It's not a hit, it's a holiday

So I'd tell you all to scroll down and read the last entry first, but this entry actually concerns things done before that one, so read however you want to.
So I stopped working around the 10th of October and the following Tuesday (was meant to be Monday, but then Liam thought it was supposed to be Tuesday so I just stayed an extra day because I love Taupo) I met up with my dear friend Clare in Auckland and on Wednesday after a leisurely stroll about the city, we started our Bay of Islands Adventure! There are some photographs, they're amazing, they're on facebook. Check them out. Also a map of the Northlands area of New Zealand could be useful for you in reading this.

Day 1: We made our way from Auckland up to Whangarei. We meant to stop at some places, but I'm pretty sure we didn't. We hit Whangarei, stopped at the Pak 'N Save for some food supplies, and booked in at the Whangarei Holiday Park where we sprung for a twin room rather than a couple of beds in a dorm because we are antisocial. Also it had been a whole week since we'd seen each other/been flatmates so obviously we had loads to catch up on. Before we got to the holiday park, we stopped at the Whangarei Falls and had a look around. A nice woman I'm pretty sure was American took a photo of us in front of the falls and then we posed for photos of each of us pretending to climb over a fence with a no climbing sign on it. We are just too funny. There were some cops standing on a bridge over the river looking down and I commented that policemen on a bridge looking down is usually a bad sign. We took some pictures of a sneaker floating in the river and I told her I was going to caption it "Murder Scene." Then we checked in and found out some guy had actually driven over the bridge and crashed in the water and died and so I deleted the pictures off my camera. Awkward. Oh! And I found a novel in the book exchange that was called something like, "His Convenient Marriage" and was labelled a "sexy romance" so obviously I read it. It was possibly the worst thing I've ever read in my life. Even the humor value wasn't enough.

Day 2: We wandered aroung Whangarei for a while, bought me a bathing suit at Glassons (which is like the best New Zealand store, so obviously Taupo doesn't have one), and had coffee at the cafe where our friend Steph had worked before she'd met us. It was a weird place. But we are weird people, so. The beauty of traveling with Clare is that we both have the same crazy ideas, so while normally I can talk myself out of, say, jumping in the cold ocean fully clothed, when someone else seconds it, it happens. Then we went from Whangarei to Whale Bay, a little beach Steph had told us to go to. It was kind of overcast, but that place was still amazing. It's like a Lost-style "Bush all the way to the beach" kind of bay, all secluded and gorgeous and amazing. So if you're ever in the area, skip all the other bays around there (there are many) and head to Whale Bay. Then we went up to Paihia, which is the main stop for most people in the Bay of Islands. We tried to go to Waitangi to check out the Treaty House (look it up, I don't care to explain about the Waitangi Treaty. It's the usual white guys/natives deal of "We'll respect you if you don't scalp us; here have some smallpox blankets in exchange for all your land"), but it turns out the Treaty House costs like $20 to see, so instead we went to the gift shop and took some brochures and the kid playsheets. Then we went back to our hostel and hung out for the night. I think that's when we watched "The Wedding Date" which is a terrible, terrible movie, but it features Amy Adams and Clare and I think Amy Adams is our new favorite actress.

Day 3: I got up early to check out the bay on a bright and sunny day. I wandered around Paihia, then went on the ferry over to Russell, which is a lovely little town for about 20 minutes and then gets kind of boring. It's beautiful and has little cafes and a general store and about 800 inns and a cute little beach. Also home to the oldest church in New Zealand. I think it dates from the '70s or something. Anyway, from there I booked a half-day tour of the bay. I'd heard the full-day one was better, but I'd not realized Russell would be so barely interesting (although I repeat: lovely, so it's not like I spent the morning in some hellhole), so I didn't have time. I did a beautiful half-day tour of the bay, which is difficult to describe, I guess. I took photos, I'll show you. We went out to the Hole in the Rock (it's a specific hole in a specific rock) and we saw a few dolphins that didn't feel like entertaining us, and just generally strolled by numerous picturesque islands. Then I came back to the hostel, and learned that Clare had spent the day straightening her hair, buying wine and potato chips at Woolworth's, and making those little paper fortune-tellers. One was New Zealand-themed and one was Canada-themed. Oh, and she wrote egg puns all over our carton of eggs. Have I mentioned that I absolutely adore Clare? Yeah. So then we sat on the beach together for a while while I drank the beer I found in the free food fridge at the hostel (score!). Then we went inside and watched some TV, and while we were watching Shortland Street (amaaaaaaaaaazing New Zealand soap), this group of rugby players from some military base near Auckland came over to talk to us. They were kind of wasted and it was hilarious. So we were entertained by them for a while, with a brief pause while I freaked out because the preview for the next episode of Shortland St said that someone was going to DIE and then we tried to figure out who it was (side note: I said Shanti and I was totally riiiight. I rooooock). After hanging out for a while longer, we went to bed and I did this one sudoku I'd pulled out of a paper like a week prior. I'm nothing if not devoted. OH! Also while we were hanging out, Clare went to do something so I grabbed a GQ off the table because it was literally the only magazine in English. So I was flipping through it reading about how to buy a leather jacket (side note: GQ is kind of boring) and I accidentally closed it and on the back was a full-page watch ad featuring David Duchovny! I then began to talk to him a lot and occasionally talk to Clare as David. It was awesome.

Day 4: Clare, David, and I departed Paihia for Kerikeri. First stop: Fudge shop we found a brochure for. Delicious fudge breakfast: check. We got triple chocolate (my choice), mint chocolate (Clare's), and lemon meringue (an agreement, which wound up being both of our favorites). Then we drove through historic Kerikeri and stopped at "The Stone Shop" which was...the first shop? I don't know. Half of it was ye olde tyme-y thyngs, and the other half was really awesome random cool New Zealand stuff that I wish I'd bought more of. I spend a lot of time in souvenir shops in Aussie talking about how I wish I had more New Zealand crap. Anyway, Clare bought me a ribbon I just realized I haven't seen in a while and now I'm inwardly panicking. Calm. Down. So then we drove back to the Kerikeri town, which is lovely and way less touristy and way more nice than Paihia. And only 20 minutes away. If you go to the Bay of Islands, stay in Kerikeri. And go to a Middle Eastern restaurant called Cafe Jerusalem, I think, and get the Vegetarian Pita. It has falafel and some other spicey thing and it's the most delicious thing ever. So post-pita, we kept driving up the coast. We took a turn onto this random unsealed road that pointed us towards Kauri trees which are these massive ancient New Zealand trees and oh. my. god. Probably one of the best days of my life. Kauri trees are magnificent and they lead up to this MASSIVE one that is bigger than I even imagined and yeah. Words escape me. I believe I remarked, whilst hugging this one tree, that I thought I was happier than I'd ever been in my life. Amazing. When I said I wanted to go to the Bay of Islands, I said that I wanted to do 2 things: sit on the beach and see a kauri tree. The beach days weren't so great (whatever, now I'm in Australia), but the trees did not disappoint. Then we drove back over the crazy country backroad, and we found Taylor Swift on the radio and we. love. Taylor. If I ever meet Kanye West, I have a piece of my mind with his name on it.
Anyway. We then picked up a hitchhiker who smelled bad and was going to somewhere in Doubtless Bay. But he didn't murder us, so. We dropped him off with some friends of his who then passed us on the road. Then we stopped at a couple of pretty beaches but it wasn't the best day. Then we drove a little onto 90-Mile Beach (which is not 90 miles long. Apparently the guy who named it was like, "That beach is so long, it must be 90 miles!" and it's nothing near that, but the name stuck). Now, I mean it when I say "drove onto" because many people drive along 90-Mile Beach, but Clare, with her not-great car, should NOT be one of those people. She tried, and we got stuck, and luckily some friendly strangers helped us push it out. Then we walked for a bit on the beach, then Clare somehow convinced me that it'd be OK if we waded in the water and one soaked pair of the only pants I brought with me on the trip, I was changing clothes in a beach parking lot into a pair of Clare's cargo pants. Then we went to Ahipara, which is just south of 90-Mile Beach on the west coast of the North Island and I'd never heard of it before but sweet Jesus was it gorgeous. Here was the beachfront hostel looking out over beautiful blue waters with a gorgeous landscape I'd been looking for. Amazing.

Day 5: We started off with a swim in not-too-warm waters at the beack across from the hostel. Then we stopped at the Kauri Showroom and I played in the Kauri staircase. Then we retraced our steps from the previous days because it was beautiful out and I wanted to see some of the Doubtless Bay beaches we'd missed. Stopped at a few lovely, lovely beaches including the secluded Taupo Bay. Which we went to because of the name, but was still really effin' gorgeous. Apparently very safe, too, but we didn't wind up swimming again. Then we stopped for fish 'n chips (or in my case, mussels 'n chips) in Paihia and then we got ice cream and then took some photos of us and David enjoying ice cream. Then we drove some more and on the way, we heard Taylor's "You Belong With Me" which is NOT my fave of hers, but IS the one they play at Mulligan's all the time, so we belted it. Only we started to lose the radio station, so I scrolled a little to find it again, and we kept singing. I found it, but we were way off on where in the song it was. But then the last verse started again and we realized that we hadn't found the radio station, another radio station was playing the same song and then we got to hear MORE! Let's all take a moment: SHE WEARS SHORT-SHORTS, I WEAR T-SHIRTS/SHE'S CHEER CAPTAIN AND I'M ON THE BLEACHERS! Love it. So we finished up our day in...somewhere I can't remember the name of. It was like Mangipara Heights or something, but there were only 6 of us at the hostel and I KNEW one of the girls! Crazy! I walked in and looked at her and we were both like, "We....know each other!" I don't remember her name, but we met in Kaikoura in June and we hung out for like 3 days! The two of us and another German girl and a Canadian girl! It was great fun and kind of awesome to see her again. Then I showered and Clare set off the smoke alarm making an egg and then we watched Monster-In-Law, which is a movie starring J. Lo and the hot guy from Alias (Michael Vartan) and begs the question: how far has Jane Fonda fallen that she is appearing in movies like this? Also stars Wanda Sykes, who is the one redeeming thing (next to Michael Vartan's smile) in the film. I'll repeat it: this is a movie in which WANDA SYKES is the high point. It makes The Wedding Date look like Citizen Kane.

Day 6: We headed on back to Auckland (at one point David slid off the dashboard and turned on the windshield wipers. Oh, David! You scamp!), did a little shopping, and I caught the 7:50pm bus back to Taupo. Got in just in time to share a cab with my drunk, drunk friends. Who goes out on a Monday night? Based on the miserable faces on Tuesday morning, everyone.

Anyway, that was my Bay of Islands spectacular. Hopefully I didn't miss anything important. I mean, I mentioned the falafel and the trees, so I think we are covered. Now comment!

It's 16 miles to the promised land

Hello, all! If anyone is still reading this. I'm feeling like posting, so here we go. Here's what I'm not talking about, in a brief rundown:
I'm not taking up after I left off, with leaving Dunedin. For anyone following along at home, I believe from there I did Wanaka, which was actually pretty cool. Wanaka is lovely. Then I went to Queenstown briefly, then did Milford Sound which is AMAZING but hard to describe. I'll show you all pictures. Then back in Queenstown for a day, then back to Christchurch to spend some time with Lisa (remember? Lisa was here?), then straight up to Taupo via Wellington, hung out with that lot for a bit, then a brief stop in Auckland and then I came home and visited you.
I'm not talking about when I came back and hung out with Ben for a while and probably annoyed the hell out of Lisa, or how I spent like a month and a half in Christchurch, or the amazing trip I took with Ben (that will have its day, though, because that trip rocked), or the little side trip to Kaikoura I took on my own and met awesome people, or how I gave up and went back to Taupo and had like the greatest 4 months of my life with completely incredible people who leave me trying to thesaurus-up some synonyms for "amazing." You know who you are.
I'm not talking about the hangover-cure trip to Napier, even though that was a blast. It was just a picnic on the ocean with an A+ car trip where both cars got pulled over, neither got ticketed (ours was a seatbelt check, we weren't speeding like some people), and our car nearly ran out of petrol.
I'm not talking about Clare and Katey's Excellent Bay of Islands Adventure with Special Guest, David Duchovny but, oh. That will have its post because that. was. awesome.
Then I had another few days of Awesome in Taupo, including not one but TWO great nights out and then I left and sobbed on the bus to Auckland and then I got to Aussie and sort of love/hated it because it wasn't New Zealand but THEN I got to what I AM going to talk about:
I went to Kangaroo Iiiiiiiiiiiiiislaaaaaaaaaaaaaand. And I just got back 2 hours ago!
OK, so. Kangaroo Island is this little island off of the Fleurieu Penninsula. Near Adelaide. We drove on over from Adelaide (Jess called me while I was at the beach and I got VERY PSYCHED) and got on the insanely expensive ferry in order to experience the Ferry Ride From Hell. I don't get seasick much and we all took ginger seasickness pills and we had those little bands that help with it, too, and yet. And. Yet. First I fell spectacularly (I can't even explain this fall, other than I wish someone had filmed it so that I could laugh even more. I was almost to my seat from getting the sickness bags and I bounced back into the wall, bounced again, somehow lost my shoe, and landed on the ground. Funniest. Fall. Ever), then I had to sit outside and will myself not to vomit whilst Jess was vomiting next to me and I can tell you're really into this story, so I'll skip it. Longest hour of my life.
Then we got in and camped at our first campsite! We didn't really do much else that night except cook on a lovely free barbeque and drink some wine. The next day it was kind of cloudy, so we did honey and wine day! We went to 2 honey farms and sampled a lot. Purchased some delicious honey. Then we went to the Emu Farm Eucalyptus distillery and maybe one of you is getting a little eucalyptus oil as part of a gift! Also, I did sample emu oil, which was awesome, but I'm pretty sure is made from emus, so I don't know how I feel. There was also a kangaroo there! A little one! A cute one who loved me, probably because I renamed her Mariah Carey. Which, judging from the way she went after the scarves on sale, was a pretty good name. Then we sampled a few wines from this lovely man at Bay of Shoals winery. Jess and I purchased a Rose and an award-winning 2006 Riesling. Elaina got a Shiraz. Then we camped at another site with a secret beach that was beaaaauuutiful. I went for a swim in the rock pool, although it was quite chilly. They laughed at me. That night we had grilled zucchini as part of our meal and it was so delicious I can't even tell you. Also enjoyed our new honey with soy sauce and ginger on instant noodles. Better than it sounds. Oh! That night the wildlife was a little intense. There were bandicoots (look it up) and bushtailed possums and feral cats and more kangaroos! Not snakes, thank god. I tried to befriend one kangaroo (Luther Vandross), but only wound up falling. Again. I've been told it was an awesome fall, and would be the greatest fall Elaina's ever seen, but she saw me fall on the ferry. Also, perhaps I should be using my internet time to purchase health insurance.
The next day, Elaina informed us that she'd heard scary noises at night in the tent, and something that sounded like a wild boar. Frightening. We cooked our breakfast over the gas stove, which took some time. Then we saw the Remarkable Rocks, which ARE truly remarkable. They are pretty effin cool. Then we went to Admirals Arch, which was also beautiful except there were a lot of seals there and seals are stinky. Really. Ugh, trying to remember what else we did on days is hard! However, I'm now listening to Miley's "Party in the USA" so it's all good. Repeat. Indefinitely. Anyone looking for a Christmas present for me, I'll be wanting whatever CD features this and also the Hannah Montana movie. Also should mention I have massive credit card debt and may not be buying presents. But the immediate fam will be receiving gifts, fear not. Speaking of which, I may have spotted a Paul Kelly poster in the stairwell of this hostel. Spoiler alert! I'm stealing it.
Anyway. We didn't hit other wineries that day, so what did we do....That was the day we slept really late and then spent ages trying to cook eggs on a teeny gas burner, so it took more time to leave. Remarkable Rocks and Seal day. Possible that was it. I'll get back to you. Oh! Jess met this lady in the bathroom of our campsite who told her she'd just gotten a fright from a goana (look it up) who also informed her that she'd seen some brown snakes (super-poisonous) around there. So there was some healthy terror that night. However, then that night she and her husband came over and talked to us in the barbeque area for hours! They weren't the couple who cooked alongside us and laughed when I acted out Elaina murdering Jess (side note: Elaina is a nurse, and though she has never performed one, is "about 99% positive" she could perform a successful emergency tracheotomy. With a pen. Like George Clooney in that episode of ER where the kid is stuck in the storm drain! Have you seen that one? It's a good one). I liked that guy, too. But this couple came over with wine and warned us of the snakes, so I liked them. We wound up not seeing any snakes that night, but I slept in the front seat of the car rather than the tent. Fear.
The next day was a big day. We went sandboarding!! Sandboarding is like sledding on sand rather than snow (can also be like snowboarding on sand, but we were not confident enough to stand). It was so much fun, I can't even tell you. I wasn't even scared! A little, but not much, even though I recently learned I am afraid of heights! It was so fun. I got sand EEEEEEEEVERYWHERE and sunburned my shoulders (stupid), but it was incredible. Then we returned the sand boards and what did we do. Oh! We went to kingscote. We stopped at Vivonne Bay which was where we slept, but hadn't seen much of it. It was absolutely gorgeous. I had some trouble with my camera, though, due to the immense amount of sand swallowed by it. When I get money, I'll have to buy a new camera and try to refrain from abusing it so. It worked a little. THEN we went to Seal Bay to see not seals, but Australian Sea Lions! They are endangered, so I capitalized it. Oh, before that we stopped at a gas station where my credit card was declined so I used Dad's. I'll pay you back, sorry. It was for petrol and a bag of Doritos I ate in 2 days, so it was kind of important. However, citicard didn't get declined at the sea lion place, so I don't know. Anyway, sea lions are MASSIVE. They get up to like 300 kilos, which is a lot. They look like bears when they come out of the water! The babies are teeny, though, so that's amazing. Sea Lions rock, and my camera worked enough for me to get a few pictures in. So yay!
That was Thursday, I think. That night we got a seafood dinner from this little stand actually inside a Caltex petrol station, which sounds reputable. But the cool girl from the ferry ride was there! So we got to see her. And we filled up on fried food. I believe I said, "Mmm, beans on toast for breakfast, Doritos for lunch, and seafood basket for dinner. It's a good life." Then we went down to the beach by Kingscote to look for penguins coming in to bed. It took ages and we didn't see any and it was cold. End of discussion. We didn't pay for a tour, we just tried to sneak, so.
Then we camped at American River and American River, in addition to being named after the greatest country in the world, had SHOWERS. I shouldn't tell you how long I'd been without a shower, but it was a while. The shower was timed for 3 minutes, and then the water wouldn't go for 5 minutes. Bitchy. So I did one 3-minute shower, popped into the other shower, did 3 minutes there, then came back. Outsmarted! Anyway, then we got up early for PELICAN FEEDING! It was really cool, and the lady who did it was very nice. We like her. She could tell the pelicans apart! Very talented. So we watched that, then we drove around until we found coffee. Elaina bought a teen magazine that told us all about the new Twilight movie (it's possible I might need to read Twilight, I think I would adore it) AND came with a hat and sunglasses! Score! Then we had a full day ahead of us! First we climbed Prospect Hill, which wasn't too steep but I should mention that that wasn't my first bag of Doritos on the trip, so it took some time. Then we went to a number of local art galleries and art shops before stopping at Sunset winery. There we enjoyed an amazing sparkling shiraz. Also enjoyed an antipasto platter and a sampling of 6 wines! FYI their sav blanc is delightful, but not as good as the sparkling shiraz and I don't even like red wine much. From Sunset we went to Penneshaw, found out about THEIR penguins and wandered around the town. I got a chakra bracelet at this new age store and I don't know what that means, but I love my bracelet. We also saw the entire town in about 20 minutes, so. Then we went to a lavendar farm! You didn't even know they had farms, did you? They do. It was us and this old folks home and I think the guy liked us since we were under 90, so he was especially nice. Also a plus: Crazy old ladies! Gotta love 'em. The guy let us sample some lavendar fudge, but they didn't have enough to sell to us, which is a travesty as lavendar fudge is, it turns out, delicious. He also gave us tips on things to see around there and had us try some lavendar candy, which I then purchased because it was good. Then we headed over to the Sheep Dairy! SHEEP FARM, SHEEP FARM! For what, you ask? SHEEP CHEESE, SHEEP CHEESE. First we had to wait for the sheep to cross the road, which was soooo coooool. They're funny. Then we didn't go on the tour, because we just wanted to sample the cheeses. Even though some KI sheep cheese was on our antipasto platter (they are huge there on the promoting of local businesses. We kept seeing the same things everywhere, it was great). Then I got some mango sheep yogurt. Not too shabby! But I love yogurt, so. Then we went to KI Spirits, which is this distillery that is seriously in this rundown building around a corner. Awesome. However, in this little rundown building I had the best gin I've ever had in my life, so that's something. They have gin and vodka and loads of little liquers and a vodka mixed with semaphire and I can't even explain how great this place was. I got a honey and walnut thing that I hope to bring home for Christmas or possibly break all over my luggage. Then we went into Kingscote so that Elaina could make a phone call and Jess and I got a beer at the Sip 'n' Save to honor its name and I was a little drunk. Then we went back to our first campsite (symmetry!) and set up, then we went to Penneshaw to see the penguins. Once more we waited for ages in the cold, but this time we saw a penguin!! Just one, but he came right up to us because I'm pretty sure we were too close to the water, but who cares! We saw an adorable little penguin! Too cute.
So then we went to bed and this morning was another glorious day on Kangaroo Island, but we had to leave. Sad. So we got some breakfast at a cute little cafe (because we used the last of our bread last night with some sheep cheese) and got on the ferry. This ride was lovely, it was hard to say goodbye. Sunny and mild and great. As we pulled away from Kangaroo Island, we even saw dolphins! That is because Kangaroo Island just keeps on giving. We saw a number of dolphins alongside the ferry, actually. Australia rocks.

I'm not buying it either but I'll try selling it anyway

Oh, hello there, blog-type thing. I haven't really written anything in, like, 3 months. But if it makes you feel any better, my "daily" journal entries also have been lacking since I left dear Lisa's side in early June. I know, I'm useless. But some of you get phone calls from me so there's that. Anyway, I wanted to say hello. And I just realized it's 4am, so. Um...quick notes!

Today I watched bits of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Clare and MJ and Ruth, then called Allie and talked to her for roughly an hour and a half, then watched the end of O, Brother Where Art Thou? which, incidentally, rocked. Then I went to work, where nothing happened except ever table but the cute French girls did something to bother me and there were only like 8 tables so I talked to the other staff a lot. I stole Susanmarie's onion rings and told her about how the very first X-File that scared me was Folie a Deux (look it up), notably that part where Mulder's in the psychiatric hospital (where, let's face it, he belongs most of the time) and he's all belted to the bed and the light throws a shadow of branches onto his window and then the branches move and THEY ARE THE SCARY GIANT BUG CREATURE! and this is important because I realized the other night that the streetlight outside my window casts a simliar branches-and-plants shadow on my wall and it scares me a little every night. Then I went home and Clare was having a dinner party and I revealed to all that I am kind of neurotic at times and Team North America lost at Cranium because, I'm sorry, ROBBIE WILLIAMS WASN'T FAMOUS THERE.

Yesterday I went to work at 10am and on the way a Hobbiton Movie Tours bus passed me and I wanted to hug everyone. Then work was insane, which is maybe how the weekend mornings are, but I usually spend those in bed, so. Then they let me go and I had a delicious coffee and read for a bit (Ali Smith's Hotel World because apparently she and Jeanette Winterson are friends so I feel I should like her more than I did when I didn't finish The Accidental 2 years ago) and then I called my little parents who are delightful. Then it was pouring, so I stopped by MJ's work to apologize for that time I texted her and told her to meet me at a cafe then was talking to said parents and wandered away. Then I wandered for some more and resigned myself to going back to work early because I had nothing else to do in town and when I got there, Andie AND Lyndsey were there and they were delightful up until they left. Then I worked for a while longer, and I had some enjoyable customers and a few regulars came in and ordered a Dixie platter, which we fully do not have on the menu anymore so the kitchen kind of made it up and they let me eat their whole ramekin of olives and it was a highlight. Then I came home and collapsed on the couch before MJ and Ruth came home and put on Bridget Jones's Diary. We're so very exciting.

Anyway, I just remembered that I'm meant to do things tomorrow and can't really sleep until 1pm then, can I? It's 4am, as I said. I wanted to let you know I'm alive and I think that's accomplished that. It's time where when we plan parties, when I'm leaving must be taken into account. I'm not entirely certain how I'm going to leave when the time comes. Also, I got bitten by New Zealand's one poisonous thing (it's the white-tailed spider. Look it up) so I'm worrying that a month's jaunt over to Australia, the poison capital of the world, might be the stupidest idea I ever did come up with. Obviously I should go to South Africa instead.

I love you all!

If you want to come over tonight that's fine because I have no plans

Now this is the part of the story where I talk about the Week I Spent With People I Know. It's fun and all to make friends in hostels, but what is SUPER fun is if you can locate people you already know and travel with them. So! Post-Franz Josef Walk of Death, I departed Franz Josef to go back the way I came, towards Arthurs Pass. But first, I walked out front to wait for my bus, which was conveniently picking me up from my hostel, god bless Atomic Shuttles, and I ran into my former flatmate Jimmy! What are the odds. Actually, no, it was totally crazy, because I think I see people I know all the time (mostly Liana) but this time it actually WAS that person! It was nuts! Also, I should mention that we are on Saturday, the 21^st of March and it begins the week I spent with people I knew. It was really cool, actually, to just hang out with friends and not have to play getting-to-know-you. So I ran into Jimmy and we exclaimed about how exciting it was and then we chatted about where he'd been and where he was going. He was still traveling with Tom, but unfortunately Tom was still sleeping. So then my bus arrived because I wasn't out there THAT early and we said our farewells. It was pretty awesome, and then I texted Kira and she was all, “That's great, but when are you coming to Queenstown?” Difficult, as I was now heading in the opposite direction: back to Arthurs Pass! So I got there, met up with Sabina, and we had a bit of a wander. Checked out the Department of Conservation iSite to get info on what walks to do there and where to camp. Then we were going to go do the Devils Punchbowl Falls track, but that wound up being “Sitting in this restaurant eating fries and catching up.” Classy. So then we went back out into the car and I saw a blur of green and orange and I was like, “Was that a kea? Did you just see a kea?” referring, of course, to New Zealand's native parrot, the world's only alpine parrot. So then I grabbed the Arthurs Pass guide we'd purchased and I found a picture of a kea in flight, all green top-feathers and orange under-wing and I was like, “This! This! I just saw this!” Sabina thought I was crazy. Possibly because then I jumped out of the car and pointed excitedly at a bobbing tree branch. ....Jumping up and down. It was my first kea, you guys! Don't judge, they're really cute and they're attention-seekers and they steal stuff if you leave it out. They're smart! So eventually Sabina got me back in the car and then we camped! It was....camping! Well, we slept in the car and stuff, but the car was in the woods and there were various woods-activities and it was...charming. Truly, I was charmed. For that day. Like, drinking coffee in the sun-drenched valley was pretty awesome. So then we packed up and went into town to do the Bealey Valley Track. Most people do Avalanche Peak in Arthurs Pass, but Sabina had just done the Mueller Hut track and I'd just done Franz, so we were both not up for a 6-hour mountain hike. So we went out there on a non-mountainous, 3-4 hour hike. It was crazy, because you enter the woods and it's this total fairy wonderland. Green, green moss and ancient-looking trees, and probably gnomes or something. Awesome. So we walked a bit and sidetracked to this stream with a waterfall, where I hopped out on some rocks to the middle of the stream. Because sometimes being an adult is exactly like you thought it would be when you were a kid, and no one can stop you climbing out into the middle of the stream on rocks. Then we headed across a thoroughly charming bridge over to more woodland areas. And then we came out into this valley where you could see one of the peaks (Avalanche peak? One of the glaciers around there? Who knows) and it was very valley-y. Like the kind of smooth grass in that scene in Bambi where all the woodland creatures are running through the field. You know, with the hunters. Only it was death-free, so far as I know. Then back into another wooded dreamworld, and then out into what I think was the actual Bealey Valley. There was a bit of a stream rolling through and tons of fallen rocks that you hiked on. So we climbed on those for a while, which was sometimes easier said than done and occasionally we took different tracks and I was usually proved to have made things too difficult for myself. Then eventually we got to this sign that was like, “Beware! Falling Rocks! Do not cross!” and we were like, “Does that mean it's the end of the trail?” We walked a little further, like you do, but couldn't see anymore orange trail-markers, so we went back to the big rocks we had taken pictures on and ate a little lunch. Then we headed back the way we came and I attempted to capture on film the eerie fairytale-type woods. Also we could see this awesome waterfall from far away and we wondered if it was the Devils Punchbowl Falls, but we couldn't tell. Then we stopped for coffee and a break, then went on the Falls track. Oh, and I spotted another kea – on the ground this time – and may or may not have followed it for like 100 meters with my camera out. This track was really easy and really gorgeous, only there is a lot of upward-climbing. I think you could actually combine the Falls track and the Valley track that we did with another trail, but that might've been a little much. So we went up and up and up some stairs until we got to a pretty stunning waterfall, and I took about 5 billion pictures that I later deleted like 4,999,999,990 of when I needed the space in Milford Sound. But then it was impressive. Although my still-recovering body was not crazy about the stairs and there was a lot of hopping.

So then that night I once more ran into Jimmy, which is kind of crazy. Twice in as many days and I hadn't seen him since he moved out in January. So then he led us to Tom and we had a joyous reunion. Also, they were traveling with this girl Isabelle, who I actually also knew. She was, like, the first person I met in New Zealand. We arrived on the same day and had the same room in Auckland. It's a small, small country. So we had dinner there and hung out for a while. And then we began to discuss “tomorrow” and how Sabina was heading to Kaikoura, but I pretty much had no clue where to go now, since I'd interrupted the old itinerary. When Sabina and I first planned to meet, she'd texted our mutual friend Helen and then Helen had texted me and I knew that Helen was going to be in Dunedin on Tuesday. So I was thinking of heading down there. Tom told me that Oamaru was lovely and filled with wildlife, and he told me not to miss it. So I planned it in. I then had a lovely, lovely shower (seriously, the van-sleeping is charming for like one night) and we went to bed.

In the morning, I woke up the boys to say goodbye, then woke them up again to push-start Sabina's car. Then she drove me to Amberley, with a quick stop in Springfield to take a picture of the giant Simpsons Donut that they put up for the premiere of The Simpsons Movie. Oh, New Zealand, you so cute. Then I got a bus from Amberley to Christchurch, hung out in Cathedral Square for 2 hours, then caught a bus from Chch to Oamaru. Got in way too late, and hungry, and irritated (and I didn't even KNOW that the late hour would cause me to miss the penguins coming in at night!). Checked in to the Empire Hotel and was informed that my dorm was empty but for me, was that ok? Only amazing. So I had my own room! Naturally it took me like 10 minutes to decide which bed I wanted to sleep in. Then I ate and then I watched High Fidelity and then I went to bed. Exciting! I had all of the next day because my bus to Dunedin was late. So I hopped up and got coffee and then took a walk out to the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. I took a tour of it, which was kind of a waste although I learned about the Penguin Colony and I tried to suck up to the guide, but she still wouldn't let me touch a penguin. So then I was pointed towards this totally awesome cliff walk. They were like, “It says the trail is closed, but you'll be fine.” So I went on a cliff walk and I saw a shag. Actually, I saw two shags. They were not shagging though. Actually they were like fighting for the same rock, which I thought was kind of crappy. I mean, there are tons of rocks, you don't need to LITERALLY bite that other shag's head (not off) until he flies away. Don't piss off a shag, you guys, they're crazy.

So I walked on this cliff walk until I got to a beach! Exciting! I was hoping for some seals, but no go. I couldn't really see the end of the beach, though, so I looked for an easy route off of the big boulder I was on and onto the beach. And then I noticed the giant seal right next to me. Remember that thing about not getting between a seal and the ocean? Yeah, I did not want to cross this seal (literally or figuratively), so I kind of just sat next to him for a while and talked about the weather. Well, not really. But once I sat down he was all, “Be cool” and we were fine. After a while, I left and headed back up the cliffs. Then I was lost in the woods for a while, because I misread where I was on the map. I did manage to find my way to the top of the hill, though, and from there I could access some residential streets and from there I could get to Bushy Beach Road. Which was sort of boring, only kind of fun because all the sheep like stop their grazing to stare at you while you walk by. It's like they've never seen an ipod before or something. Sheep. Anyway, got to the end of the road and there was, in fact, a beach. Featured here is the yellow-eyed penguin colony, and also Tom said there were loads of seals. So I headed down to the beach to wander. And there were, in fact, loads of seals. The seal-novelty was kind of wearing off, though, because these guys were not interesting. One of them was flapping his flippers in the air while he sat there, that was cute. Then, up ahead there was one frolicking. So I wanted to check out the frolicking! Duh. So I headed down, but as I got closer, he frolicked his way into the ocean. But then I noticed a dark spot on the beach and I realised that it was A PENGUIN!!! These guys are way more exciting when you see them in the wild, and not in the colony box. But still. So this was a blue penguin, the smallest and cutest of all the penguins. I was thrilled. I sat near him for a while, hoping he would not run away, even though I kind of wanted to see him waddle. But then I thought that he wouldn't waddle towards me, and he might waddle into the ocean if I scared him, and I know from my extensive penguin research (that one time I saw March of the Penguins) that seals eat penguins and I did not want this little guy to be seal food. Also, Dad, you don't need to check your postcard, I totally reused that March of the Penguins joke. It's really good, OK? It makes me happy. Stop judging me. Anyway, after I while I went back into town and had dinner and wrote a bunch of adorable penguin postcards that many people have already gotten and then my bus showed up.

I'm torn now on whether to end on Oamaru, or to finish the day. To finish the day! Hopped a bus to Dunedin, caught a taxi from the railway station to the hostel (Helen had warned me that the hostel was very, very uphill and therefore I might not want to carry all my stuff there, and also I arrived at 9pm in a strange town with no real idea of where I was. So, yeah, taxi), and got into my room. Then I texted Helen all, “Here I am, where are you?” and then the door across the hall flew open and she came out of the TV room. It was a joyous reunion. Then we stayed up way too late chatting, and then we talked to the Canadian girl and guy of non-remembered nationality who were also in our room before we went to bed.

So Helen was spending like 5 days in Dunedin, which was kind of a lot for me, but Helen is pretty cool so I did it anyway. We also ran into Joe, who I had worked with in Taupo, but that was before Helen's time there. So that was crazy. We did a Cadbury World tour, which was about as awesome as it sounds. You get a hairnet and they give you all sorts of free candy and they take you through the factory and EVERYTHING SMELLS SO GOOD. My god. BVS went on this, too, and he got crappy candy, so I will share what we got: Chocolate Fish (pink marshmallow covered in chocolate. It's like really iconic Kiwi candy, apparently. Doesn't make it less gross), a mini Dairy Milk (this was just me, for saying I liked the cacao bean we tried), a couple of mini Crunchies (this is a honey-thing surrounded by chocolate, and it seems like it's going to be gross, and it kind of is if you have a lot. So a mini is a good size), a full-sized Moro Bar (picture a Milky Way, only really, really awesome), and that might be it. I feel like there was more, but I ate some during the tour, too. HUMAN. Oh my god, you guys, the smell in that place. Heaven. And then the store had cheap, cheap chocolate, so I bought a Duos bar, which is Dairy Milk and dark chocolate and it's awesome. I love me a Carmello, but the Duos are pretty amazing, too. Oh! And I purchased this adorable thing that I left at home when I visited because I love it. I put it on the little picture board in my room if you want to go see it. It is this little magnetic skunk with a cadbury bow on it and it is SO SOFT. You can put the magnets on so that they wrap around your finger and then you can rub its soft, soft little face and it makes you feel happy to be alive. Go try it. I played with this thing for days, ask Helen. It never got less cute.

What else did we do. We did a Speights Tour! I'd already done the Monteiths Tour, but the Speights tour was a better tour. They take you through these decorated rooms and sometimes there are mannequins and they sometimes have recorded lines and it's so Disney and great. Well, crappy Disney. Like Hall of Presidents awesome, only not boring. We also met up with our friend Bridget, who's going to uni out in Dunedin. And on Cadbury day, I came into the TV room and these 2 girls were watching House Season 4 and they had been since like 11am and I watched with them for the rest of the night. Only I couldn't watch the last episode of that season because it makes me cry. And we were there for the start of the Fringe Festival which is this performance art festival with bands and dancers and comedians and singers and artists and sword-swallowers. It was fun to wander around during opening day, even if we were leaving before it really got in full swing.

Dunedin was really fun, but it doesn't have as many great stories, I think. There was a lot more relaxing and wandering around town. Pleasant, though. Actually, I think Dunedin's a really cool city, if you ever get yourself out to New Zealand. Highly recommended.

So I said goodbye to Helen and then I met Kira for breakfast before my bus to Wanaka, as she was getting into Dunedin as I was leaving. This was pretty sad, and actually we'll see a repeat of the "Our trip actually overlaps, but due to lapses in technology we don't know this until almost too late and then we spend about an hour together before one of us leaves" storyline when I hit Picton with Ben, but that's a long way off for now.

If you want to find yourself by traveling out west

OK, you guys, so last night while Lisa was at dance I wrote up the whole glacier trip story, AND then I did my week from Franz Josef to Dunedin. And I was just going to update once, but then I was like, "I HAVE the entry about the west coast, I should post it" so I am. So what I'm saying is, scroll down and read "There are no bad words for the coast today" first, and then this one because that's the order. And I'm done with the next week, but I'll wait a little while to post it because I don't want to overload you. Dude, unemployed--in-Chch Kate is so useful to you guys, she writes about everything. Onwards!

The TranzAlpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth is meant to be one of the greatest train rides in the world, and it was indeed quite majestic. It cuts across the middle of the South Island so you see all these moutains and things. I'm crap at explaining, but it's beautiful. I'm also crap at pictures, so I don't have any. Ben's toyed with the idea of taking the train, so maybe he will and he will have pictures. Also, it was rainy on the West coast, so mine wouldn't be so lovely. Also, pictures aren't really that useful when the most impressive part is the bigness of everything. You know what I mean? Maybe you do.

So I got to Greymouth, where it was helpfully pouring down rain. And my hostel was helpfully really far away. As you can tell, I'm using the word “helpfully” with sarcasm. Keep up. Anyway, I eventually gave up on carrying my backpack so far in the rain (see: Wellington) and so I got the iSite to call the hostel and they came to pick me up. Now, when I got to the Global Village hostel, I was quite impressed and I'll tell you why. I often use the adjectives “cute” or “adorable” to describe the hostels I stay in. I like “cute” and “adorable.” Probably my favorite hostel of all is the one I'm in now in Christchurch church, which has a Steel Magnolias poster and guinea pigs. You can't GET much cuter than guinea pigs, even if that white one totally ran away from me today when I tried to pet it. Dude, what was up with that? Anyway, the hostel in Greymouth was not cute or adorable. It was straight-up nice. Nice bathrooms, nice bedrooms, nice kitchen, nice everything. NICE. Probably the nicest hostel I have ever stayed in, and leagues ahead of some hotels I've stayed in. If you ever find yourself in Greymouth, New Zealand, stay at Global Villages. It's like 3 miles away or something, but it's totally worth it. ANYway, before I gave up on walking, I ran into this guy and our brief exchange went something like this:
Him: Big backpack.
Me: Don't I know it.
Him: Where are you off to?
Me: Attempting to locate my hostel. You?
Him: Same. I might just stay at the YHA. Any plans for tonight?
Me: Nope. Locate hostel, get out of the rain, eat something. That's as far as my plans go.
Him: Well, a bunch of people are going to this brewery tour thing at 6. It's like $25 and it includes dinner. You should come.
Me: OK, maybe.
Him: Cool. I'm gonna go use the ATM.
Now, this was sort of bizarre, but we take things in stride. Anyway, I was thinking about this and thinking that a brewery tour seemed fun and also dry, so I decided to do it. Also, the brewery in Greymouth is Monteith's, and Monteith's is really good, so I figured it was a win. Also, when people I barely know invite me to do things, my main concern is that I'll show up and they won't actually be there. However, in this case, I wasn't so invested in Random Guy showing up, I kind of just wanted to do the tour. So after locating the hostel, getting out of the rain, and eating something, I called up the number on the flyer I saw and booked for the tour. While waiting for my transport, I met some British folks who were also going to the tour, and I got to talking to them. We did the tour, which wasn't much, but the beer was good, and we moved on to the dinner, which also wasn't much but the beer was good. It was me, the 3 British people I'd met already, and some other people from the tour. It actually made for a really nice dinner. We stayed late, but the pub where dinner was never did get busy, so we left and I spent the rest of the evening in the British dorm chatting with Fi, one of the girls I'd met, and her Australian dormmate.

The next day, I talked to MY Australian dormmate, and then read for a while before my bus to Franz Josef. I finished Joyce Carol Oates's We Were the Mulvaneys, which was pretty damn good, and started some James Patterson novel called The Lake House (not the basis for the Sandra Bullock movie, I'm pretty sure, since this was “horror.” That's in quotes because it was pretty bad and not as horrifying as it thought it was. Or, possibly, as the Sandra Bullock movie) which was TERRIBLE. I've told many, many people how bad this was, and it turned out that Nich had read it years ago and she agrees. Do not read this book if you like reading. It will make you sad. Anyway, while in Greymouth, I texted my friend Sabina from Taupo all, “We should meet up at some point.” I'd liked the look of Arthur's (apostrophe? No apostrophe? Hell if I know, and the wireless here is by the hour and my computer says he'll die in 34 minutes – which is bullshit, FYI – so I'm not looking it up) Pass when I'd passed through it on the train, and I knew she'd already done much of the West Coast and was heading up the East (getting into Christchurch just in time to miss me, naturally), so I suggested we meet up there. She was noncommittal so I continued on my planned itinerary. FYI, my planned itinerary was as follows:
Greymouth -> Franz Josef Glacier -> Fox Glacier -> Wanaka -> Queenstown -> Lake Tekapo -> Christchurch -> Wellington -> Taupo -> Auckland -> USA

Well, well. So I went to Franz and I booked a half-day glacier tour, and then I wandered around the eensy town for a bit, and then I texted Sabina for a while and decided to meet up with her on Saturday, then e-mailed Nich about how I was booked for a half day tour but kind of secretly wanted a full-day one instead. So then I went and rebooked for a full-day tour.

Next day! Look at this, we are rolling right through.
So the glacier trip started at some obscenely early hour like 9am. Something like that. I went over and I paid the difference for my full-day tour, sat through the obligatory “If you have leg injuries or heart injuries or are pregnant or whatever, you might reconsider this one,” wisely ignored it because it's not like I ever have tons of pain in my right knee or anything, and then we collected stuff. You get like all of your stuff from the Glacier Guides place. So I got boots and special socks and then I took them all off and put tape all over my feet to prevent blisters. I then got cramp-ons, which are those spikey things you attach to your boots when you're walking on ice, say, or a glacier. Then we got gloves and a hat. I did not wear the hat, but the gloves were useful and it was also good that I had my own gloves for when the borrowed ones were soaked through. Then I got a special blue waterproof overcoat. Then we were on the bus!
So they bring you to the car park and they guide you down through this path and then you go on your very own I Paid For This Tour, Dammit trail through the rain forest. FACT TIME! New Zealand features two of the three glaciers in the world that feed into rain forests. And Franz Josef is one of them! As is Fox Glacier, just down the road from Franz (haven't been there yet, although BVS was set to go today, so hopefully), and some glacier in Patagonia. Anyway, so we got to the like glacial-bed-type-thing. This whole area of fallen rock and non-rain-forest that is where a river currently runs and the glacier used to be. I think. Anyway, so you get there (some of you have seen pictures!) and the glacier looks all close but it is NOT. So then you hike for a while, and then you head back into the rain forest and it wasn't raining, but there were little miniwaterfalls that we had to go through at times. Luckily the boots they give you are 1) not yours and 2) waterproof. So you have to like hold onto ropes and branches and stuff, and maybe if you're a superKiwi adventure-girl, you don't need to, but I was raised on Ruffles and TV, so I need ropes and the occasional piggyback. Kidding. Apparently I'm kind of good to hike with, says those people who've hiked with me. And I ate lemons while I watched TV. But that's neither here nor there. So I did OK. Still used the ropes, though, because waterfall-covered rocks are slippery, bet you didn't know that one.

Anyway, after going through the rain forest, which is kind of cool (especially a snake-free rain forest NEW ZEALAND IS FILLED WITH FUN FOR THE WHOLE SNAKE-FEARING FAMILY!), we got back to that rocky area and walked there for a little bit and then we got to the glacier face. In the pictures it looks more daunting, but I think that's camera angles. They make it seem like it's straight up and you have to like grab on with claw things and stuff. Not so. It's actually just a really steep staircase made of ice! I know, ice-staircase, you get it all in the Southern hemisphere. Anyway, there was another helpful rope-handle that you had to hold onto, not that you'd want to let go. So then you get up there and you walk on the ice! Woo! It's actually pretty interesting and one of those things that I wouldn't mind doing multiple times. Because unlike most hiking trails, the glacier is moving all the time, so you could go on today and have one experience and go on in a week and have a whole different one! Ace. Oh! A point! We started off as one big group, and then we split into 3 groups of....30, I think? Yeah. Based kind of on how much you think you can handle. So like Group A is the group that's gonna be, like, making the trail really, so you should have all kinds of mad skillz. Well, actually, I don't know if you need all kinds, but I do know that the first thing they said was “balance,” so I tuned out the rest. Then Group B is like intermediate and Group C is sort of the people who might need stuff set up a bit. You kind of make the train as you are on the trail, so by the time Group C gets there, it's pretty well set. Anyway, once we get to the glacier face, you split each group in half. So Group A becomes Groups 1 and 2, my Group B became Groups 3 (with me) and 4, and then Group C was 5 and 6. So then we get like a lecture about glaciers that I don't remember much of except when someone (possibly...Franz Josef...) started doing the glacier guiding, they would have the participants leave their shoes outside their door the night before and then they'd go around hammering nails through the bottom. So I am glad they don't do that anymore. So then we set off! Woo!

Back to the ice. We walked for a bit and I thought about how lovely it was and about how scary some of those holes in the ice that go waaaaaay down are and how all was good. My group was pretty cool, but that'll be more important later. Also, I knew none of their names. That's how it goes sometimes. Anyway, we stopped for lunch for a bit, and we got to slide through an ice cave (apparently Fox has more ice caves, but Franz is still considered superior. By...that girl I met at Mulligan's that time) and then we continued. I can't really think of other stuff to say. Oh, well, sometimes we'd get to these really steep little things that we had to go down and they'd screw in a little rope so that we could hold on. And it was kind of scary, but you could get halfway down and just swing down on the rope, which was fun. Also, I now am like totally trusting of ropes. So please do not fool me with a rope. Anyway! What else fun about the trip. Oh! At one point the guy in front of me who was from Chicago stepped down into this little puddle but it wasn't a big deal because it looked shallow, only it completely wasn't and he sunk in about halfway up his calf before he caught himself. So be careful where you step.

Anyway, so off we go around the glacier. It is sometimes challenging, but in general, great fun. Then our guide, Simon, is like, “I need to go help the first two guides finish up the track” which is, you know, reassuring. So we stop for a while, which is nice because then you sort of cool down from hiking. The Group 4 guide passes us. We hang out. Now we've passed “cool down” and the jackets come back out. They often got stored away during the hike. Then it's been like 20 minutes and we're like, “Where...is...anyone.” Eventually a guide who can see us, but is really far ahead is like, “Simon's group! You can go forward!” So we go, only we get a little bit in and the second girl can't get up on a ledge because it is high. So the Group 5 guide has to catch up and help us, which is nice of him, but kind of crap for him because he is now guiding groups 3-5. He points out as much on his walkee-talkee and sends for back-up. Simon arrives back and is like, “Well, up ahead there is this crevice. Is anyone scared of tight spaces?” There is some debate over whether this tight crevice is do-able. I, personally, am all Go Big or Go Home! but not everyone agrees (actually, being a tight crevice, I suppose it'd be Go Small or Go Home. Ha. Ha-ha. Ha. I just slow-laughed myself, ladies and gentlemen). So eventually we decide to, you know, go big or go home. So we head on down!

It is indeed tight. I mean, breathable, but we're pretty squished in there, and the ice melts and you get pretty wet. Luckily my camera survived. You take off your backpack and trail it behind. You turn sideways and keep your feet in a straight line. You know, the usual. However, then we get to the part he COMPLETELY DID NOT MENTION about how it's tight and, oh right, after a while you can't step on the floor because it's unstable. So we're single-file-lining it through this ice crevice by shoving our feet onto these carved-out ledges in the wall. And there's a drop-of-unknown-depth below us! Also, the crevice has widened enough that probably a Kate-sized person could drop down there and never be heard from again. ALSO at one point I head Simon mumble something and then heard someone else say, “Did he just say, 'Don't look down'?!” which is pretty much the last thing you want to hear when you're climbing in ice. So we carried on, and I tried to allow the guy in front of me ample room to back up, should he need it. Also, the girl in front of the guy in front of me knocked off a little piece of the wall-ledge, and the piece fell and we didn't hear it impact anything. So that was scary. And then we'd continue and sometimes you'd have to turn around to the person behind you and warn, “Don't step on that piece that's about to fall.” It's very fun, this glacier thing, I highly recommend it. However, then we got to this...other ledge. The ellipses are because I'm really having trouble describing this experience. Anyway. So we get to this ledge ahead of us. And I can't remember how high it was on me. Basically, it's about a step ahead, and the wall-ledges for your feet end and you need to get from the wall-ledges to this new ledge and it was probably about to my rib-cage? So not exactly the easiest step up ever. So it was then that I realised that I was, what's the word, scared out of my mind. And I thought, well, being terrified isn't really going to help me out here, so I guess I just need to, you know, go big or go home. So I went big. And by “went big,” I mean I somehow elbowed myself up enough to give me the height to shove my knee over the ledge and get up there. Then I turned back and the girl behind me was like, “OK. How. Did you do that.” And I then had to tell her that I was so scared at that moment that I literally could not exactly remember. I just...did it. I advised her to use her elbows and offered to hold her backpack and yeah. Was otherwise unhelpful because holy crap was that scary. I described it to my friend Helen as akin to that time I wrapped my car around a tree, except I don't think that was as bad. Certainly scary, but over really quickly. This was like, “Oh, god, I could die. OK, repress that thought. Somehow you need to live. Get. On. Ledge.” It was a technique of not flipping out that I also used this past weekend on the longest bridge ever (or, actually, in New Zealand) at night with trucks coming at me in the opposite direction. For my first time driving on the left side of the road. But, hey, I've lived to tell both these tales. Maybe I'll even survive Australia!
Anyway. So once we got over the hell-ledge, things were looking up. Except they kind of weren't because we were kind of still in Scary Crevice and I still kept hearing people say, “OK, that was the worst part” and I would be like, “What? How was that ledge not the worst part? What do you see that I can't see?” Luckily, the guy and girl in front of me were kind of awesome. And by that I mean at one point when I thought I was going to die, they both burst out laughing and then I burst out laughing and at least I wasn't crying, right? I mentioned that I appreciated it. Anyway, eventually we made it to this crazy ice-staircase that was, like, vertical. But it had a helpful rope! So we got up and out into the sun!

And into another crevice. I'm a proud girl, I am, but I almost cried then and there. ANOTHER ONE. Luckily I happened to hear, “Can we step on the floor of this one?” “Oh, yeah, this one's fine” so that was a relief. So I swung down on another rope and promptly smacked my head on the side of the crevice wall. Because I can make it out of the deadly one, but then knock myself out during the easy bit. There was a dazed moment where I did think I was going to pass out, but it went away. So...yay?

Then we were informed that the other groups totally wussed out and didn't try the crevice. Losers. I mean, geez. I think groups 1 and 2 did it, but not the rest of 'em. Lame! Also, by this point I think that either my knee just started to hurt, or the terror and cold had anesthetized it and now I was feeling it, but holy crap did my knee hurt. So the trek down was far less enjoyable than it could have been, but it happened. And then the folks from my tour invited me for drinks later, but drinks did not equal a shower and sleeping, so I wound up bailing. I intended to go, though, and it's the thought that counts.

There are no bad words for the coast today

Hey, folks! So I've got a lot of catching up to do, from the last 2 months, so here we go, I guess!

OK. First I wasn't updating because once I left Taupo, internet connections were hard to come by and also pricey. When you're paying by the 15-minutes, you want to spend those 15 minutes checking your e-mail or looking at pictures of Michelle Obama or making fun of Jim. Or I do, anyway. And then I didn't update because I didn't want to put myself in a position where I'd have to lie directly to people about how I was coming home in April. So I haven't updated. But now I am! Hooray!

So let's get this party started. And we'll start with leaving Taupo.

So I wrote here and then I left Taupo. In between there were quite a few parties, quite a few movies watched, some crepes made, and I fell on the sidewalk outside the pub. All in all, good times. So I moved out of my room and made the epic trek to...Nat's room, where I stored my stuff as I slept on the couch. Will moved into my old room because my old room kicked all kinds of ass and Will's was not as awesome. Although it had the same view. Some new guy that doesn't hang out with the flatties moved into Will's old room. I slept on the couch for a few nights, and then I took a bus to Wellington! Woo! I don't really think anything interesting happened in Wellington, because I can't remember anything interesting happening there. I probably got in late because that bus usually gets in late, so I probably got dinner and then went to bed or something. I've spent so many in-transit single nights in Wellington that they all sort of blur together. The next day (a Thursday! My memory is good) I wandered around Wellington for a while because why not, and then I grabbed all my stuff and walked to the ferry terminal. This was and forever will be a huge mistake. When I was first in Wellington and hanging out with this girl Sarah, we stayed at Nomads. And one morning Sarah was going to the South Island and she was like, “I'll just walk to the terminal because that's cheap” and I said that was crazy, it was still very far, and anyway she'd have all her stuff. A cab ride was not too much to pay. Anyway, when I walked to the ferry terminal, I was staying at the YHA, which is significantly further from the ferry terminal than Nomads. And I didn't take a cab. And I got like a third of the way there and I wanted to die. But I perservered and now whenever I need to take my bag more than like 5 feet, I get a ride. Lesson learned.

So I got to the terminal and I checked my bag and I nearly fell over from the loss of a 50-pound monkey on my back, and eventually I got on the ferry. It was really fun at first, and then kind of boring, and so I read for a while. I then caught the end of “Material Girls” starring Hilary and Haylie Duff and this isn't the sort of story you expected from New Zealand, is it? Nope. Cut ahead!

I got to Picton, and I decided to stay the night because I didn't feel like rushing. So I stayed at The Villa, which is this SUPER-ADORABLE hostel in Picton. I wanted to stay longer because it was ever so lovely, but the thing is that Picton itself if kind of a bore. So I left the next day and bid farewell to the backyard with the hammocks and the free coffee and the comfy couches. For Kaikoura!! Kaikoura is this eensy little seaside town that was a little nothing town until someone got the bright idea to start a whale-watching cruise from there. There is a bunch of marine wildlife. Also, it's all sleepy and calm and seaside, so it was kind of the perfect place to go on my vacation. That's what I called it then. So I got into Kaikoura, and checked in at my new adorable hostel and then did a bunch of walking around the town and beach. The next day, LISA arrived. Lisa is one of my favorite people in the whole world, and so when she came to New Zealand, I was very happy. That was about 3 months ago and I remain happy. Anyway, it was even better to see Lisa in Kaikoura than it had been in Christchurch because Kaikoura was sunny and warm and Christchurch in February had been rainy and cold and miserable. So once Lisa got there, we went on a little walk around town and then we walked to a SEAL COLONY. I like seals, they are adorable. There weren't that many seals to see, but it was still totally worth it. Then we had our choice of 2 walks around the Kaikoura peninsula, the beach walk or the cliff walk. We chose the cliff walk, which was awesome because you can see so far out to sea and also you get to be really high up. Sometimes we had to walk through pastures. Sometimes we had to walk around cows. Welcome to New Zealand. But it was cool. So we walked all the way around the cliffs and then we took a cut through the center of the peninsula back into town. We were both starving at this point, so we split some vegetarian nachos. Then I can't really remember what we did. Eventually we went back to the hostel, where we shocked our Dutch roommate with the amount of time we could spend sitting in a room talking. Hey! We hadn't seen each other in a while! Then we played cards with two Canadian boys who were, like, all of 12 years old. They must've been older since they were drinking beer, but they looked about 12. Lisa won, I think, and I probably came in last. I've lost a lot of card games in this country. Oh, hey, but we plated Egyptian Ratscrew, and Lisa is very, very good at it. So she should play Nich, because Nich is fast like a freak at that game. It could be a tournament of champions!

Anyway.

So the next day (Sunday), Lisa and I were supposed to swim with seals, which I was SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED ABOUT but then it was too rough. Boo. So we went to the Kaikoura iSite, which claimed to be the best iSite in New Zealand and I believe it because not only did they store my luggage, but when we were like, “Hello, iSite lady, we have about 5 hours before our bus and we were supposed to swim with seals but it got canceled, what would you recommend?” the iSite lady had tons of recommendations. We wound up kayaking out to the seal colony, which was fun, only Lisa and I had to get towed by the guide for some of it because we were not as fast paddlers as the other kayakers. Hey, we're little. But we did our best. It was really cool because the seals are all up in your grill and they swim adorable and we learned all sorts of interesting facts about seals, such as that you should never get between a seal and the water because they can run fast and knock you down. And, 1. ouch, but 2. how lame would you look if you were like, “And then I went to a hospital because a seal kicked the crap out of me”? Pretty lame. So anyway, it was really fun except I think Lisa got kind of seasick, but she was in the front of the kayak, so I didn't find this out until later. I'm sorry, Lisa! It was kind of my fault, due to my debilitating seal obsession. But on the way back, we saw a REAL LIVE PENGUIN swimming, so I think we can all agree that the trip was Totally Worth It.

OK. So we got back and then we hopped on a bus to Christchurch. We got in late and we made food (or, rather, Lisa made food. Possibly I took a shower) and then we watched 30 Rock while we ate garlic bread and corn on the cob. PS I'm running this show without the assistance of my diary and it's 2 full months later, how badass is my memory? Right. So then we inevitably stayed up too late talking and giggling (like you do) and eventually went to sleep. The next day, I wandered around Christchurch! I went to the Botanic Gardens (lovely!) and to the Canterbury Museum (informative!) and to Cathedral Square (lovely and informative!). I booked my TranzAlpine train for Wednesday because I was going on my Great South Island Adventure, so I needed to go west. Then I think Lisa made curry with some of her IES friends and at one point we had to go to Woolworth's to get more coconut milk because the curry was superspicey. The things I remember. We looked at one of Lisa's friend's skydiving video, and then she brought me to a special meeting of her Maori Studies class where we looked at the stars. It was kind of cold out, though. But we're tough. So then we went back and I can't remember what else we did. Stayed up late talking? Likely.
The next day, we hung out for a bit and then Lisa went to class while I just read. So interesting, me. We skyped with Ben! And then we went out for Indian food and I dropped some on my pants and had to do laundry before my trip. And that night we played Uno! It was a good game, even though her Uno cards cost her like $3NZ, so they were kind of crap. The directions were written in deliciously broken English, though, so in a way, everyone won.

This day by the lake went too fast

I've pretty much known I was going to use that line for this entry for about as long as I've been in Taupo. Which is nearing the end, it is. Which is incredibly sad. And crazy. I remember when stopping for 3 months (more, actually - I got here at the end of November) seemed like way too long. I remember the first time I walked into work, and the first time I toured my house, and even getting off the bus when I first got here. It feels like ages ago and yesterday at the same time. And I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. Even including that one day where I felt horribly homesick and the horrible day at work when I told Bridget I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. But I should stop getting sentimental. It's bringing me down. And no one else is home right now to make me laugh.
So. Saturday was the New Zealand Ironman. My first weekend here was Cycle Challenge and my last is the Ironman, so that's some big-sports symmetry there. I didn't get up to see it start, but a bunch of my friends did and I would have, had I not slept through my alarm. It's completely crazy, but also awesome. We listened to it on the radio all day and then at work you could see people running by on their way to the finish line. And they don't cut it all off until midnight, so when we went out last night, there were people still running to the end. I ended work today with these totally crazy Irish girls who apparently didn't understand the concept of a menu, because they sure as hell couldn't order off of it. And I was so close to telling them they were insane, because it's my last day and it doesn't really matter if I upset some random customers. I didn't, though. Tonight I'm going out with some coworkers, which is pretty cool because last night I went out with flatmates, so I get to spend loads of time with everyone.
Tomorrow, I'm moving out at 11am. But I'm secretly staying on the couch for another night because it's better for me to leave on Tuesday. Then I'll probably do a night in Wellington, then it's (finally!) over to Picton, where I might spend a few days. The South Island! I'm so psyched, when I'm not really sad about it. It goes back and forth, you know. And then on Friday I'm going to Kaikoura, and I'm going to meet up with LISA and spend a fun weekend. After that, I'm really in the dark. And, I mean, I don't even have concrete plans for all of THAT yet. Ah, well. It's exciting and scary and very similar to coming to New Zealand in the first place, in that I'm completely unprepared but I know I have to do it and I really just want to pout and crawl into bed and forget about this whole traveling idea again. This leaving business is very difficult. Seriously. However, if I had some sort of self-esteem problem, I could totally fix it here. All the damn time, people are like, "Don't leave." "What if you didn't leave?" "Stay." (PS thanks for getting Lisa Loeb stuck in my head) "When are you coming back?" Not to mention all the snide remarks about Christchurch. Lisa, did you know that Christchurch is, like, the worst place in the world? I did! All the time I hear it! "Why go to Christchurch? It's cold there. People are mean. I think someone just got killed there. Violently. People die there all the time. Isn't Taupo lovely?" A new girl just moved here from Christchurch and someone was like, "Do you like Taupo?" and I walked by and she was like, "It's better than Christchurch!"
Also, there are bribes and stuff. Seriously, if you people tried half as hard as these people are to get me not to leave, I never would've come to New Zealand in the first place.

So yeah. It's very, very difficult, leaving. But I'm so excited! Even if I can't meet up with my friends with cars, I can travel on my own for a bit. And my friend Helen texted me the other day and so I might try and meet up with her. It won't be so bad whatever I do. I just need to see stuff, you know? I'm going to miss Taupo like hell, though. Who knew it'd wind up being this much fun? I feel like I could stay here forever. Good friends, nice home, decent job that keeps me there at all hours. You can't argue with it.

Anyway, I feel like I should be packing my time with all the things I meant to do in Taupo but haven't done yet. I never took a cruise around the lake, but the weather's been horrible lately. And really other than that, I just wanted to go skydiving. It's unbelievable to me that I've been here over 3 months. I never imagined that. I still remember the day I moved into my house. When I texted little fencers and then walked all around with bare feet and then watched SkyTV for hours. Time is flying. It's been over a month since Kira and everyone moved out, and I feel like it's been like a week (although I simultaneously feel like I've known the new flatmates for ages by now). I was here through summer vacation! You remember how long that felt when you were a kid? But it just flew by for me. Christmas and everything. I still have pictures from Christmas on my camera. I need to upload some of those, I think, before leaving.

This entry is pointless, but I feel like I need to say goodbye to Taupo on here now, or else I won't. And, I mean, over 3 months? It's been a not-insignificant portion of my life spent here. And I've loved it. And I'm so, so excited about where I'm going next, but I'm going to miss the hell out of the people here. And it's sort of comforting to have a home-away-from-home. Sure, I'm giving up my home home here, but it's reassuring to know that if all else fails, there's a place for me here.

Anyway, I need to eat something because I haven't in a while, and I need to pack because I have to move out in 18 hours (well. Move my stuff into Natalie's room, at least). And then I need to have some fun. God, I love it here. But I love you people, too, and I miss you, too, so clearly I can work through it. And anyway, who knows what's next? God, that sounds like such a silly thing to say, but really. Who even knows what's next.

Shit I'm scared.