The Death of Intention... The trip of a Lifetime

South as!

2009-01-24T02:52:00.000-08:00

Tuesday we headed for the bottom of the south Island. We went through Invercargill, down to Bluff. Bluff is the southernmost town on the south Island. It is also where state Highway 1 begins in the south. State highway 1 goes north from Bluff to run the entire length of New Zealand (of course with a break in between).

From Bluff, about half of us took the hour long ferry ride over to Stewart Island, the southernmost of the main Island's of New Zealand. Stewart island is tiny in comparison to the two main islands, and 85% of its landmass is National park. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to enter the National park; so we spent our time in Oban, Stewart Island's only town. A few of us decided to go in together and rent a car so we could drive Stewart Island's whopping 29 kilometers of roads. The roads only provided access to Oban and the immediate harbors adjacent to it. They do not go into the interior of the island at all.

Our expedition of discovery of Oban and the surrounding bays yielded the following results; there is not much going on on Stewart Island. It also rained most of the time we were there. I must say though, it was pretty neat being on an island that is so far south; closer by far to Antarctica than to Texas, and realize that the vast majority of human civilization has never been as far south as I was at the moment. The weather was mild, I wore a hoodie to keep warm, but it was by no means frigid. It also stayed light outside tall nearly 10:00 PM. This is due to the Island being on the western end of the time zone, and being so far south (this end of the planet is tilted more toward the sun right now, hince it is summer time).

HUGH'S TRIVIA FACT OF THE DAY. Stewart Island lies in the midst of some of the most pristine open ocean in the world. Therefore the rain that they receive is incredibly clean. As a result all of the water used for drinking, washing, flushing toilets etc. on the island comes entirely from collected rainwater. From the time we boarded the ferry, we were asked to please conserve water during our stay. Pretty cool.

The next morning, we took the ferry back to Bluff, got on the buss and headed for Dunedin. We made a few stops along the way. We stopped at a beach that is actually the southernmost point of the south Island of New Zealand (I can now say that I have been to both ends of the main part of New Zealand). While there we were standing on the beach, and noticed a head popping up out of the water. The next thing we knew, a really big sea lion came out of the water and hobbled up the beach right in front of us and stopped, seemingly posing for photographs. It sat there for a while, chasing back the occasional person, seemingly simply for sport, and then rolled around in the sand. It was pretty cool. Just about 50 yards away laying in the dune grass, was a male. He was huge. We all took pictures and cautiously kept our distance.

We continued on, stopping at a penguin preserve, but saw no penguins. Finally we made it into Dunedin. The bus driver was kind enough to drop me at the airport, after a few hours I caught a flight back to Auckland. I have been here for the past few nights regaining my sanity, and enjoying sleeping in a room that I am not sharing with 5 or 6 other people.

Tomorrow morning I leave to go to Sydney! I am super excited about this. Don't get me wrong, New Zealand has been amazing, but I have wanted to go to Australia since I was a child. Aussie here I come.

Fjordland... Isn't that a type of car?

2009-01-19T22:47:00.000-08:00

Saturday we left Franz Josef, headed for Makarora. We made a few stops along the way, saw some cool stuff, but all in all it was an uneventful day. We stayed the night at the Makarora Wilderness retreat, in the middle of NO WHERE. Which brings us to...

TRIVIA TIME WITH HUGH: The population of New Zealand equals only about 4 million. Of those, 1.5 million live in Auckland. Which leaves 2.5 million for the rest of the country. Though the south island is larger than the north, the vast majority of it is wilderness. Three million in total live on the north island, leaving only 1 million people who live on the south island. Around 300,000 of those live in New Zealand's second largest city, Christchurch. Which leaves only 700,000 people scattered over quite a large island. Most of those left live in other urban centers like Queenstown, Nelson, Duneden and so forth. Hince, large portions of the south island lay as unsettled wilderness.

It was on this leg of the trip that I was properly introduced to Sandflies. These are horrible, horrible creatures. The best way to describe them is; mosquitoes on steroids, and lots of them. This area is largely Sub-tropical rain forrest, which is a haven for the Sandfly, so we all got to know sand flies quite well.

We left Makarora headed for Queenstown. There was lots to see and do along the way. The drive was beautiful, once again, largely across wilderness. We stopped and saw several waterfalls, some beautiful rivers, and crossed the Haast Pass. This pass traverses the mountains that run along the length of the west coast. Once over the pass we were inland and well on our way to Queenstown.

A bit further down the road, we stopped at a sign on the side of the road marking the 45th parallel. This is the latitudinal line that marks the 45 degree, or half way point between the equator and the south pole. Upon crossing this marker, we were closer to the south pole than the equator; truly, and without question, "down under."

We continued on, stopping for those who wished to bungy jump do so. I was happy to watch and take pictures, but did not partake. We finally arrived in Queenstown. We were there for 2 nights. I used the time to do some much needed laundry, and relax.

This morning we left Queenstown, passing the the "Remarkables" mountain range that is visible from the city. This range was used in the Lord of the Rings, it is easy to see why. They are truly amazingly beautiful, and just looking at them seems to somehow transport you into the story.

Our main stop today was the Milford Sound in the Fjordland National Park. The entire region was carved out by glaciers and is absolutely stunningly beautiful. Mountains appear out of a flat valley, and shoot straight up, some over 1000 meters. It is a very surreal place. When taking in the views, one feels like they are on another planet. We drove through the park, through a tunnel that cut directly through a mountain and then traveled on to Milford Sound. Once there, we got onto a boat and took a cruise around the sound. It was stunning. Once again mountains shot straight up out of the water to unbelievable heights, many with amazing waterfalls plummeting down the sides of the mountains into the water below. It is unbelievable that places like this exist. The whole experience was simply indescribable. An unbelievable amount of beauty permeates the place, and one cannot help but be in awe of the entire experience in the park.

TRIVIA TIME WITH HUGH: The Fjordland National Park is New Zealand's largest park. In Fact, the park covers 1/5th or 20% of the landmass of New Zealand. The area is also a World Heritage Site, a designation given through the United Nations, which recognizes an area's unique qualities and preciousness to humanity.

We moved along from there and are staying the night in Tuatapere. Tomorrow we travel to Invercargill, the southern-most city of the south island. For those who may have seen the movie "The Fastest Indian," the main character of the film is from Invercargill. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It is a great film.

From Invercargill, some of us (including myself) will take the ferry to New Zealand's third major island, Stewart Island (a relatively small island just south of Invercargill). We will spend the night there. I will likely not post from there, as the island is very primitive (no electricity except what is provided by private generators). I am very excited about this stay. The stars are supposed to be amazing if the weather is clear. Not to mention that when standing on the south shore, nothing stands between you and Antarctica. Sounds pretty cool to me.

The following day, we travel to Duneden. From there I fly back to Auckland, ending my tour of New Zealand.

Franz Josef Glacier

2009-01-15T22:04:00.000-08:00

After we left Barrytown, we headed on down to Franz Josef. Franz Josef is the gateway to the Franz Josef glacier. It is a small town, that exists pretty much entirely to give tourists a place to stay, and provide a base to leave from and return to on the various glacial activities available.

Myself and a few others on my bus chose to do a full day hike on the glacier today. It was an 8 hour hike total, with about 6 hours actually spent on the ice. The experience was beyond anything that I can describe. I sit here so exhausted from the experience, but so glad that I did it.

Just a bit of info: The glacier, if I remember correctly, is around 12 kilometers long, an average of 400-500 meters wide, and an average of 300 meters thick. It is quite a chunk of ice. It is a bit of an oddity as it is only 300 meters above sea level at its lowest point and is surrounded by rain forest (not the tropical variety). The entire glacier and area is labeled as a "world heritage site." It was named Franz Josef in 1865 by a German explorer, who give the glacier the same name as the then emperor of Austria. The Maori have a wonderful story for how the glacier came to be. Which bring us to...

MAORI STORY TIME WITH HUGH: The Maori name for the glacier is Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere ('The tears of Hinehukatere'), arising from a local legend: Hinehukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover, Tawe, to climb with her. Tawe was a less experienced climber than Hinehukatere but loved to accompany her until an avalanche swept Tawe from the peaks to his death. Hinehukatere was broken hearted and her many tears flowed down the mountain and froze to form the glacier. (source Wikipedia).

We started the day getting out to the glacier (which was no walk in the park in itself), and then splitting up into groups. Each group had a trained guide that leads hikes on the glacier every day. Our guide's name was Bazzel, and he did a fantastic job. There were 5 groups, that varied in degree of difficulty (1 being the most difficult). I was in group 2, which essentially did the exact same thing as group one, so it was really cool. As the groups go out in their various directions, the guide leads the way, as a path finder. He carried a pic with him, and when we came to areas that may need some work on the path to get the group over he would chip away at the ice, clearing the trail, or carving stairs, whatever the situation required.

Just getting onto the ice is a monumental task in itself. On the way in, we walked through the rain forest, and through a riverbed. All along the trail we walked past sign after sign, even crossing a fence; all warning of the impending danger that awaited us. The most immediate danger comes from the terminal face (front edge) of the glacier itself, as the glacier is in constant movement, and huge chunks of ice break off with no warning. Just last week there were a couple of Australian guys who died at the terminal face of the Fox glacier, not too far from here. They simply ignored the warning signs, walked up to the glacier, and were crushed by falling ice. Luckily though, our approach didn't take us to the terminal face, but to the side. Just before we reached the glacier we stopped and put on our capons (metal spikes that strap to your boots so you can walk on the ice), and away we went. Once we were on the glacier, the fun began.

The experience was amazing. We passed through a few caves through the ice, and traversed several deep crevasses. Many of the narrower ones , our guide would simply carve out steps on either side and we would traverse these huge cracks in the ice by straddling them and making our way along the crevasse. It was in those places that the ice was the bluest. It was a deep blue, almost the color of the sky. We travel up, down, around, and all over the lower portion of the glacier. The upper portions are not safe, because there is a point far up where the glacier plunges from high on the mountain, to the glacial valley below. In these ares, the ice towers high above, and can collapse at any time. So, we stayed on the lower portion of the glacier. The experience was one that I will never forget.

The glacial valley has been carved between two mountains, leaving a shear face of several hundred meters on the sides of the mountains to either side, with a nearly vertical plunge from the top. This made for magnificent views from the glacier where waterfalls would plunge from the top of the mountains, perhaps hitting a couple of outcroppings on the way down, and finally plunging into the glacier, or the valley floor. Some were large and quite breathtaking, others were small, and looked like strands of thread hanging down the side of the mountains. There was one in particular that was gorgeous, and we could see it from practically everywhere on the glacier. I bet I took 50 pictures of it throughout the day.

It's worth mentioning now that glaciers are not just huge blocks of smooth ice. In fact, from the time that I left the parking lot in the morning, until the time I got back in the evening, I literally don't think my foot was on a level surface the entire day. Not only is the surface underfoot tough, but the greater topography of the glacier is very turbulent, with peaks and valleys, ups and downs; the glacier is really like a river of solid ice. Imagine watching water going through a whitewater rapid, and then slowing that water way down, but having all the same movement and turbulence. Now freeze that water, increase it to a massive scale, and that is sort of what it was like... once again on a massive scale.

The whole day was beyond words. I am still trying to take in the massiveness (is that even a word?), and wonder of it all. The beauty is simply un-believable, and the experience is one that I will never forget.

Onward

2009-01-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we made the crossing on the ferry from Wellington to the south island. The crossing took about 3 hours and was relatively uneventful. After arriving, we got off and hopped on a new bus and headed out. We made a few stops along throughout the day for pictures, groceries etc. We arrived last night in the Abel Tasman National Park. The park is named so because it was the place where Abel Tasman (A Dutch explorer), first anchored off the shore of New Zealand and tried to make contact with the locals. Which brings us to...

HISTORY TIME WITH HUGH: When Abel Tasman first discovered the south island of New Zealand, he anchored just off the shore and sounded a horn from his ship, as was a European Maritime custom to greet people on shore and in other ships. The signal is intended to show that you mean no harm. What Tasman did not know was that the sounding of a horn meant there was a battle coming to the Maori listening ashore. He sent out a greeting party who were subsequently slaughtered on the beach. Abel Tasman left New Zealand, never having set foot ashore. Imagine, had he simply not blown the horn, New Zealand Might well have been a Dutch colony instead of British. Funny how history works like that, eh?

Most people spend two nights in the Abel Tasman because of its native beauty, but I am more interested in the southern end of the south island, so I continued on today. We drove down the west coast, stopping for photos, to see a New Zealand Furry Seal colony, and to see the pancake rocks and blowholes. Tonight we are staying in Barrytown, a tiny village on the west cost. Tomorrow we continue on to Franz Joseph. There we'll do a glacier hike.

Windy Welli

2009-01-11T23:31:00.000-08:00

This morning we left the Tongariro National park, and headed for Wellington. We had a few stops along the way, it was a good drive.

We arrived in Wellington, and got checked into our hostel, and I went out. I only have one night here, and really had a lot that I wanted to see. I visited Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand, and walked down and saw the capitol grounds. At that point I was a bit lost, so I called a friend from here that I met earlier on my tour (we were on the same bus for a while). She came and found me and we hopped on the cable car downtown. The cable car was cool, not just because I have never ridden one, but because you can get on it downtown and it will pull you up the hill and in 5 minutes time you can be walking in the botanical gardens, which are amazing. We went and watched a band warming up in the park, but had to leave before they actually played because I needed to get back. We walked around the city a bit more, she showed me all of the essentials that one must see in Wellington, and now I'm back at the hostel. It really is a very cool city.I had an awesome time, although I am still extremely sore from the Tongariro crossing, so I sort-of waddled throughout the city.

Wellington is a very windy city. That tid bit one doesn't fit anywhere else, and isn't enough information to earn a "Hugh's trivia fact of the day" title. So there it is.

For those of you interested in the Lord of the Rings update, there were many scenes throughout the movies filmed here in Wellington and surrounding areas. Many of the city parks were utilized, as well as the side of Mt. Victoria that overlooks the city. I am also staying directly across the street from the theater where the trilogy saw its world premiere. I may see about going over and catching a move later this evening.

Into the heart of Mordor

2009-01-10T22:39:00.000-08:00

Today was an amazing day. Myself and several others on my tour did the Tongariro Alpine Crossing; a 19.4 kilometer (just over 12 miles) trek through the Tongariro National Park. This may not seem that ominous or noteworthy, until you realize that Tongariro National park is home to five mountains, including Mt. Ngauruhoe, otherwise known as Mt. Doom from the Lord of the Rings.

Our day started early, and we drove out to the park. We got any gear we needed, hiking boots, a rainproof coat (just in case), and so on; and drove to the starting area. We were dropped off there at around 8:45, and our seven hour epic began. Now, this is not a loop, it's a track through the park. There is no turning back, once you have started you must make the trek. We walked for close to an hour through a valley between two mountains, making the occasional assent, but nothing very eventful. The scenery was beautiful.

After about an hour we came to what is called "the Devil's Stairs," which are very aptly named I can assure you. This was about 45 minutes to an hour worth of hiking up a mountain pass between Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom), and Mt. Tongariro. This was not an easy leg of the trek. Let's just say, no one in our group has any need to do a stair-master workout tonight!

We reached a leg finally where the track leveled out and we could stop for an extended break. At this same spot, was the junction for the trail that lead to the summit of "Mt. Doom." From the beginning of the trek, "Mt. Doom" had been visible to us for the entire time (I bet I took 50 pictures of it). It really does look quite vexing, even in real life. We elected not to try for the summit, because at this point we still had around four hours to go, as pickup was at 4:30 sharp, and the trek to the summit was a 3 hour return from that point. There were, however, some guys in our group that ran the first part of the track (I can't even comprehend that) to have a chance to make the summit (three of them made it). Another reason for not taking the summit was that the summit was still around 1000 meters above where we were after climbing the Devil's staircase.

After the devil's staircase, the clouds rolled in. We went up another pass, climbing higher to a high plateau. The feeling was bizarre. Since we were in the clouds, we couldn't see very far, there was no vegetation at all, and the area was littered with all sorts of stones and rocks. It felt like we were on another planet! But it was flat and level, so we welcomed it after the rapid assent we had made.

We came then to another climbing section. After we had been on that for around 30 or 40 minutes, we stopped for lunch. Since we were still in the clouds and couldn't see, we thought that our assent was complete, and the rest was downhill. It even looked that way on our map... It wasn't. We ascended for another 30 minutes or so, passing red crater (usually a highlight, and big photo-op on the trek, but we couldn't see it because of the clouds.) and climbed a bit more to the Emerald lakes; which we could just make out through the clouds.

From this point, the trek was downhill. We passed between Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Te Maari, past a crater lake, called blue lake (that we couldn't see due to the clouds); and then continuing on. We eventually came down out of the clouds, stopping at a DOC (Dept. of conservation) hut to rest and refill water bottles, and then continuing on the rest of the way to our pickup point.

The scenery was absolutely stunning, and though the trek was among one of the most physically challenging things I have ever done, and the clouds shrouded much of the scenery of the upper parts of the track from view; I still wouldn't trade it for anything. It truly was an awesome experience.

There was a quote that ran through my head all day, through the times that the going was easy and the scenery was extraordinary; to the times that the going was not so easy, and wondered why I had even considered doing this in the first place. Sir. Edmund Hillary, a Kiwi (New Zealander), and the first man (along with his Tibetan guide) to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest coined the simple, yet profound phrase:

- “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”

On the road again.

2009-01-09T23:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we traveled from Gisborne to Rotorua. We made stops along the way for photos and a swim stop at a river. It was great. We were in this beautiful gorge in the middle of nowhere. Finally we stopped to put our feet into a thermal pool for a while. We stayed in Rotorua last night and all had fish and chips together. Our guide for the east cape, Jason, labeled all of the places that we had stopped while on out east cape tour. It was great that he did that, my map is starting to fill up.

I failed to mention before, but Rotorua is a very geologically active area with a host of geysers, hot springs, boiling mud pools, and thermal pools. The smell of sulfur hangs in the air everywhere you go. It is a gorgeous area with a great deal of history, first with the Maori and later with British settlers.

Today I hopped back on the main stray bus, and tonight we are in Taupo. Along the way we stopped at the boiling mud pools, just outside of Rotorua. That was really a sight to see.

Further along we stopped at the massive Huka Falls. The water begins crystal clear and turns to a deep blue as the water gets rough going through the gorge, and then finally tumbles over the edge in massive proportions. I can't exactly recall, because I don't have my camera (I took a picture of the sign with the information), but I believe the volume of water is around 650 cubic liters per second. If you don't speak metric, just know... that is a lot of water.

Tonight I am in Taupo. If you look at a map of new Zealand, there is a big lake right in the middle of the north island, that is Lake Taupo. The lake is the giant crater of a giant volcano that erupted sometime around 100 AD.

Tomorrow we head for Tongariro National Park. If the weather is favorable, we will make the Tongarario Alpine Crossing. This is a hike through the park that is around 18.5 kilometers, and takes 8 hours. It passes by, and if you have enough time you may take the track to the summit of, Mt. Ngauruhoe. You may know this mountain as the ominous and vexing "Mt. Doom" from "The Lord of the Rings."

HUGH'S QUOTE OF THE DAY: “People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.” Sir Edmund Hillary.

... ten meters? We're getting worse instead of better.

2009-01-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

The last two days were amazing.

Day Before yesterday, our East Cape tour started from Rotorua. We made a few stops along the way, heading east. We stayed the night in paradise. It was a backpackers hostel, but it was nothing short of amazing. It is built on a private bay, owned by a Maori family, who run the hostel. The whole place was great, built in among native Pohutukawa trees. The "Lonely Planet Guidebook to New Zealand," lists the spot as something Robinson Crusoe would be proud of. The hostel itself is amazing, but the location is what makes the whole thing. No one in our group wanted to leave. It is truly one of the most beautiful and relaxing places I have ever seen.

Yesterday morning we got up and continued around the east cape. We stopped at several places along the way to take pictures of the scenery. We stopped in one place to take pictures of the world's largest Pohutukawa tree. The Pohutukawa is a native New Zealand tree also known as the "New Zealand Christmas Tree" because around Christmas time, the entire tree blooms into a crimson red. It's really beautiful.

We stopped at some historic churches as well, one in particular built by the great Maori Apirana Ngata in memory of the Maori soldiers who died in World war One. The inside of the church is decorated with all sorts of beautiful maori carvings and symbolism. It's an amazing mixture of Maori cultural symbolism in a historic church.

HISTORY TIME WITH HUGH: The east cape is a region of New Zealand that remains relatively un-tapped because of it's heritage. It's indigenous Maori were the only Maori in New Zealand to defeat the British during the land wars. Because of this, the region is still heavily populated by Maori today.

In the afternoon, we started hitting beaches. We stopped and had a swim at Tokomaru bay. After that we went on to Tolaga Bay, a small town that had a good fish and chips shop. Our driver for this tour is Maori, he told us about a bridge in this town over the Waiapu river. This particular bridge is popular with Maori kids, who jump off of it into the Waiapu river, about 10 or 11 meters (more than 30 ft.) below. Before he ate, our guide decided he was going to jump off the bridge. He went up and jumped with all of us watching. It just looked like too much fun, so I did it too. IT WAS AWESOME (relax mom I'm fine). I've never jumped from anything that high... it takes quite a long time to get to the water. I climbed up and jumped before I had time to think about it, it was only on the way that I thought, "wow, this bridge is really high."

We hit a few more beaches on the way around, and had a hangi for supper. We spent the night a hostel in Gisborne. I got up this morning to watch the sunrise because...

HUGH'S TIDBIT OF TRIVIA FOR THE DAY: The East cape of New Zealand is the first place in the world to see the sun in the new day. The international date line runs just off the coast, it actually zig zags around the east cape, so that New Zealand doesn't have to be in two different days. This was determined during the millennium celebrations when all of the various news media outlets wanted to report from the place that saw the sun first. The Chatham Island's disputed that they were first, but after some study and observation of sunrise at both locations, the title was given to the East Cape of New Zealand.

Today we are heading back to Rotorua, and getting back on the main tour tomorrow.

Seven meters... you're kidding, right?

2009-01-05T17:36:00.000-08:00

Last night was a blast!

It was a Maori cultural night at "Uncle Boyd's." Uncle Boyd is a Maori man who built a Maori cultural center in honor of his parents to show the Maori culture to all who choose to come. We first arrived and ate a Maori Hangi, which is a traditional meal, cooked in a hole in the gound. The food was very good. After supper, the oldest guy in our group was identified as our chief, and we entered the Mauri (central meeting place, literally translates into "house," because the entire village slept together in the Mauri as a community).

Upon entering the Mauri, there was a group a Maori who then began a ritual of determining if we were friend or foe. After the Maori men did the haka, a traditional dance meant to ward off enemies (and let me tell you, it's pretty intimidating), Our chief had to step forward and pick up a leaf that had been laid on the ground in front of him by the Maori warriors. Once he picked up the leaf, we were accepted into the tribe, literally, we are all now considered part of the tribe. He was warned, he did not want to find out what would happen if he did not pick up the leaf (at least not what would have happened 100+ years ago). The acceptance was followed by a hongi (a traditional Maori greeting where two shake hands, while touching forehead and nose to forehead and nose) between all present. It was really cool.

The next half hour or so was a cultural show, where the Maori who were there sang various traditional songs, while doing their traditional Maori dances with them.

After that we split up, the guys went to learn the Haka, and the girls stayed in the Mauri to learn the poi (a traditional dance done by Maori women). The haka is well known in New Zealand. Besides being huge part of the Maori culture, New Zealand's national rugby team, the "All Blacks," perform the haka before their opponents prior to the start of every match. There are several hakas, but I found the one that we learned on you tube, performed by the New Zealand All Blacks. The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGwGBTG4TkA.

HUGH'S TRIVIA FACT OF THE DAY: The first European to originally discover New Zealand, Abel Tasmin, actually came ashore, but legend has it when the Maori warriors came out of the woods onto the beach performing the haka, he promptly got back on his ship, and went on his merry way. It is indeed a very intense ritual.

After breezing through an attempt at learning the haka, the guys came out to perform it in front of the ladies, and in return, they performed the poi for us. Our performance of the haka, was a coordinated effort in not really knowing what we were doing, but we had a good time with it anyway. Luckily the Maori men and boys that were there, joined in with us as well. It was a blast, and the pictures are funny, as it is quite obvious we have no idea what we are doing. Since we were then officially members of the tribe, we spent the night in the traditional Maori way, the whole group stayed the night in the Mauri. It really was an awesome evening. One of the coolest things I have done in a very long time.

Today we got up and had breakfast, and then traveled to Rotorua. Rotorua is Maori for "second lake," because it was the second lake that the Maori explorer came upon when first exploring the area. Just outside Rotorua (the town), we were dropped off for a whitewater rafting trip. We were rafting on the Kaituna River. Now, I know people white water raft all the time, but I never have. So I think I picked a good river to "get my feet wet" in. You see, on this particular river, the white water is not overwhelmingly intense, but the river boasts the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world. The drop on this fall is 7 meters. For those of you who cannot think in metric, that is nearly 22 feet... yeah, I know. We were warned from the beginning, there is about a 50% chance that the raft will turn over on this drop; but you never really know, because the water just does what it wants to. And even if the raft doesn't flip over, it still goes under water, because it essentially dives nose first from the top of the fall down to the river below.

The first group that went over the falls, their raft turned over. We were the last to go of 6, so you can imagine sitting there watching raft after raft disappear over the ledge and the nerves building. As we came up to the falls, we paddled close enough to see over the edge and wonder, WHAT WAS I THINKING? Just about then, the raft guide yelled for us to get down (we had practiced this on earlier, smaller falls), we tucked ourselves into the raft, and held on for dear life. So here we went. We dove off, were under water for a few seconds... and emerged victorious. Our raft stayed right side up! The whole trip was amazing, but the big drop was unlike anything I have ever experienced.

We had gone over two other falls before the big one, and the part after the big drop was a piece of cake. In fact, our guide had us jump into the river, and hang onto the raft to go over another fall a ways down the river (this one was much smaller than 7 meters of course). All-together an awesome experience.

Myself and a few others got off the bus here in Rotorua. Another bus will pick us up tomorrow to travel around the east cape of New Zealand.

Hangin' 10 in Raglin

2009-01-03T22:08:00.000-08:00

If you ready my blog yesterday, my apologies. I have more time tonight, and was appalled when I read back through it. If you have a chance, read it again as I have fixed the numerous errors that were the product of rushing.

As today was not nearly as interesting as yesterday, before I move on, here's some more about yesterday.

The kayaking trip was really an amazing time. Our guide was full of all kinds of stories about the area. For example...

HISTORY TIME WITH HUGH: The bay we were in, Mercury Bay, is so named because when Captain James Cook (I wonder if he had a hook for a hand too...) was mapping New Zealand for the first time, he was using the sun and the planet Mercury in the night sky to calculate the latitude and longitude of the region. On the night he spent in Mercury Bay, the planet was directly overhead in the night sky, hence the name. The next beach down is Cooks beach, where Capt. Cook planted the Union Jack in the soil and declared New Zealand for England. This presented a problem, however, because the Mauri were already here.

This disturbed a local Mauri Cheif named Ka, so while on an expedition in Mercury Bay, he remarked how the island Motueka, looked just like his nose (It has two caves in the side that faces the beach, that's about the extent of similarity). To most, this may have seemed like a trivial statement. However, the Mauri believed that if a land feature looked like you, or some part of you, then it was yours; along with all that could be surveyed from that particular piece of real estate. Naturally the audience of Mauri with him immediately and enthusiastically agreed. Therefore, the island is named Motueka, which translates into, "the Island of Ka." And the name of the beach (can't remember that one or find it on google maps) translates to "the breath of Ka," as the winds on that beach supposedly come from the "nostrils of Motueka"... you should see the tweezers they use to pluck THOSE nose hairs.

Mercury bay in Hahei was also used in "The Chronicles of Narnia, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Down the beach a ways is a huge hill, where the castle Cair Paravel (sp?) was built. They did eight months of work and shooting, for footage that made up about 3 minutes worth of the actual movie.

Today was relatively uneventful. Hahei is on the east coast, we have now driven to Raglin on the west coast. Raglin is world renown for it's surfing. There was actually a guy who surfed a single wave at a beach here for more than 10 minutes. That's a bit of a record as you might imagine. Those who chose to could take surfing lessons, for a nominal fee. Given my level of coordination (which is about the same as a tree), I opted out, and instead spent the afternoon at the beach.

Tomorrow we spend the day at the Waitomo caves, and tomorrow night we will have a Mauri "cultural night," so I most likely will not be able to post tomorrow night.

And we're off...

2009-01-03T00:41:00.001-08:00

Today started my tour of the north island.

We left from Auckland, making a quick stop at mount Eden; which I have talked about before, its is a dormant volcano in the middle of the city. It is still owned by the Maori people, and they use it for cattle grazing... which leads us to...

HUGH'S TRIVIA FACT OF THE DAY: When calves are born on Mt. Eden, after they have been weened and are released from their stalls, they must make a very important decision. They must decide whether to turn right, or turn left. While this may seem trivial to some, WAIT there's more! You see, since they live out their lives on the side of a mountain, depending upon the direction they first turn onto the slope of the mountain will determine the direction they will go around the mountain for the rest of their life. If they turn left, their right legs will grow slightly longer to compensate for the slope of the mountain, and if they turn right, their left legs will grow longer to compensate. Kinda makes you glad that you're not a cow born on a mountain, eh?

From Auckland we headed out to the Coromandel Peninsula. Our end destinations for today were cathedral cove and hot water beach. Once we had arrived and settled in at the hostel, those of us who had elected to do so, headed down to the beach for some sea kayaking. From the beach at the hostel in Hahei (ha-he) we kayaked down the coast to cathedral cove. Cathedral cove is a limestone cliff face that has eroded away over the years due to the sea water, and is today two separate beaches with a huge limestone passageway connecting the two. It is really quite stunning, especially from the water. On the way to the cove, we passed through a marine reserve, and past a sheer limestone cliff that goes up what had to be 200 ft., all the way down to the water's edge.

Once we arrived at the cove, just off either of the beaches there is a huge limestone rock jutting out of the water that has been eaten away on the bottom by the sea water. It looks something like a huge mass of rock sitting atop a pedestal, that is how narrow the base was.

From there, we kayaked out from the coast a bit to Poikeke and Motueka islands. The whole trip was really stunning, but this par was really cool, there is a cave that goes through Poikeke island, and we kayaked through it! It was amazing.

After getting back to the shore, we hopped on the bus and went just down the road to hot water beach. This beach actually is what it says. You can dig a hole in the sand and it will actually fill with hot water, provided by the tectonic activity in the area. It works similar to a hot spring, just heating the ocean water already in the sand. Depending upon where you dug your hole, the water could be cold, or scalding. The difference between the two could be six inches. The whole experience is an exercise in finding just the right spot. If it gets too hot, just throw in a bucket of ocean water, and you're good to go. There was a mob of people there digging holes. But inevitably the activity is an exercise in futility, as all if this is done at low tide. At high tide, the ocean comes right up to the cliffs that are there, and all the holes are covered up.

Merry Christmas?

2009-01-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

Perhaps it's the Northern Hemisphere-ese (what exactly does a resident of the northern hemisphere call one's self?)in me, but this holiday season did not feel like a holiday season at all. I really think it had more to do with the fact of Christmas and the new year being in the middle of summer, than the holidays being celebrated differently here. Although, they are not nearly as big a deal here, at least so it seemed. What was perhaps funniest is that the Christmas carols are all the same. It is an odd sensation to be heading to the beach wearing shorts with the windows down, while listening to "Frosty the Snowman." Both days snuck up on me, and I only realized the day before each that they were arriving shortly.

Christmas Day, the Elys, the Peters, and I all went out to Karekare beach. This beach is on the West coast, south of Piha beach, which I have talked about before. They go south to north, Karekare, Piha, Bethells (which is my favorite). All three are absolutely gorgeous. We spent a while there, and played in the water. The waves on the west coast of NZ are huge. Much larger than the east coast beaches, which in some places have almost no waves at all, most of the time. After that we took a short hike from the beach (only about 10 min. walk), so some gorgeous water falls. There were a few smaller falls on the way in, but the main fall was absolutely amazing. It fell from what seemed to be, probably close to 200 ft. from the mountains, into a pool. I have a picture where a man had climbed up on the base of the fall, and he is tiny in comparison to the fall. It was really amazing.

Today I leave for my trek/tour of New Zealand! I begin my north Island tour today, it will last about 8 days. The south island tour will come after I am done with the north island. I decided to cut down the length my tours, for budgeting and timing reasons, but they are going to be great just the same. I will try to blog as often as I can, as I will have a great deal to talk about most every day; but will be limited to weather or not the hostels we stay at have computers, as I am not taking my laptop. Most of them do have computer access, but who knows. If you need to get in touch with me, email me (though it may take me a day or two to get back with you); or give me a call on my mobile.

A trip up to the falls.

2008-12-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Elijah and Daniel Peters, Neil Kumar, and I jumped in the car and headed out to the Waitakeres, a mountain range west of Auckland. We headed out to ferry falls. The drive out was very interesting. The further we got out of town, and the higher into the mountains, the narrower and narrower the road got, until finally it was the width of one lane, with a dotted line in the middle. Finally the dotted line disappeared, it was a futile thing anyways. This made it interesting, to say the least, when passing oncoming vehicles.

Once we parked, the hike into the falls was about 40 minutes, and not very eventful.

We came out at the base of the falls. I would guess it was about 100 ft. or so from the top of the falls to the collection pool at the bottom. The water fell from the top for probably about 50 feet, where it split into two different falls, one split in two again and the tow fell into a single pool, the other ran down a ledge and emptied into a pool about 20 ft. or so away. The pools both drained into a stream that continued down the mountain. I thought this was all there was, and it was pretty enough to justify the hike in, so I snapped a ton of pictures.

There was a ledge up about 30 ft. or so, where the water first split in two, there was a part that was dry so I found a way up onto the ledge to get some closer shots. After I was done being Freddy photographer, we continued on. The trail came out of the forest, where we had come in on one side of the fall, and then continued on from the other side, so we continued on as well. We could see from the bottom of the fall that there was a trail that crossed the very top of the fall, so we reasoned that by continuing on the trail we would get to that one.

After walking for a while, and going up several stairs, we got to the top to look down on the fall. It was a beautiful sight; then we tuned around. Coming from as far up the mountain as we could see was one waterfall after another cascading down the side of the mountain, each one emptying into a pool before falling again. It was amazing. The trail, via a great many stairs, wound its way up the mountain right next to the falls, so that you could get a great view of most of the falls and their pools. I counted ten or so falls, including the base fall that we had seen first; but those were just the ones I could see. To make things even better, right next to the falls and throughout the forest were massive Kauri trees. It was gorgeous.

The walk back was longer (because we were on a loop and not going back the way we had come), and contained an obscene amount of stairs (a conservative estimate, I would say around 540,000 stairs) as it wound its way up the mountain, around, down, and back up other mountains. At one point, the path went directly next to a huge Kauri, which is odd because they are usually back off the path, with warning signs saying to stay away, lest you damage the roots by walking too closely. So I finally got to take some shots right next to one to show how huge they are.

Today Elijah, Justin Cherry, and Justin's father-in-law John, and I, went over to New Lynn to help a family move. They were moving from a dilapidated house, into a brand new Habitat for Humanity house. There was lots of hands, so we made quick work of it. The lady, a single mom, could not have been more thrilled, she kept saying that her cheeks were sore because she could not stop grinning. They were a great family, and a lot of fun to work with. It was an awesome opportunity.

The weather here is beautiful. Usually in the mid to high 70s (Fahrenheit)during the day, and cooling off quickly into the 60's or so in the evening. Nights are chilly. It is rare for houses to have an AC, most have heaps of opening windows to let in the light, as well as the breeze to cool the house.

Hitting the "high points"

2008-12-17T03:21:00.000-08:00

I had the day off yesterday so Daniel Peters and I headed out to hit some of the higher places around Auckland. First we went to Mt. Victoria and North Head. Both are mountains right on the edge of the harbor, right next to one another. They are both at sort of the mouth of the harbor. In colonial days, on up to World War II, they were significant to the defense of the city, and nation. They are now public places. North Head is particularly fascinating, as it was home to a battery of huge guns that were dug into the mountain, along with a maze of tunnel systems and underground bunkers. Most of them are open now, so you can roam through them.

Hugh's tip of the day: If you should venture to roam said tunnels and bunkers, take a flashlight, as they are very dark in places. I do not recommend doing as Daniel and I did, using camera flashes to navigate through them. I did get some very interesting pictures from said camera flashes of the various innards of the fort; but we could only see for a fraction of a second, and then were totally blind in the darkness because of the flash.

These forts were home to some massive guns, placed here in the late 1800's during the "Russian Scare." At this time, New Zealand and Australia were fearful of a Russian attack, and therefore placed these massive guns on North Head, Mt. Victoria, and on a hill across the harbor to provide protection for the harbor inlet from naval encroachments. The guns, however, were never used in defense, and were only fired a hand-full of times in practice. However, even the practice firings were frowned upon because the citizens of nearby Davenport didn't take very kindly to having their windows blown out from the percussive force of the blasts. Yeah. Did I mention they were BIG guns. They were brought back again during World War II, along with additional guns; but again were never used in defense.

Interestingly enough, one of the only times the guns were seriously brought to alert was when Teddy Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" (Google it) sailed into Auckland Harbour. America, at the time, was in a tussle with Japan and was not an ally of Great Brittan (Who New Zealand was still under). Great Brittan, however, had a treaty with Japan. A bit of drama anyone?

After we left North Head, we ventured into the City to "One Tree Hill." Which is a mountain, close to the middle of the city, that is a giant park. On the top stands a giant obelisk dedicated to a treaty signed between the British settlers, and the Maori (the native inhabitants) of New Zealand. The treaty granted the Maori all the rights, privileges and securities of British citizenship, and made them subjects of the crown.

The memorial is on the highest point of the mountain. Right in front of the memorial, a tree was planted, the only one actually on the highest part of the mountain where the monument is, thus making the name the name "One Tree Hill" a no brainier. Unfortunately several years ago, a protester chopped the tree down. The base of the tree is there, Which begs the question, If we follow the same line of reasoning that coined the original name of the hill, shouldn't it now be called "One Stump Hill?"

For those who see a correlation between the name of this place and the name of a TV show, there is indeed a connection. A full explanation of the association can be found on Wikipedia if you are interested.

Who knows what is next!

The Beach? In December? You Betcha.

2008-12-14T12:28:00.000-08:00

So, I know it's been a while since my last post. Give me a break, I was really busy doing... yeah I've got nothing. Actually the last couple of weeks have been quite exciting. I have visited some more places around Auckland whilst searching for a job.

Update: I have found a job. I started in the middle of last week. It's not what I had hoped for, but it is gainful employment and I am grateful to have it.

A couple of weeks ago the Ely's and I went out to Piha Beach. It is a west coast beach. We are much closer to the east cost, and some of the beaches in the harbor, but the west cost beaches, in my opinion are much prettier, and have massive waves. To get to the east coast from here, you have to cross the Waitakere (why-tak-a-re) mountain range. So the last half of the trip is fairly step downhill. And like everywhere else the road is as straight as spaghetti. Despite crossing a mountain range and driving across the nation to another coast, Since we are on an isthmus, from the Ely's house to the beach was only about a 25 minute drive. At this part of the north island, one could easily go from east coast to west coast in 45 minutes or so.

A few kilometers from the beach, there is an overlook that looks down on the beach. Although you are very close you are still way above the beach, it makes for some amazing photos. The beach is long, with a big rock plopped right in the middle of it. It's really quite breathtaking. Once on the beach, perhaps the most noticeable feature is the sand. It's black. The sand on many of the west cost beaches, at least along this region, are black because it is volcanic sand. It is also extremely fine.

We spent a few hours there, walking on the beach, enjoying the sites before we headed back.

Last week, I wanted to go to the beach again, so I headed out to Bethells. It is a west coast beach, just north of Piha, but a bit more remote. Bethells has a huge sea of dunes behind it. The dunes are being preserved, and so parking is behind the dunes. This makes for a very long walk to the beach once parked, my guess is about half a mile or so. But the walk is well worth it. The beach is very long and extremely broad. It is black sand like Piha, but the sand here, when the sun hits it just right is almost purple. The beach itself is really broad, and slopes gradually, so when waves come in they come way up onto the beach. Since the beach is so gradually sloped, when the waves come in, they hang on the the beach, taking their time going back out. This, coupled with the black sand below turns the entire length of the beach into a long mirror.

To the south, the beach stretches off to cliffs in the distance. To the north, similar to Piha, there is a huge rock that forms a small bay with some gigantic waves with massive currents. I waded into the water, only to about knee deep to take pictures of the waves crashing on the rocks, and the current nearly took me off my feet.

While I was on the beach there was a film crew there as well. I don't know what they were filming. A local told me that this is a very popular beach for filming. It's easy to see why. With the length and breadth of the beach, its sheer beauty, and its isolation due to the sea of dunes; if I was filming a beach scene, I would do it here.

On my way out I ate at a small cafe behind the dunes. There were no open tables, so I sat with a couple, originally from Holland. They have lived in New Zealand for 45 years, so they were very articulate in letting me know that despite their heritage they consider themselves Kiwis. They were so very interesting. At this couples advice I ordered a burger. They said that the burgers at this place were really good, and they weren't kidding. This bit may be hard to take in for Texans, but I might have to say that the best burger I have ever had was at Bethells beach in New Zealand.

The beach was so beautiful that I took the Ely's back with me the next day. We played baseball on the beach. When we got bored with that, we played Bachi ball (I hope I am spelling that right). I had never even heard of Bachi ball, but the Elys had a set, so we played it. While we were playing some Korean guys walked up and asked if they could play, so we paired off into teams and played. It was really a lot of fun. I know I say this a lot, but this place is absolutely amazing. Each place you go is seemingly more beautiful and grandiose than the one before.

Elvis has left the building!

2008-11-21T15:40:00.000-08:00

The past week and a half has been very uneventful, especially in light of my first week here and the Northland trip. I have really just been looking for a job. My goal was to find a job in the renewable energy sector. There are actually lots of places here that sell and install solar panels, solar hot water systems, and small wind generators. Despite my best efforts at securing gainful employment at said businesses, none of them are hiring. I actually thought one guy was going to hire me, but he changed his mind. So I have applied at Hill and Stewart, and Noell Leaming; these are similar to Best Buy or Circuit City in the US. The Hill and Stewart guy told me that he would call Monday to set up an interview. That would be swell for sure.

The last little while has not been entirely devoid of enjoyable extracurricular fun. I went one day last week with the Elys to "Operation Christmas Child." This is an organization that collects shoe boxes from across New Zealand that have been stuffed with Christmas presents and sends them to kids in Fiji. Our job was going through boxes people had sent in to make sure that the gifts were appropriate, and that all the items in the boxes would make it through customs. That was really a lot of fun. It was interesting to see some of the things that people put into their boxes. As we went through the boxes, if there were certain items missing we would find things in the warehouse to put in the boxes; or you could combine boxes. One box I got had, no joke, a package of 5,000 stickers in it. Being the astute box sorter that I was, after a short deliberation I made the judgment that this was way too many stickers for any one child to possess (and I'm sure that particular child's parents would thank me for that decision). I really had a lot of fun doing that.

I also went to the FIFA Under 17 woman's Soccer world championship game, which just happened to be in Auckland this year, and the USA woman's team just happened to be one of the teams. It was USA vs. Peoples republic of Korea (that's North Korea). I know what you are wondering, and no Kim Jong-il was not in attendance. My guess is he was probably at an Asian Elvis impersonator contest (seriously, you cannot tell me that you haven't thought that that guy doesn't look like an Asian Elvis). It was a really good game. The North Korean Team won, but it was still a good game.

HUGH'S TIP OF THE DAY: If you are going to go to a soccer game where the US is in contest with North Korea, and your team is the one wearing red, white, and blue; try not to sit in the middle of the Korean cheering section (learned that one from experience). We learned in that game that it is possible to be excited and cheer for your team, "on the inside".

Today we went to an all organic farmers market, it was great. Organic food is a pretty big deal here. Even "regular" Grocery store food spoils much quicker here, simply because it doesn't have nearly as many preservatives as food in the states. Food here, however, is much more expensive.

I hope you are all enjoying winter! I am going to the beach, I will think of you all whilst there. ;)

Warning: This post covers several action packed days, reader beware!

2008-11-09T22:00:00.001-08:00

Kiwis like to gage much of the success of their being through comparing themselves to Aussies. They are especially proud of the fact that they don't have so many of the dreadful creatures that Australia possesses that can kill or mame you immediately. New Zealand itself has no creatures of such to worry about. No snakes, no bears or wolves; and if you get bitten by its one poisons spider, you become somewhat of a local celebrity, as the spider is pretty rare, and it's bite really a mere inconvenience rather than a seal of doom. But New Zealand does posses one vexing element. It's roads!

I have spent the last three days, on a tour of the Northland (the area north of Auckland). I would say that a good 98% of my journey I was going around curves. Probably about 45% of the time I was driving through road construction, of varying degrees. And probably a good 80% of the bridges I crossed were one lane, where the opposing traffic had to stop to allow passage. There are a precious few guardrails, which is disheartening at times when driving through mountain roads (which is most of the roads here). When you have warning signs all within a kilometer of each other warning of curvy roads, falling rocks, and steep grades, it makes driving interesting! Driving outside of the city requires great concentration, and is not advisable for those who are not absolutely certain that they are ready to meet their maker. Relax mom, I'm being facetious.

After leaving Whatuwhiwhi (pronounced Fatufifi) where I last blogged, I took a tour of cape Reinga, the northern most point of New Zealand. The tour goes up the long narrow peninsula leading to the cape. Although there is a highway that goes the distance, what fun is going the highway? The tour buses actually drive up 90 mile beach, most of the distance up the peninsula, at near highway speed. The ride is just as smooth as being on a paved road.

There are no official exits off of the beach, so toward the end of the run, the bus travels up a stream a bit inland, where it stops in an area where the natural sand dunes have been left. On most of the rest of the peninsula, the native dunes have been planted with forests and dune grasses for conservation, but not here. The bus then stopped and the driver pulled out a stack of plastic sleds. We went up to the top of the dune (which was huge), and sledded down. It was really a lot of fun! IMPORTANT TIP: should you ever get the chance to dune sled, keep your mouth closed. I was laughing the whole way down, and my mouth was open, it was no longer funny whe I got to the bottom and had a mouth full of sand.

After leaving there we stopped at a beach and had lunch. After lunch it was still a pretty good drive to the cape. And in true New Zealand fashion, a beautiful day turned into a torrential downpour. They say in NZ, you will experience all four seasons in one day, and that is no exaggeration.

I had no intention on coming this far, to sit on the bus because of rain. So I ran. However, it was a pretty good distance, so by the time I got down to the cape, I was soaked. I stood under a ledge on the lighthouse and finally the weather lifted a bit. From the cape you could actually see a line where the Pacific Ocean and Tasmin Sea came together. The view was worth getting soaked, but it did make for a cold ride back.

After a couple more stops, we got back to Kaitaia where we had left from. We stopped at a visitors center that is dedicated to the Kauri tree. Kaui's are the redwoods of New Zealand and they are huge. At one point, the entire northern end of the island was covered with Kauri forests. At some point several thousands of years ago, some event knocked all the forests down. The trees were buried in the peat swamps, and preserved. Today there is an industry in going in and digging out these trees, which have been preserved by the peat swamps. Some are pulled out with bark and green leaves still intact! These massive logs are then used to make all sorts of furniture, decorative stuff, and overpriced tourists trinkets. But the stuff is beautiful. In the visitors center, they had a huge log standing up, floor to ceiling. Into the log, a spiral staircase had been carved, This stiarcase was wide enough for 2 or 3 people to walk up shoulder to shoulder. it was really a sight to see.

After changing out of my soggy clothes, I began heading back south. On my way I drove through The Waipoua forest, it is a Kauri tree sanctuary. I stopped here and saw Tane Mahuta (Lord of the forest), which is a live Kauri tree that is about 2,000 years old. Yeah... I know. It was absolutely huge. The trunk is nearly 14 meters in circumference, and nearly 8 meters in diameter. I stood their gawking, and thought, I could stand here looking at this tree for hours, and that would only be a blink of time compared to all this tree has seen. Its unbelievable that any living thing could survive that long. It really has way of making one feel quite small, but not in a negative way, rather in a way that makes you understand that we are all part of a wheel that turns throughout time, and every part of it is connected to every other part in some small way. There are other trees in this forest nearly as old and as big as this one, but I only had time to see the one. It was getting late and I had to find a place to stay the night.

After driving for what seemed like forever I pulled into a campground well after dark and sat up camp. I could tell there were lots of trees around because I could hear the wind through them, unlike any sound I have ever heard. I woke up the next morning to find that the campgrounds were in the middle of another Kauri forest. After packing up, I hiked the trail into the forest. I walked past tree after tree, each seemingly dwarfing the one before. One huge one in particular had a station by it that identified it as being over 1,200 years old. It was an amazing walk.

After the walk, I got back in the car and headed back to Auckland with a few small stops along the way to see things along the way that were sign poasted off the main highway. Some gorgeous spring fed lakes, a mountain that went straight up, and looked like it was something from middle earth in the Lord of the Rings.

I'm back in Auckland now doing laundry and preparing for the next phase.

I thought glo worms were the gummy candies sold at gas stations.

2008-11-07T00:07:00.001-08:00

It has been a busy couple of days. My strategy has changed a bit on how to allocate my time here. As my dad says, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Ok, that's kind of morbid. I never really though of what that saying was actually inferring. Moving along. I decided, after seeking the counsel of someone who has traveled the whole of New Zealand, to only spend a few days in the Northland (where I was planning on spending a few weeks). So I came on up last night to begin a tour. I spent the night last night in Whengere (the "wh" makes an "f" sound, so it's pronounced "Fangaray").

On the way there, I took a back road excursion to see a waterfall. This was a bit precarious, as New Zealand roads are already windy and hilly (comes with the topography), the dirt road that I was on was very interesting; but I got there in one piece, and it was so worth it. Absolutely beautiful.

I stayed the night in Whengere, and went to the Whengere falls this morning. Another waterfall, this one was huge, and once again beautiful. I took a hike down the river and into the forest. I got my first look at Kauri trees there. These are the redwoods of New Zealand, and they are indeed huge. On my return south, I plan on visiting a place that the manager of the hostel I am staying at told me about. He said there are trees in this particular forest that are 8,000 years old.

After I finished at Whengere falls, I had lunch and headed further north. On the road I stopped at the Waro Limestone deposit. I couldn't find much info on it, but it apparently at one time was a limestone hill or mountain that has slowly eroded away due to rainwater, as limestone tends to do. The formations were bizarre, and many looked as if they had been formed by hand (but they hadn't, I did find enough information to substantiate that). It looked like something straight out of Lord of the Rings.

Further down the road I stopped at a glo worm cave. That was pretty awesome. It was a long limestone cave, with a stream running through it, there was a platform to walk built over the stream because there were 6 ft. carnivorous eels in the stream, I saw one (and was very glad I had a platform to walk on). Once your eyes get accustomed to the dark, and you look up, in parts of the cave it looks almost like stars (well green stars) on a clear night. There were that many. It was pretty amazing, especially since I was half expecting a hole some guy had dug in his sheep pasture and hung Christmas lights in to make a buck off some naive tourists.

I intended to stay the night at Bay of Islands, which is gorgeous, but turned out to be very touristy. So I continued on to find a place to stay. I ended up stopping on Karikari Peninsula, and I am currently at a hostel that is empty except for me, that is nice, it's quiet. It has just been renovated and it is super nice, just not full because the season is just beginning to get into the swing. If you ever happen to be traveling on the Kirakira peninsula, stay in "the Rusty Anchor Backpacker's Hostel". I highly recommend it.

When I got here, the manager told me of a bay and a beach just ten minutes up the road at the end of the peninsula. He said he has been around the world and these were the most beautiful he had ever seen. I headed his advice and went to have a look. He was not lying. They each were the most beautiful I have ever seen, and to see them within 10 minutes of each other is amazing. It's pretty astounding that they are not completely inundated with tourists. But the roads to them are not good, and they are far enough off the track that no one bothers I suppose. If I had to spend the rest of my time here at either the Matai bay, or Karikari beach' I think I would be fine with that. Absolutely breathtaking.

Tomorrow I go to Cape Reinga at the very northern end of the North Island where the Tasmin gulf and Pacific Ocean meet. The only thing I forgot to bring with me is the battery charger for my camera, it died on the way here (I was taking pictures of everything!). So I bought a couple of disposable cameras, certainly not ideal, but hopefully the pictures will turn out.

I leave you with the words of a New Zealand news caster who was reading a viewer letter this morning on the news in Whengere. "My husband told me that women are made to have children because they are closer to the ground... He is now my ex-husband." I assure you a great deal of ravenous laughter ensued upon my hearing this statement.

I'm too tired to think of a cool title tonight. ...

2008-11-04T20:43:00.001-08:00

...but rest assured if I had it would be quite witty.

Today I went on a tour of Auckland, as sort of my last ho-rah in the city. We went to the sky tower, where much to my disappointment I was not a quick enough volunteer to get to do the sky jump... that's right one guy in our group jumped off the tower... lucky.

From there we went on to the Michael Savage memorial, a memorial to the first Labour prime minister of New Zealand, he brought socialism to New Zealand, was well respected and died of cancer after only four years in office.

From there we went to Mt. Eden, a dormant volcano, and sacred Maori site right smack in the middle of Auckland, the view from the top is one of only two places in the world that you can see two oceanic bodies of water that don't actually touch each other. To the east you have the bay connecting to the Pacific ocean, and to the west, another bay connecting to the Tasman gulf (between NZ and Australia). There is a crater in the top of the mountain that is beautiful, but we weren't allowed into it because the Maori (who still own the mountain) forbid it. The view here is stunning, as you can see for miles.

New Zealand is very tectonically and volcanically active. It is a very young land mass, the youngest on earth. And its formation process continues to this day.

A prime example, Rangitoto island in the Auckland harbor is a dormant volcano that was non-existent 600 years ago. The 5.5km wide, 850ft. tall (this is no pebble we're talking about) shield volcano erupted from nothing on the ocean floor and reached about half of its height in about 8 hours time, raising the rest of the distance over the next week. It only erupted once, and is now dormant. There were actually Maori living on an adjacent island in the harbor during the eruption. That island that now joins Rangitoto on one side. Imagine waking up to that little shenanigan occurring in your back yard swimming pool. Geologists expect that at some point in the next 100 years, there will be another volcanic eruption somewhere in the harbor that will yield similar results; making for quite a fireworks show to be sure.

Seeing how Auckland is laid out from the top of Mt. Eden, one realizes that it is actually on a fairly narrow isthmus that connects the two parts of the north island. This coupled with the fact that it is on top of a volcanic field, in which new volcanoes just pop up, who knows where, and grow to considerable size (ie. Rangitoto island, Mt. Eden, and several others in the area) really makes one wonder... was this really the best place to put a city? Maybe its just me, now I'm a pretty risk tolerant guy and all, but this may be taking it a bit far. Then again, I suppose for Frodo this may not be a bad proposition. Why go to Mt. Doom, when if he waits around long enough... Mt. Doom will come to him. Brilliant!

After that we had lunch, we went to the harbor bridge. Now merely for clarification, this is no small bridge. We walked on walkways suspended under the bridge to the center of the bridge (a ten minute walk; not for those afraid of heights or water), to a platform mounted under the tallest suspended part of the bridge. From this platform, if you so choose, you may bungee jump to your heart's content (for a nominal fee). No one in our group did, (as this jump was not free for the volunteer as was the afore mentioned sky tower jump) and so a guide jumped so the trek there was not entirely wasted.

The American election was followed very closely here today. Every TV screen I saw all day had coverage of the election on, and when I got home there were 2 or 3 channels on TV dedicated entirely to the US elections. One channel in particular had the New Zealand anchor seated in front of a green screen with a giant American flag on it for the duration of the coverage. It is fascinating to me that in the US, there are so few signs of the global society that we live in, (ie. when was the last time you clicked onto CNN and saw Anderson Cooper with a huge NZ flag behind him, covering the NZ elections), and yet when you travel outside of the US signs of a global society are ubiquitous, and the idea that we share in a world together permeates. That is a topic for another day perhaps.

There are fireworks everywhere tonight. Kiwis can only pop fireworks one day a year, for Guy Fox Day; celebrated in the UK and many of it's former territories. This is the same Guy Fox from the movie "V for Vendetta" if you have not seen the movie, google either Guy Fox or "the gunpowder plot." They take their fireworks very seriously here, it sounds a bit like a war zone, and has for the past several hours. I may not get any sleep tonight.

And the search continues

2008-11-03T12:46:00.000-08:00

Sunday I went to worship with the Elys. We went over to North Shore, there is an established congregation there, that has been there for some time. One of the things I was looking forward to about this trip was getting to worship with the people here. Churches here are not nearly as established as in the states, especially in comparison with the bible belt. It's a bit more like Europe in that respect I suppose. It is a passion of mine, participating in different ways of worship, in a realization that we all worship the same God; He is always the same, the difference is us, and in this case our cultural context. It is my opinion that gaining more perspective, or experiencing things though other's perspectives, only yields a more complete understanding of the world we live in, and therefore a more complete individual, not just in terms of religion, but in all aspects of life. I truly enjoied the time I spent in worship with the people here.

After worship I had a conversation with a lady, about American politics and the election. That is a popular topic here. Even with their own elections coming up on Saturday, many Kiwis would rather talk about the American election. It is neat to see the way that other people participate in government. Though, I must admit the election system here is a bit perplexing to the outside observer. Through my observations thus far, here is what I have gathered. Voters do not vote for individual politicians, but instead make a party vote, to elect what party should be in power. The party leadership then determines who should be in the particular positions. There are a multitude of parties, the labour (labor in American-ese) and national parties being the largest; but there are multiple small parties as well. These include the Maori party (Maori's are native New Zealanders), the New Zealand Pacific party, the green party, and surprisingly enough the legalize cannabis party among others. If you don't know what cannabis is, google it, I didn't know until I saw one of their commercials.

After politics, we talked about her son who is almost college age. She asked me about Lubbock Christian. She said she wasn't sure he could do with being so far away form the ocean. She recounted her own memories of going to the interior of England, and feeling "trapped". I told her that LCU is a great place, but it is indeed quite far from the ocean, much further than one would be when in the interior of England.

Not much going on right now, the search for a job continues. I'm getting leads, but it may be a few more days possibly a week before anything pans out. I spent a couple of hours at the BUNAC office yesterday polishing up on my CV (a Kiwi resume). Then I drove around the bay a bit. I got a little outside of Auckland, where the road skirts the bay, and the drive is breathtaking. I stopped at the Michael Joseph Savage monument, which is a monument to the first Labour prime minister of NZ. It is on a hill, overlooking the harbor, and boasts a fantastic view.

About my phone, I discovered that when dialing form the states, you need to drop the first zero. So then, if you are calling or text-ing from the states, the number you would dial is (64) 21-0227-9014. My apologies if you have tried to contact me. My parents had a hard time I know; this earned a scolding for not having checked in, or being acessable every hour on the hour. Sorry mom. The trek to cast the ring into Mt. Doom was taking up too much time to blog yesterday.

Things continue to go great. Love it here. Just looking out for a job up north.

These fush end chups ahh tasty es!

2008-10-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

One thing that I have noticed in the time I have been here is that New Zealanders are very proud of the Kiwi culture (New Zealanders are known as Kiwis). It is a culture of tolerance, and a very friendly culture. They are a bit European, but with a dash of several other cultures. Although they are a small nation, they are indeed proud of their homeland, and a culture that is all their own.

One thing they are very proud of is their Kiwi accent. Until I came to New Zealand, I thought that Aussie and Kiwi accents were the same. And although they are similar, they are very different. Kiwis often give a "u" sound, where there is an "i". So, fish and chips, when spoken sounds like "fush and chups." I have noticed that vowels are the main difference. They are pronounced much shorter, and often sound like other vowels. For example, "best" would be pronounced "bist". It takes some getting used to, the first time I heard a kiwi talking about the local beaches... I wasn't too sure what to think. I'll let that soak in for a minute.... Ok.

I am finally able to understand most of what is said to me. The first couple of days I had to ask people to repeat themselves several times. If you are interested, I found a video that talks about the kiwi accent. Check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ePwKYJcEOo&feature=related

I drove without Skylar yesterday, that was fun. More than anything, when he rode with me he was my navigator. The streets here are very confusing, no straight lines, lots of roundabouts, things are crazy. I needed to go downtown, and didn't know how to get there. The sky tower is taller than anything by far around here, it can be seen from everywhere, so I just followed it into downtown. When I was done, by some miracle, I found my way back to the house after a few stops.

I got a mobile yesterday. The number is 64 021 0227 9014. A really cool thing about mobiles in NZ, if someone calls you they assume all the charges, it is free for you. Same with text messages. That system really makes more sense to me anyway. So that means, if you would like to call me, I would love for you to assume all the charges... I mean, I would love to hear from you. I can make international texts pretty cheaply, so if you can as well, text-ing is a good way to communicate; of course along with email, and blog.

Found some good leads yesterday, as far as what I'm going to be jumping into next. I am looking at WOOFING, that is an acronym for Willing Workers on Organic Farms. Lots of backpackers do this, at least for a while while in NZ. Essentially you trade labor for accommodations (food and lodging); and while there, you have time to travel the area and see the sights. It's a great way to see the sights on a budget.

I am looking in the Northland right now, which if you are looking at a NZ map, is the relatively small area north of Auckland. There is a great deal to see and do up there, lots of hiking, beaches, and beautiful territory with waterfalls etc.; I've been told it's a beautiful area. I am also finding a lot of opportunities in renewable energy up there, so that is exciting. Who knows.

Is this the right side? Excuse me... the correct side.

2008-10-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got settled in with the Ely's. I don't know how long I'll be here, but it's nice to know that I have a place if all else fails. My room is more that I could have asked for, or expected; and they are great people.

Today I got my first experience with driving on the wrong side of the road. Well I suppose technically, it was this way first... but let's not quibble. It's funny how one's mind gets trained in a certain way and it takes a concerted effort to break that instinct when necessary. Even before I got behind the wheel, I came to realize that at cross walks I always try to make eye contact with the driver, to make sure they see me; I never really noticed that I did it, until I came here and I kept looking into empty passenger seats.

So, I rented a car today. It is a manual, but since the steering wheel is shifted, it means you are shifting with the left hand instead of the right. I had no problem shifting from the left, but I found myself always reaching to the right first, fumbling through space for the stick shift only to realize that it was on the other side. Skylar Ely rode with me to make sure that everything went alright. I only turned into the wrong lane a few times... only on empty streets. I think it's only fair that if they insist on going the wrong way, they should at least have big flashing arrows all over the place to tell you which side to drive on!

One thing that took me by surprise is that the blinker is on the opposite side as well, so I kept turning on the windshield wipers when I was trying to signal. I did that several times, at intersections, on the freeway, at roundabouts (traffic circles) and the list goes on. I kept thinking, "You would think, someone with a college degree could figure this out." I cant help but think that some New Zealander probably saw me and just shook their head at the crazy American driver.

We decided to have pizza for supper, so on the way home Skylar and I stopped to get pizza. We waited and carried it out, and I hopped in to crank up the car. After only a moment, I got out of the passenger seat, walked around to the drivers side, got in and cranked up the car. That's right... I got in the wrong side. Skylar helped my bruised ego a bit though, in telling me that he still does that from time to time.

There is quite a difference though, driving on the left side of the road, in the right seat. It's deceptively challenging. One would think... well, just do it all backward, but the mind doesn't work that way. I suppose the challenge comes from the fact that it is just counter-intuitive to the instinct that has been there for all of my driving experience. There is also a crazy traffic law called "give way," I'm not going to waste your time in this blog trying to explain it, because it would take a novel. Just suffice to say that it is annoying. If you really want to know what it is, let me know... and I'll tell you to google it.

Now that I have the car, hopefully things will begin to pick up. I have looked into a few jobs, and finding at least some leads is the goal for tomorrow. It's a good time to be going job hunting. No idea what the job will be in, but it will be a job. I may not be staying in Auckland, so that will have a bearing as well.

Today's New Zealand driving tip: If someone honks at you while passing, they are thanking you for being a courteous driver... No, seriously.

Sweet as bro!

2008-10-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a long day. After my post I walked around the city some. Auckland is a very modern, VERY clean city. Down pretty much any street there as an assortment of any type of shop you could ever want. Most of them just open directly to the sidewalks, no doors, and there are always lots of people walking.

I went to the Sky Tower, which is a bit like the space needle in Seattle. It is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. The view of the city and harbor was amazing. It gave me some idea of the things I want to do in the time I spend in Auckland. If you want to see the sky tower, just Google an image of Auckand, you can't miss it. Downtown essentially is on the harbor, so the Sky Tower is right there.

I finally got what I had been wanting for all day yesterday when I went to bed. I don't think I have ever slept quite that well.

This morning was orientation with BUNAC, the organization that I am here under. It went well, and afterward I went and did all the boring stuff, like setting up a bank account, applying for an IRD (a NZ tax ID number). Next step is getting a mobile.

I just met a guy in the hostel who is from Dallas, that's about he closest I have found. There are actually very few Americans at the hostel. There are, however, a lot of Europeans, especially from England, Ireland, and Scotland.

The title of this post "sweet as bro," is a phrase used by New Zealanders. It means "its all good." Often they will just say "sweet as." They also use "as"on the end of their sentences very often. Such as "I'm full as," or "I'm mad as." Throws you off at first, because you're waiting for the rest of the sentence. My stay thus far has been sweet as... (gotcha!)

Today I will be meeting up with the Ely's and getting settled for the next little while.

Made it!

2008-10-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

There are two things I have learned from this trip already... 1) 12 hours straight is a retardedly long time to spend on a plane. 2) Quantas is about the coolest airline there is, at least of the ones that I have traveled with.

I spent some time in LA yesterday during the long layover. I went out to Santa Monica Pier and walked around. There were a lot of people there, even the taxi driver said it was way more than usual. It was fun, but when you have luggage in-tow it cuts down considerably on the cool factor. Everyone was looking at me like I was crazy. Oh well, maybe I am, that wouldn't come as too much of a suprise to me.

The flight to Auckand was un-eventful. It wasn't full and it was a 747, so we had room to streach out. But no matter how much one streaches out, 12 hours is a long time to be held captive in an aluminum tube. But the service was exceptional, and there were lots of good movies to choose from. I got a bit of sleep, but not much. There were not a line of executives waiting outside the plane to give me a job, much to my dissapointment.

I went through immigration and then customs. My bags had to be searched. I stepped up to he counter and the customs officer asked me about my bags and began opening them. His very next question was if I had voted. There was no one else in line behind me, so this began a 20 minute conversation about the American voting system, foreign, and fiscal policies. No big deal, they just wanted to get an American's perspective. Its amazing to me, they knew more about American policy etc. than most Americans I know. Just thought it was funny.

All of the people I have encountered have been very friendly. The custom's officers especially. From what I have seen of it, Auckland is a beautiful city. I plan on seeing a bit more of it today.

... leavin' on a jet plane.

2008-10-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

Today I fly. I left Houston at around 8:00 this morning and I am in Dallas. I leave here around 11:00 for LA. In LA I have a 7-1/2 hr. layover, so I will probably go see what I can see (close to the airport). From there its on to Auckland. I leave LA at 8:30PM-ish Pacific time, and will arrive in NZ at around 5:30AM NZ time (which will be around 11:30AM central standard, or "home" time). I also fly over the international date line, so I will completely skip Monday. I will touch down in Auckland on Tuesday morning. Although I understand the principle behind it, its still a bit tough to wrap one's mind around. Jet-lag, here I come!

Looking forward

2008-10-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

Intention is such a fickle companion. We intend to do so many things, that just somehow get lost. And although in many ways my journey has just begun, I still have my own share of things that I intended to do; and never did. That is a course I don't intend on staying.

I have started this blog to record my most recent journey. on October 26th, I will be traveling to New Zealand to spend at least three months, maybe longer. I will, at least at first, be staying with Skylar and Morgan Ely, missionaries in Auckland who have graceoulsy opened their home to me. The rest of the details are totally unknown.

I will work and travel while in New Zealand, though I do not know where I will work as yet. My hope is, upon de-boarding the plane in Auckland there will be a line of people waiting to give me a prestigious job with a fantastic salary (dare to dream right?). I do not know what area I will work in, I hope to find a job in the renewable energy sector(solar, wind, geothermal etc. energies), as that is what interests me, and it is a big deal in New Zealand. But I may also spend my time there working on a sheep farm. Honestly either would be fine with me right now.

A disclaimer for those of you who may ready my postings, I must confess that while I do try to be as correct as possible in my grammar and sentence structure, there are times that I may stray. I particularly tend to overuse comas. Any English majors or teachers who may read these postings, my, Sinceres't, apaulagiaes.

I will try to keep this blog as up-to-date as I can, please feel free to comment or write, it will be great to hear from home. You can also keep up with me on Facebook, where I will probably post additional pictures to the ones I post here. Or feel free to email me at hugh.leland@gmail.com. I don't have a mailing address in NZ yet, but will post it as soon as possible. Also, if you have a web camera and would like to chat, let me know, I can tell you the simplest way to contact me and we can set up a time. I will certainly be glad to hear from you.

I appreciate your prayers and think of you all often.