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.

The Real N.Z.

About a week ago I headed to the south island and have been loving every minute of it. I've been traveling on the bus and have met so many people from all over the world. Some of them I've been with for over 2 weeks which has really been a blast. Most of it has been a whirl wind and I have lots to say and tons of pictures to show but right now I only have one memory card here so this is the most recent stuff. I'll fill in the blanks when the pace subsides a bit.

Last week I went on a cruise around Abel Tasman national park which was spectacular. We were on a really nice catamaran and had some solid wind so we got to throw up a jibbaker (jib and spinnaker combo) and really get the party started. I also saw a really nice sunset and hung out in a town of 40 people. I climbed the Franz Josef glacier and fell asleep on the bus. (pictures from these events will be posted shortly)

However, the past couple days have delivered the New Zealand that I have really been looking for. The scenery I have seen can only be rivaled by that of the Columbia river valley in B.C. I have been on sensory overload for the past 2 days, it's a good thing I'm not driving.

Lake Matheson with some sweet mountains. We didn't get here early enough for the perfect reflection but no one missed the 6am wakeup.

A typical westcoast beach. We looked for jade by picking up everything resembling green. None was found...

Jade? no, just some cool rocks.

This is what I came to see. How much for the mountain? I'll take two.

"Blue pools"
It reminded me so much of Chiniguchi. You could see huge rainbow trout swimming around. I attempted to kill one by throwing rocks but it didn't work. The water was freezing.

This is a plant we named "the stick tree". These must be the boringest plant in the world. The leaves look like twigs, with this one being fully foliated. I'm going to chop one of these down next Christmas and give it to Charlie Brown, he'd love it.

My friend Malin in Makarora.


Lake Wanaka.

A few of us wanted to go for a hike up one of the local mountains so we got ready and started walking. By the end our journey we had walked 2 hours along a road, got to the base of the mountain, realized it was all rose bushes, walked through a rabbit infested, poisoned field, walked to the beach, walked along a time line and eaten lunch.

The timeline was on bricks along the lakeshore. This one caught my eye as the stray bus seems to stop at every "New World" grocery store in the country.

Kia Ora

Rotoura
(Kia Ora - Hello in Maori) I am currently breathing lungs full of sulphur in Rotorua. It is a city built around hot springs and disgusting looking bubbling pools of mud. Every few minutes the wind will change direction bringing the sulphur stench with it. I can't wait to get out of here.

This is what I am talking about. These pools are everywhere.

This was the biggest pool/pond I found. I had to hold my breath. Some guy tried to convice me that breathing sulphur sulfur is good for your lungs, I don't buy it.

In an attempt to escape the sulphur contaminated air I left the city limits to check out Rotorua's other claim to fame - their luge track. Instead of ice and a sled there is concrete and a three wheeled plastic car. I hopped on a gondola up to the top of a small mountain then took off back down, it was a lot more fun than it looks. I could have luged all day.

My sweet ride.

The beginner track. There was very little in terms of safety barriers. On the advanced track I saw a kid eat it pretty bad after taking a corner way too fast, put the car on two wheels, and fly off the track, over a dirt barrier, and down a hill into some trees. I'm sure he bounced back.

Waitomo
A few days ago I went caving in Waitomo which sounds kind of lame but it blew away any notions of what I thought caving was going to be. I was under ground for over three hours, abseiling, climbing, and walking chest deep in underground streams. At one point I was pinned between the bottom of a stream and the roof of the cave trying to "squeeze" through a whole only slightler larger than my body. Small spaces combined with absolute darkness really messes with my head.

Me learning to abseil. I am pretty sure that if there is some kind of man eating monster on earth that it lives in that cave somewhere.

One of the stalactites hanging from the roof of the cave.

Kiwis at a kiwi farm outside Waitomo.

Auckland

Before Waitomo and Rotorua was Auckland. I stuck around in Auckland for a few days after Rob headed south and I decided to attend New Zealand's biggest tennis tournament (which really isn't that big), climbed a volcano, and toured the rest of the city.

Rangitoto Island. One of the volcanos that helped form Auckland. Its bigger than it looks, especially when you are climbing it in a 33 degree heat.

Auckland harbour at sunset - complete with the biggest yachts I have ever seen.

I moved down to the front row. No one noticed.

Mount Doom

A few days ago I went on a hike across the Tongariro Crossing in the central part of the north island. The site was used in filming a good chunk of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was an 18.5km journey that included but is not limited to: steaming craters, lava flows, waterfalls, rainforest, salt flats, marsian landscape, hot springs, emerald lakes and devil's staircase. We started around 1200m elevation and got up to 1900m at our highest point. It was cold and then hot depending if you were climbing. Devil's staircase almost gave me a heart attack as we practically ran up it. Luckily we had a doctor in our group.

This is an active volcano, it's last erruption was 6 weeks ago, it was tiny though. No lava, just alot of hot air and smoke.

Emerald Lakes

Lava flow in the crater with Blue lake in the backround.

Me, near death. Luckily the pillar didn't give out.

Mt. Ngauruhoe aka Mt. Doom (that is alot more cool and easier to say too)

Steamy vents on the right. LOTR grass on the left.

Mountain daisy.

Rainforest stream at the end.

Sunrise in Mordor minus the orcs.

The hike was one of the coolest things I've ever done.

The Fellowship Is Broken

Well everyone, it has happened. After some discussion Ben and I agreed to part ways for a while here in New Zealand. I signed up on a bus tour that left Sunday morning and tours around the north and south island and lasts for 12 months so it will fit in with working here somewhere.

If I take another step I'll be farther from home than I ever have been before.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Hot Water Beach. It is where hot springs come up right on the beach and digging a hole in the sand during low tide allows you a hot tub on the beach with a great view. But look at the crowd, everyone was doing it.

Later we went to Cathedral Cove. A place where this massive hole in the rock reveals a beautiful tropical beach on the other side. I could probably spend a few years just on this beach if someone would bring me food.

Here I am washing off in a fresh water stream waterfall on the heavenly beach.

The view from my hut on the beach.

Group shot outside the Maori building we slept in last night.

This was us lost in the forest/jungle a couple days ago... not fun.

Stingray Bay, Coromandel Peninsula.