Happy April!

Wow three updates in three weeks...
Umm so I guess I'll just go in chronological order. Everyone is out at the place I'm staying at for tonight so I should have loads of time to do this... Unless something comes up, like cookies

So the 29th (Thursday) was really a blah day. It was overcast and dreary and not very exciting in the least. I did manage to get my ticket changed so I am flying out of Delhi, but that was about as productive as I got... But there was a big accident the night before involving one of the passenger ferries and a yacht so there were police boats all over the harbour. I believe they have just recovered the final body today, and three people died in total. Most Aussies were of the opinion that they should have given up the search after one day, due to the high amount of sharks in the water. Supposedly shark attacks happen more frequently in harbours then on the beach... One other thing of note was I had a wicked steak lunch for six dollars... I just hope it was actually steak...
Friday was a pretty good day. I ended up walking for most of the day (making up for Thursday's lethargy) and generally just enjoyed the day. I went to St. Mary's Cathedral which is right in downtown Sydney and the biggest cathedral I've ever been in. Then it was off to all the other historic houses around the city like the Mint and Treasury and whatnot, but I got bored and wandered into the library, where I read a really interesting book on multiculturalism and Australia. Well really it was about the failings of multiculturalism and how the riots last Christmas were a direct result of too much with too little planning. You get the gist. Australia's problems seem to parallel ours in Canada, so it was a very interesting read. That night I met two of Rebecca's friends from the States, Katy and Karen, who were really friendly so we all went out for Mexican food (part of the American culture, you can't deny it!). Then it was off to visit Ellie who was at work bartending, and then multiple other bars. Highlights were the really drunk, really creepy Irish guy who was hitting on anything that moved including the wasted married woman. It was pretty sad watching them but it was entertainment for the rest of us (she eventually got kicked out for falling over twice). Yeah I felt sorry for her husband. After that bar (named Scruffy Murphy's - what sort of clientèle were we expecting with a name like that) Rebecca and I went to the Three Monkey's ( I know it had monkey's in the name I'm not sure what teh other words were... Three sounds good) and had a grand old time talking for over an hour before finally realizing it was probably a little late (as the bar was closing) and went back to the house.
Saturday hurt. After waking up at about midday I went with the American girls to Bondi and we pretty much just slept off the previous night on the beach. The only thing was that it was windy and sand was blowing everywhere so it wasn't all that comfortable. That pretty much sums up the day, as the night was quite uneventful (besides the bangers and mash that were really old hot dogs and mash).
Sunday I decided I would go to the Blue Mountains for a couple of days so after packing up hopped on the train for 2 hours to Katoomba. I had been planning on going to Jenolan caves, but was horrified to find out they charged at least 75 bucks for a tour or something like that. So instead I went down to Echo Point, which overlooks the Three Sisters, and was totally teeming with tourists. Kinda sad, although the views were completely breathtaking (check facebook or Photobucket for some pics).
The next day I did some day hikes throughout the area, which were much better than Echo Point. The Blue Mountains are really more like ridges with huge gorges and valleys cutting through them. Katoomba is on top of one of the ridges, so you have to walk down to get into the bush walks. Well, it's a far way to get down, like 1000 steps kind of a far way, so that took a while to do (and that doesn't even get you right the way down to the bottom of the valley). So I did the steps down, then hiked over to where they have a little place called Scenic World. It's your typical trashy tourism attraction, but they did have a pretty cool train that is one of the steepest in the world (52 degree incline) and a huge cablecar that allows you to travel up and down the very steep cliff faces. There was also a mini rainforest (in a nook in the cliffs that was sheltered from the western drying winds) complete with lirebirds and huge vines leading up into the canopy. It was actually pretty cool! To end the day I declined to pay the 10 dollars for the 2 minute trip up the train or cablecar, and hiked all they way up another set of stairs (called Fubar steps or something like that) cut into the side of the cliff. Tough going but it's good for the heart!
And that brings me up to today! I caught the train back to Sydney in the late morning and then managed to update a lot of pictures on facebook on photobucket. We're having spaghetti for dinner (on a total tangent, peanut butter and gnuttela in a sandwich make a snickers!) and then tomorrow I am going to train up to Newcastle where I'll hopefully get in touch with Colby and Patsy. Happy Easter (if I don't update before then)!

It's my birthday! (...yesterday...)

SO I'm going to try and update more often but in all likelihood it will happen about once. But anyways, I'll try.

I hung out in Canberra for about five days. On Thursday I went to the War memorial and the Museum which were pretty cool. But see the problem with Canberra is that once you do all the National museums and monuments and what not, there isn't much else to do. Nut anyways, that night Jules and Devin and I all met up and went for drinks and had a jolly old time. Devin's roommate Rhiannon was also kind enough to lend me her mountain bike and so for the rest of the time I was there I was able to use it. Canberra could be the flattest city in the world, so it was really easy to ride all around town. Friday I rode around town and generally just hung out, due to the aforementioned lack of things to do once you've done the big things. Jules and I met up at about 5 and went to Uni Bar, and then PJ O'Reilley's where they had 2 for 1 drinks and free peanuts. That was dinner! Then we hit up Muddle Bar and had a couple more drinks, and Devin met us later. So yeah the next day wasn't so fun...
Saturday Jules' sister Sarah flew in from Melbourne and we went to the National Library as well as Questacon. Questacon is this really cool science center that is over-run with little kids, but is actually really interesting for adults too. It refreshes the Physics you forgot from High School as well as really messing with your mind. That night we ended up watching a whole bunch of Grey's Anatomy from the second season which was pretty damn exciting! Oh well, sometimes it's nice to have normal nights!
Sunday was an alright day. Basically I just wandered around town again before going over to Devin's at night for a Barbecue. His roommate Rhiannon is in Med School and had a bunch of her Med School friends over so I talked a lot with them about what it was like in Australia. They were all really cool and really friendly, and encouraged me to apply in Australia. I think it is more expensive than Canada, but Aus is a pretty sweet country, so we'll have to see how things go.
On Monday I ended up hitching out of Canberra. While I was walking down the main street some random guy pulled over and offered me a lift, and so I was able to get about 15 km out of town. Unfortunately he dropped me off on the side of the highway where everyone was going 110 km/hr so it was a little hard to get a lift (probably because people were wondering why the hell I would be out in the middle of nowhere on a major highway) but eventually a nice old man pulled over and picked me up. He ended up driving me all the way to Sydney, and we also had some very interesting conversations. His main plan is to make 20 million dollars by the end of the year through shrewd stock investments, and explained his entire strategy out to me. It involves about four different oil companies, but he seemed to know all about their inner workings, so I guess only time will tell. I think one of them was named Cooper and is drilling in Indonesia...
He dropped me off on one side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but I decided to train back over and walk around the downtown area. Sydney is truly in a beautiful location, but their infrastructure isn't quite comparable to Melbourne's. They don't have any bus zones, and neither their trains, buses or ferries are consolidated, so you can end up spending quite a lot trying to get somewhere. Incidentally, I've been walking everywhere. That evening I explored the Botanical Gardens, had a look at the Opera House, and generally meandered around the place. Then Jules' friend's boyfriend returned my call, and we set up to meet at pretty much the other side of the city center, so I hustled across town and met up with him. He offered me a spot to stay at his house, and after meeting his roommates we went for some Thai food and hot chocolate before calling it a night. They are all really friendly and have basically offered me their place as their own, so that's why I've been able to make some updates without breaking the bank!
Tuesday was my birthday and after checking out the Rocks and Chinatown, I had a wonderful steak lunch and cold beer as a little treat. It ended up costing me only 15 dollars, due to some random deal they had on at the restaurant which nicely turned in my favour. After lunch I caught the very to Manly, which is at the entrance to Sydney Harbour, and so was able to basically have the Harbour tour which all the tourists pay 25 dollars for, for 20 dollars less. Manly is a pretty cool little beach town, and I also had some amazing Royal Copenhagen ice cream which was delicious! Then I caught the ferry back and walked back to the place, at which time it was already 7. Rebecca and I then went out to the bar across the street for their trivia night, and as we ended up winning, I was able to get free drinks all night. Pretty good deal for my birthday! I also met a couple of Rebecca's friends who were really nice and told me some great sea stories about sharks and half eaten fish and all the sort of stuff a traveler wants to hear. It ended up being a pretty sweet birthday, considering I didn't know anyone in Sydney only 24 hours before!
Today I went to Bondi Beach, which was probably nice about 2o years ago, but now it covered with fat ugly tourists and bright ugly houses. Europeans really seem to have an issue with personal space, as evident from the creepy Italian guy in a speedo deciding to put towel about 7 feet from me, when there was all sorts of open space all around. Aussies by the way have a certain relish for going topless, and it's pretty much considered the norm here. Some things are just a little different from back home. Oh well, at least it wasn't like Wreck Beach where half the population is naked 65 year old men...
The last thing of note today was waiting for 25 minutes on hold with Singapore Airlines, only for the network to decide to restart itself or cancel my call or whatever and cut me off just as I was confirming with the lady to switch my Indian departure place from Madras to Delhi. Deciding that I didn't want to wait another 25 minutes on hold (which probably took up like 10 dollars off my pre-pay account... cellphone rates here are ridiculous by the way) I've decided I will go in to the office tomorrow and deal with a real person. They're just so novel these days!
And that's today! Ellie and I had tacos which were really good for dinner, and then we've pretty much been hanging out for the evening. In other news, this computer connection here is so fast I was able to watch the Canucks highlights from beating Colorado and claiming a play-off spot! That's the first moving hockey I've seen in 5 months! Take care everyone!

Finally an update

Okay well I've been waiting to do an update so I could do it on a free computer, as I knew it would take about two hours to do, but as it's already been over a month I guess I'll have to just bite the bullet.
So I guess where I left off I was waiting for a plane to Fiji! The flight was pretty uneventful, and teh full humid heat hit as soon as I got off the plane. I was planning on waiting at the airport for a couple of hours to meet Erin's plane, but right before I left Auckland I found out that because a bird had flown into the engine on her plane, the would have to delay her flight for 40 hours while they fixed it. You would think in LA they would have some extra seats to Fiji or something like that, but they had absolutely nothing. Well, I guess there are risks flying with Pacific Air (Fiji's National Carrier) in the middle of a coup.
So I chilled out for a night in the outskirts of Nadi, then hopped on the bus that took me to Robinson Crusoe Island, which Erin and I were supposed to go to together. They were pretty good about changing all the details from two to one person, but it was obviously a little disappointing. I drank kava that night, which is the Fiji national drink which numbs your body completely if you drink too much of it. The staff there were really cool and totally get involved and have a good time, and did the whole coal walking and fire dancing and traditional Fiji dancing. It was a beautiful island and I wish I could have stayed longer there, but went back the next day to Nadi where I met Erin at teh airport. Happy Dance!
The next day we caught the bus down to the coral coast to go to The Pearl, which is a really beautiful resort. The wierdest thing in Fiji is that they just let all their farm animals graze on the side of the road, so the entire time we were giggling at horses running alongside goats chilling with cows right beside the road. It took about 3 and a half hours to get down there, but we were entertained the whole way!
We ended up staying a week at the Pearl as Erin's mum got us a really good deal. Erin's highlight was probably the Fijitini but mine was going shark-diving off Beqa Reef. I saw seven different types of sharks, with the biggest being the Bull Shark at 5 meters. I also ended up diving to 32 meters and had to do a decompression dive, which is something that is supposed to be beyond my expertise, but it went off really well and the dive was just incredible. It's a beautiful coral reef, and the water was really warm with pretty good visibility, but not so good that the sharks didn't look like huge shadows coming towards you. At one time, one of the sharks brushed my shoulder, and then like two minutes later, another one came swimming directly at me, pre-occupied with the fish head in it's mouth. I also saw a moray eel and more fish then I could count. I don't know if anything could really top that dive (although I might do a great white dive in Adelaide).
We were lucky to have a village right by the resort, so we were able to keep costs down by eating there and having a lookaround too. The Fijian people are so friendly, and they are always eager to help. Everything is so cheap there too, and with the Canadian dollar worth about 1.50, I was able to get some pretty cool souvenirs too. And a Bula shirt!
A couple of days before we left, Erin and I made the hour long trip to Suva, which is still on the places recommended to not travel list of all the western countries. We met up with William and Sufi, who were really nice and showed us around their radio station. They own six of the main radio stations in Fiji, and thus do pretty well for themselves, but they have the really nice fiji mentality too, so took us out for lunch and showed us around. Then we shopped for a bit in Suva, where the prices are all really cheap to try and bring the tourists back and where they do their best to take all your money. We managed to get swindled (but not too badly) by this wood carver guy, who first carves your name on a sword and acts like he is going to give it to you, then asks for 30 dollars.
Overall Fiji was such a wicked time. Spending time with Erin was awesome and we never got bored of wandering around and just hanging out. It was a nice break from hitchhicking and the stress of really not knowing what you are going to be doing or where you will end up. Not that that's bad, but constantly it gets a little over the top! I flew out on the 25th of Feb, a couple of hours before Erin, and into Melbourne just before midnight.
Melbourne is a really beautiful city, but expensive! All the hostels seem to be at least 25 bucks a night, and when compared to New Zealand that's like 12 dollars more per night. I checked into this big hostel and met up with a Welsh girl and we hung out together over the first couple days. My original plan was to get a job, but it's pretty hard to do here and although I did end up getting one, it was only for like two shifts over two weeks. Not exactly what I wanted...
Anyways, I met up with Trish on the 27th and she supplied me with a SIM card, and then I met up with Penny, my Mum's childhood friend right afterwards, and she gave me a cellphone! So i really lucked out there and if anyone wants to call me it's 0416842744. I hung out in Melbourne for basically two and a half weeks, with trips in between out to the surrounding areas.
On monday, March 5th I decided to go out to the Grampians, which are a mountain range that over the last couple of years have been ravaged by bush fires. I caught a train out to Ballarat, and after walking around there for a while (it's an old gold mining town) decided to try hitching to the Grampians. It went really well, despite reports from New Zealanders that it's impossible in Australia ( a little rivalry there) and I ended up camping in the middle of the bush with some kangaroos hopping around me all night. Luckily they were Grey Kangaroos, so they didn't take out my tent, but it was my first experience of Australia bush camping!
Australia's landscape is just so different from Canada's. Everything here is brown (due to like the worst drought ever) as opposed to Canada and New Zealand's greenery. In Ballarat they have a lake in the middle of town that is completely dried up, and down a little north of Melbourne there are waterfalls that are just falls (oh i'm so witty!). At another place between Melbourne and Canberra (called Hume Lake) the lake is 20 meters below it's normal level. They had to add extra concrete to the boat ramp, and tree trunks from about 80 years ago from when they flooded teh valley are poking above the surface.
Anyways, I did some hiking in the Grampians, and then hitched a ride with some Dutch guys. We went down to Mt Eccles volcano park, and ended up camping there underneath the koalas! They were really cool guys and had just driven like 22000 kilometers up the center and down teh east coast, so recommended a lot of places for me to go. We managed to make a huge campfire (in the middle of a drought we were allowed fires which was pretty sweet) and then bugged the koala in the tree above us who retaliated by crapping and doing his best to aerial bombard us. The next day we went down to the Great Ocean Road, which is one of the most scenic drives I've ever been on. I probably took way too many photos, but there are some truly amazing rock formations and cool little walks too. We camped another night on Cape Otway underneath the koalas again and then they dropped me off in Geelong and I hitched back to Melbourne with a Russian guy in a BMW, who was a clothing shop owner. He was pretty cool, and drove me right back to the backpackers which was a fair bit out of his way.
The next day I picked up my passport from the Indian Embassy and was happy to see that they granted me a visa. Then I went to work that night only to find out they had cancelled my shift so resolved that after my next shift I would pick up my money and leave Melbourne. I hung out in Melbourne the nexy couple of days and worked one more night at the restaurant ( a lovely 8 til 4 in the morning shift) and then travelled a bit around the country with Penny and her friend and cousins. We went to a really nice winery but I was pretty tired the entire day, due to the aforementioned 8-4 shift.
On monday I decided to hitch to Wilson's Prom, which is the southernmost tip of mainland Australia and is a really nice National Park. I forgot my fuel for my stove, so I ended up drinking untreated water, but nothing has happened yet, so I think I'll be okay. I spent two nights there and hiked about 40 kilometers with a bag that I'm sure had stones in it. On my second day there I managed to see a brown snake (responsible for a bunch of deaths) slash... i almost stepped on the brown snake before jumping back. There are so many nice views in the Prom that words can't describe it, so I'll leave it at that. I hitched back with a really nice guy named Cam all the way to Melbourne, and I might meet up with him in a couple days when he starts driving up to Townsville.
On Thursday I managed to switch a couple of the dates on my airline tickets, then went to the National Gallery Victoria, which has the largest collection of International art in Australia (and it's free!).
Last Friday I hitched up to Albury and it took forever. I caught a train out to the outer suburbs to Melbourne, but then ended up hitching about 30 kilometers in 3 hours and coming back towards Melbourne towards the main freeway. I was then dropped off in pretty much the middle of nowhere, on an onramp that had about 10 cars go by in an hour and a half, and a big sign saying no pedestrians past this point. Just before I was ready to start walking, an army guy saw the desperate look on my face and picked up. He ended up giving me the name of a guy in Sydney who I might be able to stay with, and then dropped me off at a truck stop where I was able to get a ride really quickly and got into Albury about 7. After finding out that Albury didn't have any backpackers, I started wandering around town, before meeting up with a Scottish guy who took me back to the pub and a really nice guy by the name of Craig said I could sleep on his couch. We then spent the entire rest of the night hitting the bar and then going to his friend's night club.
I ended up staying in Albury for four nights, and met up with my friend Jules from third year on exchange on the saturday. St Patties day was a blast and then we did teh traditional Aussi sunday drinks thing, which was interesting with the hangover. I hitched up to Canberra yesterday which went really smoothly, and then today have been hanging out in Canberra and visiting al the "National" sites. I'm staying with Devin, the American guy I met back in November in New Zealand and he's going to school at the Uni here in some international relations course. I'm planning on hitching to Sydney in a couple of days, and then up to Newcastle to meet up with Patsy, probably around my birthday. I hope this post satisfies everyone!

Angriness

So this post will be much shorter due to technical f-ing difficulties.
In Wanaka I met up with an Israeli girl and some Irish guys, and we went to Puzzle World which was pretty cool. That afternoon I was picked up by this really nice Korean guy who had a campervan, and because we had the same itineraries, we decided to travel together for a couple of days. One eventful point was when he got his campervan stuck in teh sand, and had to pay a towtruck driver 80 bucks for 5 minutes of work. We met up with some other Koreans later on, and travelled together with them for a couple of days, all the way up to Greymouth. I mostly ate Korean food the entire time, and they wouldnt let me pay for anything, so I did quite well out of the entire deal.
Hitching out of Greymouth took a while, but all in all, Feb 8th was quite uneventful. I got abotu 5 lifts in total that day, and managed to make it all the way back to Judith's. I stayed there for two nights, and just basically got things in order.
On the 10th, I hitched up to Picton in pretty good time, and got there three hours before my ferry was due to depart. I was worried about getting picked up outside Judith's as teh cars are going at elast 100 km/hr, but was actually picked up by the first car. Then a crazy excited lady picked me up, and we went to a couple vinyards and tasted some wine before getting to Picton. I met a cool Dutch guy on the ferry (whos name I never ended up getting) and then was picked up by Leonie at teh ferry terminal in Wellington. She's the girl I went hiking with when I was in Punakaiki. We drove around the city a bit that night, and Wellingotn is a beautiful city to see at night.
The next day I caught the train out of Wellington, to one of teh suburbs where it would be easier to hitch out of. I was quickly picked up, and most of the day was uneventful. My last ride of the day though, which got me into Taupo, was this American couple who were going sight-seeing, so I got to take a few pictures with them. He was a civil engineer in Baghdad but didn't really seem to want to talk about it, as I can full imagine why. The backpackers in Taupo was pretty much a dump, so I did my best to spend as much time away from it as I could.
On the 12th, I hitched up to Alyth's with relative ease. I was first picked up by a nice oil rig production manager guy who got in a yelling match with some ladies because he parked too close to the turn-in to a parking lot. It was really quite funny. Then I got picked up by this nice kid in Rotorua who had nothing better to do, so decided to drive me to Tauranga. He didn't seem to care much for money (probably because his dad was a millionaire) and bought me lunch as well. So yah that was pretty cool! When I got to Katikati, a guy in a beamer SUV picked me up, and he turned out to be some big sales guy from south africa and offered me a job in Melbourne if I wanted one, as a door-to-door salesman! We ended up hanging out together, due to a brutal accident that closed the only road up to Waihi, and then he really started attempting to recruit me. If I get short of cash in Oz, maybe I'll give it a shot! I got into Waihi around 3, and then wandered around town until Alyth got off work. We had a quite evening back at Alyth and Bob's with a much better dinner then I could ever imagine of making.
On Tuesday I bid goodbye to Alyth just outside of Thames, and got picked up right away by an interesting close-minded environmentalist. She thought everyone should drive less, yet due to her personal circumstances she shouldn't have to. She also was of the opinion that because she planted trees she was better than everyone else. Oh and she think someone should kill George Bush but she is against violence. An interesting lady... She dropped me off at teh same gas station where I had been dropped off at way back on November 7th, so I felt obliged to take a picture. I asked around, and pretty quickly got a guy who was driving up to Auckland. He was a really cool guy and then dropped me off right outside the Unviersity in Auckland. I chilled in Acukland all yesterday, and then checked into this backpackers which turned out to be a total hole. My Dorm-mates hot-boxed the room, and the place didn't have any toilet paper or cutlery or dishes in general. Like none, nadda, zero. Then I found out they pushed my flight back four hours, so I had to cancel my reservation at teh hostel in Fiji I was going to stay in tonight, as it would be pointless to now I get to hang at teh airport for 5 hours!
And now my time is running out, but I am pretty much up to date now. Sorry for the lack of detail, but I just didn't feel like typing everything all out again. I'll be sure to update with more detail in Fiji though!

Continued

I just typed for an hour and these stupid computers totally lost my post... I must say that North American computer cafes and broadband and technology in general are leaps ahead of New Zealand. I'm sorry... I can't deny the truth.

Over 3 months... wth?

Oooo time for a quick update before I start trying to hitch all the way up the North Island in three days. I guess I left off after chasing the bulls around, and the rest of that day was quite mellow.
The next day (Jan 24) I left Lester and Caroline’s and hitched to Mount Cook. After waiting for like an hour in Faerlie for a ride, a nice Englishman picked me and we stopped at multiple destinations to take pics and see the sights. There is this really cool church on an alpine lake, and it’s like one of the most photographed things in New Zealand. He dropped me off, and I got picked up by a Mount Cook local, who at one time would have been a pretty cool guy, but now acted like he was a big deal, as he had a couple of businesses up in the area. Typical ski bum sell-out :p. Mount Cook is really stunning; it just rises out of the ground in front of you and you can see why the Maoris worship it. I probably took way too many pictures of it, but the entire area was beautiful. Supposedly it is always covered in cloud, so I really lucked out in getting a clear shot of it. That night though, because of the clear skies, was really really cold, and the wind would come flying down the valley in gusts that felt like they would blow the tent over. At one point, the fly was half blown off, and so I had to randomly get up to re-clip it. It was totally worth it though, as the sky was lit up with stars that you don’t see in the Northern Hemisphere.
The next day I just did some short hikes around the area. The weather had turned sour though, so I had to cut that short, though the views in the entire area were fantastic.
On the 26th I had to hitch out of Mount Cook, but my luck at first was pretty horrendous. I waited two hours at what I thought was a pretty good spot, then got frustrated, and as soon as I started walking, was picked up by an American guy who was marketing for one of the skydive companies. He gets a pretty sweet deal, and gets to fly all over the country and go skydiving for free and gets a company car thrown in. After he dropped me off at the airport (he was going to go do a dive) I got picked up by two skydiving instructors, and as their plane had broken down, they were going all the way down to Te Anau to work there. They were pretty carefree guys, drinking a couple beers while driving and filming like everything… kinda like what you see in skateboarding vids. They dropped me off in Cromwell though, as they wanted to go visit a friend and have some beers, so I was picked up immediately by some nice old lady who got me into Queenstown. I met up with Andy before he had to go to work, but then he quit his job because his manager didn’t like the look of his “English backpacker friends” (me) as the place was giving away free drinks and supposedly anyone was allowed to show up. So yah, Andy got pissed and just walked out. That night we went to about 5 different bars, and got to bed about 3 (that’s early for Queenstown). So all in all, a pretty full day.
The next couple of days I hung out with Andy, and got my hair cut and generally just lazed around and played video games and watched movies. After realizing I was wasting time though, I hitched down to Te Anau on the 30th, and drove most of the way with a nice Italian guy, who owned a restaurant in Te Anau. No matter where you go, there is always one thing everyone has in common. An opinion on American politics.
On the 31st, I caught a bus up to Milford Sound at 7 in the morning, and it was absolutely brilliant scenery. It rained the entire time, and so there were waterfalls pretty much everywhere, running down the cliff faces. Supposedly Milford has hardly any soil, just rocks, so the water just races down the cliffs, and isn’t muddy at all. But anyways, I took way too many pictures again, and hung out with some Germans (what else) when we went on a 3 hour cruise in the sound. The sea was pretty rough too, so it was a pretty fun day. That night, Michael (one of the Germans) and I hung out and drank some wine with a friend of his Sarah, who ended up giving me a ride back to Queenstown the next day. That day was pretty uneventful, and the next was too, though I did hitch to Glenorchy and do some walks around there.
Saturday, TJ and Andy had a big party for a couple of the guys at TJ’s work who were leaving town (and for me). We got a bunch (about 200) of free beer from the supermarket (it has just expired) and had a grand old time. While Andy and I were setting up, some random guy showed up at 6 and just sat around. Rick the random, who didn’t talk and was pretty friggen awkward. It was a pretty good party, although Andy almost smacked some French Canadian guy who was totally trashed out of his mind. I hung out with Tyler much of the night, a White Rock (South Surrey) native who I think is going back to Canada in a month or so. I ended up going to bed at 5, just after the party ended.
The next day, after cleaning up, I bid farewell to the English guys, and Carla (Andy’s girlfriend) drove me through Arrowtown and about half the way to Wanaka. Then an Israeli guy picked me up, and I tried getting in touch with Lea ( a girl I had met while I was up in the Bay of Islands and was now working in Wanaka) but to no avail, so checked out the town. It was really nice, and I wish I had been able to stay there longer.
Okay, this post is already way too long, and I have to go make some lunch before I set off trying to hitch to the ferry. So I’ll try and continue the update in a couple days. I am trying to get to Wellington tonight, and then hitch up to Alyth’s and get there on Monday, before going into Auckland the next day. So yah, wish me luck!

An update!

Ok well I've finally got a little time to spare and so I'll do my best to fill everyone in on how everything is going. I was going to upload some pictures, but as this is a dial-up connection, decided I had better things to do then wait for 2 hours uploading 5 pictures (I was going to use the excuse that I left my USB cable at home, but then realized this computer has a card reader for the digital camera, and thus had to tweak it a bit). Anyways, where did I leave off?
So from the 13th to the 15th, we basically chopped wood fo rmost of the day and then stacked it. Very exciting! I did get stung on the neck though by a bee which was very exciting because sometimes I swell right up, and sometimes nothing happens. Luckily nothing happened this time, so you know, I didn't stop breathing or have to go to the hospital. Hayley sorted out my ticket to Fiji, and now everything is set for me to leave Auckland on the 14th of February. Getting up there however will be another problem...
I left Judith and Snow's on the 16th and they dropped me off outside of Blenheim for me to hitch down to Kaikoura. At first a very nice vinyard owner/businessman picked me up but my second ride could only be considered New Zealand's version of the redneck. Besides not being unable to understand them, their attire consisted of tight jeans and tight leather vests. There car was, well a peace of crap (but hey I don't judge people on what sort of car they drive) and they insisted on tailing and swearing at anyone who was on the road. When we stopped at a seal colony right before Kaikoura, they proceeded to spit and throw rocks at the seals. I could only shake my head in the background (hey they were my ride!) and then when a man took a picture of their license plate to report them, they contemplated whether or not to ram his car. But yeah, after that eventful ride, I was safely in Kaikoura. However I decided the dolphin swimming and whale watching wasn't quite for me, considering that we have those in BC, so I just stayed the night there and then moved on.
On the 17th, I met a German guy in the hostel and he volunteered his American Buddhist friend to drive me down to Conway Flats. The American had been studying at a monestery in Thailand, but sadly had Visa problems and had to come to New Zealand. They dropped me off, and after asking at a random house on the side of the road, I figured out that Medina (the farm of the Handysides) was about 12 kilometers down the road. So I started walking, and after about five minutes a very nice guy by the name of Andrew picked me up, and rove me up the road a bit to his house. Considering he was a bachelor of about 30, it was a little uh, messy (complete with an overpowering smell of marijuana and a big tin full o fit sitting on the coffee table) but he was very nice and gave me a cup of tea and arranged for me to get picked up by the mailman to take me up to the farm. David and Sally greeted me, and then sent me off on a three hour lon ghike aroudn their farm. They live right on the coast, and there are huge cliffs right on the coast line, and then mountains at the back of their farm (about 1500 acres). It's truly a stunning piece of land, and they actually run a track that people pay to walk on. We had venison for dinner, and I can't believe I had lived so long with out it. Better than all meat except for maybe steak :p. They put me up in a big canvas tent outside, but gave me an extra douvet so even though it was quite cold and night, I was all snug!
The next day I hung out with Peter, their oldest son, who is pretty much taking over the farm now. We zoomed around on some ATV's, chasing after cattle and sheep and moving them to the right paddocks. They use dogs for all this work, which supposedly is a unique thing about New Zealand. Then I fixed a dog kennel (exciting, I know).
Friday I hitched down to Christchurch, and wandered around town for a while. They have the International Buskers Festival going on, and some of them were actually really good. 10 foot Unicycles, juggling fire, all sorts of good stuff that one wouldn't normally see. Christchurch is a beautiful city, and is considered the most English of New Zealand cities, complete with punting on the river that winds through town. In the late afternoon I bussed out to Su and Rex's place just outside of the city center.
The next day I spent in Christchurch again, going to the museum, watching the buskers and seeing the sites. The museum is one of the best in regards to Antarctic history, and so it was actually really fascinating. I also toured teh Anglican Cathedral there, which was the first cathedral built in New Zealand ( I think.. if not, it was the first building built pretty much in Christchurch... just imagine a huge cathedral in the middle of nowhere a couple hundred years ago). I found the last Harry Potter book at Su and Rex's when I went back for dinner, and so burnt through it that evening and the next morning. Damn those books are addictive.
On Sunday, (after finishing Harry Potter) Su dropped me off and I started hitching again down to Akaroa, which is on the Banks Peninsula. It was a pretty cool town, (it was the first place that french settlers came to) and so everything has a French flair, but more or less not too exciting.
Yesterday was a fairly eventful day. After eating a delicous meal of a granola bar and some ham, I left the Holiday Park at 9, and was quickly picked up while I was walking to the main road by a family who had also stayed at the park. They had a big campervan, and gave me a bowl of cereal, so it was pretty sweet. I was dropped off on a motorway leading out to Christchurch, and thus had to hitch with traffic screaming by me, but I was quickly picked up by a Kiwi who was going inland, and so drove me for about an hour. He had spent a lot of time in Canada in his youth, working at Whistler and spending time in the Rockies, so we had numerous things to talk about. He dropped me off in the middle of a tiny town, and after ten minutes of waiting for a car to drive by, I started to get a little nervous. Tim however came to my aid, though he drove by at first and only stopped later because he saw the look of disappointment on my face... He was a stock agent or something like that, and basically drives aroudn the entire south island, visiting farms and picks out the lambs for slaughter. He took me to three farms (I figured I had the time to detour) and seemed to really enjoy giving the lambs the (pink) Mark of Death. After a couple hours of driving around with him, (which was quite scenic by the way) he dropped me off just outside of Ashburton, and a Tahiti woman picked me off and drove me a wee bit further down the road to Tekapo. After a quick lunch, John and Theresa picked me up, and after the usual small talk, (they happened to be a Elementary School teacher and High School Math teacher) we realized that John was a second cousin to Lester (whose place I am at right now) (New Zealand is a small country). So they took me to their place, where I checked my e-mail (as I hadn't had a reply from Lester and Caroline saying I could stay). Lester and Caroline weren't home though, so they ended up calling Lester's mother, who came and picked me up, and took me back to her place and fed me. Then she got a hold of Caroline, and drove me up to the farm, which was about half an hour away. So in a very round-about way, and owing to the great Kiwi sense of friendliness, I wound up at their farm in Adbury.
This morning, we did some more stock moving, and I got to run after 16 bulls to move them way down the line (this sounds more exciting then it really is, because they were all yearlings and only half the size that they will grow to be). Then we chased after some deer (3000 of them here) and move them all together as a bunch of the fawns had become seperated from their mothers. And then I did my laundry! Which brings me up to date!
Tomorrow I am going to hitch to Mount Cook, and stay a couple of nights there. Then it's down to Queenstown, and Milford Sound and the glaciers and all that.

January 12

Time flies when you're having fun. I can't believe it's almost been two weeks since I last made an update. However due to not so subtle suggestions that maybe I should update my blog, I'm now here!
New Years here was... uneventful would be a nice way to put it. Everyone here went to bed before 11, so I rang in the New Year watching October Sky on the television. They didn't even have anything on TV advertising the fact it was New Years. So quite sad and maybe a little pathetic... but oh well!
The next couple days were spent in New Years mode. Lots of hanging around and doing random jobs around the property, but nothing exceedingly exciting. I decided to work outside during 35 degree weather and then was a wee bit light-headed as a consequence. On the Fourth we went to Ju and Snow's friend's place, and had a complete and utter feast. Dave had just got some scallops the morning of, and they were really good cooked on the BBQ with kababs. THey also have about eight pet eels that are at least four feet long, and they'll come right out of the water to grab food from you. So I had a good time over-feeding them. New Zealand seems to have eels in pretty much every stream, and supposedly five foot ones have been found swimming in Auckland. Personally I'd prefer to not encounter them while swimming...
The next day was quite uneventful, though we did go down to the river and have a nice little swim. The water is still really cold, but probably not nearly as bad as Canada right now... Then Dave and Kathy came to Sunhill for dinner, but it was so hot that nobody really felt like eating much. Another 35 degree day.
On Saturday the sixth, Malcolm caught the train down to Christchurch in the early afternoon. Well... he was supposed to catch the train, but it derailed, so he got stuck on a bus for a while and then forced to sit beside a new mother and a screaming infant. Yay kids! When we got back, Judith found out that one of the ewes had fly, so she had to round them all up and spray them to make sure it doesn''t die. Fly is when the maggots from the black flies basically eat a sheep from the inside out, because they burrow in through the wool and through the skin. Or something like that, I'm not too sure. Whatever it is, it's not at all pleasant for the animal. Maggie was very efficient in rounding them all up and then sat guarding them all in the pen while Judith sent them all through. She such a friendly and smart dog, it makes me want a border! As a side note, before travelling ot New Zealand, one should know that buying deoderant is very expensive (aka be prepared to spend three times as much).
On Sunday the seventh I finally got to go diving! Judith and Snow dropped me off at Dave's in the morning, and he was able to get me all the gear I needed except for a wetsuit. Considering that renting and then getting a boat for a dive costs anywhere from 150 to 225 dollars anywhere else in the country, and I was able to basically go for free, I think it was a pretty damn good deal. We launched out of Picton, and then did a couple of dives in the Marlborough Sounds. These were my first dives without an instructor, and my last dive was back in April, but I managed to remember most things and eventually dropped down to 55 feet. Dave caught a bunch of scallops, and we were both able to take 50 home so it was a very fine dinner that night. The visibilty was quite poor (but nothing as bad as Vancouver) and I lost Dave after a couple minutes, but still swam around and explored a little. Sadly, I was ''air eating'' and so had to come up a while before Dave, but for a first dive, it was pretty damn good! Dave managed to convince me to try a raw scallop, and I was actually suprised to find out they aren't that bad. A little bit fishy, but also quite sweet! When we got back to Judith's the main water pipe had burst going from the water tank to the house, but Dave managed to fix it after about an hour of running around. I was given the honourable task of bailing water.
On the Monday I finally got all the bank info I needed from back home, and so I was able to send off my Extended Visa application. I also had to send off my passport, which means I can't actually buy any booze if anyone ID's me. Yay. Then we picked a bunch of cherries for Judith to brandy (quite good I suggest everyone tries it one day) and my expert skills from my hard work before Christmas really paid off...
On Tuesday we all packed into the bus with Maggie and set out west. Judith and Snow dropped me off in Murchison and then I set out hitching down to Punakaiki and the pancake rocks! I was picked up by two Norwegian girls right away and had a good time talking to them. Hitching truly is an art. With girls, you have to draw eye-contact with them and then just as they are hesitating about whether to pick you up or not... flash them a smile. Then it's in the bag. They dropped me off just outside of Westport, where I was quickly picked up by a Wellington girl who it turned out has exactly the same plan as me. We ended up camping at teh same campsite that night, and then explored the pancake rocks and local caves around Punakaiki. The pancake rocks are limestone rocks that have been totally owned by the sea, and so are in a bunch of really cool designs. The sea continuously pounds away at caves in the area, and you can feel the power of the surf right through the ground. It's a pretty cool place, and totally reminds me of Enid Blyton (I'm pretty sure I spelled her name wrong) books and all the adventures the kids had in those with undersea caves!
The next day, Leonie (the Wellington girl) and I decided to go up Fox River and try and do some of the hikes up around it. Due to the massive rainfall the night before (incidentally, it did not stop raining the entire time I was on the West Coast) the river had risen a good couple of feet and we had to do a couple river crossings to get down the track. They were really cool, and it was lucky we were together, because it would have been nearly suicidal to attempt them solo. Supposedly failed river crossings are the number one reason for death in New Zealand bush. Anyways, we beat the river and then found these really cool caves, which were pretty much unspoilt. The main one was 200 meters deep, and was covered with formations the entire way in. The last quarter or so was flooded up to our knees, but we sloshed through and it was actually quite an amazing experience. The cave was just so magnificent, and neither of us were really expecting anything great, so we were both totally stunned by it. When we got out though, it started to pour, so on the hike back to her car we got totally soaked, though luckily the rivers hadn't risen. I was able to dry out all my clothes as the camp had lit a drying room boiler, so luckily I wasn't very wet that night in the tent.
Thursday I hitched back over about six hours. First I was picked up by some crazy religion that starts with a "b" guy and as soon as he dropped me off outside of Westport it started to pour. Then a really nice Kiwi who gave me a lot of history of the area, and then some crazy German guys who well... your stereotypical German... They dropped me off in St. Arnaud, and after a quick lunch there, two German girls picked me up after I smiled at them and gave them a wave. They were really nice and actually dropped me right off at Sunhill, where I arrived in the late afternoon.
Today, Judith and I went into Blenheim, as she had to go to a "Creative Fibre" meeting. I had to buy some new sandals (due to my old ones breaking during the plumbing fiasco) and some tent sealant (due to the leaking tent in Punakaiki fiasco). Judith and I then went out for lunch at a Thai restaurant and after a few other errands we got back home around 4, only to be shepherded back into the truck by Snow because Murray has some wood he wanted to get rid of at the cherry orchard. So after two hours of cutting wood, we drove back with a full truck and trailer load of firewood, had a couple G and T''s, and then it became now.
Next week I am planning on going down to Kaikoura and then Christchurch, and then more south. A few people have offered to let me stay at their houses, so hopefully I will update at a better rate than once every two weeks. Cheers!