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.