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And home again home again, jiggedy jig!

Last Few Days

I only have 3 more nights in beautiful New Zealand before I am off on my epic flight home. I am in the city of Christchurch on the east coast of the south island and its the first big city I have seen in a month! It really beautiful and little bit less touristy than Queenstown, the city I was last in. At the center of town is an old cathedral from which the rest of the town radiates outwards. This city feels like a mix of a small European city and Auckland.
I am staying in a womens hostel called Frauenreisenhaus; and yes, there are a lot of german girls here. One thing I am looking forward to at home is waking up of my own accord. This morning I had one of the most torturous wake up calls yet. The girl below woke up at 6 am packed for a while and went back to sleep. Then woke up at 7 am and proceded to pack every piece of clothing into a plastic meticulously before slowing placing it in her bag. This continued for roughly 1.5 hours and then I left before I exploded. Screw water torture, try bag crinkly early morning torture. Ok, so Im being a little melodramatic, but seriously!
Moving on, I will be home on Saturday night at some late-ish time, so I will see you all hopefully this Sunday. How crazy does that sound! Peace,

Alex

Awesome last couple days!

So recently I travelled onwards to Franz Josef Glacier which is right by the Fox Glacier. These are two of three glaciers in the world that extend down into rainforest! I did a full day hike up the Franz Josef and had an absolutely amazing time. The blue color of the ice is absolutely stunning and I do not think that any picture could capture it accurately. The scariest part is walking through tight crevasses where your body barely sneaks through and the floor below you could fall out should the crevass open wider...
Moving on, I continued down through the Mt Aspiring National Park (which is spectacular) and made it into Queenstown. Today I did my first ever bungee jump and to say the least, Im hooked! It was so much fun! I may do another should there be enough funds and time available towards the end of my trip!
Tomorrow I am off to Te Anau and then I begin the Kepler track the day after that. I cant wait to see you all!

On the Road Again

I just finished the Heaphy Track yesterday and spent the night in Karamea at a place called Rongo's Backpackers. The Heaphy track is an absolutely incredible walk and way less busy than any of the other great walks. Each day you are met with a different type of scenery; from sub-tropical rainforest, to huge yellow tussock fields, to rocky coastline. The five days passed quickly and Aleah and I hardly ran into other people until the last day.
The backpackers we stayed in is a the most carbon neutral place I have been to yet. Rain water for showers, solar heaters for the water, organic garden in the backyard, etc, etc. It was really nice but Aleah and I quickly realized that we were the only people who werent volunteering there and it suddenly felt like we had stumbled into somebody elses house.
Right now, I am in Westport attempting to catch up with the Stray bus which is proving more difficult that I previously would have thought. If I can catch it today, then I will have a few extra days in Queenstown which would be nice.
Though this is a little late, happy thanksgiving to all the Americans who read this! I hope your food was delicious and everything went well.
Again, no pictures, but thanks for reading it anyways!

Abel Tasman to Takaka

I left Nelson a little less than one week ago and I am now in the town of Collingwood, the most northern town on the South Island. I just did a four day tramp across the Abel Tasman Track which, should you ever have the chance, you must do! It is the most beautiful tramp that I have done and probably ever will do. It is just perfect endless beaches and gorgeous bush with relatively few people around. I also saw a manta ray and a fur seal off the coast of one of the beaches; you can see dolphins if you are lucky!
Then I moved on to Takaka which is the coolest little town I have ever been to. I wish I had a couple of weeks to spend in the region! Takaka is a town that is mostly made up of earth friendly sort of folks and a few dairy farmers from the country creating an awesome mix. The Village Theatre plays newish releases from all different countries (especially France!) and they have giant cushions to lay of the floor and watch the movie whilst sipping a mug of coffee from the concessions. Also, in Takaka is an awesome bike shop called The Quiet Revolution. Its been open for about 10 years and is in a building from the late 1800s. The owner is a bike commuter and generally an awesome guy to talk to. I wonder if I could get a job there if I hung around in Takaka long enough...
At any rate, now I am in Collingwood and getting ready to start the Heaphy track tomorrow with my friend Aleah from Auckland. This track goes out to the west coast and has a tendancy to get lots of rain, but Im home the good weather I have had so far will hold out for the next five days.
And now, some photos to convince you that need to do the Abel Tasman track. Oh no! the stupid mac wont let me upload photos! It just uploads code! grrrrrrrr.... well youll all have to come over and look at photos in December I guess. This is lame!

Derby and Nelson

So its been a little while since the last update and actually quite a lot has happened. I have finished my semester, I had my last roller derby game, and I am not on the Southern Island of New Zealand. The last roller derby game was Mascara Massacre versus the Blackheart Bruisers and it was going to be a tough game. I got to be jammer every fourth jam and was also blocker 3. It was a ridiculously tight game in the beginning but Mascara Massacre ended up winning! The whole bout was incredibly messy with lots of elbows and fouls, but we still won and thats all that matters in the end.
Two days after that I took a flight to Nelson and had the strangest flying experience of my life. I never showed any ID, I never walked through a metal detector, I never even had my carry on luggage scanned... It was like walking onto a bus basically. We ended up flying mostly over the ocean which was absolutely gorgeous. Nelson is a smallest town with about 64,000 people and tons of cyclists! Yesterday, I borrowed an old Bianchi Avenue from the hostel I am staying at (which is called The Bug and I would highly recommend to anyone in the area!) and went for a 2 hour cruise around the area.
Pictures say more than my words, so here ya go!

Mascara!

The car that picks you up from the airport!

Tahunanui Beach

Old Bridge on a pipeline.

Mascara Massacres!

This weekend was the debut bout for the Mascara Massacres who I was playing for. We were playing up against Dead Wreckoning and Im pretty sure most people thought that they were absolutely going to destroy us. To be honest, in the first period, they kinda did. But after that, we scored 24 points in the second period and then actually beat them in the third period! We just kept getting better and better whilst wearing their players out! I got to play quite a bit as a doubled as a jammer and blocker throughout the bout. I dont think there is anything else in the world that is like an arena full of fans cheering at the top of your lungs for you... its an insane rush! I ended up getting 3 major penalties (meaning 3 times in the penalty box...) but also managed to score a few points for our team when I was out jamming.
Our next bout is on November 10th and its Mascara Massacres versus the Blackheart Bruisers which should be an insanely intense game! The Bruisers lost to Dead Wreckoning by more than we did so I think we have a chance to win....
Im in the middle of finals week here so everyday is marked mostly by 5-8 hours of independent study as I prep for my four finals. Today I managed to go outside to study and my friend from Cali convinced me to study in my swimsuit since it was so hot out! Definitely not something I would ever do in MN but it seems ok here!
Derby pics...

In the dressing room.

Bunch a girly girls! Gotta love our uniforms, eh?

Raglan!

This weekend myself, Eva, Leigh, and Christophe went down to a little surf town on the west coast called Raglan. Its actually a world famous little surf town, so if your into surfing, you probably know it! We left on Saturday morning and spent forever trying to find somewhere to sleep! The entire town was booked but we finally found this place were we had our own bathroom and sink and it was only $25/person/night. Not bad at all if I do say so myself. We attempted swimming but it was so cold it was more of a polar bear dive than anything else.
On Sunday morning we found a place that rented surfboards and full length wetsuits and hit up Ngaranui Beach. It was quite possibly the windiest day I have ever spent outdoors but still a heck of a lot of fun! When we arrived at the beach, there was nobody else there so we just headed out and surfed for 2 hours. When we came in for a lunch break, the lifeguards kindly told us the beach was closed due to dangerous weather! Whoops!
Monday was relatively uneventful due to poor weather again. We did hit up our favorite cafe again, The Tongue and Groove, and studied for a couple more hours. I think we got in about 6 hours of studying this weekend on top of surfing, swimming and exploring the town.
Some friends of mine may be heading up to Piha beach this week for some more surfing and I think I am going to try to tag along! I'm absolutely horrible at it, but its so much fun that I have to do it a couple more times before I head out of this crazy awesome country! Pictures...

Surfboards hanging off the front of the car!

Christophe, Myself, and Eva all lookin sweet!


Ngaranui Beach

Leigh shocked that they beach we were surfing at was closed!

They didn't have this sign up when we got there!

See the perfectly crashing waves? This is the world famous Manu Bay.

More of Manu Bay

Pinnacles at Coromandel

I went out for a real short tramp this weekend. It was only about 2 hours of actual tramping each day but it was definitely nice to be outside for a couple of days. We went out to the Coromandel region and hiked up to the Pinnacles. It used to be a huge kauri tree logging area and so throughout the whole tramp there were little remnants of the massive logging operations that were running in the early 1900s. The hut up at the top slept 80 people but there were two classes of schoolkids coming through so we opted to tent outside of the hut despite the massive rainstorm. It was the first time I have slept in a tent in New Zealand and unfortunately, the last as well. We got to talk to the hut warden for a bit and I discovered that he is a little bit crazy but also incredibly friendly.
This was my last tramp in the North Island; kinda a scary thought. That being said, I do have several non-tramping excursions planned for my last month in the Auckland region. This coming weekend, Leigh, Eva, Riley and myself are going down to Raglan on the west coast in a van and spending 3.5 days figuring out how to surf. Then, about 10 days later, we are heading up to 90-mile beach for 4 days and surfing a little bit more before we all have to leave and go on our respective adventures.
My future adventure is going to include Abel Tasman, Heaphy, Barrytown, Franz Josef Glacier, Mt Cook, Kepler Track, Te Anau, Queenstown, and Christchurch.... Should be interesting!
Here are some pictures from the Pinnacles! Lots of green...

More NZ landscape..

One of the old dams

The ~600 stairs up to the top. Yes, stairs in the middle of nowhere...

Part of the Pinnacles

The "hut" which is larger and nicer than any house any of us will probably live in ever.

Waterfall...

The river that we did a proper crossing on and then ate lunch on the other side.

2 Minutes of Fame

Click on the link to watch the video!

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/497100/1394058

Its pretty sweet!

A Few More Derby Pictures

Posing with some friends after the bout!

Friends outside the rink before the bout

Me Jamming!

Jamming, Im the front white helmet in a black uniform

Huddle!

First Bout Action!

Last night was the first bout of the season and my debut bout. It was Dead Wreckoning versus the Blackheart Bruisers; I was with Dead Wreckoning. I dont even know where to begin with describing the bout! We sold out all 400 seats a week in advance and sorta snuck some more people in illegally so that we could fill up the rink completely. When we came out of the our locker rooms, the music was blasting and they announced up individually while the crowd was going crazy. The Blackheart Bruisers all wear little plastic blue brass knuckles so one of my teammates got her hands on some real brass knuckles and wore them are around her neck! The refs made her take it off during equipment inspection. Anyway, long story short, we won! We had over 90 points and they only had about 48 points so we really won! It was a good clean bout, no fights, just a couple of major penalties. At the end of the bout, the referees and score keepers named me Player of the Bout! It was so cool! They said it was because I was skating hard the whole game and playing cleanly.
20/20 New Zealand has been videotaping us and they are making a show that will be on this Thursday night. We should have a youtube copy up as soon as it airs so keep an eye out for it if you want to see a little snippet of the bout! It was absolutely amazing! Our next one is on October 27th and I cant hardly wait! Here are some pictures in the locker room. I will put some more up when I get them from my friends.

Stace (Pieces of Hate), our captain, gearing up

RG Bargee helping Bonnie Blaggard tape down here guards (we have to for bouts)

Skate the Muss just posing!

Working on painting her face!

Helmets on our beautiful new benches! (notice the beautiful green one?!)

Me (L'exi-cuter) all decked out!

The Kaimais

I had to get out of Auckland this weekend and voiced this issue to a member of the tramping club named Richard; and so a tramping trip was born. Four of us left on Saturday morning at 7 am for the Kaimai ranges which are about 2 hours south of Auckland on the Bay of Plenty (which I discovered is not a bay, rather a fertile valley). It was Richard, myself, a young guy named Tommy and an alumni named Chantelle.
The first day was half spent on a track that was frequently used by dirt bikes and 4 wheel drive trucks, so it was not so scenic. Then we ducked into the dense bush to try and find the hut we had been told about. The bush was so dense, it mostly bushbashing and trying to find a few trail markers pinned to trees. The amusing part is that this hut we were headed to is not on any modern maps and minimally recognised by the DOC, so we were mostly just hoping it still existed! Needless to say, we found the hut, and just before the rain came.
The next day included so more dense bushbashing but the trail opened up and made for a nice 6 hour hike. We got to the car just as it started to rain and headed over to a city called Miranda for some good post-tramping hot pools. Pictures...

Richard and Tommy posing by a waterfall on the first day

Erosion on the trail before we hit the dense bush

A view from about half way up.

The "Bay" of Plenty, just to clarify

Our beautiful hut for the night. Its currently scheduled for removal whenever it next needs work so the local trampers are keeping it up.

Richard cooking some delicious oatmeal!

The view you were waiting for...

Getting into a Rhythm

I realized that I haven't updated in about 10 or so days so I figured one was due. The reason for my lack of updating is that I seem to be settling into some sort of rhythm here in Auckland. I haven't gone on any wild and crazy trips in a little bit mostly because I have been staying home for the purpose of schoolwork. Only four weeks of classes remain and then the three weeks of final exams begin.
I have recently begun to make some sort of acquaintances at a nearby bike shop called Calibre Cycles. I had to drop of my bike there for repair (it felt so weird to do!) because I lack most of the tools that were needed. I completely wore my chain out so I guess I am riding here more than I thought! The slightly annoying factor is that I told them exactly what needed to be done and I am pretty sure they didn't do it because the problem is persisting (look ticking and creaking in the bottom bracket).
Also on a bike related note, I have been trying to get out to the velodrome lately. I have ridden out there twice in the last week only to find that nobody was there to let me in. One of guys at the shop told me that he basically lives at the velodrome and that I could come with him. I found out recently that he is the NZ velodrome champ with the fastest 200m on record here among other various achievements. He's also raced at our velodrome in Blaine! So, needless to say, Im a little nervous about riding with him. We are going to try and get out there Tuesday morning, barring the usual bad weather here.
This weekend Im going out backpacking, nothing crazy, just a little trip. It will be a good excuse to get out of Auckland and skip a couple derby practices. October 6th is our first bout and I will be playing with Dead Reckoning. I think it will be a whole lot of fun! All the girls are skating really well, we have three well trained referees and many score keepers. There are also tons of people coming and a live band at half time! Ill definitely be posting pictures! Hope everybody else is having an awesome September.

So Excited!

I just booked...

Abel Tasman for 4 days of tramping



Heaphy Track for 5 days of tramping



and Milford Track for 4 days of tramping



Who's excited?! I am!!!!

Important travel tips

So, today is my second day being wallet free. In case you haven't heard or I haven't told you, my wallet was stolen on Sunday night at derby practice. Currently, I have $24 to my name and I think it should last until my credit card comes from across the ocean. Tips to all those who are travelling abroad:
- always keep photocopies of all your credit cards and IDs, hide these
- always have a stash of emergency money hidden somewhere safe
- keep some of your IDs separated out so that if something does happen to one of them, you do still have some method of identifying yourself
- retain your plane ticket out of the US and a photocopy of whatever visa you currently have
- know where your nearest US consulate is
- know where you can get emergency food supplies if necessary
- always keep money on your cell phone so you can call the necessary agencies in the case of a situation
Everything is working out alright here and all my friends have already offered to help out if I should need anything. I think this may be the best money saving strategy I have yet to encounter! I have only spent $4 in 2 days which I believe is a new record for me! Haha! I dont know who would knowingly choose to steal from a bunch of roller derby girls; to me, that just seems like a really bad idea!

Wellington

A view of harbour

Yay! I just got back from my week long adventure in Wellington. It was a really amazing trip, and I have to say that travelling alone is actually kinda really fun! I ended up meeting tons of really cool people who are doing working vacations in New Zealand and several people who seem to live the truly nomadic lifestyle.
I stayed at a hostel in downtown Wellington called Nomads in an 8 bed dorm. It was really clean (except for my duvet, which smelled like a homeless person) and the people there were awesome (except for the jerk who stole my guide book). But hey, it only cost $127 for seven nights. Over the course of my time there, I got to:
- chill out in the Botanic Gardens on a gorgeous day
- tramp around a gorgeous wildlife sanctuary
- kayak for several hours in the gorgeous bays
- explore all of the old buildings of the city
- hang out in the friggin sweet public library
- check out this amazing vegan cafe ... daily
- and many other things I cant think of right now!
As per usual, check out the sweet pics below! There are probably quite a few, so I will try to edit and keep this entry to a moderate length!

In a park on the harbour

A view from the top of the city (I took an old school trolley to get up there!)


One of the parliamentary buildings

Ahh! Flying metal fern ball of death!

One of the street performers swallowing a gigantic sword


In the botanic gardens; birds of paradise grow here lots of the parks!



At Karori Wildlife sanctuary, they have literally fenced off a huge piece of land so no predators can get in.


More of Karori

More of Karori

Pedal-strewn path... paradise, no?

*Pardon the underlining and random hyperlinks... Im having troubles formatting this entry for some reason*