Waitomo Caves!

I forgot to write about the caves!! Geez!! I've done so much it's been nuts. On the way from Raglan to Maketu we stopped in Waitomo which is famous for it's caves. You can do something called black water rafting, but I just did a cheaper cave tour. We went thru one cave on a boat and looked at glowworms... awesome creatures that apparently are only in New Zealand and Australia, or these kind are anyway. We each got a helmet with a light on it and when we went into the cave we could only see a few of them. Then we turned off our lights and got in this raft and he took us down the river in the cave a ways till we got to this waterfall. We didn't go down the waterfall thank god. But by the time we got back up to where we started we could see thousands of glowworms on the ceiling and walls of the cave. It was so cool!!! Like looking at stars very far away. No pictures because it was dark, but they are supposed to send us some eventually.

The glowworms are awesome tho. They send down this little beaded, sticky string with a light on it. Bugs are attracted to the light and get caught on the string. Once they catch one I think they eat it and then they wrap themselves up in a cocoon and hatch later as a weird type of fly. And then I think they get eaten by other glowworms. Slightly cannibalistic, but really pretty. :-)

We went in another cave too, which was just a walking tour. There was once a river in that one as well (it's how the caves were formed: water eroding the limestone), but it hasn't run thru it for thousands of years. But there were awesome stalactites and stalagmites to see and a twenty thousand year old skeleton of the now extinct bird that preceded the kiwi!! Got some good pictures there (like the one at the top of this post.)

Sorry I forgot to insert this into my blog before!! Was just looking thru my pictures and remembered!! I'll try to get some of those up here. :-)

Love, Laura

Northern Exposure

Hello everyone!!

Sorry it has been so long since I last updated!! Maybe it hasn't been that long, but I have been crazy busy!! I will attempt now to update you on everything I've done. Here goes.

I left Christchurch about a week and a half ago. From there we went to Kaikoura and I swam with dolphins! This wasn't like Seaworld swimming with dolphins so get that image out of your head. These were wild dusky dolphins. We got wetsuits and snorkels everything and went out in a boat to where the guides had located the dophin pod and there were tons jumping out of the water. It was beautiful. I'd never snorkeled before so I was a little nervous, but it was easy. You just slide into the water when they blow the whistle (to signal that the propellers were off) put your face in the water and sing. Yup. The dolphins are attracted to things that are dolphin-like and interesting, so if you swim with your hands at your side and make noise they come right up to you. There were about 300-400 dolphins in this pod. The guide said that for every one dolphin we saw jumping on the surface there were probably 4 underneath. And sure enough when we got in the water there were tons. A couple of times up to 4 would get within a foot of me and I'd freak out a little bit like "oh my god it's working!" but it was so amazing!!! I definitely want to go again sometime.

So that was Kaikoura pretty much. After that we went up and took the ferry across the Cook Strait to Wellington. We got there at night and left bright and early the next morning tho so I don't know much about Wellington other than the skyline is pretty. I am still thinking about settling there, but I wanted to get up and travel the rest of the north island first so that's why I left right away.

The next day we had a 10-hour ride to Auckland. That was terrible. I was so sick of the bus that even tho I wasn't particularly interested in Auckland I got off the bus for a day and hung around. Auckland is alright. Apparently it's the fourth biggest city in the world by land mass. Definitely not by people, but as many people live in Auckland as the whole of the south island (about 1.3 million.) The day I was there I walked around a bit, found an art gallery and some really pretty gardens near the university, but I figure if the gardens are my favorite part about the city, I probably don't want to live in Auckland. We'll see if this logic holds for Wellington, but everyone agrees Wellington has a much less industrial feel. It's supposed to be a hub of young people and creativity. But anyway, Auckland was okay.

The next day (Wednesday) I headed up on the bus to the Bay of Islands, which is the area north of Auckland. We stayed in Paihia for the night, which was a beautiful seaside town. Not much there, but I almost thought about staying there and looking for work. We went on a boat tour there that was included with the stray pass. It was nice but they promised dolphins and we didn't see any. I definitely got my fix already, but it was kind of a bummer for other people.

The next day we headed north to Cape Reinga which isn't actually the northern most point in New Zealand, but it is for tourists. You can actually see the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea collide and there was one of those signs there that points in different directions and labels how many km's to various world cities. It was pretty windy, but nice. Then we headed down Ninety-Mile Beach, which is actually more like 90km. We went sand-boarding which consists of lying on your stomach on a foam board and sliding down the hill, and digging your toes in to stop before you hit the stream. It was way fun. After that we actually proceeded to drive down the beach itself for about 70 km. Like on the sand. It was a little weird. I'm not sure how I felt about that environmentally, but apparently it is a legally recognized road. So there you go. But we saw Albatross (an unbelievably large bird) and wild horses on the beach. Pretty cool. We went back down to Paihia again that night.

The next day we went back to Auckland (yay.) But we left early the next day for Hahei, which is on the Coromandel Penninsula on the East coast. It's just a tiny beach town, but it was cool. It's famous for Cathedral Cove where portions of Prince Caspian (from the Chronicles of Narnia) was filmed. It was about a two-hour walk to Cathedral Cove. Well worth it. There was a huge arch in the rock you could walk thru. Very pretty. We also watched the full moon rise over the ocean, which was gorgeous.

The next day we went over to the West coast to Raglan, which is famous for surfing. I'm chicken, however, and trying to watch my money so I didn't go for the surf lesson. Plus there are tons of places to surf all over the country (and will be slightly warmer in summer.) We stayed in a hostel that was up in the hills tho so I didn't really see much of the city of Raglan, but had a nice relaxing day at the cabin-style lodging. We watched the sunset which was really nice. It's not often you get a group of twenty people who are usually loud and boisterous to sit quietly and collectively forget about the time, lost in the view. It was very serene.

The next day we went back over to the East coast to Maketu. I'm still not sure if there is actually a town called Maketu. I might have blinked when we went by, but the purpose of coming here was for a "Maori Cultural Experience," which turned out to be very cool. It was this old Maori guy called Uncle Boys who ran the place. They fed us as soon as we got there and then we watched a performance. They do traditional dances here called the haka (for men) and the poi (for women.) The All-Blacks (New Zealand's rugby team and a big fracking deal) do the haka before every game. I think it's a warrior challenge type thing. The poi is a cute dance about a ball on a string (called a poi) that was originally used by warriors to strengthen their forearms and fell out of use as the wars dies down and was picked up by women. Anyway, they taught us these dances and we performed them. It was cute and I got some of it on video I think. We spent the night in there traditional meeting house and Uncle Boys told us all about his tribe. It was really neat and interesting as I hadn't learned too much about Maori culture yet. It raised some more questions for me tho because I can't really figure out what their religion is about. They say they are very spiritual and he showed us their four gods, but they also seem to be very influenced by Christianity. I will have to do some more research and figure this out...

After that I took the bus to Rotorua and got off and took a regional bus to Tauranga where I got picked up by the family I'm wwoofing with!! Yes, I'm wwoofing. I'm not farming tho. Just house-sitting and taking care of two dogs. This woman (Donna) and her husband (David) live with Donna's sister and her two kids. Everyone but David is going on holiday to Australia for 11 days leaving David to run the business (a bookstore!) and needing someone else to watch the house and the dogs. I'm here now and will be for three weeks. It's a little odd living in someone else's house, but I think it will be a good chance to rest and relax after the craziness of traveling. Not to mention a good way to wait a bit for tourism season to start and the job market to pick up before I need to work.

So that's what I've been up to!! Sorry about the length!

Love you and miss you!!

-Laura

Abel Tasman!

Hi!! So Emily and I just got back last night from Abel Tasman National Park. We tramped (hiked) for 4 days and stayed 3 nights in huts along the way. It was so beautiful!!!! The tramp was about 40km of lush forest, beautiful beaches, waterfalls, and rolling hills. We even saw seals! The weather was great. We had 3 days of gorgeous sunshine. I think we both kind of forgot it was winter. :-) The last day was great too, just a little rainy. And luckily I have a camera now so I've got some pretty good pictures to share with you.

The whole trip was just so peaceful, like a vacation from my vacation. I found myself in Christchurch getting really caught up in the logistics of things and thinking a little too much so it was super nice to have all our accomodation prepaid and food packed, where all we had to do for the day was hike the path to the next hut.

The tramp was rated "easy" by Lonely Planet, but Emily agrees it was a bit more uphill than we expected. And they don't mess around with traverses unless absolutely necessary so the uphills are pretty rigorous. But it wasn't too bad at all, especially considering we were carrying ~40lb. packs and I've really never done anything like this before. Not for this many days in a row, anyway. We hiked for about 4 hours each day. I guess a lot of tramps you hike a lot longer than that each day, but I thought it was perfect because we had enough time to take our time packing up our stuff in the morning, and make breakfast and then we could stop at beaches along the way. It was really relaxing and nice. Emily brought a hammock with her as well so we'd set that up when we got to the hut and just sit and read. I finished Pride and Prejudice, which I thought would last me a lot longer!!

I got horrible blisters from my hiking boots and bitten all over my legs by sandflies (way less annoying than mosquitos, but with the same results), and at one point when we were down on the beach looking for caves to explore I slipped off a deceptively muddy rock and scraped up my leg, but it was a small price to pay for the awesomeness of the trip. I think a few pictures could probably explain this trip better than I can.

(Emily)

So all in all it was a great trip!! I will post many more pictures on Facebook and will show them all to you when I get home!

The next Stray bus leaves on Saturday to go north and I'm thinking that's when I will leave. It stops in Kaikoura which we actually went through on the way to Nelson, where we booked our huts for the tramp. Kaikoura is a super small beach town. It's supposed to be a great place to swim with dolphins and seals and whale watch, but I'm not sure how great it is in winter. After that the bus heads up to Wellington, which I'm really excited for. Emily and Devin (her boyfriend) both loved Wellington. But wherever I go I will keep you updated!!

Love you all and miss you lots.

Laura

Heading to the west coast

Hello!!!

Just want to let you all know that Emily and I are heading out tomorrow (on a 7:15 am bus) to go to the west coast and do a 5-day trek. We'll be gone for a week total and I probably won't have Internet so I will be out of touch. I will probably be in Christchurch for a few more days after we get back (on Tuesday evening) so I will have internet then and be able to update you on our adventures!!!

Wish me luck!!!

Love, Laura

Christchurch

Hi!!!

So I left yesterday from Queenstown, hopped on the Stray bus at 7:30 in the morning and got to Christchurch yesterday afternoon. The bus was good. There were only nine of us on it. Everyone was really friendly. Most people were on the last legs of their journeys. I guess that's the downside of getting on in the South. Most people are heading back up to Auckland for their flights out. But oh well. I was only on it for the day anyway. But the driver kinda takes the backroutes and finds all the gorgeous, not completely touristy areas (hence the name Stray). It was beautiful. Lots of hills and lakes and the clouds here have this crazy phenomenon of being so low all the time. I thought it was just Queenstown in the valley, but it's like that all over. They just kind of lie across the hills. It's really pretty. The bus makes stops for lunch, whenever people feel like taking pictures, and of course to let the sheep get out of the way. Lol. The first place the driver stopped he even got out his camera it was so gorgeous. He made a comment about how he doesn't often do that! Unfortunately this is when I realized that my camera has decided not to turn on anymore. The light blinks like it thinks it's on, but the screen is black. :-( I found a camera shop in Christchurch which was closed yesterday, but I'll head over there again today. I'll most likely just get a new one.

We arrived yesterday about an hour ahead of schedule, so about 4:00. I dropped by stuff at a hostel and walked to Emily's work. She had to work till later so I walked around long enough to remember that it's Sunday and everything's closed so I went back to her apartment. Christchurch is the biggest city on the South Island and the second biggest in the country. It's pretty sprawled out, but Emily lives and works very close to downtown so it's easy enough.

It was crazy rainy and gross when I got here so I don't really feel like I've given the city a chance to prove it's greatness yet, but we'll see. Emily doesn't have to work this week after tomorrow so we were thinking we might head over to the West coast (Christchurch is on the East coast) and do a trek. It's basically a 5-day hike where you go and stay in huts and hike about 10km per day. And since it's the off-season it's pretty cheap to do right now. The two we're looking at go along the beach for some parts and are among the nine "Great Walks" in NZ. So depending on our transportation cabilities (Emily thinks she might be able to borrow a car) we will probably do that.

After that I will probably hop on the bus again and head up to Wellington. I'm not sure how far I will go before I start to look for work. Winter's a bad time to be looking. Tourism is low and people are trying to cut costs, but in a month or so it should pick up. And I do still want to WWOOF so I might just do that for a bit until the busier season.

But that's it for now!! Emily has Internet at her house which is SUPER nice so you should all get on skype or facebook or something and we'll chat!!

Love, Laura

Queenstown (still but not for much longer)

Hi!!!

Things have cooled down here a bit in Queenstown. Both activity wise and temperature wise. It's cold and super rainy here today!! It doesn't really snow in town, but the rain is intense and super cold when you only brought one pair of tennis shoes and they're soaked through... :-/ But I'm surviving.

We haven't done much in the last few days. Kind of been taking it easy, shopping around town, reading, and such. It's been nice, but I think I'm ready to move on.

Our roadtrip to Christchurch has been canceled because Mary has to work this weekend so I'm going to go up myself. I actually just booked a bus tour of all of New Zealand. It's the same company that Leslie did one with when she first got here and she loved it. It's extremely flexible. The pass is valid for a year and you can get off the bus wherever you want and stay however long, work for a few weeks or months or whatever and then get on the next bus when you're ready. I will most likely leave Queenstown on Sunday morning and the bus goes straight to Christchurch so I will still meet up with Emily and stay there for a bit. After that it continues up to Wellington. I'm really excited to see Wellington. It's supposed to be like Portland and Seattle combined.

So I'm pretty much just playing it by ear!! I suspect I will need to start working somewhat soon if I want to save any money for more traveling, but it shouldn't be too hard to find work. I'm still interesting in Woofing too.

Sorry there's not much to report this time! I have been taking a few pictures. Now I just have to remember to bring my camera with me so I can put them up.

Miss you all and the warmth of Colorado.

Love, Laura

Queenstown (part deux)

Hello!!

I'm still in Queenstown with Leslie and just wanted to update you a bit on what I've been up to and what my plans are.

We did go bungy jumping the other day off the Kawarau bridge!! It was awesome. Leslie and I actually did a tandem (sp?) jump so she more jumped and pushed me off with her. ;-) It was awesome and the guy at the top who strapped the cord on had a good point. I told him I was from Colorado and he said that skiing was a lot more dangerous than bungy jumping. True. Anyway, it was quite thrill. They even ask if you want to be dunked in the river. Leslie wanted to go waist deep and I did not so we compromised and just got our heads wet. It was super awesome and now I really want to do the nevis jump. It's three times the height and apparently you fall for 8 seconds on that one. Yikes. But awesome. Anyway, I've got pictures from the jump but their just prints so I'll have to show you all when I get back!

Yesterday we went up and skiied Remarks. It's the ski area on "The Remarkables." A good name for what are the most impressive mountains I've ever seen this close to sea level. Leslie and I went with the head chef from the hotel she used to work at. Ski areas here are so different from Colorado. No trees for one, but also the layout is just different. We took a lift up and then hiked for about 1/2 an hour and skiied down the back side of the mountain. I definitely was moaning and groaning on the way up, but it was so beautiful when we got up there I totally forgot about my pain and the way down wasn't too trecherous at all. Lots of powder. On the other side of the area there were terrain parks and oh my god you would never believe how good people are here. And it's not just a few people either. Everyone is so hard core. It's kind of the spirit of Queenstown tho. Play hard. I think I'm getting old tho because I can't quite handle going up skiing every day and drinking every night. And people here work on top of that. It's nuts.

I think Leslie and Mary (her roommate) and I are going to make a bit of a roadtrip to Christchurch on Friday. Turns out Mary has some friends there she wants to see and the timing works out well since Leslie leaves the following Tuesday. So we'll be heading up there and I will just stay with Emily for a bit while I decide what to do next. Christchurch is supposed to be apallingly boring so I'm not sure how long I'll stay, but I might try to find some work there for a bit to try and save some money for more traveling. Also, I've been thinking more about doing the WWOOF thing. Willing Workers On Organic Farms. It's where you go and live with a host family and basically learn organic farming practices and help out. You get free accomodation and food in exchange for your help so it's a good way to save money and also sounds pretty interesting. I also definitely want to check out Wellington sometime soon.

So we'll see where this crazy road takes me!! I miss you all like crazy.

Love, Laura