Check www.geetstravels.com for my continued travels.

I wrote the following post during my last days in New Zealand. It's not complete and at the moment there aren't photos, but for the sake sharing as much of my story as possible, I won't let this go to waste:


Ugh, I'm disgustingly behind on what I've been up to. I'm a bit too lazy to actually go into incredible detail so I'll skim over the major events of the last month. The main focus here simply being that I want to share some of the pictures I captured along the way.

Kayaking the Abel Tasman

Touted as one of the absolute best places to sea kayak in the world, this was something that I wanted to do from early on in my trip. Nelson, the last city I mentioned being in was quite close to here, about an hour drive, tops. One night, I met an English guy named Henry at my hostel. We got to talking and found we were both interested in doing some kayaking and camping over a few days. We set off early the next morning and by 11am we were out on the water, packed tightly in a 2 person kayak along with some camping gear, a few changes of clothes, and food to get us through the next 3 days.
We were on a mission to make it out to the seal colonies on Tonga Island by the middle of day 2 (located near the far north of the national park probably about 15km away from where we started.) Kayaking really does take some effort, your arms simply weren't designed to carry you long distances the way your legs were. In order to reach our goal, we had to kayak about 5-6 hours a day. The first day, we had some excellent weather, albeit still cold because it WAS winter. We made it deep into the estuaries that are accessible only at high tide to see the Cleopatra Pools. Just before it got dark we landed at the beach-side hut we'd sleep in for the night. We crashed out early in the night, around 8pm, slightly after finishing up our delicious dinner of flame grilled baked beans, toast, and cheese sandwiches complimented by a fine boxed wine labeled 'dry'.
On the second day, Henry and I made our way up to Tonga Island. The weather was a bit more harsh this day, with light showers and tail winds that we had to row into on the way back. But, it was well worth it to get to the protected cove that a colony of seals call home. It was just Henry and I surrounded by 30 some-odd seals lying amongst the rocks. One baby seal that was playing by himself in the water was glad to get some company. He swam all around the kayak, and even jumped up on the front of it to take a closer look at us. I scrambled to turn on my camera, but he teasingly jumped back into the water before I could snap a shot. We hung out in the cove for another 20 minutes as more and more baby seals joined in, swimming around us doing tricks, and playing with a string hanging off the side of the kayak.
We landed at a few more beaches along the way as we got hungry for snacks and lunch. Some ocean swells really started to pick up later in the day bobbing the kayak up and down, splashing us

(View from the ferry as I crossed to the south island)

Traveling the South

It's been about 20 days since I set off on my hitchhiking adventure through the South Island. I can't believe how fast its gone but even more unbelievable is just how picturesque the majority of the trip has been.

Tom and I had a cup of coffee at Capitol on my last day in Wellington before he brought me to the ferry terminal. I remember sitting in that chair waiting for the ferry with such mixed emotions. I was sad to say goodbye to these people that had really become as close as family. At the same time I was anxious and my mind was filled with imaginings of what the next month of life on the road would bring. It's a feeling of unknown possibilities. It truly makes you feel alive. It's the same feeling that first made me want to travel.

(view from the ferry before taking off)>>>

It was nearly dark by the time I got off the ferry in Picton and took a shuttle to the city center. I stepped off the bus. I was tired, hungry, and weighed down with backpacks on both my front and back, and another bag with food in my hand. I thought to myself that I'd be feeling this way quite often over the next month of traveling. I walked a few blocks to the nearest hostel where I grabbed some food and one of the last rooms available.

With a full stomach, I stretched out in bed to rest for a bit. This was going to be my first night back in a hostel after 3 months of living in a flat. Outside the room, there was a group of backpackers talking around a table. I laughed when listening in on their conversation, it couldn't have been more stereotypical. "Where are you from? Oh, neat, how long have you been traveling? Where have you been?" Inevitably, the small talk took the oh so traveled path of discussing the differences between each persons country. "You say vit-a-min? Haha, it's vite-a-min!", "This beer tastes way different back home", "It's great coming from the pound, it's like a 3 to 1 exchange rate!". I remember when I first got to Auckland 8 months ago. Back then, I really thought these conversations were interesting. I really did wonder where people were from and what things were like there. Now, I can usually guess which country people are from after a few words. I can hear the difference between Australians and Kiwis, Canadians and Americans, and in the case of the British I can guess about how far north they live in the country. Of course, I did later hop in the conversation that night for after a drink or two it's all a lot more stimulating. But, I knew at that moment that I wouldn't be content hanging out in a hostel anymore like I was in the Bay of Islands. I was here to see places I couldn't see anywhere else, and do things I had never done before.

(one of the final sunrises from the kitchen window of my flat)>>>

With that mindset, I woke up early the next morning and hit the road with my bags. The plan was to make it to Nelson by the days end. If it was a straight drive through it'd be about 2 1/2 hours. I walked about 30 minutes down the roadway out of town. Your best chance when hitching is to stand at the edge of town on the only road out. That way, just about everyone that passes is going in the general direction that you'd like to. By that time, my shoulders were really starting to hurt. I came to the conclusion that backpacks simply weren't designed to be held on your front side, and shoulders simply weren't designed to hold 20+kg.

After about 20 minutes of smiling and waving my thumb at cars I managed to land a ride. He looked to be in his late 60's, drove a new ford and worked as an aircraft inspector paid by the goverment. He proudly made me aware he was one of three inspectors in the entire country. I like hitching rides with older people, they actually know quite a bit of local history and random facts and are more than happy to tell you all about it. While not always incredibly interesting (on this particular occassion I walked away knowing about the 25 year cycle on pine tree farming) it does help to pass the time.

(next couple are from hiking through Nelson trails)>>>>

He was heading into Blehhiem and was nice enough to take me a bit out of his way to a better spot (a road next to a nice little duck pond) for me to hitch my next ride. With my company of hungry ducks, I waited here for about 45 minutes before getting a ride. A thirty something lady from Malaysia, with rather poor english stopped to pick me up. She said she was a student, studying Toris... Turiz... "Tourism?", I corrected her. "Yes, that's it." At first I wondered why she still called herself a student when she was clearly over thirty, but now it was clear. She couldn't even pronounce the name of her field of study. The conversation only got to be more strange as we drove down the street. I told her about my plans to do some hikes and maybe camp out in the bush. She seemed appalled that I would consider going out in the bush on my own; "It's so dangerous, people get killed out there all the time, I know it!" Obviously nonsense, in the time I've been here there has been one single incident involving travelers and nobody was killed. When we seemed to agree to disagree on the dangers of the bush, the conversation took a turn to what would normally be simple small talk, family. "Do you have any brothers?", she asked me. When I told her I did, her follow up question was "Can I write him?". Now what the hell does she intend on writing him, I thought to myself. I paused for a second, "uhhh..." and she cut in again, "Is he married?... oh he's probably married, I know it. Where did you want me to drop you off?" I thought to myself, RIGHT HERE!, but rather than be completely rude, I settled for a bit further up the street. I hopped out of the car in the middle of nowhere, quite happily.

For the next 2 hours I stood on the side of the road waiting for a ride. Hardly any cars came through this area. Sometimes it gets hard to force out a smile for every car that passes, especially when you're hot and tired. Each time a car drove by I just kept thinking back to the ridiculous conversation with the Malaysian lady and I couldn't help but laugh and smile. When I had just about given up hope, a big rig truck stopped for me. I actually didn't even try to flag him down because I simply thought they wouldn't stop. He was a nice guy, an ex-construction worker that took up transport after a back injury. He didn't talk much, but seemed happy just to have some company on his daily route. A few business stops, and 2 hours later, he dropped me off at the information center in Nelson.

I had heard lots of great things about Nelson, so I decided to stay for at least a few days before moving on. I stayed at this place called 'The Palace'. It's probably my favorite hostel I've been to yet. The place is just outside the city center atop this really steep hill that can only be accessed by a series of stairs. The place must have once been a mansion built by a prominent member of 1930's society. It had this great fully wooden architecture that must have recently been renovated. The rooms all have these massive 15 foot ceilings, great old paintings and furniture and no bunk beds to be found. Better yet, you get free breakfast, free coffee, tea, breads and buscuits all day, and free meat pies and sandwhiches at night. In addition to the usual TV room and kitchen, this place had a great reading room with a fireplace, sunroom situated on the 2nd floor balcony overlooking the city. It's no surprise the majority of the people I met there were long termers, staying for a couple months or longer...

That was only the first day. But don't worry, I'm not about to go through the whole thing day by day. I'll break the rest of it up into the major events over the last month.

More to come...

Just a quick update to let everyone know I haven't been murdered by a truck driver (actually the one ride I did get with a truck driver must have been one of the nicest). In the last week and a half or so I've kayaked through the Abel Tasman National Park, ice climbed over and through the Franz Joseph Glacier, and participated in a hitch hiking race down the west coast with some friends I made at a hostel.

At the moment, I'm in Wanaka which to my pleasant surprise is the location of the picture from the title of this blog (look above). I have a ton of amazing photos and some interesting stories to go along with them. I'll try to get to writing when I get a free moment, but so far I'm having too much fun to stop.

Tomorrow I'm off on an 8 hour hike along the tip of the mountain range seen in the background of the title picture. Post again soon!

Wellington - Part 2

(Note about pictures: One of the guys I met at the hostel I'm currently staying at happened to be at the Cuba street festival the same night I was. I was able to get some photos off of him yesterday, he must have been no more than a few yards from where I was the same night. He even got a picture of that stripping girl I mentioned in the last post. Also pictured is Rabbit, Tom's cat that more or less lived on the rocking chair in my room. Check out the pictures below.)

Steve only ended up staying in the flat for about a week before deciding to go back to Queenstown in the South Island. He was running out of money quickly and saw the cheaper Queenstown as his best bet. On the day he left, he had about $30 cash to his name and a mission to hitch hike to the middle of the South Island before it ran out.

For the remainder of my time in Wellington, I had the 2 bedroom flat to myself. But, that's not to say I was really by myself. It was quite a regular occasion for Tom and Kate (Tom's Wife) to invite me upstairs for dinner with the family, a late night movie, the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy, or just a drink as we talked on the patio under the stars. Kate was studying to become a teacher, and as part of her training, she had to stay and teach in a city quite far north for the first month that I was there. With Kate and the kids gone, and the house now under the supervision of Tom and I, it more or less became a bachelor pad. A six pack of whatever was on sale, some takeaways from Hell Pizza, and the latest blockbuster available in New Zealand (stuff that came out in the US about 6 months ago) made up a good number of our nights.

However, we weren't always lazy slobs. Tom recently got to be pretty keen on paua hunting, and he took me out a few times with him. Paua, known to most Americans as Abalone, are a shell fish that live on rocks in shallow water. They're quite expensive all over the world and are usually pretty hard to come by in the wild. However, in certain areas of New Zealand they're still plentiful due in part to the limitations put on collecting them. Tom came across a great tide pool about a 10 minutes drive from the house that's home to tons of the little guys. Our gear consisted of wetsuits, some old sneakers to help climb along the rocks, a mask and snorkel (tanks are illegal when hunting paua), and a knife to help dislodge them from the rocks. While I did have a blast diving around in the tide pools on a sort of treasure hunt, the first time we went out, I completely failed to catch any. I was only able to find a couple paua that were legal size. On my first attempt, rather than prying between the paua and the rock with my knife I accidentally stabbed it, clouding up the water with its black blood. My second go wasn't a whole lot smoother when I simply ripped the shell off the paua.

So what do you do with paua once you've caught it? Well, first you rip it out of its shell by prying your fingers under the thick edge of shell. When you have the slimy shell-less creature squirming around in your hand, you then grab at the white stump that was connected to the shell and rip that off, pulling out its major organs with it. And voila! Your left with paua meat in your hand that will go for something like $70/kilo ($35/lb). So how does paua taste? Well, when the guy preparing it is the head chef at his own restaurant... it tastes excellent! I had a bit of it sashimi style, (live, thinly sliced, and raw) and then we sent some of it through a meat grinder, flavored it with onion, capsicum, garlic, and chili oil before grilling it up in patties to make paua burgers, yum!

Even the simplest every day chores could be transformed into an adventure when in the company of Tom. Some of the funniest moments were grocery shopping. Why couldn't grocery stores be a social place, Tom argued. Why didn't people start up conversation with each other about what they were buying, and why isn't there more flirting going on in the isles? Tom was on a personal mission to change these things and I was along for the ride.

He might make stupid comments on someones items in passing, "My, you have a lot of power in that aid!", said to a guy with a cart full of Power Aid. Or when walking down the personal hygiene

Then there was the stalking of the infamous Freya. We passed her in the Woolworth's grocery store one day and couldn't help but take notice. She was probably the single best looking girl in Wellington. Tom said he knew her from somewhere but couldn't put his finger on where it was. We decided the best course of action was to discreetly follow her through the isles to help refresh Tom's memory. She was with her mom looking at hair removal products when it was decided that we needed to try and pick up conversation. As we neared them, Tom nudged me, "Just say something." Looking to the products along the wall I said the first thing that came to mind, "Ohh, look at that, they have Nad's for men now. That's fantastic!" They didn't take any notice of what I said, and it didn't seem like anyone else in the isle cared in the least bit either. But Tom was beside himself laughing as he hurried away from the scene down the isle. As we were driving out of the parking lot, analyzing the reasons for our failed game, Tom remembered that he knew her from the coffee shop just down the street from the house. Then he formulated a plan for me to meet with her, act as if Tom's house were my own and explain that Tom was just my sloppy flatmate. Of course the plan never went into motion, but from that moment it became a sort of tradition for Tom to ask me about my meeting with Freya whenever I'd see him. I'd walk into work in the morning, "So, Scott, did you see Freya at the coffee shop this morning?" I never so much as stepped a foot in that coffee shop, but often, before I could even respond, he would be leading into his next proposed strategy of getting us together. Every day it was something new, maybe it was using Cocoa, Tom's Dog, as a lure, or faking that I spoke very little English and asking her if she could show me around the city. By the end of my stay in Wellington, his plans became more desperate: "OK, Scott, what if I duct tape Freya to your door, will you at least talk to her then?"

That should give you a bit of an idea of the person Tom was, always aiming for a laugh and if he could work in some sexual innuendo, even better.

Part 3 to come soon...

Wellington - Part 1

It's been a while since I've updated the blog, a little over 3 months in fact. As I explained in the last post, my travels came to a bit of a halt in Wellington where I decided to stop and save up money before continuing on. In those 3 months I reached my goal of about $1500+NZ saved, but more importantly, I became more immersed in the Kiwi culture than ever before as I worked with, and became close friends with a handful of wonderful Wellitonians.

The whole point of stopping in Wellington was to make money. So, what did I do? I specialized as a full time Aquatic Ceramics Engineer. Those who fail to appreciate the intracacies and complexities of the postition might also know it as 'Dish Washing'. Alright, despite my best efforts, I don't think it's possible to portray kitchen hand work as glamorous or exciting. But, because of the raunchy, over the top humor everyone at Capitol shared, I actually enjoyed being in the kitchen most days.

My day to day life in the kitchen was filled with characters like 18 year old Tim. He was a constant source of laughter. Sometimes he would quote a great line from 'Family Guy' or 'Anchor Man', but more often he would unintentionally make you laugh by doing something stupid(like dropping a liter of the expensive orange zest), or getting caught in a rediculous lie (like saying "No, I didn't eat any of the chocolate!" when he clearly had it melted all over his teeth and lips). One day, as he was upstairs using the rotating blade when I heard a thump downstairs behind me. "Hey Scott, can you hand me that thing" he mumbled, pointing somewhere near the rubbish bin, obviously trying to be discreet about what he was saying so that the other chef, Amy, wouldn't hear him. "What thing, Tim? There's like 20 dishes, a bunch of boxes and other junk down here, what is it that you want?", I responded. "Uh, just that thing, it's right behind the rubbish bin," he said, still not stating what it was that he dropped. But I took a look anyways, and started cracking up to find an entire raw lamb rump sitting on the filthy floor behind the rubbish bin. I knew he'd get in trouble for it, but after dropping this expensive piece of meat and then being too lazy to pick it up on his own I couldn't resist the chance of making the situation more awkward. So I said plenty loud enough for Amy to hear, "Ohh, this lambs rump resting on the floor, is this what you wanted me to hand to you Tim?". Before he could respond, Amy was on him, "Seriously Tim, how did that meat even manage to get there? That's got to be at least 10 meters and down a flight of stairs from where you are. Are you just throwing the product now?"

Some other highlights in the kitchen would include 20 year old half Kiwi, half American, Ryan's sex stories. It was a common sight to see him demonstating one of his favorite positions, like 'The Spiderman' on the kitchen floor in his chef uniform. Or there were the shocking words out of the mouth of 33 year old Australian lesbian, Carla. It was common place to hear her commenting on the female clientelle, saying things like "I'd love to stick my face in those jugs and just shake my head like this" (then shaking her head vigorously). Or walking in from the bathroom, "Ouch, my poo poo felt like acid", and one time giving me an innocent smile before saying "You're so cute, if I weren't a lesbian I would have given you a blowjob by now." Then there was the hilarity of seeing mild mannered 32 year old Kiwi chef, Amy, respond to Carla's "I can't wait to fuck my girlfriend when I get back to Aus," with a sweet, almost motherly, "Oh, that's nice." Then there was head chef and part owner of Capitol, Tom, with his corny jokes and constant sexual innuendos. You might find him responding to someone saying "It's hot in here", with an "Oh, I'm sorry, I can step out of room if you like." Or simply throwing in Ned Flander-esque "diddly-oo's" at the end of his sentences. I'm convinced he would make a sensational host for some sort of childrens programming.

Without Phil the van, I had to find a place to live. For the first 2 weeks while I was in Wellington, I stayed in 'Downtown Backpackers'. I had a bunk bed in a 20 person room, the largest dorm room I've stayed in yet. The building, one of the oldest in the city (I believe built in the 20's), was originally a high end hotel in its hay-day. It really felt like stepping back in time as all the architecture and much of the paint is the same as the original. During these first couple weeks I had no money as I was getting few hours at the restaurant, and still waiting for the weeks pay to take effect. At my low point, I was negative $200US in my American account, negative $20 in my Kiwi account, and the hostel was completely booked for a night, forcing me to sneak a restless night of sleep on a couch in the TV / Lounge room before working a double shift the following day.

But, from there, living conditions could only improve. One day after work, Tom proposed renting out the lower half of his newly purchased home to me for a discounted rate while he fixed the place up. After shopping around a bit, I decided that Tom's offer of a 1 bedroom flat with a private kitchen, living room and bath couldn't be beat for $110NZ a week. On top of that, it was located in the highly sought after community of Hataitai and within easy walking distance of the city center and work. Originally, my friend Steve (18, Half Kiwi, half Canadian that grew up in Hong Kong), whom I met in the hostel moved in with me to cut costs and keep some company. Our set up was pretty basic, almost primal. A couple blow up mattresses, a rocking chair, and a cable-less TV on the floor comprised our furniture. However, neither of us really cared that much since it was just a place to sleep and watch movies on the laptop. With the rest of our time off, we were swimming down at the beach or cruising the waterfront strip in the last days of the southern hemisphere's summer.

While Auckland and Christchurch might have bigger party scenes than Wellington, the fact that the entire party-going population of Wellington is basically condensed to one street makes it seem as lively as Vegas on a Friday night. "Getting on the piss", or as we more simply know it, "drinking" is a staple to the Kiwi weekend life. Right up there with Fish and Chips takeaways. While I didn't partake every weekend, (in order to save money, and sometimes I simply had to work the next morning) there are plenty of great nights to look back on.

The Cuba Street festival might be one of my favorites. This festival only takes place once every 2 years and goes on over the course of 2 days. On the final evening of the festival I went out with Olivia, a waitress from work, as well as her sister and a couple of their friends. During the festival, all of Courtney Place (that single street I mentioned earlier) was closed down to accomodate the swarms of people and multiple live stages that were erected in the place of traffic and parked cars. In that single night, we participated in a Guinness Book of World Records attempt at the 'largest organized dance routine', drank free all night at a gin and tonic promotional booth in the middle of the street, watched a few of the top live bands of New Zealand, checked out a parade including bumping music, massive floats, and nude people in full body paint, and finally some well proportioned chick standing on the edge of a second story balcony as she danced and stripped to nothing but a pair of high heels.

Part 2 to come soon...

And the travels continue. Wrapping up the North Island.

The last week or so has offered a slight break from bush living and a reintroduction to the civilized world. We have been welcomed into the homes of friends, once again experienced the sensation of a hot shower (gasp!), and been immersed in the beautifully unique, modern, and artistic urban culture of Wellington. But, it is of course just a temporary break as we will be venturing into the truly wild and vast landscapes of the South Island in the coming days.

We said goodbye to our English friends Kit and Rich (and their van Frank) on one of our last days in Hawke's Bay. They were in a bit of a rush to make it down to Wellington (the capital of New Zealand, located on the very southern tip of the North Island) for their scheduled ferry to the South Island. To be honest, I was anxious to get to Wellington as well. Other than Auckland, every city we've stopped in has ranged from small to very small and I was looking forward to change. However, we agreed to hold out a bit longer and make sure we took in the remaining sights before reaching what would be our final stop of the North Island.

One of these sights was Havlock North (oddly there is no Havlock South), arguably one of the top wine regions of New Zealand. A cheap bottle here tastes like something twice it's price. And the expensive ones... well I wouldn't know with my backpacker budget, but I'd be willing to bet they're pretty good too. Wine is nice, but after 4 weeks of cold "showers", if they could even be called that, a real hot shower is even better. And, we got just that at Jess's house in Havlock North. Jess is a friend of Julia. They originally met in a hostel in Melbourne, Australia, and coincidentally, they ran into each other at a cafe while we were in Hawke's Bay. She showed us a night on the town of Havlock North, offered us hot showers, and let us do some laundry and cooking. Things that I had at one point thought of as a hassle, but now stick out as highlights of the week. The town of Havlock North is also the wealthiest per capita of New Zealand. It was obvious by the bleached blonde fifty something women sipping wine at small tables along the main strip. It was also apparent in the social atmosphere of the pubs. There was plenty of chat, but it remained in small tight cliques that nobody dared venture from besides the quick stuck-up jealous glances from one girl to another. Not a bad area, but you'll probably enjoy it more by driving along the rolling hills of the wine country and spending the evening at Ocean Beach as we did the second night there.

Our last destination before going to Wellington was the Kapiti Coast. On the way there, I was in charge of navigating. While I managed well for the most part, the music and scenery proved too distracting and there was this one slight turn we missed. Luckily I caught the mistake... an hour later. (shhh... Susi and I never told Julia who was reading a book in the back at the time. She has a tendency to get upset easily so we figured it best she remained out of the loop on that one). Anyways, the mistake turned out to be quite nice as it forced us to cross through this very narrow one lane (you pull over for oncoming traffic) road through misty mountains covered in rainforest. These are the same misty green mountains shown briefly during the introduction to Lord of the Rings. Other than the constant fear that I was about to die the drive and views through the area were incredible. Mental Image - picture this: A VERY narrow one way road filled with blind, hairpin corners, wet roads from the recent rain, and your driver is a blonde german girl with a lead foot, 3 weeks of left hand driving experience, and 2 years lifetime driving experience, all the while carelessly bobbing her head back and forth to the blaring sounds of some overly energetic spanish music.

As you may have guessed, we did fortunately survive and arrived at our destination, the Kapiti Coast. This coastline is a long stretch of Tasman beach that looks out upon an island called -guess what-... Kapiti Island. The island itself looks about the size of Catalina Island, only its much closer to shore, just 15 minutes by boat. The island is a protected bird refuge. Birds that are rare or even extinct on the mainland of New Zealand flourish in the island sancturary, likely due in part to the daily limit of visitors, allowing only 50 people to step foot on the island per day. Because of this, the lonely planet guide reccommends reserving a trip to the island 1 month in advance for weekday trips and 2 months for weekends... of course we didn't read this until the day we arrived, it was a weekend as well. :( But, what's better than seeing rare birdlife upclose? Another hot shower! This time, it was at the beachfront house of Su and Troy, both artists in the film industry. Su creates sculptures for scenese in movies, movie priemeres, and all sorts of industry conventions and shows. Troy's work is similar, but he specializes in scenic sculptures and painting, basically enhancing scenes to look better than they would have looked naturally. They've both worked in the industry for around 20 years and have had a hand in a number of big budget mainstream titles.

The first night we stayed at their house Troy showed us some video he recorded documenting his and Su's latest work together on a film by director Roland Emmerick, known for his movies of epic scale such as Independence Day. It was inspiring to see on video the place they called their 'office' for the 3 months of work they did for the film near Queenstown on the South Island. They woke up each day at 5:00am for the rugged cliff-hugging drive to these surreal mountain top views of the sun rising in a brilliant display of colors, cloud formations, and a layer of fog that sometimes looked like water turning the tips of mountains above into little islands. Every day was its own individual artistic display. Su and Troy were great hosts and made it clear that it was very important to them that we feel completely at home and welcome in their house. They made delicious meals of pasta with a spicy organic sauce made from scratch with a sweet and tangy side salad, pancakes bacon and grilled banana halves in the morning, and following a long leisurely day on the beach behind their house we had sauteed shrimp for an appetizer before feasting on lamb, veges, and sweet potato. All enjoyed from the second floor deck looking out to the beach and Kapiti Island. For a brief moment I was no longer a backpacker. I was royalty.

After the second night at their house, we all made a convoy to Wellington for the Waitangi Day celebrations. A little Waitangi Day history lesson: Waitangi Day is the day in which the Waitangi agreement between the Maori's and the European settlers was signed. As I've come to learn, the agreement has been and still is a source of controversy and tension in the country. One of the major reasons for the disagreement is that there were actually two versions of the treaty, one in English, and the other in Maori. The translation to Maori was less than perfect with some items being added and others ommitted, resulting in the two parties agreeing to slightly differing terms.

We celebrated by going to the massive Reggae flavored 'One Love' festival in the city. The music was great, featuring the top reggae influenced groups of New Zealand. The crowd was friendly, saying hello to strangers and picking up conversation with the people sitting next to you. They had had a cool hacky sack and poi section, and of course it wouldn't be a festival without beer and clouds of that thick pluming smoke floating through the crowd. We stayed as long as our bladders and freshly sun baked skin could hold out before parting with Su and Troy, each on our way to get our own versions of munch... er... food; sushi for the film industry mogles and 2 minute noodles for the backpackers.

That was Tuesday, leaving us one week to explore the whole of Wellington before our scheduled ferry to the South Island on the following Tuesday. I'm writing this as of Friday night, about half way through my time here in Wellington and so far I love it. In all aspects of the city there is a richly modern and historic artistic influence, from the skyscraper and building architecture, to the open air cafes with walls of abstract paintings populated by people with diverse clothing styles and backgrounds, to the street side sculptures, pieces of art you can walk through, insane waterfront contraptions that spin, bend and spray water, and poems embossed on solid stone lying amogst a pile of rocks like they were always there.

I've spent a total of 8 hours over two days exploring the super modern, newly built Te Papa museum littered with high tech interactive displays and ground breaking designs and still have yet to see it all. I've walked along the waterfront and marveled at the huge skate and bmx scene that's developed around the skatepark. On the outside walls of the skatepark are these cool wall climbing zones with this interesting rubber ground that's easy to walk along, but once you put a lot of weight on it, it absorbs the impact like a trampoline. They have the same material beneath all the kids playgrounds, which by the way are way cooler than the skin scorching, steel slides I slid on as a kid. Instead they have a practice skateboard half-pipe on rails, and a pyramid net that climbs up through trees. The water in the city bay is incredibly clean like the rest of New Zealand, but I still find it hard to believe given the the size and relative business of the port. The water isn't just for looking either, all along the wharf are ladders to climb the 15 feet out of the water and oddly enough there more than often happens to be a big structure to jump off of nearby as well. I jumped off some wood planks jutting out from the side of the wharf yesterday and today saw a crowd of people looking on as a guy climbed 20 feet up a waterside building and jump off followed by another guy climbing a 35 foot crane next to the water and jumping. The nightlife is equally exciting with a load of live bands everywhere, cheap to free cover charges, and its legal to drink in the streets so instead of shelling out $7 for a beer, you take a break from dancing and grab that $0.80 bottle you hid in the bush before you walked in. There's so much to see and admire, I actually had a lot of fun spending an afternoon walking around the city listening to the ipod and watching the people and places descreetly behind a pair of sunglasses. It seems that every piece of the city is worthy of a long hard look. It's obvious that a lot of passion and thought lies behind it all.

After my breakfast and morning swim tomorrow, I'll be packing a lunch and spending the day at the 'X-Air 2007' events. They're the New Zealand equivelent of the x-games and happen to be taking place in Wellington while we're in town. On Sunday, we'll catch the second part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The theatre here in Wellington was the site of the world priemere showing of the final Lord of the Rings and has sort of become a mecca for fans of the series. It's probably the most pristinely decorated and furnished theatres I've been to with intricate details all along the walls and light fixtures, marble floors, extremely high vaulted ceilings, and plush leather seats fitted with gold tags on the arm wrests, etched with the names of the friends and family of the Lord of the Ring producers. Recently, they began showing the trilogy sequentially, one part every Sunday. We caught the first installment last Sunday (we saw Troy's name in the credits).

Long post, but its been a pretty exciting week or so. The next post will be from the South Island, later!

............

*Rrrrrrrrrr*
(The sound of car tires screeching to a halt)

As usual, it took me a couple days to get everything above posted up on the site. Since then, through the below series of events and some long consideration, I've decided to part with Julia and Susi. They will be moving on with the van to the South Island and I will be staying to live and work in Wellington for the coming months.

I met a couple guys from Auckland, Ben and Anthony that were camping out in their car next to us in front of the beach. They came down here for the x-air show, Ben was actually competing in the motocross water jump where he attempted a double back flip but only made 1 1/2 rotations. After parking all day in a grocery store parking lot, they ended up getting their car towed. To make matters worse, they only came with money for food and gas and couldn't afford to bail their car out. So they decided to get jobs and save up cash until they could afford to get back home. After asking around at every bar in town, Anthony was offered a trial at a trendy bar where he would work that night from 10pm to 8am without pay and if he was good enough he would get a job. Ben couldn't find a job. They were screwed.

The whole situation was quite funny because it basically doesn't get worse than that. They had about $20 between the two of them, no place to sleep, and no food. That night, Ben and I, along with some Irish sisters we had met the night before, wandered the main party streets, checked out some live music, and walked along the beach. Ben, with no place to sleep for the night, was looking to crash at their hotel room with them. I knew that they were staying with their parents in a hotel room and that he had no chance but I didn't have the heart to break it to the guy. Inevitably, at the end of the night, the girls and us parted ways and it looked like he would be stuck sleeping on the beach in the freezing wind. But, we had a break.

At about 2am, as we were walking back to the van in bitter defeat, we saw a group of people swimming (we thought skinny dipping) at the beach. Ben had the idea of heading down and asking them if we could use their phone to send a text message. A brilliant plan, because it of course led into the unbelievable story about his current situation. So, we got to talking to the group of 4 girls and a guy. We kept them laughing and did our best to keep the conversation up as we walked with them down towards their apartment. They were all staying at the apartment of one of the girls Grandmothers, and as we neared the place, without asking they invited us to stay the night. This was no regular Grandma apartment, it was the top floor, corner apartment of a high end waterfront complex. Richly, and modernly decorated of course. We were stoked. We all stayed up drinking and talking of nothing. We couldn't help but feel a little guilty when thinking that Anthony was deep into his shift at his overnight shift at his non-paying job. Oh yea... Anthony.

It turns out Anthony had wandered back to the van and was sleeping there, between Susi and Julia. I'm assuming he was uninvited but they didn't want to talk about it. They were angry. And the anger was directed at me just as much as Anthony. They weren't fond of Anthony, and neither was I to be honest, but without saying so, it was clear they blamed me for him sleeping in the van.

I walked away and thought about the situation, trying to figure out what had led to the obvious factions that were forming. In the last week it seemed that arguments were creeping up too easily between us. Simple things, like questions of who was supposed to wash a pan or dish were becoming difficult. Conversation was often limited to one sentence questions and answers. It was clear we were all getting on each others nerves.

I've come to the conclusion that while we could easily be good friends, and even live together in a hostel room without a problem, there are very few people that you can live in a van with. We were together all day and all night. We shared a little space where a little mess could quickly turn into a catastrophe. Everything we did and everywhere we went had to be agreed upon between the three of us. This alone is difficult for an extended period of time. Now add in a language barrier and I'm impressed we did pull it off for a month!

So last night I informed them that I would be staying in Wellington as they moved on to the South Island this coming Saturday (we rescheduled the ferry). We were all sort of sad to see the end come, but I think we understand it was the best decision and nobody is angry about it. We'll be working out the money situation tonight, but it looks like I should just about break even when taking what I owe for fuel and supplies and subtracting that from what has been paid for the van.

So I'm off now to continue the job hunt here in the city. I have one job lined up as a Kitchen Hand that I'll be starting tomorrow morning. I have a few other interviews lined up with various places (Internet Cafe, Night Club, Movie Theater, Game Retailer). Most likely I'll be working 2 or 3 part time jobs in an effort to save up as much cash as quickly as possible. I plan to live in a hostel or campground, if I can find one, for the first week or two then I'll hunt for a room for rent. I'm pretty excited about working and living with some kiwis. It's probably the best way for me to be involved in and experience the culture. Who knows, I might even pick up some of the accent!

Sorry if that made your eyes bleed. Thanks for reading, I'll update soon.

Since the 8th of January, I've been driving around New Zealand in our newly purchased but very old van (1982 Toyota HiAce) named Phil along with my travel companions Julia and Susi from Bovaria, Germany. Our goal has been to see and experience as much of New Zealand as possible while keeping our expenses almost solely limited to food and fuel. This means showering at beach showers, rivers, or sneaking into hostels. Getting our drinking water from bathroom taps or boiling water from streams; and charging our camera's, phones, and my laptop by grabbing a seat next to an outlet in a cafe, Starbucks, or McDonalds for several hours.

The trip started out in Auckland where we immediately made our way to the very northern tip of the country, Cape Reinga (now my third and final time there). From the Cape, we officially started our way south, with the intentions of stopping off at nearly every major city along the way. We've kept track of the roads we've traveled as well as every spot we've stopped over night on the detailed AA maps that came with Phil. Eventually, I'll take some photos of the maps and stitch them together to give a full view of the entire journey.

While Phil has proven reliable so far, he's quirky in a way I don't think Susi or Julia will ever understand. When cold, it takes two quick pumps of gas to get him going, pulling the choke to a certain notch so it doesn't stall, and keeping the RPM's above (what I'd guess without a tachometer) 3,000 to avoid a jerky backfiring ride. Once warm, he runs well but doen't start unless you have the gas just about half way depressed followed by a quick pump as you turn the ignition. Regardless, once I managed to figure out his special needs, he has served us well.

Without power, your entertainment is basic, but in a refreshingly primal sort of way. Most days have been filled with hiking, swimming, and sun bathing, but never in the same spot for more than a day or two. We've swam in the Pacific Ocean, Tasman Ocean, black sand beaches, white sand beaches, rocky bays, hot water springs and pools, cold streams, and rapid flowing rivers. (We love the water and have spent the night parked next to some body of water all but one single night.) My biological clock is now set with the rising and falling sun, going to sleep shortly after dusk and waking up shortly after dawn, of course I sneak in a lazy afternoon nap every once in a while. I like to start out most mornings by jumping out of the crowded van, hot and steamy with the heat of 3 bodies cramped into a can, throwing my swimsuit on and diving head first into whatever water we're near that day. It's like coffee and a shower in one, only better! In a way, when living on the road, everything it takes to sustain life becomes an adventure. Whether it's finding a free source of water to refill our jugs, cooking a meal with just a pot held over an open fire, picking apples and plums from a wild roadside tree, washing clothes and dishes in a clear blue river, even finding a suitable place amongst the brush to poop, I find it all fascinating because it's just so different from the life I've been accustomed to.

Other than that, I spend a good couple hours a day reading, I'm almost done with my third book since we began traveling. Unfortunately, the boost in my vocabulary can go to waste when even simple english is often responded to with a "Huh?" by my German travel mates. English can sometimes feel foriegn to me when I have to reword what I'm saying several times before I'm understood. At times, it can be frustrating, (especially when almost none of my humor is understood... I now fully understand Heather's appreciation for adult conversation after spending all day with kids) but in the end I'm exposed to a different culture, and it's pretty convenient when something like 30% of the travelers we meet are from Germany.

Once you escape the high traffic tourist areas, where the locals aren't so sick of tourists, it becomes clear why the Kiwi's are known for their hospitality. On our first night out with the van, we pulled off a gravel road next to a field of cows. We were kind of uncomfortable parking next to someone elses land. As it grew dark a car approached. We were sure they would ask us to get off of their road, but instead we were greeted with a friendly hello and offered a parking spot in one of their free padocks where it might be quieter for us. On two seperate occasions we've been invited into someone's home for some afternoon tea and biscuits. Once by a family whose ranch we had parked in front of, another time by Marty, the sand board rental guy in Cape Reinga. After sneaking into an open room in a Paihia hostel to shower for the first time in 4 days, some of the people staying in the room came in and laughed at the situation, offering us a couple cold drinks and advice on beaches to see during our travels. When camping overnight at the Coromandel Penninsula, we met Lucia who was camping as well with her 9 year old son, Mako, and a couple of his friends. After an evening of fishing, skipping rocks, and telling stories around a camp fire, they offered us some parting gifts; an extra fish Mako caught, and a bottle of Lucia's sweet home made gin.

I'm currently writing this in a cafe in the lakeside town of Taupo, about half way down the North Island. It's the largest lake in New Zealand and is actually a crater filled with water, formed by one of the largest volcanic explosions in the earths history. When we stopped here, we ran into some friends Kit and Rich, from the UK, whom we met in Auckland while looking for our van. We've joined them and spent the last two nights in this cool free camp park situated along the Waikato river (think of our river back home, but replace the desert with rain forest, and paint the water this vivid blueish-green). Tomorrow, if whether permits, we'll be doing the Tongariro Crossing. This hike is arguably New Zealand's best one day hike, crossing through the middle of the national park where we will see a number of pristine lakes and rivers (as well as Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings) as we climb a volcano.

-UPDATE-

I wrote everything above about a week ago but didn't get the opportunity to post it until now. We didn't end up going to the Tongariro crossing the next day as I had planned. While stopping by a random hostel to check their free food section (most hostels have a shelf in the kitchen where people can leave behind food they don't plan on eating) we came across a job offer for lavender weeding. Needless to say, the 5 of us (us plus our English friends Kit and Rich) spent the following days weeding for $10 NZ an hour. I ended up working 12 hours the first day and another 8 the following since it was the first job in a while and I wasn't sure when I would next get a paying job. Near the end of our second day, Rich challenged us to describe the work in two words. Some of the answers were 'back breaking, mind retardening, and suicide inspiring' but it was a new experience and we walked away smelling better than we started.
After the weeding experience we celebrated with a pint of Guiness and 14 hour comma in the van. A couple days later we made it to the Tongariro Crossing. We spent a day in the van waiting out some rain so we pushed the crossing back hoping for better weather. But, the following day we awoke to more of the same rain and freezing wind. It was going to be then or never so we packed up and hit the mountain. A lot of the hike looked just like scenes from Lord of the Rings, especially some of the steep rock climbs. At one point, where we were climbing up the ridge of one of the volcanoes, the wind was so strong we had to get onto all fours in order to continue without being blown over the cliff side into the crater. Kit got a couple cool photos of us defying gravity as we leaned forward into the wind. The Emerald Lakes were the must stunning portion of the hike. At the top of this volcano were a series of large pools with this surreal light blue color that almost seemed to glow. Meanwhile, at our altitude, the clouds were rushing up over the mountain side and blowing right across the surface of the water. I was on the verge of going for a swim, but the wind was so strong and the air so cold I wasn't sure I could finish the hike if I did.

We're now in the beautiful coastal city (as if there were another kind of city in New Zealand) Hawkes Bay, renown for the unique art decco influences found everywhere throughout. We're going to see if we can get a job doing some apple picking nearby. If not, I might try for my firearms license so I can apply for a job posting I saw for 'Bird Shooting' at a vineyard (Only kidding, although I can't help smiling as I imagine a real life version of 'Duck Hunt' for Nintendo back in the 80's). I'll post again when I can, miss everyone!