I know we don't talk much... Act 1

November.
Freaking November. 

A lot has happened, though quite idiotically unblogged about, and I'm going to play catch up. So as not to merely recite a daily history, I'll condense a bunch of it while recalling the period of time since my last blog in four acts (each likely being a bit lengthy). They are as follows:
Act 1: "Vacaciones por la Playa"
Act 2: "The Shadow of the Mountain"
Act 3: "The Gang Goes to New Zealand"
Act 4: "Winter Is Coming"
Each act will delve into my life as it has happened for the past few months in varying detail and, given that I haven't done anything with this for a while, to be posted by a specific date so as to actually hold myself to writing things here. So, without further ado...

Act 1: Vacaciones por la Playa

First thing's first. Star Wars: The Force Awakens = AMAZING! Some of the friends I'd made at the hostel and I waited for about 6 hours for the best seats on opening night (not bragging or anything, but it just so happened that I saw it at 12:01am on Dec. 17th in the world's first timezone. So basically, before almost everyone). I won a poster from some (startlingly easy) SW trivia, but gave it to some cute little girl dressed in an awesome homemade Rey costume cuz I don't know where I'd keep it without crushing it. Then we went in, I cried a bunch, I laughed heaps, we left, and I proceeded to see it another 3 times that week. It was great.
Grand total to date: 8 times.

After a little less than two months at Hogwarts, I decided to take a chapter from Harry and the gang and split. It being about a week from the holidays, coupled with the fact that it was summer here in the Southern Hemisphere, I wanted to find a nice beach to relax on. Through research and some well placed advice, I chose to do the Abel Tasman hiking track from the 23rd to the 27th. Problem is I just had to get to Nelson so I could catch the daily shuttle to the trailhead.

And what would any penniless, young backpacker do to get more than 60km away?

Yeah, I put on a Santa hat and I hitchhiked. And it was horrible! Don't be fooled by those who would tell you it's relatively safe in New Zealand. Oh, no! Only use it as a last resort. My horrific experience went like this: first ride I got was with a mid-60s Kiwi lady on her way home for the holidays. Half way to her destination, she bought me an ice cream cone. Just terrible. Next one was a German student with a working holiday visa who said he felt like doing something nice that day. Absurd. On the last leg to Nelson, I was picked up by a young woman on a business trip. She had a rental car and was wearing semi-formal clothes (red flags I should've seen). The road took us through Havelock, which is said to have the best mussels in the world. We stopped for a lunch of the most amazing green lipped mussels I've ever had, and as we got the bill, she said, "I got it. Don't worry. I'll write it off as a business expense. I would've done so even if I hadn't picked you up".

Just a bit outside of Nelson, she stopped at the Pelorous River to show my where they filmed the barrel scene in the Hobbit. Then on to Nelson.

I cannot stress enough how ghastly dreadful it was to hitchhike. Learn from my mistakes.

After those loathsome hours on the road with strangers, I took respite at a hostel for one night (they had free ice cream and brownies!). Early the next morning, I woke up, had breakfast, and talked a bit to some fellow travelers before I had to board my bus. The two I was talking with, Nico and Jane, turned out to be from Cali and doing the same track with a friend of theirs, Cara, and offered me to join them for a bit. How could I refuse?

The bus took about an hour, then we walked about ten minutes to the trailhead. Right next to the trailhead was a cafe and we thought, "eh, might as well get something to eat to boost our energy". That was the right choice. I had french toast with banana, bacon, and maple syrup. It was glorious.

The Abel Tasman

The Abel Tasman track is one of the most visited of all the hiking tracks in New Zealand, and with good reason: it's incredibly easy, you can pretty much always hear the ocean, and most every campsite is right on the beach (perfect for summer Christmas).

All packed and ready

Dec. 23: After our delicious brunch, it was time to head off. My camp was about 11km (6.8mi) from where we began, but the track was so beautiful that we were in no rush to arrive. One thing that immediately grabbed my attention were the colors. I swear nowhere else in the world have I seen water so blue and forest so green. It was like being in another world and experiencing chroma for the very first time. It was surreal. It took about five hours to get to the point where I split from the other three (their campsite was about 3km away from mine), so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I walked maybe a half hour longer to reach my campsite at Te Pukatea Bay. It was right on the beach, so I quick went for a dip to cool myself off, set up camp, and took a nice long nap.

Campsite #1 at Te Pukatea.

Once I awoke from one of the best naps I've ever had, I went on a journey to find Cleopatra's Pool, a place I found in a guidebook. I packed my daypack with some snacks, water, a book, and my hammock and embarked on an hour hike to said pool, and it was well worth the trip. It was a place along a river where the water carved out fantastic waterfalls and pools.

Cleopatra's Pool. There were larger falls further back, but didn't want to risk my phone for the pics

I set up my hammock, read for a bit, and climbed around til the sun told me it was about time to go back to camp. I made myself some nice Uncle Ben's on my camp stove, watched the sunset, and listened to the sound of the waves gently lapping the shore as I drifted off to sleep.

Notice the extremely well-made lean-to I built to protect from ocean gusts  

Dec. 24: The morning of Christmas Eve, I woke up beautifully refreshed. I took a quick dip in the ocean, then sat and had my breakfast of camp stove coffee and applesauce on the beach. It was a quite lethargic morning because when I was booking my campsites online, I only looked at which were the most beautiful/least crowded. Not how far they were from one another. So I packed up at 11ish and hiked to my next camp. It was 3.4km away. Stupid. It was really nice, though! This one was at a place called Torrent Bay.

Hammock camping on Xmas Eve

A bit off from my campsite was a little grouping of private beach houses. I saw some people fishing and thought "damn! I forgot to get hooks and line before I came on the track". Since Kiwis are pretty nice, I thought I'd ask around and see if anyone had any line/hooks to spare (and I did it with a broken Spanish accent, cuz I figure they'd be more willing to help a struggling European than a bloody Yank). After three families dismissed me, saying "shoulda got it before you started" (yeah, no shit!), one family actually offered me use of a full rod! Said, "keep it as long as you're here. Just toss it in the garage after you're done. It'll be open. And if you want, take some line and some hooks with you on your way!" Score! They even gave me a Heinekin to have with my Xmas Eve dinner.

The family was so nice they even told me about where the best places to find fish were (TBH I almost felt bad tricking them into thinking I was Spanish... almost). I went to where a stream opened out into the ocean and cast my line. After only an hour, I caught a pretty good sized fish, then farmed some mussels (each as big as my hand) to accompany my rice. I boiled the mussels open, added them to my rice, fried the fish, and cracked open the beer. I ate. I drank. I was merry.

Xmas Eve dinner: fresh mussels in rice, fresh caught fish, and beer. Delicious!

Dec. 25: Christmas Day, I got up nice and early. I packed up camp around 9:00am and set off for my 11.3km hike to the next campground. Though this part of the hike was longer, I still took my time. This section of the track was pretty tropical and the path zig-zagged through lush jungle. About every few km, I would catch a glimpse of sapphire blue water through the trees and a breeze of salty ocean air would lightly brush my face. I had to cross a really cool hanging bridge (self-timer FTW!).

This was the best part of the journey, for sure. It was gorgeous as well as a little more challenging (what I like in a hike). A day of calm determination.

I even got a new wallpaper for my phone

Christmas Day ended at probably the most gorgeous campsite I've ever had, at Tonga Quarry. Right over the beach, covered by a few trees, and almost completely my own (other than two campers at the other side of the site). Arrive, set up, nap, swim, relax.

Set up + nap were a good idea.

Happy Xmas

My Christmas present to myself (other than a sweet trek) was a Snickers bar I stuffed in the bottom of my pack. It was a little squished and melted, but boy did it taste magnificent!







Dec. 26th: Last day of hiking was a lot more strenuous than the previous few. Started at 9:00am, packed up, took a dip, and went on hiking until 5:30pm. I wasn't hiking the whole time, though. At about noon, I got to a part of the track that goes about 2k through an estuary that can only be crossed about an hour on either side of low tide, which was at 3:00pm that day. I got to the edge around noon, so I took out my hammock, made myself some camp stove oatmeal and coffee for lunch, and lazed around until 2:00pm. There were already a few people crossing, so I hung my boots from my pack and started across. Definitely one of the coolest parts of the track.

Yes, I bring the One Ring on every hike I do in NZ. Yes, I'm the coolest person around.

I got to the other side, toes like raisins, and just took it all in for a while. This track had been such a pleasure to hike, and though I had another 10 odd km to hike, I was lamenting how soon it would be over.

The last leg of the hike was wonderful. A long stretch of the track even went along the beach! Before too long, I was on the final bit of my glorious holiday hike. I reached the beach of Totaranui (the second largest camping area) on the northern edge of the Abel Tasman around 5:30pm. My legs ached, my body was sunburnt and sore, but I still had about 3k to go to my campsite at Mutton Cove and the sun was quickly waning. As I was meandering through the Totaranui camp, I spotted some familiar faces. "Nico! Jane!" We hugged, caught up and swapped stories of our time on the track. Cara had very unfortunately forgot her sleeping bag, so she headed back the first day and stayed in a spa hotel. Though it was a bummer she wasn't there, I could think of worse ways to spend a few days. Nico and Jane invited me to eat with them and camp the night there, and though it took some coercion, I quickly gave in (honestly, I was really relieved I didn't have to hike any more that night. No coercing necessary).

I took a little time to head down to the beach. I had reached my final campsite. Those of you who enjoy hiking know how it feels to be at the last campsite, bones aching, muscles sore, dehydrated, tired and hungry. It is pure bliss. There's no rush to mitigate these sensations, and you feel a wave of elation in every twinge and creak of your body. You are utterly and completely at peace.

Everything was beautiful, and everything hurt.

A moment of rapture as I sat on the beach of my final campsite

Nico and Jane joined me on the beach and we searched for cockles and mussels in the setting sun. They didn't have a camp stove, and I was glad to facilitate the heat for our freshly harvested seafood. It was quite possibly the best shellfish I've ever eaten and a perfect dinner to culminate the sea salt encrusted journey we had undertaken a few days earlier. We chatted into the night and eventually found our way to our tents with the heavenly rhythm of ocean lapped beaches lulling us to sleep.

Dec. 27th: At 5:45am, I awoke to "Morning" by Beck sounding from the alarm I set the night before and emerged from my tent to the first chirping of birds and warm, muted colors of the world just before dawn. Camp stove in tow, I sat down on the beach, put on a pot of boiling water for coffee, and witnessed a golden sunrise in the first region of the world to see it. Though the breeze was cool, I felt warm.

An hour on, we had a nice, leisurely morning of oatmeal and more cockles, packed up our things and waited along the beach. We weren't about to hike the 50 odd km back the way we came, and luckily there was an aqua taxi service that took us right back to the trailhead. It was so cool to see all the places we'd trekked from the water, all at about 30 times the speed in which we'd hiked it. After seeing seals lounging on outcroppings and passing kayakers by, we arrived back at our starting point and were greeted by hugs from Cara, who was waiting for Nico and Jane.

←Jane and Nico having a blast on the aqua taxi.

We went back to the cafe at the start of the track and had a fabulous meal. It was unfortunately cut short when Cara realized their bus was due to leave just as we got our food. They scarfed down as much as they could, we said a speedy goodbye, and I was left with a table full of delicious chow I was hard pressed and a sad beer to drink alone. Nico, Jane, Cara: I doubt you'll read this, but y'all absolutely rock. You are stellar people and I loved spending time with you, however short it was.

Being the fool that I am, I forgot to book a bus ticket back to Nelson at the end of my trek. And what would any penniless, young backpacker do when every bus is full? You guessed right.

I spent the next few days exploring Nelson and meeting a bunch of cool people. As New Years Eve rolled around, a few people at the hostel invited me to go out with them to celebrate. There was a stage set up in the middle of town playing loud music that we danced to for hours. At 11:55pm, a countdown started on the projector screen behind the DJ, who was spinning progressively more intense music. At 10 seconds to midnight, everyone screamed as we approached the New Year.

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Fireworks and confetti exploded from the stage and the music boomed. I got to celebrate the New Year in the first time zone on Earth. That was pretty cool.

Así, mis vacaciones por la playa y los eventos siguientes fueron muy emocionados y claro que era un tiempo exaltado en mi vida. El camino, el mar, la gente, y el sol siempre tendrán un sitio especial en mi corazón.

Roll on snare drum, everybody laugh, curtains.

End of Act 1. 

Yeah, it probably won't be a critical success, but I'm not in it for the money. If anyone is still reading this, thanks. I'm 7 months in and 5 months away from the end of my visa. It's dispiriting that I'm more than half way through, but knowing this makes me determined to start back up writing to better help me process and remember my time in New Zealand. Better late than never, right? Anyway...

Stay tuned for Act 2: Shadow of the Mountain, coming to a computer screen near you on... let's say June 3rd, maybe? Yeah, okay. See you then.

Fortuna Major!

Ok. Sorry. So far, I've only done four blogposts and one single, measly post was actually made from New Zealand (regardless of a ton of things happening). And I've been here more than a month! I'm going to try better about this.

Following my stay in Christchurch, I took a bus down South to Dunedin. It's a really amazing place reminiscent of a mix between Seattle and San Fransisco (with heaps of New Zealand charm mixed in, of course). It is home to the University of Otago, the oldest university in New Zealand, dating back to 1869. It's still a university town and, as such, has a plethora of amazing coffee shops, dive bars, and plenty of music, art, and outdoor activities.

Port Chalmers outside of Dunedin

Being a university town, there's also a substantial population of younger Kiwis (and internationals). Not necessarily good or bad, but this is in obvious contrast to the predominantly working age (30s-40s) people in CHCH.

I started off my time in Dunedin Couchsurfing with an awesome host named Emma. Their house was at the top of Signal Hill (think Chilcoot St x20, for my Stillwater readers), so I had to make a pretty strenuous climb a few times a day. But the views were amazing, the house was cozy and wonderful, and all the housemates were incredibly kind-hearted and a complete blast to be around.  (plus I got some cardio in any time I needed to go into town).

The view from just above Emma's house

My absolute favorite part of the whole city (so far) has been the Dunedin Botanic Gardens. They were one of the first in all of New Zealand and an amazing place to while away the day. My first few days in Dunedin were the perfect time because everything was in bloom. There was every color imaginable on display and everywhere smelled intoxicatingly saccharine. Even now that most of the flowers have fallen of branch and stem, the Botanic Gardens are the most tranquil and lovely place to take a book and feel the earth breathe.

Rock Garden aka favorite place in my favorite place

My German friend, Anton, running up Baldwin St

Dunedin is home to a bunch of interesting sights, but one caught the notice of my friends and myself. Baldwin Street is very lovingly called the "Steepest Street in the World" by locals and backed up by Guinness World Records (though I have my reservations about the claim's validity). A 19º incline at its steepest, it's a cool place to take some pictures (and a b*tch to walk up).

Gravity wasn't working right that day

Carsten + me pointing to the stage

One thing I never thought I would say: I got to see Fleetwood Mac perform from on top of a bus stop. I heard they were playing at a rugby stadium in town, and a few people I talked to told me you could hear it pretty well even outside. So I took a blanket, bottle of wine, and a friend from the hostel and we found our way to the stadium. We found a place right outside the entrance and sat down, but couldn't see the stage... so we climbed the bus stop and had a perfect view of Stevie Nicks, the McVie brothers, Mick Fleetwood, et al.


Then we made some more friends after people saw up up there and they did the same #trendsetters. Some people even came out saying our spot on the bus stop sounded better than inside (rugby stadiums aren't really known for their acoustics). We even got a thumbs up from a passing police officer (who we thought would actually tell us to get down). All in all, it was a great evening that gave me some memories I will not soon forget (as a promise to FM, thinking about tomorrow won't soon stop either).

Making friends and destroying our vocal chords

The best part of my life right now, though, is that I'm in Middle Earth and I live at Hogwarts (!) School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Hostel. No, it's not quite home to the great magical beings of tomorrow, but it is still very much an awesome place to be staying! I've been working here for accommodation for a bit, and it's just too much fun. I work 2-3 hours a day cleaning in exchange for a bed and some really cool experiences (plus, how many people can put on their resumé that they worked at Hogwarts?). It used to be the Catholic Bishop's house, so it's a really old stone building across from a cathedral which makes it even cooler.

The view from my bedside window

Harry's room

There's a room 9 3/4 and even a cupboard under the stairs where Harry (one of the vacuums) lives.

It's a magical place and I'm happy I found it. Now I just have to figure out how long I'm going to stay here, where I want to go if I leave, and what I want to do in either case. No pressure.

There we go! My second blogpost from NZ and first in more than a month. I left a bunch out, but I figure I'd leave the rest for a different time since this one was getting pretty long in the tooth. I know anyone who reads this probably doesn't care about how frequently I post, but this blog was more for my own sake than anyone else's. When I started I meant to do it bi-weekly to keep a sort of digital journal, so I'm going to at least attempt to make this more frequent (so I don't end up with just 12 posts at the end). Anyway, I'm doing well. I'm in Middle Earth and living at Hogwarts. And I'm still not dead. Cool.

He ihu kurī, he tangata haere

Kia Ora ("hello" in Māori*)!

I've been meaning to get a blogpost in since my arrival, but in between my traveling and adventuring, I've had some pretty unreliable internet connections. So now's probably good a time as any since I'm at a library (free wifi for the win!).

As of 6:00am yesterday morning, I have been in New Zealand for one full week! Sweet as!
I spent a wonderful few days with the pops, some more with sissy, and was happily surprised by the mother lady showing up for a day with the whole fam! After a teary goodbye to Kat, I hopped on a plane to LAX, then a connection to the Land Down Under-er.
Made me think a little: flying is a wonderful, beautiful thing.

Arriving in Christchurch (after a quick stopover at the Auckland airport), one of the first things I obviously did was find my way to the ocean and jump in. It was 8ºC outside. Nice and brisk.

I'm currently in Christchurch, Canterbury. It's the second most populous city in New Zealand, and the largest on the South Island. It was pretty badly damaged by a set of earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, where more than 180 people tragically died. Since then, however, the community has come together to rally around restoring the city to its former glory (and even make it better). Because of this, there are numerous construction sites, blank lots, and some structures still seemingly untouched since the ground violently gave way (which you're probably not supposed to go in, but... eh. I like to explore).

There's a eerie beauty to places post-destruction

The people of Christchurch didn't give into despair, though. Many of these lots have become host to an abundance of temporary art installations, pop-up shopping centers, and inspiring homages to those things destroyed in the quakes. Where some cities might leave those spots be, CHCH (common abbv for Christchurch) has gathered its community around these places and made the best of what were literally earth shattering events. One of my favorites is a restaurant/bar made out of an old bus and shipping containers.

A very typical CHCH garden. These are EVERYWHERE!

Christchurch is nicknamed the "Garden City" by the locals, and with good reason. On about every tenth city block, you'll find yet another park. These people like their green spaces. Not only that, but everyone and their grandmothers has a garden in their yard! Because it's the middle of Spring here, it seems I came at the exact right moment. It smells like jasmine and orange blossom everywhere you go (ie, smells like heaven)!


Even if it were for just the smells, CHCH would be well worth the visit. But with the smells come the colors! Never before have I seen more variety of flora outside of a city botanic garden (of which CHCH has the single best botanic garden I've ever seen!). Take a stroll around any neighborhood and, within minutes, your eyes will catch the full spectrum of visible light bouncing off immaculately pruned bushes, trees, vines, et. al. Samwise Gamgee would be well proud.

A lot of my time so far spent has been simply meandering through the city and surrounding areas just exploring and seeing the sights (ie, stopping in every café I find). New Zealand coffee is, bar none, the best I've ever had! They take it pretty seriously here (even McDonalds has trained baristas!). Only bummer is most all of them close at 4:00pm. Like, what? I can't have coffee and use your wifi in the evening? Ugh.

 
One of the best reasons to be in NZ is the tramping (what Kiwis call hiking). Even the so called "unspectacular treks" (those close to the city) are pretty great.

So far, I've stayed at a few hostels and with a Couchsurfing host (who was one of the kindest people I have ever met [though most Kiwis seem to be of the same ilk]). There's definitely more to see in CHCH, so I'm staying here just a little while longer. It's an amazing place with which I've quickly fallen in love. However brilliantly CHCH is rebuilding itself, though, everything is a bit too spread out for me. Most everyone lives in the suburbs while the city center is under constant construction, and whose only real inhabitants are tourists. With the mountains only an hour drive away, it's the closest I've lived to mountain ranges in a while, but I want the ability to walk to a trailhead rather than have to catch a bus. Thus, after this weekend, I'm hopping on whatever mode of transportation I can find destined Southward to the city of Dunedin. Everyone I've spoken with has told me that I would love the laid back city with the beach and the mountains a hop, skip, and a jump away, as well as the passionate café culture and alternative vibes of this university city. But while I'm still in CHCH, I'm going to live it up and get in as much as I possibly can! Upward and onward!

*Māori are the native peoples of New Zealand (Aotearoa). I'll do a history lesson on another blogpost sometime. They're friggin fascinating!

T Minus 2 Days and Counting

Well, U.S.A., it's been real. I'm leaving you on Monday. I think we should see other people/countries. Don't take it personally. It's not you, it's me.

I was kinda freaking out for a while about this whole moving across the world thing. Those feelings have substantially diminished, thank Glob. Now, I'm just ready and raring to go!

Disclaimer: This post has a bunch of pictures. Deal with it.

These past few days, I've been spending in Colorado in the company of my fantastic family. My sister lives in Denver, so I thought I'd spend some time with her before I left. Turns out my dad was in CO for a bit after a conference he ran in Estes Park, so he was the one who picked me up from the airport. We took a three hour drive through the mountains to stay at a yurt our family partially owns (a yurt is a round platform tent first used by Central Asian nomads, and a pretty cool place to sleep).

I was part of the construction crew for this bad boy. We put it together (along with clearing some trails) about seven years ago. And this was the first time I'd stayed there. Yes, I agree. That's not fair. But now I finally got to stay there. And it was awesome!
Dad and I took a little morning hike. It was pretty neat. Here's some pics.

  

After that, we drove to Aspen. We went through Independence pass, which is also one of the highest points in the Rocky Mountains. I took this snap.

A family friend owns a (really nice) cabin in Aspen. We slept on the couches cuz we didn't want to pay the $375 cleaning fee. It had an alright view...

The rest of the day, we went hiking at Maroon Bells (one of the most photographed locations in the U.S.). Despite me being in hiking gear and my dad wearing business casual (and loafters), he kept up pretty well! The hike was gorgeous!

Later, we got some delicious pizza in town, had a few beers in the hot tub, then watched the Democratic debate. It was pretty great.

Kat (sister person) told us she had to work til 10am that morning, so Dad and I started driving to Denver around 6:30am. She was going to meet us at a cool brunch spot afterward. Turns out she wasn't working at all that day. She was getting our mom from the airport. Best surprise I've gotten! 

We had brunch together then spent a good portion of the day at the Denver Botanical Gardens. Dinner at an AMAZING spot in the city, then we said goodbye. It was pretty teary, but it was so fantastic to have our family all together in one place before I go halfway across the globe (something that doesn't happen too often).

Time to spend some more time with the sis. Woo!