Let's see where we left off. We spent the night near Blenheim, then the next morning hitched a ride from there to Nelson. Nelson is a cool city, with lots of arts and music happening in the city and many people out at night. We spent the night here, then headed out for the Abel Tasman Coastal Track the next day. The track is 51km long, but much easier than the Waikaremoana track in terms of ground cover and grading. It's also quite a bit busier, however walking along the track was nice as it is right along the ocean for the most part. The views were beautiful, we had wonderful weather, and we took it much easier this time as far as how much walking we did, having much shorter days. It was quite relaxing, although the track was slightly boring due to lack of roots and rocks like the last track. There were also water crossings, which we had to time with the tides, so watching the tide tables, then figuring out when we could cross, although we still got wet. Sometimes the water came up to my waist! It was really neat walking with my pack on in the water, which was cold and something I hadn't done before! We had two tidal crossings in our first day, after taking a water taxi in the morning (which was great! We saw seals, birds, and also the side of the coast that we weren't able to see from the track. It was so amazing to see all the rock formations and it was nice to be able to imagine those formations on the other side of the coast track as I was walking)then having a nice break in the day sitting on the beach waiting for the tide to go out, I dried my underwear on a tree, and Adam watched the crabs in the water for a long time. We stayed the night in a place called Tonga Quarry, which was an old granite quarry from 1907 turned into a campsite, right on the beach. We had dinner and breakfast on the beach, watching the sun dance along the waves and the little island out in the distance. So peaceful!
Our second day was also relaxing, with us only walking for about 4 hours instead of the estimated time of about 5. We had another tidal crossing, which meant more beach sitting waiting for the tide (I am by no means complaining, we busted out the solar panel!) There we met a girl from Korea by the name of Hyejin (say Hay-jchin) who was also doing the crossing, but by herself, so we offered to cross with her and hike with her to her campsite. She ended up telling me that she didn't know how to set up the tent she borrowed, so we invited her along to have dinner and stay with us for the night. After being helped by those two outdoor educators on our kayaking trip, I feel very sympathetic to backpackers (especially solo) who are just looking for some company. Just like our other hiking friend Thomas, we met her, and less than a few hours later we were cuddled up right next to each other in the tent!
We got off the track yesterday, feeling good, although awfully stinky. We're back in Nelson though, staying at another backpackers and looking to go back to Picton today to rent a car. How exciting! Should be fun to have a bit of freedom and be able to go where we'd like.
Happy Halloween to everyone at home! I was hoping to be able to be Inspector Gadget, but I ended up finding purple ballons and made myself into a bunch of grapes. Adam was a gigantic hershey's kiss, and he won first place in the costume contest!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Speak into my good ear?
Yikes. Who can beleive that it has been nearing three weeks since my last update? Not me. I'd say that I'm going to try and keep things short, and I will, but let's be real here. No one wants it to be short!
After bungy jumping in Taupo, everything else just seemed like I was too close to things and really needed to find rubber bands. Just kidding. Taupo was a cool city, but really just another big city. We got to know some cool guys from our backpacker (hostel), who may be joining up with us a little later on in our travels. We left Taupo headed for the Lake Waikaremoana track, which is a 46km hike around the lake on the eastern side of the North Island, and we were told is excruciatingly beautiful. So why not?!
We hitched a ride out of Taupo, catching a 27 year old Austrian guy named Thomas who had a car, but no plans, and lots of time... so we invited him along! He drove us all the way there, on winding gravel roads (is your stomach turning upside-down, by chance, because I was GREEN!) we stayed at a motor camp, and the next morning hopped on the trail. Our first day was planned to be our longest, as we started from a point 9 hours from our campsite, and also our hardest. Little did we know! To make a long story short, it was a difficult day, with both adam and I carrying more weight than Thomas (it was his first time on an overnight hiking trip, how could I let him carry a lot of weight!?), even though his legs were a solid 20cm longer than mine, and I swear he's part mountain goat. The weather was absolutely gorgeous though, and we walked litterally up the ridge of Panekiri bluff, then back down and around the other side to our campsite. It was quite a day of feeling the burn, loving the burn, and convincing myself that by singing every song I could think of I would surely get through the day. And I did! Adam had huge painful bruises from the rubbing of his backpack, Thomas seemed not to notice the difficulty of our climb, but at the end of the day we were all enjoying our stink, smiling over soup, and squished in the tent together. There is nothing I love more than being smashed in between two stinky men who don't snore all night, but throw elbows nearing my face (and one making contact, thank you adam) and then waking up to pancakes!
Day two was not nearly as tough, although it rained almost all day. It isn't uncommmon for it to rain here, which doesn't usually stop Adam and I from adventuring, though on the trail is got all of my things wet. Wet = bad. Boo. About 7 hours later we made it to camp, and because our things were wet and the rain didn't seem to be slowing we opted to (illegally!) sleep inside the kitchen of the hut, near the fire, in hopes of drying things out and not to get sick! Day three was a short day, about 4 hours of hiking until our water taxi pickup spot, which was before the end of the trail. We made it there earlier than the water taxi, so we dropped our bags and finished the trail without packs (waahoo! much easier walking!) which was great, considering we wouldn't have been able to if we didn't have a long and hard first day. On our way out, the water taxi driver told us we were lucky to be off the trail, because the forecast said snow! (it's supposed to be the start of summer here REAL soon!) The trail was absolutely breathtaking, with views from Panekiri bluff going out to where the eye can't make out the difference between the land and the sky, and the progression from water, to trees, to rock, to sand, to fields was unreal. It's so hard for me to understand how gorgeous everything is here, and even though I stop on the trail and yell out "WOW! this is beautiful!!" (yes, this really happens) is still seems like I can't quite grasp the fact that these sights are made from the earth, and definitely worth the hours of painstaking uphill hikes.
After the trail, we needed some TLC. So we spent quite some time in the car, (yikes-palooza), parted ways with Thomas (sad...) then headed to Wellington, the capital city! We were able to stay with a friend, Carmel Levy, who we met in our travels to Israel and who was a wonderful host and friend to us. Without her, Wellington would just have been another city, in another backpacker, but she was nice enough to show us around and show us a great time! We went to a great show by a band called Rhombus, danced the night away and finally hit the sleeping bag nearing 4am. Woo! The city was cool, more specifically the Botanical Gardens where we had the chance to climb up a big tree, sit on top of the branches, sun ourselves and look out over the city. When we get a chance to load pictures, it will be much easier to understand. At any rate though, it was relaxing sitting high above everyone else with that rich-Vitamin D golden sun kissing our faces.
Next we ran (literally) to catch the ferry to the South Island, which was the biggest boat I've ever been on! It was way too cool! I'm sure that it's not much bigger than any cruise boats, but they had an arcade, a movie theater, and all kinds of stuff. Weird!
We got off in Picton, tried hitching out of there to Nelson, but were distracted by $15 beds, so we stayed. It ended up being two nights at the backpacker, enough time for us to gather and ration food, and head out on a kayaking/camping trip! I've never done any kayak camping, so the fact that we could bring anything we wanted and not have to worry about weight was wonderful. We even had beer! Our first two days of paddling were b-e-a-utiful, without a cloud in the sky and us having a great time paddling aorund the Marlborough Sounds, which are known for the great paddling, as well as are home to 600 of the world's rarest marine birds! We paddled past seals, lots of birds, plenty of rocks and lots of blue sky. We stayed at a campsite on an island on our last night, just around the corner from open ocean, sharing the site with two outdoor educators (wahoo! it was sweet talking to them and knowing there IS a career for me that I know I can do well in!). The next morning (our last day) the ocean was quite rough, but the two gentlemen offered to paddle with us until we got to calmer water, so Adam and I jumped at the chance. Without them I don't think we would have left the island, and had we ventured out into the water could have gotten ourselves into quite a connundrum. In our safety breifing from the kayaking company, they said at 15 knots white caps appear on the waves, at 20 knots you should get off the water, and our two outdoor educator guides said Adam and I were battling with 30 knot waves! It took us about an hour of hard out paddling, he and I in a double kayak having quite a fight with the waves, and we made it only about 1/4 of the way of our journey for the day, but we were past the hardest part. There were points when I thought my muscles would give out from exhaustion, or my fingers would break off from the cold, or I might puke from the amount of salt water I was drinking. If it weren't for the adrenaline running thick in my blood, I was sure all three of those might happen, so Adam ruddered hard left, both he and I paddled hard on the right side, the boat went airborne, into the waves, and at points the waves were so big the front of the boat hadn't even come out of the wave before Adam (who was sitting in back) entered the wave. Wow. Talk about an adventure! We made it out safe, sound, cold, wet, tired, and hungry, but feeling unstoppable!
After refueling with some dry clothes, we tried our chances at hitching to Nelson to no avail, and after a long ridiculous serious of rides to different places and meeting different people, closed or full backpackers, we ended up sleeping on someone's pull out beds. Mmmm... a bed!
Okay, this is where I'm going to stop for now. I've been typing away at this computer for long enough, considering I've been up using the free internet since 6.30am, after Adam who woke me up after he spent two hours with his fingers to the keyboard. I'll write again when we get more time, but now I must wake up Adam and pack up our bags before it is time to check out. I've been loving traveling around, living with everything I own on my back, carrying my things around and being a complete nomad.
Hope all is well with everyone at home.
"Not all those who wander are lost." -J.R.R. Tolkien
After bungy jumping in Taupo, everything else just seemed like I was too close to things and really needed to find rubber bands. Just kidding. Taupo was a cool city, but really just another big city. We got to know some cool guys from our backpacker (hostel), who may be joining up with us a little later on in our travels. We left Taupo headed for the Lake Waikaremoana track, which is a 46km hike around the lake on the eastern side of the North Island, and we were told is excruciatingly beautiful. So why not?!
We hitched a ride out of Taupo, catching a 27 year old Austrian guy named Thomas who had a car, but no plans, and lots of time... so we invited him along! He drove us all the way there, on winding gravel roads (is your stomach turning upside-down, by chance, because I was GREEN!) we stayed at a motor camp, and the next morning hopped on the trail. Our first day was planned to be our longest, as we started from a point 9 hours from our campsite, and also our hardest. Little did we know! To make a long story short, it was a difficult day, with both adam and I carrying more weight than Thomas (it was his first time on an overnight hiking trip, how could I let him carry a lot of weight!?), even though his legs were a solid 20cm longer than mine, and I swear he's part mountain goat. The weather was absolutely gorgeous though, and we walked litterally up the ridge of Panekiri bluff, then back down and around the other side to our campsite. It was quite a day of feeling the burn, loving the burn, and convincing myself that by singing every song I could think of I would surely get through the day. And I did! Adam had huge painful bruises from the rubbing of his backpack, Thomas seemed not to notice the difficulty of our climb, but at the end of the day we were all enjoying our stink, smiling over soup, and squished in the tent together. There is nothing I love more than being smashed in between two stinky men who don't snore all night, but throw elbows nearing my face (and one making contact, thank you adam) and then waking up to pancakes!
Day two was not nearly as tough, although it rained almost all day. It isn't uncommmon for it to rain here, which doesn't usually stop Adam and I from adventuring, though on the trail is got all of my things wet. Wet = bad. Boo. About 7 hours later we made it to camp, and because our things were wet and the rain didn't seem to be slowing we opted to (illegally!) sleep inside the kitchen of the hut, near the fire, in hopes of drying things out and not to get sick! Day three was a short day, about 4 hours of hiking until our water taxi pickup spot, which was before the end of the trail. We made it there earlier than the water taxi, so we dropped our bags and finished the trail without packs (waahoo! much easier walking!) which was great, considering we wouldn't have been able to if we didn't have a long and hard first day. On our way out, the water taxi driver told us we were lucky to be off the trail, because the forecast said snow! (it's supposed to be the start of summer here REAL soon!) The trail was absolutely breathtaking, with views from Panekiri bluff going out to where the eye can't make out the difference between the land and the sky, and the progression from water, to trees, to rock, to sand, to fields was unreal. It's so hard for me to understand how gorgeous everything is here, and even though I stop on the trail and yell out "WOW! this is beautiful!!" (yes, this really happens) is still seems like I can't quite grasp the fact that these sights are made from the earth, and definitely worth the hours of painstaking uphill hikes.
After the trail, we needed some TLC. So we spent quite some time in the car, (yikes-palooza), parted ways with Thomas (sad...) then headed to Wellington, the capital city! We were able to stay with a friend, Carmel Levy, who we met in our travels to Israel and who was a wonderful host and friend to us. Without her, Wellington would just have been another city, in another backpacker, but she was nice enough to show us around and show us a great time! We went to a great show by a band called Rhombus, danced the night away and finally hit the sleeping bag nearing 4am. Woo! The city was cool, more specifically the Botanical Gardens where we had the chance to climb up a big tree, sit on top of the branches, sun ourselves and look out over the city. When we get a chance to load pictures, it will be much easier to understand. At any rate though, it was relaxing sitting high above everyone else with that rich-Vitamin D golden sun kissing our faces.
Next we ran (literally) to catch the ferry to the South Island, which was the biggest boat I've ever been on! It was way too cool! I'm sure that it's not much bigger than any cruise boats, but they had an arcade, a movie theater, and all kinds of stuff. Weird!
We got off in Picton, tried hitching out of there to Nelson, but were distracted by $15 beds, so we stayed. It ended up being two nights at the backpacker, enough time for us to gather and ration food, and head out on a kayaking/camping trip! I've never done any kayak camping, so the fact that we could bring anything we wanted and not have to worry about weight was wonderful. We even had beer! Our first two days of paddling were b-e-a-utiful, without a cloud in the sky and us having a great time paddling aorund the Marlborough Sounds, which are known for the great paddling, as well as are home to 600 of the world's rarest marine birds! We paddled past seals, lots of birds, plenty of rocks and lots of blue sky. We stayed at a campsite on an island on our last night, just around the corner from open ocean, sharing the site with two outdoor educators (wahoo! it was sweet talking to them and knowing there IS a career for me that I know I can do well in!). The next morning (our last day) the ocean was quite rough, but the two gentlemen offered to paddle with us until we got to calmer water, so Adam and I jumped at the chance. Without them I don't think we would have left the island, and had we ventured out into the water could have gotten ourselves into quite a connundrum. In our safety breifing from the kayaking company, they said at 15 knots white caps appear on the waves, at 20 knots you should get off the water, and our two outdoor educator guides said Adam and I were battling with 30 knot waves! It took us about an hour of hard out paddling, he and I in a double kayak having quite a fight with the waves, and we made it only about 1/4 of the way of our journey for the day, but we were past the hardest part. There were points when I thought my muscles would give out from exhaustion, or my fingers would break off from the cold, or I might puke from the amount of salt water I was drinking. If it weren't for the adrenaline running thick in my blood, I was sure all three of those might happen, so Adam ruddered hard left, both he and I paddled hard on the right side, the boat went airborne, into the waves, and at points the waves were so big the front of the boat hadn't even come out of the wave before Adam (who was sitting in back) entered the wave. Wow. Talk about an adventure! We made it out safe, sound, cold, wet, tired, and hungry, but feeling unstoppable!
After refueling with some dry clothes, we tried our chances at hitching to Nelson to no avail, and after a long ridiculous serious of rides to different places and meeting different people, closed or full backpackers, we ended up sleeping on someone's pull out beds. Mmmm... a bed!
Okay, this is where I'm going to stop for now. I've been typing away at this computer for long enough, considering I've been up using the free internet since 6.30am, after Adam who woke me up after he spent two hours with his fingers to the keyboard. I'll write again when we get more time, but now I must wake up Adam and pack up our bags before it is time to check out. I've been loving traveling around, living with everything I own on my back, carrying my things around and being a complete nomad.
Hope all is well with everyone at home.
"Not all those who wander are lost." -J.R.R. Tolkien
Friday, October 12, 2007
Current adventures:
Today, we went bungy jumping! It was insanity. I can't beleive that i jumped, let alone backwards. The initial jump was scary, and I screamed like a child, but then you're just bouncing, and looking at the beautiful canyon. Also, we went to the natural thermal pools, and you can just sit or climb around on the rocks and soak in the hot water. It's been nice!
I've put up new pictures at the website, to which the link is listed just a few posts below. Also, if you haven't checked out the pictures on adam's facebook, at the bottom of the last post, please do!
Today, we went bungy jumping! It was insanity. I can't beleive that i jumped, let alone backwards. The initial jump was scary, and I screamed like a child, but then you're just bouncing, and looking at the beautiful canyon. Also, we went to the natural thermal pools, and you can just sit or climb around on the rocks and soak in the hot water. It's been nice!
I've put up new pictures at the website, to which the link is listed just a few posts below. Also, if you haven't checked out the pictures on adam's facebook, at the bottom of the last post, please do!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
O, Canada!
Forgot to mention, Adam and I are trying to see how many cities we can sing O'Canada in. It's only begun, and so far we've hit two.
"I'm in a gigantic sphere of emotion!"
Hello!
So it's been a while since I've written (as usual)so you may want to grab some food (might I suggest a kiwi?! and get a comfy seat. Settle in for the long haul)
We've left the farm hosts, almost a week ago now. Staying there was like having a home for a little while, which was so great. It's nice to be able to unpack and spread my things all over and let everything air out. One of our last nights we slept out on the trampoline, watching the stars. The sky was incredibly clear! We could see the Milky Way, and a bunch of stars I don't know. Now I've got a copy of the southern sky map, so I'll be able to point out a lot more stars when we go tramping. We woke up with frost on our sleeping bags, but smiling faces and it was a great day. What an experience! One night we tried making an Israeli dinner for everyone (falafel, Israeli salad, hummus, and Honey Cake) which ended up being absolutely chaotic an hilarious. Neither Adam or I had ever tried making falafel before, and the recipe was strange, so it turned out to be mush that tasted nothing like falafel (actually, it didn't taste like anything...) But the honey cake (thanks karen!) and the Israeli salad were a success! We also tried to make Brad's caramel corn, but without corn syrup we had to make a substitute, then the thermometer was wrong and it didn't turn out as good as when Brad makes it, but Suzie and Alistair still loved it! The two of them ate almost an entire bowl (and that was before baking it) and my favorite part was watching suzie eating caramel corn while riding on her stationary bike. Cancelling them out...? We were quite sad to leave Suzie, Alistair, Sayshu and Bella, but we have to continue moving if we want to be able to see as much as possible.
Making our way to the Waitomo caves on saturday was a little interesting, and in 4 rides we arrived! We booked a "Black Water Rafting" trip, going through caves underground in intertubes and some really funny and ill-fitting wetsuits. There were even glowworms, which are larva of flies with glowing poop! The brighter they glow, the more they've eaten, or the more they are looking for a mate. Wouldn't it be nice if every single guy has a glowing butt?! The tubing adventure was really fun, including us jumping off waterfalls into the water and getting some time to relax in the cold water! The Glowworms look just like stars, and they usually live in big sections together, so in the darkness of the cave it looked just like stars, but closer and greener! It was beautiful to be underground and see a species of bugs I never even knew existed.
We'd arrived in Waitomo without a place to stay, and as our tour came to an end, our tour guide Ryan, from Louisville, Indiana, said we could pitch our tent in his backyard, so we caught a ride home with him. He and his friends are rock climbers, so we spent an unplanned 2 days in Waitomo climbing with his friends and meeting new people. Even though I don't climb (yet!?) it was still a wonderful time, and "Erica from America" and I went caving nearby. She and I met back up with everyone completely covered in mud, and even though now I have one less pair of pants until we can do laundry again, we had a blast crawling in the mud! Adam was quite happy to be able to do some bouldering (climbing on lower rocks, without ropes), the people we met were hospitable (but really, most of New Zealanders are) and we made quite a few new friends! I am hoping to start doing some rock climbing; it looks like the ultimate brain teaser ("how can I get my body up there") and it should be a really fun new experience.
Monday night we made it to Hamilton for some Israeli folk dancing, then ended up staying in the dance teachers living room (his name is Raymond) for the night, then getting a ride in the morning to a spot to hitch. It always amazes me how much the people here are willing to help out backpackers with helpful advice and places to stay. I love this country!
We went straight from Hamilton to Rotorua, NZ's capitol for tourism. Yikes! We stayed at Planet Nomad backpacker, and had two jam packed days! We arrived at noon on Tuesday, fitting in a hike around the thermal park (with bubbling mud, and natural bubbling pools!), and a Maori cultural show that evening. I had no idea the Maori songs were so beautiful; one of the love songs sounded like the ocean. They fed us a big dinner at the end, and Adam and I ate until our stomachs were cramping. The next day was action packed, with us trying to do as much as possible as well as spending as many coupons as possible. We went Zorbing, which is when you get inside a huge plastic ball with water, and then roll down a grass zigzag track, screaming. It was one of the strangest feelings, similar to what I can imagine being inside a womb must feel like, and at the end of the zigzag track you have to crawl out a little hole in the ball (like being birthed? weird..) It was really oddly fun, to say the least. Then we headed to Skyline, took the gondola up, then rode on the street luge track! That was really funny, and quite wet! It has been raining a lot, but it doesn't stop the adventure!
Next we walked to the "Kiwi Encounter" getting a tour of a kiwi conservation facility, as well as getting to see the kiwi bird up close! Kiwi's are a little bit bigger than a mallard, with huge feet (they're in the same family as the ostrich and the emu!) and tiny wings. The wings are so tiny, in fact, that they are flightless! They are a nocturnal bird, and the females lay an egg that is the size of an emu egg (think of those proportions: bird: size of duck. egg: size of emu egg (think flinstones) that egg is huge! those ladies are tough!)
After our encounter with the national bird, we spent our free tea coupons, then ran to spend our free beer coupon at a bar called "The Pig and Whistle", then running back to our backpacker and heading to the Polynesian Spa. This place had 7 natural hot pools, one of which was a lap pool, so of course, we swam laps. We only had a little bit over an hour there, but we made it into all of the pools. Some were way too hot! It was nearing 11pm by close, so the skys were dark, the seagulls were loud, but the water was warm and Adam and I sat in the pools laughing about firetrucks.
Direct quote: "I'm schvitzing like a firetruck." What a weirdo.
We made it back to the backpacker by half 11, noticing we hadn't eaten dinner and didn't have much left in terms of groceries, but ended up eating a delicious fried-rice style concoction of sorts. We headed out the next morning, bound for Taupo, although it took us quite some time to get there. However, our ride into Taupo was from a Jewish Australian couple in a campervan who saw the hebrew on my shirt once we stopped at Huka Falls, near Taupo.
Speaking of, Huka Falls is from a feed of the Waikato river, which is what we kayaked down in Cambridge! The falls go from 100 meters wide, and 4 meters deep, to being pushed through rocks 10 meters wide, and 6 meters deep. You can only imagine the loud sound of the falls, as well as how fast the water is going! I think the numbers are 220,000 litres per second. WOW! This place was intense, the water was so blue and crisp.
Taupo is apparently the adventure capitol of the southern hemisphere, with huge promotions for Bungy jumping, sky diving, and all sorts of other adrenaline pumping activities. We're staying in the party tent once again, and have already met a bunch of travelers staying in our backpacker as well. Yesterday we went to "Craters of the Moon" which has lots of steam holes, as well as bubbling mud craters that erupt pumice and mud! We went with some of our new friends, Francisco and Francisca from chile, and a german guy who gave us a ride there. It ends up that some of the Irish and scottish girls who we met in Rotorua at our Maori cultural show are in the same hostel, so it was really sweet to see them again and get to chat. They said "Adam is a really nice guy and everything, but how do you travel with a guy, let alone without a lot of stuff?!" (I had made a comment about one of them traveling with heels... that sounds dangerous!) But we're both so laid back and easygoing, I can't imagine traveling with girls!
Well, now that everyone is up to speed I better take a break and get back to having fun! (not that this isn't entertaining, but living in the present is way better!)
Below is a link to Adam's photos on facebook, so have a look if you please and feel free to give me a shout! Just copy and paste the link into your browser!
http://ucalgary.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055714&l=5d1c2&id=120600255
Hope all is well at home, and that October isn't too cold!
So it's been a while since I've written (as usual)so you may want to grab some food (might I suggest a kiwi?! and get a comfy seat. Settle in for the long haul)
We've left the farm hosts, almost a week ago now. Staying there was like having a home for a little while, which was so great. It's nice to be able to unpack and spread my things all over and let everything air out. One of our last nights we slept out on the trampoline, watching the stars. The sky was incredibly clear! We could see the Milky Way, and a bunch of stars I don't know. Now I've got a copy of the southern sky map, so I'll be able to point out a lot more stars when we go tramping. We woke up with frost on our sleeping bags, but smiling faces and it was a great day. What an experience! One night we tried making an Israeli dinner for everyone (falafel, Israeli salad, hummus, and Honey Cake) which ended up being absolutely chaotic an hilarious. Neither Adam or I had ever tried making falafel before, and the recipe was strange, so it turned out to be mush that tasted nothing like falafel (actually, it didn't taste like anything...) But the honey cake (thanks karen!) and the Israeli salad were a success! We also tried to make Brad's caramel corn, but without corn syrup we had to make a substitute, then the thermometer was wrong and it didn't turn out as good as when Brad makes it, but Suzie and Alistair still loved it! The two of them ate almost an entire bowl (and that was before baking it) and my favorite part was watching suzie eating caramel corn while riding on her stationary bike. Cancelling them out...? We were quite sad to leave Suzie, Alistair, Sayshu and Bella, but we have to continue moving if we want to be able to see as much as possible.
Making our way to the Waitomo caves on saturday was a little interesting, and in 4 rides we arrived! We booked a "Black Water Rafting" trip, going through caves underground in intertubes and some really funny and ill-fitting wetsuits. There were even glowworms, which are larva of flies with glowing poop! The brighter they glow, the more they've eaten, or the more they are looking for a mate. Wouldn't it be nice if every single guy has a glowing butt?! The tubing adventure was really fun, including us jumping off waterfalls into the water and getting some time to relax in the cold water! The Glowworms look just like stars, and they usually live in big sections together, so in the darkness of the cave it looked just like stars, but closer and greener! It was beautiful to be underground and see a species of bugs I never even knew existed.
We'd arrived in Waitomo without a place to stay, and as our tour came to an end, our tour guide Ryan, from Louisville, Indiana, said we could pitch our tent in his backyard, so we caught a ride home with him. He and his friends are rock climbers, so we spent an unplanned 2 days in Waitomo climbing with his friends and meeting new people. Even though I don't climb (yet!?) it was still a wonderful time, and "Erica from America" and I went caving nearby. She and I met back up with everyone completely covered in mud, and even though now I have one less pair of pants until we can do laundry again, we had a blast crawling in the mud! Adam was quite happy to be able to do some bouldering (climbing on lower rocks, without ropes), the people we met were hospitable (but really, most of New Zealanders are) and we made quite a few new friends! I am hoping to start doing some rock climbing; it looks like the ultimate brain teaser ("how can I get my body up there") and it should be a really fun new experience.
Monday night we made it to Hamilton for some Israeli folk dancing, then ended up staying in the dance teachers living room (his name is Raymond) for the night, then getting a ride in the morning to a spot to hitch. It always amazes me how much the people here are willing to help out backpackers with helpful advice and places to stay. I love this country!
We went straight from Hamilton to Rotorua, NZ's capitol for tourism. Yikes! We stayed at Planet Nomad backpacker, and had two jam packed days! We arrived at noon on Tuesday, fitting in a hike around the thermal park (with bubbling mud, and natural bubbling pools!), and a Maori cultural show that evening. I had no idea the Maori songs were so beautiful; one of the love songs sounded like the ocean. They fed us a big dinner at the end, and Adam and I ate until our stomachs were cramping. The next day was action packed, with us trying to do as much as possible as well as spending as many coupons as possible. We went Zorbing, which is when you get inside a huge plastic ball with water, and then roll down a grass zigzag track, screaming. It was one of the strangest feelings, similar to what I can imagine being inside a womb must feel like, and at the end of the zigzag track you have to crawl out a little hole in the ball (like being birthed? weird..) It was really oddly fun, to say the least. Then we headed to Skyline, took the gondola up, then rode on the street luge track! That was really funny, and quite wet! It has been raining a lot, but it doesn't stop the adventure!
Next we walked to the "Kiwi Encounter" getting a tour of a kiwi conservation facility, as well as getting to see the kiwi bird up close! Kiwi's are a little bit bigger than a mallard, with huge feet (they're in the same family as the ostrich and the emu!) and tiny wings. The wings are so tiny, in fact, that they are flightless! They are a nocturnal bird, and the females lay an egg that is the size of an emu egg (think of those proportions: bird: size of duck. egg: size of emu egg (think flinstones) that egg is huge! those ladies are tough!)
After our encounter with the national bird, we spent our free tea coupons, then ran to spend our free beer coupon at a bar called "The Pig and Whistle", then running back to our backpacker and heading to the Polynesian Spa. This place had 7 natural hot pools, one of which was a lap pool, so of course, we swam laps. We only had a little bit over an hour there, but we made it into all of the pools. Some were way too hot! It was nearing 11pm by close, so the skys were dark, the seagulls were loud, but the water was warm and Adam and I sat in the pools laughing about firetrucks.
Direct quote: "I'm schvitzing like a firetruck." What a weirdo.
We made it back to the backpacker by half 11, noticing we hadn't eaten dinner and didn't have much left in terms of groceries, but ended up eating a delicious fried-rice style concoction of sorts. We headed out the next morning, bound for Taupo, although it took us quite some time to get there. However, our ride into Taupo was from a Jewish Australian couple in a campervan who saw the hebrew on my shirt once we stopped at Huka Falls, near Taupo.
Speaking of, Huka Falls is from a feed of the Waikato river, which is what we kayaked down in Cambridge! The falls go from 100 meters wide, and 4 meters deep, to being pushed through rocks 10 meters wide, and 6 meters deep. You can only imagine the loud sound of the falls, as well as how fast the water is going! I think the numbers are 220,000 litres per second. WOW! This place was intense, the water was so blue and crisp.
Taupo is apparently the adventure capitol of the southern hemisphere, with huge promotions for Bungy jumping, sky diving, and all sorts of other adrenaline pumping activities. We're staying in the party tent once again, and have already met a bunch of travelers staying in our backpacker as well. Yesterday we went to "Craters of the Moon" which has lots of steam holes, as well as bubbling mud craters that erupt pumice and mud! We went with some of our new friends, Francisco and Francisca from chile, and a german guy who gave us a ride there. It ends up that some of the Irish and scottish girls who we met in Rotorua at our Maori cultural show are in the same hostel, so it was really sweet to see them again and get to chat. They said "Adam is a really nice guy and everything, but how do you travel with a guy, let alone without a lot of stuff?!" (I had made a comment about one of them traveling with heels... that sounds dangerous!) But we're both so laid back and easygoing, I can't imagine traveling with girls!
Well, now that everyone is up to speed I better take a break and get back to having fun! (not that this isn't entertaining, but living in the present is way better!)
Below is a link to Adam's photos on facebook, so have a look if you please and feel free to give me a shout! Just copy and paste the link into your browser!
http://ucalgary.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055714&l=5d1c2&id=120600255
Hope all is well at home, and that October isn't too cold!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Mud fight!
I've put up pictures (not all, that could become redundant!) here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/marabe54
enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/marabe54
enjoy!
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