May 23, 2011
April 11, 2011
Thank you New Zealand!
We've been stateside now for a little over a month. March 1 we landed in LA and have been taking Highway 1 up the coast visiting friends and camping along the way. America is a beautiful country and we're lucky to be from here. It's the land of plenty and it's huge. The thing New Zealand has that's amazing is proximity. It's a small country so you get beach to mountains to desert to farmland and back to beach all within a few hours. Getting to see that many ecosystems in such a short time frame is pretty inspiring. And there's no one there. It's a one lane road with you and the ocean or the sheep or the mountains and it's stunning and serene and inspiring. And you really are one with it. Connected.
It was the perfect time for us to take a trip like this. We simplified and cut back and stripped down to the bare essentials and lived within a pretty tight budget. And we loved it! A hiker's paradise, they make it so easy for anyone to get out into the backcountry. Those hikes we look back on with the fondest of memory. There were rains and floods and steep steeps and tired legs and bee stings and grumpy hungry moments, but it was so much fun. We ate better and slept better and felt better than we had in months, or maybe ever. And we talked about ways to incorporate these kinds of adventures into our life back home. Timberline trail here we come.
We became vegetarians. This has now become hipacritarians because we will eat meat if it is served to us. But when you're living out of a cooler and cooking on a camp stove, it's just easier not to prepare meat. And as it turned out, we never missed it. (Well, except that one time when Kurt made me a steak.) We actually felt better and had plenty of energy living on tofu+quinoa and beans+rice.
I'd say we're pretty much poster children for the NZ company Icebreaker. An eco-friendly sustainable business making outdoor wear from 100% marino wool. You can wear the stuff for days and it won't smell. It's warm and breathable and the perfect thing when you're soaked to the bone and the downpour has no end in sight. We're so hooked we've even got the underwear. TMI?
Funny how at the time the sandflies were such a nuisance yet we hardly remember them now. And although it never seemed to stop raining my memory of rain is Kurt's beaming face peering out from under his hood on the Routeburn Track. It was fun, we were good, and we were living it!
I've never felt so dirty and sticky and restless as the night after returning from Mt. Aspiring. But I've also never felt so fresh and soft and calm as I did after bathing in the leg numbing glacial waters of the Matukituki River. Does that mean you have to earn it to appreciate it? I think that's one thing we learned. We also learned to keep it simple. Less is more. Squeeze and lift. (That one's from the coffee mug at Shambahla Backpackers.)
And so our trip is behind us but it will always be with us. And I encourage anyone who has the inclination to explore New Zealand, or anywhere for that matter, to go! You never know what you might learn.
Day 99-100
Our last few days in Aotearoa. Saying goodbye to Lucy's family, a splurge on pizza, fish n' chips, beer, more beautiful scenery and a visit to Goat Island for some snorkeling. It was tough to leave.
March 19, 2011
Day 94-98
Back in Raglan 3 months ago we’d taken a surf lesson and fallen in love with it. This peaked our interest and we decided to end our trip with a 5 day surf camp. It was our hope to leave NZ with a new life skill and sport to carry with us into our future. This left us 3 months to get our hopes up. Do people really learn to surf in 5 days? Turns out, the answer is no. Kane, our fearless leader, surf coach, chef and chauffeur picked us up on Monday in Auckland and we met the rest of the crew once we reached the surf lodge in Ahipara. There were 3 of them from the previous week plus 3 of us starting this week. Chelsea and Taylor from Canada, Wayne from Alaska, Vicky from England, and us. And as it turns out, I may be coming to terms with the fact that red heads are allergic to the sun. So perhaps surfing is not the best idea for me anyway. But we had fun getting out back behind the white water trying to catch the green waves and occasionally standing up. I think it’s a life’s work to become a surfer and we hope to continue this work when we get to Angie in Santa Barbara. It’s not a sport, it’s a lifestyle.
March 05, 2011
Day 92-93
With two weekends left in New Zealand, it was time to part with Homey. Just trying to write about the events puts my head in a tizzy. What we thought could be a long arduous process turned out to be a piece of cake. Not only did we sell her fast, we had a bidding war going on, or we could have if we weren’t such nice people. In the end it went to a lovely couple of Frenchies for $3200 (only $500 less than we paid). But not without first ruffling some feathers of a German couple who’d been eyeing it for two days, but who’d never made an offer. The woman even came funning after us after all was said and done to let us know that it just wasn’t fair. A dealer tried to calm her with the many great options that surrounded her and she exclaimed, “We don’t want another van. We want this van!”
February 24, 2011
Day 90-91
Continuing our exploration of Coromandel we luckily awoke to sunshine. This area is one of Sonya’s favorite places and it’s totally stunning. Unfortunately, our attempt to visit the highly touted Cathedral Cove was thwarted due to landslides. We really tried, jumping the fence and all, but were warned of the angry DOC yelling at folks who had actually reached the landslide blocked beach. Oh well, add that to the list for next time. Bit after a rejuvinating swim in teal waters we moved toward Stoney Bay DOC campsite at the very tip of the peninsula. It’s a shame we only had one night but had we visited Stoney Bay at the beginning of the trip we would surely never have left. Rugged, remote, tranquil, and green, we’d discovered our Shangrila. All that AND a fire pit. It was perfection.
February 22, 2011
Day 89
Coromandel is widely recognized as one of the most beautiful areas of the north island. We’ve saved it for the end of our trip in hopes of warmer weather. Today it is raining. But that won’t spoil our fun. We are continuing our geothermal exploration and hitting Hot Water Beach! It’s a natural hot springs that can only be accessed at low tide and we decided to go at 11pm. In the shroud of night we trotted out to the coast and dug our hole in the sand among the head lamp glow of our fellow soakers. Before we knew it scorching hot water was seeping up through the sand filling our self dug pool. We soon were digging for cooler waters to adjust the temp to bearable. Too hot! And so amazing.
February 20, 2011
Day 88
We made a big mission of the day to drive from Wellington north with Kerosene Creek our destination. This was one of those places we learned about from “Sally of the Valley” on our earlier trip to Welcome Flats Hot Springs. Finding it was a little cryptic but exciting none the less and it was a very cool experience. Just south of Rotarua, the geothermal capital of NZ, Kerosene Creek is a free adventure into natures hot water offerings. It’s dark sulphur waters drop off waterfalls at two separate places and create perfect pools for a hot thermal soak. That evening we passed a bottle of red between us swigging and sulking at the thought of our trip coming to an end.
February 19, 2011
Day 85-87
Wellington! Back in the city again and this time with friends. After a compulsory stop in Picton to shower and become somewhat presentable, we hopped the Bluebridge Ferry to the north island. In search of a place to lay our heads we landed upon the Waterfront Motorhome Park. A fully automated campervan park in the middle of a city parking lot. Completely weird but somehow totally appropriate. Toby and Sonya met us on Cuba Street and we got toured around like a couple of locals. They took us to Fidels for a coffee before dining on a Malaysian feast at Rasa a couple of doors down. It was so great having the chance to catch up with them in their own town. The food indulgence continued the following day at Toby’s favorite, The Maranui Surf Club, and the coffee shake was worth the trip! Super yum. The sweetest part was that they were staying with their friends Andy and Jenny and their little girl Ava who invited us all over for dinner on Valentine’s Day. It was sad to say goodbye but we parted ways there and met up with our friend David. The world works in mysterious ways and a couple of days ago Kurt found an old $2 radio in an op shop since we’d never bothered to have one installed in Homey. He was listening to it that afternoon in Marlbourough Sounds when on came an interview with Mr. David McCandless, author of Information is Beautiful. Kurt and David worked together in Amsterdam and as it turns out he was in Wellington for a conference. Statistically speaking it was unlikely and David can make a graph about that. We were able to meet for drinks and a couple of martinis and a breakfast later we are hoping he and his lady friend will meet us in LA for a portion of our California road trip.
February 14, 2011
Day 82-84
We’ve spent the last few days high-tailing our way up the south island. We have a date in Wellington with Toby and Sonya on the 13th and we can’t wait to see them. With Milford Track behind us our feeling towards tramping is bittersweet. Muller Hut and Mt. Somers both came highly recommended and we seriously considered fitting them in. But when it comes right down to it, we’re tired. Kurt’s grilling a steak tonight in fact. We need to get more iron if we plan to keep going at this pace. For now it’s back to road tripping and stopping here and there along the way. Yesterday we came across a livestock auction and today we’ve been wine tasting. Now there’s two slices of life that couldn’t be more different. We also explored a salt mine discovered a lovely beach for a swim. And now we sit watching the sun go down in the Marlborough Sounds feeling a little sad that our time on the south island has come to a close.
