06/01/01 Running around getting last minute things together. I am stressing out! Hope I didn't forget anything too important. I definitely think I'm bringing way too much stuff!
6/3/01 Hi everyone! Just arrived in Auckland, (the City of Sails) this morning. Can hardly believe I am actually here. The flight was VERY long(15 hours including a stopover in Fiji)! It is now Sunday today. I lost a day in transit. I have to say it is pretty strange seeing people driving on the left hand side of the road. Auckland is very nice though. The city is very clean and green and I am told sits on many dormant volcanos. My hostel is in downtown Auckland, which is okay.. not in the best part of town, but I'm pretty close to everything. It seems to have everything L.A. does: Starbucks, Borders, McDonalds, Planet Hollywood, etc. Everything is close, including the ferries so that is good. Took a ferry to Waiheke Island earlier today which
was pretty nice. Was about a 30 minute ride. SO many sail boats, it's amazing.. Well, it's around 6pm here and I am sooo sleepy! The jet lag must be hitting. I think it's like 3am in L.A. or something. Anyways, gotta run.
6/5/01 Well, after a few days of thinking, I have made the decision to not work in Auckland. There is just too much to see and do, and I really want to get
out of the city, and start seeing things. I don't want to miss out on anything. After meeting with a job agency, most of the jobs are here in NZ are in Auckland, and most want at least a 3-6 month commitment(which I don't have). I did however apply for a tax ID number so if I can get work along my travels if I find something I am interested in. Most work outside of Auckland I am told is fruit picking. So, if I need money, I can always do that.; ) Although, seeing as it is Winter here, it will be quite cold getting on a ladder to
pick fruit! So, I have decided to buy a Kiwi Experience Pass and tour the north and south islands of New Zealand for the next 30 days.
I leave tomorrow morning for Paihia (Bay of Islands) which is North of Auckland. I will stay there
for about a week and a half. I am excited! It's supposed to be warmer up there with lots of water activities to do I am told.
I also signed up for dive certification (PADI) and that takes 5 days to complete, so I hope it goes well.
Well, just came back from shopping at the mall. I can't believe how far the US$ goes out here. The prices are great!
Well, I am having a great time. Meeting lots of people here at the hostel. It's awesome hearing about everyone's travel adventures. Met an american guy down in the cafe who is also is a travelling nurse. He has been travelling all over the South Pacific with his surfboard. He just came back from spending almost a year in Indonesia...and he came here to surf. It's so great to be here. I
am only sorry I didn't do this sooner. Anyways, I'm logging off for now.
6/8/01 Took a day trip to Cape Reinga yesterday, and it was so much fun. The drive up there took us by farms and some great scenery. It was raining off and on, so there were lots of rainbows throughout the day. Saw some wild turkeys, a peacock, and some wild horses on 90 mile beach. It was a great day. The view from Cape Reinga was amazing. It's easy to see why this is such a sacred place to be. The NZ gov't does a wonderful job of preserving nature here. It just feels therapeutic just being here. This is also where the two oceans meet (Pacific and Tasman sea), so there was quite a lot of ocean. : ) This is also a place where the Maori say your spirit goes when you die.
I went sand duning after lunch with some people from my bus, and that was a blast. It looked quite scary, but it was over in just a second (I think I still have sand in my ears!)
After that, we drove down (actually on the beach) to 90 mile beach. Everywhere you looked, you saw coastline. Incredible. I have also met some amazing people. There are so many people travelling alone. Actually over 60% of the people I have met are alone, and to them its perfectly natural. Most are on around the world trips and have been travelling for 6 months to a year. It all sounds so great. A few are even on there way to L.A. Well, bye for now!
6/6/01 I arrived in Bay of Islands this morning...and I did it! I SKYDIVED!!!!!! and WOW!!! What a rush!!! It was amazing....so surreal. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, but everyone kept telling me what a perfect
day it was to do it. It was a beautiful day and no wind. I mean, what better place to skydive than over a bunch of beautiful islands. My stomach is still a little
quesy at the moment. : ) I can't believe what an adventure center New Zealand is. The Bay of Islands is incredibly beautiful, even in the winter. The drive north from Auckland was very awesome. Very green. Every view is like a picture. Pahia is a really nice
beach like community, and the people here are so nice. There seem to be a lot of people from the U.K. travelling in New Zealand. The accents are so similar to the Kiwis, that I've been having trouble understanding what people are saying. The slang is so different as well. I hooked up with a few girls traveling solo and I have to say
I've been having a blast talking to the locals about everything: their views on life, living here, travelling, etc. Anyways, I'm still feeling kinda sick at the moment so I will sign
off for now... Til next time. ..signing out. (hehe... always wanted to say that!) Check back for pics..
6/13/01 I am still in Paihia. I decided to stay for another 4 days and try and get certified for scuba diving (PADI). Today
was day 3 of my 4 day certification. It's like a whole new world underwater. Today my was first open water dive ( I was terrified!). It went
good though. It was like being in a really big fishbowl! : ) On my first day of class I got a bad case of motion sickness (just by treading water for 10 minutes!)
but luckily Dramamine came to the rescue! The water was sooo cold! I passed my final exam today, so all I need to do is 2 more open water dives tomorrow and I will
be certified! yeahh!! : ) Tomorrow I will leave Paihia, and head south towards Auckland to Whitianga. Bye for now!
6/14/01 Well, I am officially a certified scuba diver!! : ) I have to say, I am not sure I will do a lot more though. My last two dives were miserable. There was a swail (sp?) so there were a lot of waves. After searching for a dive spot for 2 hours, most of of were
heaving over the side. It was terrible! I don't think I have ever felt so terrible in my life from seasickness. I felt like I was in that movie, Perfect Storm... (ok.. I'm exaggerating a bit!)
After we finally got to our dive spot, we all had to do our two dives feeling so sick. One of the girls in our group just quit, she felt so bad. And then we had to deal with the waves going back again. Anyways, after that I jumped on a bus back to
Auckland that night. At least I got certified.
6/16/01 I'm now in Rotoroua... land of the famous geysers, and thermal hot pools. I about to go on a tour to the famous
mud pools shortly. Stayed in Whittianga last night, and it was great. The hostel was pretty small with rooms for the girls and rooms for the guys. There wasn't much to do all night since it was raining, so we went out bought some bottles of wine and beer and played spoons. Then we just stayed up all night talking and drinking. It was a great way for all of us to bond since we were all stuck in one giant room together all night. The hostel we stayed at was like an old house, so it was very cozy. We ( the only "4" Americans on the bus) got into a couple dialect debates with a few british about proper word usage. I have to say that made for some interesting conversation. I really do like how they say Al-u min-ium. I mean, doesn't zeeebra about better than zedbra??? It's currently raining out here, but it isn't too cold. Rotoroa is known for it's thermal activity and geysers which are pretty much everywhere. The city smells like a rotten egg, but I am told that we its something everyone gets used to pretty quickly. It is neat seeing steam coming
out of peoples front yards.. so strange. Tonight we will attend a reinacted "Maori" festival, to learn more about the Maori culture. I am really looking forward to that. Our dinner will be cooked in the ground, and its supposed to have a distinct taste. I guess there will be dancing as well. Anyways, gotta go!
6/18/01 I am now in Taupo. Today was a fun filled day. Started the day by visiting Waitimo Caves to go Black Water Rafting. This was
an awesome experience! It consisted of floating in a giant black intertube through underground caves and in rapids, which was just incredible. The best part was turning off our headlamps to
see all the glowworms in the caves. It just didn't seem real. The water was so cold though so I spend the whole time shivering! We had to wear these weird thick black wet suits with huge purple shorts over them. Top that off with some wonderful white plastic boots with ties, and a headlamp. I was looking good! ha! A few people I am travelling with are leaving N.Z. tomorrow, so we are going bowling and dancing at the Holy Cow later to say goodbye. Should be fun!
I've been travelling with a wonderful group of people these last 3 days. We have spent the last few days and nights pretty much together on the bus and at the hostels in the evenings. Most of us are going down to the South island as well, so we will try and stick together. Everyone is really wonderful. It's amazing how fast we've bonded in such a short time. I mean these are people you will probably never see again, but in that time you make some great friends and make some wonderful memories.
6/19/01 Holy Cow was lots of fun. We had Max dancing on the tables, it was great. After bowling, we ended up there. It was a little small bar with a stage. By the end of the night we were all on the stage. Good times. Had a good day on the bus today. We stopped off in Tongarrigo National Park and did a 2 hour (8km) hike. This place was just beautiful!
Our walk took us through waterfalls, volcanos, snow, etc. Its hard to believe one country can have such beauty. I have heard the south island is even more beautiful.
The national park has the famous '1 day' walk which is 17km and about 8 hours. I will wait until Ken comes out to do that.
Just arrived in River Valley. It's a small town in the middle of nowhere. The hostel/lodge sits next to a river.
The best White Water Rafting in the country is supposed to be here, which is why we are here. Tomorrow morning at 8:30am we will take a whitewater rafting trip.
Is is ABSOLUTELY FREEZING here however!!! SOOO cold....I have like 3 pairs of pants on. I don't really like the hostel too much. The dorm room I was supposed to stay in had 32 beds! It looked like
a prison type of room. A few girls and I opted to stay in a room outside that slept only 4 for a few $ more. Also, the showers and toliets are outside like camping and really far away... I think I will
skip the shower tonight!!!! Anyways, it will probably be a quiet night here.. I can't seem to find a computer with floppy disk access. I have lots of photos to download but
have been unable to. Perhaps tomorow I will find one. Tonight looks like it will be uneventful.
6/20/01 Well, got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and accidently walked back into someone else's room. It was so dark and all the rooms look the same. Thank god no one noticed. White water rafting was a blast. It was my first time ever doing this and I loved it. Our guides were pretty crazy, but they were good. It was grade 5 rapids and it was a blast. Check site for pictures. I am now in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. I am only here for tonight only as
tomorrow morning I am taking the ferry across to the South Island. It's getting colder here, the further south
we go... brrr... Tonight I went to my first soccer game here in New Zealand. New Zealand vs. Australia. The stadium was
only a 5 minute walk from our hostel. Great game although Australia won 2-0. Well, this hostel has hot water so I am looking
forward to a nice HOT shower tonight. ( It's the little things in life) signing off..
6/24/01 Haven't signed this in awhile. I am currently in Franz Josef home of the NZ's famous Franz Josef glacier. Just got back from a Heli Hike which
was absolutely amazing. It consisted of a helicopter ride to the Franz Josef glacier. Once there, we were given an ice pick and some crampons
and hiked through the glaciers for 2 hours. It was so beautiful... and cold!! Right now I am hanging out in the hostel, in the internet
cafe in the reception area. Its too cold to do much of anything right now, except hang around on the couch or go to the bar.
Tomorrow we will head out to Wanaka and then off to Queenstown the adreneline city! I am looking forward to that. I am fighting a cold right now, so I think I will
head off to the market to get some cold medicine.
6/27/01 Just got to Queenstown. This place rocks!Its kind of like an Aspen or Big Bear town but bigger. Very beautiful. Snow capped mountains with a huge lake and a town right in the middle
of it all. It looks like I will be here for about 6 days. Its sooo cold here!! It is also pouring rain! I signed up to do the A.J. Hackett Nevis Bungee 134 metres ( 440 feet) tomorrow at 8am!! Its the highest bungee in
N.Z. so I am scared!!!! My travel buddies Juan, Heather, and Christine will be joining me. I wanted to get it over with nice and early. : ) I hope I will be able to do this!! I figured if I am going to do this, it might as well be the highest one. I have seen some
video and it looks positively horrible! I am crazy I think. I fear heights, and I am doing this. Got to fight your fears right? Isn't that what they say? I better be fearless after this! Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the
world so I might as well do something crazy here. I also took the liberty of buying an additional bus pass to tour the very bottom of the south island. Most of the backpackers stop at Queenstown and work their way back north again, but I've heard some of the prettiest country is down there, so I will be going for 4 days on Friday, which should take me to the VERY bottom of New Zealand.
I am looking forward to that, as I want to see Milford Sound. After that, I will some back to Queenstown to learn to snow board for 1 day at the Remarkables, before heading back up to Christchurch. There is soo much to do here, its unbelievable. Very touristy, but with the lake and mountains its quite a nice getaway.
6/28/01 Oops.. i just realized that today was the 28th. I have been thinking its been the 26th!! So, my journal dates may be off a bit. Its so
easy to forget what day it is when you are traveling! Well, I DID IT! I jumped the Nevis this morning at 8am, the highest bungee in NZ!! It was the scariest, best thing that
I have ever done in my life. It was much scarier than my skydive. The worst part was getting yourself to the ledge and jumping. You are just frozen with fear. Its so unnatural.
I almost backed out but I am so glad I did it. What an completely wild experience! They went by weight: Heaviest to lighest, so unfortunately I was second to last.. : ( The worst part was having to wait your turn. Anyways, I have been walking around Queenstown this afternoon running some errands and checking out the shops. There are a lot of internet cafes. I took a gondola ride up to the top of the mountains
with some friends. The view was just amazing! I will try and download pics soon. It is soooo cold here. I am currently wearing 5 layers of clothes plus a raincoat.
It is - 8 degrees celsius!! Brrr!!
Anyways, tonight will be the last night our little group will be together so we are going to party tonight at the Red Rock. Tomorrow most of us will go our separate ways.