Day 5
Woke up early and were off. We blew through Queenstown, even though everyone said it was an awesome place that we should check out for an extended time. We were running a little short on time and wanted to go straight through to Milford Sound, the crown jewel of the trip. This is where they filmed the Lord of the Rings. It is jaw droppingly beautiful. We stopped in Te Anou and had breakfast, and headed to the sound. There were a few places along the way to stop and take short little hikes with great scenery. We passed one called Mirror Lakes and caught ourselves, and decided to turn around and check it out. Little did we know, we see it about 6 times. Our van’s clutch went out as we turned around and went back. Crazy. Luckily, it was a decently busy road, but still in the middle of nowhere. We had no phones, so we asked a man to use his, but there was no service there, either. We asked a couple in another camper van if we could ride with them the rest of the way to the sound and get a phone or some help, and they said no! They said, “we don’t have enough seat belts”, …wow! We would see them a bit later, and they tried to apologize and say they wished they could help, but they were just making excuses. Bad karma will get them back. A bit later, we caught a ride with a friendly tour bus driver who took us to the next stop with a phone. We arranged for a tow and rode with a different bus driver back to the car. After about an hour or so, and way too many pictures of Mirror Lakes, we were met by a friendly, late-twenties tow truck driver from Invercargill who works out of Te Anou. We got a ride back to Te Anou and had to have the camper company call us on a gas station phone to arrange for someone to bring a new van to us from Queenstown, about three hours away. We obviously, then, got to know Te Anou a bit. Walked the streets for awhile, and ended up in a theater using their wi-fi to pass the time and having a beer. The only wi-fi in town was the theater, a laundromat, and the grocery store. Weird. We went back to the gas station to meet the van and it arrived a bit late, but was an upgrade. We went from basically a Dodge to a Mercedes van. It was very late at that point, so we changed our flight (for only 35.00 US!!) and stayed the night there. We changed our flight and got another day. It’s one less day with Brent in Australia, but it is also the best part of the NZ trip we would be missing, and we really didn’t have anything planned for that day anyway.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Day Four - Puke to Lake Waimea NZ
Day 4
Woke up really early as would become very normal on this trip. We stopped at a good little place for breakfast and I had an egg, bacon, and cheese pie. We moved on, and went to the Franz Josef glacier. It was awesome! The scenery all the up to the glacier was amazing, striated, rounded rocks, waterfalls everywhere, and the glacier looming in the distance. I got dangerously close to the glacier, near a water cavern. There were rockfalls and snow falling, as well as dripping water all over it. Took a few pics there, got a little worried and moved on. We decided to follow a tour group up the actual glacier itself, instead of just watching it, like the rest of the suckas. It was kinda scary, especially cuz I had a pack on and basically sneakers. The tour group were all wearing spikes. Got up there and it was completely worth it! What an awesome experience! We took off and headed down the coast. There was a great little pulloff for sunset. We saw the Tasman Sea for the first time up close, and right near sunset there was a great spot to watch and photograph it. Part of it looked like the end of the Goonies to me. It was breathtaking, though. After dark, we pressed on a bit, found a spot by a lake to take nighttime long exposures. The moon was full and reflecting off the lake. After that, we found a spot to camp at Lake Waimea. The nightly process has become this: pulling into a campsite, paying, plugging in, charging batteries, dumping picture memory cards, and me falling asleep early as shit. Seriously, I’ve been asleep at 10 at the latest for several days in a row now. I’ve been up at like 6 or 7 though, so I guess that makes up for it.
Woke up really early as would become very normal on this trip. We stopped at a good little place for breakfast and I had an egg, bacon, and cheese pie. We moved on, and went to the Franz Josef glacier. It was awesome! The scenery all the up to the glacier was amazing, striated, rounded rocks, waterfalls everywhere, and the glacier looming in the distance. I got dangerously close to the glacier, near a water cavern. There were rockfalls and snow falling, as well as dripping water all over it. Took a few pics there, got a little worried and moved on. We decided to follow a tour group up the actual glacier itself, instead of just watching it, like the rest of the suckas. It was kinda scary, especially cuz I had a pack on and basically sneakers. The tour group were all wearing spikes. Got up there and it was completely worth it! What an awesome experience! We took off and headed down the coast. There was a great little pulloff for sunset. We saw the Tasman Sea for the first time up close, and right near sunset there was a great spot to watch and photograph it. Part of it looked like the end of the Goonies to me. It was breathtaking, though. After dark, we pressed on a bit, found a spot by a lake to take nighttime long exposures. The moon was full and reflecting off the lake. After that, we found a spot to camp at Lake Waimea. The nightly process has become this: pulling into a campsite, paying, plugging in, charging batteries, dumping picture memory cards, and me falling asleep early as shit. Seriously, I’ve been asleep at 10 at the latest for several days in a row now. I’ve been up at like 6 or 7 though, so I guess that makes up for it.
Day Three - Christchurch to Puke NZ
Day 3
Woke up with a hangover from clubbing, but got going at a decent time. We ate breakfast at a place right by the hotel. I got eggs, toast, mushrooms, and sausage. I asked for sunny side up, but they evidently don’t know what that is, so I got them over easy. No matter, it was still good. Christchurch has a lot of immigrants, and a really cool vibe to the town. The houses were not like I expected them to be. Very hard to explain, but it was a very cool town. We got a cab, with a very friendly and interesting cabbie and picked up our rental vehicle. A Britz camper van, two small beds, microwave, fridge, shower, toilet, etc. Pretty nice. The representative was cute and had a great accent. She hooked us up with a free extra blanket. After that, basically our whole day consisted of driving form Christchurch to Puke, and stopping about every five or ten minutes to take pictures of the awesome beauty surrounding us at every second. Streams, waterfalls, snow capped mountains, tropical plants, cattle, horses, sheep, and even emu are all around us, all the time. It is unbelievable here. We stopped at Arthur’s Pass NP and had lunch. I had meat pies, one with mince and cheese, and the other with lamb. Very good, I’ve never really had a meat pie, but they seem to be really popular here. Stopped at a supermarket, got some fruits, nuts, herbs, meat, snacks, etc. for the next couple days. At sunset we pulled over and spent about a half hour taking pictures of the mountains with a bright full moon right above them, it was absolutely awesome. Hopefully they turn out… At that point, the sun was down, so we drove and stopped when it got dark at the first campground, a small one in a place called Pukekura. Hooked up the van to power, set up our charging station, music, etc., read a chapter in my book, drank some wine, saw a goat, and went to bed.
Woke up with a hangover from clubbing, but got going at a decent time. We ate breakfast at a place right by the hotel. I got eggs, toast, mushrooms, and sausage. I asked for sunny side up, but they evidently don’t know what that is, so I got them over easy. No matter, it was still good. Christchurch has a lot of immigrants, and a really cool vibe to the town. The houses were not like I expected them to be. Very hard to explain, but it was a very cool town. We got a cab, with a very friendly and interesting cabbie and picked up our rental vehicle. A Britz camper van, two small beds, microwave, fridge, shower, toilet, etc. Pretty nice. The representative was cute and had a great accent. She hooked us up with a free extra blanket. After that, basically our whole day consisted of driving form Christchurch to Puke, and stopping about every five or ten minutes to take pictures of the awesome beauty surrounding us at every second. Streams, waterfalls, snow capped mountains, tropical plants, cattle, horses, sheep, and even emu are all around us, all the time. It is unbelievable here. We stopped at Arthur’s Pass NP and had lunch. I had meat pies, one with mince and cheese, and the other with lamb. Very good, I’ve never really had a meat pie, but they seem to be really popular here. Stopped at a supermarket, got some fruits, nuts, herbs, meat, snacks, etc. for the next couple days. At sunset we pulled over and spent about a half hour taking pictures of the mountains with a bright full moon right above them, it was absolutely awesome. Hopefully they turn out… At that point, the sun was down, so we drove and stopped when it got dark at the first campground, a small one in a place called Pukekura. Hooked up the van to power, set up our charging station, music, etc., read a chapter in my book, drank some wine, saw a goat, and went to bed.
Day Two - Brisbane to Christchurch NZ
Day 2
Woke up to what sounded like a pleasant rain forest of birds chirping at about 430am. Wandered around the apartment for awhile, then everyone else kinda woke up too. Don’t think I mentioned it, but everyone I’ve met or overheard, seems to be absolutely polite and considerate and welcoming in Australia, and the women are amazingly beautiful. It might just be the places we go, but everyone is in great shape as well. Anyway, back to the topic… Brent and I decided to go to his gym and workout. We got there about 730am, and worked out for about an hour, then came back and had breakfast with Tom and Kristin. I tried all the new fruit I bought the night before. Tangelo, Black Sapote, Kiwi, Banana, Blood Orange, Cantaloupe, and mixed some of them with some really good yogurt and some muslie, which is an oat heavy breakfast mix. Everything was great except the Black Sapote, which evidently wasn’t fully ripe. It was interesting to watch when I cut it, as it oxidized immediately. It went from white to wooden brown in about 5 seconds. But it was the most bitter, nasty thing I’ve eaten, and it left a tickle in my throat that lasted for like 20 minutes. I don’t recommend it.
We went shopping after that, took the bus downtown and went to a cool, major shopping center. I bought all my souvenirs to bring back to the states. There were some really cool stores, I really wanted a Brisbane soccer or cricket jersey or t-shirt, but they were all ugly so I got a random shirt by a cool local brand. This was kinda just a kill time before the airport day, so we rode back in time to repack, eat some awesome kangaroo burgers with avocado, and try some of the different candy bars I bought at the store. We headed to the airport, checked in, and hung out for an hour until the plane came. The whole flight was full of beautiful women and young people. The check-in lady was super nice and gave us seats in the front, and Tom snuck his overweight carry-on for regular price. The flight was good and short, got a small nap in. The biohazard team came in and shut the door until they got to look at some documents. Finally, we got out, and went to customs. Tom got stopped and questioned b/c of our short stay, they said. They searched him and emptied his bag, but everything worked out. We caught a cab to the city center and checked into the hotel SO. We’re in Christchurch, New Zealand at this point, by the way. The hotel was a European style, and was pretty cool. It had blue “ground effects” under the bed, the shower/bathroom was contained in a pod-like structure with a curved sliding door, and also featured a lighting system controlled on the wall. Pretty crazy. We went out and hit a few bars, or clubs as they call ‘em, and Tom described the night with the ladies as Hideo Nomo, or 17 strikeouts. It was really fun though, we met a few really cool people, and realized American culture dominated the scene. The first bar we went to was a karaoke bar and everyone was singing and dancing wildly to Sweet Home Alabama. It was all young people and they danced like 60s and 70s Americans.
Woke up to what sounded like a pleasant rain forest of birds chirping at about 430am. Wandered around the apartment for awhile, then everyone else kinda woke up too. Don’t think I mentioned it, but everyone I’ve met or overheard, seems to be absolutely polite and considerate and welcoming in Australia, and the women are amazingly beautiful. It might just be the places we go, but everyone is in great shape as well. Anyway, back to the topic… Brent and I decided to go to his gym and workout. We got there about 730am, and worked out for about an hour, then came back and had breakfast with Tom and Kristin. I tried all the new fruit I bought the night before. Tangelo, Black Sapote, Kiwi, Banana, Blood Orange, Cantaloupe, and mixed some of them with some really good yogurt and some muslie, which is an oat heavy breakfast mix. Everything was great except the Black Sapote, which evidently wasn’t fully ripe. It was interesting to watch when I cut it, as it oxidized immediately. It went from white to wooden brown in about 5 seconds. But it was the most bitter, nasty thing I’ve eaten, and it left a tickle in my throat that lasted for like 20 minutes. I don’t recommend it.
We went shopping after that, took the bus downtown and went to a cool, major shopping center. I bought all my souvenirs to bring back to the states. There were some really cool stores, I really wanted a Brisbane soccer or cricket jersey or t-shirt, but they were all ugly so I got a random shirt by a cool local brand. This was kinda just a kill time before the airport day, so we rode back in time to repack, eat some awesome kangaroo burgers with avocado, and try some of the different candy bars I bought at the store. We headed to the airport, checked in, and hung out for an hour until the plane came. The whole flight was full of beautiful women and young people. The check-in lady was super nice and gave us seats in the front, and Tom snuck his overweight carry-on for regular price. The flight was good and short, got a small nap in. The biohazard team came in and shut the door until they got to look at some documents. Finally, we got out, and went to customs. Tom got stopped and questioned b/c of our short stay, they said. They searched him and emptied his bag, but everything worked out. We caught a cab to the city center and checked into the hotel SO. We’re in Christchurch, New Zealand at this point, by the way. The hotel was a European style, and was pretty cool. It had blue “ground effects” under the bed, the shower/bathroom was contained in a pod-like structure with a curved sliding door, and also featured a lighting system controlled on the wall. Pretty crazy. We went out and hit a few bars, or clubs as they call ‘em, and Tom described the night with the ladies as Hideo Nomo, or 17 strikeouts. It was really fun though, we met a few really cool people, and realized American culture dominated the scene. The first bar we went to was a karaoke bar and everyone was singing and dancing wildly to Sweet Home Alabama. It was all young people and they danced like 60s and 70s Americans.
Day One - Brisbane
Day 1
After leaving the Omaha airport, Tom and I landed in Salt Lake City for about 10 minutes and then got on the connecting flight to LAX. PS – the flight to SLC was pretty bad. We had a tiny plane 2-2 plane, which was full, and we were seated near the bathroom, which smelled like the most pungent urine smell the whole time, especially if someone opened the door. Which only happened about twenty times. Anyway, I ate my peanuts and drank my tomato juice and we were already in LA. The girl that sat next to Tom didn’t stop talking for one second the whole time, and was almost louder than my headphones could go, and I was in the row ahead of them. We had about two hours to kill, so Tom and I went to Chili’s and had a beer, a shot, and I had some southwest eggrolls. We met a couple next to us who were about to do North and South island New Zealand in about 11 days, and, as we were about to do the South Island in about 5, we had a bunch in common. They were from Oregon, and were fun to talk to. We then made our way to the terminal<>
Got into Brisbane at 605am and went through customs and such. I had to report my DUIs and got a little extra security attention. It was all good, though. Brent picked us up and we loaded our bags into his Nissan Tiita, and headed to his apartment. His place is only a block or two from the riverfront, and his place is nice, and roomy. We showered, shat, met up with Kristin, and went to breakfast at a cool little outdoor restaurant. I had egg and soldiers, bacon, and I tried Vegemite and toast. Vegemite is an Australian tradition, mostly popular with older people. It’s made with a yeast extract, and is pretty salty. In small doses, it’s good, though. Brent and I both enjoy a bit of Vegemite. “Mate” and “Cheers” are very common, and the people here wonder where our accent is from. Brent wanted to keep us up as late as possible to acclimate us to the time change, even though I would have loved a nap. But we packed a full day. We drove around the city after breakfast, went to a really cool lookout over the city, then B and K dropped us off downtown, and we rented bikes to ride in the park, and they were gonna meet us with their bikes later. We rode to the 7-11, got drinks, and browsed a skate shop. Australia doesn’t have pennies, they just round to the 5. Their lowest bill is also a 5. They have 1 and 2 dollar coins. And getting used to the left hand driving was weird. I almost got in the driver’s seat, and most times we turned, I thought we were gonna wreck. Brent met up with us and we rode around for about 2 hours through a really cool riverfront area called South Bank. It was beautiful. Their riverfront has miles of paths and it’s really cool. It was as cool if not more than when I rode across the Golden Gate bridge. We saw where we were going to climb rocks, and rode across the main bridge in Brisbane, the Story Bridge. We went shopping at the grocery store and I bought a bunch of candy and fruit that we don’t have here. After that, we went and hung out at Brent’s place for a bit and went to dinner at a Moroccan restaurant. We split some chicken pastries, bread and dips, lamb kebob, and a Moroccan pizza. Everything was great, the lamb a bit overdone, but otherwise, everything was awesome. After the meal, I just wanted to crash. We got some beer, went back to the house, played a few games of dominoes, and went to bed.
Australia/New Zealand Trip Intro
I completely forgot about posting this, so sorry for the lateness and for the large post at once but here we go...
Monday, May 11, 2009
More Thoughts...
I shouldn't have been sooo hard on Omaha, it's ok.
I still wish I could find a reasonably priced city to live where all 4 seasons are bearable and somewhat near the ocean or at least a large lake.
I have a couple candidates, but, the quest continues...
Next stop, Brisbane!
I still wish I could find a reasonably priced city to live where all 4 seasons are bearable and somewhat near the ocean or at least a large lake.
I have a couple candidates, but, the quest continues...
Next stop, Brisbane!
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