Not many, if any

I was sitting on the bus this morning. Most my mornings start like this. I rush and pack my everything into my obscenely-full bags, throw everything on the bus, get a good seat away from the British girl that thinks it's hilarious to yell "I KNOW, RIGHT?!?!" every five seconds, and then I crank my iPod up to full-blast. I spend the next couple hours listening to great tunes and looking out the window at the riduclous perfection that seems to be the norm on the South Island.


Today our journey was from Franz Josef to Waineka. The drive started out overlooking the Tasmanian Sea. It was hard to tell the sky from the sea, but the sea was a little more turquoise. Green fern-covered cliffs stretched and dove into the ocean. Birds sang, I sighed, just another morning in paradise.



Then we stopped for coffee and I took a walk to a clear lake that perfectly reflected the snow-peaked mountains into it. The lake was like a mirror.



The diversity of New Zealand never fails to amaze me. I think as soons as it does, it will be time to head home. Yesterday I hiked the Franz Josef glacier. It's a glacier in the middle of a rainforest. (Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either...) Our guide told us that he went surfing that morning and later that afternoon he was leading our hike up a massive piece of prehistoric ice. I believe this is the only place in the world where that dichotomy is possible.



The hike was pretty hard-core. The terrain wasn't exactly paved. I was very happy that I got to wear my own hiking boots instead of the wet nasty ones they provided. I did have to borrow some crampons though. (Crampons are they spikes you attach to the bottom of your boots to keep you from slipping on the ice.) It's terribly juvenile of me, but I couldn't stop giggling to myself everytime someone would say crampons. Rhymes with...

Tomorrow I head for beautiful Queenstown. I'll be happy to get off this crazy-train for a while. It's good to go, but it's just as good to stop.

Sometimes you just have to get off the bus

My Kiwi experience has been postponed, due to a sore throat that made me unable to speak without sounding like a chain-smoker. (Yeah, I know…I can’t seem to stay healthy.) But at least this break gives me the chance to post some pictures and write about my experiences over the past week. I am currently in Nelson on the South Island. I didn’t intend to travel this fast, but I met some really fun people and decided to keep on keepin’ on with them.

I was the only American on a bus full of Irish and English people. The first two days were full of me being chided for not only being American, but being from Texas, right in the center if Dubya country. Finally I worked my way up from being “You F—ing American” to “Texas” and then “Miss America”. (I don’t think they really got the beauty pageant connotation that went with that one, but it was by far my favorite nickname.)

It was an eye-opening experience, being the only one not from the UK out of a group of seventeen people. I think I managed to change a few opinions and negate a few stereotypes about Americans. At least, I hope I did. They all tried to do their best Texas accents, which was hilarious. “Yee-haw, Texas!” It was even better when they tried to sing rap songs. A woman from Yorkshire yelled to me one night “Hey America! Want to hear me sing ‘Gangsta’s Paradise?!”. It was everything I’d dreamed of and more. But it really doesn’t get any better than the Welsh guy trying to rap to “Ridin’ Dirty”.

I’ve seen some beautiful things over the past week. The tour was so fast paced, it’s hard to keep everything in the right order and not forget.
Auckland to Rotorua (hot springs, Maori dinner)
Rotorua to Waitomo (glow worm caves)
Waitomo to Taupo (Lake Taupo, Waterfall, mini golf!)
Taupo to River Valley (beautiful river, swing, awesome dinner, volleyball and bruises)
River Valley to Wellington (staying up all night in Wellington and walking the streets at 4am)
Wellington to Nelson (sleeping on the ferry, finding out what Yorkshire Pudding is)

This message brought to you by your local spelunking committee.

Dear Internet,

A lot has happened since we last spoke. I travelled from Paihia to Auckland, went to a dance party in the Auckland Town Hall, and then got on another bus. I've realized that I really enjoy being on the road. I love listening to my iPod and watching the scenery pass by. I also love the fact that I'm not in charge when I'm on a bus.

From Auckland, we went to the Coromandel Peninsula. We stopped at a lovely place called Cathedral Cove, where the ocean has carved out a natural cave in the rocky beach. (I promise to post pictures as soon as I have an Internet connection with substantial speed.) We spent the night in a town that I'm not going to even attempt spelling because I would butcher the name. I was planning on staying a few nights in said town, but after I got off the bus I realized that there wasn't much to do in the cooler months. So I got on the bus the next morning and headed to Rotorua, where I am currently. On the way here we stopped at an abandoned gold mine and, most important, Hobbiton. Oh yes. Although I didn't get a chance to go on the Hobbiton tour and see the little green hills that Bilbo Baggins and Frodo called home. But! I did get a picture of in front of the sign and statue of Gollum.

Last night I went to a Maori village where they danced the Haka war dance for us and then fed us a traditional hangi meal, which is all cooked in a pit in the ground with manuka branches. It was lovely. For dessert there was pavlova. I had seconds.

Tomorrow I head down to Waitomo, where I will see glowworms in a cave. I don't know why the idea of glowworms excites me so much, but it does. Maybe it's because I had a singing glow worm when I was little? I don't know. Also: caves! Who doesn't love a good, old-fashioned cave? Terrorists, that's who.

Fight terrorism. Support your local caves.

This message brought to you by your local spelunking committee.

No stop 'til Antartica.

Well, it's almost been a month and I've fallen down more than I thought possible, even for someone with my shitty luck.
(Well, I'm here, so my luck can't be that bad...) My goals for this month are staying healthy, having more fun, meeting more people and finding a city that I'd like to work in.

These first few weeks have felt like the longest weeks I've ever lived. Not to be overly dramatic, but damn. I'm over here in this strange and beautiful place trying to find my way the best that I can. It's hard not to over-analyze everything when I have so many moments of quiet reflection to myself. To be honest, I'd like a few less moments of quiet reflection. I'd like to be busy working or meeting new people so that I don't have time to reminisce about Glass Night Tuesdays at Lou's.

I'm heading to Auckland tomorrow to stay for a couple days with my German friend, Sophie. Then I'll head down to the Coromandel Peninsula and then Rotorua. I'll slowly make my way south and eventually on to Wellington. No stop 'til Antartica, baby. Just kidding, I don't think I packed enough sweaters...

I hiked ten miles and all I got is this weird blister...

I haven't done much lately, which is why I haven't blogged in a few days. I didn't think most people (besides my mom) would be interested in my thoughts on what I had for lunch or the strange mix of American and British reality-shows that is New Zealand television.



Yesterday I did something that was actually borderline productive: I hiked to Haruru Falls. It's a miniature horseshoe waterfall about 15k away from Paihia. I really need to get this whole metric conversion thing down so I know what I'm getting myself into ahead of time. The hike took me about five hours in total. My groin started hurting as soon as I reached the beginning of the trail. I thought maybe it just needed to be stretched out a little more. "Nothing a good hike can't fix!"

My hopes were dashed as soon as I reached the 1k marker and realized that it'd taken me 30 minutes to get that far. I felt like I'd already invested quite a good amount of time and energy, so I was going to see that damn waterfall even if it meant not being able to walk the next day. I increased my speed and hauled a considerable amount of ass to make it to the waterfall, took enough pictures to prove that I actually made it there, and then hauled ass back home.




I did a lot of thinking on the trail. Hiking a trail can be a metaphor for any sort of journey. At the beginning you're optimistic, hopeful. Towards the middle you're in pain and wondering if this was such a good idea, playing with the idea of turning back. Then when you finally reach your destination, you feel accomplished and proud, only to have to turn back and make the whole journey again.
Yeah, I can be deep sometimes.

I did feel accomplished and proud of myself, until it started pouring down rain. Then all I really wanted to do was stick out my thumb and catch a ride back to my motel. Don't worry, I didn't, but if I had a tazer I might have.

My wish-list for this week:

-tabasco sauce
-tazer
-corn tortillas
-my green chuck taylors