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.