back to the grind (which really isn't a grind)

After the longest Thursday possible (literally, not figuratively), I got home to Connor and the kittens Thursday night. It was good to be home. I have to say, as fun as traveling is, it's nice to have your own bed and shower. We saw Laura (who takes off soon for Seattle) Friday night. Then, this weekend Caitlyn and Mairead came up to visit & swap cars with Connor - so it was nice to have visitors to share all the candy bars I brought home.

Today was my first day back to work (I'm still there, actually). I started the day with a last-minute re-scheduled IEP meeting: fun fun! Once that was out of the way, though, it was really nice to be back and see all the kids. I guess I'm pretty lucky that coming back to work after a month off is a happy occasion.

As you can see from the picture, my co-workers are HILARious. :-)

the last day

Today we flew from Wellington back up to Auckland in preparation for our flights home tomorrow. I can't believe this was our last day. This trip went SO fast... and it really wasn't very much time to try and see a whole country, although it sounded like a lot of time in theory. That said, I feel like I managed to see a lot. And I really, truly enjoyed every minute of it. This has been a fantastic experience, both because of the place I visited and because of the way I did it. I'm so glad I've traveled on my own a little... I proved to myself that I can do it and enjoy it, and that's an excellent thing to know.

On the upside, I am VERY excited to come home to Connor and the kittens.

Turns out, Auckland is as warm as it was when I left it more than 2 weeks ago. We stepped onto the plane in Wellington in wind and rain and stepped off it in Auckland to warmth and sunshine. I bet Mom wishes she'd been along for the Northern bit of the trip. We checked into our lovely B&B, then took a long walk around Parnell, a suburb of Auckland where we're staying. We walked down to the harbor, through a park and an old graveyard, up to Parnell Street, where we had a VERY yummy farewell dinner.

Now just trying to finish up putting the pictures up and organize for the LOOOOOONG flight ahead.

backlog - more wellington

The next day in Wellington we took the cable car up the hill and walked around the botanical gardens, which were *beautiful*. We felt like we were a million miles away from the city but we were right there. It's amazing how fresh the air smells here... too bad we can't take a picture of that.

For dinner, we went to the grocery store and got ourselves a feast of bread, cheese, veggies, and wine. Yummy.

backlog - wellington

We took the ferry from Picton to Wellington on a dreary, rainy day. The ferry is ENORMOUS! It's like a floating mall -it even has a movie theater! Then...

Day 1 Wellington: We walked up and down Cuba Street, got fish & chips (my 5th time, mom's first), FINALLY found the third installment of "Tales of the City" at a used bookstore called "The Ferret," and then went and checked out the natural history and Maori exhibits at the huge Te Papa museum.

backlog - kayaking

Hi -

Never got a chance to post these pictures: Mom and I went kayaking to a seal colony in Kaikoura. It was lots of fun. The seals were HUGE and sleepy, although a few jumped in teh water and got playful. We had a lot of fun in the kayaks - the waves made it especially interesting!

wellington

Hi! Sorry we've been out of contact for a few days. The internet situation here isn't perfect... we've decided to wait until Auckland to post more pictures to the blog. But we're having a great time in Wellington! It's a very cool city - we spent a lot of time walking around town yesterday and today. We also checked out Te Papa, an excellent museum, and learned about earthquakes and Maori culture. Today we took the cable car up to the botanical gardens on the hill overlooking the city - it was beautiful! The weather is windy and cool here... we are excited to come back to almost-summer!

Today was our last full day of just being somewhere/visiting. Tomorrow we fly back to Auckland, and the next day we fly back to the US. I can't believe this trip is over!! It felt so short!

whale, it was a pretty good day.

We saw a Sperm Whale! And Dusky Dolphins! Then we walked and walked and walked until we reached grilled seafood and a seal colony. Cozy night in - made pasta & watching a DVD.

travel time

No pictures or news of note. We spent the day traveling: bus to plane to shuttle to bus to shuttle. Now we're in Kaikoura, but it's dark so we don't know what it looks like. The place we're staying is very nice - quite an upgrade from the hostel :-) Hopefully a whalewatch tomorrow!

Milford Sound

We went to a grocery store & got salad stuff for dinner. Mom was surprised at the differences between it and an American store. Some differences we noted:
- ham ham ham. the ONLY deli meat. no turkey in NZ
- meusli meusli meusli - no normal cheerios (which are made by "Uncle Toby's")
- odd sausages
- "capsicums" (peppers) are 16$/kg!

I have forced Mom to stay in a hostel with me as a sort of cruel social experiment. :-) She's doing great! She was pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness - and we had fun cooking in the big kitchen with all the other residents.

Today we did Milford Sound. It was rainy, but apparently it is always rainy (200 days of rainfall/year). It kind of added to the mystery of the place - the peaks were cloaked with mist and shadows. We took a boat ride from the dock out to the Tasman Sea & back. Lots of waterfalls, dramatic peaks, GREEN, and one fur seal.

Pictures have been added!

Also - we went to see Shutter Island last night at the movie theatre in town. It was another really cool theatre - this one was more of a classy wine bar/cafe, where you could bring your drinks into the theatre, and the seats were all huge comfy armchairs with little trays attached. It, like the other theatre I went to, had an intermission. Not sure if just these two theatres are like this, or all NZ theatres are...

around q-town

After Mom slept for 13 hours and recovered from the plane ride yesterday,w e had a very active day. In the morning, we did a ride into old gold country at Skipper’s Canyon, where we rode on a jet boat – a super fast, super-responsive boat in the river up and down the canyon. In the afternoon, we did a Lord of the Rings tour along the lake out to Glenorchy and Paradise Forest and Mt. Aspiring National Park, so Mom was able to get her fix of LOTR factoids.

The weather is beautiful here – cool but sunny. Queenstown is a cool little skiing village, with some pretty great restaurants! Perfect for us! Tomorrow we head to Te Anau – from there we’ll see the Milford Sound. Exciting stuff!

the momma bird has landed.

she made it!

a day of ups and downs

I hereby resolve to start no more blog entries with the word “so.”

I took the bus from Franz Josef to Wanaka today, a small lakeside town about an hour away from Queenstown. I decided to stop and stay here based on a recommendation from a girl I met in the nice hostel in Auckland. She did not steer me wrong. This place is amazing! I share a room with three other girls, and we have our own bathroom. Everything’s very new and clean. It has a huge stainless-steel kitchen, a huge common room, and best of all an AMAZING view! It is literally looking right out over the lake, with mountains behind. In fact, I even have a view of the water from my bunkbed. And how much does this lake-view ensuite room cost me per night? 23 dollars a night, ladies and gentlemen.

I would totally post pictures of this AMAZING view, but there’s a downside to my story: I lost my camera today!! I discovered it was missing when I got to the hostel. I retraced my steps and didn’t find it on the way here, so I decided I must have left it on the bus. But there’s an Upside to my story: the bus company found it and is holding it in Queenstown for me. I’ll get it back tomorrow. So I’ll have to cope with no Wanaka pictures, but it could be way worse!

Mom comes in tomorrow. I’m so excited!

Tonight I’m going to go to the local cinema and see Iron Man 2... not because I really want to see Iron Man 2 (I didn’t even see Iron Man 1), but because I’ve heard the cinema here is really cool... set up like a cafe with couches and good food and stuff. The show starts at 8:45, though, and we’ll see how that goes since I’ve been going to bed at 9.

a mother-flippin' glacier!

So at about 5 this morning I was awakened (awoken?) by the sound of downpouring rain. It continued all day... torrential, non-stop rain. The first I’ve encountered on my trip. And what better activity to do in the pouring rain than to CLIMB A GLACIER!!!????

Completely decked out in boots, 2 rainjackets, underarmor, and 2 shirts, snow pants, lightweight cargo pants, and stretchpants, I hiked the Franz Josef Glacier today! It was incredibly awesome and fun.

And I have an exciting detail, although anyone who ever went on an elementary school field trip with me won’t believe me. At the bottom of the glacier they had us split up into 3 groups – 1: fast/fit group, 2: intermediate group, 3: slow/take it easy group. I initially tried to join the second group, but that group was too full and they needed someone to go to either 1 or 3. So I said “what the hell” and joined group 1. That’s right! Little miss straggler was in the fastest group! And I kept up fine. I’m so glad I made an effort to get in shape before this trip... it’s really paid off.

It was truly an adventure, and it wasn’t easy, but it was really a lot of fun! The guide went ahead and used an axe to carve out footholds for us. We went through a lot of narrow crevasses and a few caves. We got really high up on the glacier (up to the top of the first ice fall) before we had to turn around. The pouring rain really made it dramatic, and by the end every inch of me and my stuff was completely soaked! All in all, I think this was my favorite activity so far!

south island baby!

Today I got up bright and early (as always) and headed to the Abel Tasman national park. I did a combo kayak and hiking package. We took a water taxi to partway through the park and they kayaked to the marine reserve. There were LOTS of seals... the babies had all been born in January. They were super cute and friendly. We went right up to them. The leader of the tour had a ring on a chain and was dangling it in the water. They were playing with it like cats! He even got one to jump up and sit on his kayak, then hilariously fall off. Very cool creatures.

Then we kayaked to a beach for lunch, then did a hike through the woods for the secnod half of the day. Very beautiful. Rainforesty that kept emptying out on different lagoons.

It's definitely colder down here. It was a gorgeous day... sunny and all.. but I definitely had caught a bit of a chill by the end of the day.

I leave Nelson very early tomorrow... too bad. I wish I could spend more time here; it's a cool little city! Wish my luck with my LOOOOONG bus day tomorrow. But then: glaciers!

Nelson

So no pictures this time. Today I spent the mroning walking around the Parnell section of Auckland, then I caught a flight to Nelson, near the top of the South Island. I spent a long time walking around Nelson center today, as I had a lot of errands to run. It was really nice with a lot of cool shops. I went to the supermarket for the first time since I've come here. I got lots of fresh veggies, canned tomatoes, and pasta and whipped up a quick sauce back at the hostel. I had missed simple, cooked food... it felt good. I also got cheerios and milk! Whoop whoop!

I'm staying at the Green Monkey - recommended by Amy Greenwood (thanks Amy!). Another BBH hostel and once again very nice, relaxed, and comfortable. Also, the guy who runs it bakes a fresh cake every day... nice perk.

I've lost my first things, though. I lost my towel. I left it in the town center in Paihia and only realized right as the bus was leaving. I picked up a new one today. More annoyingly, I lost the present I bought for Connor. I think it fell out of my bag on the Kiwi Bus. Sorry sweetie!

Tomorrow I'm doing a kayaking/hiking day trip to Abel Tasman national park, which is supposed to be gorgeous. I'll be kayaking through a seal colony, which should be cool, as they're supposed to be really friendly. If I'm really lucky maybe I'll see a blue penguin! So definitely pictures tomorrow!

The best thing about this hostel: FREE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!! So nice.

ahhhh....

So this morning I splurged on one more organized trip... a kayak tour to Haruru falls. It was really lovely and definitely worth it. It was so quiet and peaceful on the river, and there were lots of really cool birds. The falls themselves were much smaller than they usually are because the Northland is suffering from a pretty bad drought.. usually water comes over the whole semicircle.

On every activity I’ve done, I’ve been SO impressed with how enthusiastic and knowledgable all of the people working in the tourism industry are here. Every tour guide has been friendly, seemed genuinely passionate about their subject, and seems to be having fun. And they don’t even tip here! (I still do though) It’s made me think giving dolphin tours or leading kayak trips would be a pretty fun job....

This afternoon I came back to Auckland. I’m staying at a BBH hostel in Parnell this time – the City Garden Lodge. It is SO much nicer and so much more my speed than the other hostels I’ve stayed in. I’m definitely sticking with BBH from here on out. The other places made me feel 100 years old... all the girlies were 18 with sidebangs and leggings. This place feels like a senior house at Wesleyan... warm, cosy, communal kitchen, MUCH nicer room, and a more... mature... clientele  Wish I’d stayed here at the beginning. I’m only here for one night! Parnell is also a much nicer bit of the city... I walked up & down the street to find dinner. It’s really cute if a little posh.

Anyway... tomorrow I fly south. Wish me luck!


k8

PS... I've given up posting pictures and videos from this particular wireless hotspot. It's acting funky. Hopefully I'll have a chance to add them later! Thanks everyone for reading and commenting! I miss you all!

a belated post about yesterday

Dolphins!! Then I crashed. Video finally! I mean... I HOPE. It's taking FOREVER to upload.

Tasman-ia!

Happy May! I hope yours is going well so far, but I suspect it’s not going quite as well as mine. Today i did the trip up to the tippy-top of NZ, Cape Reinga, then down the 90 Mile Beach. It was really really great (I should start saying “brilliant,” “grand,” “smashing,” and all the other things the Brits & Kiwis say around here).

Got up at the crack of dawn... not a problem actually: thank you jetlag! Our tour guide’s name was Barry – a very talkative & funny guy. I sat next to Roison, a really cool girl from Ireland who’s a chef. Our first stop was to see a huge Kauri tree in the subtropical rainforest. Apparently hugging it gives you lots of good energy or something. Barry was really into languages and would teach us words and sing us songs in the Maori language. He also told us a lot about the history and the spiritual meanings of different places. We made a rest stop at a place that had a lot of cool Kauri carvings and a gecko frozen in Kauri gum (couldn’t get a picture... sorry Connor!).

Cape Reinga itself was just beautiful. It’s the spot where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean... the blue and green water blend together & the surf is crazy. The wind was so strong! Maori tradition says that Cape Reinga is an opening between our world and the spirit world, making it an ideal place to say goodbye to your loved ones.

Next we stopped for lunch at a gorgeous beach (don’t remember what it’s called). I walked around in the surf over to some cool black rocks and a spot where the river met the ocean. After that we went to some giant sand dunes for “sandboarding.” Sandboarding is apparently riding down gigantic dunes on boogie boards. I don’t know if this is an activity anywhere else, but it was flipping awesome! The hike up the dune was steep & hard going, but the way down was SOOOO fun... you go really fast! In the picture of the dune I’m posting I am actually the tiny dot in the middle of the hill on my way down.
Then the bus drove us back down the peninsula across 90 Mile Beach (which is actually 64 miles long). We stopped at one point for pictures... the water was really warm so I went for it and jumped in for a swim. So add one more body of water to the checklist: I have swum in the Tasman Sea.
On the way back down we stopped for pretty delicious fish and chips... which really made the day perfect. All in all, the best day yet!!