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Simply Relaxing

I haven't blogged because not too much is going on. I'm still in Dunedin, and I'm making some vague and basic plans for the last week of my trip -- it looks like I'll be leaving on Monday after a full week with Josh!

Josh's flatmates are really awesome. I went to the art museum and out for coffee with one, and I've been hanging out with all of them during my time in the flat. We've been watching movies and some TV and playing plenty of card games.

Sure, it's not glamorous traveling, but it's nice to meet some people, hang out, relax, and plan a busy last week before heading home.

In Dunedin

I'm safely in Dunedin with my little brother. We took the ferry across from Wellington yesterday am and decided to motor all the way through in one day instead of splitting it up. We got in late last night around 1 am, but it was fine. We saw a few fur seals on our way at a pull off along the coast. It was a pretty long haul, but nothing out of the ordinary for some intrepid car warriors from the US.

I had a pretty good time in Wellington. I did end up meeting up with my friend, and we went to both the Wellington Zoo and Te Papa museum. I got to see the excellent Lord of the Rings exhibit at Te Papa, which was amazing. They put together a class act museum about the costumes, armor, modeling, sets, etc, and I found it all to be wonderful. I can't say too much about it -- mostly, it was just wonderful to see how everything was put together. The made chain mail for the movies instead of knitting it out of string, but they made the chain mail out of little pieces of PVC pipe coated in metal paint -- I thought that was pretty innovative.

It's been nice seeing Josh, and I'm glad that we'll have several days here in Dunedin before I move along. I'm not really sure what my plans are exactly -- he and his friends might be taking a trip this weekend; if they do, I'll go with them. If that works out, I'll be leaving Dunedin on Monday (almost a week from now) and then spending some time along the south edge of the country before ultimately going to Queenstown for my flight.

I have lots of stories but not much internet time, so I'll continue keeping posts short. However, I do intend to backdate posts when I get home out of stuff that I've written in my journal. And, of course, I will add photos in to all these posts, since that's the most important part.

Scary Movie 4

Normally, I wouldn't watch a piece of tripe like this. It's a travesty to put this in the "film" category, but I don't have anything more fitting. I was unfortunate enough to be duped in to seeing Scary Movie 1, which is probably the dumbest movie I've ever seen (it's definitely in the running with Supernova, but at least Supernova is humorous in its attempt to be serious). However, I'm on holiday right now in New Zealand, I was staying with a friend, and he had already made plans to go. The complete and total downside of traveling with other people, I suppose.

I'm trying to find a silver lining in this movie, and I don't think that's possible. The funniest thing during the entire movie happened outside the screen. At one point in time, a disembodied ghost head shows up on someone's car window, and the entire theater (sans me) gasped. My guy friend next to me actually squealed like a little girl. That was pretty funny. I suppose a slightly amusing part was when they were speaking in Japanese with subtitles -- if you listen instead of tuning out, you realize all they're doing is using Japanese words that the typical American consumer would know (sushi fujistu yamaha etc etc). It would have been funny if it had only been done for two or three pieces of dialogue, but it continued on way too long.

In fact, that's what the whole movie was like -- a joke gone on way too long, even though the movie itself was only one hour. Honestly, there was some humor in there, but they pounded it into a pulpy oblivion.

The good: It was only an hour. Thank the good lord. Also, even though my ticket was NZ$9, the favorable exchange rate meant I probably paid matinee prices. Oh, and the "tripod" was funny -- an ipod that played 80's music for 5 seconds before switching to a "destroy humanity" playlist and turning itself into some War of the Worlds monster.

The bad: The whole thing. Seriously, do not see this movie. Horrible beyond belief, and way too much toilet humor. Maybe it's good if you like horribly hackneyed humor and are capable of laughing at anything that attempts to satirize what were already questionable films in their own right.

rating: 1/10 (and that's being generous)

We are each other's angels

Since I last left you in Rotorua, I've had the most insane time. In a nutshell, I met up with Josh, we toured around a little, I got dropped in Taupo, went kayaking, and snagged an afternoon bus to Wellington. I met a girl who is in an NZ tv show (she was my seatmate), and I've wandered around Wellington. All that is leaving out the craziness until I have time to digest and write a good story. Today, I'll give you one story of my first night "in" Wellington.

Right now, it's the end of the holidays for NZ students throughout the country, and Wellington is also hosting a uni sports match of some sort. Understandably, hostelling is like trying to find an ivory-billed woodpecker: damn near impossible. I was supposed to stay with a friend in Wellington last night, but we unfortunately didn't make the connection (strange series of events, really). I walked from the train station, where my bus dropped me off, all the way across downtown Wellington to a backpacker's hostel. Lesson 1 learned: book in advance or start with the closest hostel to your drop off (strangely, if I had gone to the closest hostel, my friend was hanging out there).

I went to the YHA in downtown Wellington, which was a bit of a walk. They were completely booked up, and my friend hadn't emailed me. I was fairly upset, to say the least, and for the purpose of telling this story I will be honest and say that I started crying. I made it outside the hostel, sat down on a bench, and wept because I had no clue where I would sleep. I figured I'd just blow a huge hole in my budget and sleep in a hotel, but I didn't look forward to wandering around the city on foot trying to find a hotel that was within my price range.

As I sit there crying, a young woman walks up to me to ask if I'm alright. I valiantly sniff through my tears and explain the situation. Next thing I knew, I was in a car with her and her (other female) friend. They, too, were in search of accomodation.

In Rotarua

And not sure what to do for the day -- I've discovered it's hard to travel without phones if you don't plan in advance. I'm supposed to meet my brother at some point in time today for a little hang out time before we disperse and then meet up again in Wellington on Monday morning for our ferry to the south island.

Last night, I went to a Maori hangi and concert (dinner and show, basically). They cook the food in big dirt pits, and it was pretty yummy. I discovered that I kind of like sweet potato. The concert was wonderful and made me so nostalgic for Pacific, as the dances I saw here are all included in the PacificU luau every year.

I'm still alive and doing fine. I'm trying to plan a kayaking trip for tomorrow, but I'm the only one on it so far. Otherwise, not really sure what I'm doing until I arrive in Wellington on Friday. In Wellington, it's the zoo and Te Papa museum (LOTR exhibit! I get to be a nerd!!).

NZ is still beautiful -- it's a very scenic country. It's also quite easy to travel, but I've decided that next time I come here, I need to bring someone else and rent a car. Seems much easier to travel by car here, and it's more flexible. Plus, two is the minimum booking for things like kayaking trips, so having a second person would make that easier for me.

Waitomo Caves

Such a complete and total thrill -- it's an adventure I would recommend to (almost) anyone. I managed to do it all, and I'm not in the best of shape. It was absolutely amazing, and I got over being scared after the first few minutes. I'm totally motivated to go back home and do some rock climbing (I've wanted to learn more about it for awhile -- hopefully, there is a rock gym in Michigan, and hopefully I will have enough money to do it).

We rapelled (or abseiled, as apparently half the world calls it) down three different areas -- a big hole with a 30+ meter drop that I had to swing out over, a waterfall, and a kind of waterfall/drop where I ended up in a big pool of water. We also ended up sliding down a couple of areas, so there were more than 6 times on the rope (well, that included some climbing up too).

Honestly, truly amazing. I was worried about tight cave squeezes, but the crawling wasn't bad. Any area that was truly tight had some head room, so I just had to figure out how to twist my hips to fit.

I got to wear a really nifty wetsuit and belt -- I'll have pictures of that at some point in time (they're on my memory card on my camera). And, today, just for y'all, I have a special treat -- pictures of my caving trip! They took two pictures for me, and I got both prints and a CD (the prints were free through the tourist agency I used).

Auckland Zoo

Today, I just visited the zoo. I meant to do other stuff, but I spent so much time at the zoo that I really didn't have much time for anything else. Plus, I'm still a touch tired -- nothing another good night of sleep can't remedy.

The zoo was truly great. The best part was how close I felt to all the animals -- the barriers weren't huge, and it seemed like everything was up close and personal. In fact, in the Australia exhibit, there was really no boundary between the humans and the kangaroo (well, a little one, but it was a wood fence about knee height -- if I had wanted to run in and chase kangaroo, I could have).

Plus, they had all these enrichment activities, so I got to see animals moving around and being fairly happy. I saw an elephant trainer :-) Oh, and there were galapagos tortoise there! I've never seen one before, and they are really large!! The ones I saw were just 30some years old, so I can't imagine how much bigger they'll get.

Other than that, no huge excitement here. I'm just getting my stuff streamlined and ready -- tomorrow is one last full day of Auckland, and then I'm off to Waimoto -- more excitement.

Added pictures behind the cut:

Safely in Auckland

I'm safe in Auckland at the Auckland Central Backpacker's Hostel. I totally didn't mean to stay here, but my shuttle bus from the airport dropped me off, and I didn't want to walk far to the other hostel I meant to stay at. This one ended up being a great choice -- they have an internal travel agency, so I booked almost $600 worth of stuff (mostly bus tickets -- 25 hours worth of bus riding in a flexipass was expensive!). I've got stuff set up for almost the whole next week, and I'm getting a good idea of what I want to do. Also, once I'm done setting up for the week, I'll be good for more than that, since I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing in Wellington. At the end of my Wellington days, I meet up with my brother, so the next couple days after that will be planned too. Then, I can finish my planning in Dunedin for the last week of my trip. I think I'm going to cut Christchurch out of my itinerary and hit up Invercargill instead -- it sounds like my kind of outdoorsy place.

Today, I mostly walked around Auckland. I went to the Auckland Museum, which had some great natural history exhibits. Other than that, I walked from 10 am until 11, 11.30 until 12.30, and 4.30 until 6.30. If I can keep this up, I won't have to feel guilty about missing my workouts while I'm gone.

At the museum, I saw a really nifty gecko:

Auckland vaguely reminds me of Austin mixed with Galway, if that makes any sense (it does in my mind). It's less about what the city is truly like and more about how the city makes me feel. Auckland has some wide boulevards (namely, Queen Street, which is where I'm staying), and so does Austin. Auckland has an interesting waterfront and lots of roads that invite long walks, just like Galway.

It's been warm and sunny here today, so I hope it gets a little cooler later so I can break out the clothes I brought. I'll be bummed if it turns out I totally overpacked because the weather was nice all along (and, yes, I do know I'm crazy wishing for not perfect weather).

On my agenda:
-> Auckland Zoo
-> Devonport for walking around/views
-> Kelly Tarlton's Underwater Adventure and blah blah blah (I'm really, really, really excited for this one! I hope my excitement doesn't end up builing it up too much in my mind. I'm going there on Sunday)

I don't think I'll take the Sky Tower, tho I might go up to the lower observation deck. And I don't have anything really adventurous planned for Auckland; I'm just enjoying some culture, some sunshine, and lots of walking. Plus, I've got to rest up -- even tho I slept on the flight and was fairly alert today, I'm beginning to be tired (it's 6.47 pm right this second -- 5 hours behind west coast time, but a day forward, so it's Friday for me).

PS To the Oregon ppl who read my blog -- what is Wedderburn? I saw that on a scale in LAX, and it's in my brain now. I have this weird feeling that it's a place in PDXish, and I just can't think of where.

The Journey is the Destination

I was in ninth grade when this book, the Journey is the Destination, changed my life. I got bit by a hardcore travel bug. Sometimes, it seems that everything I do pales in comparison to Eldon. Even today, years later, this book still speaks to me with its collages, stunning photography, and soul-searching exploration in the face of an unexplainable world.

Today, I'm off on yet another journey to New Zealand. I hardly have anything planned, but that's half the fun of going. Before I take off, here are two pictures to share:

Progress on NZ

Tonight, I established a few key things for my trip:

-> I'm taking the ferry from Wellington (north island) to Picton (south island) on the 24th of April. That gives me just over a week on the north island and a little less than two weeks on the south island. Not sure how I'll fill all my time, but that's for me to figure out. Hopefully, it will involve kayaking and maybe even some rockclimbing (which I like despite my fear of heights and lack of muscle).

-> I'm crashing with a college friend in Wellington, and he said he'll go to the Wellington Zoo with me. Huzzah :-)

Other than that, I have no clue. Tomorrow, I will finish packing, book my hostel in Auckland, and call my travel agent about the bus (or maybe not -- I suppose I can always figure that stuff out in country). Heck, and it might be good for me to email the caving people and figure out what is plausible for me to do with my time/comfort level constraints.