Moving on Up

After arriving back from the tramp, I found that I had received an email from a wwoof host in Karamea who welcomed me as soon as I was able to arrive. Yay! My first wwoofing experience! Kristine was headed to Karamea as well to begin another tramp. We took a couple of days to get there and found ourselves in a little piece of paradise when we did. I spent a week with my hosts Dee and Dan, and two other wwoofers. We picked feijoas, a South American fruit, and afterwards sorted and graded them for sale. I discovered my love for four-wheelers and piglets, and enjoyed immensely the merriment that surrounds the Bush Lounge & Bar in the off hours. Dee and Dan were wonderful and I was sad to leave a week later. Two months of travel doesn't allow enough time in one place.

The trip to my next destination, Golden Bay, was quite the ride. Kristine had left me her car to drive around to the end of her tramp. I was scheduled to pick her up in four days, six hours away, at 3 p.m. The fun fact? I've driven manual maybe 20 minutes in my life! A quick lesson from a fellow wwoofer (Thanks, Brenton!) put me in good shape and I made it unscathed to the tramp's end. The drive through the Montueka Valley was by far one of the most gorgeous routes I have ever seen. Autumn was in full bloom and there are no words to describe the gorgeousness of the area. I was excited to get to Takaka and to my next wwoof host.

Gee was a dutch guy who moved to New Zealand and after a couple of years decided to live as sustainably as he was able to. He found a piece of land to rent, bought a 7m round yurt and supported it with solar power and an outside shower/toilet. It was a good little set-up and had a great view of the water. He gave up his day job as a web designer and began working at a greenhouse supporting local restaurants and grocers. I was excited as he had been working with hydroponics for a year and this was something that I was interested in learning more about. Alas, he was in the process of switching from hydroponics to a garden when I arrived. I planted and weeded for three days and found out more about Gee's use of the phases of the moon to guide planting instead.

At this point Kristine and I met up to hike the Abel Tasman Trail for five days, the longest length you could hike it in. It was a relaxing and breathtaking tramp and I am excited to show pictures when I able to get them up. I hadn't planned on tramping at all when I was getting ready for New Zealand but am very glad that I had the opportunity to. I made a few new friends and pushed myself and made a goal to get in shape for the Inca Trail in Peru.

After Abel Tas, we headed to Nelson for a few days. I took the time to plan out what I wanted to achieve in the final weeks of my adventure and to decompress a little. A tough decision was made to miss out on the East Coast of the South Island and to head to the North Island where I wanted to focus on wwoofing more than traveling. I picked a few places I wanted to see, and got ready for my next hitch - from Nelson to the ferry town of Picton.

The adventure gets really interesting here... stay tuned for more!

From the top...

I have traveled much more of New Zealand than I thought I would be able to in two months. Thanks to a beautiful landscape that makes you want to explore, and also to a new friend from Idaho with a marvelous teal Ford Laser.

The journey began in Queenstown on the South Island. With winter fast approaching (I just can't escape cold weather!), I felt it a good idea to start south and work my way north to avoid too much cold. I did manage to ride through a snow storm on the North Island two weeks ago for 1/2 hour at the highest point on the island, otherwise the weather has been fairly manageable and I haven't frozen to death. (Gabe, I am thinking of you and that night at the train station in Italy. Brr....)

Queenstown was great to see but I was feeling a little anxious at that point about not having a wwoof host set up yet. I had emailed around but it seemed everyone already had wwoofers. To take my mind off of things, I did a day tour to Milford Sound. A four drive through huge mountains and the rainforest is required to enter into Fiordland National Park to the sound. Total bummer. All those ostentatious views. It was ridiculous! New Zealand definitely lives up to its 'absolutely beautiful country' status.

The boat ride on the sound took us through the fiord and out to the Tasman Sea. The waterfalls were immense and deafening, and I am told that on a rainy day there are hundreds falling off the cliffs. It was a great trip and good introduction to nature kiwi-style.

The next morning I decided to head north to Wanaka, about two hours from Queenstown. (Mother warning: you may want to skip ahead.) I had talked to Tori, the receptionist at the hostel, and she gave me two good tips about hitchhiking. One, face the direction of the cars so they see your face not your back. Two, SMILE. I took off toward the main road heading out of town, turned around, stuck out my thumb, smiled and two hours later I was in Wanaka. Whee! It was odd and fun at the same time. I was picked up by 3 separate people and didn't wait more than 10 minutes in between each, so it was a pretty good hitch.

Wanaka is a small town by a huge lake with lots of places to wander. The hostel had its own herb garden for the culinary traveler and a sauna. I found out quickly that quite a few hostels here have saunas, although I don't think they get much wear in the winter. There was only one other backpacker staying at the hostel, a girl from Idaho. Kristine and I made friends and two days later she took me with her up the West Coast to the Franz Josef Glacier.

We ended up doing a two-day hike on the Copland Trail to the Welcome Flat Hut. At the end of a fairly grueling six-hour hike, you are rewarded with mineral hot springs to boil your weary bones in. A wonderful thing about trekking in New Zealand, is that there are huts provided by the Department of Conservation (DOC) to stay in. A wood stove, mattresses, and a dry space to sleep is all they have, but you don't need much more. After a good nights sleep, we hiked back out. The day before I had fallen partially into a river trying to cross on slippery rocks. This day, Kristine was having trouble avoiding the mud pits along the path. About 45 minutes from the carpark, she watch me deftly step over a particularly large one and thought, 'well, that seems easy to cross...' She promptly fell in up to her waist! It was amazingly funny after the fact and she was a good sport about the whole incident. (If only I had taken a picture, Kristine!)

That night we treated ourselves to dinner out and warm showers and the next morning we took off further up the coast.

A blog, at last!

To all fellow vicarious travelers,

I apologize for the absence of updates. Sporadic internet availability and time are my excuses, and I meant to do much better! One other issue is that a Canon 50D won't download pictures into just any program, so for now I will have to amaze you with just words and add pictures later.

My adventure has been vast and wonderful. I have met many great people, trekked great places, wwoofed in gorgeous areas, and been extremely happy and content. It has been wonderous getting back in touch with nature and to feel free and alive the way travel enables you too. I take home with me many great memories and hopefully, many great photos as well. :)

I apologize once again and will follow with another blog about where I've been and where I am currently. Miss you all - just not enough to go home just yet!

Your favorite world traveler.