I ran into another girl who grew up in Asheville and dated a guy that I knew from UNCA. It's a really small world, but Hang Dog has the chilled out hippie community vibe and I'm not entirely surprised that Ashevillians would feel a draw to kindred spirits here.

Fiji

Mom and I flew out of Auckland, NZ to Nadi, Fiji. My other row seating buddy was a Fijian lawyer who offered me a place to stay at her home in NZ. She was my first introduction into "Fiji time," the idea that Fijians take it easy, but work hard when they need to. We got to Fiji and were completely swept away by a warm and humid heat that rolled over us as we stepped off the plane. After walking through the airport, I realized that we had missed out on the silly shell necklaces that they hand out to tourists. Then we got picked up by a shuttle that took us to our nearby hotel. With nothing else to do, we kicked back and relaxed by the pool. I watched an episode of a Korean drama about a lady doctor, from back in the day, who was being promoted by the Emperor to the displeasure of his council. It was amusing and had terrible acting. I also ended up watching Bolt which was a cute movie. The pool was right outside of our room and was nice, but a little too warm. 

The next morning our van from the hotel to the boat was 2 hours late. We got to the boat and clambered on for a 1 hour and 45 minute boat ride. It was pretty bumpy trip and my  stomach would fall every time the boat hopped over a giant wave. It was a really fun ride and made me want to spend more time on boats. I did manage to fall asleep for like 10 minutes. The only annoying thing was having my head hit the metal bar with every bounce. I'm quite proud of my ability to sleep almost anywhere. As the boat pulled up to the island, Waya of the Yasawa Group, we were greeting by a beautiful beach and a group singing the welcome song with guitars and ukes. As an added adventure, we had to time our jumps just right to exit the boat or we'd get run over by the boat and the incoming wave. All the guests who had arrived on the island that day had a little pow-wow with the guy who was the equivalent of a cruise director. Then mom and I wandered off to Bure 14, our little bungalow. Every day was filled with delicious food, warm sandy beaches, a hot sun and cool clear water. At night we'd climb under our misquito netting and try not to move. Every night was incredibly hot and humid. Open windows would bring in a slight breeze and the overhead fan was basically useless. Our bathroom was pretty interesting. In the room that adjoined the Bure was a sink, a toilet and a shower. The shower didn't have a roof and opened up directly to the sky. It was very cool to shower at night and just look up at the stars. 

We also got to try an assortment of fruity resort drinks from the bar. This was basically a cashless resort and you charged everything to your bure, room or bunk. There was a welcoming ceremony the first night where we drank Kava, a local drink derived from roots. Kava has been known to cause hallucinations with large and strong enough mixtures. I didn't hallucinate, but my tongue went numb. On the 2nd day, mom walked to the local village over the hill with a group from the resort. Most of the people who worked at the resort were from the local village, but there were a few from the main island. While she was gone I took my first steps to getting PADI scuba certified with my instructor, Cookie. I watched a video that took 1.5 hours. It was almost mind numbing and it was incredibly cheesy. After I watched the first 3 lessons, I decided that I would rather spend time with my mom while we were in Fiji because the PADI course was going to eat up about 6 hours every day for most of the trip. I also realized that it would probably be more fun if I took the course with a friend. No one else at the resort was interested in taking the Open Water course. Then when I tried to take the 1 day discover scuba course, they wouldn't let me because of my asthma. Go figure.

Mom and I took an incredible snorkel trip. We got on a boat and were dropped off at some gorgeous reefs filled with brightly colored plant and animal life. One of our guides was the village chief. At one point he gave me a perfect shell which I gave to mom because she's a shell collector. We snorkeled around for about 45 minutes and once we found a cave and our guide demonstrated his amazing lung capacity and dove through the cave and then back to the  surface. He offered to let us try, but it was out of our depth. Then we took the boat to a place called Mafia Island, It was so named because a local crime syndicate tried to build a Casino on the island. The remnants of the buildings are still there, but it was never completed. Our guides started a fire and cooked fish and potatoes. We also had soda, salad, fruit and a noodle dish. It was a wonderful lunch followed by an even cooler nap time. I snorkeled off the shore of Mafia Island before we all went on a walk to see the casino ruins. Then we moved onto another dive site and jumped in for a second round of swimming. Unfortunately, I forgot to put on more sunscreen and got a wicked sunburn on my back. When you snorkel, your back is always facing the sun so it's really the perfect way to get a massive burn. Later that night I tried to put on a wool t-shirt and it really hurt. 

One night they slaughtered one of the local pigs and cooked it over a spit on the beach. That night they had a show of local song and dance. We danced, ate the pig and had a plethora of other dishes. There was also a bonfire night where I ended up drinking beer and kava with the locals. While drinking kava, I made friends with the executive chef named Anna and she was really nice and very informative about the resort and the island. Mom claims that I was tipsy when I got back and hungover the next morning, but this is not so. There was another game night called shots for shots volleyball, Fiji vs the world. It was a volleyball game where the Fijians got 6 players and the other team was comprised of any resort guest that wanted to participate. One young girl played and when she got a shot, it was a shot of coke. You earned shots by scoring, hitting the ball well, assisting, being funny or just going all out hardcore. If you were an adult and you earned a shot, it was a mix of tequila and lemonade. It was a really fun game and as I have no skill playing volleyball, I won my shots by going for crazy shots and hitting the sand. At the end of the match Fiji won and they said they have only been beaten twice. You could tell that they were all holding back and could have ended the game at anytime. I walked up to the bar and was rewarded with 3 shots. No one was drinking them so the shot maker and the bartender said "Go for it, now one else is drinking them." So 1, 2, 3 and they were gone. After that I went off to bed. Luckily for me, they were more lemonade than tequila. On another day I went on an intense hike with one other resort guest and a local guide. We walked up a series of rocky hills and ended up resting on a pile of rocks overlooking one of the bays. The walk was physically intense and we all sweated heaps, but had a long running conversation that spanned from books to Australia.

Most days mom and I sat in lounge chairs by the beach under thatched umbrellas. We'd read and snorkel around the reef that bordered the shore. Conde Nas rated this one of the Top 10 beaches. Some people spent most of their time at the pool. I didn't really understand why, but it must have been a social thing. We met a bunch of people from around the world from NZ, Australia, America, Canada and Germany. Lying on the beach, on my back, for two 10 minute periods during one day gave me a burn on my front to match the back. I hadn't put any sunscreen on and the sun felt so nice and warm that I just sat out for those two short periods of time. I chalked it up to sun fail numero dos. By the time I left Fiji I had experienced my first full on sunburn. When you leave the island there's a leaving song sung by another group of resort people. It was nice, but sad to leave the resort. It felt like we had just arrived and were already leaving. I really soaked in the boat ride on the way back and tried to keep out of the sun. In the van on the way to the airport the radio was playing really quietly. I ended up freaking out a little bit because I thought a Glee song was on the radio. Turns out I was right. At first I convinced myself that I was wrong and it was probably the original version. After straining my ears a bit I realized it was a girl singing Somebody To Love. Since Queen usually sings it, I dismissed my earlier assumption that it was the original and listened for the different Glee Cast parts. By the end of the trip I was convinced that I had heard Glee on the radio and I had made friends with another Gleek in the van. A new Zealander lady near me asked if I was talking about Glee and that just pushed us into a whole glee conversation. I love talking about things like that. I'm sure I've forgotten tons of Fiji events and happenings, but there main thing I want to get across is that the water is clear, warm and full of life, the sand is hot and the people are fantastic. Oh and the food is great too.

North Island Adventure

The night before my plane to the North Island I met up with Stuckey relatives (church chums) out at a bar called Lime. Andy and Holly were really cool folks. They seem to be enjoying life and kicking it NZ style. Holly is working at a bridal shop while Andy is in grad school. We chatted and had a few Heinekens. Then we wandered back to their pad and had wine and played Soul Caliber. It was a lot of fun. I hadn't played a fighting game in a long time. After a few rounds, Gord came to pick me up. We got home pretty late and I still had some packing to do. So I decided to forgo sleep, pack and go. Unfortunately, I ended up crashing for 45 minutes. Then I had to get up at 4:30 am to catch a 7:45 flight. I initially thought that the departure time was 7:10 am, but that was just the boarding/arrive at gate time. Now I will do a better job of closely reading important travel documents ahead of time. I felt awful. It was probably a combination of the alcohol (even though it hadn't been an excessive amount), lack of sleep and flying on a plane. So I was feeling a bit off by the time I met up with Leigh (family friend).

Then we waited a bit for my mom's flight to get in. It was really good to see her even though it had only been about 2 months since I've been home. 

We ended up driving all around Auckland on the way to Orewa. The house was beautiful the driveway was lined with giant flowers that gently bounced off the car when we drove too close. Nearby was a lone fenced sheep named Snowy. If you're outside and you yell "Hey Snowy" he will give you a bah or two in return. Also if you've keen to pat Snowy and you wander near the fence, he will fallop over to see if you've brought any treats. He's a softie. He also bahs if you try to walk away. Snowy wasn't always alone, but the other sheep vanished, probably dragged off by wild dogs. The house is owned by a fellow named Seger and one of his kids lives downstairs, Sacha. The porch is one of the coolest parts of the house. It opens directly into the house with a gorgeous view. We hung out for a bit and then I took off to meet up with my friend Erin from the states. 

I got dropped off at Pete's house and met up with Erin, Sam and Pete. Then we went to a house party. Don't forget that I was running on 45 minutes of sleep and whatever I racked up while I was on the plane. So by the time we rolled up to the party, I was dead on my feet. At the party I learned a game called the cup game. To play the cup game, you need a cup and a group of people. It's one of those frustrating games you play with a lot of people. The object of the game is to figure out how to play the game. People handle the cup and say something like "my name is Molly and I can play the cup game, but can (insert next player's name) play the cup game?" Then the cup is put in front of them. The people who know how to play the cup game will then tell the player if they have indeed played the cup game or not. Erin got it after a bit of time and I was a little worried that I wasn't going to get it. Most of the people were old friends and a handful of them already knew how to play. There was one kid who hadn't figured it out for 1.5 years or so, talk about frustrating. If we had left before I learned the cup game I probably would have made Erin play the game with me until I figured it out, but lucky for her I figured it out eventually. We got home pretty late and all just went to bed.

We got up 6ish or earlier to start out sunrise to sunset, coast to coast trip in one day. We ended up racing to North Head to watch the sun come up. It was really beautiful and we watched it across the bay. There was a giant low sloping volcanic looking island to the left of the sunrise. Apparently a few families had built houses on the island many years ago and the government had wanted to reclaim the island as a preserve or something protected, but they couldn't legally take the land away from the families. So an old law was enacted or a new law was imposed that the houses had to be passed from family member to direct descendant. It couldn't be sold and once the line died out the government could take back the land. This was a secondhand story so it could be a load of gibberish, but I thought it was interesting. We wandered around the island and played on the old war artillery. There were big cannons, shelters and underground caves. Then we went to nearby Devonport for breakfast. We ate at the Stone Bakery and had a tasty and hearty meal. All the front doors folded in so the whole street entrance was open. Birds kept flying in and snapping up orts and other leftovers. Some were even adventurous enough to swoop behind the counter for the really big crumbs. We also purchased some delicious ciabatta rolls and other provisions for lunch and went on our way to Bethel's lake. 

I thought we were going to the beach, but this ended up being much cooler. It took us a few tries, but we finally ended up parking on a mound of black sand. It was a little concerning because the wheels spun out a bit, but Pete assured us that it would be fine. We walked along the side of a river through a green forest area until we came upon what I can only describe as a mini black sand desert surrounded on all sides by huge hills covered in trees, bushes and forest. Trekking across the hot fine grains made hope that I never got lost in a desert. I was really glad that I was wearing my Vibrams because the sand was burning hot with the sun bearing down on us. After we crested a few hills we hit a lake. I knew we were heading for a lake, but it was still an unexpected sight and seemed out of place. Forest, black sand and a lake. Peter jumped in the water and said it was tepid. I got in the water and said it was chilly bordering on cold! Maybe NZers run cooler than us. I decided to cover myself in black sand. We played around the lake for a few hours and had lunch. The desert had epic slopes that made me wish I had a sand toboggan or a lunch tray. Then we drove to Piha. We stopped to stuff ourselves with fish and chips. Then we took the windy road to Piha beach. It was almost empty except for some emergency fire people who were putting out a fire on Lion's Rock. We played tennis ball catch for a few minutes and then went running towards the rough cold water. It actually wasn't as cold as I had been expecting. Then we tried to watch the sunset, but were thwarted by clouds that had been rolling in that evening. We walked up and down the beach because it was a nice night and we needed to warm up from our swimming expedition. On the way back to Pete's house we got into an awesome round of the movie game, a relic from my and Erin's past at the AICPA. We all got stumped by a movie with Freddie Prinz Jr. called Girls and Boys. Almost immediately after getting back to Pete's house we all were in bed and asleep. Pete and Erin dropped me back atSeger's house on their way to Bird Island. I don't actually remember what island it was, but apparently there are a lot of birds there. That was the end to my Coast to Coast trip.

The next will be my adventure with Leigh and my mom and then Fiji. I have to blog with limitations like internet time, laptop battery time and such. So bear with me.

In an unrelated note, John and I have been rock walking in the waterholes near camp. They are so incredibly fun. Big rocks to jump off of, ropes to swing on, places to swim around and silly things to do. The water is really clear so John and I decided to take rocks and run underwater with them. Yes, just like in Blue Crush. We then decided that we wished we could stay underwater for longer so we decided to make a snorkel. We bought 10 meters of tubing and fashioned a floatation device out of gaffer tape (duct tape) and empty bottles. The four bottles hold up the end of the tubing above the water and we taped a stick to the top of the tubing to make sure it didn't bend down into the water. We also taped a rock to the bottom end of the tubing because it had a tendency to coil. It didn't work. When you get a few meters down there is incredible suction on the tube and I couldn't breathe in. We also bought $5 kids goggles that fill up almost immediately when submersed. It was a fun idea, but a failure. Though we thought we devised a way to bypass our inability to pull the air down several meters of tubing, air pump. We didn't buy one because the logistics are too complicated and it might not work in the end and this little project was getting expensive. It was a creative invention and fun to try and implement.