Don't write me no more letters

Well I guess I'd better write one last post because I know as soon as I get back home I won't be able to bring myself to blog about my lovely trip. Too sad.

I spent Halloween wandering around the harbour, made my way to Victoria Park and watched a rugby tourny for a bit. Spotted an awesome looking french bakery called Paneton and planned to drop by the next day. Unfortunately, my last night in Auckland was so rubbish. My fantabulous 5 Asain roomies decided not to sleep and instead watch loud/weird Japanese TV shows, leave the lights on until 2am and fiddle with plastic bags for like 10 hours. Thanks, peeps! Needless to say, sleep evaded me most of the night. I gave up and packed to leave the hostel round 8. I found an awesome little cafe chain called HOLLYWOOD where there was a coffee and muffin combo for 3$, bargain! Got my trim flat white with cinnamon and a divine blueberry-bran muffin. Glorious. Walked back along the harbour for a couple of hours, went into some nice shops but had enough self control to resist any purchases. Go me! It wasn't easy, Lippy had sales.

I made my way back to the French bakery with high hopes. I was delighted to find the people who worked there were actually French! With the exception of a sweet, albeit awkward, Canadian barista (are the males baristas too, or perchance baristos?). Anyway my flat white was unreal, possibly the best yet. And I opted for the very risky pain au chocolate. usually, here in NZ, the croissants are on the hard side, more like pie crust, which I despise. And, would you believe, the pain au chocolat was perfect! It was so much like the ones I enjoyed when I visited Becky in Nantes many moons ago. Actually it was like 5 or 6 years ago... scary!

I returned to my hostel for my last shower for a couple of days. Sounds so gross, doesn't it? But relax, it wasn't by choice, just circumstance.

Took the airbus to the airport, its pretty far out of town. I checked my bags early, so I could meet up with a friend I met in Tonga without worrying about time. Well, dramas ensued! I had to repack/throw out a lot of stuff to make the weight quotas. Flippen training girls were out of control. Because of my layover I had to have an address in San Fran, but seeing as I had never been before I didn't have any on hand. I had to find internet and get a hotel address and say I was going there. Good times, then the girl couldn't figure out how to print my boarding pass and it took aaaaages. I was so late meeting my friend, she had to drive around the aiport for like 30 minutes.

We went to a nearby cafe for a late lunch or early dinner. It was ok, the kitchen was closed so I just got a bacon and egg panini. Decent.

Chilled out in the airport for a couple hour before my flight. Boarded to find I had 3 seats to myself! So awesome. I was stoked to be able to lie down. Sadly, I only managed to sleep a few hours of the 12 hour flight. Dinner choices were Osso bucco or fish. Really? Why didn't I say I was a vego?! Filthy. Well, Kapiti Ice cream was on the menu for dessert so I can't complain. I watched a ridiculous number of TV shows and listened to the Kids of 88 CD heaps. I need someone to explain Salt to me, I didn't get the end.

I got to San Fran late morning and took the train in. Holy culture shock. And I thought Auckland seemed big! Flippen heck, San Fran was massive and smelled of pee.Homeless guys were laid out all over the lawn of the UN square (or town hall, maybe?). I felt really out of place with my massive carry on bag. Got a bit lost trying to find Powell street (good shopping, I'd heard). Anyway, found it eventually after accidentally going to Chinatown first. I went to Forever 21 but was disappointed. Got a coffee at Peers. I ordered a small latte, but it was MASSIVE. It was at least double the size of a large in NZ. No way could I finish it. I found an amazing Urban Behaviour shop with a 50% discount on all sale items. Got a jumpsuit for $4.99 and a vintage dress for $9.99! TAX NOT INCLUDED IN PRICES SUCKS! I got so used to it in NZ that I was shocked every time I bought something. After shopping I tried to find the Golden Gate bridge and nobody seemed to know where it was! What the heck? I think they just didn't want to explain. I walked towards the Ferry Building and of course, could see the bridge from there. Crazy people.

So that was my eventful layover. Flight to Toronto was uneventful, the seat between me and this other guy was empty so we took turns sprawling. I couldn't sleep though. Watched a few shows and they had a Glee Soundtrack, the Madonna one.

Now I'm so tired I think I might be dying. I sometimes forget to breathe deeply enough and then I get really short of breath. Its a bit disconcerting.

I should really end this blog on a positive note. This trip has been unbelievably amazing. I know I am a changed person as a result of my overseas adventure (or OA as they call them in NZ). I would never have thought that travelling alone could be so good. Initially I was a bit nervous that I wouldn't make anything more than superficial friends, but I've come out of it with a handful of people that I will love for life (and already REALLY miss) and heaps of acquaintances who have played roles in making my trip so fantastical.

This trip has also shown me who my true friends are in Ottawa and opened my eyes to the fact that I don't need to take shit from unreliable 'friends' anymore. I know now that there is no use in making huge efforts with people who just don't reciprocate. There are so many potential friends out there who will make the effort! I have Josh and Katie to thank for that revelation.

Although I am going home early for weddings, I don't regret that aspect at all. I could not have missed these weddings for the world, and I am trusting God that this was the right time for me to leave. I couldn't have imagined this trip going any better than it has and although I'm sad my OE is over, I know that Ottawa holds new and exciting adventures for me!

LOVE!

When she swings, shes a heavy hitter

Auckland. I hate it here. Also, I'm in a foul mood. I am not ready to go home at all. I keep telling myself at least I'm leaving on a good note. Which is true, but it doesn't make me feel THAT much better.

This week was great. Monday night was pretty laid back, just watched some Friends episodes with Katie. Tuesday I ran Canon Point, just for something different... Spent the day trying to sort through my clothes and pack a little bit. Did some housework too. That night I went to Mama T's for delish burgers. I love a good kiwi burger, they put a fried egg on it, and beetroot and pineapple. YUM!

Wednesday I trained with Katie, she kicked my ass as usual! So much tricep work! Loved it. That night I met Michelle for dinner at Subway, the new Moroccan Chicken sub is actually quite yum. We saw Eat, Pray, Love at the Ascot. I thought it was awesome! I actually am dying to read the book now. Its funny because Mimi told me to read the book like 2 or 3 years ago! And Rosa told me to read it a few months ago. I looked in a few bookstores, but it was always 30-40$, so I'll wait and get it used at home somewhere.

Thursday I went for coffee and lunch in town, I mean Upper Hutt, with Katie. We went to Fresh Bun and I got custard slice, chicken-cranberry-avo sandwich and a trim flat white with cinnamon. SO good. Its for the best that Katie and Josh only discovered it recently! I could have spent a loooot of time there. Thursday night I went to Jade and Tracey's for a delish dinner of caramelized bananas and bacon, another kiwi classic!

Friday morning brought another intense workout with my favourite trainer! I actually was dying at the end. I squatted/lunged my life away. Walked to the train station after. Was rocking my new skinny jeans. I thought I looked pretty damn hot until I got to the train station and realized I had left the long sticker on and it was all down my leg. So flash! I felt like a bit of a tool...

Met up with Cherie and Kirsten for lunch. I loooved Sushi Pen, cheap fresh and delish.

Kirsten and I did some shopping, i got a pair of cute sandals which I won't be wearing until like July. Dirty Ottawa winter here I come... I finally made it to the Wellington Botanic Gardens, and on my Mom's birthday! It was huuuuge. Not heaps of flowers, but a decent amount. I walked back to the city centre through the gardens it took like half an hour. Jade finished tech early and met me in town. I bought another new pair of shoes, Nike high tops! I actually love them so much. Kind of am an idiot for buying so much new stuff this week, I will have to throw out everything I don't absolutely love in the airport. We went for coffee and then met up with Tracey at Kirk's. I found a cool red lipstick at MAC, but I can't remember the name now!

Had an awesome dinner with Josh and Katie at Satay Village, my first taste of Malaysian cuisine.

We got a movie "New York, I love you" and some wine and treats and went back to the flat.

Jess and Jason came over with their puppy, Nellie, for a little while. The movie was complete crap, we turned it off after a half hour or so. It was filthy! We had heaps of homemade treats that Katie made. So yum! She helped me pack, I anticipated not being able to take my large suitcase on the bus, so I put the stuff I didn't care as much about in it. Went to bed at midnight with my alarm set for 6am. Yuck. Katie gave me Edmond's cookbook, I'm so stoked!!

Woke up and got ready to go. Josh got us some flat whites from McCafe. We got to the train station way too early and it was freezing cold! Jade, Josiah, Lauren and Kirsten came to the train station to see me off! So sweet and they got me some gifts and cards! The driver took my stuff, it was no worries! He said 50% of the luggage should have been turned away but he didn't care! Of course, I cried as I left. Such a dork. 11 hour bus ride was rubbish, but my Ipod was fully charged so I was all good. In Auckland, I was dropped off at Sky city centre, I tried to walk with my bags but had so much trouble I just made it one block to a hostel. Surf n Snow. It was way more expensive than all the other hostels I researched, but I had no other choice. Its only 2 nights anyway. My room was full and SO hot. The traffic was wildly noisy though. Went for a short walk and then to bed. I couldn't sleep so I watched a 3 hr movie. Funny but pretty inappropriate.

This morning I went out for a trim flat white with cinnamon, yum! Now I'm just at the libs for free interweb. My plan for the afternoon is to go to the beach one last time! Dumb that Halloween is no big deal here. Happy Halloween anyway!!!!!!!

LOVE!

Everybody knows it sucks to grow up

Maija and I on Pangaimotu island
The end of my trip to Tonga was pretty sweet! Maija came back from Ha'apai and a new guy, Shaun, arrived. I moved into the green house after being shouted at by a crazy man in the blue house. And there was a massive spider in the bathroom which was gross. Maija and I made a massive and delish dinner and traded movies on our netbooks.

In the morning I got up early and paid my bills. Walked into town around 8am and got a coffee at Friends, just for something different. Haha. Checked my emails and then Maija and Shaun came to meet me. We went down to the wharf and ran into a castmember and film crew from Biggest Loser, family edition. One guy was Tongan so they were filming a 2 hour special. I talked to the film crew for a while, nice to hear a familiar accent even if it was American.

We took a ferry to Pangiamotu (or something like that) and snorkelled around a shipwreck just off the island. It was so cool. Shaun had his own snorkel gear so we all just shared it. We saw heaps of fish, starfish, sea cukes etc., and took silly underwater pictures with his fancy camera that had a case for underwater use. It made me want to go to China, crazy cheap electronics, BUT not the same quality and standards as Canadian imported things.

Shipwreck

We walked around the island (not too big, took maybe 30 mins) and then went for lunch at the cafe. I ordered a club sandwich, but to them a club sandwich is apparently garlic bread with a chicken salad mix, tomato and lettuce. It was so filthy I can't even describe it. Mayo is disgusting. The hot chips were good though and the tomato sauce came in a sea shell! Pretty... In the afternoon we just lay out in the shade. Took the 4pm ferry back and went to the market where I bought my only souvenir, a shell necklace. Cheesy, I know. But I had to bring something back. We went out for dinner, I got seafood chowder, such great and fresh seafood. It had whole scallops and prawns. Yum. For dessert I shared a passionfruit cheesecake with Maija.

We walked back to the hostel, stopping at the bakery for breakfast food. Got a cinnamon bun and pineapple muffin for 1$ since it was yesterdays stuff. Awesome.

Didn't do much my last night in Tonga, just got some movies off Shaun and the couples I hung out with in Eua were back so we all caught up.

Had to get up so early Thursday am for the flight, it was pouring with rain and therefore a perfect day to be leaving. I was so happy to be going home, Also, was pretty stoked it didn't rain all week like the weather station predicted, it only rained my first 2 days and super sunny ever since. I have the peeling burn to prove it. Not so pretty but all good.

Flight was stressful, luckily Maija and I could sit together and complain. There were some dramas with 15 passengers missing and then another person decided not to fly and the crew had to hunt through the luggage to find her bag. We left about an hour late and I needed to catch my connecting flight to Welly within like an hour. I grabbed my bags, got through customs and then had to run to the domestic airport. Luckily its only about a 10 minute walk away. I got there just in time to board. Cut it SO close. Katie picked me up at the airport, which was awesome. Friday night I went to Jade and Tracey's to watch New Zealand's Next Top Model and X Factor Australia. Saturday we went out to Logan Brown for dinner. It was delish. I had smoked eel to start and then the snapper. Awesome meal. We went out for gelato after at Kaffe Eis. I was so full. Sunday I got up at 7am and drove to Mt Ruapehu with Josh. I felt a bit sick at first, but felt better after a coffee from the cart in Otaki. It was a mint day, 2 degrees, blue skies. Best day of my season! I got the flippen filthy goggle tan to prove it. We climbed to the very topo of the volcano (not an easy feat with a snowboard and awkward boots). Took about an hour. The view of the crater lake alone was worth it. One guy hiked up with an inflatable raft and paddle and skiied to the lake to fish! Crazy. You could see the people who hiked up the other side of the mountain from the Whakapapa ski field. So cool. The best was skiing down the fresh powder. Loved that. It took ages to board all the way to the bottom of the mountain. Unfortunately, I fell and bashed my wrist and its been killing me ever since. My medical insurance ran out in September so I'll have to get it looked at when I get home. Its not swollen or anything, just kills.

Drive home was a bit boring since my Ipod died. Stopped at good old Wild Bean for ginger slice and a flat white. Slept over at Jade and Tracey's again. We ate lollies and chocolate and Kylie and Kirsten came over too. Was a good night. This morning I got up and drove back to Upper Hutt. Walked into town to meet Katie and then we all drove to the mall in Lower Hutt with Kelly and Jess. I got a bunch of new clothes and some gifts for the fam. I think I'm all done my shopping now! Got my first real pair of skinny jeans, big step for me...

The week is looking pretty intense for me. Mostly meals out with friends, trying to catch up with everyone before I leave on Saturday morning. Sucks to be leaving so soon. I feel a bit sick about it, so I'm pretty in denial about it all.

LOVE!

They can hear the clamour in your whispering

I am so burnt. But, on the upside the weather has been awesome the past 3 days!

The Tongan cave party/feast was so good. I had raw fish, suckling pig, octopus, seaweed, kumala, cassava and breadfruit pudding. The dancing was really good too, probably super touristy but I liked it. They had fire dancing too, the boys lit their bodies on fire, it was pretty wild. The girls would grease up their arms and people stuck money on them. A few dirty old men stuck the bills elsewhere, which was not appreciated in this uber-religious country. I took the ferry to Eua on Saturday, the old german couple gave me seasickness pills before we left, so while everyone else was voming we were all good! Arrived at the 'resort' a few hours later. It was like no resort I've ever seen. I elected to stay in a tent and they put down a mattress for me with a pillow and blankets. I was stoked with it. Sat on the platforms by the beach all afternoon and read my book. Finally, the Tonga beach vacation I was looking for! Free wireless internet too, although very slow and very unreliable was nice to have. That night there was a massive thunderstorm. I had been warned that lightening often touches ground here. Freaked me out a bit but I was fine. In the morning I realized the tent was flooded with about a 1/4 inch of water. Siiick. I went to Tongan church that morning with the 3 other couples at the resort. It was wild to not understand a word, but the singing was incredible and SO loud. In the afternoon I whale whatched (saw 4!) and slept in the sun, swam a bit but it was hard since the water was shallow and the coral cuts your feet. I ate dinner with the other couples, it was a traditional Umu, lamb, fish and beef cooked in tonga leaves underground. It was yum and very smoky, kind of like hangi. I went to bed early-ish since I had to get up at 330am for the ferry. Couldn't sleep well because I got a migraine and my bed was really disgustingly damp. The ferry back was nice, got to see the sunrise. Now I'm back at Friend's cafe, waiting for the hostel van to pick me up. I decided to stay in the nicer rooms this time around, a bit more expensive but worth it I hope.

LOVE.

3 more sleeps until I'm back home! NZ home anyway...

I wear my sunglasses at night

TONGA! After 8 hours in Transit I arrived in Tonga. It was a bumpy ride to say the least, most people on the plane were vomiting and it was really gross. I just watched a few shows about Working Holidays, those people were homesick and their trips were just 6 weeks, come on!

So at the Tongan airport, while awaiting baggage the power kept shutting off. It actually was really scary. Each time, the police would start yelling in Tongan. Great way to calm down tired people...

Luckily my ride was waiting for me to take me to Toni's Guest House. The hostel left a lot to be desired. We drink rainwater and the toilet has no sink in it. Gross, you have to go all the way to the kitchen or use the shower to wash your hands. The hostel is actually in the ghetto, beside us is a shack with like 10 Tongans living in it. Not what I was expecting at all. Stayed up getting to know the 3 guys staying in the same house as me. I fell asleep with my mosquito net tucked around me and awoke in the night to it falling on me after the nail broke away from the ceiling. Gave me a fright!

The next morning I went on an island tour and saw Tonga's Stonehenge, surfer's beach, a big cave and about 300 Mormon churches. I'm not even kidding, Mormon's are trying to make Tongan the first Mormon country. They spent 49 million US$ on one church. Its insane, especially since these people live in huts, there are better ways to spend money I think. There are a bunch of signs from Japan reading "pipe work" which is supposed to help the Japanese get UN votes from Tonga to allow them to continue whale poaching. China practiced building roads here a while ago (they actually don't go anywhere useful) so there are like 4 random paved roads, while the rest are just dirt. No seatbelts here!

Last night I went to Cava night, its the ground up root of a tree here and its supposed to make you feel lightheaded but after a few coconut shells full I felt nothing but tired and just went to bed.

Today I'm in town at Friends cafe with a few new mates, the staff actually remember everyone's name, I like it. Granted it is low season for tourists, its still cool. The good thing about being in a place like Tonga, where its unsafe to go out alone and you get yelled at by overly friendly Tongans every step of the way is that it makes it pretty easy to bond with the other travelers. Unfortunately most people I've met are going to the more touristy islands tomorrow that actually have beaches, here the closest beach is quite far. But since I'm just here 8 nights and flights here are very unpredictable (cancelled often) I don't want to risk it. I'll take a ferry to Eua tomorrow to stay a few nights and do some hiking, that should be nice. And tonight I'm going to a Tongan cultural experience night in a giant cave. I'm excited for that!

LOVE!

Lets be more than this

Oh my gosh, 29 days. Thats not ok! I'm not ready to leave at all. Not even a little bit.

The rest of my trip up North was awesome. It was pouring with rain on Thursday when I was driving to Tauranga, and Brian was busy so we just hung out for a little bit. Got some fish and chips and a deep fried Moro bar. Kind of like a mars bar but a bit more Aero-like inside. Filthy but delish. I drove to Rotorua from there. The city that smells like sulphur because of all the thermal pools. I stayed at a really nice hostel called Astray, tiny rooms but proper massive, comfy mattresses. I had some time before it got dark, yay for daylight savings, so I went for a walk to Kiurnan Park where there was a free geothermal park. The last geyser (spray of mud) was in 2003 so I figured I was pretty safe. It was pretty cool, had some free hot pools but they were a bit dirty looking.

Got up early the next day, hoping to do some mountain biking, but the company wasn't answering their phone and it was still raining, so I decided to just drive to Wellington. The roads past Taupo were flippen insanely flooded! I'd never driven on flooded roads before, it was crazy.

Also, the tax prises rose 2.5% so since everything has tax already included prices went up a lot. Unfortunately, they rose by 10% rather than 2.5%. What the heck people? Do your math properly! I was gutted that I didn't fill up the tank the night before. But then in Taupo I went to the cheapest gas station in all of NZ and their prices were lower than when I drove up. $1.64/L. Literally cheapest ever. So then I was happy. The same company of gas station 2 blocks down was $1.81/L. I don't understand, but I like it.

It got really sunny and lovely in the afternoon so I stopped at Foxton beach for a run. The beach was also a road!

I decided to take the backroads to Upper Hutt as suggested by Googlemaps, Akatarawa Hill Road or highway 58. Wow, that was a mistake. I thought for a moment I was on a one-way road (going the wrong direction) but due top signposts on both sides I realized I had a found the most dangerous one way highway in the world. Literally this hill was insanely steep and super curvy, I was so scared of running into anotehr car, there were no shoulders, just forest (or cliff face) and mountain. I came across a few others, but luckily we were JUST able to squeeze by. I prayed like crazy the whole time! My car is a beast!

Got home late afternoon and went to Kirsten and Lauren's to bake cookies and watch some Flight of the Conchords.

Saturday morning Katie and I went for a run up Canon Point and then into town for coffees and some shopping. The new second hand shop is awesome I got a dress and a cute skirt for 22.50$! Bargain. That evening I went to see Kids of 88 as well as Naked and Famous. Sadly we had to go to the All Ages show which was at 5pm! But, it was so worth it, Kids of 88 were amazing and we got to meet them after. They were such sweethearts. Kirsten and I went out for Turkish food after the show. Really yum.

After church on Sunday, since it was another sunny day (yay spring!), we went to the beach for a BBQ and a game of football (our soccer). It was great.

Monday was my first training session with Katie, she kicked my but and then we went for a short run and ran into Kelly and her adorable little puppy! We went for a coffee at McCaf and to the second hand shop again... Monday night I went to Jade and Tracey's for an awesome dinner and then watched a netball game in Petone. Such a weird game, I can't handle it. Tried Goody Goody Gumdrops ice cream. So good.

Today the plan is to run Canon Point with Katie again and then pick up some Glee episodes from Cherie later, fun!

LOVE!

Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know, its really serious

Orewa
This is why I stayed a second night!
Stone Store and Kemp House
kauri tree
Cape Reinga
Cape Reinga was so awesome! We went to the kauri forest (gigantic trees, you aren't alowed to cut down even if its on your property). Apparently its good luck to hug one.

Then we drove to Cape Reinga, a super spiritual place for the Mauri people. The spirits of dead people go there 7 days after they die according to their religion. So we chilled out there for a bit. The Northernmost postbox in New Zealand is there and they still hand write the date and stuff there so those postcards are collectibles items!

We went to a bay for lunch, gorgeous. Then drove along 90 mile beach (actually its 65 miles, but still long!) Stopped at a Buried Kauri forest and museum on the way home. The wood is so expensive but very durable I guess. We also went sandboarding at "The Giant Sand Dunes". I was the only one to bail because 1) I went first and 2) did not listen to instructions. It was a kind of sandboarding where you lie down rather than stand like in Oz. So I flippen rolled and got sand EVERYWHERE. I did it right the second time though. haha.

Sunday I went to a Farmer's market and tried cheeses, wines, tamarillos (south american sour/sweet fruit), jams, chutneys, olive oils and much more. Its a famous market and I can see why! The locals were so friendly and happy to chat to me for ages about their products. I bought 100,000 avocados, blue cheese and a flat white. Good morning!

I went for an 8km run at the Rainbow Falls track by the Stone Store. Super old houses around there, like 1838 or something. I originally thought 1838 was how far the stone store was from town but turns out its when it was built. I was like 'wow they are precise! everything else was like 3km or whatever'. haha.

I was stoked though, longest run I have done in ages.

Monday I went for a lazy coffee and muffin sitting outside a cafe reading a magazine. Such a hard life I lead! Went for another run along the rainbow falls track that afternoon and lazed around the rest of the day. My roomie left on Sunday, she was really cool, shes a kiwi travelling all over NZ taking photos to sell at an art show next year.

Tuesday I drove to Waitangi, said goodbye to kerikeri, also home of the dirtiest hostel ever. Never ever stay at the Top 10 Holiday Park there, its absolute filth. They never one cleaned my room.

In Waitangi I went for a 10km walk on the Hururu Falls track. It was nice, a hot sunny day too. Would have gone to the Visitor centre to learn about the treaty but I didn't have my working holiday visa so I would have had to pay 25$ rather than 12$. Shame.

My plan was to stay in Paihia, but to be honest it looked like a hole, so I kept going. Drove around the toll highway this time (I paid the first time, 2$ for like 5 mins of highway. Thanks soooo much for that. The coastal highway was beautiful and wind-ey. As I was coming down a massive hill i saw this long stretch of beach and thought "I have to stay here". I prayed that God would provide a cheap hostel (20$ or less) and I drove to the first hostel I came across (one of two in town). It cost 20$! God is so good. I chatted to the owner for a while since I was a bit lonely from being alone all day and he upgraded me to a private room with a TV! I walked along the beach for a few hours and then went to Countdown and got some food. Proceeded to watchTV until midnight. I haven't watched TV in months and months. We don't get channels in Welly since we have no bunny ears. It was so good! How I Met Your Mother was on and I died laughing.

The next morning I couldn't leave, Orewa was too gorgeous. I ran about 6km along the beach yesterday am and again today. Yesterday I sent some more postcards and bought some gifts for the family. Got a discount voucher for the Waiwera Thermal Park so I went there for a bit, cost 10$ instead of 25$! I lounged in the natural hot pools that smell like sulphur and then went to the Movie thermal pool. They actually show movies on a big screen, so cool!

Today I'm going to Tauranga to surf and maybe see my plane friend again.

LOVE!

We were strangers many hours and I missed you for so long

Here I am in Bay of Islands. I drove for 12 hours on Monday. It was intense! I stopped for groceries in Taupo and for gas a few times since my car is so brutal on petrol. I also stopped in Tauranga to visit my friend who I met on the plane from San Fransisco to Auckland back in January. That was sweet. We just had a coffee and caught up for a bit and then I was on the road again! If I go back to visit him, he said we could go surfing, mountain biking and spear fishing! awesome!

I arrived in Kerikeri just after midnight, so I slept in the MacDonald's parking lot since it was the only place that was open 24hours. Crap sleep of course. Checked into the hostel in the morning and slept until evening. It was like having jet lag! My roommates were 3 girls from Sweden, super nice. They had been fruit picking for 2 months! The room was a mess, the cleaners never clean the rooms, they just change the sheets between guests. Supposedly.

Since I've arrived I can't say I've done much except read and go for runs. Yesterday I went with my roommates to Rainbow Falls, it was like a 2 hour walk, but the falls were gorgeous. We walked behind them, it was so hard to get back there, we had to crawl along insanely slippery rocks and Ellen almost fell in! We got completely soaked and then walked back to the hostel. Luckily it was sunny so we weren't too cold. That night we watched Adventure land. Terrible movie, but some funny parts.

Today my roommates are gone, hopefully I will get some new ones, but fruit picking season is officially over so mostly everyone is gone now. Kinda sad for me, but its good to have time to think and pray and read.

I went for a bike ride to try and find the beach. Sadly got completely lost, but found a pretty stream. The bike I was using didn't have functional gears so I was dying on the hills, the front brakes were also broken. Cars here always have right of way so the roundabouts really scared me! No wonder helmets are mandatory. You can get a ticket if you don't wear one!

So now I'm in the library with my free wifi. Love it.

Plan is to do the Cape Reinga Boat Cruise tomorrow (which I got for half price on Grabone.co.nz)! Then there's some house that is the oldest in NZ or something. Back to Wellington next week!

LOVE!

Random stream I came across when i was trying to find the beach

Rainbow falls

1,000 other boys could never reach you

I'm finished with Sektor Payments! I'm so happy to be done. Friday just dragged on and on. My boss asked for my honest opinion about the peeps I was training. So, I told him their pros and cons. I can pretty much guarantee he'll take the girl on regardless of what I said. For some reason they like to have a girl in the warehouse. On the drive home I couldn't stop smiling. That job just went from bad to worse. The repairs boys were giving me crap about not keeping the newbies busy, but we really didn't have much to do once the 850 810s were done and the 250 670s were loaded. And, since we figured out how to pinch internet I was pretty busy on Facebook. Haha!

Last night Katie and I ordered butter chicken, painted our nails and watched Precious, such a flippen sad movie. We had tons of candy but the movie was not the kind of movie where you can eat and watch.

Today the plan was to drive up to Turoa and board for a few days, but unfortunately there was a massive thunderstorm Friday which busted windows and caused a house to catch fire! There was hail and everything. Pretty wild. So all that said, Turoa was closed due to bad weather and is probably going to be closed for a few days. And I want to stop there as it would break up my driving to Bay of Islands, its kind-of on the way.

Man, I woke up so early, annoying because I could have slept in. Instead I went trail running, it was awesome, I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow! So my new plan is to leave Monday morning and hopefully Turoa will be open by then, if not I'll just drive as far as I can to Bay of Islands. I'm not sure I could manage all 12 hours in one go... But I am a Jackson so odds are I can do it.

Went for coffee with Kate at McD's. Good times, got some new jeggings and stuff too. I'm so bad at spending money. This has to stop! When we got home we watched the Office and had another coffee. Such caffeine addicts!

I'm thinking a lot about going home lately. I'm a bit freaked out about living with my parents because I'll be 24 in December. But, the plan is to start looking for either a job in BC and moving out west OR get hired full time at TOH and look for a house in Ottawa. I so want to just keep travelling, but I also am keen to get into real life as well. Buying a house would be a solid investment and if I want to travel more I can just rent it out. This is why I get freaked out, I think WAY too far in advance. Snap. One thing a time, I still have 6 weeks to chill out!

LOVE!

Is you can't hold yourself together, why should I hold you now?

At the train station
Fun at Cherie's
Watching the rugby, Lions won!
Belgian Biscuits I made for youth dessert night last week.

I gave my 2 weeks notice at work last Monday! Best decision I made all month. It was just getting too boring and I just felt like I was wishing away my days, its no fun to live for the weekend. I have a whole new appreciation for TOH, I'm actually really excited to get back to working as a dietitian. I applied to a part-time job there, would be pretty sweet to get it.

Yesterday at our work lunch we had brunch. I made peach french toast bake, Dave made BLT's and Mama T brought in bakery treats. I am so loving custard squares. So that was the highlight of my day, as well as reading numerous David Thorne (aussie comedian) articles on his website

www.27bslash6.com/missy.html

Thats my favourite article. Overdue account, Simon's pie charts, Blockbuster late fees and 5pm are also hilarious. FYI some are inappropriate.

So on Sunday morning around 1am a man was assaulted in Upper Hutt. He was walking home from a bar and was jumped by 4 guys. Thats like someone being jumped walking home from Westboro or Wellington West. He died in hospital Sunday afternoon. He was just 26. So sad. Pretty shocking too for us, you think you live in a safe place... Katie and I have walked home from the same bar at the same time. Never again!

My weekend was really good. Pretty low key really. Went to a women's event at church Friday night, a speaker from a massive Auckland church. She was a but too over the top for me, very American. But she was born in Canada. Wild.

Saturday I skyped heaps and then walked into town with Katie to go to the Upper Hutt fair. It was pretty fun, we walked around the stalls, I bought some Gallaz jandals for $10! Tested some delish fudge and went to McCafe for coffees. I got a VIP card finally, $4 for 2 coffees. Choice! Had homemade melting moments with our coffees. We then walked home and our eyes were wounded by obese belly dancers. Very unfortunate but good on them for not caring. I guess.

Later Katie went out and got us 2 more coffees from McCafe and we ate them with Tim Tams and mini Squiggles while watching Friends. We did face masks and our nails and then I went to Kirsten's. We got ready to go out towning and then went to Cherie's. We were laughing hysterically for ages and I don't even remember why!

We took the 1130 train into Wellington and went to the Big Kumara then The Grand (aka Shooters). Danced a bit and went to Burger King. Went to Boogy Wonderland and then Kirsten and I got tired and took the bus to Petone and then I drove us to McDonalds and got Big Macs (my first one in like 7 years!). Filthy. I slept over at K's and then got up early to go to church. Awesome message about how attitude is a decision. It was a Promise Keeper's guy who spoke. he did some healings before the service which I had never seen. He was like "someone has a deadness in their right thigh" and this lady was like yes! And she said it felt better after. I'm usually skeptical about that sort of thing but he seemed really genuine.

Sunday after church I went home and had lunch with Katie's sisters and their significant others. Sooo yum. Afterwards I passed out on the couch and slept for like 2 hours while katie was in "my room" which is the only place my computer gets an internet connection and she needed a PC. The couch was actually quite comfy and I was so tired from going to bed at 4am that it probably didn't even matter. That night I watched CSI Miami and lazed around. Skyped for ages more and then went to bed.

Today work was decent, went by pretty quick. Boss man made an appearance (he was supposed to be gone 2 weeks and I thought I'd never see him again. He wouldn't even look at me, he's not happy. I have to train 2 people for 4 days starting tomorrow. Will not be fun.

Looking forward to Bay of Island this weekend, although its school holidays so might be busy up there!

LOVE!

Hannah

Forgot from where I came

Flippen heck, I only have 2 months left here in NZ. Time has been flying by! I just found out today the boss is going to be away for 2 weeks, I have been planning when to give my 2 weeks notice, I think I might have to give it while he is away! Saves me the confrontation. Hollaaar. I really, really don't want to train the new person, especially as the last girl was super irritating and asked 100,000 questions that were utterly ridiculous. As my mom always says: there are no stupid questions, only stupid people. What up! (Thats for all you 'How I met your mother' fans).

This week has been good, especially in comparison to last week where I spent an entire Sunday secretly passed out in Kirsten's bed after a bit of a wild night in town, then had a wicked flu and took a day and a half off to sleep and watch movies, plus got my hair dyed a lovely shade of orange/red/ugly. Clairol dye is complete crap, it smelled bad and instead of going blonde, I got red. Thanks for nothing. But, I called them up on Monday and Jade and Tracey helped me get my money back.

I played laser strike (laser tag in Canadia) on Tuesday night (came in second place!). It was so much more fun than our version. The guns actually work and there are two settings of shooting so you can be pretty precise. Also lots of places to hide, which was ideal for me seeing as I was wearing white jeggings that glowed like no other in the black light. We played a few games of pool after, yep I still suck.

Wednesday night Josh helped me fix up my lovely bike so I could start biking to work. Sadly, this was not meant to be. He put my front tire on, not quick release, but sloooooow release. Involved gadgets and tools. Then he turned my handles bar the right way and tightened them. Then tightened the seat. I took it for a spin. The tires were flat. Pumped them up. Test ride number 2 (in the dark I might add). Good until I heard a clicking sound. Oops a spike broke. So Josh ripped it off. He took it for a spin and noticed the front tire was catching on the mudflap thing so he took that off. Tire still rubbing something and losing momentum. Sigh. The front tire is mad warped and rubs the new brake pads. Flippen bike is a piece of crap. I give up. I don't care enough, I'm going to try and sell it on trade me. The new tyres and tubes are worth 80$ alone. I'm a bit gutted, but what can you do?

We watched part of the sequel to "Once were warriers', classic kiwi films. So violent and disturbing and sad though.

Now its Thursday and I have some skype dates to look forward to over the weekend as well as a youth thing and getting my hair fixed. Oh, and its Father's Day in NZ on Sunday. First day of Spring was yesterday, gorgeous day. Followed by today where it rained super hard all day. Yuck. I really can't wait for Tonga and Bay of Islands!

I finally found an amazing bridesmaid dress the other weekend with the help of Mama T. Its awesome, I love it. Accidentally also bought a designer handbag made by Kathy Von Zeland, and another dress from Stax to wear to Matt and Carlos' wedding.

This am I got up at 630am to hit the gym, but when on Skype first and got to talk to Matt and Rach, awesome start to my day!

LOVE!

I'm content to lie peacefully

Cathedral Cove
Sting ray bay
Hot Water Beach
DUMB T-bar
Whakapapa ski field

First stop on the North Island was Hawkes Bay for some wine tasting, stopped at a Paua Factory to get some souvenirs. Slept just outside Hastings. The next day we went to no less than 9 wineries. Salvare, Trinity Hill, Ngatarawa, Matariki, Te Mata, CJ Pask, Vidal, Church Rd and Mission Estates. Salvare was good, they had olive oil and salad dressing tastings too. And Dukka. Dukka is a dry Egyptian dip that changed my life. Its a bunch of spices and nuts blended together. Unreal. You can dip your bread in oil then the Dukka or just put Dukka on everything from eggs to sandwiches. Yep, did it. One little jar cost 11$ but I will learn to replicate it. Most of the wines were good but none beat Wither Hills Sauv Blanc. We went to Te Mata Cheese factory and got 4 blocks of goat brie for 4$. Bought crackers and had a sweet lunch. Arataki Honey Visitor Centre was good too, heaps of honey samples. I felt a bit sick after. I wanted to eat enough manuka honey to enjoy the antiseptic, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. We drove to Taupo and slept at a tree and park bench area. There were a thousand camper vans there. Its crazy how in the North Island you can literally camp anywhere whereas in South island every place has a sign saying "no camping, no overnight parking". Glorious.

After a solid sleep in and eggs and bread we drove to Whakapapa to board. I almost died on the T-bar. Such trouble for boarders! I almost lost the bar and had to hold on for dear life with my arms wrapped around it all the while Kirk laughing and yelling out things like "You are so awkward!". Thanks, buddy.

Slept near Tongariro crossing and awoke to cars honking as they drove by at like 5am. Ugh. Why? Drove to the Tongariro Crossing (it was supposed to be the only sunny day all week) and it was cloudy and miserable. We did half the crossing and climbed to the highest point. we were warned that winds could reach speeds that could blow us off the mountain. Sweet. we climbed in trainers, shorts and fleeces. Ghetto! The view was amazing, when the fog cleared for a few seconds. We could have walked the whole thing because we knew a guy on the other side, but we decided it wasn't worth it and turned back.

Rotorua was just a short hour drive away. We camped just outside town and went to Zorb in the am, basically they put you in a ball and roll you down a hill. Sadly, it was raining so you couldn't do the dry zorb. I will have to go back! We went to see Agoventures too, all the activities were too expensive though. We visited Kerosene Creek thermal pools (FREE ONES), and it was great until we got out and it was rainy and yuck with no hot showers or a place to change.
We drove to a free campsite just outside Te Kuiti and stayed there for the night. Awoke to 100,000 cars driving past to get to the bush walk nearby.

We drove to Waitomo caves and did a blackwater rafting trip! SO fun. Repelled into the caves, walked through some glow worm caves and climbed through tiny holes where you had to keep your hands out front and squirm. I felt a bit claustrophobic but it was cool! We did some tame whitewater rafting in inner tubes through the dark caves which was actually pretty sweet. Had hot juice and dairy milk and then rock climbed out of the cave. There were 2 American girls in our group, and our guides were Brandon (SO funny) and Stacey (training). We got hot soup after and bought our photos for 20$. Brandon took some funny photos where he did something to made the lens have longer exposure and would shout MOVE to we would move out of the photo and it looked like we were ghosts.

Final destination before Auckland was Hot Water Beach where you dig a hole during low tide and it fills with naturally hot water. It was awesome! So relaxing. But I was filthily sandy and when you are freedom camping you don't get to shower. Yuck. I survived though. Quickly drove to Cathedral Coves and did the walk. We went to Gemstone Bay, Stingray Bay and the Cove. It was a nice walk but pretty terribly made steps.

Camped about an hour outside Auckland that night and drove into the city in the am. So strange to be in a big city! We stayed in a City Lodge hostel in the small, artsy district of Parnell. I was gutted to find prices had risen to about 30$, whereas it was listed as 20$ in Lonely Planet circa 2008. Luckily, the owner took pity on my frugality and offered me a caravan out front for 50$ cash. DONE! It was awesome, kirk could pack his stuff easily and we basically got a private room with heating for cheaper than dorms. Love it. We went out for fish and chips but ended up finding a nice Indian restaurant that had a 2 for 1 entree deal. We got Lamb Rogan Josh, Chicken Tikka Masala and naan. Not nearly spicy enough but was yum. Got 2 glasses of free wine too. I had to run to an atm for cash and when I paid the guy charged us for the entree, apparently you had to choose either free wine or one free entree. But it wasn't made clear to us so I argued and we got it free. I felt bad after, but at the time I wasn't going to let that fly.

Our hostel had free internet so we finally sorted out funds, we spent SO much money. I don't know where... well mostly on adventures, lollies, chocolate and booze. As we were sorting funds I went to make hot chocolate and found the hostel owner holding all our (labelled!) food and wine. He said he didn't see the label on our wine (its a very expensive bottle, we got on sale), so I showed him where my name was written and he was like 'oh ya another Hannah just left so I was going to save all the food for her' riiiight. I snatched it back.

The next morning I took Kirk to the airport where we had a tearful goodbye and then I got lost driving back to Auckland. Decided to just go straight to Taupo and board at Turoa where I have a season's pass. It took about 5-6 hours to drive. Sucked to drive alone. Gorgeous day though. I slept in the car in Ohakune and was scared that some crazy would come along and murder me. Woke up every few hours.

At sunrise I drove to Turoa and was one of the first to arrive. The only person without a 4 wheel drive. You could rent snow chains up the mountain but I didn't need it. I accidentally left the lights on while I prepared to board and killed the battery. Flippen heck! I went to board and it was awesome. Best hill in NZ by far, out of the ones I went to. Decent park, great snow, express chair to the very top had comfy seats and the foot bars to rest your board on. NO OTHER HILL HAS THIS! Wild. I loved it. Lots of double diamonds were there (aka cliffs and I accidentally went off a few, missing my helmet). Met some cool people and had a great time until I twisted my knee coming off the chairlift. My boots are about 3 sizes too big and without someone to tie them tight for me, my feet slip out so it was bound to happen. I was gutted and got in the car and drove back to wellington. I was going to stay and board until Sunday but I was in pain and knew I should rest. I will have to go back later to get my money's worth of my seasons pass. Oh well, its nice to be home in my own bed and catch up with the Chapmans. Unpacking is going to be rough! Stuff is everywhere in the car.
Back to reality.

Not sure why blogger won't let me move my pics around, sorry they are out of order etc!
LOVE!

I'm in love with things you can't define

Wow its been so long since I last posted.
We didn't do the Speight's brewery tour because it was full, lame. We ended up just making dinner and then chilled in the hot tub and then watched a serious movie that had Mr. Bean in it. Weird!
The lady working in Cadbury World was rude so I didn't want to do the tour. We bought fruit all sorts though and they are my new favourite candy! We went to Baldwin St (World's Steepest Street) and ran into our friends from the Te Anau and Slope Point backpackers.
So steep
Drove all the way to lake Tekapo after that and slept in the car. Woke up at sunset to see the lake. It was ok, nice mountains etc and a cute little church.
Lake Tekapo church
As we were driving to Mt Cook Village we spotted this amazing lake with a great view of mount cook. it made Lake Tekapo look like a flippen piece of crap!
Lake Punekaiki rocked my world
In Mount Cook village we were told the track we wanted to do was too dangerous due to avalanche risk so we did Sealy Tarns instead. It was a tough climb and the path quickly became snowy and unclear. As we were eating lollies at the top of the track and looking out onto the Tasman glacier and Mt cook I thought to myself that I will never forget that moment. Deep.
Mt Cook is so hot right now.
We drove to Fox glacier and slept in the car again. We went really far out of our way (we were meant to be heading to Christchurch, not backtracking to the West Coast), but it was because the weather was going to be sweet and we reeally wanted to do the Copeland Track up to welcome flat hut where there are thermal pools. The next morning we signed an intention form with the i-site and started the track. It was so rough. The pack was heavy and I rolled my ankle a bunch of times. It took us about 6 hrs to get to the hut. So brutal, but the thermal pools made it awesome. Sadly the stove was to be lit with coal, and sparingly. Kirk sparingly used most of the coal and the hut was still so cold. We went to sleep early. I thought I was going to die of cold. But it wasn't so bad. The guys downstairs were so loud as we were trying to sleep, they were like bulls in a china shop.
Thermal Pools by Welcome Flat Hut
The next morning we hiked out and it took just 5 hours. Drove to Greymouth and stayed at our fave hostel, Global Village. Finally caught a west coast sunset. Went on the Montieth's Brewery Tour. It was great, we got decent amounts of free booze and got to try all their beers (and a cider). The 2 girls on our tour were South African and SO funny. They told us about a great lama trek they did in Kaikoura (made friends with their lamas...) and how they are such grannies. Love it.
Drove to Kaikoura the next day, had some fish and chips, also tried mussel and scallops, not good! Slept in the car by the water, but a cop pulled up and wee decided maybe it was too central and moved to a spot by some public washrooms where 2 dirty wicked vans were also parked. The next morning we went to an Anglican service, we were 2 of 8 people present and the youngest by approximately 100 years. Weird.
We went out to the peninsula for brekky and then drove to Marlborough to taste wine. We went to Montana, Wither Hills, Villa Maria, Fromm, Wairau River and Cloudy Bay. Wither Hills had an awesome 2000 Pinot Noir and The Best Sauvignon Blanc of my life so we went back and bought it at the end of the day. Villa Maria had a fab Reisling and lunched on pizza and a cheese plate at Wairau River. It started to pour and we drove to Picton to sleep. A man pulled up beside us at the lookout where we intended to sleep and proceeded to guzzle unknown liquids. It was sooo awkward and funny I was laughing hysterically at this parched man and then Kirk informed me teh windows were open. We left. Ended up camping (finally used the tent again!) beside a farm and walked to some public washrooms nearby where a strange man on a bicycle was hanging out. I couldn't sleep well because I was scared he was coming for me.
Took the ferry to Welly the next morning. I accidentally booked Welly to Picton but luckily there was room for us on the Picton to Welly and it was leaving at the same-ish time. Watched like 9 episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Barney just kills me!
We met up with Tracey and Jade for feijoa tea and had dinner with Josh and Katie. Made lots of treats and fell asleep watching Burn Notice. Woke up early to finish laundry and start our North Island trip!

Not many, if any

In Te Anau we stayed at an awesome hostel just outside the 'town' called Barnyard Backpackers, it had 2 woodstoves, a pool table, no bunk beds and a clean kitchen! The cottages were a bit of a walk away from the main house but it was all good. We met Cecil and Peter, who had randomly met up in Nelson and decided to drive together across the south island. They were cool, poor Cecil's car supposedly broke down and the mechanic fully ripped her off by charging 350$ for some small piece and ten minutes of labour. sad!
We left early the next morning to go to the Kepler Track.
Above the cloudline!
It was such a hard walk, 1 hr to Brod Bay and then a serious climb up Mt Luxmore, it took us roughly 2 hrs when it shouldv'e taken 4.5 hrs. we are just that fit. we only had one pack and 2 day bags so we took turns taking the massive pack. it was sooo brutal! We got to Luxmore Hutt around 230pm and went to explore the caves. We took water from a stream outside the hutt as instructed by the i-site and then after i took a sip read a poster about Giardia, a bacteria that causes explosive foul-smelling diarrhea (is there any other kind?) I freaked out, but decided it was too late to boil the water. Luckily we didnt get it! that would have been rough. Especially since the builders of the hutt thought it would be genious to put an outhouse inside the hutt on the TOP FLOOR beside the bunk rooms. ewwww. and there was no toilet paper. ewwwww. the hutt has running water and real bathrooms in the summer. gutted. Anyway, that was off topic. The caves were pretty sweet, lots of fossilised stuff, stalagmites and stalagtites i think they are called. Limestone caves. speleothem. kirk just looked that up for me on google, i already forget all the stuff i learned. i think travelling makes me dumb. I forget people's names 5 seconds after they tell me!
That night we made lamb stew with quinoa, and our little stove wasn't working so we had to use the woodstove. luckily it wasnt the gas stoves the other huts had! We went to bed pretty early and decided to drag mattresses to the fire so i wouldnt freeze to death. Another couple did the same, while the 6 others went upstairs to the bunk rooms, the hut slept 50 ppl! so big. I had the best sleep ever, i was so warm!


The next day we got up early and hiked as far as we could without crampons and ice axes. Then we when back to the hut, got our packs and went down the mountain.
Above the treeline!
We pretty much ran down, took us just over an hour to get down. Then stopped for a snack and walked the last bit and collapsed beside the car in the parking lot 2 and a half hours after we started. we were so dead.
We drove to Slope Point straight away, stopping only for groceries. Twice, because we saw a countdown and had to see if lollies were cheap. and we spent probably 100$ on food. oops! worth it though.
We drove through Invercargil and got to slope point around 630pm. Yes, we drove the scenic route at night, genious. The lonely planet guidebook recommended 2 hostels at slope point and one of which was already closed and for sale. Luckily the farmstead hostel was open, we had to go to the farmer's house to sign in, no doors were locked! so random. there were 4 other people in teh kitchen when we got there, cecil and peter were there! they have the lonely planet book too, as did the other couple. we all had rooms to ourselves it was awesome. made a great dinner of venison sausages fried with potatoes and onions with steamed broccoli. Black forest chocolate for dessert. Watched some more 'how i met your mother', just for something different and went to bed around midnight. we took the heater into our room (from the kitchen), but it heated using lights, so our room was bright, but it was worth it to have some warmth. Woke up around 9am and left the hostel at 10, we drove through the catlins today, stopping at nugget point, kaka point, owaka just for gas, slope point (where you had to walk through sheep pen...) and a few other random places. i must say i wasn't that impressed with the catlins, the gorgeous west coast scenery has spoilt me! I miss snowy mountains.
Windswept trees at Slope Point
Now we are in Dunedin, staying at a little hostel just outside the town centre that has a sauna and spa pool. yessss i cant wait to use them. Our room has no bunk beds either. sweet. The plan for tonight is a Speight's brewery tour and then tomorrow Cadbury World. Stoked.
LOVE!

Baby, I'm not alright when you go

The night be spent as Montrose Backpackers in Franz Josef was such a bust, I could hardly sleep, I was in a room full of smelly boys who snored like nobody's biz. Ick. And I woke up at 7am. Oh well, it was nice to be warm anyway. The next morning we set off for Wanaka. stopped heaps for photos since it was a gorgeous day. Arrived in Wanaka around 5pm, realized it was Sunday and decided to track down a church. We saw signs for a catholic church and followed it until we saw another sign that said presbyterian church so we went and saw a sign that read: Taize, 6pm. I went in to ask what this Taize was and apparently its a straight up meditation service where you sit quietly with candles everywhere. Not quite my style, but the pastor-lady said there was a pentecostal church called 'lighthouse' for young snowboarders up the road in a lawn bowling club. Heck yes. Fish and chips was on our minds since the last time we tried was such a bust. Went to Wana to get some fush & chups. Got hoki and elephant fish with way too many chips and ate it all. Pretty yum! The church was super small, maybe 15-20 ppl there. Instead of having a band they put on a CD and everyone laid down on the floor to 'soak'. I was weirded out at first but it was pretty cool in the end. The pastor was speaking about leaving a legacy, and I quite enjoyed the message. Its funny how you crave church when you travel. Or I do anyway. Met some lovely people after the service and found out the church had started out in the states for a group of young professional snowboarders and now there are lighthouse churches all over the world. sweet as. As we were leaving my cheeky travel buddy asked one of the church leaders where we could find a good place to pitch our tent. I should add that I had already asked where to rent some boarding gear and Darren had offered his gear to us. Darren said he had a spare room and invited us to stay over for the night! as Wanaka was bloody freezing we were SO stoked. Darren and Vanessa were so awesome. We had our own room and they set us up with gloves, snowsuits, board, boots, everything we needed. We stayed up talking with them for a bit and then went to bed, I had a wicked sleep. Next morning we went to Treble Cone. Absolutely terrifying trip up the steepest hill I've ever seen with my old old all season tired. eeek. We made it though! Perfectly blue skies in the am. Very different hill to what I'm used to though. ALL man-made snow, and you only ski the very top of the mountain. you drive up to the top of the mountain and ski down maybe a quarter of the way down. weird. but its too warm near the bottom. no trees either! no way to tell which run is intermediate or advanced. also there are backcountry trails that you hike to after taking the chairlift, ski down and then hike back to the bottom of the chairlift. what a workout! and the boots i bought are way to big so i had a hard time getting my edge in as my heels would slip out all the time. kind of annoying. but i still had so much fun, especially when we accidentally went off a few drop offs (really narrow run too!) I was challenged in ways i've never been challenged on my board and i think ive improved quite a bit already! and tremblant is not icy at all compared to treble cone.
we made dinner for darren, van and their flatmate dave. chicken stirfry. yum! and brownies for dessert. kirk added too much water and the icing because sauce. it worked though.
We stayed another night with them and left in the am for queenstown. we stopped at a local fish and chips place (McGregor's) that van recommended to us and said we had to get blue cod instead of the crap fish. it was WAY better than our last fish. and we bought some ginger slice. I was stoked to see Rocko! We ran into her randomly on the street! love it. shes working 12 hr days so we couldnt catch up much but arranged to meet up the next evening. had such a hard time finding a hostel to stay at since queenstown's high season is winter. duh, totally forgot that. found a spot at nomads, was a pretty garbage hostel, really but one night is ok. just watched pushing daisies until 1am, then our roommates trickled in one by one, waking me up heaps. i missed the tent i must say.
Drove up to the Remarkables to board. We were warmed that snow chains were needed to get up the hill, but after making it up treblecone we were cocky and decided to try it, our hostel receptionist said you could rent chains partway up anyway. oh snap, we made it! and lucky too as there was NOWHERE to rent snow chains. crazy woman. the road wasnt nearly as bad as treblecone's anyway. Had another perfect day, remarks had 10cm of fresh snow too so we did some backcountry trails, and i have been sore ever since, hiking with a board is tough! but worth the fresh powder. I scratched up my board from the rocks everywhere. Did I mention that the hills have rocks and grass patches? sooo strange, and the lifts dont have foot rests so your feet get mad cramps from the board hanging down! Awesome day though, went back to town around 430 to return kirk's rentals and my rented snowpants and went to our new hostel 'bungi' to investigate the hot tub. it was so awesome, we had our fergburgers too. famous burger place. i got tropical swine, streaky bacon, pineapple, aioli, lettuce, tomato, etc, etc. not as good as the works but better than burger fuel. huuuuge burger, i ate only half.
met up with rocko for mochas in a cute resto and sat by the fire to catch up. was so lovely! Wish it could have been longer. Went back to the hostel to make granola bars and stayed up late watching pushing daisies again. the hostel kitchen was awful and disgustingly dirty. not fun to cook in. but we were in a nice little 4 bed dorm, and the place had an outdoor hot tub....
Left the next morning early to do the 134m Nevis bungee. Not gonna lie, I was nervous and wondering why the heck i was doing this to myself. again. first bungee was wakefield, 60m. Drove 45mins to the spot and it was so foggy we had to wait in the pod for like an hour before we could go. Had to under go the awful awkwardness of being weighed in all your winter gear and with a harness and having your weight written on your hand, and put in order of heaviest to lightest to jump. HATE that part. So I was third in line to jump, I shuffled the the edge and had to smile at the camera before my swan dive. Flippen heck I screamed like no other. Screamed until I lost air. Then it was done, on the first recoil i pulled the tag and was sitting upright to get pulled back in. What a rush! I couldnt stop smiling. Best moment. Next up I want to do the highest bungee, its 320m in colorado.
After that we drove to where I am now, Te Anau. Planned to do teh milford track, but duw to 60 avalanche pads on the track and the treacherous terrain, we decided to for once in our lives be sensible and choose an easier track. We decided on Keplar track, you hike above the tree line on day one and then you need ice axes and crampons. unfortunately we dont have hiking boots which you need for crampons. almost bought some boots at warehouse but the quality was too brutal to even be worth 45$. So we will just do the first day and then walk back down the second day. We will stay in a hut one night up there and rent an avalanche beacon just in case. scary!
I bought snowpants/ splash pants today for 50$ so I dont have to rent anymore...yay!
now we are in the libs using free wifi. yes. Had chocolate/banana pancakes for breaky. so good. finished season one of pushing daisies last night. gutted the show was cancelled. i LOVE it. now we are gonna watch how i met your mother. honestly thats the only was we can make it to bed after 8pm, theres nothing else to do at night! well i suppose we could party but its off season here and no one is around! Laundry day today...how exciting slash disgusting we made it 2 weeks without laundry. ewwwww.
LOVE!

She had an earthquake on her mind

I am so in love with New Zealand. Such a beautiful country. Don't get me wrong, Wellington is amazing and I feel like its my second home, but the South Island is gorgeous!
We left Thursday July 8th early-ish to get to the ferry for 12. Unfortunately it was delayed until 3pm due to crazy winds. We took the opportunity to walk around Welly and I showed kirk the Parliament (beehive) and Te Papa, pretty much the only sights I knew of. We bought a camp stove, fuel, pots, mugs, cutlery and other really useful camping gear. We made it back to the ferry just in time for it to be delayed even longer, but we were allowed to board anyway. We got free hot chips (fries) and milo to keep us happy. An awful movie was showing too. The ferry pulled out of the harbour around 430ish and I felt seasick pretty quick, so I feel asleep and woke up a few times but slept 99% of the trip. Arrived in Picton just before 8pm and we drove to Blenheim to find a random spot to camp. Slept beside a winery that night and left the headlights on to put up to tent. Oops, it made my car battery die. Good start! We decided to wait until morning to deal with it. Coldest night of my life, I had 2 sleeping bags and wore all my winter gear and still froze. All night cars drove by and honked at us, so annoying!! In the am we flagged down some cars but no one had jumper cables, so we walked to the nearest house and the owner helped us out. We went into Blenheim to see what there was to do...nothing. We found a chocolate factory and got some free samples and then drove back to Picton. Where I bought some jumper cables, just in case. From there we drove the Queen Charlotte Drive, amazing views. We did a walk along the Queen Charlotte Track, maybe 3 hours or so, it was great. So beautiful. We made our way to Nelson next, I thought it would be a happening town. Nope. So we got groceries and more gear from Warehouse and drove to a winery outside Nelson to sleep. Again flippen froze. Drove to Marahau the next morning, gateway town to the Abel Tasman National Park. We did a short day hike, maybe 3-4 hours again. Decided to pay the extra 12$/person to camp outside a hostel in the town. It was awesome, great little kitchen, hot showers, and a roaring fireplace. I swear it was 35 degrees in there, everyone had a red face! The Stray bus people were there, it was nice to socialize a bit. One guy even cooked us sausages and potatoes! Yum. Met a hilarious Greek guy who asked me what 'oh snap' meant and I explained it as an expression like sweet as. SO he goes 'ooooh, sweet as snap"! Sooo funny. The next morning we set off on a 3 day kayak trip with our rented tandom kayak. Overnight we stayed in 2 huts, Anchorage and Bark Bay. The weather was utterly perfect, all blue skies and sunshine. The first night we met some lovely kiwis and americans who made a big fire and shared their weird flavoured marshmallows (called pink and white but taste like cherry) with us. And some whittakers chocolate. YUM! We visited a glow worm cave that night and the park ranger checked our hut so we were glad to have paid! She showed me how to find scorpio in the stars and we saw venus. Sweet as. We were told the hut was heated, but it was only the kitchen area that was heated and it was shut off at night. I only brought one sleeping bag and flippen froze. Just for something different...
The next day we explored the seal colony island, baby seals were sooo cute. Got some good photos I hope. We stayed at the Bark Bay hutt next, we arrived at low tide and had to walk for aaages to get in. But it was nice enough. Made some dinner and went to bed at like 8pm. I'm turning into an old lady! I awoke around midnight shaking and shivering like nobody's biz. It was awful. I actually had to go outside to puke, but took me so long to get out of my sleeping bag that I didnt make it to the 'bathrooms'. Sorry peeps, TMI I know. The next day I still felt awful and I'm pretty sure I had a fever, I could hardly paddle so we took breaks every few minutes. I was useless though, luckily we didnt have far to go. At lunch we stopped on an island and I stumbled off the kayak and onto a rock where I fell asleep instead of eating. SO unlike me. We got back to Marahau and debriefed and got on our way. Next stop was Westport, but we arrived late so we just slept in the car. The next morning we went into the 'town'' and used internet for free at the libs (library) and then drove to Greymouth. The drive was beautiful, snowy moutains, lush native bush. Amazing. We stayed at Village Backpackers since we needed showers pretty badly. We camped outside the hostel actually, but used their facilities. Cost us 15$/person. Not bad. We made granola bars, granola and watched Wayne's World. Soooo funny. The hostel was awesome, empty and quite but had free bikes and kayaks for hire. Didnt take advantage though. The next day we drove to Arthurs Pass, highest elevation town in NZ. We did an unreal hike called Scott's trail, which was suggested by the very informative lady at the i-site. it was just what we wanted, climbed past the treeline, and ive never seen such gorgeous vistas. Pretty much was losing my mind it was so beautiful. It took us about 3 hours to do a 4-6 hour hike, because we are just that fit. We saw the devil's punchbowl from the ridgeline. so cool. We slept that night at a tiny campsite that was free and made a sweet little fire and watched Step Up on my laptop. Chatum Tanning!! we are sooo roughing it. hahaha.
The next morning I was pretty grumpy because we were woken up by the train and cars going past every 5 mins. We booked it to town to do out dishes in the bathroom and then drove to Hokitika where I got to do my bone carving for 85$, pricey yes, but so worth it. I did it in a studio where I was the only amateur, usually its alll backpackers. So I literally did all the carving myself, I was so scared I would screw up and break it, but I dropped it just once when I was buffing it. All good though. We went to the local fish and chips shop (or fush and chups as kiwis call it) to try some whitebait, which is famous in the area. but it wasn't in season and would have cost 150$/kg when in season. Yikes. we orded a lunchbox meal which was 2 fish and some chips, or so we thought. Waited for it and got fried chicken. re-read the sign and realized the 'lunchbox' options were just chicken not fish. and we both hate chicken skin so peeled off all the batter and skin and crap and ate some chicken. dark meat though.... ewww. we will have to try again and order actual fish. We drove to Franz Josef after and signed up to do the day hike the next morning at 8am. We parked at a lake where it blatantly read 'no camping and no parking'and broke both rules. We did the hike today and it was amazing. Not as challenging as Scott's Trail, but I loved it. We are staying at a shanty hostel, in an actual room tonight as we have camped the last 10 nights and deserve it. My face is sunbrunt again (burnt it kayaking too).
I can't even begin to describe how gorgeous and amazing and beautiful this country is and my photos will never ever do it justice. So I highly rercommend you get here asap and see it for yourself.
On to see Mount Cook tomorrow and then Wanaka for some snowboarding!

I'll try to stay awake as long as I can

I'm sure everyone has been anxiously awaiting an update on how I'm doing in the YMCA competition. I'm still in the lead!! Sooo stoked. Minus the fact that I am unbelievably sick of the gym. I can hardly bear to be there for an hour, much less my usual 2 hours (5x/week). Its brutal. Katie made me an awesome workout which helps me to stay a bit motivated. I'm halfway done, just 14 more days to go!
I forget exactly what I wrote about last week, so I will just begin my ramblings as per ushe. Friday after going to the gym I went and saw Boy (a kiwi flick about a little Maori boy) with Mama T (workmate) and her son and neighbours kids. I picked up some Candy from Pac n Save and ran into Katie and Adam. I swear I see Katie every time I am buying crap food! Flippeeen Boy is a sad movie. I cried a little bit. Also, was pretty funny as it was set in the 80s. Some people thought I might not understand the kiwi humour. However, I think the 80s were just a hilarious time all over the world.
Saturday I worked out, skyped the whole world and then spent ages cleaning the bathroom and kitchen and doing laundry because it was a sunny day! Honestly, when its sunny you would never know its winter. It gets warm and feels like Ottawa Spring (you know when its warm enough to wear sandals, a tee and shorts just because you remember how cold the winter was). I went to church for Impact, a youth conference that night. The band was fantastic, so cohesive and just awesome sound. Unfortunately, the speaker was rough. I had heard him speak before and loved it, but he dumbed the message waaay down and just did like 1000 alter calls, so after 3 hours I just peaced out. Couldn't handle it anymore. I went home and ate rocky road chocolate and watched the Mentalist, my current favourite show because J & K's friends lent them Season 1. Its such a good show. All about this guy who used to be a psychic, but after his family was brutally murdered he decided he wasn't a psychic at all and joined the police to help them track down killers using his mental prowess and his keen ability to read people's body language to solve crimes. LOVE IT.
But I couldn't fall asleep because J & K were away for the weekend and I was afraid of being murdered.
I worked out Sunday morning and then took a day trip with Mike to Wairarapa. It was pouring rain in Upper Hutt (shocking!) but was only 50% chance over the hill, so we chanced it. Got lunch supplies at Pac n Save and drove to Masterton. Stopped along the way at a number of tramps so I could find them on my own next time I want to go for a walk, since I have now done Canon Point over 1,000,000 times. No exaggeration. Masterton is an insanely small town, really old school buildings, and its famous for its wineries. Some fab Pinot Noirs come out of there, I am told. Stopped at Cabbage Tree Winery to try a few wines. I tasted a Pinot Noir followed by a Semillon. Big mistake, supposedly, you are meant to have the white first. But, I am not a wine snob and I prefer reds so I had red first. The owner showed us his wine making set-up, I think winter is really slow for them. I spotted a Book sale in the town hall, so of course I bought a few books. Including a little kids book for Daph!


Moving on, drove to the coast, stopping a couple of times for photo ops. My. camera. sucks.

Final destination was Cape Palliser Lighthouse which I have wanted to see for ages. There were exactly 248 steps to the top. Made a bet on how many steps there were. I guessed 275 and Mike guessed 200. I win! The view from the top was absolutely stunning. We ate lunch, salami sandwiches with avocado, brie, hummus and chips ?!?! People here eat 'chippy' sandwiches. I was apprehensive, but when in Rome! Can't say it was very good, The crunchiness was a bit unnerving. Will probably never do it again, but it was an interesting cultural experience. There were 2 kiwis up the top of the lighthouse and I got to talking with them, they were SO friendly. When I said goodbye the girl just gave me the hugest hug. As a Jackson, I am not too big on the physical contact so my first thought was that this chick was on drugs, but I'm sure she was just friendly...

View from Cape Palliser Lightouse

There was a seal colony down by the sea, Mike got a bit too close and one of the seals started flipping out (do you see what I did there? Seals don't have arms they kind of have flippers...). It was growling and bearing its teeth. Got some pictures of it on Facebook if you are into that.


The pinnacles were just down the road, but it was about 1 hour until it got dark and the walk was estimated to take 1-2 hours, so it would be tight, but we walked it anyway. My pictures are complete rubbish and do not do the pinnacles justice, so you'll have to take my word for it that they were really impressive. Parts of Lord of the Rings were filmed there. That doesn't mean much to me anymore as every single place in New Zealand says part of the movies were filmed there.
Pinnacles

Got back to the car as the sun was setting and drove back to Upper Hutt where it had been raining all day! Luckily it was great weather in Wairarapa region. Caught up with J & K and had a flatmate night of watching the Mentalist and eating raspberry slice. Yum.
Work on Monday was brutal, its slow so there was nothing for me to do. I basically sat on my desk all day and distracted my workmates. I forgot my lunch and hadn't had breakfast because I went to the gym before work. Luckily I had a liquid breakfast and 2 granola bars in my car. I went to Kathmandu (an expensive version of MEC; I know what your thinking, MEC is already expensive! but this is even MORE expensive) because there was a 60% off sale, so I wanted to get some thermals and a fleece. Sadly, it was still too much for me. A crap fleece with no zipper was 50$! Heck to the no. My car stalled 3 times in the parking lot, and its not even standard! Soooo annoying. I was late getting back to work, by about half an hour, luckily no one cares.
Last night I went to Jade and Tracey's after work. Tracey made an amazing dinner of Lamb with mint yogurt sauce on pita with a side salad. For dessert we had mini meringues with cream and berries. It does not get any better than that! Jade and I watched Shortland Street which is a soap opera filmed in Auckland. Complete rubbish and totally addictive. Worst acting ever!
Today work was better, went for a walk at lunch along the Hutt River which reminded me so much of internship last summer when I ran along the Ottawa River at lunch time.
Got an email from Dad today, apparently the parents are having heaps of fun driving across the country to the NWT. Crazy.
I'm giving my 2 weeks notice to my boss tomorrow, I'm excited! South Island trip starts July 8th I booked the ferry tonight. Only 200$! Oh wow.
LOVE!