There and Back 2005

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March 28, 2005

New Zealand...and thats a wrap.

It was my hope that by this point I would have updated and completed New Zealand portion of the trip but alas, I have not. Time flies when your having fun, and even when your not (see Backpackers Car Market, I hate this place, I love this place). So here I am in an internet cafe in Manly Beach Australia attempting this daunting task. Using the recent pictures as a guide I'll attempt to wrap this thing up.

After the majestic Milford Track we retired back to the town of Te Anau. This place has as its soul purpose catering to those who wish to expolore the Kepler Track, Routbourne Track, Milford Track, and the other smaller tracks around this region of Fiordland. As such, prices we're high, sky high to be exact. We spent close to $30 on laundry after the track and the clothes were not clean. Still, the town wasn't bad, infact it was quite picturesqe. Lake Te Anau set the stage and the back drop were the Murchison Mountains. Kate quite liked it, I was more than eager to leave. And so when the laundry was finally dried and our wallets sufficiently empty, we decided to head on. Should we head North, backtracking it to the resort towns of Queenstown and Wanaka, or head South, virgin territory for us, to the Catlins?

The Catlins it was. This is the southern most region of the South Island and characterized by wind beaten coastlines and ancient inland podocarp forests. In early pre-European times, this area was used by the Maori moa hunters. Moas are an extinct flightless bird that once roamed New Zealand. Some moa were true giants, standing over 10 feet tall but there were also smaller moa close in size to the kiwi.

The road from TA to the Catlins was not too remarkable however upon reaching the Catlins, we were immediately struck by the ruggedness of this land. Southern and Southwesterly winds carry across the Tasman Sea and smack into the coastline here. As a result, the trees are bent in the direction of the prevailing winds. Their windward faces are bare and sand blasted smooth, while the leeward face contains the sparse folliage.

We took the most scenic route which meant at times we were traveling on dirty "unsealed" roads. This made me nervous, could the little Toyota handle the abuse? Thankfully we came out unscathed apart from the odd paint chip and churned stomach. Our stops included, Gem beach, Waipapa Point, Slope Point, Curio Bay and several other places that I don't know the name.

Gem Beach, as the name might imply, was strewn with semi precious stones and precious stones like diamonds, rubies, emerabls, saphires, etc. We filled two bags to the brim before we decided enough was enough. HAHAHAHA, just kidding. It was however a place we're semi-precious stones such as New Zealand jade, called green stone, garnets, and some other cool rocks could be found. Due to the dynamic wave and current action, the sand it continually turned over and as a result the minerals and gems are freshly exposed on a regular basis. We didn't find much of anything but it was still a nice stop.

Next stop was Waipapa Point. The lighthouse here was erected after the NZ's second worse maritime catastrophe in 1884. The ship Tararua, struck the Otara reef just off shore and 131 of the 151 passengers and crew perrished. It was here that we had an intimate encounter with the sea lions and the kelp. Have a look at the pictures. We were able to get very close to these beasts. The sea lion encounter, we realized afterwords, was very special becuase at the other places that the tour guides advertised as "a great place to see seals and sea lions" one could only just make out the black shapes of these beasts with strong binoculars. So we consider ourselves lucky.

Next stop, Slope Point. Its the southerly most point on the South Island and apart from that and some nice cliffs, there isn't much else to see. That is of course unless your lucky enough to spy a yellow eyed penquin, which, sadly, we did not.

A few more stops and then it was time to find accomodations. This wasn't as easy was we'd hoped but at last we found a tiny cabin at a camp ground which suited our needs just fine. And at the price of $20NZ per night ($10 each), a down right bargain. You can see a picture of this hovel in the gallery, its red and Kate is at the door.

After a nights sleep we awoke and headed off for a beach walk with backs only slightly soar. The cabin was so small that only one person could sleep with their body fully extended (Kate) and one person had to scrunch up as if on a couch. The beds were in an L shape and I got the small one.

The beach walk was terrific, we were the only people around and the bird life seemed not to take notice of us. A highlight of our New Zealand trip awaited us just around the second bend in the beach. There, perched on a rock with its back to the wind, was a penguin. A real live, honest to goodness penguin in the wild. It was immediately evident that the bird was either falling apart or molting as evidenced by the large amount of small feathers strewn about down wind.

Unsure of the proper, repectful thing to do we decided that we'd try to get a little close and as soon as the bird showed signs of concern we'd stop and back away. To our great surprise the bird seemed completely unphased by our approached and would only occasionally glance at us before yawning and shutting its little eyes again. We took this as the bird being comfortable with our presense and quitely we snapped a few pictures. What a treasure. Thanks penguin, I hope your plumage comes back in full :)

So, I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff off (like Gold Beach, a beach strewn with nuggets of gold, Beer Beach, kegs everywhere, Free Money Beach and just down from that Free Gourmet Seafood Beach) but I must move on.

Our next port of call was the small city of Invercargill, which the Lonely Planet suggested we skip. I would disagree with their opinion. Althought the city didn't have too much, and again everything closed at 5pm it was a worthwhile stop, even if just to catch your breath.

We stayed at the Tuatara Lodge, an emaculate backpackers and coincidentally we met up with our good friend Tobi who hiked the Milford Track with us. I'm not sure if I've mentioned him yet. Tobi is from Germany and gentleman through and through. He's hiked all over the world and set a blistering pace on the Milford Track. The last day, he even carried two packs. One guy got a severe cramp and Tobi volunteered to carry his pack for the rest of the day. So while the rest of us were miserable at having to lug the 30 pound pack an inch further, here come Tobi, cheerful as ever with two packs strapped to his body.

Well, such a chance encounter in Invercargill called for a celebration and it was decided we'd meet in the lobby at around 7pm and find a place to have some beers. We went to the southern most "Irish Bar" in the world called something O'Shea's or O'Riley's or O'Something. We all had our fare share and the next morning we were a bit groggy.

Now I've really got to wrap it up since the sun is shinning, the surf is up, Kate, Ward and Liz are taking a surf lesson and I've been in the i-cafe for over 2 hours.

Here goes the rest of our New Zealand tour in brief. From Invercargill we headed north to Dunedin. Dunedin is Edinbourgh in Gealic and much of the south of the South Island was settled by Scotish. Dunedin's city center is guarded by a statue of the great Scotish author Robert Burns and the city itself seems quite proud of their Scotish roots. Despite this, I found very little similarity between Dunedin and Edinbourgh. It was a great city though, a college town and our accomodations were top notch. We did the Speights Brewery tour and went to both the Otago museum where we were blown away by the giant moa skeletons, and the art museum. I also saw my first session there and it wasn't half bad.

After 4 days in Dunedin we headed north to Christchurch, stopping only at an agriculture/country fair. It was very interested, and the animals, all primped for the show, were amazing. The winning live stock were paraded around the field, lead by a great pipe band.

Next, Christchurch. This place was dominated by our experience at the Backpackers car market. The other noteworthy experience was the terrific session I played in at O'Sullivans with Brendym Montgomery and Lorcan Bolster. They were two great muscians and I was honored that they welcomed me into the session so warmly. Brendyn has an MA in traditional music from UC Limmerick (I think it was Limmerick) and was a mean flute player.

Our little 2 bedroom flat, with a kitchen, and a tv room, and private bathroom, sorry did I say little? Was all too great and cheap at only $40 per night. If you ever find yourself in Christchurch, I'd recommend the Stonehurst and if your there for a week, ask for the crummy old apartment, its the best deal in New Zealand.

Before Christurch, we went to Kiakora, Kate wrote all about that so all I'll say is it was worth the stop. Stay at the Dolphin Lodge and Connor and Anna will take good care of you, especially if you have wine or Baileys to share.

Phew! Done. No time to proof read so your getting a raw version, my apologies for the misspless and the grose misuse of the English Language but I hope you enjoyed it.

Posted by Andy at 08:26 PM | Comments (3)

More Pictures

Ok, at long last I've uploaded the last of the picutres from New Zealand. Hopefully you'll enjoy them. There are tons of pictures of seals and sea lions but hopefully not too many.

Posted by Andy at 07:54 PM | Comments (1)

March 18, 2005

Brisvegas!

Last night we crossed the Tasman Sea from New Zealand and landed in Brisbane, Australia. Nothing to report yet but if I can get this computer to read my camera I'll upload the most recent pictures from New Zealand. I will get down to business and finish posting on New Zealand as well in the next couple days.

Posted by Andy at 06:47 PM | Comments (2)

March 15, 2005

Backpackers Car Market, I hate this place, I love this place.

I hate this place. I love this place. Thats what I wrote in my journal yesterday as I sat in one of the van bench seats scattered about the warehouse. By the fourth day you really felt invested in your fellow backpackers success but at the same time, wanted nothing more than to leave.

There was Ray, a friendly fellow from Vancover who was selling a 1984 Subaru with only 154,000 kms (low miles in the backpacker relm), after two days he made his sale for the sum of $350NZ or about $260US. And Martin, a tall blond haired Danish guy. He was soft spoken and relying on the sale of his 2 door Fiat to get him through the rest of his trip. I think he sold it for $1150, and will be on his way to Australia in a few days.

Then there was Patrice. When I met him and told him where I was from he said in his thick French accent "OHHH we are neighbors!". I had a quizicle look on my face untill he said "I am from Quebec!" Well we really hit it off and we're relieved to see this morning that he sold his Ford Lancer. He was asking $850 but I don't know what he got for it. Mitch was yet another Canadain. Trust me, there were more than just Canadians, Americans and Danes. There were heaps of Isralies. Mitch is from Sascachuan, just outside Regina. He sold his Toyota wagon in one day to a Japanese girl and was all to excited about that. He is currently staying with his ultimate frisbee teamates who with his help won an all New Zealand Ultimate tournament, pretty cool.

We had Mitch and Ray over for beers and wine two nights ago. We lucked out and have an apartment all to ourselves, perfect for hanging out in.

As for the others in there trying to sell, they we're French, Dutch, English, Canadian, German, Swedish, Israli (who even after they sold their cars or vans would stay, and come back the next day, and the next day, and...you get the point), some old, some young, some with kids, some who hadn't showered in days, some fresh and clean, some who stayed at the car market after closing to camp there, others, like us, who had places to go back to. The vehicle selection ranged from vans, cars, minicars, station wagons, a sports car, diesel, petrol, 1 liter, 4 liter, old, not so old, and from $350 to $4000.

Music echoed off the concrete brick walls, sometimes it blasted. Eminem, Nelly, traditional Hebrew songs, reggae, rock, rap. People danced, usually after they sold their cars, sometimes days after they sold their cars. A watch wasn't necessary since the gas cookers fired up around 11:30 to prepar lunch and beer cans snapped open signaling the approach of 5. What a wierd place.

After 3+ days in that hole we were all too happy to leave, especially considering that we sold the car for the exact price that we paid. The gamble paid off. All in all it was a very interesting time.

On Friday we leave for Australia. We'll be flying into Brisbane and from there heading north to Fraser Island. After that, its up in the air. I'm excited to see Ward and Liz. In the meantime, we have laundry to catch up on, St Patrick's Day, see a kiwi (couldn't leave NZ without seeing a kiwi), and a little matter with an antiques dealer to square away.

Oh and one more thing, I hope to post some stuff on a couple of the places we've been in the last three weeks. If I actually follow through we'll see but keep your eyes pealed.

Posted by Andy at 05:29 PM | Comments (3)

March 14, 2005

Used Car Salesmen Extraordinaries

I probably shouldn't be celebrating yet but after four LONG days at the dreaded "Backpackers Car Market" it looks like our little Corolla finally has a new owner! Only thing is that since it was late in the day the guys who are supposedly buying it couldn't get all the cash from their bank so we are meeting them at 9:30 tomorrow morning to seal the deal. They look like honest guys to me, but who knows, I am keeping my fingers crossed because I am not sure if I can stand another day at the car market. Oh, and the best part is that we are getting $75 more for the car than we paid for it. Of course, we were intially asking for $400 more (the car is worth it, honestly!), but that wasn't happening. (click below to keep reading...)

So before I go into the exciting things that Andy and I have been doing since we last wrote, I need to spend some time aquainting you with the car market. Now that I start writing, I am wishing we had taken a picture so you could all get the full effect, but since we didn't my description will have to do. It's basically a big garage. Rectangle in shape so about 10 cars can fit in a row, but once all the cars and the people are in, it's a bit of a challenge getting any one particular car out for a test drive. Along with the cars, the garage contained two toilets, a shower (broken), a washer and dryer, old car seats lined up along the wall (party cental for a group of sellers who spent all day camped out there waiting for someone to buy, or even glance at, their car), and garbage (lots of it and all over the place). It was very apparent that whoever owned the car market didn't care much for its condition. Oh, and there was a backyard that fit about 10 more cars, maybe less. So, Andy and I went to check the place out last Friday when we got to Christchurch and then returned early on Saturday morning to begin the selling process. We even brought some muffins and orange juice with us in an attempt to lure potential buys to our car. Didn't work. I'd say there were three people selling a car for every one person buying and if three people looked at our car in the seven and a half hours we were there that was a lot! But our hopes for success on Sunday remained high and on Sunday we made the bold move to swap muffins and orange juice for beer, sure that the enticement of a free beer after a test drive would do the trick. Didn't work. We drank the beer ourselves. But Sunday was not a complete loss because #1, we met a bunch of really cool people and #2, we first recognized what I am going to refer to as "The Great Phenomena of the Backpackers Car Market." People don't leave. Even after they sell their cars, they don't leave. We witnessed one person after another sell their car, and remain in the garage for hours afterwards. And here's the best part---not only did people stay well after their car was happily off in the hands of a new owner, but they came back the next day just to hang out! I'm not kidding. We must have witnessed at least five or six cases of this phenomena in the past two days! Of course, this group of loyal car market fans made the place feel like home for themselves--plenty of music and food and even a camp fire in the backyard of the garage after hours. But still, here were a good number of people who opted for spending hours sitting in a garage over spending time outside in a great city in beautiful, sunny weather. And I'd bet that they are all there right now. Singing, dancing, eating ramen noodles, and watching other people attempt to sell cars to the infrequent buyer who dares to enter the car market. I, on the other hand, will be very happy not to return the "Backpackers Car Market" tomorrow (assuming all goes well, of course). Although, I must say that I am looking back on the garage with a bit of notalgia. The place allowed for some very intriguing observations and we met some great people. We even had some of our fellow car sellers over for a few beers last night. And a very delicious bottle of champagne. So all was not lost. As long as the transaction tomorrow goes smoothly, that is!

So as for our other adventures in the past couple weeks....we did a great tour of the wineries in the Waipara Valley (about an hour or two north of Christchurch) and then we spent a few days in Kaikoura (a little farther north of Waipara Valley). Kaikoura was great, I loved it! It's small town, right on the water and we stayed at a really nice, little hostel called Dolphin Lodge. We went to the beach and Andy walked the penninsula. Saw loads of seals. And albatrose. And the other people staying at Dolphin Lodge were really fun so we hung out with them at night. And here's the best thing about Kaikoura---I went swimming with dolphins! It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done! I was lucky because I had called ahead to reserve a spot for myself on one of the "Dolphin Encounter" tours and was told that all the tours were booked until March 24th! The best I could do was to go on a waiting list and pray someone set to go didn't show up. So that's what I did. Only thing is that in order to see if I got off the waitlist I had to go to the Dolphin Encounters office a couple hours before each tour was set to leave and wait around to see if I would be able to get off the waitlist for that tour. Day one on the waitlist I had no success. I was back at Dolphin Encounters at 7:15am on day 2 and the guy working said, "Okay, we'll definitely get you on today. The seas are rough so there is a good chance that someone will not want to go." So I waited and at 8:45am my name is called on the intercom and I am so excited I fly to counter, but the guy behind the counter doesn't have the most promising face on. I was preparing myself for disappointment when he says, "Look, everyone booked for the tour showed up and wanted to go, but here's what I can do for you. You can pay less for the tour and go on as an 'alternate' swimmer." By law, only 13 people can be in the water with the dolphins at any one time, so I was the 14th on the boat. Deal was that if anyone didn't want to swim for whatever reason, I would swim in their place and if I didn't swim I got most of my money back. I was desperate so I took the deal. With my wet suit on and flippers and snorkel in hand I get on the bus bound for South Bay where we got the boat out to the dolphins. We were on the boat for about 45 minutes (saw some seals and two albatrose on the way) before we reached this HUGE group of dolphins. There were literally hundreds of dolphins. I'd never even seen this many dolphins in one place in a picture, nevertheless in real life! And the dolphins were jumping out of the water doing spins and flips in the air. It was really amazing--good thing I forgot the camera! And it must have been my lucky day because a couple people had gotten sea sick on the ride out and had decided not to swim! So there I am swimming with loads of dolphins. They were dusky dolphins--relatively small ones (a large one is around 140 lbs) and the second most acrobatic species of dolphin. There were times when there were dolphins to my left, to my right, and underneath me. And sometimes they would come so close that I was eye to eye with them, maybe not even 6 inches from their faces. What a rush it was!

I think I am going to end here and leave the rest of our stories for Andy to write about later. I just realized it's almost dinner time and Andy is probably wondering where I am. Hopefully Andy can post some more pictures tomorrow, too. Don't think we have taken too many recently, but there must be some good ones we haven't put up yet!

xoxo.

Posted by Kate at 10:09 PM | Comments (4)

March 06, 2005

Thanks for the Comments

While on the road we've seen some pretty amazing stuff, met some incredible people, visited some great towns and some not so great towns. All the while you can't help but be reminded of the little stuff at home. It takes time away from the small stuff to realize how much they mean to you, like for instance, driving on the right side of the road, or a reasonably priced meal, or just the regular haunts.

Most of all though, when we are having a down time or are not engaged in some activity, my mind wanders to all you guys at home. We both miss you all and are already excited to see you when we return. In the mean time, your comments and email are such a welcome surprise! We both look forward to them and its so nice to think that you all are following along. So, thanks a ton! We can't wait to see you.

Posted by Andy at 11:52 PM | Comments (9)