Mama, I'm Coming Home

I've just spent 2 days in Auckland and I am now in the airport getting ready to board my flight home. I land in LA tomorrow and get to spend it crashing with my friend Fil - so thankful I get to sleep on a proper bed and not in a dorm room! I then have a flight to Atlanta the next day followed by my final flight to Philly, getting in at 10:45pm.

I'll have to do a write up on Auckland when I get home, cuz for now I'm outta here New Zealand! It's been major fun, even though you decided to rain a good part of the time, but I still love ya!

Love
Fick

Only in Rotorua

Since I've arrived in Rotorua, I've been going all out, trying to make my last few days in New Zealand the best ones yet. I fly out on April 30th, arriving in Philly on May 1st at 10:30pm. I sure am going to miss it here!

I arrived in Rotarua and immediately was presented with a much stronger odor than previously experienced! People told me that I'd get used to it, but my nose never really adjusted! Have you ever been in a hot steamy shower and have someone fart while you were in it? Smells awful, right? That's Rotorua!

I headed on over to the Agrodome for a sheep shearing show and to learn a bit about one of NZ's largest industries - sheep! Did you know there are 19 varieties of sheep raised in NZ? Some raised for wool, some for dairy, and some for meat. Little lambs, I sometimes feel bad for you being so cute and all, but goddammit you are tasty! The 'top' sheep in the group was the Merino, who is responsible for all of my Banana Republic twinsets. So soft and cuddly! I witnessed a sheep get sheared and it looks like such hard work and the sheep didn't seem too pleased about it either. The record for shearing sheep is held by a Kiwi that sheared over 700 in 9 hours - holy crap! Then our host conducted a sheep 'auction' and then brought in trained sheep dogs for a demonstration. These dogs are good! Not only can they follow verbal commands, but also whistles. The duration and tone of the whistle differentiate the commands. The dogs eve jumped onto the backs of the sheep and posed on top of the big ones. After this, the audience was able to go onstage and get pics of the sheep and dogs and pet them for a bit. I wanted to take them all home, but somehow I don't think Nelson would be too happy about it! I now have a dream of living on a farm and raising sheep so I can make my own organic hand dyed yarn to sell to yarn shops all over the world. Maybe I'll save that for retirement :)

Next I was strapped into a giant inflatable hamster ball and rolled down a 100 meter hill. It's called Zorbing and it was one of the most unique things I've done on this trip, that's for sure! There isn't too much to explain with this - you go to teh top of the hill, they put you in the zorb, strap you in and then push you down the hill. So simple, yet so effective!

The next day I took a day trip out to Waitomo for a full day of abseiling, cave tubing, bouldering and climbing, all underground in the dark! This trip was not for anyone scared of heights, darkness or water. First we abseiled 35 meters into the caves which I sucked at. As I was working my way down fine, but as soon as I looked down, I death gripped the rope and that only made it harder to lower myself. After a few reassurances from my guide, I relaxed and got the rest of the way down. Whew! Next we took a flying fox (zip line) about 20 meters across a crevasse in the total dark and that freaked me out. When I say dark, I mean DARK. You can't see your hand in front of your face! Each of use were sent across and each time the guide turned out his light. He said it was so we wouldn't look down and freak out, which I appreciated! The caves were damp and freezing and we were wearing some pretty thick wetsuits, but it was still fuckin' cold in the water. After a break, we grabbed some tubes and jumped into the freezing water to look at the glowworms, which these caves are famous for. The walls had glowing spots all over and it was so amazing. Our guide told us they weren't actually glowworms, but maggots in larva stage and the glowing part was maggot shit. Excellent! He explained how the phrase 'glowworm caves ' was used to encourage tourism because, "nobody would come if we called them maggot shit caves." Very true! We then started to make out way through the icy cold water and climbed a few waterfalls to reach the surface. After 30 minutes my hands and feet were blocks of ice and we had another break of hot orange juice with vodka and chocolate, to prevent hypothermia. I was FREEZING at this point and it reminded me of the time I played a rugby match in the sleet and I got hypothermia and couldn't move my fingers or toes. DeMarr, I'm still mad about that! Just kidding...It was a very fun trip and I was proud of myself for getting through it all without having a major heart attack.



For my last day in Rotorua, I treated myself to a bit of sleeping in and then a trip to the Polynesian Spa to relax in the thermal spas that are naturally heated by the underground thermal activity. It was another crap day with overcast, rainy skies so it was a perfect way to spend the day. Plus the hot water turned me into a wet noodle and soothed my aching muscles due to the previous days caving expedition! The hostel was pretty quiet that night so I was able to relax with some leftover magazines and some TV before retiring. Last stop - Auckland!

Gettin' Off My Ass

Sky diving was exactly what I needed to get me going again. As previously mentioned, I was supposed to jump the day before, but it was too windy, which was kinda OK by me since I was a bit hungover. My friend Becky that I met in Queenstown was in Taupo so we met up for drinks and trivia at a local pub. It was packed, but we ended up taking 3rd place! The Norwegian-American alliance celebrated by ordering more drinks. We drank more than our livers wanted and I spent most of the next day hungover and just walking around checking out the town inbetween rainclouds. I wonder if jumping out of the plane would have cured my hangover? Discuss. Lake Taupo is the trout fishing capital of the world and it would have been fun to actually spend some time on the lake, but it was too cold and the wind was too strong to take a boat or kayak out so I just walked around the lake (partly) and watched the ducks frolic. They are so cute! Seeing a mallard duck reminded me of home (they were introduced to NZ in the early 1900's) when me, my sisters and my Dad would feed the ducks after going through the Reading Museum. Ah memories...

The day after the hangover I took a bus out to the Craters of the Moon thermal park after I went skydiving. Taupo is right in the middle of some geothermal activity so there were all kinds of stuff to see like volcanoes, hot springs, crater lakes, bubbling mud pools, etc. It was pretty strange and kinda eerie and I kept thinking there was going to be a freak explosion at any point. As you can see there is a lot of steam escaping and a quite unfortunate byproduct of this is the smell. It smells like rotten eggs or a huge fart, mainly from the sulphur being released, so sometimes I wouldn't smell anything out of the ordinary and then, 'wham!' a whiff smacks me in the face - ewwwwww.




I had a very early night that night. It was the night before ANZAC Day, a national holiday for both Australia and New Zealand and probably the most revered. It commemorates the landing of ANZAC (Australian New Zealand Army Corp) troops on the shores of Gallipoli in WWI and the terrible losses that occurred during the campaign, which ended in total failure. It now now honors all those who fought and died for Australia and New Zealand. Traditionally it starts with a dawn service that coincides with the time the troops went ashore on Gallipoli, where retired and current military members fall in and march to the local war memorial. I woke up and made it to the start at 5:50am, just in time to see everyone fall in and for the bagpipers begin playing and start marching. Noting wakes you up quite like bagpipes at 6am! There were a lot of people out to see the parade of service men and women and it surprised me, since it was so damn early. The crowd followed the parade to the war memorial where there was a speech by an army officer, the singing of 'God Save the Queen', a speech from a Maori army officer, a traditional haka, the singing of the New Zealand national anthem, guns fired, and a moment of silence. It was a very moving and solemn occasion and it was something that I was honored to witness.

After the dawn service I went back and slept for a bit before packing and heading to Rotarua, where I continued to stay off my ass.

Freefallin'

I just jumped out of an airplane from 12,000ft above Lake Taupo. It's been 2 hours since the jump and I'm still shaking from all the adrenaline and whatever else my brain releases when it senses impending doom. There are no words to describe the feeling that happens when you are sitting on the edge of an open door looking down at the Earth and then suddenly you feel your instructor push you out and you start falling. Incredible!

I was supposed to jump yesterday but it was too windy. The weather here can change so fast so today was absolutely perfect for jumping!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Lovely Wellington

I spent two days in the capital city of Wellington and it was very nice. Wellington surprised me by its size - it looks much bigger than Christchurch, but officially has half the population so I'm not sure how they managed to do that! It was by far the most cosmopolitan of all places I'ven been in NZ, but it was still a very friendly and warm city - no snobbery here! I decided against doing another LOTR tour, choosing to save it for another visit (perhaps with my elf lovin' sisiter Katrina). Peter Jackson's studio and the headquarters for the LOTR filming was in Wellington, so it ground zero for LOTR fanatics. People have even gone so far as to start calling Wellington 'Wellywood' because of the number of movies being filmed and created there.

I mainly walked around, took in the Te Papa National Museum (fantastic, and free!) and took a cable car ride. There was really great shopping, but I resisted and kept my money in my wallet. Afterall, there are more important things to be done in my last week that I need the money for anyway! Sorry I don't have anything more exciting to report about Wellington, but this was it. The next few days in Taupo and Rotarua will be much more exciting - skydiving, thermal pools, mud baths, zorbing and cave rafting. I'm finishing up my last week with a bang!

Most Disturbing Commercials

The TV in both Australia and New Zealand have plenty of public service messages warning people against drunk driving, falling asleep at the wheel, beating your wife, etc, but the following win the prize for being both informative and sobering at the same time. Both commercials are not for the faint of heart, you have been warned!

First up, NZ for a message about getting out of control drunk and it breaks my heart:



Second, from Australia about the dangers of riding a scooter without protective clothing - I almost lost my lunch:



I don't think the US would ever show anything this graphic for fear of upsetting people or sensationalizing the problem, but I think it could work to help problems instead of just feeding people statistics. Any thoughts?

Tramping Around

No, it's not THAT kind of tramping around! I'm talkin' about hiking or trekking people, get yer minds out of the gutter...

I left Kiakora for the top of the south island, namely Picton. Most people stop in Picton for 2 reasons, first to catch the ferry to the north island or secondly to catch a ferry to the Queen Charlotte Track. I made plans to do a full day of hiking on the beginning part of the track as recommended by Annie and Paddy (remember them?). The weather was still miserable (cold, raw, rainy) so I was a bit concerned about the day ahead of me. Luckily the hostel had a considerable movie collection and I think most people had the same idea as me for the rest of the day - sit on our asses and bathe ourselves in the warm, loving glow of television. "Mother, teacher, secret lover" (Homer J. Simpson)

I woke up the next day and to my surprise, it was bright and sunny! I grabbed my day pack and merrily headed to the ferry that would take me to the start of the Queen Charlotte Track. The QCT is a very popular tramping route, usually taking 4 days to complete. What sets it apart from other multi day routes are the hiker amenities on the track, which are considerably nicer here than other tracks. Usually on other tracks, you have to book a basic wooden hut, but you provide everything - cooking essentials, sleeping bags, water, food, etc so to do some of these tramps were never an option for me since I have none of that crap, nor was I interested in hiking by myself for 4 days. I know people do it all the time by themselves, but I would be more comfortable doing it with at least 1 other person - safety first! For the QCT I opted to stay at a cozy place called the Mahana Lodge, again recommended by Annie and Paddy. Once I started the hike, it was bliss! Not many people or bikes on the trail, so it was just me, the wildlife, the wind and the water. I trekked for about 4.5 hours and made my way to the lodge and my tired, sweaty, and muddy self was cheerfully greeted by Ann and John, the owners of the lodge (and quite possibly the nicest people on Earth). It was only a bit more money than staying in a dorm room at a regular hostel so it was a lovely splurge after a tiring day. I shared a room with only 1 other person and there was a nice living room with wood stove, kitchen and NO TV, Internet or radio. Just books and puzzles to pass the time plus a great view of the sound. I splurged on myself some more and purchased a home cooked meal (made by Ann and John) and John even carried it up to my lodge on a tray - beef and mushrooms over rice, fresh salad from the garden and chocolate cake with fresh fruit from the orchard. Stick a fork in me, cuz I'm done!

The next day I took a kayak out for some exploring before I headed back to Picton. I wanted to stay another day, but they were totally booked out :( I really want to return there for another stay someday! It was now time to leave the south island, which was kinda sad since I enjoyed it so much. I packed up my stuff and headed to the small cruise ship-like ferry for my bon voyage to the south island! I did a lot of relaxing on the south island and I now think I need to do something that will get the blood flowing, possibly skydiving, paragliding or rafting. Decision, decisions...