Dear Fam and Friends,
Our last day in Rarotonga today and we are nice and tan and ready for Fiji!
The day after Meadow left we definately had a little flashback on the insanely great time we've had with Meadow from Australia on forward and all the fun that kid brings to the table! That day we decided that we were next off the island and it was time to carpe diem (seize the day)!
We rented some snorkel gear and took off a little south to a good spot where we both concluded we saw some of the most abundant amounts of fish ever in such a small territory. From puffer fish to angel fish to territorial trigger fish we saw more fish in the shallow reef than we did our time scuba diving in Koh Tao, Thailand. The trigger fish are always funny because they look like minature parrot fish and really cute but if you get in their territory they swim right up to you and as Jay found out later, they even bite!
Another day passed going about our normal routine of lying by the pool or beach and reading for watching movies. The next day we took off on our mopeds for the southern tip of the island and brought with us our football and our books, all you need in life as far as we've been concerned. On the south side where we went there's four or five other smaller islands that during low tide you can walk out too or swim also because of the sharp coral. After walking to a couple of the surrounding islands we through around the football and chased some crabs before retiring back to the main island. On the way back we encountered heaps more trigger fish and Jay even got bit and a big one drew blood on his leg, scary little buggers!
The next day was Christmas Eve and I decided we needed something festive in our lounge area so I grabbed the fake Christmas tree from reception and brought it in and set it up on the pool table. A lady I met from Portland also, small world, bought some candy caines that we put up on the tree and it felt a bit more festive at least!
Merry Christmas! We lounged around a bit, made our usuall egg, toast and beans breakfast and than Jay and I exchanged our failed attemp at our rapt gifts! We both said we would spend 20 bucks so it evened out and we both got each other the same tank tops but different colors, I guess it's true good minds do think alike! It started to downpour from the night before as a Christmas stormed had rolled in making it feel a little more like Christmas so that afternoon we sat around and talked story about our travels and really everyone left in the hostel got a lot closer. After some discussions I hounded guard by the phone waiting for my family to call as we had pre arranged a phone call, to be honest the fifth or sixth one in the last four months! It was so good to hear all their voices as it made me really home sick afterwards but right before I could shed a tear we decided we should watch Borat and all was forgotten! What a great Christmas movie haha. That night we had a pig roast dinner with the owner of our hostel and all the workers who we've all become real close with. The pig roast took forever to cook so we all waited around and did what else, booze! By the time the pig was ready and everything else was prepared we had a beautiful Christmas dinner with a lot of drunk strangers and had a blast!
The next day the storm still lingered around as we said by to some people and watched more movies and read our books while eating our tune pasta, P and J's, and eggs and beans in between.
Today was our last full day and finally the storm dwindled away so we caught some rays and got our tans back and took our mopeds to a waterfall and got some cliff jumps in. Today Jay and I were so bored at one point in the day we started making food even though we weren't hungry! This island has been so relaxing and needed as we've been on the move for the last four months and needed a break but we both agreed today that we're ready to take on Fiji full on and party one last time before our epic journey closes to an end. I told myself I wasn't going to look at my pictures I saved on my iPod until I got home but I peaked at our China pictures today and we look so different with our haircuts and it sadens me to think how long ago that really was and what an incredible journey we've had. Anyway though I'll save my heart felt email where I'll probably cry for another couple weeks because Fiji is just a day and a half away, layover in Auckland tomorrow than we'll touch down... Miss you all!
Cheers,
Grant
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Rarotonga, we've been on island time...
Dear Friends and Family,
Long days, fear of falling coconuts, running out of gas on my moped, getting pulled over without a local license, getting bit by mosquitos, cutting myself on the reef, sunburns and eating; beans, eggs peanut butter and jelly, pasta and finding my towel are my biggest worries lately, it's tough but as they say, someones gotta do it! As i am typing our cat that lives here, Marmalade, is walking over the keyboard trying to get my attention and she just fell off the desk, so add that to another one of my worries! Internent is super expensive here, go figure, so I'll keep this entry relatively short...
Island life has been so nice, going from packing and repacking and moving from one place to the next for the past almost four months now has been getting a little exhausting so to end our trip on islands and relaxing was the best idea we could have come up with. It was a little odd at first when we got here and realized there was about 10 or so other people and it felt like maybe a couple hundred on the entire island, which can be drove around in a half hour! The first day was Meadows birthday but I'll backtrack a little bit to our journey here from Auckaland. We were suppose to get picked up by Tom, our friend there, and stay at his place but there was some miscommunication and we ended up staying out by the airport which was a nice little 60 dollar detour. These detours are what has my bank account down to triple digits and closing in fast! Anyway it turned out to be nice to be in a hotel and so we made the most of it and took off the next morning to get to our little paradise we're at now, Rarotonga which is the main island amongst the Cook Islands.
As I was saying, the first day we celebrated Meadows birthday lounging around and than drank of course at night. We recruited a cute Kiwi chick and played what the college kids know as beer pong (you throw a ping pong ball into cups of the opposing team and when you sink a cup they drink it), not rocket science which I learned from a English kid in Thailand who studyied rocket science isn't all that difficult! Really fun night and glad we got to a least get a little drunk for Meadow's birthday as tradition dictates.
Next day we didn't do much but get mopeds and meander around town where we ended up hanging out in a sports store watching old Michael Jordan videos for like a couple hours! That night I met some local kids next to our hotel/hostel and grabbed one of their boards and some fins and got a surf in for a couple hours. There is a super shallow reef that surrounds the entire island but if you walk out about a hundred yards there's a fairly decent break but it's a short 4 second ride and than you gotta barrow out or else you'll get scrapped up from the reef, I know trust me!
Next day we went on a hike through the mountains in the center of the island and it was reminiscent of Hawaii and some of the inner island hikes I did there but I would say the mountains here are a little more dramatic and beautiful. The hike was super good as at one point we found ourselves scaling vertical up a cliffside with ropes and little bars cut into the rock.
The other days we have gone out a couple times with a South African girl, a Swiss kid we call Swiss and an English fella. Here's my normal routine, wake up and eat eggs and beans, jump in the pool, moped around to the store or somewhere, eat a sandwhich, read or listen to music, chat with the people here, watch a movie, play with Marmalade or the puppy that wonders in and out, play cards and eat dinner usually pasta or something cheap and filling, and than chill out have a beer and go to bed.
The peolple here are super nice and friendly, last night I was in a bar and this really good world renown rugby player who was in town happened to be at the dive bar we were at and bought us all shots, it should be noted that this is a huge Samoan dude that could break me in half if he wanted but he was really a big puppy dog! It's really easy to hitch hike and get around here, Meadow has been doing it the most since Jay and I have mopeds now but everyone really is so homely and chilled out here.
Meadow and Swiss left us today and then there were two! Meadow and I over the last three years have logged in quite a big amount of miles together and it's always sad parting with him and all his games but we both talked and we'll probably see each other within a month or two anyway so no worries! I do love that kid, and Swiss will be missed too with his Arnold accent and hilarious sense of humor.
We are having a pig roast Christmas dinnner which should be really good and fun with the other people here and the locals and their families that own this place. Anyway, I h ave to run, short on time on my internet card, miss you all and love you lots. I have to go get some rest as Jay and I have a big day tomorrow, actually I think tomorrow might be our day off? I love you all and I'm sorry if it feels like I've ingored a lot of people but communication out of everywhere is just so expensive and plus it'll give us more to talk about when I get back, that's if I still have friends haha! Love you all! Merry Christmas!
Cheers,
Grant
The weather has
Long days, fear of falling coconuts, running out of gas on my moped, getting pulled over without a local license, getting bit by mosquitos, cutting myself on the reef, sunburns and eating; beans, eggs peanut butter and jelly, pasta and finding my towel are my biggest worries lately, it's tough but as they say, someones gotta do it! As i am typing our cat that lives here, Marmalade, is walking over the keyboard trying to get my attention and she just fell off the desk, so add that to another one of my worries! Internent is super expensive here, go figure, so I'll keep this entry relatively short...
Island life has been so nice, going from packing and repacking and moving from one place to the next for the past almost four months now has been getting a little exhausting so to end our trip on islands and relaxing was the best idea we could have come up with. It was a little odd at first when we got here and realized there was about 10 or so other people and it felt like maybe a couple hundred on the entire island, which can be drove around in a half hour! The first day was Meadows birthday but I'll backtrack a little bit to our journey here from Auckaland. We were suppose to get picked up by Tom, our friend there, and stay at his place but there was some miscommunication and we ended up staying out by the airport which was a nice little 60 dollar detour. These detours are what has my bank account down to triple digits and closing in fast! Anyway it turned out to be nice to be in a hotel and so we made the most of it and took off the next morning to get to our little paradise we're at now, Rarotonga which is the main island amongst the Cook Islands.
As I was saying, the first day we celebrated Meadows birthday lounging around and than drank of course at night. We recruited a cute Kiwi chick and played what the college kids know as beer pong (you throw a ping pong ball into cups of the opposing team and when you sink a cup they drink it), not rocket science which I learned from a English kid in Thailand who studyied rocket science isn't all that difficult! Really fun night and glad we got to a least get a little drunk for Meadow's birthday as tradition dictates.
Next day we didn't do much but get mopeds and meander around town where we ended up hanging out in a sports store watching old Michael Jordan videos for like a couple hours! That night I met some local kids next to our hotel/hostel and grabbed one of their boards and some fins and got a surf in for a couple hours. There is a super shallow reef that surrounds the entire island but if you walk out about a hundred yards there's a fairly decent break but it's a short 4 second ride and than you gotta barrow out or else you'll get scrapped up from the reef, I know trust me!
Next day we went on a hike through the mountains in the center of the island and it was reminiscent of Hawaii and some of the inner island hikes I did there but I would say the mountains here are a little more dramatic and beautiful. The hike was super good as at one point we found ourselves scaling vertical up a cliffside with ropes and little bars cut into the rock.
The other days we have gone out a couple times with a South African girl, a Swiss kid we call Swiss and an English fella. Here's my normal routine, wake up and eat eggs and beans, jump in the pool, moped around to the store or somewhere, eat a sandwhich, read or listen to music, chat with the people here, watch a movie, play with Marmalade or the puppy that wonders in and out, play cards and eat dinner usually pasta or something cheap and filling, and than chill out have a beer and go to bed.
The peolple here are super nice and friendly, last night I was in a bar and this really good world renown rugby player who was in town happened to be at the dive bar we were at and bought us all shots, it should be noted that this is a huge Samoan dude that could break me in half if he wanted but he was really a big puppy dog! It's really easy to hitch hike and get around here, Meadow has been doing it the most since Jay and I have mopeds now but everyone really is so homely and chilled out here.
Meadow and Swiss left us today and then there were two! Meadow and I over the last three years have logged in quite a big amount of miles together and it's always sad parting with him and all his games but we both talked and we'll probably see each other within a month or two anyway so no worries! I do love that kid, and Swiss will be missed too with his Arnold accent and hilarious sense of humor.
We are having a pig roast Christmas dinnner which should be really good and fun with the other people here and the locals and their families that own this place. Anyway, I h ave to run, short on time on my internet card, miss you all and love you lots. I have to go get some rest as Jay and I have a big day tomorrow, actually I think tomorrow might be our day off? I love you all and I'm sorry if it feels like I've ingored a lot of people but communication out of everywhere is just so expensive and plus it'll give us more to talk about when I get back, that's if I still have friends haha! Love you all! Merry Christmas!
Cheers,
Grant
The weather has
Friday, December 14, 2007
Queenstown!
Dear Fam and Friends,
Birds the word, what? Haha couldn't think of anything catchy but I'm writting now from by far the coolest city/village/town we've been to in New Zealand, Queenstown! Allthough it's a bit touristy it definately has the most travelers, best scenic backdrop and best pubs!
Our last night in Wanaka we opted to not stay again at the same hostel as the management sucked and it was quite pricey the remain in our little cottage. We checked out some camp spots around town but they were super expensive too so we decided just to go with the wind, have some beers with our German friends back at the hostel and see what happened. Meadow and Jay went mountain biking while I had quite a relaxing day drinking some of the best coffee I've ever had while sitting on the edge of the lake gazing out at the incredible mountains surrounding. After a mellow day we ran into Jared, one of the hitchhikers we'd met at Franz Glacier and hung out with him for awhile sharring stories but more so listening to his. He definately takes the cake on truley defining what a backpacker is or in his case, a nomad! We grabbed some beers and headed back to the hostel that had kicked us out previously (because we used their showers and we didn't pay, cheep bastards) and with our to German guy friends and three German girls we'd met along with Jared we introduced to everyone our infamous game of: One Frog, Yee Ha, Ship Rolled into the Harbor, Gneiss, 21, Last Person and Hands! For pretty much anyone reading this that doesn't know, those are the drinking games we've carried with us all the way from Corfu, Greece last year that we've slowly added to fr om other travelers along the way, best and funniest games ever! Anyway after a long night of drinking we forgot that we still hadn't had a place to sleep, so we drove the car around the corner to a huge field, parked, and set up our tent. It wasn't raining has it had been shortly earlier so we were in good shape but than somewhere around the early hours the sprinklers went off and since they were on Jay's side well lets just say he moved to the car!
Next day we said bye to Jared hoping to run into him again, which we didn't and drove about an hour south to where we are now, Queenstown! The first day we caught up on some lost sleep and just explored the town.
The next day we said bye to our beautiful 5 door hatchback Ford Fiesta named Maria and dropped her off at the airport. After a little inspiration from Jared and looking at bus prices we decided it was best to hitchhike back to townn from the airport. Damn, if I'd had known it was that easy, catching a ride after the third car, we'd have hitch hiked the entire way through New Zealand! The couple that picked us up were locals and told us about how good the Cook Islands where and that's it really easy to hitch hike there because it's so small so we'll definately be doing that! After getting back to the hostel we went river surfing, which is body boarding on waves down rapids on a river! The water level was up pretty high so we didn't get to surf any waves for that long but there was other stuff that got your adrenaline going as we pumped through class 3 rapids on our boards. One of the tricks was called squirting where you find where two currents came together and duck dive with your board underwater while the current rushes you downstream for anywhere from 2 to 8 seconds! We also did a little cliff jumping and spun around in a couple whirl pools before we were done. It was definately cool but since the water level was high and we couldn't truly surf any waves we were a little bummed out but no worries.
The next day we all kind of had a lounge day and did our own thing which is always nice. I got a new book and took down to the lakeside with a coffee and read for a couple hours and shopped for gifts the rest of the day mostly. We went out that night with our two girls, one from Holand named Lora and the other from Germany named Gloria whom were both super cute and really kick ass! It was funny because all three nights we went out here I ran into this girl from Swedan that I'd met in Thailand and since I was kind of trying to hit on the girls we were with it made it pretty akward but in the end I found a solution, haha.
The next day, since Jay had already been in Switzerland, Meadow and I went canyoning which was the ultimate adrenaline rush and so wicked! Canyoning in a nut shell is going down waterfalls either by abseiling (repelling), jumping or sliding! The first water we went down was insane because we slid down the waterfall backwards, what a start to an incredible day! We jumped from about 5-6 waterfalls ranging from 8ft to about 20 ft landing in specific spots between rocks and out of the way of the suction circle under the water fall that pulls you underwater if you land in it, which I did once and got pretty jazzed! We had to scale around cliff edges overlooking falls while strapped to ropes by our carrabeaners which was pretty exhilerating in itself but then at the end we had to repel down a 30 ft. cliff side along a waterfall that was super narly and such a good rush! After an exhausting 2 hours in the fridged mountain spring water we hiked out and found a fallen tree to relax on for a few minutes. It must have been God because what happened next I'll never forget. As we all stopped and sat down to soak in everyone we'd just experience and truly embrace the massive surrounding landscape of overhanging cliffs and mountains the fog began to dissapear from the high peaks. For about 3 minutes the fog was split upon by a gust of wind as it revealed a window revealing a massive waterfall that seemed to drop from the clouds above. Just as our instructor began to say how he'd sat for hours the day before waiting to see the falls the gap in the clouds closed and we continued our hike through a couple rivers back to the van. What an amazing day that I'll never forget and I'm definately going to look into starting up a canyoning business when I get home as I talked about setting it up with our lead guide, who also happened to be a partial owner in the company.
Last night we went out with our crew an English guy named Charlie who was quite the character. We went to our usuall spot Buffalo Wilds where it is two for one drinks until midnight before we headed to the World Club to dance for hours until we just flat out where warn out and tired! While I was heading out to leave I ran into the Swedish girl again and hung out with her for a bit before giving her a kiss and saying goodbye. After trying to leave again I rain into the German girl who'd I'd been flirting with for the last couple of days and ended up getting convinced to go back in for a couple more songs and dance, what can I say I'm a sucker for those accents! A couple sounds later I told her I was just to hot and tired so she agreed and we walked back and hung out for a while before getting some good night smoochies and getting to bed.
Today we are heading to Auckland where we fly out to Rarotonga, Cook Islands! I am so stoked as we've not been able to stay in one spot for more than 5 days and we'll be spending 12 days on this island! It's like a vacation within a vacation I love it! It will also be good to see Tom again in Auckland tonight before we head out tomorrow because I could be saying my last goodbye to him, been a really good mate to me and we've had heaps of fun! My time on the net is running short and we've got to get to the airport and yes we're hitch hiking!
Sweet as,
Grant
Birds the word, what? Haha couldn't think of anything catchy but I'm writting now from by far the coolest city/village/town we've been to in New Zealand, Queenstown! Allthough it's a bit touristy it definately has the most travelers, best scenic backdrop and best pubs!
Our last night in Wanaka we opted to not stay again at the same hostel as the management sucked and it was quite pricey the remain in our little cottage. We checked out some camp spots around town but they were super expensive too so we decided just to go with the wind, have some beers with our German friends back at the hostel and see what happened. Meadow and Jay went mountain biking while I had quite a relaxing day drinking some of the best coffee I've ever had while sitting on the edge of the lake gazing out at the incredible mountains surrounding. After a mellow day we ran into Jared, one of the hitchhikers we'd met at Franz Glacier and hung out with him for awhile sharring stories but more so listening to his. He definately takes the cake on truley defining what a backpacker is or in his case, a nomad! We grabbed some beers and headed back to the hostel that had kicked us out previously (because we used their showers and we didn't pay, cheep bastards) and with our to German guy friends and three German girls we'd met along with Jared we introduced to everyone our infamous game of: One Frog, Yee Ha, Ship Rolled into the Harbor, Gneiss, 21, Last Person and Hands! For pretty much anyone reading this that doesn't know, those are the drinking games we've carried with us all the way from Corfu, Greece last year that we've slowly added to fr om other travelers along the way, best and funniest games ever! Anyway after a long night of drinking we forgot that we still hadn't had a place to sleep, so we drove the car around the corner to a huge field, parked, and set up our tent. It wasn't raining has it had been shortly earlier so we were in good shape but than somewhere around the early hours the sprinklers went off and since they were on Jay's side well lets just say he moved to the car!
Next day we said bye to Jared hoping to run into him again, which we didn't and drove about an hour south to where we are now, Queenstown! The first day we caught up on some lost sleep and just explored the town.
The next day we said bye to our beautiful 5 door hatchback Ford Fiesta named Maria and dropped her off at the airport. After a little inspiration from Jared and looking at bus prices we decided it was best to hitchhike back to townn from the airport. Damn, if I'd had known it was that easy, catching a ride after the third car, we'd have hitch hiked the entire way through New Zealand! The couple that picked us up were locals and told us about how good the Cook Islands where and that's it really easy to hitch hike there because it's so small so we'll definately be doing that! After getting back to the hostel we went river surfing, which is body boarding on waves down rapids on a river! The water level was up pretty high so we didn't get to surf any waves for that long but there was other stuff that got your adrenaline going as we pumped through class 3 rapids on our boards. One of the tricks was called squirting where you find where two currents came together and duck dive with your board underwater while the current rushes you downstream for anywhere from 2 to 8 seconds! We also did a little cliff jumping and spun around in a couple whirl pools before we were done. It was definately cool but since the water level was high and we couldn't truly surf any waves we were a little bummed out but no worries.
The next day we all kind of had a lounge day and did our own thing which is always nice. I got a new book and took down to the lakeside with a coffee and read for a couple hours and shopped for gifts the rest of the day mostly. We went out that night with our two girls, one from Holand named Lora and the other from Germany named Gloria whom were both super cute and really kick ass! It was funny because all three nights we went out here I ran into this girl from Swedan that I'd met in Thailand and since I was kind of trying to hit on the girls we were with it made it pretty akward but in the end I found a solution, haha.
The next day, since Jay had already been in Switzerland, Meadow and I went canyoning which was the ultimate adrenaline rush and so wicked! Canyoning in a nut shell is going down waterfalls either by abseiling (repelling), jumping or sliding! The first water we went down was insane because we slid down the waterfall backwards, what a start to an incredible day! We jumped from about 5-6 waterfalls ranging from 8ft to about 20 ft landing in specific spots between rocks and out of the way of the suction circle under the water fall that pulls you underwater if you land in it, which I did once and got pretty jazzed! We had to scale around cliff edges overlooking falls while strapped to ropes by our carrabeaners which was pretty exhilerating in itself but then at the end we had to repel down a 30 ft. cliff side along a waterfall that was super narly and such a good rush! After an exhausting 2 hours in the fridged mountain spring water we hiked out and found a fallen tree to relax on for a few minutes. It must have been God because what happened next I'll never forget. As we all stopped and sat down to soak in everyone we'd just experience and truly embrace the massive surrounding landscape of overhanging cliffs and mountains the fog began to dissapear from the high peaks. For about 3 minutes the fog was split upon by a gust of wind as it revealed a window revealing a massive waterfall that seemed to drop from the clouds above. Just as our instructor began to say how he'd sat for hours the day before waiting to see the falls the gap in the clouds closed and we continued our hike through a couple rivers back to the van. What an amazing day that I'll never forget and I'm definately going to look into starting up a canyoning business when I get home as I talked about setting it up with our lead guide, who also happened to be a partial owner in the company.
Last night we went out with our crew an English guy named Charlie who was quite the character. We went to our usuall spot Buffalo Wilds where it is two for one drinks until midnight before we headed to the World Club to dance for hours until we just flat out where warn out and tired! While I was heading out to leave I ran into the Swedish girl again and hung out with her for a bit before giving her a kiss and saying goodbye. After trying to leave again I rain into the German girl who'd I'd been flirting with for the last couple of days and ended up getting convinced to go back in for a couple more songs and dance, what can I say I'm a sucker for those accents! A couple sounds later I told her I was just to hot and tired so she agreed and we walked back and hung out for a while before getting some good night smoochies and getting to bed.
Today we are heading to Auckland where we fly out to Rarotonga, Cook Islands! I am so stoked as we've not been able to stay in one spot for more than 5 days and we'll be spending 12 days on this island! It's like a vacation within a vacation I love it! It will also be good to see Tom again in Auckland tonight before we head out tomorrow because I could be saying my last goodbye to him, been a really good mate to me and we've had heaps of fun! My time on the net is running short and we've got to get to the airport and yes we're hitch hiking!
Sweet as,
Grant
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Serenity Through Nature
Dear Friends and Fam,
Cheers all the way from Wanaka on the south island of New Zealand! We've logged some driving hours over the last week and a half but it's all been worth it as we've been blessed by the weather God's with ridiculously beautiful weather that has paved the path for some amazing scenic driving.
I'll start off where I left off on the north island in the cultural Maori town of Rotorua. We woke up and Meadow and I drove to one of the national parks that was a volcanic reserve. The tramp (hike) was very easy as it was paved the entire way and we first came to a lake that had steam rising up from the water and all around on the surrounding hills as the water rose to temperatures close to 60 Celsius. Walking along the stream there were hot spots everywhere and of course Meadow and I had to touch the water to see just how hot it was and to give you an idea it would be like taking a hot tub in very uncomfortably warm water! We hiked to the crater which was the bluest sky blue water I've ever seen as a result from the sulfur and other chemicals that also dictate the temperature, rising and flooding of the crater along with the active magma below the surface. The park was overall pretty good so after about a two hour tramp we called if off and headed back to town. The rest of the day was relatively mellow, drinking coffee and doing some shopping and than that night we went rock climbing at an indoor gym. The wall was by far the most intricate and massive I've ever seen and it was great to get some climbing in and get a much needed adrenaline rush that I've been without for awhile.
The next morning, despite being soar, I'd heard the mtn. biking was super good in Rotorua so I woke up before the boys and took to town and rented a really nice Mongoose front suspensional mtn. bike and cruised about 20 minutes out of town to some nationally renown tracks. The trails were just what I was looking for and super challenging as I found out. The grading system goes up to 6 being the most difficult so I road mostly 3's, 4's and I road a five. I found a really sick course I liked a lot that I had run earlier so I headed back there and halfway down the backside of the trail I rounded a curve and flew off a 3 ft. drop off landing on balance but catching a rock which through me off balance and I grazed a tree with my right arm before my handle bar dug into my thigh and I bailed off pretty hard. Lying there after counting my sheep I realized it wasn't a bad spill at all and I got pretty lucky so with a nice shiner on my thigh I decided to call it a day and head back. I definitely am going to get back into mtn. biking when I get back home, I miss it so much! We took off that day and headed for the south island and a long road trip. Getting to the ferry about 2 hours ahead of schedule we slept in the car and then boarded the ferry at 2am again sleeping on the ferry on the ground in our sleeping bags until about 5am when we arrived at Picton, south island. I slept pretty well so I volunteered to keep driving and an hour and a half later we were in Nelson where we met up with Meadow's parents long time friend, coincidentally enough named Jay as well! Jay was super homely to us and got us situated beautifully despite it still being early in the morning and we crashed for about 6 hours catching up on lost sleep. Later that day we cruised town for a bit, ate some really good sushi and then bought some local fish for that night to cook. Jay prepared the entire meal that night; two local types of fish, garlic bread, fresh salad and some local red wine! I am not lying when I say it was the best meal I've had my entire trip, I just got hungry just thinking about it! That night Jay helped us map out where we should go and would want to go on south island because of course we hadn't given much thought and were just going with the flow. Our trip has been very indicative of going with the flow and we're so fortunate to have had the cards fall as they may and end up working out every time.
The next day we took off for a 3 hour road trip to Abel Tasman National Park to do a tramp that is meant to be very popular and really good which is proved to be and so much more! We took a 20 minute boat ride to the end of the trail where we were going to hike back to our car about 4 hours or so. The tramp was really good as the tide was low and all the bays we cut across and made out own paths. The hike was along the ocean the entire time with the surrounding islands lingering adrift within sight. Towards the last bit of the hike we trekked across the beach which as a result of the low tide we found ourselves on what seemed like a desert by the ocean as the path was about 500 yards away and the ocean was about 500 yards away as well in either direction. It was truly a peaceful moment in my life where everything except your feet seemed to stop in time. That moment was much like another I experienced yesterday that I'll get to shortly.
After the hike at Abel Tasman we drove another 3 hours to Westport, a sleepy little town by the beach where we just crashed at a deserted hostel and took off the next day. We did meet an elderly couple from Baltimore that was traveling for about the same amount of time as us and it was really interesting to hear their story and exchange our travel stories. I truly hope that when I retire some day I'll have the strength and passion that they exhibited to continue my travels and do it the right way, not in expensive resorts where you stay on the ocean and swim in the pool the entire time!
Leaving town we stopped at a seal colony along the way which was always cool to see before we took back off for another 4 hour road trip to Punakaiki. There we saw the "flat rocks" or called pancake rocks as they looked like there were layers of rock on top one another which was quite cool to see. After chomping down some meat pies we drove down a gravel trail along a river to do the punakaiki river track, about a 2-3 hour hike. The hike was incredible as we only saw two people the entire way and saw the beautiful tropical hillside that secluded the river beneath it. After the hike we took off for the rest of our drive to Franz Glacier. Getting to the town, that lived off the tourism from the glacier, we settled in at a hostel where we quickly made friends with these three hitchhikers from the northeast part of the states. The three of them had sailed for a year to get to New Zealand and the night prior had camped behind the local town church, they put our stories to shame quite simply! After teaching them our travel games they all opened up pretty quick and we went out for drinks that night and had a blast. That is until they got Meadow and I to take the local shot to prove our manhood, which of course we undoubtedly agreed to. To give you an idea of how disguesting that shot was I'll simply tell you the ingredients: Rum, Tequila, Whiskey, Absenth and Chili Powder! After that little guy I decided to call it a night and after not drinking for about a week and a half now I soon remembered the all so familiar feeling of the hangover.
The next morning we lounged about and watched a Maori movie with our buddies before taking off south to Fox Glacier. The hike was not much of one at all to get to Fow Glacier, about 20 minutes was all and we decided to cut off the trail once we saw the glacier to get as close as possible. Oh ya side story, I spoke in a classic traditional English accent to every tourist I saw and I think Meadow and Jay about died laughing as we caught some people pretty off guard! Anyway, walking over the rocks and getting closer to the glacier you began to feel the sheer girth of the beast in front of us. It wasn't as big as the glacier I've seen in Alaska or the one I ice climbed in Switzerland but I've never been this close to the face of a glacier which gives you an entirely better respect. We got within 10 feet of the glacier and than after seeing rocks crashing down alongside us decided to back up quite a bit. We found some rocks to sit on and listened to our ipods as we enojoyed some of the rarest weather I'm sure the glacier has seen. I lied on a rock in some where around 80 degree weather with my shades on staring at a massive glacier! The other cool thing about this huge block of ice is that the surrounding vegetation is all tropical which I don't think you'll find anywhere else in the world. If you want to live vicariously and feel the ecstasy I felt download a song by Orbital called (Halcyon) or just search for CKY Icelandic theme song and than go plant yourself 50 ft from a glacier, truly an unforgettable feeling. Leaving the glacier we drove for another couple hours to where we are now which is Wanaka. The drive was incredible alongside numerous lakes surrounded by the massive southern alps and the tropical trees on the ground along the road. We slept in a little cottage last night, watched a movie and had a beer before crashing early. Today, Meadow and Jay are out riding mtn. bikes which I unfortunately can't take a part of because Meadow through a block of ice at me at the glacier which landed on my foot and since then has swollen up a bit. It's no worries though because I am going to go grab a coffee here in a bit and listen to some music and soak in exactly where I am which is a little village town on a lake surrounded by the souther alps, truly beautiful.
It's really funny that the places we expected the weather to be hot have been cloudy and raining at times and everywhere we expected it to be bad weather has turned out to be sunny and amazing! New Zealand has been everything people have made it out to be and so much more and hopefully in the coming days I can get some more adventure sports in my belt, it's only a matter of days before we jump off the second tallest bungee jump in the world! I'm off for now.
Sweet as,
Grant
New Zealand has been nothing short off all the beautiful things people have praised about her and I can't wait to continue south where peole rave that it gets even more beautiful.
Cheers all the way from Wanaka on the south island of New Zealand! We've logged some driving hours over the last week and a half but it's all been worth it as we've been blessed by the weather God's with ridiculously beautiful weather that has paved the path for some amazing scenic driving.
I'll start off where I left off on the north island in the cultural Maori town of Rotorua. We woke up and Meadow and I drove to one of the national parks that was a volcanic reserve. The tramp (hike) was very easy as it was paved the entire way and we first came to a lake that had steam rising up from the water and all around on the surrounding hills as the water rose to temperatures close to 60 Celsius. Walking along the stream there were hot spots everywhere and of course Meadow and I had to touch the water to see just how hot it was and to give you an idea it would be like taking a hot tub in very uncomfortably warm water! We hiked to the crater which was the bluest sky blue water I've ever seen as a result from the sulfur and other chemicals that also dictate the temperature, rising and flooding of the crater along with the active magma below the surface. The park was overall pretty good so after about a two hour tramp we called if off and headed back to town. The rest of the day was relatively mellow, drinking coffee and doing some shopping and than that night we went rock climbing at an indoor gym. The wall was by far the most intricate and massive I've ever seen and it was great to get some climbing in and get a much needed adrenaline rush that I've been without for awhile.
The next morning, despite being soar, I'd heard the mtn. biking was super good in Rotorua so I woke up before the boys and took to town and rented a really nice Mongoose front suspensional mtn. bike and cruised about 20 minutes out of town to some nationally renown tracks. The trails were just what I was looking for and super challenging as I found out. The grading system goes up to 6 being the most difficult so I road mostly 3's, 4's and I road a five. I found a really sick course I liked a lot that I had run earlier so I headed back there and halfway down the backside of the trail I rounded a curve and flew off a 3 ft. drop off landing on balance but catching a rock which through me off balance and I grazed a tree with my right arm before my handle bar dug into my thigh and I bailed off pretty hard. Lying there after counting my sheep I realized it wasn't a bad spill at all and I got pretty lucky so with a nice shiner on my thigh I decided to call it a day and head back. I definitely am going to get back into mtn. biking when I get back home, I miss it so much! We took off that day and headed for the south island and a long road trip. Getting to the ferry about 2 hours ahead of schedule we slept in the car and then boarded the ferry at 2am again sleeping on the ferry on the ground in our sleeping bags until about 5am when we arrived at Picton, south island. I slept pretty well so I volunteered to keep driving and an hour and a half later we were in Nelson where we met up with Meadow's parents long time friend, coincidentally enough named Jay as well! Jay was super homely to us and got us situated beautifully despite it still being early in the morning and we crashed for about 6 hours catching up on lost sleep. Later that day we cruised town for a bit, ate some really good sushi and then bought some local fish for that night to cook. Jay prepared the entire meal that night; two local types of fish, garlic bread, fresh salad and some local red wine! I am not lying when I say it was the best meal I've had my entire trip, I just got hungry just thinking about it! That night Jay helped us map out where we should go and would want to go on south island because of course we hadn't given much thought and were just going with the flow. Our trip has been very indicative of going with the flow and we're so fortunate to have had the cards fall as they may and end up working out every time.
The next day we took off for a 3 hour road trip to Abel Tasman National Park to do a tramp that is meant to be very popular and really good which is proved to be and so much more! We took a 20 minute boat ride to the end of the trail where we were going to hike back to our car about 4 hours or so. The tramp was really good as the tide was low and all the bays we cut across and made out own paths. The hike was along the ocean the entire time with the surrounding islands lingering adrift within sight. Towards the last bit of the hike we trekked across the beach which as a result of the low tide we found ourselves on what seemed like a desert by the ocean as the path was about 500 yards away and the ocean was about 500 yards away as well in either direction. It was truly a peaceful moment in my life where everything except your feet seemed to stop in time. That moment was much like another I experienced yesterday that I'll get to shortly.
After the hike at Abel Tasman we drove another 3 hours to Westport, a sleepy little town by the beach where we just crashed at a deserted hostel and took off the next day. We did meet an elderly couple from Baltimore that was traveling for about the same amount of time as us and it was really interesting to hear their story and exchange our travel stories. I truly hope that when I retire some day I'll have the strength and passion that they exhibited to continue my travels and do it the right way, not in expensive resorts where you stay on the ocean and swim in the pool the entire time!
Leaving town we stopped at a seal colony along the way which was always cool to see before we took back off for another 4 hour road trip to Punakaiki. There we saw the "flat rocks" or called pancake rocks as they looked like there were layers of rock on top one another which was quite cool to see. After chomping down some meat pies we drove down a gravel trail along a river to do the punakaiki river track, about a 2-3 hour hike. The hike was incredible as we only saw two people the entire way and saw the beautiful tropical hillside that secluded the river beneath it. After the hike we took off for the rest of our drive to Franz Glacier. Getting to the town, that lived off the tourism from the glacier, we settled in at a hostel where we quickly made friends with these three hitchhikers from the northeast part of the states. The three of them had sailed for a year to get to New Zealand and the night prior had camped behind the local town church, they put our stories to shame quite simply! After teaching them our travel games they all opened up pretty quick and we went out for drinks that night and had a blast. That is until they got Meadow and I to take the local shot to prove our manhood, which of course we undoubtedly agreed to. To give you an idea of how disguesting that shot was I'll simply tell you the ingredients: Rum, Tequila, Whiskey, Absenth and Chili Powder! After that little guy I decided to call it a night and after not drinking for about a week and a half now I soon remembered the all so familiar feeling of the hangover.
The next morning we lounged about and watched a Maori movie with our buddies before taking off south to Fox Glacier. The hike was not much of one at all to get to Fow Glacier, about 20 minutes was all and we decided to cut off the trail once we saw the glacier to get as close as possible. Oh ya side story, I spoke in a classic traditional English accent to every tourist I saw and I think Meadow and Jay about died laughing as we caught some people pretty off guard! Anyway, walking over the rocks and getting closer to the glacier you began to feel the sheer girth of the beast in front of us. It wasn't as big as the glacier I've seen in Alaska or the one I ice climbed in Switzerland but I've never been this close to the face of a glacier which gives you an entirely better respect. We got within 10 feet of the glacier and than after seeing rocks crashing down alongside us decided to back up quite a bit. We found some rocks to sit on and listened to our ipods as we enojoyed some of the rarest weather I'm sure the glacier has seen. I lied on a rock in some where around 80 degree weather with my shades on staring at a massive glacier! The other cool thing about this huge block of ice is that the surrounding vegetation is all tropical which I don't think you'll find anywhere else in the world. If you want to live vicariously and feel the ecstasy I felt download a song by Orbital called (Halcyon) or just search for CKY Icelandic theme song and than go plant yourself 50 ft from a glacier, truly an unforgettable feeling. Leaving the glacier we drove for another couple hours to where we are now which is Wanaka. The drive was incredible alongside numerous lakes surrounded by the massive southern alps and the tropical trees on the ground along the road. We slept in a little cottage last night, watched a movie and had a beer before crashing early. Today, Meadow and Jay are out riding mtn. bikes which I unfortunately can't take a part of because Meadow through a block of ice at me at the glacier which landed on my foot and since then has swollen up a bit. It's no worries though because I am going to go grab a coffee here in a bit and listen to some music and soak in exactly where I am which is a little village town on a lake surrounded by the souther alps, truly beautiful.
It's really funny that the places we expected the weather to be hot have been cloudy and raining at times and everywhere we expected it to be bad weather has turned out to be sunny and amazing! New Zealand has been everything people have made it out to be and so much more and hopefully in the coming days I can get some more adventure sports in my belt, it's only a matter of days before we jump off the second tallest bungee jump in the world! I'm off for now.
Sweet as,
Grant
New Zealand has been nothing short off all the beautiful things people have praised about her and I can't wait to continue south where peole rave that it gets even more beautiful.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Sweet as, I'm 24 and still kicken!
Dear Friends and Fam,
How's it all the way from Rotorua, New Zealand! I'll work my way back up to this point as always as I've been in transit for a week or so and have a little catching up to do. This blog might be a little choppy with less detail as I don't have the time or drive really at the moment to be super specific so I appologize up front. Anyway, I'll take off back from thanksgiving in Wollongong, Australia.
Pele drove down from Sydney with her friend Sarah whom we also met traveling through Europe to join us for our Thanksgiving feast. We couldn't track down a turkey so we got two stuffed chickens, heaps of mashed potatoes and some other yummies like cranberries and green bean cassarole, god bless the internet for helping us with that one! We all said what we were thankful for and it turned out to be a great thanksgiving!
The next day Mandy May toured us around the beautiful town on the beach and all the surrounding scenic points like the lighthouse and what not. We got some super good icecream and grinded some burgers before heading back to the house as the weather began to turn sour. We went out that night to a cool bar/club and than called it a night after a couple drinks.
Waking up the next day I started to catch what Meadow's had for quite awhile now, a cold and conjested sinus's with a cough, but we headed to the ocean for a quick surf anyway. The ocean cures all I definately believe or at least revives and relieves for a short time and I felt slightly better after a morning dip and surf. The weather cleared up considerably but than turned cloudy and overcast shortly after so we headed home for a lounge day with some TV continuing our series we started called "hero's" which is super corny but really easy to get hooked on as none of us have been around TV for quite awhile now! As night approached we thought we could sneak out on a Sunday without having to go out but as it turns out Sunday's are huge in Australia! Ahhhhh, so of course we went out for a few drinks and after my self proclaimed no drink night, Meadow bought me a tequila shot and away we went! We didn't have many and actually had a fun night with all the girls we met through Zoe and Jazinta (Di's daughter and friend). That night we went back to Mandy's and Meadow and Jay had a revlation that somehow of course I got conned into. We all decided it'd be a good idea to dye my chest hair black and shave a sun into it!? So, one dye job leads to another and the next thing I know my hair is black as well as my beard! It was a pretty hilarious night as we couldn't stop laughing and I thought Meadow and Jay were going to die at one point! So long story short that's why my hair is black now haha, but it's growing on me and I actually kinda like it haha.
The last day in Wollongong we went out on Di's golf course that her and her husband own and golfed 9 holes and drove carts for free and had an absolute blast despite all the flies that pestured you during your back swing. Jay and Amanda had never golfed before so it was pretty entertaining but they definately held their own and did pretty good considering. Meadow and myself whom had golfed still played pretty poorly but we all had a blast so it was well worth it.
Saying bye to Mandy the next day was tough as she'd taken really good care of us and she'll definately be missed, Di got caught up with work most the time so unfortunately we only got to see her for Thanksgiving night but it's no worries things happen of course.
The plane ride from Sydney to Auckland (New Zealand) was fine but going through security I've never felt so profiled in my entire life as I had to go through numerous screening with my backpack while getting questioned over and over if I did drugs or hung out with people that did. This was all because I had a recent Thailand visit on my passport so they grilled the hell out of me, it was really frusterating as they took out everything in my pack and clean my shoes for bacteria all while continuing to ask me rediculous questions but it's over now so I'm washing it away! We called Tom (my buddy whom I met in Greece and traveled with for 3 weeks in Europe) who came and picked us up. What a classic Kiwi Tom was at first sight with his sweet handle bars and mustache and his wannabee mullet hair cut! That first night we began to map out our next 4 days with Tom over the weekend and what we were going to do the rest of our short almost 3 week stay in New Zealand. The next day we took a bus from Tom's house to downtown to find a hostel and cruise the city for a day. Getting into the hostel the boys got in line to book the room while I went to the travelers booth to try and book a car for our journey. A super cute girl got in line behind me so of course I chatted it up with her and found out she was a Yank from Iowa at of all places. Caught me off guard because I don't think I've met anyone from the states in awhile, little alone from a none coastal state. We hit it off pretty well and she ended up hanging out with us later that night which turned out good because we went out to a club and after getting denied because we didn't have proper ID we ended up hanging out together back at the hostel. Backtracking a bit, that day we just wondered around downtown Auckland and met up with Jay's parents who are in New Zealand for awhile as well. We went to an island off mainland which boosted a little sleepy colonial style town. We hiked to the top of the hill on the island and caught a great view of downtown Auckland and the surrounding islands and of course got a killer jumpshot, Jay even got one with his parents who were stoked to finally find out what a jump shot is! Jay's parents were adorable as I found out they've been keeping up with my blog and asked my questions frequently about this and that and things I totally forgot about so it was very fun to talk with them. We ate a killer mexican meal that night at a place Jay discovered and the guys working there were from Bend, Oregon so go figure! To eat a good burrito was heaven I have to say!
The next day we hopped in Jay's parents car and took off north to the Bay of Islands. The first day we got there and ate some delicious food (thanks again to Jay's parents for treating us so many times, it really means a lot to a bunch of broke backpackers!) and settled into our hostel. by this time the weather had turned cloudy so we decided to hold off on kayaking until the next day and entertain ourselves in far better ways! So, don't think we're retarded but when you're backpacking and there's nothing to do you can become quite a bit rediculous with ideas to entertain your bordom. We first all got mustaches for the last remaining days of Movember (What they call November here to help promote prostate cancer awareness, which is why all the younger males grow mustaches) and than decided to play century club with our English housemates but playing with water! Century club is normally a college drinking game played with beer in which you drink a shot of beer a minute for 100 minutes! Well, it was my brilliant idea to switch is up with water and after 100 shots and not being able to pee, another rule enforced, we all began really sick and went to bed really early that night!
The next day we rented some sea kayaks and paddled up a river to a massive water fall which was absolutely amazing. We paddled back with the current to the ocean and around the islands. There were waves going into the island so we surfed some of the waves for a bit while also stopping on the shore to explore the islands for a little bit. After 4 hours of paddling my arms began to sting with pain and we headed back to shore. Jay's parents were going to stay another night so we hopped on a bus back to Auckland and met back up with Tom and crashed at his house for the night.
We all pilled into Tom's shaggen wagen van, fully equitted with a bed in the back and took off for the Coramandel Cove. We hiked down to Cathedral cover which was this spectacula beach with cliffs that had been eroded underneath so you could walk under them and they resembled thos cliffs of Thailand. The two beaches were connected by a massive cave in the hillside and will go down as one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen in my life. The drive along the Coromandal cove was incredible with turqoise water as far as the eye can see, massive rolling hills with diverse trees that crawled all the way up to the waters edge and a beautiful array of huvering puffy clouds amongst a royal blue sky. After our drive through Coromandel we took off for the Witoma Caves. We go into Witoma at about midnight so we pulled into a hostel with a camping area, pitched the tent where Jay and I slept and Meadow and Tom crashed in the camper van.
We woke up the next morning after a rough cold night of in and out sleep, used the bathroom facilities and took off before anyone noticed us for another free nights accomadation! I also woke up to Meadow screaming happy birthday to me followed by Tom and Jay which was so good to hear being away from home and kind of forgetting it was in fact my birthday! We drove across the street to where we booked our caving adventure for what would turn out to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life. We all got our gear, full 5.0 wet suit and boots, and I wore a one peice womans swim suit over my wet suit that was to be my birthday suit! It was pretty disturbing but I had a lot of fun with it! Getting to the spot we first abseiled (repelling straight down) roughly 100 feet down a dark hole with the only light coming from our head lamps. Getting to the bottom we all turned off our lights and you could see hundreds of glow worms that acted like constilations of stars scattered across the massive cave ceilings above. We than zip linned over a waterfall below to get to the other side where we tubed down an underground river! After getting to the end our guide pulled us together on our tubes back as we turned off our lights and soaked in just what we were looking at and where we were, starring at thousands of glow warms about 50 ft up while floating on a river some 100 ft below the surface. Next, we slid down a waterfall on our stomaches and walked through some narrow passages to get to another waterfall that was a dead end. So, of course naturally we climbed the waterfall to the top and continued tunneling and at some points crawling through narrow underground passages as we followed the rushing water upstream. We got to another point where we did a bit of rock climbing and then continued crawling once we reached the top through mud and incredibly narrow spaces. I thought I was closterphobic but I never once felt confined or at harm it was incredible. Reaching the top and seeing light definately was relieving but we all came to the same conclusion that we could have spent hours more exploring the underground tunnel system of only one cave out of hundreds in the area! Caving is a life changing experience that honestly has opened up my eyes to just how incredible planet earth is and along with sky diving and underwater diving as changed the way I look at life. We got back in our car after running into Jay's parents and leaving Jay with them back at the caves before we headed to Raglan on the west coast. Raglan was a little surf town with some of the best known surf breaks in the world. We got to our cozy little hostel and rented some body boards right away and took off for the break. After a good surf we headed back to the hostel, made some delicious spaghetti and started the birthday festivites off. We enforced our games we played in Europe and got a good crew of English to join in with us. Meadow came up with another great idea so after a short while I had 24 birthday dots on my face from everyone to go along with my kick ass pirate bandana! Anyway, turned out to be an amazing birthday thanks to my buddies and one surely not to forget.
Yesterday we left Raglan and Tom took Meadow and I back up to Auckland to get our rental car and we took right back off south to where we are now, Rotorua. Our car is a little Ford manual hatchback and is pretty lame so we called it Dale. But the weather has been spectacular and there is so much to do here so I have to be off, I know there's plenty of stories I'm missing but oh well what can you do? Time to go get lost in the moment!
Cheers,
Grant
How's it all the way from Rotorua, New Zealand! I'll work my way back up to this point as always as I've been in transit for a week or so and have a little catching up to do. This blog might be a little choppy with less detail as I don't have the time or drive really at the moment to be super specific so I appologize up front. Anyway, I'll take off back from thanksgiving in Wollongong, Australia.
Pele drove down from Sydney with her friend Sarah whom we also met traveling through Europe to join us for our Thanksgiving feast. We couldn't track down a turkey so we got two stuffed chickens, heaps of mashed potatoes and some other yummies like cranberries and green bean cassarole, god bless the internet for helping us with that one! We all said what we were thankful for and it turned out to be a great thanksgiving!
The next day Mandy May toured us around the beautiful town on the beach and all the surrounding scenic points like the lighthouse and what not. We got some super good icecream and grinded some burgers before heading back to the house as the weather began to turn sour. We went out that night to a cool bar/club and than called it a night after a couple drinks.
Waking up the next day I started to catch what Meadow's had for quite awhile now, a cold and conjested sinus's with a cough, but we headed to the ocean for a quick surf anyway. The ocean cures all I definately believe or at least revives and relieves for a short time and I felt slightly better after a morning dip and surf. The weather cleared up considerably but than turned cloudy and overcast shortly after so we headed home for a lounge day with some TV continuing our series we started called "hero's" which is super corny but really easy to get hooked on as none of us have been around TV for quite awhile now! As night approached we thought we could sneak out on a Sunday without having to go out but as it turns out Sunday's are huge in Australia! Ahhhhh, so of course we went out for a few drinks and after my self proclaimed no drink night, Meadow bought me a tequila shot and away we went! We didn't have many and actually had a fun night with all the girls we met through Zoe and Jazinta (Di's daughter and friend). That night we went back to Mandy's and Meadow and Jay had a revlation that somehow of course I got conned into. We all decided it'd be a good idea to dye my chest hair black and shave a sun into it!? So, one dye job leads to another and the next thing I know my hair is black as well as my beard! It was a pretty hilarious night as we couldn't stop laughing and I thought Meadow and Jay were going to die at one point! So long story short that's why my hair is black now haha, but it's growing on me and I actually kinda like it haha.
The last day in Wollongong we went out on Di's golf course that her and her husband own and golfed 9 holes and drove carts for free and had an absolute blast despite all the flies that pestured you during your back swing. Jay and Amanda had never golfed before so it was pretty entertaining but they definately held their own and did pretty good considering. Meadow and myself whom had golfed still played pretty poorly but we all had a blast so it was well worth it.
Saying bye to Mandy the next day was tough as she'd taken really good care of us and she'll definately be missed, Di got caught up with work most the time so unfortunately we only got to see her for Thanksgiving night but it's no worries things happen of course.
The plane ride from Sydney to Auckland (New Zealand) was fine but going through security I've never felt so profiled in my entire life as I had to go through numerous screening with my backpack while getting questioned over and over if I did drugs or hung out with people that did. This was all because I had a recent Thailand visit on my passport so they grilled the hell out of me, it was really frusterating as they took out everything in my pack and clean my shoes for bacteria all while continuing to ask me rediculous questions but it's over now so I'm washing it away! We called Tom (my buddy whom I met in Greece and traveled with for 3 weeks in Europe) who came and picked us up. What a classic Kiwi Tom was at first sight with his sweet handle bars and mustache and his wannabee mullet hair cut! That first night we began to map out our next 4 days with Tom over the weekend and what we were going to do the rest of our short almost 3 week stay in New Zealand. The next day we took a bus from Tom's house to downtown to find a hostel and cruise the city for a day. Getting into the hostel the boys got in line to book the room while I went to the travelers booth to try and book a car for our journey. A super cute girl got in line behind me so of course I chatted it up with her and found out she was a Yank from Iowa at of all places. Caught me off guard because I don't think I've met anyone from the states in awhile, little alone from a none coastal state. We hit it off pretty well and she ended up hanging out with us later that night which turned out good because we went out to a club and after getting denied because we didn't have proper ID we ended up hanging out together back at the hostel. Backtracking a bit, that day we just wondered around downtown Auckland and met up with Jay's parents who are in New Zealand for awhile as well. We went to an island off mainland which boosted a little sleepy colonial style town. We hiked to the top of the hill on the island and caught a great view of downtown Auckland and the surrounding islands and of course got a killer jumpshot, Jay even got one with his parents who were stoked to finally find out what a jump shot is! Jay's parents were adorable as I found out they've been keeping up with my blog and asked my questions frequently about this and that and things I totally forgot about so it was very fun to talk with them. We ate a killer mexican meal that night at a place Jay discovered and the guys working there were from Bend, Oregon so go figure! To eat a good burrito was heaven I have to say!
The next day we hopped in Jay's parents car and took off north to the Bay of Islands. The first day we got there and ate some delicious food (thanks again to Jay's parents for treating us so many times, it really means a lot to a bunch of broke backpackers!) and settled into our hostel. by this time the weather had turned cloudy so we decided to hold off on kayaking until the next day and entertain ourselves in far better ways! So, don't think we're retarded but when you're backpacking and there's nothing to do you can become quite a bit rediculous with ideas to entertain your bordom. We first all got mustaches for the last remaining days of Movember (What they call November here to help promote prostate cancer awareness, which is why all the younger males grow mustaches) and than decided to play century club with our English housemates but playing with water! Century club is normally a college drinking game played with beer in which you drink a shot of beer a minute for 100 minutes! Well, it was my brilliant idea to switch is up with water and after 100 shots and not being able to pee, another rule enforced, we all began really sick and went to bed really early that night!
The next day we rented some sea kayaks and paddled up a river to a massive water fall which was absolutely amazing. We paddled back with the current to the ocean and around the islands. There were waves going into the island so we surfed some of the waves for a bit while also stopping on the shore to explore the islands for a little bit. After 4 hours of paddling my arms began to sting with pain and we headed back to shore. Jay's parents were going to stay another night so we hopped on a bus back to Auckland and met back up with Tom and crashed at his house for the night.
We all pilled into Tom's shaggen wagen van, fully equitted with a bed in the back and took off for the Coramandel Cove. We hiked down to Cathedral cover which was this spectacula beach with cliffs that had been eroded underneath so you could walk under them and they resembled thos cliffs of Thailand. The two beaches were connected by a massive cave in the hillside and will go down as one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen in my life. The drive along the Coromandal cove was incredible with turqoise water as far as the eye can see, massive rolling hills with diverse trees that crawled all the way up to the waters edge and a beautiful array of huvering puffy clouds amongst a royal blue sky. After our drive through Coromandel we took off for the Witoma Caves. We go into Witoma at about midnight so we pulled into a hostel with a camping area, pitched the tent where Jay and I slept and Meadow and Tom crashed in the camper van.
We woke up the next morning after a rough cold night of in and out sleep, used the bathroom facilities and took off before anyone noticed us for another free nights accomadation! I also woke up to Meadow screaming happy birthday to me followed by Tom and Jay which was so good to hear being away from home and kind of forgetting it was in fact my birthday! We drove across the street to where we booked our caving adventure for what would turn out to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life. We all got our gear, full 5.0 wet suit and boots, and I wore a one peice womans swim suit over my wet suit that was to be my birthday suit! It was pretty disturbing but I had a lot of fun with it! Getting to the spot we first abseiled (repelling straight down) roughly 100 feet down a dark hole with the only light coming from our head lamps. Getting to the bottom we all turned off our lights and you could see hundreds of glow worms that acted like constilations of stars scattered across the massive cave ceilings above. We than zip linned over a waterfall below to get to the other side where we tubed down an underground river! After getting to the end our guide pulled us together on our tubes back as we turned off our lights and soaked in just what we were looking at and where we were, starring at thousands of glow warms about 50 ft up while floating on a river some 100 ft below the surface. Next, we slid down a waterfall on our stomaches and walked through some narrow passages to get to another waterfall that was a dead end. So, of course naturally we climbed the waterfall to the top and continued tunneling and at some points crawling through narrow underground passages as we followed the rushing water upstream. We got to another point where we did a bit of rock climbing and then continued crawling once we reached the top through mud and incredibly narrow spaces. I thought I was closterphobic but I never once felt confined or at harm it was incredible. Reaching the top and seeing light definately was relieving but we all came to the same conclusion that we could have spent hours more exploring the underground tunnel system of only one cave out of hundreds in the area! Caving is a life changing experience that honestly has opened up my eyes to just how incredible planet earth is and along with sky diving and underwater diving as changed the way I look at life. We got back in our car after running into Jay's parents and leaving Jay with them back at the caves before we headed to Raglan on the west coast. Raglan was a little surf town with some of the best known surf breaks in the world. We got to our cozy little hostel and rented some body boards right away and took off for the break. After a good surf we headed back to the hostel, made some delicious spaghetti and started the birthday festivites off. We enforced our games we played in Europe and got a good crew of English to join in with us. Meadow came up with another great idea so after a short while I had 24 birthday dots on my face from everyone to go along with my kick ass pirate bandana! Anyway, turned out to be an amazing birthday thanks to my buddies and one surely not to forget.
Yesterday we left Raglan and Tom took Meadow and I back up to Auckland to get our rental car and we took right back off south to where we are now, Rotorua. Our car is a little Ford manual hatchback and is pretty lame so we called it Dale. But the weather has been spectacular and there is so much to do here so I have to be off, I know there's plenty of stories I'm missing but oh well what can you do? Time to go get lost in the moment!
Cheers,
Grant
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