Sorry for making fun of how cold it is back home.
I swear that this video was taken in Maui on Christmas morning. No beautiful sunrise for me.
And yes, we will be releasing a cd very soon.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Baby it's cold outside
I hear that it's been wicked evil cold back home.
I feel for you.
I mean, I was out for dinner the other night after hiking through a bamboo forest and jumping from waterfalls all afternoon. And it was so cold we commented several times how we wished we had a light sweater.
I love it here.
I feel for you.
I mean, I was out for dinner the other night after hiking through a bamboo forest and jumping from waterfalls all afternoon. And it was so cold we commented several times how we wished we had a light sweater.
I love it here.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Is that a lock on that closed gate?
Still loving it here. I have had so many fantastic experiences and am very thankful for them. I shall now tell you about an excursion I took on Tuesday evening.
A friend and I decided to meet in Kahului to hang out one evening. It's about a 45 minute bus ride for me from Kihei to Kahului. I was supposed to catch the 5:44 bus and be there around 6:30. I have been trying to sincerely make an effort to talk to people that I come in contact with throughout the day. I've had some successful attempts. Like the 20 minute chat with the cutest old lady by the bus stop on her way home from church. Coincidentally it was the same church I'd attended that morning so we had lots to chat about. She also told me of her time spent being forced to work for the Germans during the war and how it felt to come to the USA later in life. Also successful was the lovely conversation on the plane on my way home from Oahu two weekends ago with a Philipino woman on her way to Maui to visit her husband. They've been here for years but always living on separate islands due to their work situations. I've also had two encounters where I've either been totally creeped out (like the MUCH older guy at the airport who basically invited me to the Big Island to drink Pina Colodas and see the sights with him - gross) or been made to miss the bus. As in the case I am about to explain.
So I get to the bus stop at about 5:35 which is way early but you just never know with these buses. Sometimes they are late, sometimes they are early. There is an older black man sitting on the bench. The only reason that I mention the colour of his skin is because he called me "Sista" when I sat down and that was seriously cool and would have sounded completely different coming from a white person. It was awesome. Anyway. We were having a good conversation for the most part. He swore a bit and was kind of negative about the cops and his previous job, but I dug his accent and he's a reggae musician and had good stories. Then a bus pulled up.
I got up to get on. Now before I pay, I always tell the driver my destination to check that I'm on the right bus. So I'm sure I would have quickly realised it wasn't the bus I wanted. Instead this guy tells me it's not the bus I'm looking for. I looked at the bus schedule in my hands, argued with him for a moment and then agreed. He was right and it was the wrong bus. I felt kind of sheepish for having argued but he didn't seem to care so we continued our conversation. Then another bus pulled up with no sign and no bus number on it, only the word Aloha on the digital screen where the route would usually be printed. I again was going to at least go check with the driver but Mr. Reggae music is like, "No girl, chill. You're bus is the big green one. This ain't the right one." Having felt silly for arguing before, wanting to be Maui-ish and just hang loose, and (more importantly) knowing that in the past, yes, it always has been a big green bus, I stayed put. By the time the next bus (not my route) came so I could talk to the driver it was 6:10 and she told me I'd totally missed my bus. It was the Aloha one. Apparently the real bus had a breakdown and the little Aloha one was covering. Sigh. Buses only come once per hour. Bummer.
So, at 7:30pm I finally made it to the mall in Kahului where the buses all stop. After listening to some Christmas carols on the Ukulele (just imagine "Carol of the Bells" on the Ukulele. It was kind of weirdly good) we decided to go hang out at a cool park. It was maybe 8:30 or so by now. We played on the monkey bars, walked around and saw a stray dog and then laid on the grass to watch the stars which are pretty good here. Such a great evening. Sometime after 10:00 I decided I'd better get him to take me back to Kihei so I could get some sleep before work the next morning. Plus it was cold. And I had to pee.
The problem was, we entered on one side of the park that had no sign telling us that the park gates are closed and locked at 10:00pm. We quickly discovered that though. We were locked in the park. We also quickly discovered that the washrooms were locked as well.
We did some exploring to see if we could find any spot to squeeze the car out but everything was definitely locked. There was one spot we thought we could fit through the trees, but the ditch on the other side was very deep and it was extremely possible that we'd get stuck. During our exploration to find an escape route we came across the single sign (even though there are three possible entry points) telling us that the gates are locked from 10:00pm until 7:00am. In Maui, 7:00am doesn't necessarily mean 7:00am. It could mean 7:10 or even 7:20. I had to be at work by 7:30. And it was a half hour drive yet once we finally got out. And I'd then be arriving to a morning devotional meeting not only late but in the same clothes as the night before without having brushed my teeth or combed my hair. Which just might look kind of bad. But, it was starting to seem like spending the night in the park might be the only option. And hey, it's not like I haven't slept in a car before (Maryanne, that's still a great memory). Then my friend thought of phoning the cops. I'd heard lots of bad things about the cops (some of them that very night from my reggae-bus-stop friend) so I didn't figure they'd help us. But they totally did. They tracked down the park's security guard and he told them to tell us about the two posts that are just wide enough to squeeze a car through. We only had to drive up a curb, cross a grassy field, sneak through YMCA's adjacent property, drive along their sidewalk, squeeze through the posts and then go down a big curb and pull a u-turn across a busy street. It was a fun adventure!
We were famished (it was around 1:30am by now as it took us awhile to escape), having not previously had dinner. And, I still had to pee. We tried to find an all night IHOP but no luck. So we went to Safeway and got hummus, seasoned bread and a carrot and had a late night feast in the car. Then we finally drove to Kihei and I got just enough sleep to be fresh-faced in the morning and tell the ladies at the devotional my story. It was great fun and I'm glad to have had the experience! How fun.
A friend and I decided to meet in Kahului to hang out one evening. It's about a 45 minute bus ride for me from Kihei to Kahului. I was supposed to catch the 5:44 bus and be there around 6:30. I have been trying to sincerely make an effort to talk to people that I come in contact with throughout the day. I've had some successful attempts. Like the 20 minute chat with the cutest old lady by the bus stop on her way home from church. Coincidentally it was the same church I'd attended that morning so we had lots to chat about. She also told me of her time spent being forced to work for the Germans during the war and how it felt to come to the USA later in life. Also successful was the lovely conversation on the plane on my way home from Oahu two weekends ago with a Philipino woman on her way to Maui to visit her husband. They've been here for years but always living on separate islands due to their work situations. I've also had two encounters where I've either been totally creeped out (like the MUCH older guy at the airport who basically invited me to the Big Island to drink Pina Colodas and see the sights with him - gross) or been made to miss the bus. As in the case I am about to explain.
So I get to the bus stop at about 5:35 which is way early but you just never know with these buses. Sometimes they are late, sometimes they are early. There is an older black man sitting on the bench. The only reason that I mention the colour of his skin is because he called me "Sista" when I sat down and that was seriously cool and would have sounded completely different coming from a white person. It was awesome. Anyway. We were having a good conversation for the most part. He swore a bit and was kind of negative about the cops and his previous job, but I dug his accent and he's a reggae musician and had good stories. Then a bus pulled up.
I got up to get on. Now before I pay, I always tell the driver my destination to check that I'm on the right bus. So I'm sure I would have quickly realised it wasn't the bus I wanted. Instead this guy tells me it's not the bus I'm looking for. I looked at the bus schedule in my hands, argued with him for a moment and then agreed. He was right and it was the wrong bus. I felt kind of sheepish for having argued but he didn't seem to care so we continued our conversation. Then another bus pulled up with no sign and no bus number on it, only the word Aloha on the digital screen where the route would usually be printed. I again was going to at least go check with the driver but Mr. Reggae music is like, "No girl, chill. You're bus is the big green one. This ain't the right one." Having felt silly for arguing before, wanting to be Maui-ish and just hang loose, and (more importantly) knowing that in the past, yes, it always has been a big green bus, I stayed put. By the time the next bus (not my route) came so I could talk to the driver it was 6:10 and she told me I'd totally missed my bus. It was the Aloha one. Apparently the real bus had a breakdown and the little Aloha one was covering. Sigh. Buses only come once per hour. Bummer.
So, at 7:30pm I finally made it to the mall in Kahului where the buses all stop. After listening to some Christmas carols on the Ukulele (just imagine "Carol of the Bells" on the Ukulele. It was kind of weirdly good) we decided to go hang out at a cool park. It was maybe 8:30 or so by now. We played on the monkey bars, walked around and saw a stray dog and then laid on the grass to watch the stars which are pretty good here. Such a great evening. Sometime after 10:00 I decided I'd better get him to take me back to Kihei so I could get some sleep before work the next morning. Plus it was cold. And I had to pee.
The problem was, we entered on one side of the park that had no sign telling us that the park gates are closed and locked at 10:00pm. We quickly discovered that though. We were locked in the park. We also quickly discovered that the washrooms were locked as well.
We did some exploring to see if we could find any spot to squeeze the car out but everything was definitely locked. There was one spot we thought we could fit through the trees, but the ditch on the other side was very deep and it was extremely possible that we'd get stuck. During our exploration to find an escape route we came across the single sign (even though there are three possible entry points) telling us that the gates are locked from 10:00pm until 7:00am. In Maui, 7:00am doesn't necessarily mean 7:00am. It could mean 7:10 or even 7:20. I had to be at work by 7:30. And it was a half hour drive yet once we finally got out. And I'd then be arriving to a morning devotional meeting not only late but in the same clothes as the night before without having brushed my teeth or combed my hair. Which just might look kind of bad. But, it was starting to seem like spending the night in the park might be the only option. And hey, it's not like I haven't slept in a car before (Maryanne, that's still a great memory). Then my friend thought of phoning the cops. I'd heard lots of bad things about the cops (some of them that very night from my reggae-bus-stop friend) so I didn't figure they'd help us. But they totally did. They tracked down the park's security guard and he told them to tell us about the two posts that are just wide enough to squeeze a car through. We only had to drive up a curb, cross a grassy field, sneak through YMCA's adjacent property, drive along their sidewalk, squeeze through the posts and then go down a big curb and pull a u-turn across a busy street. It was a fun adventure!
We were famished (it was around 1:30am by now as it took us awhile to escape), having not previously had dinner. And, I still had to pee. We tried to find an all night IHOP but no luck. So we went to Safeway and got hummus, seasoned bread and a carrot and had a late night feast in the car. Then we finally drove to Kihei and I got just enough sleep to be fresh-faced in the morning and tell the ladies at the devotional my story. It was great fun and I'm glad to have had the experience! How fun.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Camping in Hana
Having a great time! Between camping at Hana, celebrating birthdays with food and song, spending Thanksgiving with new friends, and watching the stars while sitting next to the ocean, I have no complaints.
I do, however, have no time to sleep. And I've got to be up for another trip to Hana tomorrow so I must go to bed now. But I will leave you with a quick photo explination of my camping trip from two weeks ago.
The drive to Hana is the whole point. Getting to Hana is cool but it's the drive that makes it worth going. There are all kinds of waterfalls and pretty things along the way like this.
A bit of car sickness meant many stops. But no complaints from me because look at where we stopped!!
The guys foraged for coconuts (which we later ate).
We had a feast for dinner and then went fishing by moonlight on the rocks. See the part that is sticking up from the water at the end? That's where we were at a lower tide. (Scary to see it covered with water in daylight the next day.) Because a few of us were "nervous" about how close we were to the water we backed up and sang any church song that had a round that we could think of for about an hour. It was such an uplifing evening and so beautiful. The moon was a night past being full and provided plenty of light.
We packed up the next morning so we could be on our way to the 7 Sacred Pools.
First we had some breakfast and ate those coconuts I mentioned previously.
Everything is so lush. It's hard to take in so much beauty.
We spent the morning jumping into the lower pools. We even found a natural rock waterslide that entertained us for awhile.
Then it was time to go home. This is a VERY common sign to see.
We took a different way around the back and got to see some amazing views.
It was a truly fantastic and refreshing weekend.
I do, however, have no time to sleep. And I've got to be up for another trip to Hana tomorrow so I must go to bed now. But I will leave you with a quick photo explination of my camping trip from two weeks ago.
The drive to Hana is the whole point. Getting to Hana is cool but it's the drive that makes it worth going. There are all kinds of waterfalls and pretty things along the way like this.
A bit of car sickness meant many stops. But no complaints from me because look at where we stopped!!
The guys foraged for coconuts (which we later ate).
We had a feast for dinner and then went fishing by moonlight on the rocks. See the part that is sticking up from the water at the end? That's where we were at a lower tide. (Scary to see it covered with water in daylight the next day.) Because a few of us were "nervous" about how close we were to the water we backed up and sang any church song that had a round that we could think of for about an hour. It was such an uplifing evening and so beautiful. The moon was a night past being full and provided plenty of light.
We packed up the next morning so we could be on our way to the 7 Sacred Pools.
First we had some breakfast and ate those coconuts I mentioned previously.
Everything is so lush. It's hard to take in so much beauty.
We spent the morning jumping into the lower pools. We even found a natural rock waterslide that entertained us for awhile.
Then it was time to go home. This is a VERY common sign to see.
We took a different way around the back and got to see some amazing views.
It was a truly fantastic and refreshing weekend.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Maui for real
November 22:
This should have been posted two weeks ago but I forgot that I hadn't finished it. I have been so busy that I have not made blogging a priority at all.
November 4:
I've got 6 minutes to try to tell you about the most amazing place I've ever been. I went on a hike this weekend with some new acquaintences that will hopefully turn into friends by the end of this 3 month adventure. It was to a bamboo forest part way up the Hana road (but not the really popular one that everyone goes to near the 7 Sacred Pools). This one did not have a sign. It was a little hole in the bamboo at the side of the road that you could duck into.
This should have been posted two weeks ago but I forgot that I hadn't finished it. I have been so busy that I have not made blogging a priority at all.
November 4:
I've got 6 minutes to try to tell you about the most amazing place I've ever been. I went on a hike this weekend with some new acquaintences that will hopefully turn into friends by the end of this 3 month adventure. It was to a bamboo forest part way up the Hana road (but not the really popular one that everyone goes to near the 7 Sacred Pools). This one did not have a sign. It was a little hole in the bamboo at the side of the road that you could duck into.
I find bamboo forests so peaceful. They are silent and cool and shady. It feels like it must be getting dark outside, even on a sunny day. Part of the hike also involved walking across rocks and through streambeds which was tricky in it's own way. 
We had to climb some small rockfaces using ropes and helping* each other get over the top.
After walking for 45/50 minutes we reached the end of the "trail". There was a little channel of water leading around a corner and even though I did not have my bathing suit on (a mistake I will not repeat again - when hiking in Maui, always wear a bathing suit under your clothes**) I jumped fully clothed into the water because I realised that this was an experience that I would regret missing if I did not.
As we rounded the corner my jaw dropped in awe. I was surrounded by 360 degrees of 50-70 foot high absolutely lush, vegetation-covered cliffs. A small waterfall was falling ahead and to the side water was dripping from an overhang in such a way as to form raindrops. I had to tread water for awhile under the overhang and get "rained" on because it was so lovely. We climbed up the rocks beside the waterfall and arrived at another pool that had horse-shoe shaped vegetation-covered cliffs and an even bigger waterfall.The beautiful paradise picture I had had in my head of what Maui should be was realised in that moment. On the way back to the lower pool we saved some time climbing down by simply jumping the twelve feet into the water.
I am in love with this place.
* Apparently I had 2 dirty handprints right on my rear end because the ropes swung out while I was trying to climb and some of the spotters were trying to keep me steady. I have no idea whose handprints they were. Seems kind of disreputable to not even know whose handprints are on one's own bottom.
** Except possibly when hiking up the volcano Haleakala. Don't know how many waterfalls and pools I will find up there. But even though I won't wear my suit, I will probably through it into my bag. Just in case.
As we rounded the corner my jaw dropped in awe. I was surrounded by 360 degrees of 50-70 foot high absolutely lush, vegetation-covered cliffs. A small waterfall was falling ahead and to the side water was dripping from an overhang in such a way as to form raindrops. I had to tread water for awhile under the overhang and get "rained" on because it was so lovely. We climbed up the rocks beside the waterfall and arrived at another pool that had horse-shoe shaped vegetation-covered cliffs and an even bigger waterfall.The beautiful paradise picture I had had in my head of what Maui should be was realised in that moment. On the way back to the lower pool we saved some time climbing down by simply jumping the twelve feet into the water.
I am in love with this place.
* Apparently I had 2 dirty handprints right on my rear end because the ropes swung out while I was trying to climb and some of the spotters were trying to keep me steady. I have no idea whose handprints they were. Seems kind of disreputable to not even know whose handprints are on one's own bottom.
** Except possibly when hiking up the volcano Haleakala. Don't know how many waterfalls and pools I will find up there. But even though I won't wear my suit, I will probably through it into my bag. Just in case.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Lava fields and ukuleles
Well, I've been busy. Awesomely busy. Cleaning a beautiful training facility, boogie boarding at the beach, and enjoying paradise busy. I've also been watering all the indoor plants. Most of us get assigned extra jobs and mine is that of the Plant Girl. It's a pretty sweet deal because I get to take all of Wednesday morning to get the watering done (and fight the mealybug fight). While doing so, I'm on my own schedule and I can visit with anyone I run into. Plus I'm in all the nicest areas of the building. When I finally replace my camera (which had a tragic and early death last week) I will show you pictures of the atriums. They are awesome and feel quite peaceful. There is a little hole in the roof so that when it rains (which isn't often actually. I didn't realise Kihei is a desert) it rains right inside the building. It's like Hogwarts' enchanted ceiling!!!! Anyway, Wednesday is our half day so it pretty much feels like an entire day off when the only work I do is hang out with plants and walk around. Pretty much great.
We heard rumors of black billygoats living in the area and were thrilled to witness the truth in that tale! I didn't get any shots of the baby goats but they were adorable. I was surprised how loud the goats were. Their noise is what originally alerted us to their presence.
Views through trees are always favourites of mine.
After we had hiked out to the becon, we stopped by Big Beach. It's a beautiful beach but with powerful waves. It was fairly calm this day...
And I saw my first mongoose in the parking lot (actually there are two hiding in the grass). I have vague memories of a book. Rikki Ticky or something like that? I believe it involves a mongoose and a cobra.
I went to Big Beach again this past Wednesday. Not so calm. In fact, the beaches just down the road were red flagged. If we'd known, I don't think we would have gone in the water. But we didn't know and we did go in the water. And I honestly think that the waves at times were 6 feet high. It's a fairly dangerous beach because the waves break right at the shore. If you get caught in the break it can be nasty. I was there with a couple of ladies and one smart one sat on the sand and refused to enter the water. The other and myself went running in and paid for it. We both have a couple new bruises, several sore spots and I pulled a muscle that I didn't even know I had. Seems to be healing quite nicely though so I might even go on a hike tomorrow through a bamboo forest (during which I am sure I will be devestated that I have not yet replaced my poor dead camera).
Two Wednesday's ago I mentioned I went on a hike in La Perouse Bay through some lava fields out to a light becon. I did have some picture taking potential and I'd like to share with you a few of my favourite shots.
This is a view of the "foothills" of Haleakala which is the volcano that caused all the lava seen here.
The lava flowed all the way into the ocean and makes for a stunning costal walk.
We heard rumors of black billygoats living in the area and were thrilled to witness the truth in that tale! I didn't get any shots of the baby goats but they were adorable. I was surprised how loud the goats were. Their noise is what originally alerted us to their presence.
Views through trees are always favourites of mine.
After we had hiked out to the becon, we stopped by Big Beach. It's a beautiful beach but with powerful waves. It was fairly calm this day...
And I saw my first mongoose in the parking lot (actually there are two hiding in the grass). I have vague memories of a book. Rikki Ticky or something like that? I believe it involves a mongoose and a cobra.
I went to Big Beach again this past Wednesday. Not so calm. In fact, the beaches just down the road were red flagged. If we'd known, I don't think we would have gone in the water. But we didn't know and we did go in the water. And I honestly think that the waves at times were 6 feet high. It's a fairly dangerous beach because the waves break right at the shore. If you get caught in the break it can be nasty. I was there with a couple of ladies and one smart one sat on the sand and refused to enter the water. The other and myself went running in and paid for it. We both have a couple new bruises, several sore spots and I pulled a muscle that I didn't even know I had. Seems to be healing quite nicely though so I might even go on a hike tomorrow through a bamboo forest (during which I am sure I will be devestated that I have not yet replaced my poor dead camera).
Anyway, that's about all I have time for right now. Except that I wanted to post this video of Manoa DNA, a father and sons singing group that played at the ukulele festival I went to a couple of weeks ago.
There is another video I've been trying to post but have had no luck. It is of a female performer called Paula Fuga and she was amazingly fantastic and if I'd had enough cash I would have totally bought her cd. But since I only had $5, I bought some apple bananas instead which I very much enjoyed for the rest of the week in my cereal. I will keep attempting to upload her video because she's not on iTunes and really was quite awesome.
There is another video I've been trying to post but have had no luck. It is of a female performer called Paula Fuga and she was amazingly fantastic and if I'd had enough cash I would have totally bought her cd. But since I only had $5, I bought some apple bananas instead which I very much enjoyed for the rest of the week in my cereal. I will keep attempting to upload her video because she's not on iTunes and really was quite awesome.
I'll have to post again soon to tell you about the Xterra World Championships, the musical I went to tonight (Urinetown) and the coolest sushi restaurant ever. And I don't even like sushi. I'll also try to borrow a camera to give you a tour of Haggai.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
What is wrong with this picture?
So, it's been a week and a day and it's awesome.
I have no complaints (other than that my camera broke and until I can replace it I am missing such amazing pictures!! Sigh).
The other volunteers, though quite a bit older, are so nice. I really like every one of them. The cleaning is repetitive and sometimes works up a sweat (especially when we are cleaning the lanai on the sunny side of the building) but it's such a satisfying feeling to leave a room smelling clean and fresh and know at the end of the day that you worked hard. It is so clean here. I cannot make you understand unless you see it. Carpets in main areas get vacuumed everday at least once (3 times in the dining area). Dusting in main areas - everyday. Telphone recievers, door handles, chair armrests - disinfected everyday. Rooms get cleaned at least 2 or 3 times a week (and these people are not in their rooms much and tend to make their own beds). I have yet to run a vacuum over an area that looked dirty or that makes the noise a vacuum makes when it is sucking up a lot of dirt (I actually like that noise).
You know how at hotels it's always sketchy to sit on the top of the bed because you never know how often it's cleaned? I can tell you that here, it is cleaned often. Every blanket, pillow protector (layer UNDER pillowcase), mattress cover (UNDER bottom sheet) and quilt is cleaned after every participant or volunteer leaves. Sheets and pillowcases, at least once a week. And any clean laundry in the laundry room is covered with a sheet so that no speck of dust will even think about landing on it. Today I had to "dust" all of the light fixtures in the dining hall. Not a single one of them was dusty because it had probably been done within the past 2 days. If someone gets sick here, it is not due to poor sanitation. I think this would be the only place I have ever set foot on that would welcome a health inspector. In fact, they'd probably be like, "Health Inspector, bring it on!" Anyway, it is a very nice atmosphere to be in. And I am well on my way to learning how to perfectly make a bed (which was one of my many goals).
The other day, after our hike through the lava field out to a lighthouse (which turned out to be a light beacon), we stopped by a beautiful beach called Big Beach. Not to be confused with Little Beach. Which is a nude beach. Anyway. The whitest of sand. The kind with no rocks or twigs in it. The kind that the surf churns up because it is so light. But instead of the sand mixing with the wave and looking murky, the blue of the water and the white of the sand are two distinct colours. Amazing. Perfect temperature with just enough of a breeze to play with your hair and freshen the air.
We were making our way down the beach and a lady was walking in the opposite direction. As she approached us she earnestly asked, "What's wrong with this picture?" After a moment of us, I'm sure, shooting her puzzled looks she replied with a heartfelt, "Nothing."
Nothing.
I have no complaints (other than that my camera broke and until I can replace it I am missing such amazing pictures!! Sigh).
The other volunteers, though quite a bit older, are so nice. I really like every one of them. The cleaning is repetitive and sometimes works up a sweat (especially when we are cleaning the lanai on the sunny side of the building) but it's such a satisfying feeling to leave a room smelling clean and fresh and know at the end of the day that you worked hard. It is so clean here. I cannot make you understand unless you see it. Carpets in main areas get vacuumed everday at least once (3 times in the dining area). Dusting in main areas - everyday. Telphone recievers, door handles, chair armrests - disinfected everyday. Rooms get cleaned at least 2 or 3 times a week (and these people are not in their rooms much and tend to make their own beds). I have yet to run a vacuum over an area that looked dirty or that makes the noise a vacuum makes when it is sucking up a lot of dirt (I actually like that noise).
You know how at hotels it's always sketchy to sit on the top of the bed because you never know how often it's cleaned? I can tell you that here, it is cleaned often. Every blanket, pillow protector (layer UNDER pillowcase), mattress cover (UNDER bottom sheet) and quilt is cleaned after every participant or volunteer leaves. Sheets and pillowcases, at least once a week. And any clean laundry in the laundry room is covered with a sheet so that no speck of dust will even think about landing on it. Today I had to "dust" all of the light fixtures in the dining hall. Not a single one of them was dusty because it had probably been done within the past 2 days. If someone gets sick here, it is not due to poor sanitation. I think this would be the only place I have ever set foot on that would welcome a health inspector. In fact, they'd probably be like, "Health Inspector, bring it on!" Anyway, it is a very nice atmosphere to be in. And I am well on my way to learning how to perfectly make a bed (which was one of my many goals).
The other day, after our hike through the lava field out to a lighthouse (which turned out to be a light beacon), we stopped by a beautiful beach called Big Beach. Not to be confused with Little Beach. Which is a nude beach. Anyway. The whitest of sand. The kind with no rocks or twigs in it. The kind that the surf churns up because it is so light. But instead of the sand mixing with the wave and looking murky, the blue of the water and the white of the sand are two distinct colours. Amazing. Perfect temperature with just enough of a breeze to play with your hair and freshen the air.
We were making our way down the beach and a lady was walking in the opposite direction. As she approached us she earnestly asked, "What's wrong with this picture?" After a moment of us, I'm sure, shooting her puzzled looks she replied with a heartfelt, "Nothing."
Nothing.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
I am here!
The first sunset
My little balcony (called a Lanai)
My view of the pool
The first hike was to this place. Trust me, no tourist would be able to get here in a rental car. We had to go through a sugar cane field. So fun.
More stories later. Gotta run or I'll miss my bus. I'm going to the 3rd annual Ukelele Festival in Kahului.
Cheers!
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Travel plans
Whew, I've made so many decisions since that last post so here's a little update. I did go to the adventure race. Here are a couple of pictures of me trying out the zipline before the competitors arrived.
I have also started working at an outdoor clothing/gear store and it is so fun. Last night we had a product knowledge meeting with a particular vendor and instead of just sitting around talking about the product, we were all lent a pair of their top trail running shoes and we went for a run to test them out. Honestly, that is so cool.
And in 9 days, I leave for Maui. For 3 months. I will be volunteering at the Haggai Institute. And enjoying the weather. And running on the beach. And, hopefully, learning to surf. I am really excited to go. I will be living at the institute and cleaning to earn my keep. My goal is to be able to flip a coin on a newly-made bed by the end of my time there.
Anyway, I will keep you posted. And I will try to upload pictures once in awhile since for the first time ever, I will be travelling with my laptop. Do you still have to open them up and turn them on while going through security at the airport?
I have also started working at an outdoor clothing/gear store and it is so fun. Last night we had a product knowledge meeting with a particular vendor and instead of just sitting around talking about the product, we were all lent a pair of their top trail running shoes and we went for a run to test them out. Honestly, that is so cool.
And in 9 days, I leave for Maui. For 3 months. I will be volunteering at the Haggai Institute. And enjoying the weather. And running on the beach. And, hopefully, learning to surf. I am really excited to go. I will be living at the institute and cleaning to earn my keep. My goal is to be able to flip a coin on a newly-made bed by the end of my time there.
Anyway, I will keep you posted. And I will try to upload pictures once in awhile since for the first time ever, I will be travelling with my laptop. Do you still have to open them up and turn them on while going through security at the airport?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Decisions decisions
I hate making decisions.
I like doing things though.
And it really does seem that for a person to do things, they first have to make a decision. So I am trying to make one. Well, actually two. But one is really important and affects my life significantly. Right now, I'll tell you about the other.
So, I am trying to make some new friends. Not becuase I don't like the friends I currently have, but because my closest friends have all recently moved away (or already lived far away) and I find I'm left with a vacancy in my social calendar that re-runs of Three's Company, John and Kate Plus 8, and Star Trek Voyager just aren't filling. So as I said, I want to make some new ones with outdoors-y interests and active lifestyles. And I heard about this really cool adventure race in southern Saskatchewan where teams have to run, bike, swim, canoe, climb, etc. I'm not quite experienced enough to run such a thing but I figured it would be perfect to volunteer at it. I'd meet some new active people and get out of town for a weekend. But of course now that it's approaching I'm terrified that I am going somewhere knowing absolutely NO ONE else. It will either be awesome, or very lonely. Which is why I really want to go to the planning meeting tonight. The meeting could be super cool and I could sit around after and get to know all the people and find someone to car pool with and have a group of almost-friends before I even start! But I also have to be in Calgary tomorrow by 11:00 am. And it's a 6 hour drive to the city limits.
So. Do I skip the meeting and go to this adventure race next week not having met anyone but get to Calgary tonight at a reasonable hour?
Or do I get up early tomorrow (and by early I mean 4:00 am) so I can do both?
Or, do I got part way tonight (to my parents' house) and then still get up early (although only 5:30 instead of 4:00) and finish the drive?
I already decided I can't cancel Calgary so I'd previously narrowed the options down by one. And by simple procrastination I can not do any packing all day so that at 7:00 pm it only makes sense to go to the meeting since I am still in the city. Therefore, I think that I'm going to go with one of the final two options! And I would like to see my parents and borrow their cell phone for the weekend, so I think I will go part way tonight. Wow, I didn't actually expect to make my decision while typing. This has been very productive.
I like doing things though.
And it really does seem that for a person to do things, they first have to make a decision. So I am trying to make one. Well, actually two. But one is really important and affects my life significantly. Right now, I'll tell you about the other.
So, I am trying to make some new friends. Not becuase I don't like the friends I currently have, but because my closest friends have all recently moved away (or already lived far away) and I find I'm left with a vacancy in my social calendar that re-runs of Three's Company, John and Kate Plus 8, and Star Trek Voyager just aren't filling. So as I said, I want to make some new ones with outdoors-y interests and active lifestyles. And I heard about this really cool adventure race in southern Saskatchewan where teams have to run, bike, swim, canoe, climb, etc. I'm not quite experienced enough to run such a thing but I figured it would be perfect to volunteer at it. I'd meet some new active people and get out of town for a weekend. But of course now that it's approaching I'm terrified that I am going somewhere knowing absolutely NO ONE else. It will either be awesome, or very lonely. Which is why I really want to go to the planning meeting tonight. The meeting could be super cool and I could sit around after and get to know all the people and find someone to car pool with and have a group of almost-friends before I even start! But I also have to be in Calgary tomorrow by 11:00 am. And it's a 6 hour drive to the city limits.
So. Do I skip the meeting and go to this adventure race next week not having met anyone but get to Calgary tonight at a reasonable hour?
Or do I get up early tomorrow (and by early I mean 4:00 am) so I can do both?
Or, do I got part way tonight (to my parents' house) and then still get up early (although only 5:30 instead of 4:00) and finish the drive?
I already decided I can't cancel Calgary so I'd previously narrowed the options down by one. And by simple procrastination I can not do any packing all day so that at 7:00 pm it only makes sense to go to the meeting since I am still in the city. Therefore, I think that I'm going to go with one of the final two options! And I would like to see my parents and borrow their cell phone for the weekend, so I think I will go part way tonight. Wow, I didn't actually expect to make my decision while typing. This has been very productive.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
A new path
I have quit my job.
No, I don't have anything lined up for afterward yet.
I know. It is so unlike me. But I feel good about the decision. And now the entire world is open to me. I've often felt my biggest problem is narrowing down choices. Now I have a deadline (Septemberish - when my savings start to run out) which I am hoping will motivate me. Back to school, humanitarian work, traveling, starting a business, getting another "regular" job - so many choices. All I know is that I want to be open to all possibilities and explore every option. And I want to take the summer to relax and work on my yard and house and find a bit of the old Shannon that's been lost in the past five years.
I have about a month left at my job to tie up loose ends, get everything in order and say goodbye. Yesterday everyone in the office went on a big golf tournament as a wellness event of sorts. It was a fantastic day and lots of fun. I can't say my golfing was all that fantastic though - let's just say my mental game was much better than my physical game. Anyway, afterward a few of us went to sing kareoke with some of the people we'd met that day. I said from the start that I would not sing, that I was more of a supporter of kareoke than a participator. But as the evening wore on and I looked through the lists of possible songs I found one that I thought I could manage. But I was way too scared. I hate singing popular songs in front of people. The key is usually all wrong and I don't know the tunes of the verses for most songs. But one of my friends said, "Shannon, you should sing it. You should. You want to make these changes in your life and you said you'd be open to new possibilities. I really think you should sing this song. It doesn't matter how well you do - you will not see most of these people ever again, and the ones that you do will only remember that you were fun." She was so right. I kept thinking that if I was not brave enough to get up and sing a silly song than how could I think I was brave enough to completely change my career.
So I did it. It wasn't that good, but it doesn't matter. It was fun and I felt really good afterward.
And now it's time to do some hard work and knock on some doors to see which ones will open.
No, I don't have anything lined up for afterward yet.
I know. It is so unlike me. But I feel good about the decision. And now the entire world is open to me. I've often felt my biggest problem is narrowing down choices. Now I have a deadline (Septemberish - when my savings start to run out) which I am hoping will motivate me. Back to school, humanitarian work, traveling, starting a business, getting another "regular" job - so many choices. All I know is that I want to be open to all possibilities and explore every option. And I want to take the summer to relax and work on my yard and house and find a bit of the old Shannon that's been lost in the past five years.
I have about a month left at my job to tie up loose ends, get everything in order and say goodbye. Yesterday everyone in the office went on a big golf tournament as a wellness event of sorts. It was a fantastic day and lots of fun. I can't say my golfing was all that fantastic though - let's just say my mental game was much better than my physical game. Anyway, afterward a few of us went to sing kareoke with some of the people we'd met that day. I said from the start that I would not sing, that I was more of a supporter of kareoke than a participator. But as the evening wore on and I looked through the lists of possible songs I found one that I thought I could manage. But I was way too scared. I hate singing popular songs in front of people. The key is usually all wrong and I don't know the tunes of the verses for most songs. But one of my friends said, "Shannon, you should sing it. You should. You want to make these changes in your life and you said you'd be open to new possibilities. I really think you should sing this song. It doesn't matter how well you do - you will not see most of these people ever again, and the ones that you do will only remember that you were fun." She was so right. I kept thinking that if I was not brave enough to get up and sing a silly song than how could I think I was brave enough to completely change my career.
So I did it. It wasn't that good, but it doesn't matter. It was fun and I felt really good afterward.
And now it's time to do some hard work and knock on some doors to see which ones will open.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
The final day
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm such a procrastinator.
So the last full day in New Zealand we were at the YHA hostel in Opoutere. It is a town in the Coromandel Peninsula. We woke up ridiculous early to drive to Hot Water Beach.
It is a beach with magma warmed rocks under the surface that heats the sand up. You dig a hole at low tide, let it fill with water and viola! Hot tub on the beach. And I mean hot. The sand burns the bum that's for sure. You have to go within an hour or so of low tide (thus the getting up early). We were pretty tired so we drove back to the hostel and napped for a couple hours. The fast pace of the month was catching up with us. In the afternoon we did a bit of kayaking and then hiked to Opoutere Beach. It was deserted. Jess took off to explore the other side of the beach so I was by my lonesome with the exception of one guy who was taking some pictures. We ended up chatting for about an hour. It was such an insightful conversation. All these things that I'd been thinking about and wondering, that Jess had got me trying to sort out, it was like it all became clear while I was talking to this person who was completely removed from my life. It was kinda cool. Anyway, I met up with Jess a little while later and we wandered until supper. She decided on one last adventure and tried to walk through the little cove near the hostel since it was low tide. I wanted to see the forest again so we went our seperate ways. When I saw her again, she was covered in mud. Guess that cove was practically like quicksand. But she made it through in the end. I made our last supper of the trip. It was our usual - tuna, pasta and boiled carrots. Another traveller gave us a few peppers and zucchini to add to our "feast". It wasn't much, but it wasn't bad. I have to tell you, since I've been back I've already had tuna and pasta twice. Voluntarily. It really is quite good. I spent the rest of the evening packing for our flight to Fiji.
The next morning we drove to Auckland with a quick stop in Thames to pick up some souvenirs since we pretty much had not bought any yet. I mostly bought a New Zealand made brand of plastic food storage containers. Weird choice for souvenirs but it was honestly my favourite thing I'd seen while there and a heck of a lot better than spending $8 on fridge magnets that weren't that cute. So yes, I went to New Zealand for a month and all my mom got was essentially a New Zealand version of tupperware.
When we got to Fiji we were taken to the First Landing Resort. With the cyclone season being in effect, the beach was looking a little rough, but we had a super cute beachfront bure (bure = hut). This was our view
Since it pretty much nothing but poured for the first 3 days we were glad we'd gotten a nice room. Now, Jess was the sleeper of our little duo. She went to bed earlier than me at night and slept later than me in the morning. She even caught the occasional nap during the day. I think she almost thought it was unhealthy how much less I slept than her. But once we got to Fiji, I slept. I'd sleep for 12 hours at night and nap during the day. She was a little shocked. I tried to explain that the reason was while in New Zealand there was something to do every morning that I did not want to miss. But in Fiji, all we had on the schedule was sleeping, eating and relaxing. So I did. A lot. And it was wonderful. The food was pretty incredible at the resort. Not that tuna and pasta doesn't do it for me, but this was better. 
Note that Jess's meal came in a coconut! During the meal there was usually a few of the workers playing and singing for us. We even caught a couple of shows with dancing and fire tricks. So neat. As great as it was, I was going a bit stir crazy by the 4th day. So it was extremely timely that we finally got some sun for a couple of hours in the afternoon! We layed by the pool and attended a kava ceremony. Now the cool thing about kava is that in university I did a paper on it for a drug plants class but of course had never tried it since I'm pretty sure it's illegal in Canada. If you check out the effects in the Wikipedia page, we got to the numb tongue and throat stage. We only drank 2 coconut shells of a fairly dilute brew. It was sure an interesting taste though. The Fijians LOVE their kava and to turn it down is quite rude. So I didn't. The next day our flight home was not until 10 in the evening so I booked myself on a sailing trip to a deserted island with an Austrailian/Canadian family in our resort.
Jess decided to spend the day at the resort. I had such a good time. I visited with my new friends and listened to music on the sailing yacht.
Once we got to the island I went snorkelling and participated in another kava ceremony (I told you, it's rude to say no), got a massage and just lay on the beach. I even hiked to a part where I couldn't see or hear anyone else. Quite the experience.
It was so sad to have to come home. I could have stayed for another 5 months easy. And I definately plan to go back.
So the last full day in New Zealand we were at the YHA hostel in Opoutere. It is a town in the Coromandel Peninsula. We woke up ridiculous early to drive to Hot Water Beach.
It is a beach with magma warmed rocks under the surface that heats the sand up. You dig a hole at low tide, let it fill with water and viola! Hot tub on the beach. And I mean hot. The sand burns the bum that's for sure. You have to go within an hour or so of low tide (thus the getting up early). We were pretty tired so we drove back to the hostel and napped for a couple hours. The fast pace of the month was catching up with us. In the afternoon we did a bit of kayaking and then hiked to Opoutere Beach. It was deserted. Jess took off to explore the other side of the beach so I was by my lonesome with the exception of one guy who was taking some pictures. We ended up chatting for about an hour. It was such an insightful conversation. All these things that I'd been thinking about and wondering, that Jess had got me trying to sort out, it was like it all became clear while I was talking to this person who was completely removed from my life. It was kinda cool. Anyway, I met up with Jess a little while later and we wandered until supper. She decided on one last adventure and tried to walk through the little cove near the hostel since it was low tide. I wanted to see the forest again so we went our seperate ways. When I saw her again, she was covered in mud. Guess that cove was practically like quicksand. But she made it through in the end. I made our last supper of the trip. It was our usual - tuna, pasta and boiled carrots. Another traveller gave us a few peppers and zucchini to add to our "feast". It wasn't much, but it wasn't bad. I have to tell you, since I've been back I've already had tuna and pasta twice. Voluntarily. It really is quite good. I spent the rest of the evening packing for our flight to Fiji. The next morning we drove to Auckland with a quick stop in Thames to pick up some souvenirs since we pretty much had not bought any yet. I mostly bought a New Zealand made brand of plastic food storage containers. Weird choice for souvenirs but it was honestly my favourite thing I'd seen while there and a heck of a lot better than spending $8 on fridge magnets that weren't that cute. So yes, I went to New Zealand for a month and all my mom got was essentially a New Zealand version of tupperware.
When we got to Fiji we were taken to the First Landing Resort. With the cyclone season being in effect, the beach was looking a little rough, but we had a super cute beachfront bure (bure = hut). This was our view
Since it pretty much nothing but poured for the first 3 days we were glad we'd gotten a nice room. Now, Jess was the sleeper of our little duo. She went to bed earlier than me at night and slept later than me in the morning. She even caught the occasional nap during the day. I think she almost thought it was unhealthy how much less I slept than her. But once we got to Fiji, I slept. I'd sleep for 12 hours at night and nap during the day. She was a little shocked. I tried to explain that the reason was while in New Zealand there was something to do every morning that I did not want to miss. But in Fiji, all we had on the schedule was sleeping, eating and relaxing. So I did. A lot. And it was wonderful. The food was pretty incredible at the resort. Not that tuna and pasta doesn't do it for me, but this was better. 
Note that Jess's meal came in a coconut! During the meal there was usually a few of the workers playing and singing for us. We even caught a couple of shows with dancing and fire tricks. So neat. As great as it was, I was going a bit stir crazy by the 4th day. So it was extremely timely that we finally got some sun for a couple of hours in the afternoon! We layed by the pool and attended a kava ceremony. Now the cool thing about kava is that in university I did a paper on it for a drug plants class but of course had never tried it since I'm pretty sure it's illegal in Canada. If you check out the effects in the Wikipedia page, we got to the numb tongue and throat stage. We only drank 2 coconut shells of a fairly dilute brew. It was sure an interesting taste though. The Fijians LOVE their kava and to turn it down is quite rude. So I didn't. The next day our flight home was not until 10 in the evening so I booked myself on a sailing trip to a deserted island with an Austrailian/Canadian family in our resort.
Jess decided to spend the day at the resort. I had such a good time. I visited with my new friends and listened to music on the sailing yacht.
Once we got to the island I went snorkelling and participated in another kava ceremony (I told you, it's rude to say no), got a massage and just lay on the beach. I even hiked to a part where I couldn't see or hear anyone else. Quite the experience.
It was so sad to have to come home. I could have stayed for another 5 months easy. And I definately plan to go back.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The wild day
So for those of you waiting on the edge of their seats to read about the rest of my trip (mom), here is the day after the tongariro. now you get pictures!
The day after our crazy adventure in Tongariro National Park we filled our day with fun. On the way to Taupo I made us stop to take this picture. The area is known for skiing and somebody actually drew those on. From the highway driving at top speed (which for me was usually around 70 or 80 - those twisty roads are scary) it looked like the sign had been made this way. And in the backgroud are the mountains we hiked up the previous day.
Then we went to Huka Falls. I was talking to a guy from Christchurch when we were on the Routeburn Track who recommended that we stop there. But with his accent (he was a Scandinavian living in New Zealand - it was all screwed up) I thought he said "Hooker Falls." He assured me it was nothing of the kind, so Jess and I went there.
So pretty. The water was so blue.
Then we went to Rotorua, had dinner at a place called "Fat Dog" (extremely delicious Cajun Chicken Burger), and shopped quick. I bought a pink purse I'd been eyeing at Kathmandu (the South Pacific's version of MEC) since we'd been in Nelson. We had approximately 1 hour to get to our white water rafting trip that we'd booked the night before. It was on the Kaituna River and the starting point was about 30 minutes from Rotorua. So because I was with Jess (and she is always living on the edge) we went 20 minutes the opposite way out of town to go zorbing. This is my only picture.
We rolled down the hill together in one of those see through balls. It was so fun.
Jess drove so we miraculously made it on time to our rafting trip. I felt like we were on amazing race the way we sped through zorbing and onto the next task. Wehn we arrived at our rafting start point we were informed that it was just the 2 of us and our adorable guide L.B. That scared me a little because I thought it might be harder with less people, but we actually ended up getting special treatment. He made is so fun for us. The particular trip we picked included a drop over a 21 foot waterfall. This picture obviously isn't us, but it is the river we rafted. And we did not flip.
That was definately the highlight, but the entire ride was awesome. L.B. tricked us into jumping out of the boat at one point (acutally Jess asked if we could and I blindly followed her) and then he would not help us back in and we went over a rapid/small waterfall just in the water. There was no shortage of water on that trip. L.B. would row back into a waterfall after we'd gone over and leave either Jess or I in it to get doused with the thunderous water. T'was a blast.
Then we drove to a beach somewhere and went swimming and watched some surf lifeguard/rescue people in training. They are the most fit people I've ever seen in my life. After that we continued on to the Coromandel Peninsula which is where I was when I wrote my last post. I'll finish off the trip on another day. I couldn't not write about all our fun times in Rotorua though. Zorbing really was the coolest thing ever.
The day after our crazy adventure in Tongariro National Park we filled our day with fun. On the way to Taupo I made us stop to take this picture. The area is known for skiing and somebody actually drew those on. From the highway driving at top speed (which for me was usually around 70 or 80 - those twisty roads are scary) it looked like the sign had been made this way. And in the backgroud are the mountains we hiked up the previous day.
Then we went to Huka Falls. I was talking to a guy from Christchurch when we were on the Routeburn Track who recommended that we stop there. But with his accent (he was a Scandinavian living in New Zealand - it was all screwed up) I thought he said "Hooker Falls." He assured me it was nothing of the kind, so Jess and I went there.
So pretty. The water was so blue.
Then we went to Rotorua, had dinner at a place called "Fat Dog" (extremely delicious Cajun Chicken Burger), and shopped quick. I bought a pink purse I'd been eyeing at Kathmandu (the South Pacific's version of MEC) since we'd been in Nelson. We had approximately 1 hour to get to our white water rafting trip that we'd booked the night before. It was on the Kaituna River and the starting point was about 30 minutes from Rotorua. So because I was with Jess (and she is always living on the edge) we went 20 minutes the opposite way out of town to go zorbing. This is my only picture.
We rolled down the hill together in one of those see through balls. It was so fun.Jess drove so we miraculously made it on time to our rafting trip. I felt like we were on amazing race the way we sped through zorbing and onto the next task. Wehn we arrived at our rafting start point we were informed that it was just the 2 of us and our adorable guide L.B. That scared me a little because I thought it might be harder with less people, but we actually ended up getting special treatment. He made is so fun for us. The particular trip we picked included a drop over a 21 foot waterfall. This picture obviously isn't us, but it is the river we rafted. And we did not flip.
That was definately the highlight, but the entire ride was awesome. L.B. tricked us into jumping out of the boat at one point (acutally Jess asked if we could and I blindly followed her) and then he would not help us back in and we went over a rapid/small waterfall just in the water. There was no shortage of water on that trip. L.B. would row back into a waterfall after we'd gone over and leave either Jess or I in it to get doused with the thunderous water. T'was a blast.Then we drove to a beach somewhere and went swimming and watched some surf lifeguard/rescue people in training. They are the most fit people I've ever seen in my life. After that we continued on to the Coromandel Peninsula which is where I was when I wrote my last post. I'll finish off the trip on another day. I couldn't not write about all our fun times in Rotorua though. Zorbing really was the coolest thing ever.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
A shout out to Elijah Wood and Sean Austin
We climbed Mount Doom. Because we are crazy.
Okay, it's not actually called Mount Doom. It's Mount Ngauruhoe (pronounced Nare-a-hoo-ee). And it is part of the Tongariro Crossing which is apparently considered the best day hike in New Zealand. But it is the volcano that acted as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. And if Elijah Wood and Sean Austin (Frodo and Samwise) actually climbed it, they certainly have my respect.
So here's the story. We booked it to Picton to catch the ferry on Monday and then got stuck in traffic leaving Wellington. Their rush hour extends along the major state highway leaving town for like an hour. It's pretty crazy. We stopped to visit a Kiwi friend of our parents' and her daughter who had picked us up at the airport. Lovely people - I wish we'd had more time to visit with them. After our visit we still had a few hours drive to our lodge. We got there around 11 which wouldn't have been too bad if we didn't have an 18 km hike planned for early the next morning. We caught the sleep we could and then we were off to do the Crossing. It was originally something we'd planned to leave out of our itinerary until every single traveller we met said it was their favourite thing they'd done on their holiday. Back into the itinerary it went.
Anyway, true to form we hadn't really read any of the brochures or found out anything about it except that it wasn't a loop and we needed transport. While driving to the start of the track our driver described a couple of the side trips (New Zealand is all about the side trips) and said that if we did any of them we'd need to make up time on the "easier" parts because we only had 8 hours before he'd be at the other side to pick us up. There were 2 other older couples in our van and none of us figured we'd do any of the side trips as they were fairly difficult scrambles up the summits of two of the volcanoes and took about 2-4 hours each.
I don't know what gets into me and Jess. We are 2 hours into the hike, having just completed the Devil's Staircase (the hardest part of the regular track). Because the area is all volcanic it really does look a bit like what one would imagine Hell might. (Very Mordor-ish for you LOR fans). Anyway, it was a good 50 minutes of climbing for us. Everyone stops for lunch at the top of the staircase which is also the spot where you can veer right and climb straight up Mount Ngauruhoe. It's all loose shale and volcanic rock. And there is steam coming out of the top. It takes 2 to 3 hours to climb and 30 minutes to descend. Because you basically scramble down the loose shale. The thought completely terrified me. But for some reason I'm like, "Hey Jess, we should do this" and she agreed. I would have chickened out about 10 minutes in if she had not been ahead of me. It was probably the hardest most terrifying hiking thing I've ever done. With every step up you slide 3/4 of a step back. And I was so petrified of the scramble down that my whole body was shaking. And you'd grab a rock and sometimes it would hold and sometimes it wouldn't. At some points, I was basically crawling (you should have seen how covered with dirt I was by the end - hilarious). It took us just under 2 hours to get to the top. We could smell the sulphur and see the steam. We sat to eat half our sandwhich. My bottom was quite warm, and kept getting warmer and warmer and warmer. When I finally stood up, there was steam coming from where I'd been sitting. Incredible experience.
The scramble down took about a half hour and was way less scary than I had been expecting and other than sheer exhaustion and 6 more hours to hike (with only 3.5 hours to do it). I can't believe we did it. We caught up and passed the other 2 couples (who weren't as crazy and hadn't done the extra climb) and made up a lot of time in the next hour and a half. At the "2 hours left" sign, Jess ran the entire rest of the way down because she was determined to make it within the 8 hours. And she totally did. I was about 20 minutes late (still mighty respectable) but still caught a ride. The other two couples were 2 hours behind us by this time. Everyone in New Zealand asks "are you fit" to us all the time and we are never sure how to answer (obviously we don't look it). After that day, we felt we could say that we are definately reasonably fit.
Anyway, we spent today in the Coromandel Peninsula at Opoutere Beach (beautiful) and now tomorrow we go to Fiji. My time is up so that's all I can write. Talk to you all when we get home.
Okay, it's not actually called Mount Doom. It's Mount Ngauruhoe (pronounced Nare-a-hoo-ee). And it is part of the Tongariro Crossing which is apparently considered the best day hike in New Zealand. But it is the volcano that acted as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. And if Elijah Wood and Sean Austin (Frodo and Samwise) actually climbed it, they certainly have my respect.
So here's the story. We booked it to Picton to catch the ferry on Monday and then got stuck in traffic leaving Wellington. Their rush hour extends along the major state highway leaving town for like an hour. It's pretty crazy. We stopped to visit a Kiwi friend of our parents' and her daughter who had picked us up at the airport. Lovely people - I wish we'd had more time to visit with them. After our visit we still had a few hours drive to our lodge. We got there around 11 which wouldn't have been too bad if we didn't have an 18 km hike planned for early the next morning. We caught the sleep we could and then we were off to do the Crossing. It was originally something we'd planned to leave out of our itinerary until every single traveller we met said it was their favourite thing they'd done on their holiday. Back into the itinerary it went.
Anyway, true to form we hadn't really read any of the brochures or found out anything about it except that it wasn't a loop and we needed transport. While driving to the start of the track our driver described a couple of the side trips (New Zealand is all about the side trips) and said that if we did any of them we'd need to make up time on the "easier" parts because we only had 8 hours before he'd be at the other side to pick us up. There were 2 other older couples in our van and none of us figured we'd do any of the side trips as they were fairly difficult scrambles up the summits of two of the volcanoes and took about 2-4 hours each.
I don't know what gets into me and Jess. We are 2 hours into the hike, having just completed the Devil's Staircase (the hardest part of the regular track). Because the area is all volcanic it really does look a bit like what one would imagine Hell might. (Very Mordor-ish for you LOR fans). Anyway, it was a good 50 minutes of climbing for us. Everyone stops for lunch at the top of the staircase which is also the spot where you can veer right and climb straight up Mount Ngauruhoe. It's all loose shale and volcanic rock. And there is steam coming out of the top. It takes 2 to 3 hours to climb and 30 minutes to descend. Because you basically scramble down the loose shale. The thought completely terrified me. But for some reason I'm like, "Hey Jess, we should do this" and she agreed. I would have chickened out about 10 minutes in if she had not been ahead of me. It was probably the hardest most terrifying hiking thing I've ever done. With every step up you slide 3/4 of a step back. And I was so petrified of the scramble down that my whole body was shaking. And you'd grab a rock and sometimes it would hold and sometimes it wouldn't. At some points, I was basically crawling (you should have seen how covered with dirt I was by the end - hilarious). It took us just under 2 hours to get to the top. We could smell the sulphur and see the steam. We sat to eat half our sandwhich. My bottom was quite warm, and kept getting warmer and warmer and warmer. When I finally stood up, there was steam coming from where I'd been sitting. Incredible experience.
The scramble down took about a half hour and was way less scary than I had been expecting and other than sheer exhaustion and 6 more hours to hike (with only 3.5 hours to do it). I can't believe we did it. We caught up and passed the other 2 couples (who weren't as crazy and hadn't done the extra climb) and made up a lot of time in the next hour and a half. At the "2 hours left" sign, Jess ran the entire rest of the way down because she was determined to make it within the 8 hours. And she totally did. I was about 20 minutes late (still mighty respectable) but still caught a ride. The other two couples were 2 hours behind us by this time. Everyone in New Zealand asks "are you fit" to us all the time and we are never sure how to answer (obviously we don't look it). After that day, we felt we could say that we are definately reasonably fit.
Anyway, we spent today in the Coromandel Peninsula at Opoutere Beach (beautiful) and now tomorrow we go to Fiji. My time is up so that's all I can write. Talk to you all when we get home.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Seals, seals and more seals
We finally saw seals to our hearts content. We are in Kaikoura which is on the east coast of the southern island and known for its marine wildlife. We did a bit of a jaunt over some rocks (that are covered at high tide) to a seal colony and saw dozens and dozens of seals up as close as we wanted. DOC tells you not to get within 10 metres and for a good reason. The bull fur seals could do some serious damage. I got a big closer than I meant to at one point and got yelled at by three of them. Oops.
So we no longer feel cheated and can go on with the rest of our holiday. Still no penguins for me though and no dolphins for Jess. Big huge sigh about that, but otherwise we are happy campers.
I ate crayfish and it's fantastic. But super expensive. As much as lobster. But it (crayfish) tastes better (to be fair, Jess disagrees on that point).
Tomorrow we catch the ferry from Picton back to Wellington. I have a charged iPod and 2 gravol tablets waiting for me. I'm going to find a spot at the back of the boat and try to sleep my 3 hours of seasickness away. And, it will get me out of driving for a couple hours afterward! I hate driving in Wellington so in this case, the seasickness actually helps me out. Jess is going to wonder why I'm taking so many gravol and she won't know the truth until she reads this post someday.
So we no longer feel cheated and can go on with the rest of our holiday. Still no penguins for me though and no dolphins for Jess. Big huge sigh about that, but otherwise we are happy campers.
I ate crayfish and it's fantastic. But super expensive. As much as lobster. But it (crayfish) tastes better (to be fair, Jess disagrees on that point).
Tomorrow we catch the ferry from Picton back to Wellington. I have a charged iPod and 2 gravol tablets waiting for me. I'm going to find a spot at the back of the boat and try to sleep my 3 hours of seasickness away. And, it will get me out of driving for a couple hours afterward! I hate driving in Wellington so in this case, the seasickness actually helps me out. Jess is going to wonder why I'm taking so many gravol and she won't know the truth until she reads this post someday.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Tramping* it up - New Zealand style
Well, Jess and I have now tramped. We just completed the Routeburn Track which amounted to three fairly full days of hiking. We even did what they call a side trip which is where you ditch your pack (unless you are crazy and "like a challenge" as the one guy said as he passed us for the second time) and do a more difficult and treacherous trail for an hour or two to get to some amazing view.
We met two couples (one from the Czech Republic and one from Oregon) the first night at the "hut"** and became fast friends the second night as Jess led a game of "up and down the river" with the Oregon guy's deck of cards. We were a bit rowdy and got the "lights out" time moved from 10:00pm to 9:40. Oops. So fun to laugh though.
I can't really describe how lovely the track was. The first and third days were mostly in this ethereal beech forest with moss hanging from trees and a waterfall around nearly every corner. The second day was by far my favourite though. We walked exposed above the treeline for a solid 5 hours (not including our side trip or lunch break) along the side of the mountains. Every turn was a different fantastic view. I absolutely loved it and would definately go again. It didn't hurt that we had three fine days of sun and no rain.
We guessed almost exactly right on how much food to take and came back with only a couple of crackers, a bit of cheese and a bite of chocolate. Our suppers consisted of "Adventure Packs" that someone had tipped us off about. Best freeze dried Honey Soy Chicken and Roast Lamb and Vegetables that I've ever had. Which isn't saying much I guess. But they were actually quite good and reasonably priced and healthy. Some people went all out and had mashed potatoes and sausages and the real adventurous (read: crazy) ones lugged up bottles of wine. Not us though - we went as light as we could. And like I said, guessed exactly right.
On the bus ride back to Te Anua we discussed what we were most looking forward to upon our return. You'd have thought that we'd both say a shower wouldn't you? But you'd be wrong, partly because Jess took a swim in the lake the night before and because I was not nearly as dirty as I've been on other work or pleasure related trips into the wild. I was actually dreaming of trading in my hiking shoes for my flip flops (called jandals in NZ) and Jess was looking forward to a real supper. And when we got here, I put on my jandals and we had the best dinner at a little place in Te Anua called La Via Dolce (or something close to that). I happily paid $40 for my dinner. For those of you who know me and my reluctance to pay a lot at a restaurant (and are sitting there with your mouths hanging open), it was worth it and I would have paid $60 for the fine food I ate. It was chicken and vegetables atop roast potatoes and some kind of Italian sauce which started with an "F" and was heavenly. And our waiter sang to himself (using the word "Amore" quite a lot) as he cleaned off and set other people's tables which made me smile quite a lot. It was the perfect meal to end a wonderful three days.
*Tramping here means hiking in case I haven't already explained that. And it means serious hiking, not just strolling along a paved mountain path (because there are plenty of those if that's your cup of tea).
** Hut is a loose definition in this country. The Great Walk Huts are fairly amazing and nicer than a lot of the hostels we've stayed in (which are also very nice). 10 or 20 stove tops, flush toilets, fantastic views and relatively comfy bunks afford a relaxing evening. You do share a room with 25 other people, but if you have earplugs and a face mask, it's no problem.
We met two couples (one from the Czech Republic and one from Oregon) the first night at the "hut"** and became fast friends the second night as Jess led a game of "up and down the river" with the Oregon guy's deck of cards. We were a bit rowdy and got the "lights out" time moved from 10:00pm to 9:40. Oops. So fun to laugh though.
I can't really describe how lovely the track was. The first and third days were mostly in this ethereal beech forest with moss hanging from trees and a waterfall around nearly every corner. The second day was by far my favourite though. We walked exposed above the treeline for a solid 5 hours (not including our side trip or lunch break) along the side of the mountains. Every turn was a different fantastic view. I absolutely loved it and would definately go again. It didn't hurt that we had three fine days of sun and no rain.
We guessed almost exactly right on how much food to take and came back with only a couple of crackers, a bit of cheese and a bite of chocolate. Our suppers consisted of "Adventure Packs" that someone had tipped us off about. Best freeze dried Honey Soy Chicken and Roast Lamb and Vegetables that I've ever had. Which isn't saying much I guess. But they were actually quite good and reasonably priced and healthy. Some people went all out and had mashed potatoes and sausages and the real adventurous (read: crazy) ones lugged up bottles of wine. Not us though - we went as light as we could. And like I said, guessed exactly right.
On the bus ride back to Te Anua we discussed what we were most looking forward to upon our return. You'd have thought that we'd both say a shower wouldn't you? But you'd be wrong, partly because Jess took a swim in the lake the night before and because I was not nearly as dirty as I've been on other work or pleasure related trips into the wild. I was actually dreaming of trading in my hiking shoes for my flip flops (called jandals in NZ) and Jess was looking forward to a real supper. And when we got here, I put on my jandals and we had the best dinner at a little place in Te Anua called La Via Dolce (or something close to that). I happily paid $40 for my dinner. For those of you who know me and my reluctance to pay a lot at a restaurant (and are sitting there with your mouths hanging open), it was worth it and I would have paid $60 for the fine food I ate. It was chicken and vegetables atop roast potatoes and some kind of Italian sauce which started with an "F" and was heavenly. And our waiter sang to himself (using the word "Amore" quite a lot) as he cleaned off and set other people's tables which made me smile quite a lot. It was the perfect meal to end a wonderful three days.
*Tramping here means hiking in case I haven't already explained that. And it means serious hiking, not just strolling along a paved mountain path (because there are plenty of those if that's your cup of tea).
** Hut is a loose definition in this country. The Great Walk Huts are fairly amazing and nicer than a lot of the hostels we've stayed in (which are also very nice). 10 or 20 stove tops, flush toilets, fantastic views and relatively comfy bunks afford a relaxing evening. You do share a room with 25 other people, but if you have earplugs and a face mask, it's no problem.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
yesterday and today - queenstown and doubtful sound
because i've been questioned about it, the whale rescue i thought i might try to participate it (if it had still been alive) would have involved covering the whale with towels and keeping it wet with buckets of water and helping turn it the right direction to swim out once the tide came in, etc. i was not planning to perform CPR (dad) or pull on its tail to get it back in the water.
it is tuesday january 22 today (which means it's monday back home). i haven't been great about saying which day things were happening. so that clears that up.
yesterday we hung out in queenstown. our hostel was truly awesome. it was called hippo lodge and we paid the most we've paid so far for a private room but it was one of the nicer places (my 2nd favourite). the view of the lake and the rest of queenstown was amazing. which obviously meant we were at the top of a big steep hill. which was unfortunate for me because i'm not great with directions and jess and i split up at the end of the day and i forgot exactly which street to walk up. so i picked the one i thought, got to the top (huffing and puffing), and couldn't see my hostel anywhere. then i walked back down and asked someone. she laughed at me and said i'd actually gone up the right one but just had to go up the staircase. funny but i had absolutely no recollection of going down a staircase in the morning. jess assures me we did. but i am very unobservant about things like that. so back up the giant hill. oh well, good training for the Routeburn. anyway, while in queenstown we did a bit of shopping for the big hike, booked the trasportation (it's not a loop so we start and end in different places), booked our accomodation in Fiji, and booked a day trip to Doubtful Sound. after that we drove the 2.5 hours to Te Anau where we are doing a homestay. nice clean cozy house with a real friendly guy who was so excited about our whale story and wanted to see our pictures. so it's been good.
Doubtful Sound. Stunning.
this morning we got up early and walked to the corner in the rain (our first day of rain since Auckland - we've been very lucky) to catch the first bus (referred to all day as a coach). it took us to the visitor's centre in Manipouri where we caught our first boat and crossed Lake Manipouri. Beautiful ride in the mist and rain. Good news is our raincoats appear to work okay. Once we arrived at the other end of the lake, we did a quick tour of an information centre and then we caught our second bus which took us first on a tour of the power station (we rode a bus for about 20 minutes underground and then had a nice tour - neither jess nor i had fully read the description of the day so this was an enjoyable surprise for both of us). the coach then took us over the 21km Wilmont Pass road (the most expensive ever built in New Zealand. owned by the power company and only accessible by water on both sides) which took about an hour to reach Deep Cove. Tons of waterfalls and trees and plants and moss (my secret weakness - spaghnum mostly. it's harvested here and used for all sorts of interesting things). then we caught our second boat and had a lovely three hour cruise through the fjiords and into doubtful sound. it was all misty and "moody" in the morning and majestic and lovely. it had stopped raining but remained overcast until we turned around at the tasman sea and cruised back. then the sun came out and we had a completely different view of everything. loved it.
we went back to our bus at Deep Cove and back over Wilmont Pass road. caught that boat to cross Lake Manipouri again. rode that bus back into Te Anau. all said and done we had 4 bus rides and three boat rides. long brilliant day.
this evening we've done nothing but eat supper (our favourite meal, pasta with tuna and boiled carrots) and organise our food and packs for tomorrow. we catch our first bus at 7:30 and are back off to queenstown. we've got two hours and then we catch a second bus to glenoarchy which drops us at our starting point, the Routeburn Shelter. we will spend our first night at Routeburn Falls Hut and our second night at Lake Mackenzie Hut. that info is mostly for my dad since he likes to follow along on my trips. to the rest of you, if you were bored you should have skipped that sentence.
so won't be much news from us in the next few days. i've never done a three day hike before. apparently the second day is the hardest. and to make it extra fun, the forecast is rain! we've been told to be ready to walk through a half metre of water if it rains. sounds like fun.
now i shall go and drink tea with the homeowner and another guy staying here (i think the accent is scottish) and then head to bed.
it is tuesday january 22 today (which means it's monday back home). i haven't been great about saying which day things were happening. so that clears that up.
yesterday we hung out in queenstown. our hostel was truly awesome. it was called hippo lodge and we paid the most we've paid so far for a private room but it was one of the nicer places (my 2nd favourite). the view of the lake and the rest of queenstown was amazing. which obviously meant we were at the top of a big steep hill. which was unfortunate for me because i'm not great with directions and jess and i split up at the end of the day and i forgot exactly which street to walk up. so i picked the one i thought, got to the top (huffing and puffing), and couldn't see my hostel anywhere. then i walked back down and asked someone. she laughed at me and said i'd actually gone up the right one but just had to go up the staircase. funny but i had absolutely no recollection of going down a staircase in the morning. jess assures me we did. but i am very unobservant about things like that. so back up the giant hill. oh well, good training for the Routeburn. anyway, while in queenstown we did a bit of shopping for the big hike, booked the trasportation (it's not a loop so we start and end in different places), booked our accomodation in Fiji, and booked a day trip to Doubtful Sound. after that we drove the 2.5 hours to Te Anau where we are doing a homestay. nice clean cozy house with a real friendly guy who was so excited about our whale story and wanted to see our pictures. so it's been good.
Doubtful Sound. Stunning.
this morning we got up early and walked to the corner in the rain (our first day of rain since Auckland - we've been very lucky) to catch the first bus (referred to all day as a coach). it took us to the visitor's centre in Manipouri where we caught our first boat and crossed Lake Manipouri. Beautiful ride in the mist and rain. Good news is our raincoats appear to work okay. Once we arrived at the other end of the lake, we did a quick tour of an information centre and then we caught our second bus which took us first on a tour of the power station (we rode a bus for about 20 minutes underground and then had a nice tour - neither jess nor i had fully read the description of the day so this was an enjoyable surprise for both of us). the coach then took us over the 21km Wilmont Pass road (the most expensive ever built in New Zealand. owned by the power company and only accessible by water on both sides) which took about an hour to reach Deep Cove. Tons of waterfalls and trees and plants and moss (my secret weakness - spaghnum mostly. it's harvested here and used for all sorts of interesting things). then we caught our second boat and had a lovely three hour cruise through the fjiords and into doubtful sound. it was all misty and "moody" in the morning and majestic and lovely. it had stopped raining but remained overcast until we turned around at the tasman sea and cruised back. then the sun came out and we had a completely different view of everything. loved it.
we went back to our bus at Deep Cove and back over Wilmont Pass road. caught that boat to cross Lake Manipouri again. rode that bus back into Te Anau. all said and done we had 4 bus rides and three boat rides. long brilliant day.
this evening we've done nothing but eat supper (our favourite meal, pasta with tuna and boiled carrots) and organise our food and packs for tomorrow. we catch our first bus at 7:30 and are back off to queenstown. we've got two hours and then we catch a second bus to glenoarchy which drops us at our starting point, the Routeburn Shelter. we will spend our first night at Routeburn Falls Hut and our second night at Lake Mackenzie Hut. that info is mostly for my dad since he likes to follow along on my trips. to the rest of you, if you were bored you should have skipped that sentence.
so won't be much news from us in the next few days. i've never done a three day hike before. apparently the second day is the hardest. and to make it extra fun, the forecast is rain! we've been told to be ready to walk through a half metre of water if it rains. sounds like fun.
now i shall go and drink tea with the homeowner and another guy staying here (i think the accent is scottish) and then head to bed.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
long post about the last few days...
i saw a beached whale. we went back up the golden bay coast to farewell spit on friday and because of lack of time skipped our return trip to the beach you have to hike to and instead did another hike out to a different beach (not as wild but still lovely - no seals though). we "improvised" our way back to the carpark (of course jess was loving it and i was so worried we were lost) and saw a bull sperm whale that had beached itself a couple of days previously and died on the beach. it was sort of sad but the DOC (Department of Conservation) officers that were there said it was an old whale that had likely done it on purpose to die. t'was his time i suppose. when we first came around the corner that let it be in our sight i thought it might still be alive and we took off running the 3/4 kilometre or so to get to it. we knew we had a 6 hour drive with no stops to get to Punakaiki and we had to be there by 9 to get our room and if we were late he'd still charge us even though we'd be sleeping in the car. and we were already running behind but the thought of participating in a whale rescue was more than i could bear. so off we ran. we got such interesting information about whale rescues from the DOC guy (because of the length of the sand spit in that area it does happen on occasion). he even said that they once managed to rescue 100 pilot whales that beached themselves a couple of years ago. thousands of volunteers came out to help. so cool.
anyway, we now had 5 hours and 45 minutes to make a 6 hour drive (and that's 6 hours with no stops - our stops don't tend to be quick). i will not tell you how we did it on those windy roads, only that we did it and got to watch the sun set from about 20 feet in front of our hostel. it was a great day because we really packed in the absolute max of what we could do.
saturday (yesterday) we woke up early to get to the blowholes at the pancake rocks that were about a 10 minute walk from the hostel (although i'm embarassed to admit that we drove - we were scared we'd miss it). these funny looking layered rocks, thus the name pancake, have holes where the water bursts forth at high tide. there are pictures of them all over NZ. while it was not quite as dramatic as the pictures, it was pretty cool. after that we drove to westport, about an hour north (stopped to do a quick 30 minute hike) to get gas, batteries and go for lunch. we then went to a seal colony so as to ensure that we would see them. we hit the pay dirt and stood and watched them for about an hour. we were fairly far away but it was still pretty neat to see, especially since there are baby seals right now. we have another hope of seeing them up close when we travel back to the north island up the east coast past christchurch. after our seal watching we returned to punakaiki to do a 3 hour river walk that included a river crossing at the end. i was pretty nervous, having never done one, and had my waterproof bag for my camera, extra shoes to change into so i wouldn't have to walk in my hikers and warm clothes in case i fell in and had to warm up after. i'd also let someone at the hostel know where were going in case we didn't come back. so picture me, all prepared for the worst, at the side of this river getting ready to cross. jess went first and we decided I would take a picture of her. she seemed to do it with no problem (but i was still a little nervous). by the time i sat down, put my camera into my waterproof bag, took off my hikers and switched to sandals she had crossed back over and back again. so, a little red faced, i crossed my first river (without a bridge). we got back to the hostel, ate dinner and crashed.
this morning (sunday) we arose early and were on the road by 7:15. our goal - queenstown. that is about a 10 hour drive without stopping. in new zealand, i think they consider us a bit crazy for even considering it (but we are canadian girls - we know driving). it was a really nice drive actually. we made several stops. the first was in hokitika to look for jade. then we stopped in fox glacier to meet up with our dutch friends for lunch (which was so fun). we visited the information center in haast (which is an area we really really wish we could have spent some time in) and did a bunch of short walks as we drove through haast pass. stopped for dinner in wanuka and made it to queenstown around 9.
tomorrow is preparation day. we need to buy all of our food for our three day Routeburn Track. exciting.
anyway, we now had 5 hours and 45 minutes to make a 6 hour drive (and that's 6 hours with no stops - our stops don't tend to be quick). i will not tell you how we did it on those windy roads, only that we did it and got to watch the sun set from about 20 feet in front of our hostel. it was a great day because we really packed in the absolute max of what we could do.
saturday (yesterday) we woke up early to get to the blowholes at the pancake rocks that were about a 10 minute walk from the hostel (although i'm embarassed to admit that we drove - we were scared we'd miss it). these funny looking layered rocks, thus the name pancake, have holes where the water bursts forth at high tide. there are pictures of them all over NZ. while it was not quite as dramatic as the pictures, it was pretty cool. after that we drove to westport, about an hour north (stopped to do a quick 30 minute hike) to get gas, batteries and go for lunch. we then went to a seal colony so as to ensure that we would see them. we hit the pay dirt and stood and watched them for about an hour. we were fairly far away but it was still pretty neat to see, especially since there are baby seals right now. we have another hope of seeing them up close when we travel back to the north island up the east coast past christchurch. after our seal watching we returned to punakaiki to do a 3 hour river walk that included a river crossing at the end. i was pretty nervous, having never done one, and had my waterproof bag for my camera, extra shoes to change into so i wouldn't have to walk in my hikers and warm clothes in case i fell in and had to warm up after. i'd also let someone at the hostel know where were going in case we didn't come back. so picture me, all prepared for the worst, at the side of this river getting ready to cross. jess went first and we decided I would take a picture of her. she seemed to do it with no problem (but i was still a little nervous). by the time i sat down, put my camera into my waterproof bag, took off my hikers and switched to sandals she had crossed back over and back again. so, a little red faced, i crossed my first river (without a bridge). we got back to the hostel, ate dinner and crashed.
this morning (sunday) we arose early and were on the road by 7:15. our goal - queenstown. that is about a 10 hour drive without stopping. in new zealand, i think they consider us a bit crazy for even considering it (but we are canadian girls - we know driving). it was a really nice drive actually. we made several stops. the first was in hokitika to look for jade. then we stopped in fox glacier to meet up with our dutch friends for lunch (which was so fun). we visited the information center in haast (which is an area we really really wish we could have spent some time in) and did a bunch of short walks as we drove through haast pass. stopped for dinner in wanuka and made it to queenstown around 9.
tomorrow is preparation day. we need to buy all of our food for our three day Routeburn Track. exciting.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
...and on that farm there was a rooster
a very effective rooster who took his job extremely seriously.
WE ARE ON THE SOUTH ISLAND! and we love it so much that we have changed almost all our informal plans so we can stay here for the majority of the holiday. monday afternoon we arrived in picton which is the cutest little harbour town. i wish we had more time because i would have loved to stay there. but both of us have this urging to keep going to the next place because we don't want to miss anything. so on to nelson we went. fabulous. our favourite city/town so far. if i moved to NZ, i'd move there. the best beach we've been to was there and was called something like taranui, but that might be slightly off - i am having more trouble remembering maori names than i thought i would.
our evening and tuesday day were spent doing a bit of planning. we have found that phoning and booking takes so much time so we booked for the next 5 nights and feel so relaxed now. we also booked our 3 day walk down in fjiordland. milford track and abel tasman were full (as we'd expected) so we are taking a recommendation and doing the routeburn track. both a little nervous about hiking 3 days with packs since we've been so posh-ish-ly leaving everything in our car and the longest i've walked with my pack was through the MAF line at the airport. but whatever - we've booked it now so we are doing it. tuesday afternoon we went to the beach and then drove to marahau where we stayed in a shared room at a hostel called "old mcdonald's" with some dutch twins (whom we loved - first people since Auckland that we clicked with). in the morning (wednesday) i awoke to a rooster who takes his job very seriously. the twins and i ate our breakfast in the outdoor kitchen and laughed as this rooster crowed again, and again and on and on. there was also a duck that hung around our little area just following us around. erik and anareaka (the twins) started feeing it a bit of bread and then the rooster came for his share. then the hen and and chicks came running. then the turkeys. it was hilarious. we gave the duck the most though, because she had been been the most persistent and, we felt, the most deserving. the best part was, jess slept through all the noise. i really do not know how she made it through that rooster.
we had pre-booked a kayaking trip on wednesday up to tonga island marine reserve. we enjoyed our day of kayaking the seas very much. the story is too long to tell here, but just know it was lovely. and we even saw seals although talked to others later (who didn't pay for an expensive tour) that just saw them at the beach and swam with them. we felt a bit cheated. that evening we had booked at another hostel (long story) so we had to move over from "old mcdonalds" to "the barn". a barn it was not. we got there already knowing that her "dorms" are tents. but they are the kind you set up at a field camp somewhere with cots and rooms and stuff so we weren't too worried about it. but wouldn't you know she had actually booked us in the Seaview Cottage. it was amazing. the view was stunning. i am slightly embarassed to admit that i liked it so much, i took a video so as to give a virtual tour to people once home. we quickly ate supper and ran back to our new dutch friends (still at the farm) to invite them for a lovely evening of watching the sea from our deck. we stayed up late laughing and talking and planning to meet again later in our trip.
yesterday we stayed as long as we could in our beautiful cottage before heading to takaka. on the way we spent more than hour trying to find the harwood hole - the biggest hole in new zealand. the lonely planet guide does a much better description. anyway, you drive 11 km to the carpark (that is the part that took us over an hour - it's not as easy as it sounds) hike 45 minutes through a forest (used as chetwood forest in lord of the rings) to this 180 meter deep hole with no barriers around it. scary but very cool. i loved the forest - it was so eerie and beautiful. anyway when we got to takaka we checked into our next hostel and drove part way to collingwood to stop at the recommended "mussel inn" for dinner. ate an exquisite mussel chowder. best thing i've eaten so far here in NZ (jess says for her it ties with pizza that we had in auckland and at nelson). bronwyn, if you ever come here you must plan to go to mussel inn for dinner or drinks or something. and you must drink a lot of fluid so you have to go the washroom at least 4 times because you will die when you see the stall walls. someone has taken hours and hours to collage them - and not in a cheesy way, in a "so cool i don't understand it" (which obviously means it is good art) way. i thought of you immediately. afterward we drove up to wharariki beach which you have to actually hike to after driving to the ends of the earth (it feels like). lots of sand-dunes (reminds me of leader). we barely got to see another seal. three other people found it in a cave and were trying to call us for like 15 minutes but we didn't hear them until just as the seal was swimming out. cheated again! we plan to go back today (and are determined to see some seals up close) before driving to punakiki where we are staying 2 nights on the beach. there are cool "geological formations" there and rocks where the ocean shoots through like a blowhole. very excited.
having a great time. finding that when we take a recommendation from someone local that it is worth it.
WE ARE ON THE SOUTH ISLAND! and we love it so much that we have changed almost all our informal plans so we can stay here for the majority of the holiday. monday afternoon we arrived in picton which is the cutest little harbour town. i wish we had more time because i would have loved to stay there. but both of us have this urging to keep going to the next place because we don't want to miss anything. so on to nelson we went. fabulous. our favourite city/town so far. if i moved to NZ, i'd move there. the best beach we've been to was there and was called something like taranui, but that might be slightly off - i am having more trouble remembering maori names than i thought i would.
our evening and tuesday day were spent doing a bit of planning. we have found that phoning and booking takes so much time so we booked for the next 5 nights and feel so relaxed now. we also booked our 3 day walk down in fjiordland. milford track and abel tasman were full (as we'd expected) so we are taking a recommendation and doing the routeburn track. both a little nervous about hiking 3 days with packs since we've been so posh-ish-ly leaving everything in our car and the longest i've walked with my pack was through the MAF line at the airport. but whatever - we've booked it now so we are doing it. tuesday afternoon we went to the beach and then drove to marahau where we stayed in a shared room at a hostel called "old mcdonald's" with some dutch twins (whom we loved - first people since Auckland that we clicked with). in the morning (wednesday) i awoke to a rooster who takes his job very seriously. the twins and i ate our breakfast in the outdoor kitchen and laughed as this rooster crowed again, and again and on and on. there was also a duck that hung around our little area just following us around. erik and anareaka (the twins) started feeing it a bit of bread and then the rooster came for his share. then the hen and and chicks came running. then the turkeys. it was hilarious. we gave the duck the most though, because she had been been the most persistent and, we felt, the most deserving. the best part was, jess slept through all the noise. i really do not know how she made it through that rooster.
we had pre-booked a kayaking trip on wednesday up to tonga island marine reserve. we enjoyed our day of kayaking the seas very much. the story is too long to tell here, but just know it was lovely. and we even saw seals although talked to others later (who didn't pay for an expensive tour) that just saw them at the beach and swam with them. we felt a bit cheated. that evening we had booked at another hostel (long story) so we had to move over from "old mcdonalds" to "the barn". a barn it was not. we got there already knowing that her "dorms" are tents. but they are the kind you set up at a field camp somewhere with cots and rooms and stuff so we weren't too worried about it. but wouldn't you know she had actually booked us in the Seaview Cottage. it was amazing. the view was stunning. i am slightly embarassed to admit that i liked it so much, i took a video so as to give a virtual tour to people once home. we quickly ate supper and ran back to our new dutch friends (still at the farm) to invite them for a lovely evening of watching the sea from our deck. we stayed up late laughing and talking and planning to meet again later in our trip.
yesterday we stayed as long as we could in our beautiful cottage before heading to takaka. on the way we spent more than hour trying to find the harwood hole - the biggest hole in new zealand. the lonely planet guide does a much better description. anyway, you drive 11 km to the carpark (that is the part that took us over an hour - it's not as easy as it sounds) hike 45 minutes through a forest (used as chetwood forest in lord of the rings) to this 180 meter deep hole with no barriers around it. scary but very cool. i loved the forest - it was so eerie and beautiful. anyway when we got to takaka we checked into our next hostel and drove part way to collingwood to stop at the recommended "mussel inn" for dinner. ate an exquisite mussel chowder. best thing i've eaten so far here in NZ (jess says for her it ties with pizza that we had in auckland and at nelson). bronwyn, if you ever come here you must plan to go to mussel inn for dinner or drinks or something. and you must drink a lot of fluid so you have to go the washroom at least 4 times because you will die when you see the stall walls. someone has taken hours and hours to collage them - and not in a cheesy way, in a "so cool i don't understand it" (which obviously means it is good art) way. i thought of you immediately. afterward we drove up to wharariki beach which you have to actually hike to after driving to the ends of the earth (it feels like). lots of sand-dunes (reminds me of leader). we barely got to see another seal. three other people found it in a cave and were trying to call us for like 15 minutes but we didn't hear them until just as the seal was swimming out. cheated again! we plan to go back today (and are determined to see some seals up close) before driving to punakiki where we are staying 2 nights on the beach. there are cool "geological formations" there and rocks where the ocean shoots through like a blowhole. very excited.
having a great time. finding that when we take a recommendation from someone local that it is worth it.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Near Wellington
I've got about 5 minutes before I get kicked off so this will have to be quick (having horrible time finding internet or phones).
Friday we got up and did a little hike in Waitomo area. Supposed to be half hour walk (before driving to New Plymouth) but Jess spotted some caves about 12 feet up a easy climb of a rock face and so we dashed back to the car for our headlamps and did some exploring. You know me - all I could think about were the bugs. Some the size of my entire hand (the weta it's called). Brilliant drive to NP after that. Just gorgeous. I drove most of it - getting used to the left hand for the most part. Swam in the Tasman Sea Friday night and went for dinner along their Main Street. Really fun day.
Yesterday did a hike on Mount Taranaki (formerly Mount Egmont). So fun except for the part where Jess decided to do some trail running, tripped, and fell off the side of the mountain. Lots of trees to stop her fall but thankfully she grabbed some roots before that became necessary and pulled herself up. Got away with only a scrape on her knee, some grass (or I guess more acurately shrub) stains and the loss of her totally awesome MEC sunglasses. What a shame, but if you know Jess, well, then you know Jess. And you know she had a great time doing it.
We stayed at a "dodgy" Holiday Park last night right near the Sea in CastleCliff (near Wanganui). We sort of left it till last minute and had no choice but to take it when we arrived. We went for a quick walk on a beautiful beach but as soon as it started to get dark we were out of there. Too few people around for our likes. The Park itself where our cabin was felt safeish but not the beach!
Today was mostly driving. We stopped in Wanganui to try to book our 3 day tramp (hike) in the South Island, make some personal calls, and book a hostel for tonight. We failed abysmally* at all three and ended up spending quite a bit to do so. Wanganui is a river town and reminded me a lot of Saskatoon. Beautiful but we were tired and a little worried about not having a place to sleep tonight (Wellington is more busy and books up faster). We finally arrived here late in the afternoon and jumped out at our first choice hostel. I made a verbal contract for the last double room with the owner and we ran to park the car. By the time we got back, he'd given the room away to some double parked lucky people who stole our room. We managed to book a Holiday Park outside of town (which kind of sucks - our room feels a bit like a cross between an old hospital room and a prison cell but at least it's clean) which should have taken 20 minutes to get to but took 2 hours.
Quick stop at the Botanic Gardens. Very nice.
Getting kicked off now - talk to you all later.
Shannon
** I know that is spelled wrong and I don't care
Friday we got up and did a little hike in Waitomo area. Supposed to be half hour walk (before driving to New Plymouth) but Jess spotted some caves about 12 feet up a easy climb of a rock face and so we dashed back to the car for our headlamps and did some exploring. You know me - all I could think about were the bugs. Some the size of my entire hand (the weta it's called). Brilliant drive to NP after that. Just gorgeous. I drove most of it - getting used to the left hand for the most part. Swam in the Tasman Sea Friday night and went for dinner along their Main Street. Really fun day.
Yesterday did a hike on Mount Taranaki (formerly Mount Egmont). So fun except for the part where Jess decided to do some trail running, tripped, and fell off the side of the mountain. Lots of trees to stop her fall but thankfully she grabbed some roots before that became necessary and pulled herself up. Got away with only a scrape on her knee, some grass (or I guess more acurately shrub) stains and the loss of her totally awesome MEC sunglasses. What a shame, but if you know Jess, well, then you know Jess. And you know she had a great time doing it.
We stayed at a "dodgy" Holiday Park last night right near the Sea in CastleCliff (near Wanganui). We sort of left it till last minute and had no choice but to take it when we arrived. We went for a quick walk on a beautiful beach but as soon as it started to get dark we were out of there. Too few people around for our likes. The Park itself where our cabin was felt safeish but not the beach!
Today was mostly driving. We stopped in Wanganui to try to book our 3 day tramp (hike) in the South Island, make some personal calls, and book a hostel for tonight. We failed abysmally* at all three and ended up spending quite a bit to do so. Wanganui is a river town and reminded me a lot of Saskatoon. Beautiful but we were tired and a little worried about not having a place to sleep tonight (Wellington is more busy and books up faster). We finally arrived here late in the afternoon and jumped out at our first choice hostel. I made a verbal contract for the last double room with the owner and we ran to park the car. By the time we got back, he'd given the room away to some double parked lucky people who stole our room. We managed to book a Holiday Park outside of town (which kind of sucks - our room feels a bit like a cross between an old hospital room and a prison cell but at least it's clean) which should have taken 20 minutes to get to but took 2 hours.
Quick stop at the Botanic Gardens. Very nice.
Getting kicked off now - talk to you all later.
Shannon
** I know that is spelled wrong and I don't care
Friday, January 11, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Maggot crap
Out of Auckland now. The mom of 2 of my good friends lives in Auckland so we visited with her yesterday for the morning. We will try to do a hike or something with her toward the end of the month. But it was so cool to get the perspective of a Canadian who has lived in New Zealand for 5 years.
We decided to rent a car. With two of us, it was the far more economical way to go. We are thrilled to have it because it gives us so much more freedom. We have the ability to do whatever we want now. And it also means we won't ever have to carry everything on our backs because we can always leave some things in the car. Not at all what we planned but it will work.
We stayed a beautiful hostel last evening in Waitomo. The view was amazing. But we were in a dorm room with 6 other people and it kind of stank. I have a poor sense of smell so it didn't bother me so much, but Jess's sniffer is quite sensitive. So today we moved over to a Holiday Park down the road and got a private cabin for the exact same price! Holiday parks here are sort of like really nice campgrounds. There is a common cooking area, laundry and washroom facilities. Also TV, email, phones, pool, etc. It's a big grassy area with a few gynormous trees and people put up their tents wherever they wish or park a camper van (very popular here). A few cabins dot the landscape and there you have it - a holiday park.
Our big even today was to go through the Waitomo Caves. We did this black water rafting tour on a river that flows through them. Very cool. Awesome guides. Not to mention I got to wear a full wetsuit for the first time. Very sexy. I will have to upload pictures when I return. Inside the caves there are millions of glowing spots that look like stars. It really was terribly cool. Essentially, it is the poop of the larvae of a fly that lives in the cave that glows. Kind of gross, but really cool to see. The "rafting" was fun. I'm really glad we did it.
Oh yeah, driving! It's on the wrong side of the road. So weird. If you've seen "The Holiday" I felt exactly like Cameron Diaz acts when she first drives in Britain. I suspect we will get used to it soon though. Jess drove first which meant she drove in Auckland. We, of course, got lost almost immediately. Our rule is that if we aren't perfectly comfortable or sure of our next move, we follow the car in front of us, even if it goes a way we don't want to. That means we may get lost a few times but honestly, it was pretty fun getting lost. I mean, we were lost in New Zealand after driving on the wrong side of the road. Can't beat that.
And the countryside is stunning.
Absolutely no idea of what we are going to do tomorrow other than continue south. We've got nothing booked or planned and that's absolutely perfect with me.
We decided to rent a car. With two of us, it was the far more economical way to go. We are thrilled to have it because it gives us so much more freedom. We have the ability to do whatever we want now. And it also means we won't ever have to carry everything on our backs because we can always leave some things in the car. Not at all what we planned but it will work.
We stayed a beautiful hostel last evening in Waitomo. The view was amazing. But we were in a dorm room with 6 other people and it kind of stank. I have a poor sense of smell so it didn't bother me so much, but Jess's sniffer is quite sensitive. So today we moved over to a Holiday Park down the road and got a private cabin for the exact same price! Holiday parks here are sort of like really nice campgrounds. There is a common cooking area, laundry and washroom facilities. Also TV, email, phones, pool, etc. It's a big grassy area with a few gynormous trees and people put up their tents wherever they wish or park a camper van (very popular here). A few cabins dot the landscape and there you have it - a holiday park.
Our big even today was to go through the Waitomo Caves. We did this black water rafting tour on a river that flows through them. Very cool. Awesome guides. Not to mention I got to wear a full wetsuit for the first time. Very sexy. I will have to upload pictures when I return. Inside the caves there are millions of glowing spots that look like stars. It really was terribly cool. Essentially, it is the poop of the larvae of a fly that lives in the cave that glows. Kind of gross, but really cool to see. The "rafting" was fun. I'm really glad we did it.
Oh yeah, driving! It's on the wrong side of the road. So weird. If you've seen "The Holiday" I felt exactly like Cameron Diaz acts when she first drives in Britain. I suspect we will get used to it soon though. Jess drove first which meant she drove in Auckland. We, of course, got lost almost immediately. Our rule is that if we aren't perfectly comfortable or sure of our next move, we follow the car in front of us, even if it goes a way we don't want to. That means we may get lost a few times but honestly, it was pretty fun getting lost. I mean, we were lost in New Zealand after driving on the wrong side of the road. Can't beat that.
And the countryside is stunning.
Absolutely no idea of what we are going to do tomorrow other than continue south. We've got nothing booked or planned and that's absolutely perfect with me.
Monday, January 07, 2008
35 hours later
*** This was supposed to have been uploaded 2 days ago but my internet time ran out before I could hit post*****
I am here in New Zealand! Only have a couple of minutes so just a quick recap so far. Every single flight was delayed and our luggage got lost (sort of - they did find it eventually) and it took 35 hours get here. That is an awfully long time to travel. I did a similar length of trip when I went to Israel in Grade 10 but I don't remember it seeming that long. Anyway, back to the point, I'm here! And overall, it was a lovely, albeit long, trip. Air Pacific is a fantastic airline. The service was exceptional and aside from the planes being old with glitches in the tv (everyone gets their own and mine wouldn't play the games that they had but not as bad as the lady next to us who could only play games and not watch any movies) they were quite comfortable. We had a long layover in Fiji so we went to the beach with a girl we met from Seattle. We paid a bit extra at the airport to get a voucher so that we could be allowed into the Sheraton to use their beach, washrooms, pool, etc. It was absolutely beautiful. We are very excited for our few days there at the end of the trip. New Zealand has strict security about what you can and can't take into the country so it took us an hour to get through the MAF line (which is their Agricultural screening line). About 1000 times more strict then their actual customs it seemed. Seriously, don't ever try to bring a dirty used tent in. Even my brand new hiking shoes had to be clean before I could bring them (which they were since I've only been wearing them in snow).
We had a lovely girl pick us up from the airport who is the daughter of a lady that our moms knew back in the day. It was nice not to have to find a shuttle and we really appreciated that. The hostel is quite nice (City Garden Lodge in the Parnell area of Auckland - I'd recommend it) and we will be here for 2 nights. Then on to who knows where!
I am quite happy that the temperature is 25 degrees and that that is above Zero.
I am here in New Zealand! Only have a couple of minutes so just a quick recap so far. Every single flight was delayed and our luggage got lost (sort of - they did find it eventually) and it took 35 hours get here. That is an awfully long time to travel. I did a similar length of trip when I went to Israel in Grade 10 but I don't remember it seeming that long. Anyway, back to the point, I'm here! And overall, it was a lovely, albeit long, trip. Air Pacific is a fantastic airline. The service was exceptional and aside from the planes being old with glitches in the tv (everyone gets their own and mine wouldn't play the games that they had but not as bad as the lady next to us who could only play games and not watch any movies) they were quite comfortable. We had a long layover in Fiji so we went to the beach with a girl we met from Seattle. We paid a bit extra at the airport to get a voucher so that we could be allowed into the Sheraton to use their beach, washrooms, pool, etc. It was absolutely beautiful. We are very excited for our few days there at the end of the trip. New Zealand has strict security about what you can and can't take into the country so it took us an hour to get through the MAF line (which is their Agricultural screening line). About 1000 times more strict then their actual customs it seemed. Seriously, don't ever try to bring a dirty used tent in. Even my brand new hiking shoes had to be clean before I could bring them (which they were since I've only been wearing them in snow).
We had a lovely girl pick us up from the airport who is the daughter of a lady that our moms knew back in the day. It was nice not to have to find a shuttle and we really appreciated that. The hostel is quite nice (City Garden Lodge in the Parnell area of Auckland - I'd recommend it) and we will be here for 2 nights. Then on to who knows where!
I am quite happy that the temperature is 25 degrees and that that is above Zero.
Friday, January 04, 2008
the beginning
Well here it is. The big trip has begun. I left Canada yesterday for the "vacation of a lifetime" and am now on a quick detour to Phoenix to visit my grandparents. Today my travelling companion Jess and I drove in a convertable with the top down, swam for an hour at a beautiful outdoor pool and had a lovely dinner with my Uncle Rob and Aunt Val. My grandparents have been gracious hosts and now tomorrow we leave for the main event. New Zealand. Knowing no one in New Zealand, we have still managed to scrounge up a ride from the airport and have made plans to meet with some friends of friends for tips on where the best hiking is. I cannot describe to you how surreal it all feels but it is actually about to happen. And I strongly suspect I am going to love it all. Tomorrow we have a 9 hour layover in Fiji so we are bringing our swim suits in our carry on's and plan to enjoy those 9 hours.
Now, it is time for bed.
Now, it is time for bed.
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