New Zealand Blog Day 9

Tuesday April 20^th, 2010

Rata Lodge -> Hokitika -> Franz Josef

And it was beautiful.

In the morning light, the mountains and the clouds seemed to meld together perfectly. The air was fresh and cool and I drank it in with delight.

We said our farewells to our new friends from Israel as they headed out on the road before us. Apo and I had breakfast and perused through the guest book of the backpackers (Rata Lodge was the name).

After we packed up, I went to the owner’s lodge and gave it a knock.

Last night I didn’t get a clear look of the owner, so when he came out, I was pretty surprised. A white guy in his fifties with dreadlocks opened the door. He was wearing a wool jacket that looked really old and comfortable and somewhat…Jamaican?

“You guys sleep allright?”

“Yeah, we did. It was very comfortable, thank you.”

We said goodbye and made our way to Hokitika, a coastal town just north of the glaciers. We passed more beautiful mountains and animals (deers, cows, and of course sheep) before arriving into the quaint town of Hokitika. The town is famous for its Jade Museum and Hokitika Gorge, about 20 km southeast.

Also, their fish and chips are the bomb. There’s a shop just next to the Jade Museum that sells $5 fish and chips and according to Apo, “These are the best and cheapest fish and chips I’ve ever had.” I tasted some of hers and indeed they were darn good.

After a quick lunch we drove to Hokitika Gorge, stopping on the way to take some photos of llamas. They are so cool. I wanted to run over to them and hug them but I contained myself.

At Hokitika Gorge, the first thing I noticed was the water. Aquamarine blue. When I was young, this was my favorite color. I used to believe that somewhere, out in the big wide world, this color must exist, be it in the ocean or forest lakes of an unknown region. But as I got older, I thought that that was a silly notion, and that such colors were manufactured artificially in a lab to gain more market share in the cutthroat color industry. But here it was, in ready supply, just flowing through this gorge. The child in me smiled.

I went to the water and cupped it in my hand, but the color disappeared. So I put it back. Nature is most beautiful when we enjoy it as it is instead of trying to grasp it firmly between our hands. While at the gorge, a South Island fantail kept flying around Apo, as if dancing around her.

After the gorge, we began our drive to Franz Josef. We got there in the evening, checking into a cheap hostel (Montrose Backpackers). The problem with very cheap hostels is usually that they’re full of cheap people and this place was no exception.

While cooking in the crowded kitchen, a girl yelled at me for using the sink while she was using it. What happened was that she was scrubbing a cutting board off to one side of the sink, while letting the water run. I saw that she was not using the water and I rinsed a spoon while she was scrubbing.

“Hey. I’m using the sink.”

“Sorry, I just wanted to rinse this spoon.”

“You should ask first or say excuse me.”

The thing is, she’s right, I should’ve at least said excuse me. But she was glaring at me and was saying this to me in a very rude manner and my girlfriend backed me up.

“Do you have to be so bossy?”

“I’m not bossy, it’s rude OK?”

Then she left.

Lesson: Be careful in a crowded area not to step on other people’s toes. Some people have certain pet peeves about personal space and its always best to first ask before doing an action that enters someone else space.

Putting that behind us, we looked forward to the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers tomorrow.

DT: 39.9

RDA: 101.77

RT: 915.95

New Zealand Blog Day 8: Christchurch -> Somewhere Near Arthur's Pass

Monday April 19^th, 2010

Day 8: Christchurch -> Somewhere Near Arthur's Pass

Dark and Winding Road

Today was spent buying supplies in Christchurch to get ready for our trip to the Franz Josef/Fox Glaciers and driving to the West Coast.

Went to a second hand store and bought a full length winter coat (15NZD), a beret (3NZD), and a beanie (2NZD). Went to Warehouse and got some blank cds (pack of 5 for 3.95NZD) to burn some on the road music.

We started making our way through the Southern Alps to the West Coast. Even in the evening darkness, I could tell that these mountains were majestic, with the clouds hanging close to their peaks. The roads were really winding, and it was getting darker and darker.

We caught a radio frequency while driving in close to Arthur’s Pass. The volume of the radio show being broadcast would bounce up and down, and there was this background sound in the lower level static of a car honking. I would check my rear view mirror constantly when I heard that sound, but there was no vehicle to be seen. Eeerie. The radio show was an interview between the radio host and a Washington Post journalist. The journalist had recently published an article on unconscious bias. According to the journalist and his time spent with researchers on the subject, people are more biased than they think. When making judgments, although people believe they are acting rationally, there is a level of bias that they aren’t aware of that is influencing their decision.

I thought that this was very interesting and that it puts to question how “correct” our opinions are.

After taking a bathroom break in Arthurs Pass, I decided we should try to drive as close as we could to the West Coast before calling it a night. However, as we drove in the darkness, we could feel the night air chill creep in and the road condition was getting worse. Then it started to rain.

“Fuck this. As soon as we see a sign for a backpackers, we’re going there.” I said to Apo.

Lo and behold, 500 meters down the road there was a backpacker’s on the left literally in the middle of nowhere.

There was a little lodge with a gravel driveway that led up to accommodations. We entered the driveway and the owner, seeing our lights, came out of the little lodge to greet us.

“You guys staying the night?”

“How much?” I asked from the car.

“28 a night.”

“Ok.”

We drove up to the bigger lodge (which isn’t “big”, more “quaint” I would say) and were surprised to see that two other backpackers, two girls from Israel, were staying there.

“Yeah, the rain, it’s crazy,” one of the girls said to us.

Staying at this little backpackers in the middle of the mountains with the rain outside was nice. We spent the night playing Yanniv and Asef (not sure about the spelling) an Israeli card game that one of the girls taught us.

Off to bed now, can’t wait to see what it looks like outside in the morning, should be beautiful.

DT: 103

RDA: 109.5

RT: 876.05

New Zealand Blog Day 7: Kaikoura -> Christchurch

Sunday April 18^th, 2010

Day 7: Kaikoura to Christchurch

A Day at the Beach (Sheep Included!)

Kaikoura. If you have the money (145 NZD to be exact), this is the place where you can get on a boat and see whales. If you don’t see any, they pay you back 80%. Not a bad deal, but we thought that there’d be more opportunities to see whales in Australia and we weren’t itching to see them just now.

So, we did all we could for free/cheap in the area. We walked along the coast line and came up close to some seals sleeping on the rocks. They smelled like wet dogs. Seriously. Also, they make real cool grunt sounds. Watching them nap, I really marveled at how relaxed they looked, they’re bodies seem to mold completely to the contour of the rock they were sleeping on. For me, I usually wake up finding myself in plank position and my abs feeling sore.

We had some seafood at a BBQ stall next to the beach. Review: The crayfish fritter (lobster omelet) tasted like an omelet with a little bit of lobster instead of tasting like lobster with some egg in it. Also, it was like kids meal in terms of size (cost: 9 NZD, thumbs down). The seafood chowder was much better, with all kinds of good seafood bits in it (scallops, mussels, shrimp…) and more cost effective (5 NZD, thumbs up).

After that small meal, we went to a sheep shearing show, where you pay 10 NZD to give milk to a baby black sheep, feed a ram, listen to some sheep industry history and facts, and of course see a farmer shear a sheep. It was quite interesting. I found the sheep dog hilarious. When the farmer was shearing the sheep, the dog (Frank I believe his name was) would lie on his back and swerve back in forth in delight. I thought that was a really funny conditioned response.

So after our little stay, we started our drive to Christchurch, stopping on the way for some beautiful ocean and seal photo ops.

In Christchurch, guess what was the first thing that caught our eye? The church! Pictures.

We stayed at a holiday park near the airport (15/night). The airport is way out of the city, so the gas we spent driving to the park, nearly off-set the savings we were getting for sleeping in the car. TIP: Try to get a holiday park near the city unless you’re returning the rental car to the airport the next day, which we weren’t (would totally recommend the holiday park that we stayed at if you is).

Spent the evening at the internet room they had at the holiday park. Apo watched TV, while I finished watching the Gunbuster series. Freaking great. I was actually getting really into science fiction prior to coming to NZ after watching the Cosmos series hosted by Carl Sagan and I felt that Gunbuster helped satisfy that Sci-Fi craving, if just for a little bit.

I’ll have to start another blog series about Films/TV Shows/Anime that have really influenced me.

Look forward to that! Ok, Apo is getting angry at me for making her stay up late again. Early to bed and early to rise is a good motto especially in NZ, since everything closes hella early here. Night!

DT*: 100.9

RDA**: 110.4

RT***: 773.05

*Some costs (not all) will be mentioned in the blog. Note, for this day 50 NZD was spent on gas! = O

** Will rename Daily Average to the more accurate Running Daily Average (RDA)

***Will rename Total Spent to Running Total (RT)

New Zealand Blog Day 6: Wellington -> Kaikoura

On the Interislander floating between the North and the South Island.

Saturday, April 17^th, 2010

We woke up real early, had some corn flakes, and drove 5 mins to the ferry from our hostel (Downtown Backpackers).

I’ve never taken a vehicle on a ferry before, so it was quite surreal lining up in a queue of cars and driving into this gigantic opening in the back of an even more gigantic ship.

The ship (Interislander Ferry) is probably the coolest form of transportation I’ve ever taken. It has 9 levels as well as on observation deck on top. It has bar, a diner, a convenience shop, two cinemas, a kids’ playground, and arcade games on board. I kept saying “Woww” each level I explored.

What made me even happier was the fact that after we set sail, I could barely feel the rocking of the ferry, the thing was too massive and the water was calm making it a very smooth ride. As you can tell by the pictures, the trip from the North to the South Island is ridiculously beautiful. When I first stepped out onto the observation deck and I saw a passing hill floating on blue water, I felt a chill run through me and then a calm feeling. See the pictures.

Arriving into Picton in the South Island, we got some info at the local Visitor Info Site (I-Site) and made our way straight to the famous Marlborough Wine Country to have some tastings (which Apo was very happy about). There, we were able to try some wine and I also had a chicken wrap that was good.

After that we made for Kaikoura (2 hours south), a famous spot for whale watching. The length of road right before Kaikoura is a winding mountain road, with your right being the mountain and your left the sea. I was driving, so I didn’t get a chance to take pictures, but it’s quite incredible to see mountains directly next to the sea.

After buying some groceries we checked into a local Holiday Park and were greeted by two hungry ducks. They kept hanging around our site, hoping for some scraps, but we didn’t give any. It was cute, but it made me feel a little bit sad that these once self-sufficient ducks are now beggars for human food. One could say that it’s a form of adaptation, a way to live with humans, but I still don’t like it.

Watched an episode of Gunbuster (almost finished with the series, there's only 6 episodes in the whole series!) and got ready for bed.

Sleeping in the car tonight. We bought a foam cushion at Warehouse (the, duh, warehouse/Costco-like store they have here) so it would be more comfortable sleeping in the back. It cost 30 bucks. Hella regret it now, I forgot about checking out a Salvation Army store or Second Hand shop first = (. Well, off to bed, fully clothed and in a sleeping bag =).

DT: Eating out 10.5 + Foam cushion 15 + body wash 2 + groceries 13.5 + holiday park 17.5 = 58.5 NZD

TS: 671.15 NZD

DA: 111.86 NZD

New Zealand Blog Day 5: Napier -> Wellington

Te Mata Peak

Photo Album

NOTE: Forgot about Waitomo Caves! Not too far west of Rotorua are the famous Waitomo Caves where you can canoe through underwater caves and see glow worms. Aw man! By the time we figured out that was a hotspot to check out, we were already too far. Goes to show that you got to do your research before heading out on the road.

This morning we went to Te Mata Peak (a high peak just south of Napier). Like real lazy travelers, we drove all the way up to the peak instead of hiking. I’m glad we did because it was FREEZING. Wind blowing like crazy. But it was beautiful. Being up there on the peak reminded me of the time Adrian, Dan and I climbed up the Calaveras Hills, but on a grander scale. Epic views of the land and the cities were in all directions.

Later that afternoon we took a tour of a local winery in Napier called Mission Estate Winery. Listening to the tour guide, who was extremely knowledgeable, I realized that I don’t care that much about wine. What interested me the most was the history of the building and all the lives that have passed through its halls. We had free wine tastings and the best wine for me was the one that tasted like fruit candy (a dessert wine). It seems that my taste buds are as mature as an eight year olds’.

After that we took the State Highway 2 (SH2) to Wellington. The drive was about three hours and we passed herds of cows and sheep as well as lush landscapes.

Arriving in Wellington, you could tell that this town was different, they actually have a nightlife. We walked around and had a bite to eat. Apo ate at this old Victorian building that they turned into a Burger King and she had this to say about her meal, “Worst Whopper EVER.” Apo said there was barely any lettuce and tomato and the meat tasted weird. On a better note, the city itself was vibrant with clubs and stores open late and street musicians playing some tunes.

Tomorrow we’ll be waking up early (630am) to head over to the ferry from here to Picton in the South Island. I’m not looking forward to a ferry ride (sea sick easily). Till then.

DT: Postcards/stamps 5 + gas 45 + Food and Drink 11.2 + Internet 5.5 + Hostel 23 = 89.7

TS: 612.65

DA: 122.53