Alternative Adventures

Celine and I had a few days to hang out together in Byron Bay, so we did what any backpacker with a little time on their hands does…we went 1 hour north to Nimbin on a tour called “Jim’s Alternative Tours.” Nimbin is a one-street town, and it’s basically one big shrine to marijuana. With store names such as “Bringabong” (a play on Billabong, the surf company) and Rainbow Café, you get the impression very quickly that this is a pretty, um, liberal place. Busloads of backpackers arrive daily on busses called “the Happy Bus” and “Grasshopper.” You get the picture.



The cops leave Nimbin alone, as there seems to be very little they can do to crack down on the lifestyle there. So people just take out their joints and bongs and light up on the street. We got to talking to a local guy, and a burnt out/cracked out old hippie woman came by and started pestering him about her disappointing pot brownie sales for the day. He then introduced the woman to us as his mother. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Nimbin is not the ideal place to raise one’s child.

Well, we spent about an hour and a half in the town, had a delicious lunch, then left to look at some waterfalls and took a tour of a huge tropical garden. The man who owned the place gave us some mini-lectures about god, religion, string theory, and philosophy in general, then led us on a half hour walk though his beautiful property. Yes, it was leech infested and yes, one attached itself to my foot. Pretty nasty, but no biggie, I came prepared with band-aids. All in all, I'd say Nimbin was probably the most random/hilarious tour I’ve ever taken.

After Nimbin, Celine and I spent a few days just hanging out around Byron. We made friends with our roommates and went out surfing with them, which was so much fun. I was very tempted to buy a board, but that might just be crazy me getting the better of logical (almost broke) me. I started poking around for a job, but the leads were few and far between. (I decided not to do the surf camp job right now because I really can’t make any money doing that, and I imagine it might get boring given that there’s no town there to speak of. I can always go back later in the season). There are temporary jobs here for backpackers, but most of them are sandwich shop kind of jobs and it may be snobby, but I can’t help but feel like I don’t want to work at Subway. I was so excited the other night because a great job working at our hostel bar sort of landed in my lap. Basically, you work behind the bar at the hostel for 2 hours each night, meet everyone and hang out, and in return, you get accommodation and food for free. It’s an amazing deal, considering the nature of the “work” and the fact that I’d basically be living for free and could get a day job to help finance the rest of my trip. I signed up to get my RSA (a certificate that enables you to serve alcohol) and was generally good to go.

Well, I was all set to start work last night, but one of the guys that runs the bar here ended up in the hospital for getting into a fight, so the job sort of disappeared into thin air. I still don’t understand what happened, but I was left jobless and a bit flustered as to what to do next. I was all prepared to take any sort of work here, but then all of a sudden there was absolutely nothing available. Not even laundry duty. I was told to check with the hostel café, and the woman acting as manager for the day told me they didn’t need any help there either. Celine left yesterday morning for a town up north called Noosa, and I was about 2 seconds away from buying a bus ticket to go join here up there for a few days. I mean, I’m fine being on my own in general, but on the rare occasion that you meet someone you enjoy traveling with so much, it’s really hard to let them go.

After much deliberation and thumb twiddling, I decided to hang out in Byron for one more night. I had a feeling a job would open up and that the woman I spoke to in the café wasn’t the final word. I got into the café as soon as it opened and was able to speak to the manager who told me a 10-12 morning time slot just opened up that day and that they really needed someone to fill it. I jumped on it… I mean, it’s not ideal, but it will save me the cost of the hostel, plus dinner, internet, and surf board rental. I think that works out to about $30/hour for doing very very little actual work. So basically, at this point, I’m not spending anything and can focus on getting a part time job during the day (hopefully something photography-related).

And now, my friends, let me tell you about my new lifestyle. I’ve moved into the long-term/staff “suite,” and have a top bunk in an 8-10 person room. There is a TV in here, which seems nice until you realize that it’s on ALL THE TIME. I’ve grown used to not watching any TV at all and it’s kind of jarring to hear it. But the people here seem really cool, so that’s a plus. There are some nice girls to hang out and surf with, and it’s refreshing to have people around who aren’t constantly on the move and with whom you can form more enduring relationships. The café work is so mindless that I even take customer orders. I basically clear tables, stock food, run orders out to tables, and when it’s slow, I clean. I cleaned TOILETS today. Not my own, mind you. I cleaned the restaurant toilets. Picture it! A far cry from my cushy advertising job in NY! Ha! But oddly enough I don’t really mind. It’s a better job then cleaning the nasty kitchen or folding laundry, so I’ll take what I can get…it’s just too bad the bar job didn’t pan out. Plus, as I’ve said, my idea of luxury has really changed since I’ve been traveling, and my standards are, shall I say, a bit lower when it comes to temporary backpacker work.

I have no idea what’s around the corner, but I guess that’s all part of the adventure. Hopefully I can find a semi-interesting job to keep me busy for a few hours a day because lying on the beach all day is going to get really old really fast. I’m gonna spend tomorrow fishing around for leads. As always, I’ll keep you posted…

Blues and Bumper Cars

Byron Bay has this amazing 5-day Blues festival each year and I timed my surf trip to land me here in time to check out the concert. It’s the busiest weekend of the year in Byron, and the energy of this little hippie town is simply out of control. My friend Celine and I got to the festival at around 1:30 on Saturday and met up with all the surf camp instructors/employeees later in the day. They are out of their minds.



I took my big, heavy camera with me and was kind of annoyed I had it until I started snapping shots in the afternoon. I had so much fun with that thing, and people respond really well to you when they think you’re an official concert photographer…

Here are some of the shots I got over the course of the festival. Just tried to generally capture the mood and the energy of the concert-goers. I've never really shot people before so this is kind of new for me, but I think I could really enjoy doing more portrait work.










We stayed at the show till the very end and it was a great way to end a fantastic week.


We listened to some really amazing acts, including John Butler (I think I may have actually shed a tear, he was so good), Gotye, Rodrigo y Gabriele, Cat Empire, Beautiful Girls, Agnes and Julia Stone (really worth the listen) and many others. We had a three-day pass so we went each day and put in some serious hours. The acts were true quality and I’m so excited to have had the opportunity to listen to so many artists I’ve never heard of.

So that about wraps it up for now! Today is Tuesday, figure out my life day. I think the reality has really begun to set in that I need to find a job, but not working for 2 months has completely spoiled me and I have no idea what to do with myself! Yikes!

The insanity that is surf camp

What do you get when you combine massive quantities of alcohol, 6 hours of surfing a day, and surf instructors who seem most comfortable conducting their lessons in the nude? I have no idea, but I’m still recovering from the experience.





I’m battered and bruised, scraped, and sore. My fingers and palms literally look as if I’ve run them over a cheese grater (probably due to my death grip on the foam board), and my leg is one big blotchy mess. But it’s all good cause now I CAN SURF! Ok, I can only get up on the smallish waves; I tried a few big ones at the back and managed a few, but overall, they still scare the bejesus out of me. I’ll definitely keep it up though, cause it’s a fantastic workout and it also looks pretty cool.




So to recap, after getting back from NZ, I spent last weekend in Sydney catching up with a few people I met there, and headed for the surf camp bus bright and early on Monday morning. It was rather painful getting up at 5am and knowing I was gonna have to surf that day; given that that weekend was St. Patrick’s day and there was no peace and quiet to be found within a 100 mile radius. I arrived at the bus and cringed…it was 95% girls. My first thought was that there was going to be a LOT of drama, as large groups of girls tend to get that way. But as the week went on, I was pleasantly surprised that not only did the group gel extremely well, but I also made a few great girlfriends out of the deal.

Our days went like something this: Wake up at 7, hike the 45 minute walk to the absolutely stunning beach, surf for 3 hours, eat a huge lunch, take siesta, surf for another 3 hours, eat dinner, then party on the beach. It’s a rough life for the employees I’m sure. We surfed at two different beaches over the course of 5 days. The first was totally isolated, pristine, and intimate and our group had all of it to ourselves.



The second place, called Spot X, was more commercial… lots of different tour groups and a bigger, more populated camp. I got along really well with the employees of that camp and they offered me a job there if I wanted it. I’m seriously considering going down to work at the camp for a month or so to help out with surf photography. The deal is, you work for 4 hours a day and all your accommodation and food is covered. Any extra hours you want to work are paid (only $10/hour, but you don’t need any money there anyway cause it’s pretty far from the nearest town). Why not right? It would be prefect way to practice my photography, a great way to learn to surf, and a damn good time.

So on the last day, we divided up into teams and had a surf competition. The rules were that you had to catch two waves and do a trick on the board to score extra points. Looking retarded also scored extra points, as did stripping off one’s clothes. Well, we were wearing wetsuits, so we won no points for nudity, but our team spirit carried us though and we tied for first place with the boy’s team. To break the tie, we had to stand in a line and each of us had to down a raw egg, relay race style. It was truly disgusting. Our team would have won if one of the girls hadn’t chickened out (sorry, pun intended). She just couldn’t stomach it. I felt like a frat boy. I have some pretty funny pictures of this, but I lost my scan card and can't get my pics off my camera. :(

We all arrived in Byron Bay on Friday night and unbeknownst to us, the bars all shut down at 10pm for good Friday. I was a bit disappointed as that was the last night the whole group would be together, but I was so beat down from the week that it was probably a blessing in disguise. I tried to get some sleep, but there were literally 15 people staying in the room that night and from 6am till 10am, people would not stop moving around, packing, talking, etc. Sweet. It was extra frustrating given that a few of us were going to the blues festival the next day and I really wanted to be physically prepared for being on my feet all day. Oh well…

Tomorrow I’ll be updating with Blues Fest pics. I’d have done it today, but we have one more night to go so I’ll wait on it. For now, let’s just say it was a perfect end to a perfect week. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post!

UPDATE

Sorry about the missing pics! My web server is down temporarily, and they will be back up in a few days.

Goodbye New Zealand!

The last few days have been very relaxing, at least comparatively speaking. And of course, as soon as the pace slows, I get sick. But I'd rather it happen now, as I'm at the tail end of my trip and I'll have the weekend in Sydney to recover before my surf trip up the coast (methinks I'll be bringing board shorts this time).

Anyway, to recap, after Queenstown, I booked myself onto a bus to head down to the most southerly point of NZ. It was a four day trip along the southern coast ending up in Milford Sound (a very deep waterway created by glaciers).

The first day, we landed in a university town called Dunedin. Cool place, but the weather took a nasty turn and it felt like winter. I had 2 long-sleeved shirts with me, and I literally layered 4 shirts and was still freezing (I’m thinking that contributed to this cold). None of us were in a party mood, so a bunch of the girls in my room went to go see The Other Bolyn Girl. It was actually pretty good. The next day we headed into the Catlains, which is a really beautiful stretch of coastline famous for it’s seals, penguin, and sea lion colonies. The weather seemed to be getting worse, so luckily, we didn’t have much to do that day other than try to spot wildlife, which we did. We got to see two sea lions in their natural habitat, and man are they some silly creatures. They seem so adorable and cuddly until they rear up and charge at you (I saw this happen... it was pretty funny).


We also got to see ONE yellow-eyed penguin…from about 50 miles away. It was unfortunate that the weather was so bad, cause in that area, there are lots of little dolphins that you can swim with if you’re lucky. But that’s the way it goes…can’t really control the weather so you hope for the best and sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t. I’ve tried to stop worrying about it so much because despite some pretty rough days, the sun seemed to always be out when we needed it most. We also ventured down to a petrified forest on the shoreline. That wasn’t nearly as cool as the weirdness that lay on top of the rocks and petrified trees. The kelp, seaweed, and plant life that thrives in that area is as strange as it gets. I swear, it looked like an alien war zone. Long, rubbery tangles of material unlike any I’ve ever seen or felt littered the rocks as far as the eye cold see. The Maori used to make socks out of the stuff, but the thought of it touching me for any extended period of time sort of creeped me out.


I mean, this has to be entrails, right?



Some strange creature must have slithered out of this... Is that a hand?



Pretty awesome :)

Next stop was a place in Invercargill where the wind just does not stop blowing. The trees can seriously attest to this! The starkly beautiful landscape is sculpted by the wind…it’s amazing that wildlife can even survive in those conditions but it always finds a way.


After that, the weather miraculously cleared up, and as quickly as the storm can in, it left without a trace. (I wasn’t about to trust that the sun would stay out for long, but indeed it did. We got very lucky). Our final stop on the way to the next town was McCracken’s rest. This is a bit too much McCracken for me, but it was a pretty good laugh.



Next, we made our way to the sleepy town of TeAnau and I finally got to get some exercise. It was the first time I had the chance to really move since my hike up the mountain (and the first time since then that my legs felt normal!) I took a jog around the lake and despite the fact that a serious cold was coming on, I felt fantastic. Well, unfortunately, that afternoon before my run, I had consumed 2 cups of coffee and I was up ALL NIGHT that night. Not in the best of shape for the trip the next morning to Milford Sound. It was a pity as well, because I had a good 9 hours of possible sleep that were totally wasted. I think sleep is more precious than money these days, and that’s saying a lot.

It’s been said that visiting NZ without seeing Milford sound is like going to Egypt without seeing the pyramids. Um, this might be sacrilege, but I just didn’t get what all the fuss was about. Milford sound was really nice and all, but I thought it totally overrated. Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful, with huge soaring mountains and a nice fjord flowing though it all, but I don’t know, I didn’t think it was worth the energy expended to get there. Plus, all the postcard pics boast mirror still water and perfect sunset reflections of the snow-capped peaks; we were there in mid-day and the water was somewhat rough so there were no picture perfect reflections to be had. To boot, the much-hyped “underwater observatory” practically made me laugh. There was like, one fish and some scraggly coral. After a somewhat anticlimactic day, we were offered the option of flying back to Queenstown rather than sitting on the bus for 5 hours. It was pricey, but we a huge discount and my friend and I decided to spring for it. OH MY GOD am I glad we did. Milford sound might be blah from the ground, but it it steller as seen from above. Flying over turquoise lakes, glaciers, winding and shining rivers that looked like molten gold…just…wow. The best part was that the flight was only 40 minutes so we got back to Queenstown 4 hours before the bus did.






So the entire day today was spent on the bus to Christchurch, out of which I'm flying tomorrow at 7am. That means I have to be out of the hostel, on a shuttle, at 4:30 am. That's gonna put me right on the road back to health! I am going to bed in 5 minutes.

On the 5th day, she rested

It’s official. I have now done almost everything on my list of “things to do before I die.” I had never included bungy jumping on that list, but I think it’s safe to say it was, and probably will forever be, the most intensely exhilarating experience of my life.




Before coming to NZ, I had never even thought about doing a bungy jump. It just didn’t interest me all that much, I mean, it looked rather painful, what with all that flopping around and such. But people just kept talking about it, and no one I spoke to experienced any kind of pain or injury. Plus, everyone, and I mean everyone, said that it was the scariest experience of their lives. Of course, when I heard that, I was sold. I can’t turn down a chance to scare myself s**tless. So the day after my skydive, I was on my way to Queenstown (adrenaline capital of the world) and I signed myself to be amongst the first group on the bus to do the highest bungy in NZ. If I was gonna do it, it had to be the biggest one. The jump was to be that very afternoon, and I thought about waiting a day or two, but truthfully, I kind of just wanted to get it over with. The nervous anticipation started way before I arrived at the bungy center, and steadily climbed until I was literally shaking with fear. There were 22 of us signed up to jump that day, and I was the VERY LAST one to go. The bungy station is actually a cable car suspended over a huge ravine, and it’s the only one like it in the world.



They sit you in a chair, strap you into the ankle braces, lead you the edge, count down from 3, and you just dive into the valley. Everyone else in the cable car cheers you on as you shuffle to the edge, and you look down and totally freak out. It’s so hard to overcome your body, as it’s totally unnatural to stand so close to the edge of such a great height and everything in your brain is telling you to back up. And you can’t hesitate cause everyone is watching so when they say 3-2-1, you make your knees bend and you stretch out your arms and jump out into nothing. It’s an 8.5 second freefall. Close your eyes, count out 8 seconds, and imagine the earth coming toward you at 80mph. I can’t even describe how utterly amazing and how totally different it was than skydiving. The bungy jump is a REAL jump. The distance to the ground is something your brain can understand, whereas the distance to the ground from a plane is rather abstract and therefore less scary. In a plane, you have no control over the jump; someone else is pushing off and you have no choice. The bungy is all you. You have to stand on the edge and you have to push off yourself. That’s what makes the experience so much more intense. So I jumped and then the cord tightened, it was so much smoother than I thought it would be. I was totally high off the rush for a good 5 hours after and I have to say, even though it only lasted about 10 seconds, it was the best 10 seconds of my life. I did get the DVD, and sadly I can’t digitize it and upload it because the look of terror on my face and the number of oh my gods that came out of my mouth is pretty priceless. Conquering fear of that magnitude truly makes me feel like I can pretty much do anything.

That night we all went out, as Queenstown is also the party capital of NZ. I had a ton of energy (probably residual from the jump) and I was planning on having a big night. Well, I certainly drank a lot, and it was a fun night, but I had made plans with a friend to go for a big hike the next day so I didn’t want to totally overdo it. 2 bottles of wine later, I had clearly overdone it. But I went to bed about 2 and dragged myself out from under the gloriously warm blanket at 9:30 am to prepare for the hike. I was not about to let a massive headache and some dizziness stop me from a 6 hour hike. No way. (ha). There were 3 girls that I brought along to do the hike, and my friend had brought one. We approached the trail and I realized that this was to be no leisurely stroll through the woods. We were hiking up one of the tallest peaks, and it was so challenging that within the first 2 minutes of the walk, 2 girls turned back! One simply looked at the trail and said in her very heavy and hilarious north London accent (think Fat Bastard in Austin Powers), “I can’t be bothered,” and turned back before setting foot on the trail (Sorry Emma if you’re reading this! You know your accent is amazing). The second girl went up a ways and also turned back. So then there were three. We were all hungover and exhausted, but also very intent on doing the hike and our egos would not allow us to turn back. So we motivated one another to continue the 3+ hour trek up the mountain, even singing military marching songs to help us power our way up. We had no idea what we were getting into, but the higher we climbed, the more spectacular the views became, and the less our hangovers seemed to matter. About 2 hours in, I was feeling better. I can’t say the same of my friend, but she was a real trooper and pushed herself through it. The muscles in my legs were piles of burning jelly by the time we stopped for lunch and we all planned on turning back.







But a guy was coming down form the very top and informed us that it was only another hour to the peak (albeit, a totally vertical upward climb) and that the view was worth the pain. So we figured turning back at that point would be a huge waste of all our efforts and that we might as well give it a go. By the time we reached the top, we had consumed all our water and we were all losing control over our leg muscles, but the man was right. The view made it all worth it. An unobstructed 360 degree view of miles upon miles of snow peaked mountain ranges, crystal blue crater lakes, rolling golden hills, and the city of Queenstown nestled in between all of it was more than worth the pain.






The sense of accomplishment was a drug in and of itself that erased all of the physical discomfort (momentarily). I was so proud of us because it was by far the hardest hike any of us had ever undertaken and we were not in tiptop physical or mental shape to do it in the first place. But we did do it and I realized that it’s all mind over matter in the end. If I can do a hike like that on 5 hours of sleep and a hangover to boot (oh, and serious blisters form my glacier hike a few days before), then there really isn’t much I can’t tackle. Anyway, the way back was all downhill, but in some ways harder on our legs than the way up. But it took less than half the time to get back, and we were motivated onward by thoughts of a soak in the hot tub at our hostel (which was just heaven, by the way).

So in four days, there has been an 8 hour glacier hike, a skydive, a bungy jump, and a 6 hour hike up a mountain. That’s a pretty full week if you ask me, so today is my day of rest. This is the first day I’ve had in a month to do nothing... I slept in till 9:30 (SO late for me given my dawn risings of late). It’s a lovely day in Queenstown and we have been beyond lucky with the weather (a first for me) so I don’t want to waste the day, but my legs are not in any kind of shape to do much moving, so I’m content to update this blog and sit and process what my body and mind have been though. I met some people in my hostel who are doing the same, so I don’t feel so guilty ☺

We’re staying at a great little hostel outside of town…I met a few like-minded girls who needed a break from the Kiwi bus and all the annoying kids whose sole purpose in coming to NZ was to get wasted every night, so we found an of the way place that is SO much more laid back and back-packer like in it’s atmosphere. Everyone is really nice, open, and traveling on their own, and I sat down for free breakfast in the kitchen and was talking to so many random people that I didn’t leave the kitchen until after I’d eaten lunch! So nice to see how different the travel experience is when you separate yourself from the more commercialized hostel/tour experience. This is what I wanted the whole time, and exactly what I will do when I go back to Australia in a week.

So that’s it for now. Whew. I'm spent. but I might be convinced to to a bike ride around the lake once I regain muscle control over my legs...

I Peed on a Glacier (and other adventures)

Well, in all fairness, I kinda had to. Yesterday, we went for an 8-hour glacier hike and there were no porta-potties on the ice. It was one of the more unusual places I’ve, um, relieved myself. But in all seriousness, of all the crazy hikes I’ve taken, this one was by far the most arduous. Hiking to the foot of the glacier was hard work in and of itself.



We trekked through rivers (wet feet), over the cliff sides, and under waterfalls (wet hair) for a good hour and a half before even getting close to the bottom of the huge block-o-ice. I had elected to be part of the “fast” group, which I came to regret because I actually felt I’d be better off jogging up the hillside to keep up with the other nut cases.

When we came upon the bottom of the glacier, we strapped on our crampons, which are spiked soles used specifically for icy terrain, and up we went. And when I say up…



I mean UP. The incline looked almost vertical and some of the steps were made for giants. I was struggling, and I pride myself on handling physical exertion pretty well. I knew if it was that hard for me, the smokers in the group had to be crying. We finally made it to a flat section (relatively speaking) and upwards we stomped for about 3 hours before taking our lunch break on the ice. I have to say, it was pretty cool to be sitting on a glacier in a short sleeve shirt overlooking a tropical rainforest. There are only 3 places like it in the world, 2 being in NZ and one located in South America. It was a pretty wild view.



After lunch, we headed up for a while longer and found some fun caves to explore. The ice is SO BLUE, and apparently it’s even bluer in the winter when the ice hardens up. After the caves, we negotiated some pretty tight crevasses. This top picture is actually of one of the wider ones.




Our guide quite enjoyed stopping at the end of the ravines (and leaving us in a cramped train behind him) so that we could relish the feel of icy water dripping down the sides of the ice walls and into our clothes! Good times! AFter conspiring to kill our guide (but ultimately deciding against it), we started heading down the glacier at about 3:30. Towards the end of our trek down, the guides found a tiny hole and some people thought it would be a good idea to crawl though it. Um, call me crazy, but I can’t imagine anything I’d like less than scrambling though a hole the size of the inside of a tire and emerging soaking wet and covered in cuts from the sharp ice inside. But one man’s torture chamber is another man’s treasure, I guess! (And turns out, that was tame compared to some people in another group that took turns jumping into man-sized holes filled with ice water). Joy.


Well, I passed on the bloodletting, cause I knew we had a few more hours of hiking ahead of us and that the voyage was not nearly over even thought we were approaching the lower portion of the glacier. It took about 3+ hours to get back to the bus, and in that time I inhaled a muffin the size of my head faster than you can count to three. 8 hours of trudging up icefalls is enough to give a girl one hell of an appetite.

After the glacier excursion, I was almost too tired to lift a foot, but had elected to go skydiving the next morning so I knew I had to be in bed early. The pickup for the skydive was at 6 am, which meant only one thing. Pain. I barely slept all night due to drunkards in the hallway and a chronic snorer in my room (and of course, excitement about the jump), so I was pretty tired when I woke up an hour and a half before dawn. So what else is new. Well, I have to say, jumping out of a plane is as good a wakeup call as anyone is likely to get. It was one of the most exhilarating things I’ve ever done. We flew up over the glaciers and the Tasman sea, and the sun rising over the mountain tops was breathtaking. I was all strapped in and ready to go. The plane door swung open, I flipped my feet over the edge and gulped. Then we pushed off the edge and began the 12,000 foot descent to earth. My stomach dropped and I concentrated on breathing through my nose and keeping my eyes wide open so I wouldn’t miss a thing.



Freefalling is…is...I’m actually at a loss for words. It’s simply mind-blowing. When the parachute opened, I was allowed to take out my camera and take my own pictures. Unfortunately, the sun was really bright so it’s hard to get an idea of the view, but here’s what I was seeing nonetheless.






After the skydive was over, I slept for 3 hours on the bus ride to Wanaka where we are now. I missed lunch and half the view on the way over, but did wake up in time to see the following vistas out the bus window. I was awestruck by the beauty of the landscape. The glacier lakes in Kanaka are madly blue. And I’m officially running out of adjectives for beautiful.



Now, I shall undertake to fill you in on the few days and nights preceding the ice climbing and plane jumping madness.

After Leaving Nelson, we stopped off at Nelson Lake up in the mountains. It was an absolutely glorious day and after a long walk thorough the woods, we had a stunning vantage point of the huge and crystal clear fresh water lake.




And the night before that, we stopped at a lakehouse for the night for the big Kiwi Experience theme party. Now, I was kind of into it. I mean, they took us to the dollar store and instructed us that the theme of the night would be “bin bags” which basically means just what it says. We all had to make dresses and costumes out of trash bags and wear them to the party. It was really quite a laugh. People got very creative. My favorite was a tux made entirely of trash bags…I mean, it was really, really good. Project Runway material. And another favorite was:



It was a retarded evening and by 12:30 I was sufficiently sweaty and gross from wearing a trash bag so I called it a night (pretty much right after these photos were taken).




Lastly, the day before that, I elected to go horseback riding in Westport. I was told Westport is a great spot for horseback riding, but it was not nearly as cool as River Valley (I'm still kicking myself about doing the white water rapids there instead of the horse trekking). Well, it was a pleasant spot if anything, and it was fun when we let the horses gallop and canter on the beach, but what was NOT fun was my horse. On our way though the trees and native bush, the horse would without fail, at 20 second intervals, yank his head down to munch on grass, thereby giving my neck and hands a good thrashing. At one point, the only spot we could really take pictures, I couldn't get my horse to stand still long enough to ge ta decent shot. So I got this one instead. Me. Sad. Stuck in a big bush. I mean, what is it with those horses? Are they lacing the grass there with equestrian crack? (This couldn't be a more unflattering pic of me, but I'm beyond caring).



Ok, I think I’m caught all caught up! A lot happens here in a few days, lemme tell you. So, tonight, I was gonna see a movie but opted to update this blog instead so I'll be in bed before 10:00 tonight. I can't WAIT for a good night's sleep. I feel like the walking dead. If I DO get some rest, I plan to do the world's highest bungee jump tomorrow (Nevis bungee). I've heard it's about 100 times scarier than skydiving, so naturally, I'm psyched! But I may just do the sane thing and give myself a day off tomorrow. The bungee jump can wait till I feel like a human being.