Rig Jockey Highway Slammer

We got to ride in a transport truck. It was awesome.

We left Windy Welly on the train and took it a little while out of the city to a place where we could start hitching. Our first ride could only bring us ten minutes further down the road but he had done the Whanganui River paddle before and said it was one of the best things he had ever done.

Our next ride was in a transport truck. The truck pulled over, we climbed in with Mark in the passenger seat and I was sitting on the drivers overnight bag in between. It gave me a great view of the road and what the driver was doing as well as a fantastic opportunity to consider various massage and chiropractor options for the end of the road. He was a former farmer turned trucker and that was about the extent of what we could understand with his accent. He seemed to enjoy the company and I found if I smiled, said "oh wow" and every so often mentioned how impressive driving such a huge truck on small windy roads was it kept him fairly happy. Two more rides got us to Wanganui, the first being a guy who works at a caving adventure place in Waitomo and recommended a couple places for us and the second being a professional cricket player named Tim. Tim was a guy slightly older then us, had driven past us but pulled over up ahead, turned around and came back to get us. He just got back from a month long tournament in South Africa playing some of the best cricket sides in the world.

We camped out behind the hostel we had stayed at previously in Wanganui and got up early today to hitch to Ohakune. We got a ride with a photocopier repairman who took us all the way to Ohakune, which is just on the other side of the mountain we climbed on teh Tongariro Northern Circuit.

We are all set up for our paddle beginning tomorrow. It was fairly expensive to rent the canoe, barrels, jackets, paddles and gear plus get our DOC pass (tomorrow is the official start of the great walks season) so we opted for the cheap campsite option. We are paying $4 to stay the night at a DOC campsite but its a few clicks out of town so its about a 45 minute walk from the outfitters, closer to an hour from the center of town. We have to be at the outfitters by 7 at the latest tomorrow so between packing, slow morning moving and weather time we'll be getting up before 6.

We have all the stuff we need for the paddle, the outfitters given us a detailed map of the river including information about all the rapids, islands and campsites we'll need to know. Some of the campsites apparently have great day walks from them including some natural hot spring pools that we can go in. It's supposed to rain until about lunch time tomorrow and then be sunny days for the next week.

The paddle should take us the next four nights so we will probably be back out into civilization by October 5. It looks as though we could do the paddle faster but I think we're hoping to take our time and explore the side trails and some of the streams that can lead you towards some nice waterfalls (the botoom of the gentle falls, not the top of a big one).

We're both really excited about the paddle, we've been trying to get to this for a few weeks now and even though its costing more then we hoped we figured this is one of the ones thats worth it.

The plan after the paddle is to either hitch out to the west coast to do another mountain walk or up to Taupo to do our skydive. It'll all depend on weather and rides I suppose.

Take a shower, shine your shoes

The Queen Charlotte track is a no go.

In order to get to the track you have to take a water taxi from Picton. To walk the track you need to buy a $12 track pass, then $9 per person, per night for camping. Not too bad until you factor in the water taxi price of $90. We looked at how expensive it would be, plus food and decided we can't make the walk work. We were both really disapointed and I was having a bit of a hard time as we were walking by the Picton Water Taxi office. Looking at the prices I was reminded of a SNL skit featuring Obama addressing concerns held by the Chinese government in regards to the '$8billion loan. I wondered if the water taxi prices included dinner, because in the words of SNL, "I like to be bought dinner before someone makes sex to me". I muttered something to this effect as we left.

We spent the day walking around Picton, doing a few hours of day hikes on the other side of the sound from the Queen Charlotte. It was over 20 degrees, sunny with a little breeze and really an amazing day. After the walk we came back to the hostel, I finished my book, napped in a hammock for a while before we played some chess on one of those outdoor boards with the big figures and went for a bike ride around town. We borrowed a rugby ball and played in the park across from the hostel for a bit and ended up booking our ferry tickets (much larger boat, much further distance, less then half the price...) for Wellington tomorrow morning.

We are going to spend the day in Wellington, checking out the national museum and a world photojournalism exhibition and plan the next leg of our journey. If the weather is good and the water levels are low enough we will be headed to the Whanganui River paddle, if not we will head to the East coast, Napier and Gisborne and try to get to the other Great walk we attempted to start on.

Thats the plan for now, but as I'm learning that means very little. Who knows what will happen next.

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadisde, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming--'wow what a ride!'''' --Lucius Annaeus Seneca (courtesy of Ms. Mutton)

Highway 61 revisited

The trip has taken a turn.

In Queenstown we got some very disapointing news. Fiordland, which is home to three great walks including the famous Milford track was the victim of the weather as well in Southern New Zealand. The roads getting to the tracks were closed and the tracks had severe avalanche warnings placed on them for the entire week, with bridges already removed and advising against traveling. The DOC workers told us another weather front is expected to hit early next week that will once again close the roads and add another week or two to the avalanche warnings. Not wanting to get stuck in an avalanche we decided to avoid heading in on a trek. I was supposed to hear about a job offer at a bar in Queenstown but the manager didn't get back to me in time before Mark was leaving with his car relocation to Christchurch. If I stayed and waited the two weeks I might have made it into the treks but would have to work in a hostel bar for two weeks and then miss out on a lot of other things Mark and I wanted to do before he heads back. So after a second night in Lizzie I decided to give up on Fiordland and head back to Christchurch with Mark.

The plus side in Queenstown was in our wanderings we found an arena where they rented skates and sticks. They let us go out and play hockey for a few hours which put us in a much better mood. There was a family visiting from Australia and the Dad started talking to me about how interested his kid was in playing ice hockey. I found the kid a smaller stick and got him shooting and playing a bit and now have a standing offer of a place to stay in Australia...something to look into I guess.

We left for Christchurch in a huge truck we christened Samantha. She was manual so Mark drove for the majority of the first day, except when he decided I should learn. Trying manual for the first time on the left hand side of the road in a car that takes up a lane and a half was an interesting experience. I didn't stall at all but when we started getting into traffic and round-a-bouts I pulled over and let Mark deal with. One night spent in the truck and we arrived in Christchurch early this morning.

The sun was out for the first time, the temperature got near 20 degrees and we decided to just start walking. We walked about 25km outside Christchurch, including through the towns that got the worst of the earthquake, some of the buildings were condemned and on a slant still. We got tired a little after lunch and decided to try hitching our way further north, hopefully to Kaikoura.

Our first ride was in a Mini Cooper...we laughed when we saw the car about how there was no chance and in it pulled. He got us to the next town, one more ride to the next town and we were waiting with our thumbs out for about half an hour. Then the house pulled up.

Our last ride was not a mobile home, it was an actual house on wheels. It used to be a bus but the outside has been re-done with wood and painted purple, it includes a pointed roof, an attic/loft area over where the driver sits and a back porch. Inside was hardwood floors, wooden cabinets, walls, a desk and a woodburning stove. The guy driving has been in this caravan since 1997 and tours with a group that every weekend for 8 months does a festival/fair where they perform music, plays and other entertainment while selling things they find or make. He was an ultimate hippy. The inside the of the caravan looked like a passengers cabin on a ship from the 1800's but was filled with Bob Dylan album covers and pins, various crystal and bead trinkets, including a massive crystal on a piece of bone dangling various animal teeth. He also had a pitbull named Jego that was very friendly and excited to have passengers for the very long drive to Kaikoura (while extremely slow in terms of car speed, it moved faster then any house I have ever been in).

We arrived in Kaikoura as the sun was setting over the mountains, set up our tents and are planning to hitch up to Picton tomorrow where depending on when we arrive we can hopefully do the Queen Charlotte track before headed back to North Island.

To the left, to the left

I have [almost] mastered the art of driving on the left hand side of the road.

We weren't sure how we were going to get out of Christchurch or where to go. The buses were expensive and it would have been like trying to hitch out of downtown Toronto trying to get to Waterloo.

We then tried calling a relocation dealership. When a car company needs a car returned to the original place of rental they will hire it out to broke backpackers who think they have received a great deal. In reality the car rental company gets paid to have a service performed that they would otherwise have to pay someone to do. Regardless we took the deal and took possession of a black Toyoto station wagon for $5/day that needed to get from Christchurch to Queenstown in two days times. We christened her 'Lizzie' and tossed a coin to see who would get stuck trying to drive on the left hand side first. Mark lost, or won, depending on your outlook and had to drive from the Christchurch airport for the first hour or so. Once the city driving was done we switched and I got to take over going through the mountains. It was a little nerve racking at first but the drive was the most incredible one I had ever done and it felt great to be in a car not having to make awkward small talk or without anyone trying to convert me.

We arrived in Queenstown and it was raining and very windy and cold. It was also dark by the time we got in so we couldn't see much of anything. We wandered around for a while and then settled into our accommodation for the night: Lizzie. The temperature dropped overnight and when we woke the car was covered in snow and ice. It wasn't the most comfortable room I've ever stayed in but for $5 got us into town and gave us a place to stay for the night.

When we woke up it was clear and we could see the lake and all the mountains surrounding the town. It really is a beautiful city but was a little concerning about how excited everyone is. Even though we are in spring now everyone is gearing up with their skis and snowboards because they are receiving their best snowfall all season and coolest temperatures. Everyone is apologetic about the lack of skydiving available for the time being because of the weather but sweetens the deal by saying: at least you can go skiing! This really helps two guys who don't ski. And not a hockey rink in sight.

We're spending today figuring out what our next move is in terms of staying here, hitting a trek, heading North or whether or not to try to brave another night with Lizzie.

We did however take advantage of the fact that Lizzie has enough room to support a loaf of bread without crushing it. Dinner and lunch was for Mark, PB & J while I went for the delicacy that is a cheese sandwich.

Shake it like a polaroid picture

We have arrived in Christchurch.

We made it to Kaikoura with a couple interesting rides: an older guy with a beret who in the first 5 minutes gave me his opinion on muslims, israel and american foreign policy and continued for the next hour detailing the history of New Zealand's forests as well as what he saw on Fox news. He was a renaissance man of sorts. The next driver was a tourist from China who agreed to take us and even stopped to show us a seal colony along the way.

When we arrived in Kaikoura it reminded me of a Wasaga or Sauble beach but with snow capped mountains right behind the town. We checked into our sketchiest hostel so far but also our cheapest and spent the afternoon and night wandering the town, walking along the beach and avoiding the rain when it came. We left this morning passing surfers gearing up for cold weather surfing and lots of dogs running along the shore.

We only needed one ride to get us all the way to Christchurch. We actually laughed as the car came around figuring we had no chance: a tiny car with a small, solo older woman driving. Then the car pulled over and the woman started making room. She was very nice and friendly, asking all about Canada and our homes and our family. Then asking us about our Christian affiliations, whether we believed in God and our opinion on evolution. The usual niceties one would ask upon first meeting someone. She told us she was a seventh day adventist and was most disgusted when I ventured that I thought evolution had some merit. I quickly changed the topic to the shear (pun?) amount of sheep around and thought I had avoided any more problems. She continued to tell us later about a trip to australia she had been on where they saw beautiful birds and flowers, something you would appreciate if you were into nature and creation she said with a disdainful look towards me.

We got out in Christchurch and haven't seen much in the way of earthquake damage. Many shops are closed because the insides are a mess. Mark has his bag repaired and my knee and shoulder are starting to feel a bit better after a few days rest and a healthy dose of pain killers so we are trying to make our way to the west coast in a couple days to continue tramping.

The gales of November come early

We've arrived in Nelson again.

After leaving Takaka we set out for hitching, which we were assured was far easier in the South Island. It turned out to be our hardest morning trying to catch a ride. The south island is far less populated then the North, much fewer towns and the roads are not nearly as busy. We ended up walking through the rain along the road for about 2 hours out of Takaka. The plus side was we were able to get a first hand look at the agricultural industry in New Zealand. Countless cows and sheep were in the fields lining the road, all staring or some of the younger braver ones running up to the fence to get a better look at us, or jogging alongside us as we walked. Visually the scene was great, lambs and calves playing in a green field with mountains in the background. In terms of our sense of smell however, I can say the scene was not quite as enticing.

Right before we reached the hills we were finally picked up by a guy around our age, a local "sparkie" (electrician) and driven to Motueka. It was a good thing too because we were 30 minutes in the mountains, up and down with no other roads.

In Motueka we were picked up by an older couple who took us to Nelson and offered us their card if we want a tour, a beer or get stuck anywhere and need some help, Our hostel has free warm chocolate pudding and ice cream every night and all you can eat cereal and toast in the morning. We are here tonight and then going to be hitching towards the east coast hoping the storms in the area stop for a bit.

Today we are off to a 'boot market', a bunch of hippies selling things out of the boots of their car. Should be interesting. But the sun is out so I'm not going to complain too much.

Kiss from a Rose

The lyric is from Seal, because of our new best friend...a seal.

We left Nelson on a bus to Marahoua and started the Abel Tasman coastal track. It was very different from the Tongariro Northern Circuit. Instead of snow capped mountains, there were golden sand beaches and the mountain streams were replaced with rain forest and waterfalls. The first day the sun was out and for a while it was even warm enough to be hiking in just shorts. It was a very nice change to be able to have lunch sitting on a warm beach with the sun beating down on us as opposed to huddled behind any rock we could find big enough to shelter us. This quickly changed with the wind and by the time we arrived at our campsite the temperature was dropping considerably. The first night the temperature got down to about 5 degrees and stayed cold all night and morning. The second morning of the trek we were walking along beaches that would not look out of place in Jamaica in gloves and toques.

The sun made its way out near the end of the second day and when we arrived at our campsite it was out in full force. Our campsites both nights were a few feet away from a big secluded beach and bay with nobody else in site. We started exploring on our second night, finding starfish and jellyfish up on the beach that had been caught when the tide went out. After a few minutes we saw something in the water about 50 feet off shore. It was a seal that had swam in by itself and started following us along the beach and then coming in closer. Mark took a video and after watching it last night we realized we turned into 8 year olds on sugar highs when we saw the seal. It swam in very close and very fast, gracefully jumping in and out of the water, rolling on its back and darting any way with ease. Then it decided to investigate further and come on shore to see us. All grace was lost as it stumbled and bumbled its way up on the beach to within ten feet of where we were standing. We didn't offer the fact that we were Canadian, made a couple of jokes about taking our new friend clubbing and then basically just sat and watched the seal until we grew bored of it. Apparently our attention span is approximately that of the seal because it seemed to grow tired of us at the same time and swam back out into the bay.

That night the temperature dropped even lower. A possum tried to get in our tents multiple times, despite being smacked every time it came near the fabric of the tent and we were woken up by a bird that had become stuck between our tent and the fly. It poured rain all night and only stopped for the first hour of our walk. As we reached a large crossing that could only be done at low tide the rain picked up, the wind picked up and as we were halfway across the thunder started. By the time we reached the otherside we were freezing, soaking wet and as Mark's pack cover had fallen off halfway over, so were all his things. I also learned that my "waterproof pants" and "waterproof jacket" are anything but.

We hiked a few more hours and upon reaching a small campsite with a road realized we had to either camp that night with all our wet stuff and the temperature still dropping our try to hitch into a town. We opted to stick our thumb out and a couple ladies that work for the DOC picked us up. They were unsure at first, not knowing if it was against company policy but I assured them I had many questions regarding the park so they gave us a ride and a lesson about the ecology and introduced species in the area.

We arrived in Takaka last night, a little hippy town with dreadlocks and swami's offering courses on finding yourself all over. We stayed in a backpackers that has just been purchased by a retired couple and the check in procedure involved me going on a tour of every room, looking at every door and hearing about all the changes that must be made. There was a fireplace and a dog though so that kept me entertained for the rest of the night.

Mark's straps on his bag are almost broken and the next walk is a 75km difficult tramp with no options for getting out early. The weather is supposed to be terrible for the next few days so if the strap breaks we'll be S.O.L. We've decided to start hitching further south and try to find a big enough town that can repair his bag and then decide on what we are going to do, we'll walk the Heaphy on our way back up North.

That's the plan for now, stick out our thumbs and hope for the best.

where the whales make free in the harbour

We crosses the Cook Strait and made it to the South Island today. The crossing was great, a couple hours and some fantastic views of the land coming into Picton.

From Picton we hopped on a bus to Nelson, known as "The sunniest city in New Zealand". It has been raining and pouring non stop since we arrived, the sun seems to be nothing more then a rumour and the advertisement is apparently a cruel joke played on unsuspecting overseas visitors.

We have booked our next three nights accommodation on the Abel Tasman Coastal track. We take a bus to the start of the track at 7:30am tomorrow morning and then begin our walk. We could probably do it in two nights were it not for the tidal crossings. There are two sections of the track that must be crossed only within an hour or two of low tide so that will put limits on our progress. Less walking days however give us more time to explore the side tracks including a natural pool with a slippery rock waterfall and a seal colony in Mutton Cove on our final night. After we come out of the track we are going to walk a few clicks to the road and try to hitch our way towards Tikaka and the Heaphy Track, the next Great Walk.

Tonight we are booked into "The Shortbread Cottage" backpackers in Nelson. It was pouring rain but we came in to find hardwood floors, a cozy kitchen, a little living room with a wood stove burning and shortbread cookies on our pillows. The owner is a nice older lady who has offered to post our postcards and letters for us if we can't make it to a post office today. Apparently there is also a dog who is asleep somewhere. Its a great little place, has a really cozy home feel to it and is very close to our early bus stop. Its also right across the street from the Rugby Pitch where some of the World Cup games will be played next year.

Not sure when internet will be available again, at least 4 or 5 days so I'll let you know how the trek went and hopefully figure out how to post some pictures.

I would walk 500 miles

But I won't have to if the hitchiking keeps going the way it has. We left Wanganui around 10 in the morning and walked a couple kilometres from the hostel to get on the highway out of town and put our thumbs out. After only about 20 minutes of walking trying to get a ride a guy about our age pulled over and took us the 40 minutes to the highway towards Wellington. We walked through the small towns little flea market, were given some free apple slices from a farmer because we apparently looked like we "need sustenance" and then walked another ten minutes down the road. The next car that pulled over had two girls that were returning home to Wellington after the weekend and offered to take us all the way there. They told us all about what to do in the city and actually apologized for not being able to give us a free place to stay for the two nights we were going to be in town. We assured them that the drive with our unique aromas was more then enough.

Upon arriving in Wellington we immediately did laundry, a much needed effort and then started to explore the city. Wellington reminds me a lot of Ottawa and is my favourite NZ city I've seen so far. There are a couple pedestrian streets with little independent shops and bookstores and a great artsy/music vibe all over the city.

Last night Mark and I entered a pub trivia contest at the hostel bar. The first twenty questions all related to New Zealand and the second twenty were random trivia the host found on google. We were thoroughly humbled in the first section and did Ok in the second although there were some questiosn we were stumped with (apparently Betty is not the name of one of the Kardashian sisters).

Tomorrow morning we catch the ferry to south island and will start hitching towards the Abel Tasman track, a 3-4 day Great walk that is mostly along the beach.

Take me to the place I love, take me all the way

We survived.

We began our first great walk, the Tongariro Northern Circuit early in the morning. We left the backpackers, walked five minutes to the main road and stuck out our thumbs. We were soon picked up by a girl who used to live in Calgary and dropped off in Whakapapa Village. The lady at the DOC office told us we needed ice axes and crampons in case, gave us our tickets, pointed out a couple possible routes and said good luck. We filled out a backcountry intention form so they would know to come looking for us if we didn't make it back and check in on time. The routes she showed us on the model of the park in the visitor centre seemed easy enough. To quote Mark, "What is this a great walk for ants? It needs to be at least...3 times the size for me to enjoy this".

It was much more then 3 times the size.

The first day started fantastically. We were climbing but nothing too steep, the sun was out, we saw waterfalls and had lunch on a high ridge between two crater lakes looking down on a rainbow over the lower crater. After lunch however the weather turned and the next 6 hours of tramping were in the pouring rain and wind. The rain caused the pleasant mountain streams to swell so we had to take off our boots and socks and go barefoot through the frigid streams to cross as they came to about knee height now. There were two options for huts, one only a few hours in and one about 9 hours in from the start. We opted to push for this second hut as then we would have two days to attempt the pass (Saturday morning was supposed to be hail storms and gail force winds, so we wanted to try it Friday). We arrived at the first hut after coming up over a mountain plateau and circling the east side of the mountain just as the sun set. We spent a couple hours drying out our stuff and went to bed.

The next morning we were up early but the wind and rain were creating some rough weather outside. We packed in the hut, waited a couple hours and left when there was a break. We crossed an old lava field acrossthe plateau and made it up to the first of the 3 highest crater lakes we would encounter. As soon as we left that lake we encountered the steepest, narrowest portion of the track. It began fine but after only a few minutes of climbing a hail storm and high winds came in. The hail was blowing from side to side it seemed and at times we had visibility of about 15 feet. What should have been the best view turned into an impossibly steep and windy spine that we just needed to get over. We fought the weather for a couple more hours and eventually finished the crossing before the steep descent towards the other side of the Volcano. We reached the hut and holed up there for the night.

The two days of crossing was possibly the hardest thing I have ever done both physically and mentally (although the whole "if you stop you'll die" thing helped) but I am so glad we did it. It was the most physically beautiful place I have ever been and to be perched on the side of a volcano looking out over a lava filed and lakes and seeing nobody else around was an amazing experience.

When we woke up this morning we weren't sure how we were going to get back but there was a man of about 80 wandering down the path. He stopped to chat when I went out to use the bathroom, I told him our plan and he offered to drive us into the village, saving us a 5 hour walk. We called ahead to the Whanganuni river DOC but they aren't allowing anyone down the river for at least 3 days, and there is more rain expected so probably more. We decided to head for Wellington and began walking to the main road to hitch. Not halfway to the main road a car pulled over and told us he would take us to the next town. Turns out he was going further south towards Wellington and he drove us an hour and a half (almost halfway there). He is an MP in New Zealand, is playing in a parliamentary rugby game and offered me a spot to play (I didn't bring my cleats and he didn't have an extra pair, I was very disapointed). He called the local MP as we got into Wanganuni for advice on a good hostel and here we are. We're off to go watch the rugby game this afternoon and will keep hitching towards Wellington tomorrow. A couple days in Wellington, then South Island for two great walks that are apparently all on a beach....rough stuff.

Until next time, keep on keepin on

Over the mountains and over the streams

We have arrived in the aptly named town, National Park (I appreciate it both for its directness and the ease of pronounciation). We are staying tonight in a backpackers before heading out on the first of our Great Walks tomorrow morning.

Our hostel is all wooden and houses a huge climbing gym as well, just a massive space about the size of a barn with holds and lines all around. Sadly it is not open today as most of the guests are here for the skiing. Our roomies are a Norwegian and two Austrians who are in town competing in an extreme skiing event and have been here for a couple days planning on staying the weekend. From the massive wooden benches and tables in the kitchen we can look out the sliding glass door and see the mountains, the middle one is actually a volcano and is better known as "Mount Doom" from Lord of the Rings.

We talked to a couple local guides in town and they said the Northern Circuit is good. The freezing level has moved up beyond where we will be spending most of the walk and other then rain tomorrow there should be decent weather, especially for when we reach the summit and the craters. We're planning on hitching in tomorrow morning to Whakappa (Fuck-a-pappa) to get our DOC permits and then head in for three nights on the mountain. Afterwards the guide we talked to told us about a side route that will take us directly out to the rode where we can hitch to the beginning of the Whangannui paddle. There's been some flooding there so we might have to wait a day or two once there but we are both really looking forward to the 145km paddle. The plan after that is to get back out on the road, hitch down to Wellington and spend a couple days maybe finally washing these pants, getting our ferry tickets and relaxing before heading to the South Island.

We met a guy at the hostel this morning that is going to try to join us for a couple walks on the South Island and are starting to meet people who are putting us in touch with others further south so we might have places to stay, local advice or just a free beer.

On the bus today we got to see lakes, mountains and thousands and thousands of sheep. Its starting to feel a lot more like what I thought the trip would be like and we're both really excited to get started on the first mountain trek. Not sure when internet will be back up and available but will be posting (hopefully with a couple pictures) when I can.

Walk away me boys and by morning you'll be free

Greetings from the best smelling town in the southern hemisphere.

Today began with a multi kilometre mission to find the Department of Conservation (DOC) office which was just outside town. Upon reaching the building we found it vacant. After consulting with a neighbouring plumbing company we learned they had moved across the road, down a long laneway partway into a local park. We arrived and as they are not near one of the great walks they could offer us no information or answers to our questions other then "have you tried the internet?" or "you should really ask someone about that". Once we internalized these words of wisdom we set out back for town.

We now have the next few days to week and a half planned out, depending on how things go. We leave tomorrow afternoon on the Nakedbus (we took it from Auckland, a bus company that is cheap but also mandates clothes apparently...) towards Tongariro National Park and a little town outside it called Whakappa (which, with the kiwi pronounciation, transaltes to FUCK-a-pappa...I'm starting to think the country is just playing a joke on us). From there we will get our permits and [hopefully] start the first great walk, the Tongariro Northern Circuit. The walk will take us over and around a couple mountains through volcanic craters and glacial valleys. The walk should take 3-4 days but could be longer depending on weather. After that we are going to hitchike to the next walk which is a multi-day paddle along the Wannganui river (so far not aware of any inappropriate pronounciations). For this one we will need to rent either kayaks or "Canadian Canoes" as they are advertised down here. We're not sure if solitutde or patriotism will win out so it will come down to budget.

Today to relax we had a swim in the hostels pool. It's outdoors and heated naturally, not quite as hot as the bubbling mud puddles in the park across the street but much cleaner and still nice knowing we are swimming in something heated by the nearby volcano. We're hoping for our first dinner tonight as last night we opted to go for a liquid diet past 6:30pm which saw the night end past midnight (a huge feat for us) and with both of us being eliminated from a pool tournament at a local bar.

Depending on how the walks go I'm not sure when the next time we will be able to access the internet will be, so I'll be updating sometime in the future. Godspeed.

Can I go Nowhere with you?

Hey Hey Kids,

so Mark and I had a rowdy first night in Auckland...and by that I mean neither of us were awake past 6pm. In fact with the jet lag, Mark set the record for staying up the latest last night with 8:30pm. The good news is we both get up early and we are saving money by not being awake for dinner.

We left Auckland early Sunday morning on a bus to Roturua then switched to another bus to Whakatane (pronounced, and I kid you not, FUCK-A-TUN-EH). We were told this lovely town was the best bet to get to our first great walk. Once arriving and discussing with the friendly lady in the tourist info centre however, we discovered that Roturua would be our best bet where we could call some people that do guided tours who come in for supplies and try to talk our way into their van for the trip down. We set up our tents at a local campground and spent the night in Whakatane, planning on headed to Roturua this morning.

The bus would be about $25 to get us back to Roturua and wouldn't leave till late afternoon. Since we will have to stay in a hostel anyways we decided in the interest of a budget to start walking out of town and stick out our thumbs. About an hour of walking later, while sitting on the side to enjoy a couple Kiwis (delicious and cheap here...as one might assume) we got picked up for our first hitching experience. The guy said he could take us half way and we gladly accepted. He took us about 50km through switchback roads, along a couple major lakes and through a few small towns, not once dipping the spedometer below 90 or taking more than 6 inches to pass a car. In his defence, whether because of his personal sense of restraint or the car's inability to go any faster, he did not once break the 160km/hr mark. He dropped us off at a little roadside stand and we started trekking back up alon gthe road into the next mountain. Ten minutes up we heard someone call to us from up a driveway asking where we were headed, we said Roturua and he offered us a ride. He was an older Maori guy who threw our gear in the back of his truck and gave us a tour along the way, pointing our various aspects of Kiwi culture with the three fingers he had on his hand. The highilght being the statue of a dog created by locals to commemorate a small dog that used to wander up and down a fence for years. Nobody knew who owned it, some people used to throw it food and it would never cross the road, just wander the fence line day after day. One day it died so the locals pooled there money and built a statue at the end of the fence line.

We're in Roturua for the next two nights while we try to find a way down to the first great walk. The entire town smells of Sulphur and there are hot springs and sulphur mud spas all around. We realized our guidebook had a lot of nice information about nicer towns but nothing too practical, so I left it in Auckland and we are just going to go by the seat of our pants and by recommendations from people. If anyone knows of anyone down here or that has been here that saw some "can't miss" places, send one of us an email.

Airplanes in the night sky

...are like shooting stars that never, ever end.

Mark and I have arrived in Auckland. After a delay departing from Toronto because customs decided to tear the plane up and then a quick layover in LAX that included Burger King and throwing up some gang signs. we boarded the Air NZ flight for Auckland. I was exhausted, had already watched the film classics "The A-Team" and "The Karate Kid" on the way to LA so I felt sleep would be easy. I stayed up a couple hours, watched another movie, at the dinner they served and then fell asleep. When I woke up I figured we might have a couple hours left and I had conquered the flight. I checked the flight watch option and we still had 7 hours left to go. Eff.

Once we arrived we were treated to the biothreat customs screening that included very cute beagles sniffing my bags, so it wasn't too bad. A quick bus ride into Auckland and we were checked into our hostel. We've walked around a bit this morning, saw the harbour and some of downtown and booked the next leg of our journey. We leave at 8 tomorrow morning towards the first great walk.

So far so good, there was an earthquake in Christchurch but I'm not too shook up over it. Keep sending messages and emails, we're in the southern hemisphere and there should hopefully be some better stories coming soon. Cheers!

Lets get wrecked on rolling rock and stroll down to the sea

This first post is mostly just a way to practice using this blog and figure out all the lovely things that go with it. If the picture I posted above worked (my technological skills are amazing) it is of my tent and gear I'll be bringing.

So here's the plan: Leaving tomorrow evening with Mark, flying from Toronto to L.A. then L.A. to Auckland. Arriving Saturday morning local time in Auckland, spending the day and night there and then heading south. We want to do all the great walks and spend as much time camping, walking and hitchhiking through the country as we can. Throw in some sky diving, surfing, bungee jumping and kayaking and that is about as far as we have planned right now. Mark's coming back November 5 and I'll be coming back January 4. If anyone has any other great ideas for NZ, don't hesitate to email them!

My last full day in Canada was great. I got to spend it canoeing and also got word that I have what seems like a dream job lined up for not only next summer as I had hoped, but beginning next January as soon as I get back. I'm really excited to get back and start the job but I guess I'll have to spend a few months in New Zealand first... life is rough.

The posts will get more interesting the further away from Waterdown I get I'm sure. For now I'll end with a quote from one of my favourite books, Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. It's the opening paragraph and if you haven't read the book yet I highly suggest you do. 

""When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that great age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. Four hoarse blasts of a ship's whistle still raise the hair on my neck and set my feet to tapping. The sound of a jet, an engine warming up, even the clopping of shod hooves on pavement brings on the ancient shudder,the dry mouth and vacant eye, the hot palms and the churn of stomach high up under the rib cage. In other words, I don't improve; in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable.I set this matter down not to instruct others but to inform myself." 

Send emails or messages, hearing from people will be great. Cheers!