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New Horizons!


So I guess it’s time to blow the dust off this computer and make another post! I actually have something to write about again J

So last I spoke to y’all, we had just settled down in our cozy little kiwi town of Blenheim. I really liked it for the first month or so, before I had to face the truth: because of what happened with the theft of our possessions, we would have to be in this town working for quite some time in order to fully recover. Seeing as our jobs required us to be around the hostel at all times in case something should happen, our ability to use our free time to go exploring the town, or pursuing other activities was forfeit. This brought on realization number two: at least for the time being, our travelling days were truly over :S.

Although the aforementioned “quite some time” turned out to be a whole seven months, I can finally say that it’s over! We have now officially resumed our travels, and have begun to experience new and better things.

It starts with the airports, (this may fall into the “new”, but not “better” category). We began heading to new places with the cheapest flight(s) that we could find. This however meant that our trip started by waiting from 10 at night till our check in at 3am for our 6am flight, (who wants to pay for a nights accommodation when you have to be up at 2:00 anyways?). This time was spent trying to find some comfort, sleeping on floors and uneven terminal benches.  This was not exactly relaxing…     Now, I could go on a whole 1000-word rant about how the rest of the journey went, but I’ll leave it to say that this pattern of early mornings and little sleep continued throughout.  All 50+ hours and a Singaporean misunderstanding later, we’re at the end of our trip …completely exhausted.

--While I’m writing, suddenly there’s a downpour on my guests house that’s more sudden and strong than anything I’ve ever witnessed before. It actually took me a few moments to register the sound of that much water. I digress…--

But no matter, we’re finally in Bangkok! After going to an ATM to pull out $10,000THB each, (don’t worry, that amount of “Thai Baht” only comes to about $300 CAD) we got to try our hand at Thai public transit. We needed to go roughly 25km to our guesthouse, so we went to the skytrain terminal where fare payment machines dispense what look like poker chips rather than paper tickets. To ride the metro rail system from end to end cost us 45THB –or roughly $1.40CAD- each.  This turns out to be an indication of what pricing is going to be like throughout our time here. Finally, a destination that’s not going to break the bank! :D After grabbing a cab to take us another 15 or so km past the end of the skytrain, we were dropped off at a street corner, which is nearby, but decidedly not where we need to be; let the lost wanderings begin! I should mention at this point that the climate is unlike any place I’ve been before. While I’ve experienced heat, (it was roughly 35° this day) I’ve never had its effect compounded by a humidity that would make any north American instantly sticky. So normally, having to find my way around with a 60lb backpack would be a bit of work, but tolerable. Having to do it in these conditions, however, is enough to make almost anyone grumpy.

Our first accommodation
After wandering a few blocks and guessing at some street signs, we were finally able to tell where we were on a bus map that a customer service girl gave us at the airport. It turned out that we were only a few blocks from the guest house we wanted to try, and that we had already walked past it, haha. But we made it down a weird back alley to our accommodation, (which the front of was completely covered by light blue, prison-like bars) and checked into a double room with total cost of 270 baht (roughly $8).

Our guest house was at the end of this street
We spent the next few hours trying to learn to deal with the heat, and catch up with the rest that we had lost. After recovering a bit, we decided to leave our heavy bags behind and explore the city a little.

What we found was pretty staggering. The traffic of this city seemed ludicrous from the rear seat of our cab, with a “trained professional” at the wheel, so when we were on foot and trying to cross streets where traffic laws and patterns didn't seem to exist, it was another matter entirely. Try to picture a street simply packed with cars and trucks, with a hoard of moped drivers squeezing through every available gap, (even when it seems certain that both ends of their handlebars will wedge between their obstacles). While we walked along broken sidewalks that were littered with everything from construction debris to stray cats and dogs, it was tough to find a place where the tangled mess a tuk-tuks, cars and busses was thin enough for us to make our attempt. It should be mentioned that we did come upon a crosswalk with flashing amber lights, but its presence clearly made no difference to motorists.

Spicy Thai Food!
As we wanted to break ourselves into this new culture fairly slowly, we decided to find a more upscale restaurant that resembled what we were used to back home. Once we had a moment to look over the menu, I ordered a simple beef dip with salad at a cost of roughly $4. I knew that traditionally, Thai food was known to be fairly spicy, so I considered this to be a safe bet for my heat-hating taste buds. I was wrong.  The dip for this dish –while packed with amazing, sweet and fresh flavours – nearly destroyed my mouth. Courtney scoffed at me before diving into her own dish. Even as a lover of spice, she was taken back by its intensity.

After our lesson in Thai dining, we decided to slowly wander out way back to the guest house. En route, we happened across a small, but brightly lit alley that was lined with merchant stalls, and food vendor carts. The sights and smells of this night market were amazing. The aroma of freshly barbequed curry chicken, sweet chilli beef, and juicy watermelon filled the air while the light from brightly coloured bars and restaurants spilled out onto the street. Add to this the commotion of vendors hawking their goods, and scooter drivers blaring popular Thai music as they roll by. There are even vendors with backpacks of green laser pointers and glowing toy helicopters that they shine and fly in order to attract attention.

After this short evening out, we make our way back through the congestion to our room; our rock hard bed awaiting us. There are no blankets offered on this bed, but they’re completed unneeded. The temperature wouldn’t allow me to be even partially covered. As I go to sleep, I try not to focus on the plans of the day ahead, knowing that trying to sort the details out now will only keep me from my rest. But even so, it’s hard to not think of where we’ll end up tomorrow...

Random side thoughts:

You know that stereotype of the typical “grungy traveller”? Well I now know why many travelers end up that way. It seems that all of your precious, new clothing that you bring from home suddenly become superfluous and completely inappropriate when wandering through streets and residential areas with conditions that resemble those of the third world. This tells me why most end up dressing like hippies and wear earth-tone clothes. You have to be able to risk your clothes becoming filthy Another part of this stereotype is the hair; most seemed to have shaved heads or dreadlocks. So far as I can tell, this is because running water and shampoo can at times be very hard to find. You need something on your head that’s truly easy to manage in many conditions. I can tell you through second-hand experience that trying to live out of a backpack with a curling iron and hair dryer is less than ideal, haha.

We found work!

Finally got the time and good wether to send you a video update of what we've been doing over the last two weeks.
I'm really sorry about the audio feed for this video. It sounds muffled every now and then because my finger accidentally goes over the microphone :(. But I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!



I mention briefly in the video that our combined wage is $500 a week on top of the free accommodation. In addition, we get a bonus depending on how much money the hostel pulls in every week. It's calculated at 7.5% of every dollar we make over $2,500. (ex: last week we made $4,460, so our bonus was $147). The owners have told us that at peak accupancy, the bonus will max out at about $200 :)

But enough numbers, the only thing that matters is that I've aready made enough to pay Courtney back for the money she had to put down up front for the repairs to our stolen car :D  It's really relieving to see some progress towards our savings, showing that us that it really is worth our while to be stuck in one place for a bit!

Now all I need to worry about is giving us a little boost! Managing the hostel is really only a one-person job, (once you get the hang of it), and Courtney is excellent at it, so it's time for me to go out and find additional work. I have put in an application at the new recreation/aquatic center in town, but it seems that they already have all the staff they need :S Chances are that I'll be joining most of our hostel's guests in the vinyards, pruning and stripping vines for the next month. It's really hard labor, but at up to $150 a day it should be worth my while. If I don't have any calls back about my application, I'll be starting before the end of the week.

Wish me luck!

Recovered!

Horray!!!
Our beloved car (I forgot to mention that we named it "Kiwi") has been found. Apparently the thief was finished with it by the day after it was taken, but the place where it was left was a parking lot that belonged to several different businesses, and no one wanted to take action. After four days, the employess of Mitre 10 (a business very similar to our Home Depot in Canada) finally contacted the Wellington police. The police notified us immedite via an e-mail ...that went straight into my junk folder where it sat for another 3 days :S . We were finally alerted of a change when Courtney's mom looked up the liscence plate and found it registered as "not stolen". We found it funny that it wasn't listed as "found", but rather "not stolen", so we went to the Blenheim police station, (we were in the town for a week waiting for our employment to begin) where they notified us that the car was recovered. Yay!

So off we went again across the inter-islander ferry yet again to go claim our prize. What we found was both relieving and dissappointing.

The Good:
  • The car was relatively intact, and in near-drivable condition. We had feared that it would be nearly destroyed.
  • Some of our cooking supplies were still inside, along with the matress we were sleeping on.
  • The theif left our sleeping bags, stuff sacks, and Courtney's camel-back inside.
The Bad:
  • To get the car started, the thief had to smash open the steering colum and rip out the ignition switch. He accidentally destroyed the right-side signal level and combination switch in the process.
  • When he fiddled around with the wiring to start the car, he shorted somehting out, causing the alternator to fail.
    • the combined cost of repair was $799.25
  • The towing and impound fees came to a total of $200
  • The vast majority of everything we owned was still gone:
    • $1000's worth of camping gear, including our backpacks
    • All of the electronics, save for Courtney's iPod (me missed it because it was underneath the passengers seat
    • Our food
    • Our giant suitace of clothing, toiletries, and accessories.
But we have our freedom back! Now we just need to recover financially, haha.

An Emotioanl Roller Coaster

It seems that the most ultimate high or sense of happiness created by traveling comes from one thing; being completely free. Having the ability to change directions or plans at you own discretion without the hindrances of schedules, employment, or the expectations of others. But I found out that this can be a double-edged sword... The very things that give you freedom, - the flexibility, the high speed of plans changing at your very whim - means that your plans can just as quickly be completely altered by external events that we have little or no control over. The cause could be anything: Government policy, weather conditions, or the influence or actions of complete strangers. Specifically in our particular instance, theft.

On Saturday, March 12th, our 95 Subaru Legacy was stolen. I understand that car theft is a common problem that plagues almost any major city in the world, Wellington being one of them. We were spending one day in town to explore the downtown core. The architecture and natural surroundings of the bay are a wonderful environment in which to spend a day while taking in the sights of a bustling metropolis, and the perfect distraction during which our vehicle was taken. We were only gone a few hours, but when we returned everything we owned was gone, save for one backpack and the clothes on our back. I had no food, no shelter, no electronics, and no passport.

The few hours before, we were thinking of visiting the Wellington zoo, trying to plan our journey through the North Island, and making preparations for our hike of Mt. Doom. Then suddenly, we begin the arduous tasks of filling out police reports, filing stolen passports, and finding short-term accommodation while we problem-solved. Our trip had officially been turned on its head.

It's interesting how hard your mind tries to keep it's hold on a previous, more appealing situation. More than once I found my thoughts drifting towards what campsites, funds, and supplies we would need for our hike before I would snap back to reality and remember that all of our equipment and previous plans were gone. My only guess as to why this might be, is to think that through our lives we learn (or are conditioned) to strive for structure and consistency, we live bearing a high level of uncertainty avoidance. My only hope is that my experiences here make me more accustomed to finding my way through darker circumstances, and faster to accept those things that I have no control over. Time will tell.


Hiking to new heights


I figured that it was finally time to tell you about some the tramping* that I've done since our journey really began, in Te Anau.

The first tramp that we tackled was, or course, the Kepler Track. It was our reason for the initial journey to the southern tip of the south island, also known as fiordland.  The trails difficulty rating is only at moderate, but because of the way it's structured, all of the effort (the main elevation gain and loss) can land in the second day of the trip. For most people, this is avoided by spending their nights at the three DOC** huts that are evenly spaced along the trail. But for people like myself that are doing their entire trip on a tight budget, there are two things we have to deal with: first, carrying the additional weight of your tent, and second, having to spend the nights at campsites along the trail that are not as evenly spaced as the huts. Why spend the night in a tiny tent instead of a DOC hut thats the size of a mountain chalet? Because the campsites are only $15 each, rather than $50 per person, per night :S. This charge is standard across the dozen or so of the best tramps or New Zealand that are classified as "great walks".

But enough whining about hills and costs! I have to show you just how amazing this trail is :) The first day begins with the 2km walk out of Te Anau to the trailhead at the lake control gates (yes, there are actually giant steel gates that control the water level of the lake). From there, the path wanders it's way through dense NZ jungle for 4 hours towards the first campsite called Brod Bay. The trail (which is immaculately maintained) is mostly covered overhead by the thick canopy of tropical trees and giant NZ crown ferns.

*note* before this hike, I thought ferns were only bush-like plants that grew to about 3 feet tall. Here, they are actual trees that grow to well over 20 ft! They look like miniature palm trees...


 


Brod bay
The Brod Bay camp site turned out to be one of the best ive ever stayed at. There were full fire pit BBQ's and concrete picnic tables at most of the 10 sites that were tucked just barely back in the tree line of a beautiful sandy beach which looked directly across the lake to the town we left on the Southern shore.

.


Mt Luxmore Hut
While we slept to a star-filled sky, we woke to a grey, misty day before packing up to begin our second day of tramping. Here is where the real work started. The path winds its way upwards through many switch backs, still in a tunnel of jungle, for about 1.5 hours before breaking through the tree line at an elevation gain of roughly 700m. We were very drained and sweaty, so the cool breeze and spectacular view was the perfect reward. (Inset pic here with view and boardwalks) From this point it was another almost 200m ascent to the Mt Luxmore hut. This hut has bunks and full kitchen stoves to accommodate for 56 people! I wasn't kidding when I called it a mini mountain chalet. Again, this is where most people would spend the night, but because of our budget, our day was just beginning!

Although we were already exhausted, we had to climb nearly to the peak of mt Luxmore (an elevation of 1472m) and continue along alpine ridgelines for 14km. It was here that we were greeted by the most stunning views of the tramp. Steep, tightly packed, jungle-coated mounatins went as far as we could see. Some of them were only separated by thin arms of lake Te Anau.  Even though we had done most of the climbing work already, this section of the tramp was so grueling that wje had to stop for breaks in the shade of both of the emergency shelters en route to our camp site at Iris Burn. About a kilometer before the campsite, we had to lose about 800m of elevation through what even our guide books described as "endless switchbacks". Long story short ...my legs turned into jello.



From the morning of the third day, the rest of the tramp remained fairly
consistent; level, winding forest trail through light rainy conditions for roughly 32 km over two days. The only real highlights of this section were stopping on occasion to fend off masses of sand flies and mosquitoes, and to play around with some Kea,(NZ's native parrots).

In summary, the Kepler Track was the best 4-day tramp that ever kicked my ass, haha.This was the best hike I've ever done. Every one of the views were worth the effort it took to reach them :)

Thats all for now. I'll try to find the time to write about our smaller day hikes soon!

Cheers till then.

* "Tramping" is the Kiwi word for hiking
**  DOC is New Zealand's Department of Conservation. Like our parks & recreation back home  ...except better, haha

The Journey South Starts Now

Indended post date: March 5th

So much has happened already. It feels like it was weeks ago the I left Vancouver.

When we left Auckland, we knew we had a long trip ahead of us, but I guess I didn't fully come to terms with the amount of time that we would spend in transit. An 11-hour overnight drive to the Wellington ferry terminal left us completely drained without a proper nights rest. That being said, it seems that town locals and transit operators are more than willing to help out younger travelers. From the end of our bus ride, we had a 2km walk to the to the InterIslander ferry dock,but when I asked our bus driver for directions, he told us to throw our bags back on board so that he could drive us there. Once we were given a little daylight at around 7:00am, we finally got our first real look at Wellington. From the terminal we could see many brightly coloured houses buils on steep hills, (some on stilts) nestled in thick forests of semi-tropical trees. It was a view that made me think of images that I had seen of cities on the Mediterranean.

After a 5-hour wait through the early morning, we finally borded our ferry, the Arahura. The ship was massive, but mediocre; looking about 5-10 years older that our own BC ferries. But as soon as we set sail it didn't matter wheat kind of vessel it was, because the ocean crossing was amazing. While there was heavy seas, the water was blue, the air was 25 degrees, and the scenery was beautiful. We even had a few pods of dolphins join along side! We spent almost the entirety of the 3-hour crossing our on the upper decks, just looking at the shore ...and laughing at the fellow tourists that obviously didn't have their sea legs under them. haha

*note*
By this time I should probably mention that I looked like the Unibomber, thanks to the sunburn that i sustained from my first day in Auckland. I had to cover up completely, including hood and sunglasses.

We then docked in the small town of Picton. My first thought: "We've landed in Mexico!" The mountains on either side of the town were coated in dense jungle and dotted with palm trees. After checking into our hostel and having a quick chat with the resident house keeper, (a man that lacked quite a few teeth, and had the persona of a local drunk) we went out to explore. Everywhere we went, we just discovered more of what seemed to be a stereotypical sleepy mexican town; pleanty of small shops on a short main street lined with palm trees, a quaint marina filled with fishing and tour boats, and seagulls constantly stalking you for scraps of food. The only familiar thing this town lacked was vendors trying to push goods at you.

Before the end of the day, we decided to go for a quick hike along a trail that first skirted the endges of Picton's main bay, and then rose up the mounatinside to viewpoints along one of the taller ridges in the area. The majority of the hike was through lush forest that was full of crickets that chirped and hissed so loudly that we almost had to yell just so we could hear each other talk. At an intersection in the trail, we decided to branch off early and make our way back to the hostel through a  a quiet residential area of town that Courtney said looked like it was transplanted straight out of rural Hawaii. I have to say that I absolutely love this town, and I'm looking forward to returning to it on our eventual trip back up to the North Island.

Thats all I have time to write for this evening before I go to make dinner (yay spaghetti!) but I'll be sure to find more time soon!

Cheers till then!

Almost Ready!!

Getting Close to departure date!

This of course means that things are getting really exciting and stressful. I can't wait, yet there is still so much to get done!  Here's my checklist as it stands now:

  • Passport renewal                                   Check
  • Book airfare                                          Check
  • Buy new camping gear                           Check
  • Plan accomodation                                Check
  • Working holiday visa application            ...In progress
I have all of this done, but I still have to pack my entire old life away into storage, and make sure that all my banks and creditors aren't going to shut me out while I'm abroad!

New Zealands Great Walks
However, I am very pleased to announce that we have already planned and booked our trips first major hike! Thanks to Courtney's research, we found one of New Zealand's great walks, called the Kepler Track. It's located near the southern tip of the south island in a territory called Fiordland. This means two things: miles and miles of amazing scenery await, and we get to spend insane amounts of time in transit! beginning from Auckalnd, it will take us 3 lengthy bus rides, and a sea ferry over the course of 3 days to make it down to Te Anau, the small town that many use as base camp for the hike. We have already booked our fare, and it's cost us several hundred dollars each. That being said, we are told that the drives and the ferry ride across Cook Sound is quite scenic, (one of the most beautiful passages in the world, or so we hear). En route, we will have to spend a night each in the cities of Picton and Chsristchurch; and I have to say that I'm very excited to have some time to explore each of them before continuing on :)

That's all I know for now, but I hope to make my next post right before leaving the country. 


Until then...