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.

Takaka

Our drive to Takaka was mostly uneventful. I also slept most of the 5-6 hours there. At one point it looked liked a tennis ball flew from the back of the car that John was driving. That was exciting. When we stopped for ice cream and a leg stretching break, Gordon was too tired to continue driving. So I got to drive up up the windy hill on the way to Takaka. I had to downshift to second gear at some points just to get enough oomph to keep the car moving forward. It was crazy! As soon as we got to Hangdog which is the climbers campground in Takaka, we set up camp and then went for a climb at Paynes Ford. Then we went back to camp to cook a really late dinner in the dark. The next day we got up at 7ish and went climbing and then we jumped into one of the nearby watering holes. They all have cool rope swings, bouldering and a slack line, all over water. The river water is chilly, but feels really good when the sun is out. We had an earlier dinner so we wouldn't have to cook in the dark. We always end up cooking massive amounts of food and consuming most of it. It's quite a group: Me, Gord, John, Alex and Shani.

I learned an interesting fact, the grippy handle thing that you use to grip cooking bowls and pans over a camping burner is called a spondonical/spondonicle. Ever since I learned the word, I've been using it almost nonstop.

It's a small world after all. I ran into someone from Franklin, NC which is right next to Asheville! Her name is Sarah. I love running into people from NC. Then an even weirder thing happened. I walked passed  a few people picking blackberries after our second day of climbing. I looked at one of the girls and gave her a weird confused grimace, but then just kept walking on. It was one of those moments where I thought I recognized someone, but couldn't place them and thought they just had a familiar looking face. After about 20 feet she ended up yelling "Hey." So we turned around and went back. The natural "you look familiar" and "I think I know you" conversation ensued. It turns out that she went to UNCA, was a year behind me, but in the math program. What an insane meeting. It turns out she's been traveling for awhile and was in OZ a few weeks ago, traveling around there. Her car got stolen with all her climbing gear so we decided to lend her our rope and a few quick draws while we had our rest day. It was a funny coincidence.

Last night we threw really big rocks off the nearby bridge, a game that I call "Make Big Splashes." Then we went on a night hike to find some cool caves we heard about. We couldn't find the caves, but we did find some really cool bouldering on a steep hill and glow worms.

We have a job interview 3 hours away in about 5 days. Which is good, but bad. 6 hours is a lot of driving for an interview, but I've done it before.

I got hurt. Big surprise right? I was shutting the metal lock on the bathroom door and I managed to gouge a big chunk of flesh out of my thumb and skin my pointer finger.

Yesterday we climbed at Sea Grass Walla, Black Vegetable and Bo Peep Slab. I climbed Franklin's Tower which was the tallest climb I've ever done, about 26m (we're not exactly sure). It overlooked the ocean and was a grade 16. It was fun and at the top someone made a bell from an old fire extinguisher that you're supposed to ring once you get to the top.

My new gear is really awesome, but my feet hurt, my hands hurt and my body is sore.

Next time I get online, I'll upload an entry about Fiji/North Island travels. I just haven't had the time. This next week or two will probably be mostly uneventful because we're climbing, swimming and camping, but not doing much else. No time to proofread this as I'm about out of net time!

The beginning again

At the moment, I don't have time to update the blog and talk about my North Island road trip, coast to coast sunrise to sunset adventure and Fiji. I'm leaving tomorrow to begin my trip of the South Island. It starts with a 2 week climbing trip to Takaka and followed by a 5 day kayaking trip in the Abel Tasman. Then we work our way down the West side of the Island stopping at various climbing spots, interesting cities and sights. There will be a 3 days tramp on Stewart Island which is located South of the South Island. We will have to take a ferry to get there. Then we'll work our way North up the East side of the South Island. I'm going to update this as often as possible, but I might not be able to post photos. It will depend on the amount of internet access I can get for free or cheap. I'll try to write a blog about my travels from Jan 9 - Jan 24 because they were fun and noteworthy! I wasn't able to write them when I got back in Christchurch because the house had once again used the alloted amount of internet. I'm not sad about it because it allowed me to procrastinate from blogging for awhile, but I stayed up until 12 am this evening because the internet reset today. I'm quite tired so please forgive the typos and grammatical errors that are sure to be present in this post.

Cautionary tale 12: Always wear sunscreen in Fiji.

Hot Fuzz

Jan 7: We were just driving around town at about 11:30 pm. I like to drive late because there are fewer people on the road. I'm relearning manual driving and I'm also trying to overcome the last 7ish years of driving on the other side of the road. Apparently we were in a dodgy part of town. I was out practicing my manual driving on Mr. Collins and I got pulled over by a cop. It was a startling experience because I was fairly sure I hadn't done anything wrong. She asked for my license, wrote down my car information, took down my NZ address and phone number. The lady cop asked how long I had been in the country and if I'd been drinking. Then I got a breathalyzer where I counted to five while she held a reader in front of my mouth. Since I hadn't been drinking, I wasn't worried about the test. I was concerned on why I had been pulled over in the first place. I didn't think my driving was erratic, but I am driving a manual car so my shifting is still a bit jerky. After the breathalyzer she just walked away. So I can only assume I didn't do anything wrong and it was a random breathalyzer or it was a breathalyzer brought about by bad manual driving.

Driving:
Here they drive on the left side of the road. Sometimes after I make a turn, I'll start to straighten up in the right lane. Usually I correct myself and it just looks like I've taken a wide turn, but sometimes I completely forget until Gordon says "you're driving in the wrong lane."

The driver's side is also switched in these cars. If you're the driver then you would get in on the right side of the car. This makes driving even harder. When I'm driving here, I veer a bit to the left because I subconsciously want to line up my left with the left edge of the road. Unfortunately, this would put the passenger side of my car on the sidewalk or in the bike lane. When driving in the US the yellow dividing lines were always helpful in making sure my car was centered in my lane. It's difficult to break the habit of trying to line up my car using the leftmost lines. I need to start using the dividing lines on my right.

Give way. This is a weird NZ driving rule. You have to give way at certain places, but there are signs. When there are signs, it's not a problem and it is similar to our yield signs. However, there's a give way driving rule that says if I'm driving down the road and turning right and you're driving up the same road and turning left and we're both turning into the same place, you have to give way to me. It's odd. In the US if that happened, I would have to stop and give way. In NZ if two people are turning into the same area coming from different directions whoever would get hit in the driver's side if there were to be a collision, must give way.

Our car does not have power steering. This is something I have never encountered in a car before. It's not too bad once you're used to it, but wow is it surprisingly hard to turn a car without the aid power steering for the first time.

Traffic circles with more than one lane. Yes, that's as complicated as it sounds.

The Future

Jan 6: I haven't been doing much since the Cave Stream. Mostly hanging out around the house, reading, going for walks and practicing driving the 1986 manual car that we bought. I named it Mr. Collins because the man who used to own the car before us was named Colin. I did see Sherlock Holmes. I thought it was entertaining and well cast. I'm going to see Avatar tomorrow, so I'll write a mini review of that later. I don't know if I ever wrote about it, but I saw Zombieland and I thought it was fantastic. It was violent, but really funny.

On Jan 9 I'm flying up to Auckland and meeting up with Erin and Sam for a one day sunrise to sunset, coast to coast, road trip. Then my mom, her friend Leigh and I are going on a road trip of the North Island. After that I'm heading to Fiji with my mom! I'm looking forward to surfing/scuba diving/windsurfing in Fiji. I'll be back on Jan 24. On the 25th I'm going to the Christchurch International Buskers Festival. Then on the 26th my road trip of the South Island begins. I'm leaving for 2 weeks of climbing in Takaka and then a 5 day kayaking trip in the Abel Tasman. I highly recommend looking up pictures of the Abel Tasman. It looks gorgeous. I think life on the wild side is about to begin. I'll update the blog whenever I have internet. Feel free to send me an email for an update if the blog isn't as timely as it should be.