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Lakes, Glaciers, and Rivers Hello all, It's been a while since my last update, so sit back, grab a beer, and read the first half now and the second half later (over another beer, or a bottle of Vodka if you're British :) as this promises to be a long email. We left off with our protagonist trapped in Queenstown, held captive by the marketing demons of extreme sports and the evil god of hangover (Dionysus' sinister twin?). Would I ever escape? After a couple more nights of being dragged to bars by alcoholic backpackers from the Black Sheep hostel and five iterations of hurtling myself down a hill on a go- cart/glorified skateboard (luge), I packed my bags, walked up the hill, and stuck out my thumb. Sure enough, it took exactly 20 minutes to get picked up. This was the first time I got a ride from a solo male. As it turns out, paragliders usually give rides to hitchhikers. In addition to the paraglider, I have caught rides from a dry cleaning van which had just picked up a dirty load(not me, the clothes), high-school dropouts, doctors, bankers, car thieves, Israeli soldiers, smoking ravers, Jehovah's Witnesses, and countless other Kiwis and backpackers nice enough to stop for a scruffy backpacker. It has only taken 20 minutes on average to catch each ride, and invariably it has taken almost exactly that long every time, with the sole exception of a sub-minute wait. Interestingly from a sociological standpoint (at least I think so), 80% of the cars have had at least one female around my age, and it is common that cars with 1 or 2 males will slow down to 1/4 speed, stare, and speed back up. Hmmm. Wanaka was beautiful, relaxing, and an excellent place to detoxicate for a couple days. I went on a few short hikes and spent an afternoon at Puzzle World, home of the original New Zealand maze. I found the first 3 towers of the maze relatively quickly, the final tower not too long after, and congratulated myself. Then I realized that the hard part was getting out. After going to each tower again, I was much closer to the start, but after 20 more minutes I was even more lost. My ego prevented me from climbing over the 3 foot fence on the bridge, but eventually I made it out, tired and proud. As I have been known to get lost between my bedroom and the kitchen in multiple hostels due to my excellent sense of direction, navigating the maze had been quite an accomplishment. Of course, following the right- or left-hand rule would have been cheating. Christmas in Franz Josef was excellent, as I met a ton of other travellers, had a fantastic free barbeque at the hostel, and got to explore the glacier. After hiking beyond the "Extreme Danger" signs posted by the Department of Conservation (along with 20 or so other hikers), my travelling companions from the hostel turned back due to a lack of hiking boots, while I met a crazy Brazilian and continued onward. We hiked around the edge of the glacier, found a couple ice caves, and took photos. I'm not entirely sure how he managed to climb the steeper parts with a beer in his hand. While I would have liked to climb extensively on the glacier, there were no guided walks on Christmas, and self-preservation prevented hiking too much further. I returned to the hostel, defrosted in the hot tub, and enjoyed the Christmas barbeque. Glacier photos follow in the link below: The next leg of the journey was spent in a car with the aforementioned Jehovah's Witness. As a sidenote, New Zealand is too peaceful of a country to fill the newspapers with stories of shootings and war (this is a good thing), so the news consists of mostly American and British gossip (this is not a good thing). One result is that most travellers and locals here know the story of a German cannibal who used the internet to find victims from a few months ago, which is still being dragged out. The point of all this is that I spent a good part of a day hearing about the teachings of Jesus, why Christmas is a pagan holiday, and how the internet is a sign of the impending apocalypse. Some of it was quite interesting, but 6 hours can be a vvveeerrryyy long time. We stopped in Punakaiki for the pancake rocks, and photos are included here: In Murchison, I satisfied my long-time desire to learn to whitewater kayak. I can now roll a kayak, ride standing waves, and am relatively comfortable in small rapids. Kayaking is much more exciting and interesting than rafting or riverboarding as it is great to be in control of one's own destiny rather than mindlessly paddling or kicking according to a guide's screaming. I left Murchison exhausted, exhilarated, bruised and sore, yet energized at the same time. Club Nelson provided an excellent New Year's party spot and rest stop. While Glow Worm Cottages in Franz Josef remain my favorite hostel, Club Nelson was close behind. I met many other travellers hanging out by the pool, although I never found any tennis players to utilize the court. New Year's Eve was relatively tame, although I was harassed by cops for having an open beer in public during the opening few minutes of 2004. Partying in Nelson was less intense than in Queenstown, yet more enjoyable. My American tolerance allowed me to stop at 4 or 5 beers, while my British counterparts drank their 20 beers or full bottles of vodka. I did a couple hikes as well, but most of my Nelson time was spent hanging out by the excellent pool. As a sugar addict, I have to say that while hikes have been beautiful and partying has been fun, the real highlight of my time here has been the 15 minutes of eating Penguino's, the best ice cream I've ever had. It was absolutely amazing and completely blew my mind! I am currently on my way to the Abel Tasman, for 2 days of hiking and sea kayaking. I will then be heading to Wellington, Taupo, and Rotorua, for about 3 days each. I will be back in Auckland around the 18th, then on to Thailand. As always, it's great to hear from everyone, and anyone travelling should let me know if they're schedule will overlap mine. Many of you back home have expressed interest in meeting up in Thailand, or if not you should be thinking about it. I will be arriving in Thailand around January 20, and I would love to meet up with any of you who are interested (work is no excuse). It's been great to meet everyone travelling; welcome to my spamlist. Thanks to everyone I've heard from back home in California and elsewhere. I hope you enjoy the stories and the photos, and happy travels.
Cheers, P.S. Shutterfly is acting up right now, so I will have to send photos later. |