South Island and More

Well once again, I find that I have some catching up to do on my blog, and once more I apologize for that. I believe my last post was on Tuesday or Wed. 2 weeks back. Well lets assume that little happened that week until Friday morning. At that point, Thomas showed up early in the morning to my house, we packed our bags and headed to the airport. We were about to do a week long road trip through the south Island!

Thomas and I arrived at the airport, checked in and hopped on the airplane with little problem. Once we were seated, we were sitting there when a good friend of Thomas's walked by and sat down directly behind us. Unbeknowned to us, he was on his way down to Christchurch (aslo called Chch commonly and pronounced "chch") for work for the week. This was convient as it meant we had a ride from the airport to our car rental location downtown. Thomas and I had rented a Wicked Campervan for a 9 days (Wicked is the name of the company) So we went and grabbed our rental car which was pretty sweet as (came with a table that folded into a bed, a kitchen counter and sink and a tiny propane gas burner). I inspected the car quite thoroughly upon recieving it. This is because for some reason, from my dad I have inherited this belief that all car rental companies want to royally screw you over. Which in the States may be justified, but in a county like NZ its just silly. After point out several minute scratches the man simply replied that he had marked the car as "scratched and nicked in several locations". So after getting our van we did a grocery shop, and decided to get our all together all together, and go meet up with another friend of Thomas's in Chch. His friend was out shopping when we arrived however, so we simply parked in his yard and cooked some sausages on the gas burner. It was very classy.

I should describe to everyone what its like here at the moment quickly. So that you can get a mental picture. We are headed into Winter here, right now. So while it is still early, the south Island is farther south than any other inhabited land in the world except the Chatham Islands. So its cold there right now. Also it is pretty much completely dark by 6, and the sun sets around 5:15-5:30. So whenever I describe dinner or early morning routines, picture it being dark, and very cold. (An Awesome Vacation)

Anyways, I digress. Thomas's friend arrived later, and we spent the evening relaxing with them. Later in the night we went and met up with another mutual friend of ours to watch some rugby, but that didn't last long, and then we were back to the car to sleep.

The next morning we were up packed, and out by about 9:30. We drove from Christchurch through Arthur's Pass. On our way we passed by Castle Rock, which was a massive rock formation with giant rocks towering everywhere in the middle of this empty field. It was really neat. Then we swung by Devil's Punchbowl Falls, where we hiked up to the waterfall. Because it was raining the falls were really going. We got thoroughly soaked, and headed back to the car pretty quickly. At the car we decided it was time for some lunch in the parking lot we popped the trunk, set up some chairs around the burner, and heated up some meat pies. However it wasn't long until sand flies started to attack us by the swarms. So we decided to move on and hold off on cooking. As we pulled out of the parking lot we passed two young people walking towards the falls. Thomas remarked how they looked like two good friends of ours from back in Auckland. After a brief pause I corrected him and said they WERE our two friends from Auckland. It was pretty remarkable that I travelled to the oppisite end of the country and was still running into people I knew in a community where the population is less than 40. We chatted briefly, but the sand flies continued to drive us bonkers. So we rolled the windows up and Thomas drove while I went on a murderous rampage against the sand flies. There was a path of dead flies left by our van, I will say that much. We pulled in shortly to an overlook to clean the van of our half cooked lunch. The overlook let us look from above at Arthur's Pass, which was just spectacular. While we were there we were viciously attacked, this time by a slightly larger foe. Several Kea's (pronounced key-ya (only picture the ya part of that as pronounced by a jamacian saying "ya mon") arrived to the scene, and decided the rubber on our van looked tasty. A Kea is one of NZ's many awesome unique birds. One of the few flightless parrots in the world, (or maybe the only) it is also quite friendly and has a vicious little beak. This beak it uses to remove the rubber from window frames or the seals from sun roofs. So while you want to be nice and loving towards this pretty cool bird; you are a little annoyed when it starts destroying your rental car. (Especially when you have an innate sense that all rental companies are trying to royally screw you.)

Well we left the lookout, and moved on to Pancake Rocks on the West coast. We arrived just as sun was setting. Pancake Rocks is a unique location where all the rocks are sandstone, and have taken on an crazy wavy shape to them. More than this it is also full of blowholes. So you can watch these really special looking rocks, and suddenly water will shoot out of them 15 feet into the air. Its pretty awesome (sorry you guys must get bored of my adjectives). After Pancake Rocks we hopped in the car and since it was dark we just drove to our sleeping spot just outside of Franz Josef Glacier.

The next morning we awoke to a misty morning. We cooked some toast for breakfast, and then headed into the tiny town of Franz Josef. After a quick stop at the visitors center, we headed off the the glacier. Rather than doing a guided tour we thought we would hike in ourselves and see how close we could get. In the end we made it roughly 50 yards from the base of the glacier. It is found in this large river basin with huge cliffs on each side. It was a striking walk, and being infront of a massive glacier surrounded by high cliffs really gave you a sense of being small. A humbling experience. From there we walked back and decided to swing by Fox Glacier as well. At Fox we stopped by a dairy, and picked up some food. Then we thought we would go for a walk around a lake before hitting up Fox. So we found this lake and walked around it. It was about a 2 hour walk, the whole time with Mt Cook and Mt Taranaki (the two biggest mountains in NZ) sitting directly in front of us. When we got to the far side of the lake you were supposed to see a perfect reflection of Mt. Cook and Taranaki in the water. However the clouds had rolled in and we missed it. Fifteen minutes later the clouds were gone, but we had moved on. It was pretty breathtaking anyway you viewed it really. After that we went to Fox, but the glacier hike was closed due to flash flooding (always a problem around moving glaciers).

So on to Wanaka we drove. However upon our drive there we greatly overestimated the South Island's ability to provide us with gas in completely rugged terrain. So we rolled into a lodge somewhere in the mountains just on fumes. However by then it was 6:30 so all the gas stations were closed anyways. We decided after much thinking to pay the 20 dollars to turn the gas pumps back on and move on to Wanaka.

We arrived in Wanaka and found a pretty dead town (granted it was a Sunday night). We walked around for a little bit, but then decided to just find a place to sleep and figure out what to do in the morning. Now we had been warned that Wanaka was really intense about "Freedom Camping". A term and law that complete baffled me. Apparently Thomas and I were "Freedom Campers" and being a "Freedom Camper" was not a good thing. It meant that we were camping in nondesignated camping sites. Which meant we were not paying money (which is why we were doing it) but apparently it was against the law. But I figured can they really bother you for sleeping in your car. Can't you just say you were to tired to drive farther and needed a bit of shuteye to be safe to drive. Well just to be safe I drove a good 13km out of town. There I found a picnic spot. It had a sign that said no camping but there was already another campervan parked there so we figured "Why not?". So off to bed we went. We finally had our sleeping routine down, and so we slept soundly.... That is until about 3:45 or 4 when we heard a loud knocking on our window. I woke up and shuck Thomas awake, "Thomas I think we are being arrested." I said. He simply replied "I told you." and rolled over and went back to bed. So I crawled over the chair and rolled the window down. There was a DOC (Department of Conservation) man standing there with a flash light. He explained that we were illegal, and why, and then the reprecussions of our actions which were up to a $500 fine, and that a police officer was on his way. I played it ignorantly, which was helped by the now 2 other campervans parked next to us also camping. I hopped in the drivers seat at 4 in the morning in just my boxers while it was roughly 3C or 36F degrees inside the van, and drove back into town to the registered campsite. Well... it was a good learning experience I suppose.

The next morning we awoke to see what we could not see when we arrived the night before. Wanaka is a beautiful town that sits right on the edge of Lake Wanaka. Just on the other side of the town, surrounding the lake, are massive snowcapped mountains. It was grand landscape. We swung by the visitors center and then headed to "Puzzling World" a place for adults to have a brainteaser or two. It houses NZ largest (and probably only) outdoor life-size maze. Its not a childish little maze either, it was built for adults, and usually takes about 2 hours to complete. The best part is the cafe at the building's entrance has brainteasers and puzzles on all their tables. So Thomas and I went in and just played games for free at the cafe for an hour and a half. Then it was such a pretty day out we decided we should go for a hike while we could. On our way out we saw a sign for the psychic challenge, which I thought was a pretty awesome thing. The psychic challenge was a challenge done by "The Puzzling World". Anyone attempting the challenge had to put up an entry fee of $1000. They then had 1 day to find a token that was hidden somewhere on the property. They were allowed to ask the man that hid it any questions they wanted and he had to answer them. However he could only "think" his answer. If the contestant found the token they won $10,000. If not the $1000 dollar entry fee was donated to a charity of "Puzzling World"'s choice. Essentially it was the "Puzzling World" trying to disprove psychics. Since starting 13 years ago, I think they have had like 6 proclaimed psychics attempt the challenge, none of them finding the token. I thought it was a pretty awesome challenged they had posed, and for a good cause since the money goes to charity.

Anyways, after Puzzling World we drove back out to where we had tried to sleep the night before an had our lunch. Then we drove another Km and went on a hike up Diamond Mountain. It was about a 3 and a half hour hike, which ended in a majestic view. With the lake sprawled out before us and us staring out at snowcapped mountains in every direction it truly was breathtaking. While there we decided we should move on to Queenstown that day. So upon our return we packed up, and made sure we filled up on gas before moving on to Queenstown. We arrived just before dark and were able to see another of those annoyingly repetitive gorgeous towns sitting on a lake surrounded by snowcapped mountain ranges. Its so beautiful you lose a sense of just how special it is because you see it everywhere in the south Island.

That night we scoped out the town, had some fish and chips, and found a nice quite residential street that we thought we could get away with sleeping on. Queenstown is very much a tourist town. A lot of young people go through there. It is the self proclaimed adventure sport capital of the world. Whatever you want to do they have it there. If you want to hike, ski, jet boat, paraglide, ski dive, bungy jump, etc. They have it. Might I mention it is where bungy jumping was invented. By good old AJ Hackett. At any rate, that night we went out for a bit and met up with a crowd of young people. I met a girl who said she had bought the last slot to go bungy jumping the next day. I was alittle disappointed to hear that since Thomas and I had planned to go bungy jumping the next day.

Well, we woke up bright and early the next morning. We were not bothered on our street, but we thought it best to move early in case anybody was coming. Thomas decided he wanted a shower bad enough that he was going to go for a dip in the lake. Let me just say that I believe it was this morning that we woke up and it was 1 degree outside (now that I think about it, it was also probably 1 degree inside too since our van didn't have a heater running through the night or anything). Anyways, so Thomas took a bath in water so cold I can't imagine, all the while I video taped it laughing. Then we swung by the bungy jumping office to see if anybody had cancelled. It turned out there were exactly 2 spots left for just the time slot we wanted. So... We did it. We had to check back in at 2 so until then we decide to hike Queenstown Hill. Again, majestic view at the top, awesome hike, you know the story. Haha. There was such grandeur there. Anyways, we finished our hike, made some lunch, and walked back to the bungy jumping center where they prepared us. Soon we were hopping on a bus and being driven to the location.

Now, again, I should give you some side information. Thomas and I had decided to do the Nevis bungy jump. This being the 2nd Gnarliest bungy jump in the world. It is a 134 metre fall which is 144 yards I believe. It is an 8.5 second freefall while going over 80 mph. You achieve 80 mph in the about 1.1 seconds. Its done over a river and at the bottom you are only about 25 feet from the ground after falling for 8 seconds. I was fine, until I got there and saw it. For this bungy you have to get in a Gondola and then get taken out to a platform that is just dangling there 140 metres over the gorge suspended by 2 wires. They do it by heaviest to lightest, and so that meant that Thomas was first. However since I was his friend and sent out there with him, it also means that I was 2nd even though I was probably the lightest in the group. Once we got off the gondola and were standing in the platform is when it really hits you. Not to mention they put a glass floor in the base of the gondola so you can see just how far down it is. Watching other people jump you realize just how long 8 seconds is. 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... Well, as Thomas got suited up I watched the group that was in front of us jump. As all these tiny girls walked up to the edge and jumped I thought "Alright, not a problem, I can do this". So by the time Thomas was about to go I thought I was good to go. But then they took me to the front and strapped me in. While I was being loaded Thomas was pulled back up. I only saw him for a minute before my attention was focused on the 134 metre plunge I was about to do. When I walked up to the ledge and looked down said, "Oh Shit!" and then thought "nope, not happening" But then seconds later I was somehow falling without anything beneath me. I don't really remember the act of jumping, but somehow I did it. And 8 seconds later I was estatic, that and singing freefalling at the top of my lungs. What a rush it was, and even though it was only 8 seconds and very expensive, it was kind of one of those character building things. I'd gladly do it again in an instant.


Not only was it fun, we met some really cool people who jumped with us that we went out with that night. The next day was all a bit of a shazy day after a late night with several Norwegians. But we drove on to Dunedin as planned. Once there we met up with a CS friend of Thomas's and I went to the swimming pool to have a soak and a shower. That night we parked by the beach and hit the sack. The next day we tooled around Dunedin, seeing the sights and sounds. We explode the University of Otago and the Otago Museum. That night we met up with some other CSer's who invite us to a Muffin Party. So we all made muffins, and then went to some guys house and shared muffins while watching Troll 2 (Definitely the best bad movie of all time. Made even better by the fact that I don't think they ever made a Troll 1.) and playing Go. (A side note, I never thought I'd like a pumpkin and cream cheese muffin, but surprisingly good.) That night we were able to sleep at the CSer's house. So on Saturday, we left Dunedin mid day, and head up the coast back to Chch. Along the way we stopped to see penguins and seals, not to mention Omaru which had an incredible, untouched, Victorian Downtown. There you could still find an authentic Bookbinding business still going. It was pretty neat. Finally though we pulled into Chch and parked the van in the front yard of our friends.

The last day of our trip, Saturday was spent roaming Chch. It was a beautiful day. We went to a market, and watched a couple games of chess on the life size chess board in Cathedral Sq. we returned the van, and celebrated out trip at a micro brewery. Then it was back to Paul's (our friend) for dinner. After dinner one more road trip to see the port of Chch and the city from a great overlook. The next morning it was up at 5:30, at the airport by 6, and back in Auckland by 8:30AM.

Sunday was spent recooperating from our trip and relaxing.

Now to be brief about this past week.

On monday I organized an improv session even though classes were over. It went well. Not many left for me though.

On Tuesday I went and picked up the Wire (a tv series) for Liegh and Christoph, and we watched that all night. Also on Tuesday, Leigh and I gave Yannick a flu shot which meant we had to take him to the doctors and physically restrain him while the doctor gave him the shot. He knew what was coming, and put up a good fight, but finally he resigned himself to it and we were successful. It was the most physical I'd ever had to be with him though. That night he had a siezure and fell off his excersize machine hitting his head pretty hard. But he recovered quickly and was alright.

Wed. I went to CS as usual without much to report.

On Thursday I watched Yannik all night. He started to get sick, and his allergies were acting up which I knew wasn't a good sign.

So on Friday Yannik stayed home all day, and I got to watch him. It wasn't to bad though. That night I went to a goodbye get together for a friend of mine, Vikram.

On Saturday, I went to a goodbye picnic for German Manny Christoph. We did it in Western Springs and had a great day. It was warm, and we had a bbq and everything. Fantastic. Afterwards we all headed over to the big house and continued there. The next morning I was still in the big house after crashing there. So a friend and I decided to grab a bite to eat and see a movie on such a gray day. So we went and saw Brothers. It was a very good movie. It was hard to watch at times I thought but a really good film. I love Jake Gyllenhaal.

So thats been it for me recently. Sorry it probably takes you guys two weeks just to read one of my entries. Well sorry. I only have 17 days left of work now. Won't be long guys. Love you all. And I miss you. Congrats to all the recent UVA grads.

Wes