Monday, May 28, 2012
Speed through May..
I've really gotta step up my game on coming up with names for my blog posts.... they're getting all literal and lame. Next time. Alright. So. Let's take a (month long) step back - After I returned to Christchurch I had a (rude?) reawakening that yes, I am indeed in school. Back to classes and homework. But not to fear - I did fit in my share of weekend adventures when I wasn't too busy. Which was most of the time. Of course. The first weekend back, we attempted to go on a day hike somewhere North of Christchurch.. buuut that didn't happen. So instead, I caught up on some of the work I had disregarded during my 3-week break and had the chance to hit up the South Island's largest farmer's market! I scored myself a sweet $16 backpack after my other one broke (it may or may not have flames on it). Seriously ANYTHING you need is at that market. Its crazy. Sheepskin rugs, produce galore, homemade items of every kind, music, clothing, etc. So the weekend was not a complete bust! Another week of classes passed before I had the chance to get out of the city again. The second weekend of May, I think it was the 6-7, I participated in a 24-hour orienteering event put on by Canterbury University Tramping Club! I 'competed' on a team of 4 and we got an 'honoourable mention' for our costume and we actually did pretty well I think.. middle of the pack-ish. I say 'compete' because there were super serious people who actually competed in orienteering (or 'rogaining') and were sponsored, and as a result completed the 24-hrs in running / biking gear and for the most part jogging. They were in a league of their own! There were 5 legs for the event - the first leg was mandatory as it led us to the 'hash house', and then the others it was basically how much you can get done in the remaining time. Each leg was probably around 15-16km long, and YUP we only got to leg 3... but so did everyone else. There were only a few teams who got up to legs 4 and 5. We hiked probably around 30km I am going to guess, over about 18 hours - we slept / took breaks for the other 6 hours, including a cozy 3 hour nap at 3am with the 4 of us in a 3 person tent. OH and we collected clues from 25 checkpoints along the way. There's the orienteering part of it, along with the fact that we were armed only with a topographical map of the area, our compasses and our sense of direction (don't trust the sun in the Southern Hemisphere...). The best part about this was that it did not take place on trails whatsoever - alright sometimes we could walk down tractor trails BUT there was a fair amount of bushwhacking and we may have become extra friendly with the lovely matagouri bush - YES. There was plenty of scratches, falling into holes between the tussock, wading through streams, and dodging WASPS. On the positive side, there was awesome views, plenty of mud and a GREAT TIME. I managed to lose my amazing Costco water bottle in the bush.... NO idea when it happened but didn't notice it was gone for forever, and was not willing do go digging around searching in the prickly stuff especially when we had a time limit. But I am SAD about that. After the first leg we got to the 'hash house': essentially a home base where there was food, a live scoreboard, our overnight things and space to rest / sleep (amongst bushels of wool). Needless to say everything smelt like SHEEP afterward... and I didn't entirely realize until we were back in the city. We managed to have perfect weather - sunny days and mostly clear night with a pretty much full moon!! It was awesome and I would definitely do it again!! Sunday afternoon we drove back to Christchurch and this is the first time in a while I can say I PASSED OUT on the bus within about 10 minutes, hahaha, went to bed at about 6pm (with full intention of waking up a few hours later for dinner) and slept right through until Monday morning. Probably the best. P.s. about that rugby photo in the last post - I may have forgotten to mention that when I was in Christchurch for one day the day after Mom and Dad left (yup sorry Dad you JUST missed it!) I went to a Canterbury Crusaders game! Vs. South Africa. And the All Blacks are playing in Christchurch in a couple weeks!!! Not going to that.... the tickets sold out SUPER fast and I am obviously not that organized. You know.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Abel Tasman Photos FINALLY
Monday, May 21, 2012
Photo Delay
Soo here is a pretty pointless post - BUT my computer is (literally) full.. and I am slowly clearing some space so I can upload more photos. It is a process but I am making progress!! Will upload photos ASAP.... they are just hanging out on my camera waiting to be shared!!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Abel Tasman and Nelson
So after Mom and Dad left NZ for home I stuck around in Christchurch for the weekend, hit up a rugby match, and then decided it was time for me to be off again and continue taking advantage of my 3 week easter break! So, early on Sunday 15 April, I headed out on a bus to Nelson - about 7 hours from Christchurch - but 5 hours were along the coast and it was amazing scenery and the rest of the time I had my book, so time FLEW by :) I arrived in Nelson in the evening and checked into my hostel (which I may or may not have picked based on free chocolate pudding and ice cream every night). At this point I didn't get to see Nelson at all because I was just staying there for the night - the next morning I got picked up bright and early at 7am and taken to Abel Tasman National Park where I began my 2-day hiking / kayaking tour, INCLUDING an overnight stay in a houseboat. Score. Apparently I'd been the only one who had booked my exact type of tour I was on, so the first I did my 13-km hike along the Abel Tasman Track by myself, and then met up with the 2-day kayaking trip at the end of the day to go the houseboat. The next day I just continued along with the kayaking for day 2! The hike was AWESOME - the Abel Tasman in one of the popular 'Great Walks' in NZ - I think it can be as long as 4-5 days (can't remember how many km's) but you can choose to do it completely self-sustained OR you can choose to have your packs transferred to your next campsite for you every night. What?! Hah so I just did a portion of it for my hiking day - I hiked from the SE entrance to the park to Anchorage Bay, where the houseboat was parked. It was SO nice out. Beautiful turquoise water, gold sand, endless amounts of bees/wasps... my favourite. Haha. But no really it was so warm, t-shirt and shorts all the way it felt like summer again! Mom and Dad missed out on the warm weather! On my hike I walked through serious rainforest area and then nearing the bay I had to go over this headland and it was like DESERT. Sandy, dry, hot, it was so bizarre! From rainforest to that. Descending onto the beach was awesome - the bay was super protected from the open ocean and the sand was so gold it was awesome. The water was very chilly though. I had the chance to eat a late lunch and lounge before the kayaking group arrived and we headed out to the houseboat for the night. The houseboat was essentially a.. boat with cabins underneath. Not your standard Shuswap houseboat haha like it was capable of being on the ocean. My bunk was so cozy and right beside a porthole... neat-o. We enjoyed the sunset and homemade dinner / bbq from the crew - it was delicious! Afterward we played some scrabble then early to bed. I had a good sleep, surprisingly, once I got bundled in the down duvet. The next morning we woke up to a breakfast spread to fuel up before our day of kayaking. At around 9 we headed back to the beach to get our kayaks ready and head out. Super sunny again, cloudless skies which was awesome! We kayaked along the shore and out to an island called Adele Island where the seals like to hang out. Along the way we saw some blue penguins, lots of birds, plenty of seals and we tried to hunt down some stingrays but they weren't having it. For lunch we just pulled up on a beach and our guide pulled out all the ingredients for a great picnic - complete with a plaid blanket. We had some warm beverages and made some sandwiches for lunch, and were just about to head back out when this seagull came and STOLE OUR LOAF OF BREAD. I just looked over as he was taking off and thought 'he won't be able to carry that whole bag...' and he took off. The bag was open and he was dropping pieces all the way down the beach as we ran after him - it was hilarious. He finally dropped the bag and took off when there was about half the loaf left. So funny. After we had collected the bread off the beach, we headed off again. We continued kayaking along the shore / beaches and saw some more wildlife - so many seals! One followed us for about half an hour, popping in and out every so often to say hello. As we were coming in on the home stretch, we tried out a little 'Kayak-sailing': Loee and Lauren did this I remember! It was sweet - just propped up the sail with our paddles and sailed along! A nice break from paddling and it sped us along. We got back to the beach where we had to unload our kayaks and had to walk about 1km from the water to the road - because the tide was out. Serious tides here, so much that they have to launch the aquataxis with tractors that fully drive into the water. Its necessary, so the boats get deep enough underwater they can get them off the trailer! After a bus ride back to Nelson, I walked to the store to get some dinner and went to bed early - I was pooped and planned to catch the bus the next morning to Kaikoura. NOPE that plan failed. There is literally one bus that leaves Nelson. All day. To anywhere. And it was sold out. The bus driver let me wait right till they left to see if there were any no shows - but no such luck. So, I stuck around in Nelson for an extra day and checked out a few hikes, some churches, the downtown, and the 'Centre of NZ' hike. WHERE I of course forgot to take a photo of the monument. You'll just have to believe me hah :) It is not the geographical centre, but simply where the different regions of the country are based on.. if that makes sense. So, After a relaxing day in sunny Nelson (sunniest part of the country!) I went to bed early AGAIN because I had to get up AGAIN to catch the bus. This time I made it! And because I'd had an extra day in Nelson just came straight back to Christchurch. Maybe Kaikoura another weekend?? We'll see, my weekends are becoming NUMBERED!!!!! Photos soon!! P.S. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the moms out there :) Especially my mama!! Love you!!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
South Island Mini Tour Photos
South Island Mini Tour: The Thompsons (-1) rent a campervan. Hilarity ensues
OK I am sorry. I seriously put this like 17 burners back and then 3 weeks somehow slipped away and I need to UPDATE!! It has been almost a month since the events I am about to relay actually occured, so let's hope my memory serves me well. Although, it is times like these where I plan to do a small post, and as I am writing things just keep coming back to me and it goes on and on.... we shall see. So where did we leave off? Right, world's shortest flight from Wellington to Christchurch. We arrived the evening of Friday the 6 of April, Mom and Dad found a sweet bed & breakfast to stay in and I headed back to res for the night!! We were probably only in the city for about 15 hours, and to Mom's delight, there was a little aftershock in those 15 hours. Dad slept through it of course, and mom got no sleep. But kind of (?) a cool experience for them.... maybe not if you ask Mom haha. So, the next morning, M & D picked up the campervan, then me, then we were off!! We were seriously high rolling in our camper - two double beds, a fridge, microwave, stovetop, sink, the whole works. We were pretty much equipped to 'freedom camp': you can pretty much camp anywhere (that is a designated distance away from roads/property) as long as you are contained. Our first day, we drove across the island. That's right, East Coast to West Coast. Pacific to Tasman in roughly 4 hours!! Amazing. Along the way we stopped at a pie shop and got some delicious pies (of every variety, including cherry for dessert) and some viewpoints on our way through Arthur's Pass. At one viewpoint, we stopped for a break and there were an abundance of keas: a mountain bird that is not shy in the least and 3 or 4 promptly hopped on top of the campervan and started pecking away at the rubber molding on the roof. Awesome. We were probably driving about 60kph by the time they decided to leave. Arriving on the west coast, we turned south and continued for a short while before seeking out our camping spot for the night. We had to do this relatively early during the day (around 4pm) as the whole country was on Easter break and there was no shortage of travelers. We found a sweet place off the highway and decided to get settled and cook ourselves some dinner in the 1 cubic metre of space we had. We set up our little table and had some dinner, did some crosswords, and then decided it was bed time. This is where the fun began; setting up the beds was a TASK. The first night we did not even find the 3rd section of the main bunk and I was prepared to sleep lengthwise on the seat... but we found it after all. Mom and Dad slept on the double bed that was formed from the back seats, and I slept in the 'double' bed up above - literally about 1 foot from the roof. I had to army crawl around to try to make the bed and there was a light fixture about 20cm from my face. Good thing I don't move when I sleep. After crashing hard and getting a good night's sleep (I have somehow trained my body to refuse to get out of bed in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I wake up and am just like 'NOPE' then go back to sleep. It is a great skill) we awoke the next morning and decided to check out a trail we had seen close to a nearby stream the night before. Just a baby walk cause we had to be on our way, but it was so cool!! Definitely felt like we were in LOTR.... actually... at least once a day someone would say 'I feel like we are in Middle Earth...'. The forest was very overgrown and the path covered in a thin layer of moss... the light coming through the branches was so neat too. After a short stint, we hopped back in the van and continued South. About halfway through the day, we arrived in Franz Josef - we checked out the deal with tours, and since it was Easter weekend, everything was booked for A WEEK AND A HALF. LAME. So, we decided to leave the crowds and do our own walk at Fox Glacier, just down the highway. We got closer to the glacier and there were way less people. It is CRAZY how fast these glaciers are retreating. But also amazing how low in elevation and close to the coast they still are. After our hike, we continued on our way, planning our next stop in Haast, right on the coast. Another 10 minute stop to build inuksuks and we got anihilated by sand flies (THE WORST). We had been warned but still - I'd say they are a combination of mosquito bites and duck mites. Worst. Anyway, we found our campsite, which wasn't the nicest, but we wanted some power for lighting / heating and needed to do some laundry, so we toughed it out. We got a 'tourist radio' with the campervan for the rental, and it was the coolest. It would ding everytime we passed somewhere of interest or somewhere to stay and tell us all about it. Pretty much like an airplane or like the voice on the train that tells you what stop is next. So this is how we found a few of our campsites! The next morning we decided to drive down the road and have our breakfast on the beach - too bad it was a torrential downpour. We parked just behind the beach and walked out to check out the ocean anyways - it was SERIOUS. Hugest waves. Breakfast was so cozy at our little table while it was raining and waves were bashing outside. We continued our drive, this time heading South and East towards Wanaka and Queenstown. We drove through some serious looking rainforest all the way to Okanagan-looking landscapes, the vegetation changes SO fast, each day we drove could've been a totally different country. Driving through Haast pass, we stopped for a few little walks along the way to waterfalls, blue pools, and viewpoints. Serious road trip day. Like HEY LET'S STOP HERE! OK! We arrived at Lake Wanaka a little after noon and stopped at a viewpoint for some lunch. It was nothing short of a hurricane out. SO windy but nice and sunny. Dad met two kiwis there attempting to get out on the water to windsurf, and watched their launch to see how things were going to go. They were succesful! And were going SO FAST. A short while later, we got to the actual town of Wanaka, and attempted to get in on the last skydive of the day - but we were too late. So, we booked a skydive for the following day in Queenstown, and decided to sit by the lake at a pub and have a beer! RELAX!!! Wanaka was a cool town. Picking up a few groceries for dinner, we decided we'd better get to a campsite closer to Queenstown so we didn't have to drive very far in the morning. We found a very cool sounding one that was on a Lake about 3-4km off the main road.... turns out it was 7km, in the dark, on a tiny dirt road, in a campervan. And it was just a giant open area. Hahah very random but it was pretty nice! Fantastic view of the stars :) The next morning we awoke to cloudy skies and were afraid that the skydiving might be cancelled.... we checked in at the office and they had said it was postponed due to low clouds and to check back at 1pm. So, we hit up plan b. We did a hike... It was about 2-3 hours and I feel like we hiked through 5 different forests/landscapes. Crazy! But very cool. We saw paragliders coming down from the top of Queenstown hill and hoped that meant skydiving was a go! Coming down from our hike, we headed back to the skydive office to check on our status - and found out it was a GO!!! oh my god we are going to jump out of a plane in 30 minutes? It's fine. With 15 minutes to spare Dad and I ran back to the campervan to change (I had to wear real shoes so things weren't flying off my feet and also pants cause its COLD AT 12 000 FEET) and grab our heart rate monitors. Why not? I knew my heart rate would probably 250 but why not check it out?? Running back to the office, we had our little prep session - signed forms, they tried to sell us the hoto packets, and we watched a dvd. Before long we were on our way. Dad and I went in the van with other 'jumpers' and Mom drove the van out to the launch site, were she was able to watch. Once we got to the base, we were in the first group to go so it was ALRIGHT let's get suits on, helmet/hats, goggles, mitts, harnesses, introduced to our 'jumpmasters', "act like a banana" briefing, ready, GO! We went up in the tiniest plane I have ever been in, there was only 7 people in the back and I am pretty sure that was max capacity. There was one other girl and then dad and I. Holy moly. Our jump masters had altimeters on their wrists and kept updating us on the elevation. About halfway up we were attached to our jump masters by our harnesses and put on our hats, mitts and goggles. It actually felt very secure, the attachment to the jump master, but hey they're also going to be plummeting towards Earth. It took us about 15 minutes to get up to 12 000 feet and it was now or never. The door opened and it was COLD. The girl went first, Dad second and I went last. As Dad said afterward, 'it is almost like you go into submission', we were up there and there was only one way down so it just had to happen. Watching the two others go before me was crazy. Like BYE SEE YOU DOWN THERE. We shuffled over to the door and I was literally not touching anything, just hanging, as my jumpmaster prepared to leave the plane. We swung out once, back once, the out for good. It was so cool. SO COOL. We tumbled for about 5 seconds and then he opened the mini chute to balance us out and make sure we were falling stomach first. We were freefalling for about 45 seconds before the chute was opened and it was AWESOME. I did not have that falling sensation whatsoever - it just felt like I was going REALLY FAST. After the parachute was opened, I was able to take off my goggles/talk and enjoy the view.... WHAT? The view was amazing: the lake at Queesntown, the Remarkables, and endless farms with tiny white dots (sheep). We did some twirly loops on the way down (Dad got to steer his!!!) and I may have felt like I had vertigo afterward... Dad and I were walking into each other/sideways for the rest of the afternoon. It was so cool though. I would definitely recommend it. If you are thinking about, DO IT. Post-skydive, we headed back to Queenstown for the evening and got some Fergburger for a late lunch (a must if you are in Queenstown) before heading to Arrowtown for our next campsite. We stayed in another powered site so we could use the heating (haha) but this one was super nice and recently renovated. We did a little walk through the town at night and it was SO COOL. Basically like a functioning heritage park. We saw so many places that we decided to come into town for breakfast and check things out when they were open. We had a delicious breakfast at one of the cafes on the main road, then walked around the town and checked out the Chinese village (from the gold mining days) and the town lookout from the top of a cemetery hill by the world war memorail. I never associate NZ with the world wars, because it is so far away, but they were there!! The town was so neat, one of our fave places on the South Island leg! After Arrowtown, we began to head North toward Mt Cook - gotta see the country's biggest mountain if you are there! We drove through the strangest landscape - it looked like we were on Mars. We stayed at a powered site in a town called Glentanner RIGHT by Mt Cook village (but probably slightly cheaper) and did a hike in the Hooker Valley (same one I did with Sarah and Hannah!). It was cloudy and not the warmest when we started off, and we couldn't even see Mt Cook! But as the day progressed, the clouds burnt off and the mountain appeared out of the mist. Kinda cool actually :) We stopped and the Hooker Glacier terminus and had a mini photo shoot / lunch, which cause pretty much everyone else there to give us funny looks. Apparently people don't eat lunch mid hike?? Returning to our humble camper, we had to continue our pilgrimmage, as Mom and Dad's time was coming to an end :( We stayed in a little town called Geraldine for our last night on the road, and had our one and only dinner in a restaurant: FISH AND CHIPS! Of course. Had to do it. Our drive back to Christchurch the next day was short and sweet as M & D had to be at the airport at about 1. We did manage to stop along the way and check out some GIANT PIGS we saw on the side of the road. Yes tourists. After dropping me off on campus, they returned the campervan and headed to the aiport to begin their journey home. I wouldn't have wanted to spend my break any other way! I can't believe it has already been a month since they've left!!! Time does fly.. and I've gotta make the most of the time I do have left here :) Also - BRAVO if you read this far... this is a marathon entry. More to come...
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