Friday, January 25, 2008
New Zealand Birthday
So I'm officially 24. Geez. Well it kind of stinks having a birthday on the other side of the world where it is still the 25th for everyone else, since I'll be getting "Happy Birthday" tomorrow, but I'll live. For my birthday gift to myself, I went paragliding this morning! Paragliders are a common sight in Queenstown, kinda like a type of New Zealand bird, so I decided I wanted to be one of them. We got the "early bird special" so we got up early and arrived there at 9 and then I was able to jump off the mountain and return by 10 to do the hostel cleaning. It was pretty sweet to be in the air looking down at my own hostel. I've seen the view from the top of the mountain many times but it was weird to be right above it. I got to work on time and had the funnest bed changing experience ever with my co-cleaner Lasse who was still somewhat drunk at the time. He wasn't much use changing beds in his state but was able to fully embrace his role as the entertainment. Good times!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Back to New Zealand for a bit
I've been back in New Zealand for the past few weeks after a nifty visit back to California where I got some family time for the holidays. Things are usual here for about a week more til all my co-workers are going to leave the hostel and work. It seems to be mass-exodus time for people. So I'll be with all new cleaners and the manager just bought another restaurant so he is leaving and putting a new guy in charge and taking the other waitresses with him (I'd switch restaurants too, but it's not worth it for 2 more weeks). The new manager's first move was to hire a Argentinian who he thought was hot. He's also on a power trip half the time and luckily the new girl is pretty nice and competent and we speak spanish to each other so we are able to discreetly gripe about the new manager. So having our own language that noone else understands come in handy, I just hope we don't come across a customer doesn't secretly speak spanish, which isn't likely since we're asked twice a day what language we're speaking (what, you think it's chinese?!).
Oh, so the big news to all this is I decided to move on as well, and go do a round-the-world-esque trip to embrace the traveling opportunity while I can. So considering seasons, discounts, and other logistics, I'm starting in London of all places! Crazy!! Well, so I got a flight to London for March 1st and it's got two stopovers in Sydney and Singapore where I get to spend two days in each. Despite England is economical violation for Americans, it's a good flight point and I've got some many british friends from New Zealand who have gone back, that I get to crash with them and get personal tours which is pretty sweet. So I'm hoping to be in Europe hoping on cheap flights and seeing bits for a month or two and then going to Asia for a month or two, and then heading to the US. So that's my unofficial rough draft plan, which I hope works without any serious bodily harm done. So I'm pretty nervous about backpacking around such crazy new terrain by myself, but so far it's gone well and now I've got plenty of people to visit in Europe which is sweet. The irony is that I've met so many people from Europe here, but I bet when I'm there and traveling, I'll be friends with more travelers from other places since many brits and such do not backpack through Europe like they do through Australia and New Zealand.
Oh, so the big news to all this is I decided to move on as well, and go do a round-the-world-esque trip to embrace the traveling opportunity while I can. So considering seasons, discounts, and other logistics, I'm starting in London of all places! Crazy!! Well, so I got a flight to London for March 1st and it's got two stopovers in Sydney and Singapore where I get to spend two days in each. Despite England is economical violation for Americans, it's a good flight point and I've got some many british friends from New Zealand who have gone back, that I get to crash with them and get personal tours which is pretty sweet. So I'm hoping to be in Europe hoping on cheap flights and seeing bits for a month or two and then going to Asia for a month or two, and then heading to the US. So that's my unofficial rough draft plan, which I hope works without any serious bodily harm done. So I'm pretty nervous about backpacking around such crazy new terrain by myself, but so far it's gone well and now I've got plenty of people to visit in Europe which is sweet. The irony is that I've met so many people from Europe here, but I bet when I'm there and traveling, I'll be friends with more travelers from other places since many brits and such do not backpack through Europe like they do through Australia and New Zealand.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Christmas-ness Dec 12th
I've been in the routine recently of just working in the morning to early afternoon, and then working at the restaurant at night, so nothing too spectacular has happened, but it's a nice lifestyle still. So it's the Christmas season around here, but you really couldn't tell, it's not quite like I'm used in Chicago or Boston where people go crazy putting up tons of decorations. There's a bit of lights here and there, and we just put up a fake tree in my hostel, but otherwise there's not too much. It's also in the 65-80 degree zone everyday, so it doesn't really feel like the holiday season I'm used to.
The funny thing is that places like Starbucks still use all the same promotional deals here as well, so they haven't quite figured out that for half the world, it's not the same season. So it's quite amusing to pass it on a 85 degree day (which is scorching with the sun) and see snowflakes and snow drawings everywhere along with "Warm up with a Gingerbread Latte" signs. You'd think they would have figured it out by now.
Also, there's more Americans here as well, I'm told that many Americans come in the December-January zone, so I'm meeting more of them especially waitressing, who ask me exactly why I'm here being waiting on them. We all especially like waiting on Brits, Americans, or Germans because they tip whereas otherwise it's not customary to do so in NZ. It's really funny (and sad) that whenever I meet new people, one of the typical openings around here is "so what part are you from?" and people also guess that I'm Canadian. I didn't think much of it until some people were saying, "oh you don't seem American", which I later figured out meant, "oh you don't seem like an idiot". So, it seems we don't have the best reputation and unless I have a southern accent or are outwardly annoying, I am assumed to be Canadian.
On the foreigner front, it's pretty cool how many different people I meet waitressing, because I've waited on people from Malaysia, India, Australia and half of Europe. Some waiters knick a bit of bread from people's baskets if they haven't eaten it when they leave, and I'm wondering if some will come down with some crazy disease now. I'm also watching a lot of the medical show House at the hostel, so that doesn't help my imagination.
The funny thing is that places like Starbucks still use all the same promotional deals here as well, so they haven't quite figured out that for half the world, it's not the same season. So it's quite amusing to pass it on a 85 degree day (which is scorching with the sun) and see snowflakes and snow drawings everywhere along with "Warm up with a Gingerbread Latte" signs. You'd think they would have figured it out by now.
Also, there's more Americans here as well, I'm told that many Americans come in the December-January zone, so I'm meeting more of them especially waitressing, who ask me exactly why I'm here being waiting on them. We all especially like waiting on Brits, Americans, or Germans because they tip whereas otherwise it's not customary to do so in NZ. It's really funny (and sad) that whenever I meet new people, one of the typical openings around here is "so what part are you from?" and people also guess that I'm Canadian. I didn't think much of it until some people were saying, "oh you don't seem American", which I later figured out meant, "oh you don't seem like an idiot". So, it seems we don't have the best reputation and unless I have a southern accent or are outwardly annoying, I am assumed to be Canadian.
On the foreigner front, it's pretty cool how many different people I meet waitressing, because I've waited on people from Malaysia, India, Australia and half of Europe. Some waiters knick a bit of bread from people's baskets if they haven't eaten it when they leave, and I'm wondering if some will come down with some crazy disease now. I'm also watching a lot of the medical show House at the hostel, so that doesn't help my imagination.
Queenstown Nov 29th
I've been working quite a lot this week--I worked at the indian restaurant, cleaning, and then was offered a surprise job at a cafe, which I was really excited about until it turned out that it should have been more appropriately named the Soul-Sucker Cafe. It was pretty uptight and I hated the Starbucks-esque-with-bad-music environment and not the laid-back kiwi work place that I'm used to, despite being actually run by kiwis, so I worked a shift and then quit about 10 minutes ago. Anyways, I'm quite happy with my happy medium now, so I think I'm set for jobs.
The indian place is a pretty cool work environment, the people are pretty chill, everyone eats from the naan baskets once people have left, and I get free curry and naan after every shift. One of the chefs is nicknamed Juggy, or Jugmaster, which I get a kick out of. There are two other staff from the hostel that work there and possibly a third coming, so we might as well just name the restaurant after our hostel, but it's fun working with friends. We have a sit-down huge meal every three weeks or so where the chefs and manager try to get through a bottle of Johnnie Walker Whiskey, which is amusing to watch. In any case, I'm getting along alright in Queenstown and actually getting used to being in a small town (unimaginable!), but then again, this is no ordinary small town, they often don't have hang gliders and paragliders over your head when you're walking to the grocery store.
The indian place is a pretty cool work environment, the people are pretty chill, everyone eats from the naan baskets once people have left, and I get free curry and naan after every shift. One of the chefs is nicknamed Juggy, or Jugmaster, which I get a kick out of. There are two other staff from the hostel that work there and possibly a third coming, so we might as well just name the restaurant after our hostel, but it's fun working with friends. We have a sit-down huge meal every three weeks or so where the chefs and manager try to get through a bottle of Johnnie Walker Whiskey, which is amusing to watch. In any case, I'm getting along alright in Queenstown and actually getting used to being in a small town (unimaginable!), but then again, this is no ordinary small town, they often don't have hang gliders and paragliders over your head when you're walking to the grocery store.
Queenstown, Nov 11th
I'm currently "living" in Queenstown, and am on call to be a temp, house cleaning, and waiting for calls from prospective cafes. I'm going to wait to get an apartment til after Christmas, so I'm currently living in a hostel, which is actually a really nice place to be and has a great view:
http://www.bumblesbackpackers.co.nz/
I get a special weekly rate (they like me :) ) and get free accomodation if they need me to clean. There is a bunch of travelers who live and clean there as well as staff, so there's a group of about 10 people that I know there and are always around in some way or another, so it's nice having a community of people to say good morning and good night to everyday and chat to whenever you're around. There's also a constant stream of new backpackers around so it's an interesting place to be. I am in a room with 8 people that changes all the time, so I may start to crave privacy sooner or later, but for now, it's a good place.
I have some friends from the bus who in Queenstown that I'm hanging out with, but they are leaving tomorrow, so it'll be interesting to see how I like Queenstown then. I'm slowly meeting people, so hopefully I'll get a good crowd soon. It's a small town, so I often recognize many people around town, which can be nice. Hopefully I won't cause a scandal anytime soon to make me hate that!
http://www.bumblesbackpackers.co.nz/
I get a special weekly rate (they like me :) ) and get free accomodation if they need me to clean. There is a bunch of travelers who live and clean there as well as staff, so there's a group of about 10 people that I know there and are always around in some way or another, so it's nice having a community of people to say good morning and good night to everyday and chat to whenever you're around. There's also a constant stream of new backpackers around so it's an interesting place to be. I am in a room with 8 people that changes all the time, so I may start to crave privacy sooner or later, but for now, it's a good place.
I have some friends from the bus who in Queenstown that I'm hanging out with, but they are leaving tomorrow, so it'll be interesting to see how I like Queenstown then. I'm slowly meeting people, so hopefully I'll get a good crowd soon. It's a small town, so I often recognize many people around town, which can be nice. Hopefully I won't cause a scandal anytime soon to make me hate that!
Queenstown Oct 26th
I've been in mountaneous towns recently, like Wanaka and Queenstown on the South Island. They are just gorgeous, I can't believe the views! Queenstown has tons of activities, you could spend ages here, and most of them are adrenalin-packed, so it's been quite awesome.
I got to realize my dream of bungy jumping, four times! Bungy jumping was invented here by AJ Hackett and I jumped where the first bungy jump was, and got a combo deal for two other famous jumps. The first was a bridge, then a huuuuge canyon called Nevis which is 134 meters or something like that, and then what is called the "ledge" where you run off onto a view of the city. The ledge is the last one I have left, but I did the nevis two times since they let me jump again for very cheap. I absolutely love bungy jumping! I seem to have an eerily lack of fear of heights, since I have absolutely no hesitation throwing myself off and wasn't really nervous for any of the jumps, while other people were having massive panic attacks. Everyone got a kick out of the fact that I would be chatting up the technicians and then hop over the edge and just go. So go figure!
My bus route is going to go south to Milford Sound and to the southern-most point and then back to Queenstown and up to the north of the south island. I'm going to see how things go, but I may pop back on the bus once I've seen the south island (it's an unlimited pass for 12 months!) and come back and work in Queenstown depending on factors. In any case, I've been having a great time with the people I've met, there's so many interesting people traveling around, but about 75% are from the UK or Ireland as I may have mentioned, so if I'm picking up any type of slang, it's english. Oh, also, I've bandaged my foot up so it's walkable, and while I prolly shouldn't climb Mt.Everest with it like that, it's good enough to get around, which is at least helpful.
I got to realize my dream of bungy jumping, four times! Bungy jumping was invented here by AJ Hackett and I jumped where the first bungy jump was, and got a combo deal for two other famous jumps. The first was a bridge, then a huuuuge canyon called Nevis which is 134 meters or something like that, and then what is called the "ledge" where you run off onto a view of the city. The ledge is the last one I have left, but I did the nevis two times since they let me jump again for very cheap. I absolutely love bungy jumping! I seem to have an eerily lack of fear of heights, since I have absolutely no hesitation throwing myself off and wasn't really nervous for any of the jumps, while other people were having massive panic attacks. Everyone got a kick out of the fact that I would be chatting up the technicians and then hop over the edge and just go. So go figure!
My bus route is going to go south to Milford Sound and to the southern-most point and then back to Queenstown and up to the north of the south island. I'm going to see how things go, but I may pop back on the bus once I've seen the south island (it's an unlimited pass for 12 months!) and come back and work in Queenstown depending on factors. In any case, I've been having a great time with the people I've met, there's so many interesting people traveling around, but about 75% are from the UK or Ireland as I may have mentioned, so if I'm picking up any type of slang, it's english. Oh, also, I've bandaged my foot up so it's walkable, and while I prolly shouldn't climb Mt.Everest with it like that, it's good enough to get around, which is at least helpful.
Oct 20th Being Gimp-tastic
I've had an interesting past few days/week--I've spotted at multiple different areas on the bus including Wellington, the town I was considering living in. Though I had fun with the people I met, some places were a bit disappointing. Wellington sadly was not very interesting and it is normally quite windy (one of the top windiest cities) and rainy, so I decided not to stay there and will decide where to stay after my south island excursion. I went to Tangariro Crossing in a national park, but it was snowed in so we couldn't take what is considered the best one-day hike in the world.
On the bright side, I traveled with an very fun Irish friend, Neil, to the south island on a 3 hour ferry (enough time for plenty of people to get seasick) and the south island is quite gorgeous. We spent 5 days in Abel Tasman, a gorgeous national park. The first day, we took a 5 hour hike and sadly, the next day my foot started hurting and 3 days later at the doctor's, I was given the diagnosis of a bad case of plantar fascilitis, so I have to spent 5 days off it, which feels like an eternity in traveling time. It's also frustrating because I'm now in Franz Josef, a town with a nifty glacier, and I can't go see it since it's a bit of a hike. So, it's been ups and downs, but I've met some cool people who are helping take care of me while I'm gimp (for about the 8th time in my life), which is keeping my spirits up. It's quite frustrating being out of commission on a big trip, but hopefully it'll pass soon. I will write more later when I'm hopefully healed and have more interesting info!
On the bright side, I traveled with an very fun Irish friend, Neil, to the south island on a 3 hour ferry (enough time for plenty of people to get seasick) and the south island is quite gorgeous. We spent 5 days in Abel Tasman, a gorgeous national park. The first day, we took a 5 hour hike and sadly, the next day my foot started hurting and 3 days later at the doctor's, I was given the diagnosis of a bad case of plantar fascilitis, so I have to spent 5 days off it, which feels like an eternity in traveling time. It's also frustrating because I'm now in Franz Josef, a town with a nifty glacier, and I can't go see it since it's a bit of a hike. So, it's been ups and downs, but I've met some cool people who are helping take care of me while I'm gimp (for about the 8th time in my life), which is keeping my spirits up. It's quite frustrating being out of commission on a big trip, but hopefully it'll pass soon. I will write more later when I'm hopefully healed and have more interesting info!
Rotarura Oct 10th
I'm in the stinkiest place in New Zealand right now, good ole Rotarura. It's got all these geothermic pools, which means that there's the smell of rotten eggs everywhere. You get used to it sometimes and then you get a whiff again and you feel like a bathroom exploded somewhere. I've gotten to do some crazy things recently which includes surfing (just learned!), zorbing (rolling down a hill in a plastic ball), and cave climbing. Crazy stuff!
Climbing in the caves was one of the coolest things I've ever done, definitely in the top 10. NZ has a rules in which you can't sue for injuries so they've got crazy extreme sports and let us do just ridiculous things in the cave like climbing up cave walls and climbing thru claustrophobic tiny pathways with water flowing through. Absolutely awesome! Here's the link to get a better idea:
http://www.waitomo.com/waitomo-glowworm-caves.aspx
I'm also really glad that I'm on this bus hop-on-off company because I've met cool people my age and we all hang out at all the destinations. Sadly, since I'm staying in Rotarura for three days, some people are leaving so even though I've only spent a few days with them, it feels like weeks so it's sad. Hopefully I'll bump into some again! The company also gets us tons of discounts and free activities, so I save tons of money and get to do more than I'd ever have done on my own. I went rafting today down a class 5 rapid and went over a waterfall!
Climbing in the caves was one of the coolest things I've ever done, definitely in the top 10. NZ has a rules in which you can't sue for injuries so they've got crazy extreme sports and let us do just ridiculous things in the cave like climbing up cave walls and climbing thru claustrophobic tiny pathways with water flowing through. Absolutely awesome! Here's the link to get a better idea:
http://www.waitomo.com/waitomo
I'm also really glad that I'm on this bus hop-on-off company because I've met cool people my age and we all hang out at all the destinations. Sadly, since I'm staying in Rotarura for three days, some people are leaving so even though I've only spent a few days with them, it feels like weeks so it's sad. Hopefully I'll bump into some again! The company also gets us tons of discounts and free activities, so I save tons of money and get to do more than I'd ever have done on my own. I went rafting today down a class 5 rapid and went over a waterfall!
Starting out in Kiwi-land
I decided to join the blogsters and so I'm updating on my NZ life, despite the fact I got here months ago, so here's a recap:
Sept 29th
Holy crap I'm in New Zealand! It's been quite an overwhelming week, I went through all the normal travel emotions of "what the hell am I doing here?!" to "this is awesome!" back to wondering what I'm doing here. Anyways, despite the ups and downs, all is well at the moment. I arrived at Auckland and got a bank account and cellphone and met some cool people at the hostel that I hung out with for two days. I met a scottish dude with the thickest accent ever for whom I basically had to act like an interpreter for. The funny thing was he was thinking of teaching english here.
Sept 29th
Holy crap I'm in New Zealand! It's been quite an overwhelming week, I went through all the normal travel emotions of "what the hell am I doing here?!" to "this is awesome!" back to wondering what I'm doing here. Anyways, despite the ups and downs, all is well at the moment. I arrived at Auckland and got a bank account and cellphone and met some cool people at the hostel that I hung out with for two days. I met a scottish dude with the thickest accent ever for whom I basically had to act like an interpreter for. The funny thing was he was thinking of teaching english here.
Anyways, I'm currently in the Bay of Islands which is the most northern part of New Zealand. I took a bus for travelers up, which is a hop-on-hop-off-anytime bus that I can take all around the north island, so hopefully that'll be cool.
The Bay of Islands is semi-tropical and has cool beaches and cliffes, so I got to take advantage of a free boat ride out to go around to the islands and to look for dolphins and they let you swim with the dolphins! Yeah, I SWAM WITH DOLPHINS! How crazy is that? I got near around 4 of them which was quite surreal, like a few were literally right next to me. Crazy!!
I spent all of yesterday getting in and out of a bus on a day trip to the northern tip Cape Reinga, which was nifty since we got to ride a bus on the beach and dig up some crazy sea mussels. Not too bad!
I'll sum it up here since I don't want write an encyclopedia, but here's some last fun facts about NZ:
--No ozone layer (thanks China), so you burn in about 10 minutes
--It's completely acceptable to walk around barefoot anywhere if you choose (even in a business suit)
--It's HILLY
--Kiwis like to eat everything with ketchup
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