My bro and maw drove me out to the airport after picking up a traveling gift from my maw, a global phone ($) NOTE: that Ill be using primarily for txting, even that is .50$ for out going! But only .05$ for incoming so dont hesitate to txt, THX MAW :) Before boarding the second leg of my itinerary I saw a couple of bright orange dressed individuals with shaved heads, sure sign of a devout ascetic. I kept up hopes to talk to them or pictures or something but they boarded after me, unboarded before me, and I didnt think it was appropriate to approach them on the plane. Bummer, but Ill be sure to see alot more where they came from in the, o so near, future.
Flight went alot easier than i had expected, i planned on kickin some sudoku ass all over the whole book full uv em but my only pen mysteriously burst its bubble while i fell to a quick nap, it was clearly intimidated by the challenge. No problem, the hours flew by (heh), talked to some guy from a town between Melbourne and Sydney for a bit. He told me about him taking his fam out to Vegas to renew their vows and how good all the food is in Australia, and about his stock pile of home made wine. He was a nice guy for the most part, and a lovely wife, apart from them being increasingly dependent on my superior technical skills of navigating the individual television monitors. But I had my share of free wine, red/white/sparkling/"bubbly" you name it, so needless to say things went smoothly.
Spent the first day mostly realizing how crazy expensive this place is and enjoying the sun, althou it is still pretty cold out in the shade. I rented/hired a car because I was unable to find anybody else to tote me around, station wagon which has been plenty enough for just me to sleep and drive in, esp. with gas/petrol prices working out to be about 4.50$USD/Gal!!! (1.60$NZD/liter if you want to check my math), rough. But man it couldnt be more worth it, driving has been one of the best things about the trip. The landscapes here are the MOST amazing ive ever seen in my whole life, its like a mix between grassy mountains of Ireland, countryside of Cali, the mountains reminded me of the ones Ive seen in Whistler, and with cattle farms and sheep everywhere roaming around the huge grass hill/mtns. Ive seen pigs, sheep, cows, what looked like elk, HUGE cattle/closer to buffalo, goats, no kiwis thou, I guess they only come out at night and I was told all the possom are running them out cause they are eating the vegitation and they have no preditor around here cause they where brought in from the UK or somewhere. Its so unusual, its very flat where its flat right up untill the mountains then the mtns go on and on, and the windiest/narrowest 1 and 1/2 lane roads ive seen.
In the hostel I was first staying at I roomed with some guys from Czech that planed on working for a year in NZ but wernt sure how or where to get started, and they had trouble with english so that limits their working possibilities. After deciding I had to get a car to get anywhere, I decided Id offer to givem a ride down to Napier where there where more farm land and warmer weather to start the season off. We spent the day driving down there and enjoying every second of the amazing view. They have trees that are cut so that it works like a huge fence, prolly 20 feet tall and about a meter deep with dense tree stuff. After helping them find a hostel in Napier they took me out to eat and to the bar for a couple of Guinness's worth of gratitude. One of them was really into rock climbing and told me that there is some of the worlds best down in the south island (damn).
Ive gone on a couple of hikes, two of them where on the "great walk" list and well worth it. One
of them was an AMAZING hike/tramp, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in Torgariro national park which is the oldest national park and a dual world heritage area, in American english: It is recognized to have world heritage status for both natural and cultural values. Ill get the pics up when i can, they turned out amazing! I hiked the closest i could get to the volcanic craters without requiring crampons and ice picks. One of the routes was closed off because of all the noxious gasses (i know what your thinking but that was before i even got there). When I got closer to the top you could see steam rising from the ground, people where kneeling down to feel the ground so i joined in and realized that it was hot! Crazy to think what was going on under there, best not to think bout ti! So now Im headed back to Auckland to return the car and hang out till my flight to Sydney on Monday. Supposed to be warmer there so that will be nice, I guess its a little bit farther north.
Hope all's well with everybody!
Love,
Nick
Flight went alot easier than i had expected, i planned on kickin some sudoku ass all over the whole book full uv em but my only pen mysteriously burst its bubble while i fell to a quick nap, it was clearly intimidated by the challenge. No problem, the hours flew by (heh), talked to some guy from a town between Melbourne and Sydney for a bit. He told me about him taking his fam out to Vegas to renew their vows and how good all the food is in Australia, and about his stock pile of home made wine. He was a nice guy for the most part, and a lovely wife, apart from them being increasingly dependent on my superior technical skills of navigating the individual television monitors. But I had my share of free wine, red/white/sparkling/"bubbly" you name it, so needless to say things went smoothly.
Spent the first day mostly realizing how crazy expensive this place is and enjoying the sun, althou it is still pretty cold out in the shade. I rented/hired a car because I was unable to find anybody else to tote me around, station wagon which has been plenty enough for just me to sleep and drive in, esp. with gas/petrol prices working out to be about 4.50$USD/Gal!!! (1.60$NZD/liter if you want to check my math), rough. But man it couldnt be more worth it, driving has been one of the best things about the trip. The landscapes here are the MOST amazing ive ever seen in my whole life, its like a mix between grassy mountains of Ireland, countryside of Cali, the mountains reminded me of the ones Ive seen in Whistler, and with cattle farms and sheep everywhere roaming around the huge grass hill/mtns. Ive seen pigs, sheep, cows, what looked like elk, HUGE cattle/closer to buffalo, goats, no kiwis thou, I guess they only come out at night and I was told all the possom are running them out cause they are eating the vegitation and they have no preditor around here cause they where brought in from the UK or somewhere. Its so unusual, its very flat where its flat right up untill the mountains then the mtns go on and on, and the windiest/narrowest 1 and 1/2 lane roads ive seen.
In the hostel I was first staying at I roomed with some guys from Czech that planed on working for a year in NZ but wernt sure how or where to get started, and they had trouble with english so that limits their working possibilities. After deciding I had to get a car to get anywhere, I decided Id offer to givem a ride down to Napier where there where more farm land and warmer weather to start the season off. We spent the day driving down there and enjoying every second of the amazing view. They have trees that are cut so that it works like a huge fence, prolly 20 feet tall and about a meter deep with dense tree stuff. After helping them find a hostel in Napier they took me out to eat and to the bar for a couple of Guinness's worth of gratitude. One of them was really into rock climbing and told me that there is some of the worlds best down in the south island (damn).
Ive gone on a couple of hikes, two of them where on the "great walk" list and well worth it. One
of them was an AMAZING hike/tramp, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in Torgariro national park which is the oldest national park and a dual world heritage area, in American english: It is recognized to have world heritage status for both natural and cultural values. Ill get the pics up when i can, they turned out amazing! I hiked the closest i could get to the volcanic craters without requiring crampons and ice picks. One of the routes was closed off because of all the noxious gasses (i know what your thinking but that was before i even got there). When I got closer to the top you could see steam rising from the ground, people where kneeling down to feel the ground so i joined in and realized that it was hot! Crazy to think what was going on under there, best not to think bout ti! So now Im headed back to Auckland to return the car and hang out till my flight to Sydney on Monday. Supposed to be warmer there so that will be nice, I guess its a little bit farther north.Hope all's well with everybody!
Love,
Nick
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