Sun, Sea, Sky and Surf

Last week Paul (a friend from camp) and I headed up from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast to meet up with Richie for some serious sun and surfing. He delivered on both fronts, big time.

This was the arsenal of which we had to work.

The man, the myth, the legend.

Paul on the right and me on the left heading for some beginner waves.

I think Rich knows everyone who lives on the coast. Everywhere we went we were meeting people that he knew somehow. Everyone was really nice, especially his 6 roomates who graciously let us crash in the living room. We watched a bunch of "Flight of the Concordes" between hanging out with internationals and eating. If I were to move to Australia, it would be to the Sunny Coast. I can't say anything bad about it.

Waiting for a wave.

The Grand Traverse through the Southern Alps

Remember that 6 day hiking trip I told you about a while ago? Ya, well this is the account of it:

It began on a Monday morning at 7:30 when we all met at the meeting spot with our bags packed and ready to go. The group consisted of a 8 old people from their mid 40's to mid 60's, a Japanese lady in her 30's and then me. Oh, there were 3 guides too. So basically we walked alot, climbed mountains, checked out waterfalls and alpine lakes. The weather was amazing and only threatened to rain the first day unlike the 5 days of rain the forecast had predicted. Everyone was really nice, the guides did a great job and it was an excellent time. Here is the photo essay of the trip.

View over Lake Wakatipu. This was on our way there.


The Greenstone Valley. Those white specks are sheep.

The view from Ocean Peak Corner

Alpine Tarn on Key Summit

Josh, one of the guides at the summit of Conical Hill.

A stream in the rainforest in Fiordland National Park.

Lake Howden


Lake Mackenzie. This is two pictures stitched vertically.

Earland Falls, it's 174m high but you can only see a piece of it here.

One of many falls at Falls Hut.

The morning view from Falls Hut down the Routeburn towards Glenorchy.

Facts and Figures

By the end of this trip I will have:

Changed the time on my watch 19 times
Skipped September 20 then had 2 May 15ths
Been on 17 different flights with 7 different airlines
Lugged a tent around for over 6 months and used it 4 nights, carried a plastic plate and never used it
Traveled with: sports marketers, physicists, investment bankers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, teachers, geologists, engineers, graphic designers, accountants, national ice hockey players, postal workers, ironman triathletes, golf pros, a venture capitalist and a hospital clown
Taken over 7000 pictures
Eaten crappy takeout food billions of times
Skipped countless meals
Worn the same t-shirts and boxers hundreds of times
Gotten stuck on the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the rain
Climbed a palm tree to get a coconut and then ate it
Pet a sea turtle and swam with sharks
Flown over 41000km
Eaten kangaroo and crocodile
Slept on the world's largest sand island
Climbed a volcano
Climbed a glacier
Climbed mountains
Followed a stream underground for 3 hours
Gotten lost in the rainforest
Hung out on a beach 24hrs after a croc attacked someone there
Hitchiked
Swam with dolphins
Slipped around two fighting sea lions
Driven on the beach for hours
Been woken up by cows
Bungy jumped
Seen more sheep than can be counted
Chased sheep, thrown rocks at sheep, yelled at sheep, eaten sheep
Swam in glacial streams and hot spring streams
Seen wild penguins
Longboarded on the Sunshine coast
Worked out with the South African Sharks (a Rugby team)
Been asked if I was American hundreds of times
Dropped a camera in the ocean
Stayed on the island where "Castaway" was filmed
Peed in the Pacific Ocean
Found out what Cassowaries were and heard about them non-stop for 4 weeks
Handfed Lorikeets
Seen huge rats inside restaurants
Been eaten by bed bugs
Slept in a hammock on the beach between palm trees
Absolutely cooked, absolutely froze
Driven a 3-speed column shift on the wrong side of the road
Lost a usb key and a shirt

Funny things about Kiwiland

Grilled cheese sandwiches are known as "cheese toasties"

Cookies don't really exist, only "bickies" (short for biscuits)

Over Easter there is a 24 hour rabbit hunt

No commercials are allowed on the radio or tv on Good Friday. No alcohol can be bought either, they rope off that section of the grocery store like a crime scene.

Weather forecasts almost always describe nice weather as "fine" not cloudy, sunny, or partial clouds. Basically, if it's not raining it's "fine". That word is so subjective though, one person may see a torrential downpour as fine, I certainly don't.

99% of the showerheads in Australia and New Zealand were made for people 5'8" and under. Anyone taller has to duck.

Movies come out WAY behind the rest of the world for instance, in Australia the release of "Death at a Funeral" was about a month behind North America. In New Zealand the delay was about 4 months. In Queenstown "American Gangster" is now playing (mid April), it was released October 1st... Are people swimming these movie reels over?

"Ta" means thank-you.

Kiwis pride themselves in typos. Apparently editing is optional for they can be found in almost everything from the front page of the paper to the company brochure.

No one knows what a "timbit" is. (I wasn't surprised)

The Misty Mountain Experience

A couple weeks ago I saw this awesome picture of The Remarkables. The picture was taken on the Ben Lomond summit and they were surrounded by low level clouds. I thought I could get a picture of that if I could get the right type of clouds and climb the mountain again. So after the past few days of perfect clouds and checking the weather I set my alarm clock for 4:30am.

I left a little after 5am and couldn't see anything. I didn't have a flashlight either (great planning). The first part of the hike goes up a road so I could follow the lighter sky above through the trees as it snaked it's way up the mountain through a really thick and extremely dark forest. Only in New Zealand would I do this, nothing can eat you here. I couldn't even see my feet. The only way I avoided "high stepping" it the whole way and thus moving extremely slow was by using my two walking sticks to "feel"the ground in front of me. As I walked all ghost stories I have ever heard came into my mind along with what I was going to tell the police if I stumbled across a body. I started to laugh at some points about how ridiculous I was thinking.

Anyways, after stumbling around in the forest I did make it to the track at the top and was in the middle of a cloud. After a few more minutes I was not disappointed. I was just above the clouds and the sun was about to come up. Absolutely incredible view! I would've paid huge money to see that but the best things in life are free.



Then I continued up the ridge a bit and heard this weird thing that sounded like a sheep or something. I knew there were goats around but this sounded different. Then I saw this bird flying in. I could tell by the colouration on it's wings and the profile that it was a Kea, the world's only alpine parrot. cool. I know they're really curious about stuff so I whistled and waved at it and it circled around to check me out. Another one came and I was able to get really close and take some awesome pictures. By the time I left I was about 8 ft away from them which was close enough for me. Look at that beak! They could probably chomp through my hand. It was an awesome experience!

Sort of looks like Chico here.

I lined them up for this one.

Like I said, I got really close.

I continued up to the top and snapped some pics. The air is much clearer in the morning especially when it's crisp out.

Looking back towards the birds.

There were wild goats part way up. Not too friendly and they smelled like a barn.

Lake Wakatipu is under there.

180 over Lake Wakatipu. Click on it to make it bigger.

Here are the goats on the way down having a nap.

On another note, the ground up there was frozen! First time I've seen that in a year or so.

Cha-ching

I haven't really been up to much lately, just working. I am counting the days until I'm done, not that the work is bad but I'm anxious to get moving again and doing cool stuff. I haven't left Queenstown in over two months. I think it's the longest I've ever been in one town without leaving.
I lined up to go on the Grand Traverse; a walk that we run at work, before I leave. It's going to be pretty cool, six days on the hiking track. Hopefully there will be some snow on the mountains and 6 clear, warm days (I'm not holding my breath). The weather here has just turned cool with daily highs barely making it into the 20's. This has proven a challenge for my wardrobe which caters to sun and surf. Only a few more weeks though.

I recently took out a membership at the local movie store where you can get a ton of movies and tv show seasons for really cheap so I've been watching a lot.

I find the mountains fascinating, no matter how many times you look at them they always look different and cool.

Oh, last weekend at home Boys' Camp hosted a stockmarket game for staff and alumni. I got to help out by filming some "insider" tips here and emailing the video home to be shown between the trading rounds. I messed it up a bit but I thought it was alright for one take on my lunch break.

What's new at home? No one tells me anything. Just because I'm gone, doesn't mean I'm not interested.

Fonthill, Benjamin Lomond and a really big fire

The other day at work after one of my briefings I was standing around talking to people and answering questions as usual. One of the most asked and most annoying questions is "how cold is it going to be?". After being asked this for like the millionth time I started into a "my definition of cold is probably alot different than yours" speech with a couple aussies. Anyways, after asking where I was from in Canada and a few other questions we found out that a couple years ago while they were on a teaching exchange to our great land that they live like 20 houses down from the first house I lived in. I lived in number 28 and they lived down the street in number 65 or something. CRAZY!! None of us could believe it. We were instantly friends, although I forget their names already.

Yesterday it was that time of the week for a couple days off. I decided to rehike the Ben Lomond peak that I climbed a couple months ago.

The peak right in the middle.

I've been eating healthier and exercising (sort of) so this was a bit of a test to see if I could do it and not almost die like last time. Well, good news, I made it up WAY faster and didn't die. It was super windy on the way up, although the top wasn't which didn't make any sense.


But anyways, when I got up there I noticed someone was burning something on the other side of the lake, no biggie right? Well, by the time I left like 45 min later (after calling home on my cell phone from the top) the fire had grown by like 5x's and we could see flames. We were on the other side of the lake and like 7km? away. Whatever the exact distance, we were really far and if we could see the flames they had to be HUGE.

Turns out that a few days ago some old coal burning tractor or something went by and didn't have a spark filter or something and started a small fire. It kept flaring up for a few days and they had a helicopter in to try to douse it but to no avail.

Those winds must have just fanned the flame and by the time I went to bed last night the grass fire (there aren't really any trees that naturally grow around here) had reached the top of the mountain but was getting smaller. Today there is a MASSIVE black spot on the side of the Remarkables. Thanks lame, old tractor thing.

The view at night from my room.

Oops

While booking my flights I was using an American calendar online and was planning on being home just before the may long weekend. However, the holiday I thought represented Victoria day was Memorial Day. Crap, I'll be exactly one week late. Doesn't really matter in the end I guess.

In other news here is the latest weather forecast for Queenstown. Anyone jealous?


This is out at Queenstown Gardens, I hang out here for lunch sometimes. I guess the view isn't bad.

The Last Leg

After much humming and hawing about what I was going to do on my way home I have decided and booked it. I will be leaving New Zealand on April 30th and head back to Sydney for a couple weeks to visit some friends there and in Wooloongong and hopefully some family in Canberra. I will then fly out of Sydney back to Auckland on May 15 then, crossing the date line, to Apia, Samoa for 5 days. I then fly from there to L.A. for a couple days and head home on the 22nd to Buffalo (lame town but really cheap to fly to). So, May 22nd I'll be home!

After all that my journey will look like this. 15 different flights on 6 different airlines and a lot of bags of peanuts.

Just Another Day at the Office

Today was awesome. As part of my job I tell people about the Milford track which is a 5 day hiking trip in which people walk to Milford sound. I always get asked how many times I've done it or when was the last time I've done it and sadly I always have to answer that despite the appearance that I'm experienced I have never actually hiked it or even seen it. No longer. Today I got to go check out the track via helicopter as I scored an empty seat while one of the track managers went out to pump shit into tanks or something (I wasn't involved in this).

I met Bill before sunrise at work and we headed out to the Queenstown airport. 6 of us squeezed into the 7 seater chopper and started up towards the Routeburn track, another track that we offer as a guided walk. Along the way we saw the sun rise hit the mountain tops and glaciers while zooming over mountains and valleys. Incredible is the only word I can think of. We dropped off 3 guys and then headed out to the Milford track to Glade house, the overnight stop along the track. Here we got a nice cooked breakfast with the guests and then Bill started his thing and I started out with the group and walked with them for a couple hours.

My ride sitting at Glade House.

A detour off the track to check out a bog.

An eel. This thing was at least 3 ft long and it was a "small" one. I'm skeptical.

Crossing the Clinton River.

Glade House looking back from the cable bridge.

When I came back Bill was still working so I went with Rico (the pilot) to deliver some stuff to other lodges from Milford Sound. Flying around was amazing. The pictures I took suck in comparison to what it really looked like.

We hooked this up to the chopper with the rope and flew it down the valley. It had oranges and stuff in it. Some fell out along the way b/c it started spinning alot. Bombs away.

Apparently this is the technique when lifting a "cage" of stuff, stick your head out the door.

The valley.

Sutherland Falls, 1904ft. Wow.

Nice valley.

This is coming up to Iceberg Lake, no icebergs though.

After we had delivered stuff we picked up some of our walkers and flew then to pick up Bill back at Glade House. The walkers pay 450 bones to fly back to Queenstown by chopper. Total cost to me for the day: $0. oh ya.

Queenstown Update

Alot has happened since my last post. I have found a place to live, started to work and got my laptop from Canada. Last Friday I moved across town to my own room in a hostel. It reminds me of living in rez by myself. The kitchen is down a couple floors so I find every reason not to go down there and just end up munching on anything edible in my room. The view out the window is great though and I'm only a 10 minute walk from work.

The view of which I speak with the Remarkables in the background.

Work has been a learning experience. I'm working for a hiking company that offers guided hikes along the Greenstone, Routeburn and Milford tracks down here. We send up to 50 people at a time on these hikes, usually about 75 people in total a day leave from our office to hit the trail. My actual job is to brief the people on what to bring which involves standing infront of up to 50 people at a time and giving them the spiel that yes, they have to bring thermal underwear. When I'm not in briefings I'm doing the paperwork associated with the whole thing. The first week has been a whirlwind with so much to remember and trying to make stuff up when people ask me specifics about the tracks b/c I haven't actually done them. But slowly it's coming together and I'm getting a grasp on it. I've signed up to do this job until the end of the season in April upon which I will begin my journey home. I still have a bit of NZ to see and have been throwing around the idea of going back to OZ for a couple weeks to visit some people and beaches that I missed last time. More on these plans later.

Getting my laptop was an ordeal. I hate waiting for stuff like this to come in the mail, it always seems to take forever. But here it is and it works great. Internet in my own room again... the luxuries.

seriously now

Hey, guess what? Ben and I met up on Tuesday over a Fergburger (more on this later) and a great view over the lake and compared stories about our NZ adventures. I'm staying here in Queenstown to work while he's heading back to the great white north to pursue a professional snowboarding career.

I got a job in town here working for a hiking company organizing hiking groups or something like that. I haven't actually started yet so I'll be able to give you better details later but as of now it sounds extremely similar to what I do at camp in the summer. However, I hope it's more organized and less stressful, they aren't paying me enough for it to be. Finding a job took a day but finding a place to live has deemed to be as Wayne would say "exponentially" more difficult. I have a few leads but as of now I'm still stuck in a hostel. It blows.

After spending a small fortune on feeding my internet addiction I decided to but a computer in Canada and have it sent over. I know what you're thinking "Rob, you must be able to buy a computer there.". This is true, however they cost like double for the same thing. I'm all about comparing prices and finding the deals, and this was the best one.

Oh, yesterday I awoke to seeing fresh snow on the ground! I thought it was summer here. The ground I saw the snow on though was really high on the top of mountains but still. 13 degrees still isn't cutting it. I have to go buy a sweater

Someone just dropped an SLR on the concrete floor here in the internet cafe and it shattered... that sucks.

The Nevis...

Last week a bunch of us from the bus booked to go on "The Nevis", a 134m bungy jump just outside of town in an area that more closely resembled Afghanistan than NZ. They say go big or go home so I opted in on the highest jump in NZ. The whole process took about 4 hours while the 8.5 second freefall into the valley floor almost gave me a heart attack. On the brightside I got a t-shirt and certificate (which will surely hang next to my degree) to prove I did it.

This is at the first ever bungy jump site (not the nevis). It's a wimpy 43m, I saw a bunch of rovers doing it for sectional.

Here I am, about to die.

This is THE NEVIS in all it's glory. This is actually my friend Julie jumping.

View of Middle Earth

Yesterday myself and a couple friends went and conquered a nearby mountain top. The view from 1750m was incredible but the 2.5hr walk uphill wasn't.

Whoa, hold up..

Hey, you've missed a few things that I've done in the past little bit. Let me bring you up to speed.

To get to the south island you have to take a ferry, fly or be a really good swimmer. I opted for the 3 hour boat ride which was really nice and extremely windy. At one point I could lean into the wind and have it hold me up. The scenery was gorgeous, check it out.

Someone on the boat.

Cool sky over the north island.

Nicer weather on the south island.

This looked really nice even if it was through the bus window.

I traveled down towards the west coast where we stayed for a couple nights on a farm. I slept in my tent and really missed my thermarest and wanted to kill all the cows and roosters in the morning. The farm was right beside Abel Tasman National Park where I went on a sailing trip. The weather was perfect and the wind was up.

Anchorage bay


Split apple rock in Abel Tasman.


Sunset in Barrytown, a "town" of 40 people? more like Barry-no-town.


sorry about the small pictures, click on them, they should get bigger.